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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.
Generate and Test imprint presents Die Autokorrektur Treibt Mich Noch In Den Warenkorb , a collaborative effort by sonic fellow travelers WELTFRIED ⇔ GENERAL MAGIC. This slim EP delivers four interesting compositions that seamlessly melds angry to jovial computer music, melodious to abrasive guitar work, variable beat arrangements, and lots of crackle and squeak. It’s a strange confluence of sounds, that goes from rhythmic (dare I say danceable at times), to utterly noisy and cacophonous, which in lesser skilled hands could be a stylistic nightmare, but the pairing on this EP manage to pull it off quite well.
The duo of Massimo Carozzi and Sandrine Nicoletta have created Interplay in combination with three other vocalists, for a total of five. In this piece of process oriented sound art, the five singers recorded themselves independently, without listening to each other, and then combined the result.
Swedish trio Black Wound finally unleashed their debut album onto the world this May through Chaos Records. Capturing the darkness and intensity their countrymen are known for, Warping Structure channels music from the bowels of the earth and plays it dark and heavy. Much like tectonic plates, Black Wound move slowly and deliberately making each note, growl, and squeal as important as the last, choosing depth and darkness over speed and shredding. This allows the band to mix together elements of death, doom, and black metal as they see fit, crafting a creepy, cavernous cacophony of vicious and vile metal.
Cathy’s Curse is a 1977 horror movie directed by Eddy Matalon (Sweet Killing, Blackout and the Brigitte Bardot TV movie) and starring Alan Scarfe (Double Impact, Lethal Weapon 3 and Kingdom Hospital), Beverley Murray (East End Hustle, The Moderns and Street Smart), Randi Allen (in her only movie role), Dorothy Davis (Shivers, Night Fright and The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane) and Mary Morter (The Wicker Park, The Little Girl Who Loves Down the Lane and Dead End).
Here from the BFI is the fifth in the CFF bumper boxset series, which collects together British children's films from between the 40s and the 70s. All the films here were produced by The Children's Film Foundation (CFF)- a non-profit organisation- that between the late 1940s & 1980s made one hundred and seventy-plus films, each running just under the hour mark. This three-DVD set brings together nine films & six shorts, and once again it’s an entertaining, fun, and varied set.
Tarantula Heart is the 27th studio album from The Melvins. It sees the four-piece US rock band birthing one of the more unpredictable and at points downright experimental albums to date.
In his feature film debut, Mortiz Mohr bring us the rip-roaring action romp Boy Kills World. After his family is murdered by the totalitarian heads of state, Boy (Bill Skarsgard, with the voice of H J Benjamin) seeks his vicious revenge on those who organised the annual “Culling” event which saw his family killed. His years of training come to good use as he rips and tears his way through the upper crust of the society which has held him down. After all, revenge is a dish best served bloody.
The Great Alligator ( aka Il Fiume Del Grande Caimano) is a late 70’s Italian exploitation film which blends together stalking killer creature fare, with light cannibal natives & disaster tropes. The film's wonderful shot, with a thrilling & pacing flow. Here from Severin is a new duel UHD & Blu-Ray release of the picture- taking in a 4k scan of the film, and over two hours’ worth of extras.
Native to the Andean regions of South America, the ronroco is a baritone variant of the more well-known charango and is the primary source material for OdNu’s (aka Michel Mazza) latest release, Ronroco Rococo Memories. Mazza, a native of Argentina, takes the stringed instrument and processes it through various guitar effects, such as the Chase Bliss Audio Blooper and Empress Effects Zoia, both of which feature looping programs as well as a host of on board effects. What can be heard throughout the 11 tracks is pitch shifting and reverse delay above all else, with backing tracks of slow baselines and shimmery synth textures to round out the sonic palette. We get rare glimpses of the ronroco on its own, in the introductory phrases of “Under the Igloo”, for example, though the organic is routinely swallowed by waves of digital signal processing.
Cunts or Cnts (as their album cover proclaims them) are a hardcore punk band from Los Angeles who burst onto the LA punk scene in early 2018 before releasing their self-titled debut album on Ipecac Recordings in 2019. Things went quiet for the next few years as the band disbanded, however by the time 2023 arrived they had reformed, hit the road and released a couple of new singles.
Mansion Of The Doomed is a taut, at times grim & unsettling mad-doctor horror/ thriller from the mid-1970s. The Charles Band produced film regards a well-dressed & seemingly charming ophthalmologist who is trying to cure his daughters blindness, with his basement rapidly filling up with eyeless and desperate prisoners. Here from 101 Films is a UK release of the film- taking in a new scan of the picture, and a few extras including a new documentary on Mr Band.