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Utilizing field recordings, traditional instruments, and digital electronics, the duo of David Toop and Lawrence English rekindle their twenty year, ongoing collaboration with The Shell That Speaks The Sea. Like the soundtrack to a jungle adventure, Shell skillfully combines a number of different sources to weave together eight tracks that lead the listener through never before seen locales, all while using the varying sources to evoke emotion and a sense of storytelling. Unfolding at a well defined and engaging pace, Toop and English's latest is an ambient treat that makes fantastic use of natural sources and traditional instruments.
From the early 1970’s Cold Eyes Of Fear is a largely slow-burning home invasion thriller, with slight giallo undertones, and some effective moments of tension & shadowy unease. The Italian/ Spanish production is set in London with some great shots of the city in the 70s and features a moody baying to brooding jazz score written by Ennio Morricone. Here from Powerhouse is a new release of the film- coming as either a UHD or Blu-Ray disc- taking in a new 4k scan of the picture, a new commentary track, and a great selection of new extras.
After seemingly being away from the wall noise scene for a few years- here’s a new single-track release from Bangkok’s 624175. It’s a decidedly industrial take on the walled form, with some searing high ends coming into play, as well as some neat tone detail.
Here’s a three-track digital release from Cincinnati, Ohio Whore’s Breath. And really it does pretty much what its title indicates- with each track lasting just over the twelve-minute mark, and each focusing in on a selection of wall textures.
The Lighthouse was the second feature film from New Hampshire-born writer/ director Robert Eggers. It appeared five years after his decidedly divisive and post-horror-defining debut film The Witch, and it’s fair to say another very distinctive cinematic experience. The film hovers somewhere between glum ‘n’ grim period drama, mystery, and fantasy- with darts of horror and very darkly hued humour- all socked in a deep bath of dread & uneasiness. Here from Arrow Video UK is a new release of the film- coming as either a Blu-Ray or 4K disc. It takes in an HD presentation of the film, a new commentary track, a new documentary on the making of the film- and a few other new & archive extras.
Raum im Raum is the final chapter in a trilogy that sees An Moku (Zurich-based Dominik Grenzler) team up with Stefan Schmidt to produce something dark and wicked. The shadowy side of the ambient spectrum, which can serve as a catchall, but here proves to be the only reliable point of entry for what transpires over eleven tracks, each of which feels like a preparatory study and coda in one. The jangle of strings is a reminder of Schmidt’s field of expertise, while An Moku fills the landscape with muffled field recordings and lo-fi synths, creating textures that are at once infinitesimally granular (read: small) and monumental (read: big). It is a bit of a challenge to discern exactly what comes from whom, or if it is true that one of the two is in charge of one side of this double infinity of sonic scale or they are both doing the parts together, but whatever the division of labor, the duality is ever-present.
From director Ringo Lam (City of Fire, Maximum Risk) comes the 1994 wuxia martial arts extravaganza Burning Paradise. After the Shoalin monastery which has been his home for many years is destroyed by the army of the Qing Dynasty, Fong Sai Yuk (Willie Chi) must team up with prostitute Tou-Tou (Carman Lee) in order to invade capture. Unfortunately, the army capture them and bring them before the tyrannical Elder Kung (Kam-Kong Wong) at the Red Lotus Temple. Yuk is made a slave and Tou-Tou a concubine, but a revolution is brewing and the mad Kung can’t hold on to his throne forever.
Documentary Stale Popcorn and Sticky Floors is a reminder to all of us who lived through the 1970s and 80s what it was like to be a horror movie fan during the halcyon days of Grindhouse cinema, nth generation VHS tapes, the satanic panic and the video nasties phenomena. Directed by Dustin Ferguson (Cocaine Cougar, Hell of the Screaming Dead and Mega Ape) Stale Popcorn is an 84-minute deep dive into the cult cinema of the 1970s and 80s that features interviews with a host of the stars, directors, producers and other crew responsible for making those movies.
Here we find director Bert I Gordon’s low-budget sword and sorcery epic from 1962 getting a region-free DVD reissue on US label The Film Detective. The Magic Sword (aka St George and the Seven Curses and The Seven Curses of Lodac ) and loosely based on the legend of St George was quite a departure from Gordon’s previous fare.
Here’s a ‘lost’ treasure from Radiance, released for the first time on blu-ray: Jean-Denis Bonan’s A Woman Kills, or La Femme-bourreau, failed to get distribution on its attempted release in 1968 and essentially disappeared until it was plucked from obscurity for a film festival in 2010. The acclaim it achieved there has eventually led to this release, packed with extras - though I should point out that I am only reviewing a promo disc and thus don’t have the full package, which includes a booklet. However, there’s more than enough on the disc, and to save you the time of reading all this, if you have a more critical interest in film, just go get it.
Society tends to separate art and science into two different camps, which is unfortunate because the two are inextricably linked. The works of Leonardo DaVinci are paramount in displaying this bond, and while larger works take most of the spotlight, many scientists/artists bring forth smaller projects showcasing the hidden, natural world as art. Ludwig Berger is one such artist, whose work with plants, animals, and geological entities help to bring this linked activity to eager listeners. His latest, photosynthetic beats - utricularia vulgaris, marais des pontins, sees Berger recording the sound of the bladderwort (a carnivorous aquatic plant) in two different ponds - both unaltered and some with their light source being affected, each with its own side. How does this melding of science and art hold up?
Italian death metal act Miscreance formed originally in 2013, and have released a string of EPs and splits since, but it's fair to say Convergence is their first real album. The album was first released in 2022, but here we have well-deserved reissue on Season Of Mist. Stylistically, the band lean towards the more intelligent, emotionally nuanced end of 90's progressive death metal, drawing influence from albums like Gorguts' sophomore effort The Erosion of Sanity and the pre-requisuite Individual Thought Patterns by Death.
Here’s a short split on the ever-dependable Black Ring Rituals, run by Brandon Wald, who is himself behind numerous projects including the brilliant Support Unit. As stated, it’s a short tape with about ten minutes of material each from Dosis Letalis - a name very familiar to me - and The Ide of Earth - a new name to me. The Unceasing Scars comes wrapped in a collaged inlay which reminds me of a dystopian sci-fi Rudolf Eb.er - lots of flesh mutation and manipulation.
Eugenie. The Story Of Her Journey Into Perversion is one of the classier & visually sleek examples of Jess Franco’s themes & focuses as a director. The early 1970s film tells of a just into adulthood teen being taken to a deserted island and left to the sleazy whims of a wealthy woman & her depraved brother. The film sits somewhere between troubling softcore, thriller, and horror- with an impressive euro cult cast, taking in the likes of Christopher Lee, Jack Taylor, and Paul Muller. Here from Blue Underground is a double disc UHD & Blu Ray release of the film- taking a new HD scan of the film, new audio commentary from respected commentators/Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth, a new interview with one of the film's stars, and a few archive extras.
A Question Of Silence is a thought-provoking and at times provocative Dutch drama-come-crime mystery. The early 1980s film makes liberal and darkly satirical stabs at the treatment of women in Western society. It regards the murder of a male shop owner one Saturday afternoon, by three women who don’t know each other & seemingly did it with no motive/ premeditation. And the female psychiatrist, who is brought in to assess the women. Here from Cult Epics is a new region-free Blu-Ray- featuring a 2k restoration of the picture, a new commentary track, and a selection of archive extras.
The solo project of Raffaele Pezzella, Sonologyst have released as many as seventeen albums of post-industrial electronic music over the last eleven years or so and for a variety of different labels. Pezzella is the owner of the Unexplained Sounds Group and its network of subsidiary labels, Eighth Tower Records, Zerok and Reverse Alignment. He is also a publisher of books, which often tie in with the musical releases on his labels. He is an incredibly busy man!
Between 1975-1996 respected American experimental composer Pauline Oliveros wrote a series of pieces jointly known as ‘Sound Pieces’. These text-scored compositions focused on certain pitches with an open instrumental setting. Here we find six of said compositions played by the highly respected modern ensemble Apartment House- with the work being fairly varied moving pattern & tone-based work, to more droning & sonically pressing works.
Evening Star, Vesper Bell is a new fifty-four-minute work from Stockholm-based composer Magnus Granberg. The work was specially written for the highly respected modern ensemble the Apartment House. It’s a slowly unfurling, skeletal —yet tonally/ texturally detailed work, which is rather akin to staring up at a star-dotted night sky- making out shape and pattern, as well as breathing in the moody & glum chilled atmosphere of the night itself. With once again Granberg showing his skill for sonically sitting in a wholly distinctive sonic place between modern chamber music & gentle improvision.
Travel is the twenty-first album from the Australian jazz duo The Necks. It finds the project offering up four around twenty-minute tracks, which are all about repetition, subtle changes, and slowly unfolding/ developing themes. I’d say it’s certainly one of the project's most minimalistic, at times decidedly abstract release thus far. And I think it’s certainly fair to say it’s a release that needs the right frame of mind and more than a few plays to fully hit home/make an impact.
Normally the flute is one of the more distinctive sounding of the woodwind instruments, and really when it appears in compositions you can clearly define/ pick it out. Flutist Alessandra Rombolà is an improviser/ composer who very much like to push the flute out of its normal safe & distinct restraints, and with Out Of The Playground she offers up five pieces with four different collaborators- all pushing the flute down new & interesting sound paths.
Formed in 2008, the duo of Jon Wesseltoft and Lasse Marhaug started releasing long form experimental pieces as Tongues of Mount Meru. Their releases have been hypnotic and noisy, but highly evocative and engaging. Their latest, Kalpa, is no exception and another high mark for their expanding discography.
Sitting somewhere between flamboyant costume period drama, dark fairy tale, and gothic horror- Morgiana is a grim-to-acid-tinged slice of Czech new-wave cinema. The early 1970s film liberally flip-flops between melodrama, odd-angled to tripped-out folk tale, and demented-at-times psychodrama-fed horror. Here from Second Run- one of the key labels releasing Czech new wave films- is a recent Blu-Ray release of the film. Taking in a new HD transfer of the picture, a commentary track from a selection of Czech new wave/ genre experts, and an interview with the film's director.
Science Of The Gods Expanded is a four-CD set focusing on the late 90’s output from Uk’s Eat Static- a two-piece electronica project who blends psychedelic trance- with elements of techno, gabber, drum ‘n’ bass, breakbeat, and ethnic trance. More specifically the set focusing in on the years 1997- 98- bringing together two albums - Science Of The Gods, and B-World- as well as three EPs Hybrid, Inception, and Contact, plus remixes.
Trouble On The Big Street is around about the 30th or so album from Cleveland’s Pere Ubu. And it’s an often haphazard blend of rough blues rock, wavering electro-edged post-punk, and noirish jazz blues with Avant leanings- all finished off with David Thomas’s baying, wailing, at times spoken/semi-spoken vocals.