Magic Trick - (2011) The Glad Birth Of Love LP

The Glad Birth of Love. This is Tim Cohen's fourth album following his 2009 debut, The Two Sides of Tim Cohen (Empty Cellar), and two full-lengths (Laugh Tracks / Tim Cohen's Magic Trick) and one EP (Bad Blood) on New York's Captured Tracks label.  Featuring guest appearances by JOHN DWYER (THEE OH SEES), GRACE COOPER (SANDWITCHES), DIEGO GONZALEZ (GONG, CITAY, JONAS REINHARDT, DRY SPELLS), JOE ROBERTS (BLACK FICTION), AMBER LAMPRECHT (RODRIGUEZ BAND), and STEVE PEACOCK, The Glad Birth of Love is the first Tim Cohen album to not directly bear his name, but the name of his band, MAGIC TRICK. Recorded in a tower at Tim Cohen's home this album marks a departure from his signature radio-ready song craft. The Glad Birth of Love is a 45 minute album composed of four epic long-form compositions saturated with Tim's uncanny pop sensibilities and vivid lyrical imagery. Transitioning seamlessly from sparse acoustic blues, to dense psychedelic bass & oud ragas, to lush layered vocal harmonies this album is a culmination of Tim's work to date.

Man Is The Bastard - (1995) Thoughtless LP

The mysterious noise rock combo known as Man Is the Bastard was a project put together by Eric Wood and Joel Connell after they had left hardcore outfit Pissed Happy Children. Dubbing the band "power violence," the sound was a brutal mix of complicated technical riffing and straight-up hardcore. Making things even more interesting were the member's interest in the burgeoning noise scene, something that affected their music greatly. The group lasted until 1997, when they mutually decided that if they continued they would no longer make quality music. The members still work together on projects, including Wood's Bastard Noise projects.

Man Is The Bastard - (2015) The Lost M.I.T.B. Sessions LP

BEATTIE (vocals), CONNELL (drums/cymbals) and WOOD ("FOUR STEEL GIRDERS"/ vocals) teamed up with sinister BASTARD NOISE lead vocalist ARTZ and the astounding voice of AMBER ASYLUM, KRIS FORCE to create this long, long awaited album of sound and cinematic vision. Carefully orchestrated basses layered to massive perfection, the most progressively brutal and tasteful drumming coupled with ornate four part vocal arrangements and drilling, esoteric TROGOTRONIC custom "skull electronics" make The Lost M.I.T.B. Sessions one for the record books.

Merryl & Flex1000 - (2014) Split CS

Merryl side (banger1) has these odd beginning sounds, and, I can’t tell whether I’m spooked or chill. I think a lot of people call this a Lynchian vibe, which basically means that it’s 1) creepy, 2) tense, and 3) a little funny, too. Fuzzed out vocal samples are mixed in, creating a bouncy Dilloway moment that’s immediately thrown out the fucking window when the whole thing BREAKS. Soon, the side flies off the handle into a slow-burning smack-down where the sonic violence gets super transcendental.

Flex’s side (banger2) delivers driving synth pulses set to his own distorted, apocalyptic vocal blasts. After some preliminary wylin’ out, the side digs deep into phases of serious head-nodding rhythms that are blown, scorched, torched – whatever – they’re badass and real (real-as-in…punch your friend at the show and then kiss your friend at the show). 

 

Roger Miller - (1969) Walkin' In The Sunshine LP

After a triumvirate of near-perfect albums came this harbinger of the decline of a particularly imaginative and original country artist. Upon listening to the first side, one wonders if this is the same Roger Miller whose string of zany hits had made listening to the hit parade so much fun. We get three of his most inconsequential and unformed songs ever recorded, and sandwiched between are covers of "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" and "Green Green Grass of Home" that should never have been hatched. Miller positively sleepwalks his way through these performances. Things definitely look up upon a flip of the side, though. We get three high quality Miller songs, and, although close inspection reveals these also to be a bit imitative of his past glories, they are still full of the detail and spiky twists this artist is known for. "Pardon My Coffin" is really a fantastic song, despite the "Sixteen Tons" lick in there. And how about this bit of poetry tossed in at the end of "I'd Come Back to Me": "If egg was foo, if I was you, you'd be too young for me." Miller's cover of "Hey Good Lookin'" by Hank Williams makes one wonder why he didn't approach more of his cover versions like this. He takes total liberty with the lyrics and structure of the song, turning it inside out very casually, as if what he was doing was the original version. Not all the material on the second side is that good, but the high points would certainly have become more well-known parts of the Miller canon if they had not been surrounded by such drek on their original release. The session backup sounds great when they stick to a small jazz-flavored country combo. The strings are the last thing Miller needs, weighing him down worse than if arranger Jerry Kennedy himself had climbed onto the artist's back and demanded a shoulder ride. A key part of Miller's sound all along, Kennedy should have known better.

Ennio Morricone - (2015) The Black Belly Of The Tarantula 2xLP

With music by one of cinema’s greatest composers, Ennio Morricone, Paolo Cavara’s LA TARANTOLA DAL VENTRE NERO (BLACK BELLY OF THE TARANTULA) is considered one of the best gialli ever made. Starring celebrated genre actor Giancarlo Giannini, the terrifying film is about a homicide detective hunting down a psychotic killer who has been paralysing and slaughtering women just as the deadly Pepsis grossa – the Tarantula Hawk wasp – does to its own eight-legged prey.
Ennio Morricone’s score is equally frightening, though you wouldn’t immediately believe it. The initial melodies of the score conjure up memories of the hits of Serge Gainsbourg, with an upbeat keyboard riff mixed with the breathy and seductive vocals of Edda Dell’Orso, and there’s some jazz fusion along the way. But from there it starts to spiral and spiral into the unknown, with disquieting atonal sounds, creepy insectoid strings, stabbing percussion. The mix of an unhinged piano and drums feels like the buzzing of the wasp, and the music gets so uncomfortable you feel paralysed – with fear - and that’s when it really starts to terrify you. Such is the power of maestro Morricone and BLACK BELLY OF THE TARANTULA.

The Black Belly Of The Tarantula

Michael Perilstein - (2015) Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (Original Motion Picture Score (And Then Some)) LP

Available for the first time on ever on Vinyl, Michael Perilstein's (The Deadly Spawn) score to one of the most absurd horror films ever put to celluloid. Part Noir, part sexploitation comedy, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers is a cult classic with a truly killer soundtrack that is just as goofy as the film it underscores. Complete with a collection of bonus cues newly recorded by Perilstein. Featuring original artwork by We Buy Your Kids, and all new liner notes by the composer.

Fabio Frizzi - (2015) The Beyond LP

Music composed and orchestrated by Fabio Frizzi

A reissue of the highly sought-after soundtrack to THE BEYOND with brand new packaging and artwork by Graham Humphreys. A single vinyl record housed inside a gatefold sleeve with a booklet containing never before seen on set photographs.

Sleeve notes from Composer Fabio Frizzi, Italian horror expert Stephen Thrower and start and production assistant Larry Ray including some of his never before seen on set photographs.

The Beyond

Andre Previn - (1962) The 4 Horsemen Of The Apocalypse (Original Sound Track) LP

MGM had become aware by April that the film was not going to be able to recoup its cost and started writing off the losses. Ultimately the movie earned $1,600,000 in the US and Canada and $2,500,000 overseas, incurring an overall loss of $5,853,000.

This, along with the failure of Mutiny on the Bounty and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, lead the MGM president to resign.