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At the risk of looking like a bad person, I’ll be honest: when I looked at at the line up on this, I wasn’t hugely excited, purely because I’ve heard a few improv albums which have combined electronics with acoustic instrumentation to little joy… So I’m very pleased - and humbled - to say that I was totally wrong here, it’s a really solid, engaging, and fun album. That line up is: Max Hirth - tenor saxophone, Ignaz Schick - turntables, voltage-controlled sampler, Max Arsava - piano, synthesizer, electronics, Alex Bayer - double bass, and Flo Fischer - drums, with Arsava the composer of all the tracks. Nowhere Dense has eight tracks, ranging from a couple of minutes in length to over ten minutes in length, and the whole recording is about 50 minutes long.
Pandemonium is a creatively structured horror film regarding the other side/ afterlife. The 2023 French production blurs 'n' blends in elements of fantasy, grim drama, and ghoulish oddness/ unhinge-ness to create an original & distinctive experience- which will fascinate, trouble, and at points freak you out. Here from Arrow Video- both in the UK & Stateside is a Blu-ray release of the film- featuring a nice selection of extras, and the usual care/ class we've come to expect from an Arrow release.
From the mid-1960s Planet Of The Vampires is a foreboding, at points decidedly chilling & terror-edged example of the sci-fi horror form. It was the 16th film by highly respected and influential Italian director Mario Bava. Here from Radiance is an extremely well-deserved Blu-Ray reissue of the film- taking in a wonderful clean, crisp, and bold scan. And a good selection of new and archive extras.
Originally released in 2008 Scratch Came Scratch Saw Scratch Conquered, was one of the later albums from respected and influential reggae producer/ composer Lee "Scratch" Perry. It’s a thirteen-track affair that sees Mr Perry collaborating with the likes of funk legend George Clinton, and Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards.
Terror Of The Master is a late 90’s SOV film that blends together vampires, gangsters, and mystery drama. And as SOV goes it features decent production value, a few locations, and a (largely) fairly good cast. Here from the resurrectors of all things SOV/low-budget genre fare SRS Cinema- is a region-free DVD release of the film, taking in a director's commentary.
Appearing two years after the first Amateur Porn Star Killer. This sequel irons out a few issues from the first film's set-up, increases the troubling sleazy side of things, and brings in moments of visual moodiness. Here from Wild Eye’s Raw & Extreme series is a region-free DVD of the film with a commentary track as it’s only extra.
‘A Story Written With Water’, is a 1965 family drama directed by Japanese New Wave luminary Kiju Yoshida in 1965. Here from the always reliable Radiance Films is a reissue of the picture, with a handsome Hi-Def transfer in a single pressing of 3000 copies.
Distrust takes in two twenty-five minute slices of bleak and battering HNW from this long-running/ highly prolific California project. With each track being as unrelenting, unforgiving, and hope-bludgeoning as the next.
Fitting its theme of child abduction, torture and murder here we have brutally churning & baying ‘wall’ from UK’s Utterblight. This just over ten-minute track is a digital release on UK-based label Untitled Record Label.
Meditation Of The Wicked is a three-track release from this Polish wall noise/ drone project. Each of the tracks slides in at around the ten-minute mark- with the tone of all three being very droned out and ANW bound.
Garth Erasmus’ first album has pretty much anything that listeners might want when looking for artistic engagements with the sonic culture of the Khoisan, a First Nation’s peoples native to regions of present-day South Africa. I realize that sounds like something of a rather esoteric niche, but there are countless recordings released that make use of some combination of ethnomusicological research (I.e., field recordings) and various post-production techniques. Either the documentarian impulse holds sway – we hear what our fearless researcher once heard, etc. – or the source material is turned into something vaguely resembling music. In either case, the very possibility of there being something sonically important at all tends to be taken for granted. What makes Threnody for the KhoiSan unique is Erasmus’ point of departure and what that means for the resulting work.
While nothing and nothingness are often represented by blank or negative spaces, Kiwanoid (KIWA) has chosen to utilize many different electronic/tech approaches to represent "nothing" with Vanatühi.
Ceiri Torjussen is a 48-year-old composer, born in Cardiff, Wales, he is best known for composing the scores for big Hollywood movies like I, Robot, Flight of the Phoenix and The Day After Tomorrow, however, he has created a large discography over the last 22 years that takes in documentaries, short films, and TV series as well as feature films both big and small.
Here from the fine folks at Eureka is a double Blu-ray release of two early ’70s action films featuring Shin'ichi Chiba, and as the film's titles suggest he plays a bodyguard. Each film is rapidly paced, with both impressive fights, neat setups, and of course Mr Chiba's impressive martial arts skills/ general charm.
Sara Glojnarić is a Croatian composer who utilises electronics, tape elements, and drum kits in her bombastically dramatic, quirky, to atmospherically modern compositions. Pure Bliss is a seven-track album- taking in compositions from between 2017 and 2022, nicely highlighting the scope & variation of her work.
Here we have a five-track album that dips into shifting and detailed modern Ensemble work of Italian composer Pasquale Corrado. His work is eventful, darting, and at points volatile/unpredictable.
Lutebulb is the fifth album from this Vienna-based trio who create an often jaunting carnival bound blend of jazz and avant-rock. It’s a six-track affair, which is clearly trying to be quirky/ oddly edged- though sadly it comes off as somewhat flat/ dull- due to its largely bland guitar-focused sound, unispired/ bad songscraft, and decidedly undynamic recording.
The curiously titled {scope} is the coming together of three musicians and one producer. It all started in 2020, when Laura Agnusdei (tenor and baritone sax, kazoo, synth, sampler), Matteo Pennesi (synths, granular synthesis, piano) and Luca Sguera (prepared piano, percussions, synths) gathered at the Holydays Festival in Scopoli, Umbria having been selected for the artist residency there. Fast forward four years and the trio are now releasing their sophomore album Nightcap, this time accompanied by producer Francesco Piro.
All Ladies Do It was the 17th film from erotically charged, at times arty euro auteur Tinto Brass. The early 90’s film is a highly stylised erotic drama-comedy, which utilises jarring moments of hardcore action and kinkily arty eye. Here from Cult Films is a recent Blu-Ray release of the film- featuring a lush new print, commentary track, and a few other things.
Amateur Porn Star Killer is a faux-snuff film come experimental mumblecore drama. The early 2000s production is largely captured in grainy & jumpy black ‘n’ white stock- with darts/overlaying of colour super 8-like footage. It’s a film that shifts between being awkward & unsettling with moments of both general shock & messy film-craft. All making it a decidedly difficult film to review- as for every effective moment of unease, there are as many moments of ham-fisted-ness/ general bad filmmaking. Here from Wild Eye’s Raw & Extreme series is a region-free DVD of the film- taking in two commentary tracks, and a trailer.
Mexico Barbaro 2 is a late 2010 Mexican horror anthology featuring seven stories. They move from tales of vengeful soldiers, children with sleeping problems, teen girl curses, and demented junky fare. Here from Unearthed Films is a recent region A Blu-ray of the film- taking in a few extras.
The pairing in the title of Mike Cooper & Jason Kolàr’s Mauve/Pink signals a duality not just in name but also in the working methods of the two musicians as played out over the ten tracks that make up the release. A kind of dialogue between the two artists ensues, one in which the organic seems to meet the processed and vice versa.
This Atrocious Nursery severs up four sonic slices of tangled, discordant, ugly, at points subtle creepy electro-acoustic improv. The three-inch CDR is themed around The Yellow Wallpaper- an 1892 short story by American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It's an important early work of American feminist literature- focusing on the mental & physical health of women in the 19th century.
Café Carne is a recent six-track EP from Ibiza Shock Troops- a two-piece project that blends urgent and neck-snapping techno beats with harsh noise tones ‘n’ textures. There’s a good blend of snaping ‘n’ darting rhythm, sweeping sear, and subtle playfulness.