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Mysteries of nature and the universe abound, so it's not surprising that some of the creepiest and strangest man-made oddities are often overlooked. In this ever expanding world, communication has never been more important, and with vast networks spewing out waves of information (quite literally), not only is it harder to find what one is seeking, but it's easier for those looking to eavesdrop on sensitive information. In a time before satellites and digital encryption, shortwave radios were used to send messages far further than their longwave counterparts, allowing for a grander network and greater communication opportunities. Governments took this technology and used it to their advantage, able to communicate behind enemy lines with spies, sleeper agents, and sympathizers. Enter in the creepiness of shortwave radio, its ghostly repeated voices, pulses, and eerie number stations. Followers of m[m] will most likely be familiar with the Conet Project from years back which introduced many to these odd phenomena, but they were merely recordings of transmissions. Seeing the beauty in these types of recordings, Sonologyst utilized them as source material for his Shortwave Spectrum on Cold Spring.
Divided into five songs, A Worm Through Time is the debut EP from The Oldest House, the solo project of A.M., lead singer of Aversio Humanitatis. Four of the five tracks are what one might expect from the present company: punishing, growling vocals set to variable speeds of sludgey metal.
Glauber Rocha’s 1964 Brazilian Cinema Novo classic Black God, White Devil is brought to Blu-ray for the first time by Radiance Films/Mawu Films. The film follows ranch worker Manoel (Geraldo Del Ray), a humble guy who tires of his menial work and dreams of owning a plot of land of his own. Soon he is forced on the run with his wife Rosa (Yoná Magalhães) and the pair become outlaws, but when they fall into the company of Sebastião and his cult the danger heats up again.
Appearing late last year The New World was the final album from Sheffield-born composer/ percussionist Tony Oxley- who had a distinctively busy & dense take on the free-improv form. He’d been active since the early 1970s, and over his career worked with the likes of Peter Brötzmann, Cecil Taylor, & Evan Parker. He sadly passed away at the age of eighty-five on Boxing Day 2023
Whirl And Magnet severs up two improvised tracks for Hammond organ- with the tone of the pieces shifting between jazz & prog rock / kosmische music. The release appears on Discus Music as a CD or digital release- I’m reviewing the former of these.
UFO: Target Earth is a US regional Sci-fi film from the mid-70s. It’s a very low-budgeted affair, with some issues with both acting & editing. But there is a key interesting idea/ concept, as well as a few moments of subtly eerier disquiet, tripped-out visuals & quite a neat resolve. Here from the resurrectors of forgot & lost B movies Cheezy Movies is a new DVD release of the film.
You Belong With Us is a rapid-if-blackly battering example of the walled noise form from UK’s Death To Dynamics. The twenty-one-minute wall brings together constantly rolling low-end tarriness, with mid-range judder & a slightly crusty skip.
Light-Matter-Spirit sits somewhere between rattling static bound walled noise and weathered/ greyly oppressive drone matter. This single nearly forty-minute track is a digital self-release from Sweden’s Earthflesh.
Guesswork is the moniker of Jack Chuter, founder of ATTN:Magazine, Hard Return Records, and the Crucial Listening podcast. His latest album is Head Crash, available digitally and on cassette from Tool Use imprint.
Here’s a pro-CD and digipak from Eighth Tower Records, with seven tracks from Nihil Impvlse, decorated on the front cover with an image of a statue depicting ‘Prometheus Bound.’ The album is made up of droning tracks which are all bizarrely similar really, but often quite short - in terms of drone - with the shortest four minutes long and the longest just over nine minutes.
The mere mention of the name Justin K. Broadrick evokes memories of some of the most amazing industrial music ever produced. As a founding member of grindcore heroes Napalm Death, industrial metal legends, Godflesh, and later experimental metallers Jesu, he has helped to shape the sound of extreme metal and industrial music over the last 40 years or so. During that time, he has also worked with a diverse range of bands as a producer, including Pantera, Isis, Mogwai and Pelican. In 2007 during Jesu’s Conqueror tour, he befriended the like-minded, Dirk Serries, whose band, Fear Falls Burning were the support act. The two had developed from similar musical backgrounds, both had been heavily involved in the experimental, industrial and noise music scenes since the 1980s, which eventually led to them working together from time to time, helping out one another on each other’s projects and on odd occasions in a live setting. This kinship eventually led to the pair working together on this, their first album as Loud as Giants.
Genre stalwart and master of the macabre, Harlow MacFarlane, returns with a new project and look at grim dark ambient, Stars Without Light. Shifting from the earthly to that which exists beyond our realm, Beneath and Before showcases Harlow's ability to adjust his formula, tone, and direction to fit a different idea and approach while still remaining true to his sound and tradition. Enigmatic, evocative, and sometimes abrasive, Beneath and Before is an excellent testament to looking beyond one's own sphere at the unknown terror that exists outside (real or imagined).
The Light Shines From The Soles Of Her Feet is a recent release from Portland’s wall noise project Hana Haruna. The three featured twenty-minute tracks mixing together detailed & creative noise texturing, with sweeping & moodily ebbing ambient undercurrents to a great effect.
Here Lies is a very thick & truly compacting slab of walled noise. The single-track release slides in just over the hour mark, and it remains both seriously pressing & weighty throughout.
Vile is a 2010’s indie horror film with a few wants. It wants to be shocking & intense; it wants to be emotionally impactful with characters you care about, and lastly, it wants to be the next Saw. Here from MVD Marquee Collection is a recent Blu-Ray release of the film- taking in a few extras.
River is a rewarding blend of drama, comedy, and sci-fi. The Japanese film is set in & around an idyllic mountainside inn- where a two-minute time loop is causing confusion, calamity, and comradery. It’s a charming, creative, and ultimately heartwarming affair- giving a distinctive twist on the whole-time travel genre. Here from Third Widow Films- either as a Blu-ray, DVD, or digital- release. I’m reviewing the first of these, which takes in an interview with the director, a making of, and a trailer.
Sylvain Chauveau has been captivating audiences with his minimalist compositions for over twenty years; his work sitting confidently alongside luminaries including Philip Glass and Gavin Bryars. Employing acoustic, electronic and vocal sources to create a subtle and searching brand of music, Chauveau’s latest release, ultra minimal shows the French musician testing the limits of his minimalist credentials during a recent live performance at London’s Café Oto - relinquishing all electronic sounds to focus solely on the acoustic.
Unknown World is an early 1950s sci-fi adventure finding a group of scientists going to the centre of the earth, to find an alternative place for mankind if the bomb destroys all above. It’s a fair bit more serious, at points (relatively) feasible take on the ‘into the centre of the earth’ genre. Here from Cheezy Movies is a region-free DVD of the film.
Here’s a two-CD set bringing together two different improv sets, and as it appears on Belgian-based New Wave Of Jazz, it sits at the more abstract, shifting, at points fairly visceral side of the improv genre.
From the late 1950s Horrors of the Black Museum is a British police mystery come horror film- regarding a spate of rather bizarre murders. It’s a decidedly camp, at times grotesque ride- pushing the level of blood & violence for a film from the 50’s. Here from Studiocanal's Cult classic series is a new Blu-Ray release- with a new commentary track, interview, and lobby card gallery.
Swiss duo Musique Infinie’s Earth, a live improvisational score set to the imagery of Alexander Dovzhenko’s eponymous 1930 film, is split into two long pieces: “Creation” and “Destruction.” The dichotomy between these two foundational acts is not readily apparent, sonically speaking, anyway. What is apparent, however, is the conspicuous absence of the imagery from Dovzhenko’s Earth, which one will have to look up or imagine as the score marches on. Thematically, Dovzhenko’s work heralds a critical period in Stalin’s efforts at collectivization in the nascent Soviet Union, focusing specifically on Ukraine, where images of industrialized farming are juxtaposed with intimate close-ups of sunflowers and stout babies. The film discloses a further juxtaposition of the competing aesthetic regimes of its moment – the pastoral and the industrial – a contra position was then taken up by Musique Infinie in their two-part score, where muffled voices are processed within the fabric of electronic synthesis
Reflection And Passage is an often bluntly hissing ‘n’ crudely baying take on the free jazz form from this Austrian two-piece. It utilizes amplified tenor sax & voice from Michael Fisher, and Valentin Duit on percussion/ drums.
Unfamiliar with this band, I was unsure what to expect from what seems to be their debut recording. In fitting with its title, there is a gothic, tragic atmosphere right from the beginning, with melancholic Romantic classical piano, soon joined by strings and brushed drumset. With a tonality and atmosphere common to black metal, but musicianship seemingly derived from jazz, I am truly unable to predict what the rest of the album will sound like.
Plan 75 is a 2022 dystopian drama film directed by Chie Hayakawa (Ten Years in Japan, Niagara and the upcoming Renoir), starring Chieko Baishô (Howl’s Moving Castle, The Hidden Blade and the long-running and successful Tora-San movie series), Hayato Isomura (the Kamen Rider films/series, Kinou Nani Tabeta? and Alice in Borderland), Taka Takao (Your Eyes Tell, Baragaki:Unbroken Samurai and Sekigahara), and Stefanie Arianne (Oh! Lucy, Melancholic and Hello, Au Revoir).