Exploring the audible outer realms of outsider electronics, strange computer games and exquisite and thrilling movies from the past and beyond.
torsdag den 28. december 2017
Night of the Demons
Ok, Night of the Demons is a sort of cult favorite but the movie is not really that good. The acting is a bit crappy and the movie desperately needs more lighting as everything looks so dark to the point is hard to see what´s going on in certain scenes.
The characters are all meh, especially the guys. Bunch of mysoginist dudes. I got really happy when they all got killed through the gore level is pretty low except for a couple of scenes. There´s boobs, some poonani, typical 80s movie where teens go party where they shouldn´t. A bit meh but still entertaining.
...until you get the Angela scene. Seriously, the movie is worth it just because of that scene. She twirls in a lunatic fever while Bauhaus "Stigmata Martyr" is playing and a strobe is... strobing, making every club goth chick jealous. Curiously is the best shot scene in the movie and one of the best I saw on the 80s "crappy but good" movies. I really like the angles.
I know there´s a sequel and a remake but I haven´t checked them. Not gonna go anywhere close to the remake but will probably check the sequel eventually.
A cool movie that, though is quite bad, actually has some charm and it´s always fun to watch. :)
Something new something great!. They hail from Russia with (I think) several side projects released via their Bandcamp label Septemper17. This is the first release of their new project called Arbeitsfunfall (Accident at work). Released the 15th of December 2017.
Moody, melancholic and slightly melodic driven synth-electronica. A bit like a time machine for me. I´m kind of back with early WARP records, Sabres of Paradise and Plaid kind of stuff.Just with minor elements of dark-ambient, industrial-techno and 80s synth soundtracks.Breathtaking melodies, imaginative and evocative material!
First track Crossroads, starts with a beautifully reverbed piano part which is joined together with a perfect sounding melancholic synth tune. In the background, strange recordings... sounds like reversed drops of water/rain or paper just fluttering in the eerie wind. Occasional cold synths are joined in the mix with a technoid-ambient drum. Sounds good right?... 9 minutes of pure electronic enjoyment.
Next track Absence of Objects moves into darker territories. Starts of with heavy bass-distorted synths (Reminds me of the first Terminator). Sounds of hissing gas entering the cold vacuum. Joined up (once again) with those excellent moody electronica synth tunes.
Third Track called Your Move has an ambient/techno-dub feel to it. Not far away from the likes of Trentmöller, just with a lot more melodic and atmospheric depth to it. A very mesmerising and angelic piece with minor hints of early Tangerine Dream.
Last track Unknown place gives u a thumbing mechanized bass drum, distorted bass with windy sounding synths. Reverbed clicking sounds clicks in and out of focus. Being almost 10 minutes long. Being isolated in a cellar with only a candlelight could enlighten this experience.
A great album, which is out on cassette!. 20 editions, be quick!.
It´s Mr. Merzbow´s birthday today (19th December), so, I have then decided to do a review of a classic (and older) Merzbow album. As we speak I´m sitting in a library doing the reviews, and at this very moment, this library building is getting a new roof. Sounds of electrically driven power tools, drilling sounds, hammers etc are coming down on me from above. At the same time, I have been so unlucky in forgetting my headphones, so I have borrowed a pair from the library (which are quite shitty!). I will try (my best) to review this classic Merzbow album, nonetheless!.
Giving an introduction to Merzbow would be silly. I will be quick. This man from Japan has made experimental noisy stuff since 1979!. And has 100 of releases under his belt (way more than that I think!). Even released a box set containing 50 CDs!.
So basically, we are dealing with the godfather of noise. So every time you are out and experiencing some new and "trendy" harsh-noise act, you can then be pretty sure that Merzbow (more-or-less) are responsible for that experience.
Released on Alien8 Recordings back in 1999, 7 tracks (almost 70 minutes). With a strange and not typical album name, Door Open At AM?.
I like it because it is quite, special in a way. Lots of free-jazz elements, even minor technoid drum patterns hidden in the mix. Big-city and metallic noir jazz/noise analog fusion... almost works as some sort of soundtrack (Tetsuo?). Nicely balanced between the chaotic and the monotonic. Trippy and incredible varying in sound.
If you ever need a good place to start with Merzbow, then I would recommend this!. It´s not too noisy or ambient´ish/drone´ish either. I think it gives the listener a perfect example of what you can expect from Merzbow. There´s the trippy experimental bits, the noisy aggressive sounds, jazzy grooves with occasional industrial´ish and metallic elements. You don´t need to be a harsh noise addict to listen to it, it had a lot more to offer!
Going back to my cheesy 80s horror mood. I guess it´s because the Xmas season is upon us.Gonna try and make this a decent review for the sake of Per. I tried, dude. I tried...
Slime City is considered a cult movie and rightly so. It´s funny and the gore is pretty decent.It starts with Alex and his girlfriend renting a new apartment. There he meets a scantily dressed goth chick who, as the movie progresses, turns out to be possessed by a satanist who committed suicide. He also meets Roman, a goth dude who invites him over for dinner and feeds him some Himalayan yogurt or a very weird green goo. That green goo makes Alex turn into the incredible melting man: his body turns into a messy goo and the only way to turn back to normal is to kill people.
At first I thought it was a very fucked up STD, since he had a quite PG-rated sex session with the goth chick and I kinda wished it was it since the movie takes an occult spin with a satanist cult and demonic possession which, as far I´m concerned, it´s not funny anymore but ok.
Overall it´s a fun movie to watch. The dialogues are not very bad, I actually burst out laughing a couple of times although the acting is not great. It´s not painful to watch even so it´s cool. The fx are very decent, I liked the slimy face effect and the scene where Alex dies a la Re-Animator is one of the funniest scenes ever! Trust me, it makes the movie worth watching. There´s even a reference to Videodrome in one of the murder scenes. Pretty cool little movie.
An interesting new side-project of Haag, dealing and exploring the sound of vintage synth / Berlin school. Released back in July (2017). Inspired by science fiction, psychedelics and mind-altering elements from our great and beloved cosmos. 6 tracks, about 30 minutes of mind bubbling ear candy for the lovers of ancient synths.
The first track already takes me back to early Dr. Who soundtracks which were made by BBCs Radiophonic Workshop. With a cool title attached to it, Assembly of Dreaming Robots. Starts of with the sound of electronic robotic sounds, like robots waking up from a slumber on some distant space station. Maybee getting turned on when the sunrise is beginning?. It then evolves and ends with a beautiful Jarre´ish/Tangerine Dream´ish melodic ending. The Robots are now fully awake and are waiting for upcoming orders from the mother computer.
Next track Replicant has a slight, Boards of Canada synth dream feel. The sound aesthetic of that ´vintage sci-fi feel´ is there alright. If Blade Runner was made back in the early 70s, it could sound like this. Makes me think of Clockwork Orange for some reason. Slightly dark, good idea to keep an eye on that strange replicant Ash from the first Alien ... Right?.
Third track Voyager 1 is a spacy and slightly grimy trip into unknown territories. The sound of being slowly sucked into a black hole, and no one knows where it might lead you. A grimy and murky space piece, which could enjoy the fans of Cluster.
Forth track called Red Skies, are we on Mars now? Epic and majestic melodic synths with an early and hectic Cabaret Voltaire´ish drum machine in the background.
The shortest track on the album (about 3 minutes) Falling is up next. Tasty and mellow synth-waves to sleep/chill on. Sounds good, sounds really good. Retro-synth lovers, take notice!.
The album ends up with a track named after the title of the album Lucid Sunrise, being also the longest track on the album. A beautiful and slowly built piece, perfectly describing the upcoming sunrise. Although this is a lucid one, of course, a slightly acid-drenched sunrise. Ends the album in a challenging and soothing way.
And that´s that. It´s not an "over-the-top" release BUT... It works great with its simplicity. It may help listening to it IF you are a fan of that vintage synth sound like I am, I don't know how other "normal" people would react to it (I don´t care). I fucking like it, and so should you! ...
A serious issue through a Facebook conversation was brewed the other day, the existence of Stoner Synth??... This was (more or less) misunderstood as someone interpreted it as some kind of dungeon synth you can enjoy, after the consumption of illegal/legal substances/drugs (whatever that means). I wasn´t thinking of drugs when someone mentioned it, I was just thinking of a certain style or sound. I guess there can be two ways of understanding it.
1) It can be early vintage ambient synth works by the likes of Tangerine Dream, Cluster, Eno or even Jarre. It´s pretty trippy, imaginative, made on synths and you can "relax" to it.
2) The fusion between dungeon synth and heavy bass-driven dark ambient. Something that lies between early ambient/esoteric industrialists like Lustmord, Ain Soph, Controlled Bleeding, Sigillum S, and modern and classic dungeoneers like Old Tower, Hedge Wizard, Witchking of Angmar etc. Primitive, noisy and slowly driven dark dungeon synth with thick undercurrents of bass?.
With these two approaches, I will try (with my knowledge) to satisfy those who seek Stoner-synth. Or just synth, you can stone too. You can do it with a nice coffee, cold beer or whatever. Regarding the drug "controversy" (when it comes to stoner-culture) I have then chosen NOT to recommend any trippy substances to be taken while listening to these... humble suggestions.
They just HAD to be mentioned of course!. This is the ground zero of the term, the Black Sabbath of stoner synth if you please. Have a soft couch, a nice imported stout beer, warm fireplace, a Dr.Who Novel perhaps? This is the ultimate vintage sci-fi synth trip you´ll ever get. A wonderful synth (and minor guitars) journey through the cosmos. A relaxing mentally stoner trip worth digesting. Don't forget to check out all their other early releases from the 70s, they are ALL good!.
More obscure and murky then Tangerine Dream, who also hails from the days of synth-driven kraut-rock days in Germany. Homemade electronics and very experimental in nature. They were basically before Throbbing Gristle, doing haunting factory like industrial sounds. Creepy, cold and dark incredible innovative stuff! It´s a bad and heavy stoner trip, with dusty synths and rusty guitar strings here and there. Need the early challenging synth-sound?. This is it!. Sounds like being trapped in a robot-making factory!.
Highly regarded as one of the prime movers when it comes to esoteric ritual/synth music. Frightening, evocative soundtracks if you ever need to summon your demons and great old ones. Think dark apocalyptic rituals in elite and hidden occult societies. Although being incredibly dark in nature, it doesn't prevent you from returning to it again and again. This and reading Aleister Crowley could work together nicely.
Maybee, not a 100% synth driven one, but surely within the boundaries of stoner ambient. Controlled Bleeding has churned out every aspect of extreme music since 1978. From progressive rock, punk, power electronics, EBM, industrial rock, kraut-rock, orchestral neo-classic, gothic rock etc. BUT, their ambient releases are SOO GOOD and DEEP!. And this one is NO exception. It basically grows on you everytime you hear. Good for a power nap if you ask me!
It´s called dungeon-noise. Sounds like a mixture of drone metal, funeral doom and black satanic noise submerged into the world of dungeon synth. It works as a perfect introduction to dungeon synth if you are into stoner/doom rocker (Earth, Sunn (o)) or satanic black noise (mz.412?). Is it bass-driven? .. Yes, it is, more in the punishing distorted kind of way!.
I just came upon this by chance, the cover-art revealed or smelled like a stoner-synth thing. And I was right! It isn't as punishing and harsh like Tyrannus but works more with slowly build and ritualistic synth drones. From an isolated spot in Ukraine. Cold, desolate minimal dungeon synth for the isolationist! Even the cold (almost industrial-sounds) of early Cluster/TG can be heard here!.
There you go, lots of diversity to submerge your stoner needs into.
tirsdag den 12. december 2017
Krampusnacht - Krampusnacht
The outsider children/spawn of dungeon synth have given birth to yet another ugly duckling. I was searching for the likes of Christmas synth, and some good fellow showed me this!... Doesn't look pleasant and nice does it?... A band called Krampusnacht with a horrifying monster with pointy teeth on the cover?!... What sort of sick Christmas joke is that?!...Well, I can reveal that Krampus is an age-old figure from Austrian folklore. He is a good "friend/companion" to Saint Nicholas. The thing is, Santa takes care of the good children while Krampus... Takes care of the bad children! *gulp*... So what the heck does he do with the children?!. Well... For starters, he kidnaps them by shoving them down his sack/bag, he then leaves that sack hanging on a branch on the highest tree in the forest. Then the 21´st of December, he will then take down the sacks and consume those unfortunate kids therein. MERRY CHRISTMAS!.
And then we have the band/act Krampusnacht, which have made this interesting Christmas themed release about the Krampus (and the cover art as well). There´s no info about this act anywhere, not on Discogs either. BUT! the info on Bandcamp reveals that they hail from GREENLAND!!.... All of a sudden it all just got a bit scarier, a sick publicity stunt joke in the world of dungeon synth? The thing is that the release is quite decent, good and honest. Whoever made this have had the idea of combining classic primitive dungeon synth with horror aesthetics, and then stuffing it like a Christmas turkey. Classic Christmas themes being mutated into the taste of deer old Krampus. And there you have it, no bull-shit. A pure and morbid Christmas soundtrack. As you all can see, it´s out on a CD. Would LOVE to have it laying right under the Christmas tree this year (I´ll ask Santa!).
So who the hell are Glokkohm?. I don´t know. Wasn´t even sure this morning what kind of music I wanted to write about. I searched Facebook for answers, didn´t find anything "interesting". I stalked Youtube for whatever I could listen to, nothing inspiring. Last stop would be Bandcamp and do a tag search. I tried the exploited death industrial tag and concluded that whoever uses/represents the death-industrial tag/scene are creating horrible album-covers, and having horrible power-electronics inspired band names (Sexual organs sumthing etc). Then I came upon Glokkohm, a strange name, and an even stranger minimalistic piece of cover-art. So whatever... I can easily conclude that this (once again), has not anything soundwise to do with the death-industrial stylee. If you ever are in doubt, check up on your early BDN and Atrax Morgue releases!. BUT, there´s still a chance that this shit could be interesting ... AND IT IS!
Think early Esplendor Geometrico meets Haraam maybe. A touch of minimal wave, industrial noise, raw ambient moods with cold and primitive technoid rhythms. It is an older release which came out on cassette in 2015 via Trade Policy, which (since then) haven´t released anything new. A minor sublabel to Modern Trips, which also sadly seems to be inactive. The release have then been digitally re-released on a Bandcamp label called Modern Tinnitus Theory. You can also still get the tape from Discogs (few copies!). So is it any good then?... It is if you are in a dying need of something fresh/modern within the realm/sounds of harsh industrial music.
All the tracks are very varied in sound and tempo, but the entire aesthetics of the album sticks it all together like glue. It feels and sounds like a 100% thorough album, a great piece of work!. The distorted sounds and just right, top quality stuff. To me, it almost sounds like Haus Arafna (the way they should sound/better version!). It sounds underground but quite professional made at the same time. Just the sounds of perfection in my ears!. Well... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR! ... Give it a spin!. You might also wanna read an interview with them (see below).
I got introduced to this classic U.S death/ambient-industrial act when the Times Without Gods was released back in 2002. Actually, I won it in a competition on Murderous Vision´s Myspace page. It became a classic in my growing collection of modern dark-ambient releases. And now in 2017, I wanted to have more, so I picked up a random one on Discogs and it became this. Great title for an album!
So for those who don´t know Murderous Vision, let me give you a quick introduction.
The Murderous Vision saga began back in 1997, with its first album calledLoathe on his own label Live Bait Recordings. Since then and to this day, Murderous Vision (Stephen Petrus) has kept up releasing new material within the spectrum of atmospheric death-industrial, dark-ambient and neo-classic/Martial. About 13 albums, 7 splits, 1 compilation and several mini-albums (more or less). Over time Murderous Vision has proven to be among the classic industrial acts from the United States, that is when we are talking about acts (from the U.S) having inspiration from the classic Cold Meat Industry sound. And most of his material is available on his Bandcamp. Fans of U.S Subklinik, open your ears.
This release was made back in 2006 on Live Bait Recordings, 60 minutes+ horror-soundtrack journey into pure apocalyptic death-industrial. Very varied in sound-landscapes this one is. From a haunted asylum, abandoned hospitals, ruin-like factories to darkened esoteric rituals, visions of hell and surreal lucid dreams. All fitted nicely into one album. And the album is perfectly balanced between lo-fi and hi-fi as well. I cannot find any specific theme in the album, it almost works like a compilation of sorts. Various horrific soundtrack moods, giving you that extra ear curiosity for exploration. The tracks are good, and the sound is good as well ... Would love to invest in more releases with this classic act. For fans of classic CMI-acts like Megaptera, Archon Satani and Raison D´être.
Not to be confused with another Rattenkonig from Australia doing black metal. This Rattenkonig hails from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France. Quite new and fresh, released the 3rd of December. And is second release from this dungeon synth act. First one was the Frozen Hills of Anzar, which came out back in October 2017. 2 only-digital mini-album releases, no physical releases (yet!).
It is a strange thing with Dungeon Synth really. You don´t have to be a talented mastermind behind the synth, but to do some of that and some of that can sometimes just be... enough. A simple and evocative achievement, using the right synth sounds to create the right atmosphere. And that is what Rattenkonig is all about, creating a mood which works. Not super tight and precise on the synth, but who cares? ... If the mood is right, then everything is right in my book.
It´s a dark world, a village stricken with rats... and the plaque. So who do you call?... The Rattenkonig!. For those who don´t know, the name for the act can be associated with the classic adventure tale. About the Pied Piber, who took care of a rat problem with his magic flute. Playing a tune or two, and made all the rats follow him away from the village. BUT, he isn´t paid a dime for it. So in revenge, he plays that flute once again and makes all the children follow him... who then all disappears. Another strange and more mysterious association is this :
"A rat king is a collection of rats whose tails are intertwined and bound together by one of several possible mechanisms, such as entangling material like hair or sticky substances like sap or gum. The number of rats joined together varies from a few to as many as 30. Historically, the phenomenon is particularly associated with Germany, which produced many reported instances. Rat kings occur so rarely that they have sometimes been thought to be cryptids, but there are several well-attested modern occurrences."
And that´s it. A wonderful and simple achievement with the right synths and mood. Sadly short, but works perfectly in the background for reading classic Brothers Grimm. Or for some dark medieval Roleplaying Game (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying?). A cassette release? ...
