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Blood Mountain is a lost-in-the-woods found footage thriller with some light horror touches and moments of rather intense/manic Go-Pro action. Here from Dreamscape is a Region B DVD release of the film.
Pain And Betrayal severs up two thirty-seven-minute ‘wall’s from this prolific California project. Both tracks are as unrelenting as each other, and both focus on battering ‘n’ baying textured sound craft- which is simple, yet effective in its attack.
Here’s a wall noise split themed around/ celebrating New Year's Eve. Both tracks slide in at around the fifteen-minute mark, with each offering up a different take on this most extreme of genres.
During the heyday of British horror in the 1960s and 70s, the anthology became an integral horror movie concept. A selection of four or five short tales loosely held together by an overarching theme was common practice and remains popular to this day, however, for every Tales from the Crypt or From Beyond the Grave there were disasters and in a lot of instances the stories were patchy. So it is with trepidation that I approach modern anthology movies, we’ve had some like the V/H/S franchise which have produced very mixed results, including some very good stories, but the quality has often lacked. Check out the ABCs of Death to see a great example of the gulf in quality that can exist between episodes of the same anthology.
Here’s a pro-pressed CD from Karo Productions, with seven tracks of harsh noise from Joseph Roemer of Macronympha, and Leo Sabatto of Armenia. The album comes with a sticker declaring: ‘The concept here was an analysis of how extreme imagery in metal/noise/experimental album covers could affect the psyche of the individual and how it may manifest in their daily life. We live in a world where indifference and coldness manifests making us emotionless individuals. This will make your ears bleed!’ It’s very unclear how precisely this conceptual nature is meant to be perceived by the listener; Macromenia may well have pondered these ideas and incorporated them into the release but any ‘analysis’ remains imperceivable, since all we have are noise tracks and some xerox collaged artwork. I’d also dispute that we live in a world of ‘emotionless individuals’ and following the apparent logic of the sticker spiel, if we do live in such a world then noise releases packaged with extreme imagery must presumably accept part of the blame. Anyway, certainly at the right volumes the CD probably has the potential to make your ears bleed.
Adapting their 2021 BAFTA-nominated short film, directors Sam H Freeman and Ng Choon Ping bring their queer neo-noir thriller to the feature-length stage with Femme . Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) is a drag queen with a powerful presence, but after a vicious homophobic attack, he finds himself retreating into a reclusive lifestyle. But the perfect opportunity for revenge against his attacker (George MacKay) soon opens up, and Jules is going to take it.
Here from Arrow Video- both in the UK and stateside- is Savage Guns: Four Western Classics Vol. 3. The next in the lables open-ended series of Blu-ray boxsets bringing together four-euro westerns/ Spaghetti westerns from between the late 1960s and the early ’70s. All four of the films have received a classy 2k scan, as well as a new commentary track, plus a good selection of extras. The sets finished off with an inlay booklet with new writing, a double-sided poster, and reversible sleeves for each film.
Appearing two years after the first August Underground, Mordum does exactly what a sequel should do- amp things up more, and boy does it amp things up to truly deranged & very highly disturbing levels. As with the first film, this is a pseudo video diary of serial killers- though this time instead of two, we have three killers- each with their own depraved behaviour and kinks. 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.
Philippe Baudouin is back with his second installment of Spectra Ex Machina, an interesting look at the occult through various sonic approaches. Whether recorded seances with some little known folk like Elvis Presley and Chopin, strange songs sent from other planets, or recordings of satanic black masses, Spectra Ex Machina promises to provide the listener with a variety of occult obscurities. While not really listenable on the whole, each piece presented has merit and carries with it something beyond what is just available to one's ears. Baudouin understands that the recordings themselves speak volumes, their being saved for posterity shows how important they were at the time and provide an exciting look at an oft-avoided part of our history.
It is no great surprise to learn that the musician who calls himself øjeRum moonlights as a collage artist. Or, maybe, it’s the other way around? In any case, the smooth and seamless movements of the three long pieces that make up Your Soft Absence share a similar economy of part-by-part construction, but whereas the visual medium usually requires evidence of the fissures and cracks that make up a collage’s constituent parts, the sonic materials here are so organically held together as to make one believe that the compositions always existed as such. No, I am afraid – I too was disappointed to learn – the songs are made up of “sine waves and wind instruments.” And not to be too snarky, but what is the difference, really? On a playing field as level as the one achieved on Your Soft Absence, isn’t it almost old hat to make something fundamentalist about the source material, when, to a good oscilloscope, we are never the wiser when it comes to sonic “origin”?
From the early 1940s, The Man In Half Moon Street is a Paramount-made noir flavoured with elements of romantic drama, horror and sci-fi. Here from Imprint is a new Blu-Ray release of the film- taking in a new 2k scan of the picture & a commentary track from respected film historian Tim Lucas.
From the very tail end of the 1970’s Spaced Out is a cheap ‘n’ cheerful enough British sci-fi sex comedy. It’s one of the lesser-seen films of London-born director Norman J Warren- who will be known to 70’s euro fare for films like Satan’s Slave ( 1976), Prey (1977) which features two of the cast from this film, and Terror (1978). Here from the fine folk at Cheezy Films is a well-deserved region-free DVD release of the film.
Getting its first general release on the 26th of December 1973 The Exorcist has become one of the most celebrated, praised, and parody of all horror films of all time. This three-hundred-plus page book not only does a deep dive into the origins, making of, and impact of the original film- it also looks into each of the film’s sequels up to 2022- with an exclusive pre-release interview with David Gordon Green, who of course is helming the next three cinematic chapters in the series.
During the 1970’s a big chunk of country music genre had become rather overproduced, cliched, and decidedly vapid. But as often happens in these situations a group of artists pushed against the trend- with a sub-genre that became labelled Outlaw country. It has roots in blues music, blending in elements of honky tonk, & rockabilly, as well as darts into other genres. One of the key figures in this sub-genre was Texas-born Waylon Jennings- here from the folks at BGO Records is a double disc CD, bringing together Mr Jennings's key Outlaw country albums from the early 1970’s- Lonesome, On'ry and Mean, Honky Tonk Heroes, This Time, and The Ramblin' Man.
Jim Haynes Established twenty years ago, the Helen Scarsdale Agency is devoted to a unique world of sound recording that embraces post-industrial, collage, minimalism and noise. It is within this realm of innovation that multi-disciplinary artist Jim Haynes, the agency’s ‘sole occupant’, resides, dedicating his creative existence to a zone of destruction and its attendant processes of corrosion, decay and rust. Working across multiple media, Haynes states rather simply “I rust things”. Whether it be corroding photographs, compiling cinema scapes or producing sound compositions, Haynes uses motors, industrial materials and ‘found objects’ to create a world of dystopia and devastation.
Chore IA is the brainchild of philosopher, bassist and avant garde rock enthusiast, Jacek Wanat. Originally releasing material as far back as 1995, Wanat spent many of the intervening years making music with Radek Dziubek, Tomek Maliński and Waldek Paziewski in the band Blimp before eventually returning to his earlier project in 2018 with the album Schizophrenia. Spread across two CDs the latest Chore IA album, Postscriptum / Neogolizmowa is an unabashed festival of weird ambient electronica. The first disc, Postscriptum, is made up of 5 long pieces of psychedelic ambient drone, whilst the second disc, Neogolizmowa, is made up of previously released material, including tracks from the two cassettes that were released on OBUH records, as well as other material taken from that same period.
Collage is a very apt title for this fifth release from the Erlend Apneseth Trio- as it's a many-layered affair, where elements and tones often shift ‘n’ swim. Flowing through the album's seven-track waterway we have earthy & droning strings, bubbling electronics, skittering & darting percussion, wavering & warbling vocals, field recordings, etc.
Amerikabåten is a recent nine-track album from Norwegian guitarist & composer Trond Kallevåg. The album title translates to 'The American boat', and it finds him blending musical Americana with Norwegian folk melodies.
Capturing the alien landscape of Egor Abramenko's 2020 film "Sputnik," composer Oleg Karpachev utilizes the haunting aspects of earthly instruments to bring haunting sounds to Egor's bleak vision. While the film is three years old at this point, this is the first time the soundtrack has been released, so those clamoring to own this wonderful and eerie soundtrack have had their prayers answered. And for those that haven't caught the film (and therefore heard this fantastic audio), Cold Spring has brought this to our ears and opened up a new world (both literally and figuratively).
The Wrong Door is a Super 8 thriller from the early 1990s- regarding a sound designer/recording engineer student who gets wrapped up in mystery, murder, and late-night intrigue. The film is clearly influenced/ inspired by Brian De Palma thrillers of the 80’s- with a fair bit of low-budget passion, which sometimes comes off/ sometimes doesn’t. Here from those resurrectors of low-budget genre fare Visual Vengeance is a Blu-Ray release of the film- and as we’ve come to expect from the label we get a good selection of extras.
Ghoulies stands as not only one of the more rewarding and well-realized Gremlins rip-offs, but it’s also a prime example of cheesy 'n' camp 80’s fantasy/ horror. We have everything you need- silly satanic shenanigans, rubbery bulging-eyed & teethy creatures, some neat effects, and a selection of cliched-if-quirky characters. Here as part of MVD's Rewind series is a Blu-Ray release of the film taking in a new 4k scan, and a good selection of archive extras.
From the mid-1970s Messiah Of Evil is a seriously uneasy, at times downright chilling costal set mystery/ horror blend. It regards a twenty-something woman looking for her artist father in a small California town, after receiving disturbing letters from him. Largely it’s set either at nighttime, or in grey murky daylight, and this breeds a very keen sense of both disquiet and mystery from the off. Here from Radiance is a well-deserved new Blu-ray release of the picture-taking in a classy new 4k scan of the film, commentary track, a new documentary about the film, and a few other things.
The Dead Mother (La madre muerta) is the second film from Spanish director Juanma Bajo Ulloa (Baby, Airbag); a tight psychological thriller where career criminal Ismael (Karra Elejalde) becomes obsessed with a crime from his past. Convinced that the victim who survived, a girl named Leire (Ana Álvarez), can still recognise him despite her deteriorating mental state. Along with his girlfriend Maite (Lio), they kidnap the girl and hope to a pretty penny from it. That is until Ismael forms an unusual bond with Leire.
Here we have a twenty-one-minute slice of no-nonsense/old-school walled noise from Pirot, Serbia-based The Filthy Nebula. This is a digital release on Poland’s Gates Of Hypnos.