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We’ll Give It To You is a four-CD boxset bringing together all of the late 80s to early 90s output from US Thrash crossover pioneers Gang Green on Roadrunner Records. Feature are two studio albums- You Got It (1987), Older…Budweiser (1989), one EP I81B4U (1988), live album Can’t Live With Out It (1990), and compilation King Of Bands (1991).
Bræ is a Swedish black metal act, whose identity, until recently, was buried in anonymity. Eventually, it was unveiled that two individuals, Swartadauþuz and Déhà, are behind the project; both skilled and prolific in their respective careers.
There are crossovers that have little to do with designs on commercial success; or, at least, that is not their point of departure. Dublin's No Spill Blood is a case in point, bringing together a cross-pollinated mixture of seemingly incongruous musical heritages – dark metal, synth-driven Kraut, and groove-heavy thrash. The instruments consist of electric bass, synths, and old-fashioned drums, none of which is reinventing the wheel, but in their precise and studied collaboration, new possibilities appear on the horizon. In lieu of the higher frequencies registered by the guitar, No Spill Blood's synths carve out a field between noise and microtonal textures, freeing the rhythm section to move to the sonic foreground of the mix.
A Rage To Live is a monochrome filmed drama from the mid-1960s- it follows Grace (Suzanne Pleshette) a young woman whose sexual compulsion is impacting her family. The film is well-acted, classily scoped, if decidedly tame (considering its theme) melodrama which focuses on obsession & trust. Here from Australia’s Imprint Films is a recent blu ray release of the film- featuring a new clean ‘n’ crisp scan, and a few extras.
Son Of The White Mare is a Hungarian animated fantasy movie from 1981, directed by Marcell Jankovics (Hungarian Folk Tales, Johnny Corncob and Küzdök) who has often been described as the Hungarian Hayao Miyazaki or Walt Disney. He likes to blend traditional ideas of Hungarian folklore with surreal animated filmmaking to produce something unique, beautiful and breathtaking. Son Of The White Mare has been declared one of the finest animated films of all time and a masterpiece of psychedelic cinema.
V.I.L.E. is a new project bringing together respected US noise makers Richard Ramirez and Sean E. Ramirez-Matzus, with up ‘n’ coming noise creator Alyx Ill. It Doesn't Stand For Anything Other Than Total Queer Liberation is the project's first release- and it comes in the form of either a ltd C31 cassette or digital download- I’m reviewing the former.
. Com For Murder is a tech thriller from the early 2000s, which as its title suggests focuses on an internet serial killer- who sets his sight on a wheelchair-bound woman, in an upmarket security tech-heavy home. The film is helmed by Greek schlockmeister Nico Mastorakis- of taboo-breaking nasty Island Of Death, action slasher mash-up The Zero Boys, etc. Here from Arrow Video- both in the UK and Stateside- is a new Blu-Ray release of the film, taking in a new HD scan of the film, as well as a few extras.
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome is an extremely pulpy crime action film from the late 40s. It finds the fearless and intrepid detective facing off against Gruesome(Boris Karloff) a powerful & cunning criminal who just got out of the slammer, and wants to carry out some mayhem using a body-freezing gas. Here from Cheezy Movies is a region-free bare-bones release of the film.
Canada-born, Tim Olive is an experimental musician, who currently resides in Kobe, Japan. His discography takes in over fifty releases dating back to the early 2000s with his latest, Unmoved Mover to be shortly unleashed.
Composing and recording in various forms for over twenty years, Mattias Petersson makes his Hallow Ground debut with Triangular Progressions. Showcasing a mix of his academic interests and aesthetic ideas through electronic synthesis, the nine pieces of this work focus on the magic number triangle. Utilizing droning harmonics, Petersson crafts an engaging work that, despite being math-driven and science-based, draws the listener in through its stark, aesthetic beauty.
Following on from the excellent series of five Columbia noir boxsets, here from the marvellous folks at Powerhouse films is their first dive into noir films released by Universal studios. The set features six films from between the late 40s to early 50s, which highlight the different takes on the noir form. Going from a twisting ‘n’ turning thriller, con-man focused fare, a London set post-war noir, missing person-come-racketeering take on the genre, a deporting criminal noir, and a police drama-come thriller. Each film gets its own disc- with a new 2 to 4k scans of each feature, and a great selection of commentary/ extras- with the whole thing being finished off with a one-hundred-and-twenty-page book. A must-have release for those who even have a passing interest in the film Noir genre of the 1940s & 1950s.
Otto Sidharta is an Indonesian composer who has studied experimental composition all around the world for decades. His new LP on Sub Rosa, Kajang, is a drone and ambient-focused work, with manipulated acoustic timbres. It contains four lengthy pieces created at different points since 2015. Various instruments are made to sustain tones infinitely with seamless use of delay and loop points.
Here’s a wall noise spilt bringing together some fairly creative and moody takes on the genre. It features two US projects- Nashville, Tennessee’s Vampire Girlfreind, and Hana Haruna who are from Portland, Oregon.
Vacuum Cleaner Music For The Unsatisfied Housewife Vol 4: Oppressive Place Laid Waste is another single-hour-long trip into dense ‘n’ textural effect shifting walled noise from this Tucson, Arizona-based project.
Most definitely not to be confused with the popular 2000s horror parody, and its four sequels. Scary Movie is an early 90’s Halloween haunt set film, which is more of a thriller with subtle comedy moments and light horror tropes. It’s a USA regionally made low-budget film, which nicely keeps you guessing/ in suspense throughout most of its runtime, with a nice edge of creepiness. Here, as part of 101 Films UK's reissue of the AGFA cult film library- is a region B blu ray release of the film- with the disc taking in a commentary track, and a selection of early shorts from the same director.
Double Target is cheesy, at times sloppy, but always entertaining slice of Italian-made Namploitation from the late ’80s. It was jointly directed by prime euro trash creators Bruno Mattei & Claudio Fragasso- featuring a host of exploding jungle huts, chopper chases, a shark vs man fight, more than a few tacky one-liners, oh and a decidedly sweaty ‘n’ terminal up tight Donald Pleasence. Here from the folks at Severin is a new region A locked Blu-Ray release of the film- featuring a 2k scan of the picture, and a few extras.
How can a piece of music be narrative without in some sense doing violence to its status as music, something listened to or heard, and not a text? Maybe it is not the musical sounds themselves that are supposed to be doing the narrating, but their function within a system – tracks as part of the larger album experienced in temporal procession, listening from beginning to end, and so on. The time in which a piece of music plays, the time in which it was produced, and the time of paying attention to it, seem inescapable constraints, to be sure, but where does that leave the overarching story, if there is one? Without getting too bogged down in questions that are best left to the bureaucrats of music history and theory, it is still worth at least a mention in the case of Roxane Métayer, whose work as a scholar, artist, while brief to date, does investigate the structural basis of storytelling, myth-making, and, yes, narrative.
I thought Allegory Chapel Ltd was a familiar name to me, but it turns out I must have been thinking of someone else; to add insult to my injury, Discogs informs me that they’ve been producing sounds for over 35 years now, so my apologies to ACL and a salute to their persistent endeavours. This digipak CD has eight tracks, varying in length from around three minutes to over ten minutes - the shortest a collaboration with no less a figure than Monte Cazazza. The album combines noise, ambience, drone, synths, beats - and soul samples.
Now here’s something you don’t often come across- a 70’s British sex comedy, that’s actually funny, and to boot also rather inventive, at points even oddly thought-provoking. The Girl From Starship Venus aka The Sexplorer blends in low-budget Sci-fi parody, an effective enough cast, and of course a fair bit of female flesh- though it’s all very much in the tame softcore side of things. Here from the folks at Cheezy Movies is a region-free DVD release of the film.
From the early 1990’s the rather neatly titled Little Corey Gorey is a dark teen comedy-drama- come-splattered edged horror film. For many years the picture has been available as only a heavily censored DVD- with the only way to see the movie in its completely uncut form being via the director's website. Here we have a fully uncut DVD from the fine folks at SRS Cinema, with director's commentary & make-of.
Crushing forth with their sophomore release, Canadian duo They Grieve brings it slow and heavy with To Which I Bore Witness. Bridging the gap between post-metal and doom, the two put the hammer forward to create a very evocative and boomingly wistful album that builds itself while taking the listener's emotions apart. Being a two-piece doesn't affect the heaviness, but it does allow for a lot of space, which adds to each reverb-laden pause and furthers the journey inward, resulting in a very personal piece not only for the band, but for each listener.
Enough New Ghosts is a three-track walled noise release from USA’s Performative Cruelty. It’s a digital affair, with the tracks being of the shorter variety- with a focus on crunch-bound & texturally crafted wall matter.
Darja Kazimira is a Latvian ritual ambient artist, from Georgia. Here’s the project's first album- which has just been remastered and reissued by Cyclic Law, following an unofficial release in 2016.
From Dissonance Productions Cherry Red’s extreme metal reissue label here, we have a CD release, bringing together the third and fourth albums from Florida-based ‘n’ Satan worshipping death metal band Deicide. There’s 1995’s Once Upon The Cross, and 1997’s Serpents Of The Light- both of which originally appeared on Roadrunner Records.