Past Releases

Claire Rousay "The Bloody Lady"

Electroacoustic composer claire rousay (US) presents her new album, ‘The Bloody Lady’, featuring the reimagined score she wrote for Viktor Kubal’s 1980 eponymous animated film. Kubal (1923-1997), a pioneering Slovak animator, is considered one of the most influential animation filmmakers of the 20th century.

Known as a singular artist who challenges conventions in experimental and ambient music forms, rousay crafted the score in her home studio immediately after moving to LA over the course of 2023.

The inaugural performance, a screening of the film accompanied by rousay performing the score live, took place at Videodroom / Film Fest Gent 2023 in Ghent, Belgium. The project has since been developed into an 11-track album with alternating themes that evoke the film’s atmosphere while standing on its own as a distinct sonic work.

Based on the lurid folk tale of Elisabeth Bathory (1560–1614), the trippy Slovak animated film ‘The Bloody Lady’ follows the story of a Slovak noblewoman. Accused of murdering hundreds of girls and women. Her murderous motive: hoping to remain eternally young, she allegedly bathed in their blood. The film begins like a classic Disney fairy tale, but it soon takes a dark turn toward tragedy.

Central to both the film and rousay’s score is the heart and its rhythmic pulse. “The actions surrounding the heart are pivotal in the film, and, along with its heartbeat, they formed the initial pulse of the score’, the American musician says. Much like the story itself, her compositions are whimsical, with subtle hints of looming menace. As this underlying tension lingers in the background, the score incorporates everyday sounds and nature recordings to evoke an ethereal yet unsettling atmosphere. To create these emotive textures, rousay primarily relied on a blend of granular VST synths, piano, pitched-down violin, and an array of field recordings.

The Body "The Crying Out of Things"

The Body have been a leading force of innovation in heavy music for over two decades. The prolific duo of guitarist/vocalist Chip King and Lee Buford (on percussion/electronics) have consistently expanded the scope of what heavy music can be. The Body has produced a wealth of groundbreaking collaborations and benchmark albums that over the past 2 decades have changed the perceptions and directions of heavy music. Known for the monolithic force of their music, and their inventive production techniques, their albums are benchmarks in the expansion and evolution of heavy music. Tightly packed with deceptively nuanced arrangements, exhilarating and challenging distortion, their albums are possessed of an unmistakably singular sound. The Crying Out of Things is no exception, a culmination of all that The Body have done before, highlighting their mastery of dynamic, monumental music that pushes toward the unmistakable sound of oblivion.

From the band’s origins, incorporating unorthodox methods to achieve an oppressive atmosphere has been essential to their alchemy. Full choirs, unexpected sound samples, 70s-inspired horn lines, dub drum beats and diverse guest performances have speckled their varied and eclectic repertoire, the common thread being a complex webs of distortion and noise. The Crying Out of Things harnesses elements from their ground breaking catalog: the expansive ecstatic distortion and live energy of I’ve Seen All I Need To See, the ambitious layering and arrangements on I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer, and the corroded pop edge of No One Deserves Happiness into one compact work. Guest performances include vocalist Ben Eberle, horn player Dan Blacksburg, and recent collaborator Felicia Chen add essential textural range. The Crying Out Of Things makes clear The Body’s distinct power to convey a dark range of emotions, thought inventive arrangements, dynamics, and sound selections.

Wand "Help Desk / Goldfish"

From Drag City Records:

Mere months after inflicting a massive case of Vertigo on the world, Wand ride on, plating the pre-release digi-single “Help Desk” alongside “Goldfish,” a bonus dose of oceanic luminescence from Vertigo’s Big Bang. Plus, in the name of the ever-expanding universe (and the much-needed dream-extension app!), three remixes — from Beat Detectives, Dean Spunt and Dead Rider — for good measure. Not sure where you’re at? Check in with the “Help Desk”.

Envy "Eunoia"

Soaring past the 30-year mark as a band, Japan’s envy returns with their 8th studio album, Eunoia. Packed with an abyssal emotional depth and an increasingly eclectic (and seemingly inexhaustible) well of ideas, Eunoia is envy’s most efficiently impactful album of their unbelievably lengthy career. A major personnel shift in 2018 threatened the very existence of envy, but it instead inspired enormous growth and reinvigorated the band on their second album together with this new line-up. As founding member and songwriter, Nobukata Kawai, explains: “The concept of creating the album was to honestly face our own powerlessness. Searching for a little hope, and recording the emotions gained from daily life in a diary-like manner. Even without explaining the songs, Tetsu’s lyrics were wonderful and added depth to the piece. It has been six years since the member line-up changed, and the good relationship of trust has been strongly reflected in the work.” envy are an underground institution that has literally inspired entire sub-genres of music. Their creative and cultural influence in undeniable, and their legacy was cemented long ago. The fact that they’re still breaking new ground more than three decades in is a testament to the unique and extraordinary power and pull of envy, and Eunoia emits that power and pull with the natural weight and wonder of a total eclipse.