Reissues/Archives/Compilations of 2014

Another great year for ye olde music. In this list are only things I missed first time round (or 2nd or 3rd or 17th) ie. it doesn't include Blue Bell Knoll, Doolittle, Spiderland, Cannibal Ferox, Cannibal Holocaust, Friday The 13th, Led Zeppelin Vols. 1, 2, 3 or 4 etc. Oh...and no Bedhead or Mogwai because they were..er...shite. Then there's the never really owned category ie. I've only ever had taped copies of The Sunnyboys and Since The Accident or crappy mp3s of Electricity, The Boogey Man, Forbidden World, Chopping Mall etc. so they're included. 2014 was a hell of a year for cult horror synth score reissues! It's like all the soundtracks I've been looking for were all released at once. Labels like Soundway & Finders Keepers continue to unearth fabulous music. Death Waltz, Waxwork, One Way Static, Luxury Products & Superior Viaduct are the new(ish) labels on the block giving us what we want from the esoteric archives as well. So here's 20 great old records.

Sunnyboys - Sunnyboys
The sound of my childhood and my older brother's record collection. One of The classic Australian rock debuts. The Sunnyboys were young, charismatic, troubled and so alive. Their first record is some of the most exciting guitar music from 1981 or any other year for that matter. It came with a bunch of bonus tracks but who needs em with an LP this fanfuckintastic?!

Axemen - Derry Legend
The Axemen reissue program continues. After their 1986 mangled pop masterpiece Three Virgins came the follow up Derry Legend which has been long out print. This LP has gained (Derry) legendary status in my brain. Derry Legend is The Spotlight Kid to Three Virgins Trout Mask Replica if you get my drift ie. it's a more accessible pop version of the band yet still retaining all their strange awesomeness. 80s NZ rock doesn't get much better than this.

Andrzej Korzynski - Man Of Marble OST
Groovy soundtrack from Poland 1977. A psych synth disco classic. Soo good....Finders Keepers have done it again!

Boards Of Canada - Hi Scores
Two years before Boards Of Canada released their magnum opus Music Has The Right To Children came the Hi Scores EP which is similarly awesome idylltronica.

Caustic Window - Caustic Window
Strangely unreleased but excellent LP from Richard James aka Aphex Twin from his golden era 1994. Why on earth did this get shelved? A timely reminder of where all your favourite electronica (remember that 90s term?) comes from.

Peter Jefferies - Electricty
He of classic underground 80s NZ group This Kind Of Punishment and Bruce Russell's right hand man at Xpressway Records. He's so idiosyncratic only Peter Jefferies sounds like Peter Jefferies and the world's a better (If slightly darker) place for it.

Severed Heads - Since The Accident
A key LP from Sydney's early 80s experimental scene. Still pretty much ignored here in their home country to this day. Wake up Australia!

Susan Justin - Forbidden World OST
The cultiest synth soundtrack of them all. Issued for the first time since Web Records released it in 1982! A one off unique blend of electronics, pop and soundtrack motifs. Death Waltz continue their roll.

Chuck Cirino - Chopping Mall OST
More cult Carpenter-esque synth soundtrack gold from the 80s. Waxwork Records is all about quality not quantity.

John Harrison - Creepshow OST
I finally got a copy of Creepshow after like it's 5th or 6th reissue. More 80s psycho synth sounds from 1982.

Ralph Jones - Slumber Party Massacre OST
Possibly the best of the post Carpenter cult Horror synth scores from 1982.

Tim Krog - Boogey Man OST
Now this one was rare until now. A much coveted 1980 horror synth score from Tim Krog, a UCLA film composing graduate. Horrortastic!

Bruno Nicolai - All The Colours Of The Dark OST
Italian Giallo score from the great Bruno Nicolai. Nicolai was a frequent collaborator with Ennio Morricone. It doesn't get much better than this for spooky Italian 70s soundtracks.

Bruno Nicolai - The Case Of The Bloody Iris OST
This is from 1972 as well (see above) and it's another slice of Italian horror soundtrack weirdness. Haunted yet bizarrely jaunty at the same time.

Hungry Man - Keyboard
More crazy keyboard action from West Africa in the late 70s. If you thought William Onyeabor was the last word in spazz synth psych afro funk you were wrong. Some of the best sounds ever squeezed out of a synth and put to tape. Is there more of this shit yet to be discovered? I hope so.

Various - The Sound Of Siam 2
A splendid second serving of Luk Thung & Molam tunes from Thailand. This time from 1970 through to 1982. Incredibly distinguished, beautiful and laconically groovy.

Heldon - II: Allez Teia
More tripped out 70s space frog prog from Richard Pinhas and co.

Pye Corner Audio - Black Mill Tapes
4 albums worth of horrorological atmospheres and old eerie synthesiser goodness. Perfect to while away wintry afternoons.

John McCallum - Surf Nazis Must Die OST
Classic 80s drum sounds, synths in overdrive and anthemic guitars. There's even a wayward noisy sax at one point. It even becomes poignant and a little melancholy at certain stages. Surely this is where Mark McGuire got all his ideas from.

Various - Suburban Base Records: The History Of Hardcore, Jungle, Drum & Bass 91-97
Hardcore you know the score and if you don't check out this compilation from one of the best labels of the era.

*Other Years
2013
2012
2011

Horror Movie Right There On Me Stereo

It's been a daily bonanza in the last few years for lovers of soundtracks with a vinyl fetish. Before that we already had the Trunk and Finders Keepers record labels releasing soundtrack esoterica for over ten years. More recently a bunch of new record labels have popped up to satiate your cult film score needs mainly in the vinyl format. Odd, obscure, cult and classic soundtracks are all getting the reissue treatment. What's incredible is how much of it is great stuff. Horror and electronic scores are getting some much deserved attention from labels such as Death Waltz, Waxwork and the new Belgian label One Way Static. These labels have definitely found a niche market for horror buffs who also love their vinyl. Bloggers (Inferno Music Vault, Digital Meltdown, Sleazy Listening, and, well the list goes on & on) are probably most responsible for the rise in interest in these sounds. Such blogs have been passionate about bringing classic and little heard, some even unreleased, horror scores into the public spotlight for many years. Of course many of these links are now dead as these new small labels are now reissuing the music. These labels are set up with a ready made audience wanting their product thanks to the enthusiasm and effort put in by the blogging fraternity. The ongoing cults of Morricone, Goblin and Carpenter have led to a trickle down effect for other lesser known but equally excellent film composers Bruno Nicolai, Giuliano Sorgini, Riz Ortolani, Nico Fidenco, Fabio Frizzi, Richard Band etc. The OSTs to Argento and Carpenter directed films have been exhaustively reissued. Its now the time for another bunch of directors films to get a look in: Fulci, Lenzi, Girolami, Ferrara, Deodato, Craven etc.

I've been searching for the Day Of The Dead (1985) soundtrack ever since I re-watched it 5 or 6 years ago. I couldn't find it in mp3 form, let alone a physical copy. Waxwork re-released it and I bloody missed out but now I think the MP3 is on sale so I guess I'll have to make do with John Harrison's classic 80s synth zombie score in diminished audio. If they get around to releasing Harrison's masterpiece Creepshow I will not be missing out on that! Waxwork were also responsible for one one of my favourite reissues of the 2013, Re-Animator by Richard Band from 1985 as well as the perennially creepy Rosemary's Baby by Krzysztof Komeda.

Death Waltz have covered the obvious ie Goblin and many titles from John Carpenter and Alan Howarth. But new or recent (read post '80's) scores aren't out of the question for their catalogue. Donnie Darko and Room 237 have been issued. Remake scores get a look in as well. Who even knew they remade Maniac or Evil Dead let alone had soundtracks worthy enough to be issued by such a quality label? A reissue of the scores to the original movies of those two wouldn't be unwelcome either. Death Waltz's three most exciting reissues for me have been House By The Cemetery by Walter Rizzati, The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue by Giuliano Sorgini and De Masi's New York Ripper. Now they are set to reissue two of my all time favourite unheralded scores. I only have a crappy mp3 of Ralph Jones' soundtrack to Slumber Party Massacre so I'm looking forward to hearing this in its original glory. This is an exceptional score of melodic pulsating synthy creepiness and minimal mayhem. The other is possibly the cultiest soundtrack item of them all Susan Justin's electronic score to Forbidden World. This has been unavailable since its original release in 1982. Never seen the film (possibly not even strictly a horror flick) but love the soundtrack. '80's new wave synth disco, space age tones, squeaks, squelches, eerie melodies and even mini slices of power electronics make this one of the most unique and best soundtracks of the '80's if not the best. Some of it sounds like it was recorded yesterday and released on Spectrum Spools.

80s Masterpiece

One Way Static have twigged my interest with the imminent release of Roberto Donati's OST to Cannibal Ferox from 1981 although this was only released less than 2 years ago in digital. This is a classic funky disco psych gem with swathes of intense horror synth. One of Italy's great soundtracks. One Way Static's other releases have been two seventies Wes Craven titles, The Last House On The Left with a soundtrack from David Alexander Hess and Don Peak's score to The Hills Have Eyes.

On the more arthouse tip was last years sublime synthesiser score from Eduard Artemiev for the 1972 Andrei Tarkovsky film Solaris, which made it into my reissues of 2013 list. This was released on Superior Viaduct not really a Soundtrack label but worth a mention as Artimiev's scores have never been released for the western market before. This year the label plan on releasing two more of Artemiev's Tarkovsky soundtracks, the scores to the 1979 Russian cult movie Stalker and The Mirror (1975) will get a release. I recall Stalker having some of the most extraordinary and haunting drones I'd ever heard on celluloid.

There is so much happening in this little sector of the music world I don't know if I can keep up. I'm assuming somewhere along the line Wayne Bell & Tobe Hooper's experimental score to 1974's Texas Chainsaw Massacre will get a release as well as Joe Delia's bizarre soundtrack to Abel Ferarra's Driller Killer (Delia's score to Ferarra's Ms.45 was issued by Death Waltz recently). My wish list would include 3 horror soundtracks I've never been able to track down before. Madeleine-Anitomia Di Un Incubo (1974) composed by Maurizio Vandetti, Chopping Mall (1986) by Chuck Cirino and 1980's Roberto Donati score for Umberto Lenzi's Mangiati Vivi! (Eaten Alive). Oh and what about Tim Krog's fabulous Boogey Man score last issued in its year of release 1980? Finally, surely there is a bidding war going on now to see who gets the vinyl release for the (un)holy grail of Italian horror soundtracks Cannibal Holocaust. I've got that on cd though, so who cares?! What do you think I am, some kind of vinyl snob?

This was released on California's other SST label in 1980.

*Previous post here on Slumber Party Massacre and one here on The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue.