Walter Rizzati - (2014) 1990: I Guerrieri Del Bronx LP

Travelling twenty-four years into the past in a beat-up DeLorean, Death Waltz Recording Company has returned from a post-apocalyptic wasteland to bring you the futuristic stylings of Walter Rizzati’s music to cult classic 1990: THE BRONX WARRIORS. Coming from the mind of celebrated shlock-meister Enzo G. Castellari, take John Carpenter’s ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, swap out the whole of NYC for just the Bronx, add in a little bit of THE WARRIORS and a lot of bikers and you have Castellari’s masterwork. The beauty of Rizzati’s score is that while it’s a tricked-out work of crazy genius for crazed biker gangs in a wasteland, it feels like a compilation of scores for movies that would only really play on the old 42nd Street.

It’s not easy to nail down what Rizzati’s chief weapon is; is it the electrifying guitar that wails out the main theme, the bassline that reaches eleven on the funkometer, or the Manzarek-esque plinking keyboards? Then there’s the thick percussion with the odd time-signatures, like a demonic version of The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s ‘Take Five’, or the out-of-nowhere piano/guitar rag. Or maybe it’s the big religioso number that sounds like it’s influenced by either Carl Orff or Fabio Frizzi. Either way, The Bronx in 1990 is the place to be. Just don’t forget your axe.

It’s 1990 and the Bronx has officially been declared a “No Man’s Land.”

Clint Manswell - (2014) In The Wall (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) LP

Death Waltz Recording Company are extremely proud to present their first release by major Hollywood composer Clint Mansell (REQIUEM FOR A DREAM, NOAH), the score to the award-winning 2007 horror short IN THE WALL. Telling the surreal story of a man who accidentally kills his pregnant wife and hides her body in a cavity wall, only to be haunted by visions of her corpse escaping, the film deftly moves from psychological horror to creature feature propelled by Mansell’s intense music. The score is anchored by the main theme, a versatile string melody that moves from sinister to emotional to tragic to perfectly match the shocking events of the film.
Mansell’s work continues in the same vein as the music composed for Darren Aronofsky’s films with the Kronos Quartet, expertly mixing the stripped-down string sound with electronic elements and percussion to create a vivid colour palette. The music plays with the conventions of the genre, at times Bernard Herrman-esque high strings pierce the silence, while intense electric guitar and feedback alternate with sparse, echoing drums. The electronics slowly undulate beneath the surface, winding up the tension and used more as a textural device until the final trip-hop rendition of the main theme takes your breath away. A classic score from a truly brilliant composer.
 Streams A & B.

On the eve of the hottest New Year on record, a young pregnant wife happily prepares for the birth of her child. But her secretive husband may have darker plans for the family.