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It’s Good For The Soul is an eight-CD box set celebrating the considerable talents of Vincent Montana- an American composer, arranger, vibraphonist, and percussionist who is known as the godfather of disco. The set focuses on his mid-70s work with The Salsoul Orchestra- one of the key disco/ soul/ pop Orchestras of the decade.
Revenge Of The Blood Beast is a late 60’s horror film that seesaws between parody/ humour, and atmosphere/moodiness- with a few moments of uneasiness & gore. It’s a film that sits somewhere between being a witch & vampire film- set in a small Transylvania town, where a newly married British couple stop for a night. Here from Raro Video/ Radiance is a new Blu-Ray release of the picture- featuring an HD scan of the film, a few new interviews, and archive extras,
Penance is the third and final film in the serial killer found footage/ pseudo snuff film series August Underground. It appeared four years after the second film Mordum, and while it didn’t amp up the intensity of this film (what could/ does?!). It’s a decidedly grim/ nihilistic picture- which shows the unfolding/ decline of the film’s two killers…along with torture, taunting, bubbling guts gore, and brutal limb sawing. Here from Unearthed Films- is a double disk Blu-Ray & DVD release of the film- bringing together a new commentary track, a host of new extras, and some archive extras.
Here we have a wall noise split- with each party offering up an around twenty-five-minute track. Serbian’s Burial Garden presents us with an example of continual feasting walling with an ambient undercurrent. And Poland’s Olion severs up a slab of searing drone-based fare.
Rising from the depths with their third full length, Seattle's/Portland's Oxygen Destroyer wreak building destroying havoc once again on Guardian of the Universe. Always large and in charge, the quartet stomp and smash forth, thrashing and grinding on their path of destruction, continuing their impressive streak of hard and heavy releases. Three years since their last LP, Sinister Monstrosities Spawned by the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind, the big, beastly boys show that they haven't missed a beat and have another city-leveling banger on their hands.
Message From Space is a late 70’s Japanese sci-fi action film blending a grand/heroic score, a planet & princess in need of help, laser gun shoot-outs, acrobatic spacecraft battling, sword fighting, a cute/ quirky droid, and a selection of reluctant heroes. Aside from the sword fighting bit, this may sound a little familiar, and ‘yes’ this was inspired/ informed by the first released Star Wars film- but with a few neat/interesting enough twists added into the mix. Here from Eureka’s Masters of Cinema series is a new Blu-Ray release of the film- featuring a new HD scan of the film, a commentary track, and a few other extras.
The Miracle Fighters is a 1982 Hong Kong martial arts movie directed by acclaimed filmmaker/ martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping (Drunken Master, Iron Monkey and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Woo-Ping’s work on Crouching Tiger is credited with introducing him to mainstream Hollywood cinema where he has since gone on to choreograph the Matrix sequels for the Wachowski’s and the Kill Bill movies for Tarantino. The film stars Yat-Chor Chuen (Shaolin Drunkard, Legend of A Fighter and The Postman Strikes Back), Eddy Ko (The Bride with White Hair, Shaolin Drunkard and The Martian), Shun-Yee Yuen (Shaolin Drunkard, Once Upon A Time in China and Operation Scorpio, he also worked as a stunt man on the Matrix films), Ka-Yan Leung (Last hero in China, The Man with the Iron Fists and Five Shaolin Masters) and Cheung-Yan Yuen (Dragon Inn, Once Upon A Time in China and Shaolin Drunkard).
Here’s a tape from the dependable Ciel Bleu Et Petits Oiseaux Records, packaged in an old school homemade inlay; Morsure, it turns out, is a pseudonym (another pseudonym) for Julien Skrobek, a HNW legend that I’ll presume you have the good taste to know about. Here he gives us four tracks, each amounting to a quarter of a C90, and each a great example of why he is held in high regard. The tape is limited to 12 copies and is still available from the Ciel Bleu site.
Off Balance (aka The Phantom Of Death) is a decidedly wacky & often camp euro-horror/Giallo crossbreed from the late 80s helmed by Ruggero Deodato. It regards a ‘handsome’ & talented pianist played by Micheal York been diagnosed with a rapid ageing disease- who then goes on a killing spree. He’s been tracked by a bewildered-to-ranting police investigator played by the wonderful Doland Pleasence. With the whole thing topped off with Giallo legend Edwige Fenech, as the film's love interest. The film is a blend of hamming-it-up acting, ridiculous/ erratic plotting, arterial spray-bound murders, and a big dose of 80’s camp. Here from Cauldron Films is a Blu-Ray release of the picture- featuring a new/ fully uncut scan of the film, a commentary from genre experts, and an interview with the director.
Confessions Of A Serial Killer was made in the mid 80’s, but due to its similarity to Herny: Portrait Of A Serial Killer didn’t appear until the early 90’s. The film is a blend of police interaction, and flashbacks to the murders/ crimes- with a fairly creepy lead, who does look like the real Henry Lee Lucus, and a few moments of nastiness. Here from the Unearthed Classics series is a new region A release of the film- taking in a commentary track, and a few other extras.
The cycle of the Buck Moon passed a few days ago, and while most of us set our clocks (both internally and externally) to the standards provided by GMT, Harvestman (aka Steve Von Till) follows the lunar cycle, which, unlike the green laser beam in Greenwich, projects its own light over the planet. This subtle but important re-orientation is central to Harvestman's work, which takes its departure from such natural cues as the moon, in evidence on the second instalment of this Triptych series. Like film, music is bound to the forward march of time -sequential or purely abstract – which means that finding a measure for the temporal horizon and structural organization of a given composition is something that might otherwise go unnoticed when we listen. In lieu of a click track or other artificial beat, Harvestman, like Martin Heidegger before him, distinguished between the measurements offered by technical or mechanical time, and those offered by the larger network instantiated by nature and honored by earlier societies. If all of this sounds rather luddite; it is not. Harvestman is well at home in the field of modern production, even if he deploys its media to counter the standard.
'Miniatures in the form of ethereal experiences or sound trinkets; timbres in perpetual morphing from the rawest to the most delicate and the voices, coming from the bowels or from the heavens, interlaced into a single hyper instrument.' There is probably no one better placed to describe their inimitable and unique explorations of sound than avant-improvisational musicians Fanny Meteier and Andrea S Giordano themselves. While the definition of music can be exceptionally broad and all-encompassing, the duo’s first release sorry babe, I have weird legs, is irrefutably focused on sound, Meteier and Giordano using just their voices, electronics and wind instrumentation to create something rather astonishing in its innovation and vision.
Loop Track is an original, at points subtly awkward humour-lined New Zealand psychological thriller from 2022. It’s a decidedly paranoid-fed affair, which finds a very nervous/on-edge man going for a hike convinced that someone or something is following him. The film manages to make the most of both its simple concept & clearly small budget- to create an engaging, tense, at times lightly amusing thriller which blends in subtle action & horror tropes. Here from Arrrow Video is a new Blu Ray release of the film- taking a commentary track, and a good selection of other extras.
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.