Loading
Hurry Sundown is a racially driven melodrama set just after WWII in the deep south- regarding the devious corporate takeover of rural land. The late 60’s film features the likes of Michael Cain, Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway. Acting alongside great African American talent such as Diahann Carroll, Robert Hooks, & Beah Richards. Here from Imprint is a Blu-Ray release of the film, taking in a 2k scan of the picture, a commentary track, and a few new/ archive extras.
Jungle-A-Rama Vol 1 is a twenty-eight-track CD compilation focusing on swinging-through-jungle rock ‘n’ roll. It focuses purely on the ten years between 1953 and 1963- with the pace largely kept upbeat, buoyant, playful, and of course grooving throughout.
Directed by Rene Martinez Jr (The Road of Death and The Six Thousand Dollar N***er) in 1977, The Guy From Harlem is a blaxploitation/ martial arts/ b-movie that has to be seen to be believed. A true classic in the so bad it’s entertaining category the movie stars Loye Hawkins (Angel City) in his only lead role as a private investigator, Al Connors, a streetwise brother hailing originally from the mean streets of Harlem but practising his trade in Miami, Florida.
Invitation Only is an early 2000’s Taiwanese horror film, which blends ‘n’ blurs together elements of slasher and torture porn genres The film regards a group of five people invited to a corporate event- hoping to have their true dreams/ wants fulfilled, but instead things turn decidedly bloody ‘n’ brutal. Here from Unearthed Films is a Blu-Ray release of the film.
Climax Golden Twins are a Seattle experimental group who were active during the '90s and the first decade of the 2000s, but then went silent. In 2022, the project was reformed by it's two founding members, Jeffrey Taylor and Robert Millis, for a sprawling self-titled double LP on the Fire Breathing Turtle label.
Vestiges Engraved In Frozen Mysticism History is the 4th full-length album from German/ Chilean raw black metal band Mantiel. The seven-track affair brings together lo-fi glamouring grimness and bleak battering’s, with buried traces of forlorn majestic melody & glum disquiet.
Blessed Beyond Morality is the fourth full length from Łódź Poland’s Doomster Reich. It features five ten-minute slices of jammed out and sinisterly rough ‘n’ ready dark psych rock come grimly spaced out doom.
Kingdom are a Polish Death metal four-piece who play brutal to moodily dammed DM fare. The band started in Płock, Masovia in the year 2003- with to date them releasing six albums. Abusive Worship In The Chamber Of Shame is the band's most recent release- it’s a ten-track album, which appears on Poland’s Old Temple Records.
Sergio Sollima’s spaghetti western is one of a trio of genre-defining classics released in 1966 alongside Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Sergio Corbucci’s Django. The Big Gundown is probably the least well-known of the three, but that doesn’t stop it from being a much-loved classic with fans of the genre.
Michael Stewart is a recent walled noise release from Warsaw-based ELEKTR0BATH . The release comes as either a four-track C80, or a five-track digital download- with the sound moving between texturally experimental fare & more straight brutal wall-craft.
Brisbane-based Primitive Motion's latest release feels like a cutting room floor job, taking all of the detritus that might – and that's a special kind of might – lead to something worthwhile and discarding it in favor of a mixture of all of the other parts. What ends up as processed, in the end, if such a euphemism is warranted here, is nothing short of arbitary. And by "arbitrary", I mean it makes no sense, the most disadvantageous use of the tools of the trade: to merely weave something – anything – together and call it an album. The most damning thing that could be said about such music is that it fails to compel, to make you want to embark on whatever sonic journey lies ahead. Maybe those better familiar with Primitive Motion and their work will find something worth returning to, that's anyone's guess.
So, here’s a book on a man, a venue, frankly an entire scene I was completely ignorant of. Dirk Dirksen ran a music venue at the Mabuhay Gardens, in San Francisco, from 1977-1982; by day a Filipino restaurant and piano bar, by night a chaotic arena called the Fab Mab that showcased and nurtured a growing San Francisco punk scene.
Heartland Of Darkness is an unreleased(until now) satanic panic-focused pulpy thriller come horror film from the late 1980’s, which features infamous 80’s scream queen Linnea Quigley. Here from the folks at Visual Vengeance- Wide Eye release sub-label for releasing low-budget retro genre fare, is a region-free Blu-Ray. The disc is literally packed to bursting with extras- two commentary tracks, making-of doc, interviews, a work print & more.
The Mountain is a blend of character study and mountaineering adventure/ thriller. The film dates from the mid-1950s and takes in two respected leads Spence Tracy & a young Robert Wagner. In its second half, it features a blend of dizzy mountainside footage & impressive sets, with some effective moments of tension. From Australia’s Imprint- here’s a recent Blu-Ray release of the film, taking in a bright & bold new scan of the picture, a commentary track & a few other extras.
Night Of The Zodiac follows a horror geek/ videographer who gets employed by an ageing Zodiac killer to collect more ‘slaves for paradise’, i.e., kill a bunch of folks on video camera. The films from last year, and is a mix of serial killer thriller, bad-taste comedy, tribute to 90’s SOV, and lo-fi splatter-bound gore. Here from the swell folks at SRS Cinema is a region-free release DVD of the film, taking in a commentary track, and a few other extras.
Xiphos are a martial industrial project that brings together three key/ important figures from the genre- Matteo Brusa (Medhelan/La Tredicesima Luna), Miklós Hoffer(HERR/Donderdag), and Troy Southgate( HERR/Seelenlicht). Released in October of last year The Rise And Fall of Athens is the project's debut album, and it features eleven tracks- these are nicely varied in pace/ type, as well of course decidedly moody/ atmospheric air whisking the listener back in time to rise & fall of the great city of Athens.
Readers of this website are no doubt very familiar with releases by Cyclic Law. Celebrating 20 years with their 200th release, this double cd compilation showcases 22 of the many acts featured so far on the label's stellar run. Spanning the breadth from crushing, industrial violence to lofty, cinematic compositions, Cycles II is a well curated compilation that shows how varied Cyclic Law's releases have been.
Sex Is Crazy stands as one of the most bizarre, playful, and at times downright surreal films of Jess Franco's career. The early 1980’s film is unpredictable, at times jarring collision between mocking sex comedy, low-budget film satire, and sexualized sci-fi. It features in its small cast, key Franco regulars Lina Romay- under her Candy Coaster persona, and Antonio Mayans. Here from Severin Films- those key resurrectors of Franco’s filmography is a recent release of the film, taking in a wonderful crystal clean scan of the film, as well as a selection of extras.
Dandelion is a five-track improv release that rewardingly shifts from the darting & playful, onto the lightly seared and moody, through to the manic & rather wacky. The release features the trio of Tom Jackson- Clarinet, Dirk Serries- acoustic guitar, and Kris Vanderstraeten- Percussion/ Drums.
In recent years the often stipulated demand for ‘strong female characters’ has generated approval from some and generated censure from others who find it sometimes didactic or inappropriate. Less remarked is the concurrent trend in popular culture by some creatives to eschew role models and instead offer up flawed often morally ambiguous female characters who act as an analogue to the traditional male anti-hero.
It’s fair to say that Death In June has always been a controversial project, but much of this comes from its use of symbolism & provocative subject matter. Aside from a few slight deviations, the project output has been focused in and around the Neo-Folk, often stripped-back, guitar and stern baritone singing of the project's kingpin Douglas P. However, "NADA-IZED!" is a huge sonic departure from what we’d normally expect from DIJ, as it’s purely focused on electronica, which often moves towards the more beat ‘n’ dance bound side of things.
Expectation is a recent two-track release from the wholly anonymous & highly talented walled noise project Worship. The two tracks featured run between the twenty and twenty-six-minute mark, and both are decidedly creative takes on this most extreme of sound forms.
Trembling Shadows is a decidedly apt title for this new Sado Rituals release. As the featured forty-three-minute track blends choppy ‘n’ brooding ANW texturing, with a haunted tone wavering- for a chilling if at points mind-warping effect.
Layers Of Lies is a double-pro CDR release featuring two around an-hour-long wall from this respected Serbian wall noise creator. As its title suggests both tracks here are prevalent with layers of texture, making for two dense & intense trips into wall craft.