torsdag den 26. april 2018

Blackhouse - Live In Leipzig


Not a stranger to hardcore industrial fans for sure. Brian Ladd has been churning out brutal Christian-themed caveman industrial since 1983. With an ever-growing extensive discography prooves that Blackhouse is among one of the oldest (and still active) industrial acts around.  And this live recording was released back in 2016 on Dark Vinyl, came out on CD and 2 different ltd. vinyl editions. Recorded at the Wave Gotik Treffen (WGT) festival in 2015 at Volkspalast Kuppelhalle. 15 tracks, over 60 minutes of pleasure.


For those who don´t know Blackhouse and for those who just haven´t heard it yet, I can quickly try to describe it as a thing between early Einstürzende Neubauten and Whitehouse. The use of metal-scrap percussion, gospel-like propaganda vocals that range from screaming to whispering, eerie field recordings and mind-bending distorted and punishing looped rhythms. All the right ingredients to satisfy fans of early industrial music are there while adding the unique craziness and possessed mental-strain that only Blackhouse can deliver. The live-recording both offers harsh ritual undercurrents (Five Minutes After I Die, see video below!) to hypnotizing soundscapes (Whispers of Love) to the sheer, epic and religious thumping of Repent!. 


A truly satisfying experience that I will recommend for anyone to experience, top edge live recording without a doubt. I would have loved to experience the live-performance, good thing that the performance can be felt (and heard) on this excellent live recording. And the awesome cover is a sassy digipack in thick cardboard. Do yourself a favor and go get it, a worthy investment on the shelve!. 

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onsdag den 25. april 2018

Lacrimi si Sfinti - S/T

First time I heard this I wasn´t pleased, just wasn´t in the mood for it. I waited for 4-5 months and gave it a spin again, why?. Because the cover-artwork being so damn attractive (and beautiful) to the likes of me. It just HAD to be good!. I was lucky, I was in the mood for this (as we speak). Why? I don't know. The hot and moist spring weather irritates me, and I need to cool down to something cold instead of sweating like a pig.  


And this just made my day, perfect for chilling with additional levitating side-effects attached to it! The title means Saints and Tears, and there´s also a restaurant in Romania that goes by the same name!...whatever. This act hails from two countries, Germany and Spain. Two guys getting it together two create one and LOOONG atmospheric dark-ambient piece (1 hour and 1.25 minute long!). And it actually turned out to be a good one! 

Human-like vocal chords altered into ghost´ish drones, torturous razor-sharp violin-like strings, static and humming metallic cathedral like-echoes, eerie mind-buggering sound-glitchness, warped radio-like voices, and distorted looped guitar work (I think), and an improvised and interesting drums part in the end. Sounds like one through and frozen expression being spiritually channelized through a very large and deep hole in the ground. Or just feeling completely frozen in a fog-dense graveyard, being surrounded by silent statues and monuments while unseen and disturbed spirits of the dead touch your very mind with ice-cold fingers! The whole recording basically feels like a cold shower in the hot summer. Strangely pleasant while scary at the same time, enjoying your very last moment on Earth before whatever dreadful event is being bound to happen at any moment! The end of the album confirms that!


A sound-journey worth the damn rick! It can give you that levitating feeling as well for the falling/descending kind of feeling. Fans of early Cluster and drone/ambient related releases done by Controlled Bleeding and even Nurse With Wound. Limited to 30 copies on Spanish label Marbre Negre (so be quick!). Give it a try on a hot and moist day, freshened me up for sure!


Bandcamp:





tirsdag den 24. april 2018

Who Dares Win II



Ever heard of Commando? Not the Arnold flick! (but the computer game). A Capcom classic from 85, one of the biggest arcade to home-computer adaptions ever. A fast scrolling run and gun game, one soldier against an army (kill em´all!) I played it on my C64, loved the music and loved the action! But I always thought back then, that there was one tiny problem. The fun was too fast and too hectic. I know it is a matter of personal taste, I usually prefer turn-based games rather than real-time.



But regarding the success of Commando, clones of the game was bound to happen. So we ended up with Who Dares Win and the (greater) follow-up Who Dares Win II. I fell (instantly) in love with the game from the very first glimpse. Since I only review games from my ZX Vega, I will then focus my review on the ZX-version of Who Dares Win II (Only Who Dares Win II came on the ZX, not nr.I)

Like Commando, it is a run and shoot / top-down shooter treat which was published by Alligate Software in 85. It was decided to do a follow up as a remake on the first Who Dares Win since it was accused of being too similar to Commando. The game is simple; shoot down the enemy soldiers (or throw grenades at then), rescue prisoners and reach the very top/end of the level.



I played the first Who Dares Win as a kid, and as far as I can remember I didn´t see it as a complete clone of Commando at all. I saw it as a slower-thinking man's version of Commando, where you actually could (by strategic means) shoot down your enemies. Where in Commando, you are almost a suicidal killing machine on speed. In Who Dares Win, it almost feels like a sneak sniper type of a game. In Commando it also felt like someone stressfully pushing you through the game to end it, while in Who Dares Win it felt like the player had more control. And you know what? It still is a bloody fun game to play, And I think it stands the test of time... Take a break from your counter strike and try this sucker for a change!

World Of Spectrum:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0005673

   

mandag den 23. april 2018

Silent Cabin - We Left



Third cassette release from Silent Cabin and Kalteldur´s first Silent Cabin cassette review. Released last year August 2017, and works as a continuation of the former cassette-release the Gates of Autumn (Which was AMAZING!). 4 tracks about 25 minutes mini-album, limited cassette release 20 copies. 

For those who don't know Silent Cabin, I can then reveal to you all that it is a one-man act from Finland which works within the boundaries of melodic-ambient and dungeon synth music. Not strictly ambient music or pure dungeon synth, something quite unique and personal I think. One might describe it as winter-synth, but I am not entirely sure. Yet, it feels beautiful and snowy.


First thing I notice with the very first track called We Left, is the melodic, melancholic (but also uplifting) synth-tunes which almost has a taste of proto gothic cold/minimal-wave(early 80s electronic-based post-punk style originated in France and Belgian). Melodic and beautiful cold synth and melodies wash over you, while cold and dry drums echo the emptiness of the room. Next track Through the Opening moves further into the future. A hypnotizing and slowly built deep organ synth with a futuristic-sounding background texture. The ghost of Tangerine Dream and retro-wave lingers here, just slightly. Third track In The Rain pleases the dungeon and winter-synth fans. A brooding, dark and moody evocative piece. I am not exactly being drenched in the rain, more like being inside a vast limestone cavern. Feeling and hearing the space inside a cavern, with that certain cavern coldness engulfing you. Last track No people, ends it all up in a melancholic solitude. Has a kind of mysterious Aphex Twin (Selected Ambient Tracks vol.2) meets Throbbing Gristle´s Weeping vibe to it, a great track and a great way of ending the album. 

An amazing achievement which I will/can highly recommend for those who like not-the-typical kind of dungeon-synth. A fantastic and melancholic feel-good injection. I have (of course) also ordered the cassette, now all I can do is to sit back and wait for it. 



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tirsdag den 17. april 2018

Tokyo Decadence



Well, we all knew it would someday come to this...
Tokyo Decadence is not really porn but it´s pretty graphic. It´s a movie about a shy S/M prostitute named Ai who is miserable because her lover remarried. The reasons she resorted to prostitution are unclear and not explained in the movie but most probably because she thinks she has no other talent.She works at an escort company and has to attend some of the most depraved desires of wealthy Japanese men and yakuza guys. The first two-thirds of the film consists in large part of four sex sequences. Two involve dildos and mirrors. The other two involve erotic asphyxiation with, again, one episode in which the man wants to partially asphyxiate a female and the other in which a man is a recipient. Other sexual acts and interests are involved in some of the scenarios. As I mentioned, is quite graphic but I wouldn´t say it´s hardcore porn.



In itself, the movie is quite bland. Nothing to say about the photography or editing and we never get to know why Ai, a girl that is super sad or partially sad and looks so embarrassed over pretty much everything, does what she does.It all gets more interesting with the introduction of Saki. Another prostitute specialized in masochism, painfully gorgeous and painfully addicted to heroin. The scene where they are together, doing drugs all night and Saki does a little karaoke session to a vibrator while shooting heroin in the meanwhile, is both comic and tragic and the scene where Ai leaves after tenderly cleaning the blood on Saki´s arm after another shoot is quite sad and beautiful. I´m not even going to detail the scene where they meet. Let´s just say Saki is a very efficient mistress and probably would be a better character to explore as it seems her backstory is richer.
The movie ends with Ai trying to break and enter her former lover home under the influence of an unknown drug, after walking for what it seems a whole day, being caught by the police and saved by a crazy singer she met earlier. She realizes she´s lost in a deviant and lunatic world, cries her little, shy heart out and goes back to whoring.
So, here it is. Not the usual movie I would watch and review but I was curious about it and since I have a penchant for kinky...
Not a great one but it´s entertaining enough.


Wiki:

Der Kongress - ATTD Versions



Time to jump headfirst into a genre which we rarely review on Kalteldur, EBM. Second EBM-related review if you ask me. As I have mentioned before it does (sadly) seem to be a rare thing, that someone does EBM which has its focus on a certain... aesthetic? In my own rather isolated world, EBM doesn't always have to be dance music. I like the early cold-wave inspired sound from the Front 242 debut, the dark industrial harshness from the early Klinik and Vomito Negro, the atmospheric post-technoid feel of early FLA/Delirium etc. You know what I mean, early EBM with a dark soundtrack´ish feel and sound to it. Why all the drama? from waving hands, screaming distorted vocals, pumping and boring bass drums, tons of makeup, post-gothic look/clothes ordered from Amazon. Subtlety would be my word here, retain your coolness and do some cool sounding electronic music instead. 

Nevertheless, I was lucky. After endlessly browsing various new-releases within the regime of EBM-music, I came upon this! The cover-art stuck out from the rest, and I liked the band name as well. And the very first 10 seconds, gave me the green lights for it. The very first track AT-System takes u back to Clock DVA (Hacker era) and A Split Second. Cold and stone-dry mechanized drum-patterns, electronic and metal sounding ritualistic percussions, deep and melodic synth-voices building tension, retro keyboard-based trumpets, ring-modulated sequencer loops gives it a cybernetic feel. All of this being wrapped into a kind of ... cool New-Beat sort of vibe. Second track and third track AT-Untitled and TD-Völmoverd move further into early techno and acid-house, giving in to that early FLA/Delirium and even Coil. Ambient-techno/house-drums, harsh acid-house patterns, mysterious and mesmerizing hypnotic moods works great here. Last track TD-Untitled being quite interesting and familiar at the same time. It sounds like the German-based Gerechtigkeits Liga´s Volkermord track from the Hypnotischer Existenzialismus from 1985? I actually think it is the same track, without those extra layers of tribal-sound which the original has. Could it be that this act has the same members from this classic industrial act?. I don´t know. The cassette release is good nonetheless, although I was kind of ...Suprised with the last track. Think I will investigate this, in the meantime. Give it a spin!... 


Bandcamp:
     

mandag den 16. april 2018

Altered States



Back to horror reviews.
I really wanted to like this movie but I hardly paid much attention.
Edward Jessup is an abnormal psychologist who, while studying schizophrenia, begins to think that "our other states of consciousness are as real as our waking states." Jessup begins experimenting with sensory deprivation using a flotation tank, aided by two like-minded researchers, Parrish and Rosenberg. At a faculty party, he meets fellow "whiz kid" and biological anthropologist Emily, and the two eventually marry.
The film skips ahead seven years. Jessup and Emily have two daughters, are on the brink of divorce, and reunite with the couple who first introduced them. When Jessup hears of a Mexican tribe that experiences shared illusion states, he travels to Mexico to participate in what is apparently an Ayahuasca Ceremony. During the walk into the bush, his guide says that the indigenous tribe they are meeting works with Amanita muscaria, which they are collecting for next year's ceremonies. The tribe calls one of the ingredients of the mixture they use "First Flower." An indigenous elder is seen with Banisteriopsis caapi root in his hand before cutting Jessup's hand, adding blood to the mixture he is preparing. Immediately after consuming the mixture, Jessup experiences bizarre, intense hallucinations. He returns to the U.S. with a tincture and continues taking it to trigger altered states of consciousness.


The movie is based on the novel by Paddy Chayefsky, I can´t compare because I haven´t read it. The hallucination scenes are pretty cool and the concept is awesome but it´s a 1980 movie and it did not age well. I wouldn´t mind that someone would make a decent remake.
Like I said I didn´t pay much attention. My mind kept wandering around. If any of you guys want to comment on it, you´ll be more than welcome.
All in all a nice 80s movie. It looks it could have been directed by Cronenberg but no, Ken Russell directed it.


IMDB:

Wiki:

James Parrot - Drone 62


Yup! it´s a dreary (but sunny) Monday morning, and you are right! I have started to have this drone-ambient-tradition/ritual every Monday morning (to start the week!). This time I am in the company of a James Parrot, who has just released (yesterday) this 1-track 30 minutes digital drone-ambient album. Mind you that this is probably one of the most productive Bandcamp artists I have ever come across, about 230 digital Bandcamp releases so far! All within the drone, experimental and ambient section. So... With over 200 releases, is it any good. Worth the bugger?. Let´s give it an ear (or two) and see what we come up with!

The drone piece starts REALLY good, a constant feed of wave-like sound-strings being streamed into your ear. This is getting joined up with looped and atmospheric organ-like parts working in the background. It all sounds like a touch of fresh-air or waking up feeling 100% revived after a good (and uninterrupted sleep!). 4 minutes later on in the track, there is a sound/bass-tendency that gets slightly distorted. Sort of describing when a certain sound-perimeter hits the ceiling, it wants to get higher but ends up being corroded in the heights. A method of working around this could be to record this kind of drone music at a low volume instead, that way you can avoid the distorted sound-elements. 

And that is that! I do not think that the distorted elements are intended, and I do think that the drone-piece could definitely be perfect without it. Actually, I think that the intro to this piece is soo good, that further sound-development/exploration isn't really required. It could just continue and continue and continue, So please Mr. Parrot .. make me a fanboy!


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onsdag den 11. april 2018

Cronaca Nera - Maniac


A veteran unit in the world of Italian power-electronics, Cronaca Nera being a side project to the known cult act Macelleria Mobile Di Mezzanotte. Also includes Andrea Chiaravalli of Iugula-Thor, and Giovanni Mori of Le Cose Bianche. Kind of makes this act a super power-electronics group!  This release goes as far back as 2001 and was released as a CD-R on Butcher´s House Prod. Now it has resurfaced as a cassette re-release via Marbre Negre. Limited to 40 copies, with a nice and cool looking batch included.

It´s pretty brutal but artistic/experimental material. As I said before, I love power electronics with brain-guts in it (Instead of testosterone). They work around massive looped metallic distorted sounds, guitar or mic feedback (I think), almost whispering and screaming distorted vocals, and high-pitched warped tone-loops which take you back to classic Whitehouse-sound. And they sound like a power-electronics/noise act from Italy, which is pretty cool (if you ask me). The heritage (regarding early industrial and power electronics) in Italy goes way back to 1979 when MB (Maurizio Bianchi) released his very first cassette, and then of course Mauthausen Orchestra´s first in 82. So yes, Italy has a certain sound and attitude which is quite unique. Someone ought to do a Giallo inspired horror-slasher with these guys doing the soundtrack! For fans of Sutcliffe Jugend, Whitehouse and Folkstorm.


Over 30 minutes of pure and relentless retro power-electronics torture presented on a beautiful cassette. A cult release without a doubt!.



Bandcamp (label):

Soundcloud (band):
   

tirsdag den 10. april 2018

Nightmare on Elm Street II



Five years after Freddy Krueger's apparent defeat, the Walshes have moved into the Thompsons' former home. Their teenage son, Jesse, has a nightmare about being stalked by a killer driving a school bus. He wakes up and attributes the dream to the unusual heat in the room. Though soon he´ll find out it has nothing to do with it. 

Nightmare on Elm Street II is even more surreal than the first and takes the plot up a notch; instead of having Freddie kill all the teenagers while they sleep, he makes one of them kill them while he sleeps. Or awake... that´s where things get a bit confusing. Was Jesse asleep all the time? Most probably not, what it seems is that Freddie possesses him and this way he steps up to the "real world".




Plus points, the photography is pretty awesome and the ambient is more surreal (I keep using this word! Why!) than the first one which, in a way, kinda makes me like this one better. Please don´t hurt me.
Minus points, at some point, the movie kinda reminds of a crappy Amityville sequel and some scenes are just silly: a bird explodes for some reason, Jesse´s football coach is attacked by balls... Messy.

And the opening scene with the school bus, come on! Admit it, it´s awesome! Also, there´s nothing funnier than watching mindless teens get slaughtered at a pool party.


IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089686/?ref_=nv_sr_4

Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street_2:_Freddy%27s_Revenge

Flesh Vomit - Beyond The Spectral Light



Harsh noise from the Bowels of Southern California, a sole creation of Joel Perez. Joel Perez has hade this project on and going since 2014. 3 cassettes, 1 CDR, and several only-digital albums. This one is the newest thing, and it has been released via Swedish-based Ominous Recordings (see former interview). 

My first thought on this was that it definitely wasn´t harsh noise, but more in the classic era of Brighter Death Now (Necrose Evangelicum). Blackened atmospheric ambient-noise with an interesting paranormal (and spiritual) theme attached to it! 2 tracks, 22 minutes. 

First track Ghost Flesh welcomes you into a metallic-sounding kind of cellar room, a large murky room deep underground hidden from human preying eyes! The sound of a narrow-film machine (I think) are obviously running into oblivion, probably showing some kind of snuff that freaks everybody out! But you are not alone in this cold and damp cellar, you are watching this disturbing film-unpleasantness in the company of human corses. And you can basically feel... how the spirits of these sad individuals still linger around. Machine-like ritualistic drummings and strangely distorted radio-noise give the listener hints of the electronic-voice-phenomenon/EVP. Which means ghost-voices recorded over a short-wave radio. A fantastic piece! I don´t know if the artist had the intention of doing death-industrial, but this is EXACTLY how it should sound! Incredible menacing and disturbing soundtrack!


Second track called Black Mist, a curious ambient-hum of a piece. A strang piece containing humming lose cords and wires, recording paranormal activity in an empty studio room. I think, that this piece has been recorded in a totally blackened room. It sounds like an ambient-noise piece which can summon the dead. There is no doubt that the common feeling of being utterly alone, is at work here. Frightening cold and evocative, keeps your imagination going!.

A fantastic and unique release with LOTS of character/personality. Already added the other cassette releases on Discogs on my wishlist. I want more of this! Have a go at Flesh Vomit´s Bandcamp, lots of material there to check out!


Bandcamp (label):

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mandag den 9. april 2018

A Nightmare On Elm Street



Probably the most recognizable horror movie ever, it spawned multiple sequels. The plot revolves around four teenagers who are stalked and killed in their dreams (and thus killed in reality) by Freddy Krueger. The teenagers are unaware of the cause of this strange phenomenon, but their parents hold a dark secret from long ago.

It is a very well done movie, except for some details (Nancy is super annoying). The theme is extremely scary, being killed while you´re most vulnerable, while you sleep.


I remember my brother got traumatized by it when we were kids, we stopped the movie at the scene where Tina gets killed, which is one of the coolest kill scenes in history, as well as Glen´s kill.
The movie feels surreal and the ending adds to that feeling. Was it all a dream? What really happened?
Possibly a cliché movie and the number of sequels that were made maybe have hurt the original a bit. But you can´t argue that it´s a classic and one of the biggest influences on pop culture.


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Wiki:

Bleaeck - Dilaudnumb

A new label has been born, called Dark Coalition Records. They have just released Daliudnumb by Bleaeck. The act´s name means something about having a total disgust for society. I am not actually 100% percent sure what the mysterious album title means, but I can reveal to you all that info about it is more-or-less revealed on Bandcamp:

 "These tracks further an exploration of refute to the opioid endemic. Suffering en masse has resulted in predatory over-prescription and consumption of commercial medications. We resist the pill-pushers. Music for expression, for mourning, for a continued existence as entropy ensues in this hellish "civilixyzation (end-game)"


Something about... refusing your daily medication (whatever that is) and then lead a life without medications. I think it is easier said than done (for some), the only medication I get is is when my wife "forces" me to swallow my vitamin pills. But it is true (in one way), someone is earning TONS of money on the physically and mentally ill with the pills industry. Businessmen without a doctor license to fake health gurus creating pills from cow dung (you know them!). So regarding that, we are then presented with a 3 track mini album being almost 20 minutes long.

3 live recorded tracks working around prepared electric guitar with echo. The first track called Dilaudnumb Djunk Gmork Session 3 (which is the longest track with also the longest track title) contains looped and echoed string-ambiance, additional echoed string moods (and distorted ones) are added to a mesmerizing drone experience. Strangely reminds me of something from NON´s full-length album ´Children Of The Black Sun´ or Current 93´s EP ´Where The Long Shadows Fall´. A nice and sincere welcoming piece. Second track Helix has a more acoustic sounding feel to it, melancholic-acoustic psychedelics? Honest and authentic too. The mood-intensity varies slightly from relaxation to frightful moments, like having one of those half-awake daydreams. Last track Bliss, feels like a gentle rollercoaster ride. 

And that is that it starts where it starts and ends where it (should) end ... In a good way. A nice way to start your Monday morning, or end it in the late hours. Works in both ways, give it a spin and you´ll agree with me.       



Bandcamp (label):
https://darkcoalitionrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dilaudnumb

Facebook (label):
https://www.facebook.com/darkcoalitionrecords/

torsdag den 5. april 2018

Inhaler - s/t


First review from noise/experimental-label Ominous Recordings (see the former interview), a self-titled cassette album called Inhaler. Inhaler has also released another obscure cassette called Gorefields, back in 2014 On Stängda Dörrar. And this new release by this act has (also) been recorded back in 2014, in the same studio called White Lodge. The question remains then, is this act still active... or?. We will see what the future brings. On with the review.

Any fan of classic/proto power-electronics will notice it, give a nod and smile. And yes, it does look like a nod to the old days of power electronics. Back in those days where no one were doing power electronics. I immediately thought back to Whitehouse´s groundbreaking masterpiece ´Dedicated To Peter Kurten´, Stapleton and Bennet´s ´150 Murderous Passions...´, or Sutcliffe Jugend´s ´Campaign´. And yes, the guy on the cover art wasn´t actually a nice guy. Practically being one of the most hated criminals in Russia. His name was Andrei Chikatilo, and he was a serial killer. He went by with names like Butcher of Rostov and Red Ripper. Committed sexual assault, murder, and mutilation of at least 52 children and women. Executed by gunshot in 1994. A lot of trial-drama (which I suggest for the curious) to read all about. Single-sided cassette, 4 tracks, 28 minutes of pure old-school power-electronics. 


This is the kind of power-electronics that I like. It´s not harsh-noise chaotic and aggressive but maintains... a subtle, honest, minimalistic (and atmospheric) sound brutality (why all the drama?). In my world, power-electronics are good when you can actually sense the artist's intentions with it. There are brains and truthfully guts on this release, it actually makes you think (which I love). And I love the sound, sounds like you're in a tiny and gloomy cellar room listening to the band performing. A lot of sound variety too, guitar strings, rhythmic distorted stompings, screaming tones, reverbed cave-sounds, hidden demonic vocals. Really pleased with this cassette. Tired of wannabee power-electronics act? THEN GET THIS TAPE, it will not let you down. Fxxxxxx great!.


Bandcamp:

onsdag den 4. april 2018

The Showgirls


Hey! Do you like sex?
Well, after watching this you won't like it anymore. 

Paul Verhoeven directed Total Recall and RoboCop, which are two of my favorite movies ever. And Showgirls. This is one of those movies you don't know why it exists but you can't look away either.
It's like a fancy car crash.

Nomi Malone is this girl who ends up in Vegas, who seems to be running away from something, and ends up stripping. She meets Molly after being stolen of everything she has and stays with her.
Now Molly works as a stewardess on a major production and takes Nomi one day with her, who gets fascinated with the glamour and stuff.
She meets Cristal and all hell breaks loose.

From this point on is boobs, crazy dancing, monkeys, cocaine, Gina Gershon saying "darling" 165 times, prostitution and the weirdest sex scene you'll ever see in a pool.

I have to admit it's one of my guilty pleasures and I've been meaning to re-watch it for days.
I took great pleasure in it.

Not as much as Berkley took while licking that stripper's post.

IMDB:

Wiki:

Mushroom In Our Shoes - Quarter Libeň



Mostly, I like to think that I know every industrial band that has existed. I also like to think (sometimes) that if I haven´t heard about it, then I usually dismiss it thinking that it probably isn´t worth bothering. But sometimes that isn´t entirely true. Sometimes you just end you stumbling and falling over something... hidden and totally unheard of. Someone has created a Bandcamp label site called CS Industrial 1982-2002, which means Czech and Slovak industrial. And no... Laibach and Borghesia aren´t the only ones. And then I decided to check up on it, and then just examine the first release which they had on their site. 

This act is called as you can see ... Mushroom In Our Shoes sounds... sounds cool when you say it, not actually a disturbing industrial band name is it? Title of the album, couldn´t actually translate it on the web... think it is about a specific quarter of living location of some sort, maybe where the band lives? About 36 minutes, 10 tracks. This was their debut, released in 1987 on cassette via Eastmush Records and then re-released digitally on CS Industrial in 2018.

Disturbing and good industrial material here. Very experimental, ritualistic, inventive and primal stuff. First track called For Your Body Part 1 takes you instantly back to the early-decaying scrab metal sound of Test Dept and SPK. Metallic percussions, huge machines humming. The second track has a Cabaret Voltaire/Richard Kirk feel with the free-jazzy hornet blowing, mixed up with primal and esoteric ritualistic drummings. So far a perfect apocalyptic utopian unease confronts the listener. The most disturbing piece (for me) might be the My Child And My Love Part 1, and that is just because that I am a dad for 2 ... And waiting for the third as we speak. It is just a recording of a mother trying to calm an angry baby, probably tired and hungry as they are from time to time. Mixed up with ritualistic drummings, which gives the track an eerie and slightly sinister quality. I am of course sure when I actually listen to this track, that there are no ill intentions with it. A proud (and probably VERY tired dad!) getting an idea of immortalizing a recording with his child. Luckily in the next track, My Child And My Love Part 2 his love/mother sings to the baby and calms it down... apparently, the male industrial musician wasn´t able to do that with the ritualistic drummings. The album continues in the experimental, free-jazzy-industrial vibe and doesn't let the listener down. It´s a hidden gloomy treat for those who are digging the early days and sound of pre-industrial and murky avant-garde music. Recommendable!


Bandcamp (label):

Facebook (label):

Discogs (band):