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Along with Crass and Conflict, Subhumans is one of the key/influential bands of the late ’70s/ early 80’s Anarcho-punk movement. The band’s sound blended anger and punchiness, with touches of subtle humour- their song craft offered up moments of both rapidity, melody, and darts of moodiness- all wrapped up in a haphazard charm. Silence Is No Reaction: Forty Years of Subhumans is a truly huge six hundred-plus page tome- beginning before the band formed, charting their first/initial break-up in 1985, their brief reunions in the ’90s, and the band fully getting back together in early 2004.
Andreas Lutz’s Abstract Language Model is merely the auditory component to a much larger work of the same name, encompassing visual as well as aural modes of representation. With that information in mind, there might be an expectation that the album version of this material could be lacking, or missing parts, or whatever, unable otherwise to stand on its own. Nothing could be further from the truth, though, and this is a credit to the degree of control (or lack thereof) that Lutz asserts on his machine-learning neural network (read: computational) model, trained in the fine art of Unicode: a quasi-universal characterset, incorporating nearly all forms of written communication. Such heady experiments often fall flat in their execution, failing to deliver the sonic goods with their performative conceits, but not here.
From director Taylor Wong (Buddha’s Palm, Behind the Yellow Line) comes a crime epic duology inspired by the likes of Coppola’s Godfather and Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America. In Rich and Famous (1987) we meet close friends Yung (Alex Man) and Kwok (Andy Lau) who have run up a gambling debt they could never dream of paying off, but the charismatic gangster Lee Ah-Chai (Chow Yun-Fat) bails them out on the condition that they work for him. But it’s not too long till Yung and Kwok rise through the ranks, and Yung has eyes on the top spot. Tragic Hero (1987) picks up the ongoing war between Yung and Lee, as their aggression towards each other reaches new heights of revenge and vengeance. This path of violence has its end in sight, and one of these former friends isn’t going to make it out alive.
Here’s an expansive release from Farpoint Recordings: a C80 cassette, in a nice printed card wallet, with some little inserts - and another 80 minutes of music included as a download… So, it’s not a short listen. We have eight tracks in total, titled ‘Tape 1’, ‘Tape 2’, ‘Tape 3’, and so on, with each track lasting around 20 minutes. The Quiet Club is a duo of Danny McCarthy and Mick O’Shea, here playing (very much) assorted instruments and objects in extended (blind) improvs that echo those territories explored by David Toop, Hugh Davies, and Morphogenesis, for example. I’ll quote from the label spiel: ‘Unable to listen to each other perform during the Covid-19 lockdowns the duo resorted to Telepathic Listening. Uninterested in Zoom, Facetime etc. the duo decided to each perform in their own separate studio’s 20km apart at a given time on appointed days for 20 minutes at a time. Nine tapes were recorded between 4th and 29th June 2020 using reference points including Joyce and Cage. Some of this material became an installation in Lismore Castle and Tape 9 was released on Café Oto's TakuRoku label during December 2020.’
Mr Mick was the fifth album from UK’s Stackridge. Released in 1976 it found the band offering up a mix of light prog rock, 70's pop rock, mellow jazz-rock, and whimsical/ spoken words soundtracking elements. Just under half of it took in standalone songs, and the other just over half is a concept album regarding a retired man. And it’s fair to say it’s a classic example of a decidedly mixed affair, though there is worth/ promise here- but you can certainly see why the band wound up in its original form shortly after its release. As part of the Esoteric Records series of reissues of the band's back catalogue- here we have a two-CD release of the album- bringing together a remastered version of the album, and an unreleased version of the album.
Out of print for nearly ten years, Drawn and Quartered's debut, To Kill Is Human, is coming back to destroy eardrums via a limited CD this month. Through Moribund Records, this legendary 2000 release reminds fans of why this brutal slab has stood the test of time and marked Drawn and Quartered as one of the heaviest hitters in the game. Shining like a blood soaked beacon in the Pacific NW scene, the band is represented very well through this first offering, with mastering and cover art by some scene greats. In addition to this rerelease, Moribund is hammering streaming and radio, ensuring that To Kill Is Human will be bashed into metalheads' minds and they will have perfectly fitting death metal for the season.
The Guard From The Underground is an early 90’s Japanese film- which puts slasher tropes in a quirky mystery comedy-come-satirical setting. It’s a decidedly tonally unbalancing affair, which switches between the quirky & playfully camp, and the brutal & unnerving – with a few moments of the downright creepiness. Here's a Blu-Ray Ray from Third Widow Films- as part of their Director's Company Collection, which focuses on the legendary 1980s Japanese production company. It features a digitally remastered print, a commentary track from Japanese film expert Tom Mes, and a few other extras.
From Imprint here we have a five-film set celebrating the 1970’s work of Canadian-born journeyman director Sidney J. Furie. He's a genre versatile, highly skilled, and generally very talented filmmaker- who until now has not been given the praise & due he very much deserves. The five-disc Blu-ray set features HD scans for each film, as well as an impressive selection of new & in-depth extras.
Burial Hex is a band I discovered with the release of 2011's Book of Delusions, it so impressed me I was immediately led me down a rabbit hole of discovery- finding it was one of a number of different aliases of Clay Ruby. Burial Hex is a dark electronics project that recalls the power of extreme metal without the heavy artillery of guitar, drums and bass, eschewing such instrumentation in exchange for a simple setup of one man and a bank of synthesizers. Since the 2007 debut, Wall of Zombies, Ruby has released a whopping thirty-five albums under the Burial Hex moniker as well as singles and EPs. He's also released hundreds of others under a plethora of other names/collaborations including Journey to Ixtlan, Rose Croix, Wormsblood, The Zodiacs, Wooden Wand, Totem and as a member of psychedelic doom legends Jex Thoth.
As early as, well, forever, music, like language, has been subjected to the will of the forces of narration, regardless of the specific context or media-determined instruments employed to see it through. Narrating, it would seem, comes easily to music – like film and language – its form ineluctably geared toward duration, time elapsing in the process of listening, recording, mixing, or just plain making. You cannot “hear” a piece of music without it playing, over time, more than you can see a film without seeing it unfold, frame by frame, shot by shot. Or can you? I have no idea whether Simon Kirby feels the paranoia of narration the way other composers of electronic music did and still do, but his first solo album, which follows many years of sound production, installation, and related endeavors, moves within the orbit of the narratable. There is a journey, movement through space punctuated by time, and the ex-machinations of field-recorded voices, putting us in either the imagined community of common speakers, or somewhere else.
Originally released in 1982 Maraccaba was the second album from Germany's Klaus Wiese- whose work sat between ambient, minimalism, and pared-back/drone-focused world music. Here from Kray Records is no thrills/no inlay booklet release of the two-track album.
Stabbed In The Face is an early 2000’s low-budget slasher that’s high with gore, sleaze, and soundtracked with wonky ‘n’ crude punk rock music. Here from Wild Eye’s Raw and Extreme series is a DVD release of film.
Devil Down South is a 2021 Documentary focusing on the dangers of dabbling in Black Magic. It focuses on Abby- a young woman, who when she was a teen undertook a blood-tinged ritual to improve her life- with the ensuing years seeing her & her son being plagued by the dark, demonic and dangerous. Here from Synergetic Distribution is a region-free DVD release of the film.
Kris (or Kristin) Kuldkepp is an Estonian electroacoustic and improvisatory musician. Her website lists various installations and works she has been involved with, and she has several recordings on Bandcamp.
Köln is a thirty-two slice of fidgety ‘n’ shifting electro-acoustic improv featuring one of the masters of the form New York-born Jason Kahn on electronics. With French-Japanese on Frantz Loriot on Volin, and Switzerlands' Christian Wolfarth on percussion.
In its simplest form, Clearcut regards the kidnapping of two white middle-class men by a native Canadian Indian- but there is way more to the film than that. The early 1990s film is a mix of environmental-focused drama & thriller- with touches of supernatural & folk horror. It’s a (largely) well-acted film, set in the grand & awe-inspiring nature of the Canadian wildness - with a feeling of building tension- edged with touches of jarring violence/ gore. Here from Severin is a Blu-Ray release of the film- taking in a new 4k scan, and a selection of new & archive
Vomiting Corpses is a four-CD set that brings together all the 1990s studio output / plus a few live tracks from Spanish death metal band Avulsed. The set highlights the project's ability to pen memorable & relatively varied DM craft; as well as its tendency to experiment/ take fairly big risks- a prime example of this is the second album here 1998’s Cybergore- which was an attempt to blend two very distant genres DM & techno.
Lucid Dreams is a two-track release from California's Harsh wall noise project Koobaatoo Asparagus. This self-released digital album takes in two dead-on twenty-minute tracks- with each being decidedly dense & punishing.
Here’s a rather gnarly ‘n’ nastily themed walled noise release from Norway’s Coffin Vomit. The C60/ digital release features two around thirty-minute tracks- which both nicely lock down into grimy ‘n’ grim wall texturing.
Australian-born Julia Reidy is not only an accomplished guitarist and composer, but the architect of elaborate and extraordinary acoustic soundscapes. Dispensing with standard song structure, Reidy favours episodic fragments of music that in their words embrace ‘unstable harmonic territories, rhythmic elasticity and abstract narrative.’ Where earlier albums including 2019’s Real Life and 2020’s Vanish, centred on electronically-manipulated fingerpicking to create a wholly immersive sonic experience, their last recording, World In World, introduced more space into the music - the intensity dialled down substantially. It’s this musical transition that explains Reidy’s recent move towards a more experimental ambient aesthetic and her gravitation towards working with Berlin quartet, The Pitch.
Prolific as jazz pianist Matthew Shipp may be, the ongoing reissue of his early back catalogue by ESP-Disk is one that is truly welcomed. Originally released in 1992 on the tiny and now-defunct Quinton label (not to be confused with the very much alive Austrian label) and reissued four years later (again only on CD), Circular Temple by the Matthew Shipp Trio is now available for the first time on vinyl.
Once again firing up his Electronic Valve Instrument for Kranky, Justin Walter returns with his latest work, Destroyer. Otherworldly but highly accessible, this album moves between somewhat soft, ambient pieces to quick, vibrant, and bubbling soundscapes, all the while keeping an evocative overall tone, elevating Destroyer with each successive track. Covering many emotions and approaches of its eleven tracks, Walter's latest is a gorgeous testament to the three years of work spent crafting, recording, and reworking Destroyer's being.
Hi-Death is a 2018 anthology taking in five tales from underground horror directors. From the known such as Tim Ritter (Truth Or Dare, Killing Spree), Todd Sheets (Moonchild, Dead Things) and Brad Sykes (Camp Blood 1 & 2). To the lesser known Anthony Catanese & Amanda Payton. It’s a consistent collection of tales- with a good mix of chills, gore, and macabre wackness. Here from Wild Eyes' Raw & Extreme series is a DVD release of the film- taking in producer & director commentaries, and a making of.
Journey Into The Beyond (aka Reise ins Jenseits - Die Welt des Übernatürlichen) is a mid-70s West German-produced Mondo documentary. It takes in narration from John Carradine- and features psychic surgery, exorcism, a levitation witch doctor, and more. Here from VCI Entertainment is a Blu-Ray release of the film.