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Remembrance is an early 80’s UK drama regarding a group of Royal Navy ratings, spending their last few days in Plymouth before they get shipped off to the US for six months. The film is an interesting/ if a point frustratingly darting study of the hopes, fears, and boozed-up interactions of the sailors. It’s notable for a few reasons- it was the first production from the Film Four brand, and it features early performances of notable British actors Gary Oldman, Timothy Spall, and John Altman. Here from the BFI’s Flipside is a reissue of this rarely seen drama- taking in a new HD scan of the film, and a good selection of extras.
Here’s a two-disc CD set from UK ‘s BGO, which combines three late 80s/ early 90’s albums from French violinist, composer, and bandleader Jean-Luc Ponty. The albums feature a mix of electronica, ethnic and world music elements blended into Ponty’s jazz fusion stylings- for often creative, tuneful, and atmospheric results.
Appendage is a twenty-six-minute slice of walled noise, which blends earthy rubbles/ reverberations, with giant wormy-like tunnelling/ boars. All giving one imagery of something huge & shudder-inducing, stretching its thick appendages through a weighty dark earth underground- so a most fitting title.
Hong Kong experimental musician Olivier Cong has a number of recordings dating back to 2018. His website refers to this new release on Room040 as his 'second album', entitled Tropical Church. It is a rather ambitious sprawling experience, with thirteen different tracks, mostly two to five minutes in length, that each explores wildly different instrumentations and composition styles.
Somewhere in between Heaven and the heavens, between 'could' and 'clouds' is Marc Behrens Clould. Composed of sounds recorded inside aeroplanes, airports, and other flight-related locations, this work brings together the reality and myth of the skies. An area once dominated by deities has now become a travel lane for millions, and while the mystery seems to have disappeared, the fascination with this aerial realm is as strong as ever. Clould combines these by taking the physical aspect, manipulating the recordings, and delivering an intriguing, mysterious-sounding work.
Breathing In Dust servers up two thirty-minute examples of nasty, intense, and unforgiving HNW from Cincinnati, Ohio's Whore's Breath. The release appears on Milain-based Deepthroat Records as either a C60 cassette or a digital download- I am reviewing the former.
晩夏( Later Summer) is a four-track wall release from New Jersey-based 肉便器( Niku Benki). Each of the around fifteen-minute tracks presents us with decidedly urgent textured-based wall matter, with a few tracks having ambient undercurrents be they lightly seared or taut.
In 1990 two of the horror genre’s finest directors got together to produce one of the most exciting collaborations we had seen up to that point. Dario Argento (Suspiria, Deep Red and Tenebre) and George Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead) each filmed a classic Edgar Allan Poe story, Argento tackled The Black Cat and Romero, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar. The two stories were released as an anthology called Two Evil Eyes (Due Occhi Diabolici). The soundtrack to the movie was recorded by Italian soundtrack composer extraordinaire, Pino Donaggio (Don’t Look Now, Dressed to Kill and Carrie to name just a few of his many scores), and whilst the movie struggled to make an impact, largely down to Romero’s lacklustre segment, the score was definitely worth a listen.
The Shop At Sly Corner, a well-regarded crime drama by cult British director George King has been made available in a remastered Blu-ray limited edition (4,000 copies) by reliable label Indicator/ Powerhouse.
Night Of The Eagle is a British witchcraft chiller from the early 60’s. It blends atmospheric and brooding melodrama with moments of eeriness & outright terror- growing slowly but surely in unease & horror as it unfolds. Here from Studiocanal's Cult Classics series is a recent release of the film- taking in a nicely crisp scan of the picture, and a selection of extras.
Always fear the roommate who seems too good to be true. A relatively well-worn trope and one that finds itself at the core of Barry Jay’s 2022 thriller The Way Out as we follow troubled protagonist Alex who finds himself trapped in a nightmarish scenario of his own making.
Tower Levels XV & XIII presents Gods of Leeds by Forest Altar. Forest Altar is one of many projects by Sean E. Ramirez, also known for the Whitehorse, Black Leather Jesus and Thin Mountain. As the moniker suggests, this particular project is the harsh noise soundtrack to some dark, woodland rituals.
Jon Rose has been building aeolian instruments since the late 1970s, which are unique stringed objects that are articulated by the unpredictable movement of the wind. Rose’s latest work, Aeolian Tendency, features two such instruments – the Monolith (2021) and the Tube (2022) – whose rather prosaic monikers belie their whacko sonic characteristics. Each Aeolian contraption is featured on two, long tracks respectively (4 in total), and one really needs to pay attention to distinguish their unique sonic characters. If all of this preamble were not available, you might be convinced that Rose went to outer space briefly, and took a good field recorder with him.
The Devil’s Honey is an erotic thriller from 1986 directed by horror legend, Lucio Fulci (Zombie Flesh Eaters, The Beyond and City of the Living Dead). Fulci, who was best known for his over-the-top zombie movies takes us on a wholly different ride with the fairly sleazy, outlandish, and almost pornographic thriller that is, The Devil’s Honey. The film stars Brett Halsey (Return of the Fly, Today We Kill…Tomorrow We Die! and The Godfather III), Corrine Cléry (Moonraker, The Story of O and Plot of Fear), Blanca Marsillach (Flesh and Blood, Day of Wrath and The Rogues) and Stefano Madia (Body Count, Dear Father and Ernesto) alongside Lucio Fulci himself.
Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs ( aka Zeroka No Onna: Akai Wappa) is an early 70’s Japanese action thriller that is knee-deep in sleaze, violence, a mix of both, and lots of artery-spurting gore. The film is part of a small series of extreme exploitation films released by the prolific Toei Studios in the 1970s- going on under the banner of Pinky Violence, basically being an OTT mix of sex & violence. Here from Neon Eagle / Cauldron Films is a recent region A locked release of this sick, sleazy, and snappy puppy of a film. Taking in an intense and often blood-red seared 4k print of the film, a commentary track, and a few other things.
From the late 70’s Voodoo Passion is a mystery-edged slice of softcore sleaze from prolific Euro cult director Jess Franco. It regards the wife of a British consular- who goes to visit him in Hati and starts having dreams about being part of voodoo rituals & murder. The film mixes mellow jazz to ritual percussive scored erotica, is she-going-mad- or-not mystery, and moments of unease/disquiet. Here from Full Moon is a region-free Blu-ray release of the film.
In A Violent Nature is a recent slasher, which attempts( and largely succeeds) to present the genre in a decidedly creative and distinctive manner. The Canadian-produced film is set in the forests and lakes around Ontario- bringing nature together with stalk, slash, and brutality. It’s presently showing in UK cinemas, and I watched a VOD screener of the picture.
At Future Dawn collections together six ambient guitar-scapes from long running/ respected Belgium sound maker Dirk Serries. The tracks utilizers both gentle feedback & subtlety moody electro detail in their make up, for an ambient album that is nicely nudges at the genres edges.
Defiant Ilussion is an eight-track journey into taut, brooding, at times moodily atmospheric, at others noisily seared electro-acoustic improv. The four-way collaboration features players from the Portuguese scene, and it most certainly highlights the skill and scope within the secene.
Many years and thousands of miles in the making, Ben Powell (as Llyn Y Cwn) brings forth his reworked field recordings on Megaliths. Recording the giant stone structures placed all over Britain, he is giving the listener an intriguing look into an ancient time where science and mysticism meet, but seen through the modern lens of engaging ambient. While the stone circles, pillars, and other structures will give unique experiences to those that visit, Llyn Y Cwn strives to give the same personal experience to those unable to make the trek to these fascinating places. Hoping to recreate the magic that the sacred spaces exude, the recordings are rife with reverb and a darkness that helps to bring one back through time as well as to feel the essence of the stones themselves.
Cannibal Error is the truly definitive and wholly fascinating chronicling of the Video Nasty phenomena/era. The truly huge tome moves from charting the rise of video culture, to its brief uncensored roll, onto the over-the-top clamp down, and its aftermath. With an in-depth look/analysis of each of the titles on the video nasty list, as well as related stories & documentation.
Active during the early to mid-70s Carmen where are American-British band that blended prog, rock, and flamenco music/ dance. Here’s a CD boxset bringing together the band's three albums ( plus bonus tracks) -which shifted ‘n’ darted between the playful, groovy, spacy, flamboyant, and tunefully urgent.
Sweden has a proud history of producing music that is darkly atmospheric and brooding. From the black metal for which Sweden has cemented itself as an enduring wellspring to the more ethereal, but pervasively occultish ambient music that bears all the tropes of the former without the accompanying instrumentation, this is the domain of Beckahesten. Barely five years old, the Swedish trio have established themselves as the creators of sonic soundscapes that borrow heavily from the metal aesthetic, but through which ambient noise and lingering vocals reverberate resulting in music that is much harder to categorise.
Tim Ritter stands as one of the key figures in US low-budget/ SOV horror. Here from SRS Cinema is a four Blu-ray set bringing together all of Ritter’s SOV work- aside from the Truth Or Dare series. It takes in six films in all- each featuring a commentary, as well as interviews and other extras.