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Appearing in 1973, between two Giallo classics Four Flies On Grey Velvet (1971) and Profondo Rosso (1975). The Five Days was Dario Argento’s one and only departure from the thriller/ horror genres he’s most known for. It’s a period-based drama-comedy set in the final days of the Italian Revolution in 1848. And it’s well shot/ executed film that’s alive with moments of comedy- be it playful visual, slapstick, lightly sleazed or very darkly hued, satire, and dabs of bloody red violence. Here from the fine folks at Severin is the truly definitive version of this lesser-known Argento film. The three-disc set features three discs a UHD, a Blu-ray, and CD. It features a wonderfully clean & defined 4k scan of the picture, a great selection of new extras, and a CD full of music.
England Swings is the latest release in Righteous ongoing series of Lux and Ivy compilations. The series finds respected music journalist Dave Henderson crate-digging for 45’s, and as its title suggests there is very much of a UK focus to this release. The twenty-eight-track CD is another nicely varied & quirky selection of tunes from the ’50s and ’60s.
The Driver’s Seat is an uneasy & arty drama-come-mystery. It follows a glamorous yet disturbed middle-aged woman around Rome, as she is seemingly searching for someone or something. The mid 70’s film features none other than Hollywood acting legend Elizabeth Taylor as its lead, and it certainly stands as one of the key strange & arty films of the actress's career. Here from the BFI is a new Blu-Ray release of this oddity- with a 4k scan, a new commentary track, and a selection of new and archive extras.
I think it’s fair to say that Skinamarink is one of the more divisive horror films in recent memory. If you’re a horror fan, and regularly bob around online genre groups you’ll have heard of the film. And the decidedly mixed reviews it’s had- been either praised as a deeply chilling trip into a child’s nightmare. Or criticized as a pretentious art film- with little shape or sense. And after now finally seeing the film- thanks to this new Blu-Ray release on Shudder via Acorn Media. I’d say my opinion on the film sort of sits somewhere between these two polar opposition options….but there is no doubt it is a very distinctive creation.
Chris Dreier and Tim Löhde (aka MK/CT) have been swapping musical snippets while no one was paying attention, bridging their respective homes of Berlin and Düsseldorf via a familiar motif in the field of experimental ambience and electronics: the movement of water. The Rhine and the Spree, but nothing in the titles or field recordings would point in an obvious way to this fact; rather, it is the fluidity of the compositions – their specific drift – that feels undeniably hydrous, for lack of a prettier adjective.
Directed by action expert Eric Karson (The Octagon, Black Eagle and Lionheart), Opposing Force aka Hell Camp is a 1986 action movie starring Lisa Eichorn (Cutter’s Way, Yanks and The Vanishing), Tom Skerritt (Alien, Top Gun and Contact), Anthony Zerbe (The Omega Man, Cool Hand Luke and License to Kill) and the legend that is Richard Roundtree (Shaft, Q: The Winged Serpent and Speed Racer).
Dotyk collections together four examples of modern chamber music from Slovakenin composer Viera Janárčeková. Her work is often unpredictable- both tonally, and in its composition layout, which makes this CD primed perfectly for those who enjoy more adventurous & unbalancing chamber music.
Aaron Cassidy is an American composer whose work sits at the crossroads of intense modern classic music & searing improv. A Way Of Making Ghosts is a CD release from late 2022, which features eight works from the composer- and it’s most certainly a wild and often manic ride.
Moonlighting Wives is a mid-60s drama, which revolves around a prostitution ring set up by an ambitious suburban housewife. The film’s dramatics are lightly edged by moments of revealed flesh, as well as, one or two brief drives into roughie territory. It was directed by Joseph W. Sarno- one of the key figures in the development of American Sexploitation- though this is very a straight & true drama- with very slight braiding of sleaze/smut. Here from Dark Force Entertainment is a region-free Blu-Ray- taking in an HD scan of the film, featuring a few cut/thought-lost scenes. A commentary track, an on-camera interview with Joseph Sarno biographer, and a short deleted scene.
Klaus Wiese was a German sound maker whose work fell between ambient, minimalism, and pared-back/drone-focused world music. With a particular focus/ mastery of singing bowls, though he utilized other elements in his sound creation too. Between the early 1980s & early 2000s, he released over a hundred-plus albums.
Fusing together extreme metal and extreme jazz, NYC's Sarmat see their debut LP, Determined to Strike, released via I, Voidhanger Records. Pounding, chaotic, but extremely well put together, this first full length showcases the band's talents for not only playing such extreme songs, but arranging and producing these fantastically frantic pieces. Featuring guest stars on trumpet, guitar, and sax, Sarmat utilize their line up to create something really unique and worthy of many, many repeated spins.
After 82: The Untold Story of the AIDS Crisis in the UK is a 2019 documentary looking at the year the AIDS virus hit the UK, and its aftermath. It brings together impactful interviews with those who survived, those who treated people & a few politicians, and remembering those who passed - as well as a good selection of news footage/newspaper cuttings from the time. Here from Dreamscape Media is a bare-bones region-free DVD release of the film.
Based on the 1945 Chester Himes novel of the same name, Charles Martin’s 1968 adaptation of If He Hollers, Let Him GO! follows James Lake (Raymond St. Jacques); a man wrongly convicted of raping and murdering a white woman. On the night he escapes from prison he is picked up by the seemingly friendly Leslie Whitlock (Kevin McCarthy), the pair hit it off until Leslie attempts to blackmail James into murdering his wife Ellen (Dana Wynter) in an attempt to get rich from the inheritance money. Soon James finds himself on the run from the law again, and this time he’s going to make sure he proves his innocence.
Vainglorious is a three-track journey into searing ‘n’ roasting walled noise from British project Sacris. One track comes in at fifteen minutes, while the other two at twenty minutes piece- with the tone kept brutal and sonically unforgiving thorough-out.
Extra Terrestrial Visitors is a dementedly skewed low-budget Euro sci-fi film from the 1980s.Throughout it awkwardly seesaws between sinister-when aliens-invade picture, and when-a-kid-befriends-an-alien family film. With the picture's tone wildly shifting between brooding, cheesy ‘n’ camp, badly spirited, playful ‘n’ wacky, jarringly horrifying and sinisterly uneasy. Here from Severin is a double disc release of the film- taking in a Blu-Ray & CD soundtrack for the film- with a selection of new & archive extras on the Blu-Ray.
At a certain point, genre questions can really get you down. Take the Spanish, Occult-inspired collective, PYLAR (I think this is supposed to be capitalized?), who are prone to the self-labeling game, which has its pro and cons like anything else. I doubt many listening to their latest release,Límyte, will find much that jibes with doom, or even drone, for that matter, which hews more to a constant undercurrent of sonic material, whether evil or good or somewhere in between.
Godflesh has taken a rather novel approach to the rash of reissues celebrating 30-ish anniversaries of seminal albums – in this case, 1991/2’s Pure – by crafting a response to the original in the form of 2023”s Purge
Here’s the 14th release in Dark Force Entertainment's Drive-In-Double Feature series. And for this addition to the series, we have two decidedly aquatic-focused 70’s films- sharksploitation Mako: The Jaws Of Death, and stalking merman creature feature Bog.
Experimental soundscape artist Nate Scheible has releases dating back to the early 00's. His newest album Plume is a cassette release (like many of his other releases throughout the years) on Warm Winters Ltd. His preference for the cassette medium pairs well with his love of analog timbres and soft, ear-massaging noise.
In the early 1980s, Tangerine Dream became synonymous with the movie soundtrack. After scoring Thief and The Keep for Michael Mann, and The Sorcerer for William Friedkin, their stock had risen to such a level that Hollywood kept calling on them to score a host of films including Firestarter, Red Heat and Near Dark. 1989s Catch Me If You Can was a movie about a young drag racer who bets on himself to win a race, in order to raise the money needed to save his school from closure. Immediately the film’s premise seems at odds with the ambient spacey electronica that Tangerine Dream had become known for, so I stepped into this one with more than a little trepidation.
From the late 1940s, The Catman Of Paris is an entertaining, at times creepily edged -to-action-packed blend of mystery, costume drama and horror. Here from Imprint is a new region-free Blu-ray release of the film. Taking in a 4k scan of the picture, a new commentary track, a video essay, and an archive documentary on Republic Pictures- the studio that produced the film.
Released in 1985 Worlds Apart was the third album from UK's Anarcho-punk band Subhumans. It featured fifteen tracks- which saw the band blending their punchy punk gallops ‘n’ rages, with touches of straight rock, metal, light prog/ experimental rock and reggae. With the song craft being (relatively) more muti facility/ shifting in its tone- than many of their anarcho-punk brethren. Here from Pirates Press Records- as either a Vinyl LP, or a CD reissue of the album. I’m reviewing the former of these two formats.
Friendliness was the second album from Bristol/Bath-based Stackridge. The 1973 eleven-track album saw the band polishing and(largely) perfecting their blend of folk-rock and light prog-symphonic rock- with more of a pop-bound feel, quicky genre dabs, and generally playful/ wacky edges. Here from Esoteric Records, as part of a series of reissues of the band's back catalogue, is a two-CD release of the album.
Released in the year 1971 this self-titled debut album is sort of a halfway house between folk-rock, light prog/ symphonic rock, and story-led singing-song writer fare- all edged with some reward deviations into other genres & tuneful/ quirky pop-rock touches. Here from Cherry Red’s Prog/ related label Esoteric is a CD reissue of the album.