Halloween II - OST (Death Waltz, 2013)

In affiliation with LA's Beyond Fest, my latest favorite label,  Death Waltz, who does vinyl re-issues of horror soundtracks, has issued an extremely limited amount of these scores on cassette:

Halloween II
Halloween III
A Field in England
Assault on Precinct 13

So, you'd better hurry if you're a tape nerd like me who wants these John Carpenter / Alan Howarth gems in a never before offered format.

Fluxion - Vibrant Forms (Chain Reaction, 1999 / vinyl by Type, 2013)

If you're an old techno head, you know Chain Reaction very well. In the 90's, Basic Channel duo (Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus) began a label to release as many dub techno club tracks as possible. Acts such as Monolake, Vladislav Delay and Porter Ricks became icons in the undeground. My favorite release was always Fluxion's 'Bipolar Defect' and now, thanks to TYPE, I finally have Fluxion's 1999 compilation 'Vibrant Forms' on vinyl. These are sprawling 4x4 cuts knee deep in a viscous and esoteric head trip. Beautiful epic minimal music for those who like to mentally cut a rug alone in their bedrooms.

Nate Young - Regression: Blinding Confusion (NNA Tapes, 2013)

Wolf Eyes' Nate Young has released a solo album along the lines of his group's record earlier this year. The Harsh and punchy noise pioneers "grew up" on "No Answer:Lower Floors" in that they exchanged the need for song titles like "Stabbed in the Face" and blistering audio aggression for controlled yet frightening musicality. Hell, they even got a guitar player who actually knows how to play.

On "Blinding Confusion", Young takes this concept of control even further. His Sequential Circuits Pro One, synth lines, modules and percussion are incredibly subtle, even minimal. This is an eerily meandering journey through a 70's horror film sans camp factor plus musique concrete. The album is quite lush, creepy and intriguing in its simplicity.

I'm thoroughly enjoying this one on headphones in the dark.

The Stranger - Watching Dead Empires in Decay (Modern Love, 2013)

James Leyland Kirby is, without question, one of my most listened to artists of the past few years. His work as The Caretaker is akin to the static background music of my mind. Whereas that work invokes the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel ballroom, with its chopped and screwed 78's, his new work as The Stranger has a different cinematic feel.

This is like the bleakest scenes from Eraserhead. This is what it would sound like if Raime and Demdike Stare were proles working in a  factory at night. The graveyard shift crew haggard and miserable, overworked and delirious. The ambience is their hallucinations, horrors fit for the dungeon they're in. The percussive elements are the proverbial whips to the back demanding the completion of this sixteen hour task. There is also a bit of Lustmord's "Metavoid" record, like plodding through a marsh knee deep in the muck, as in a nightmare when you have trouble walking. If you find beauty in masochistic doom and gloom, you'll love this one.

Love's Secret Ascension: Coil, Coltrane and the 70th Birthday of LSD

Someone wrote an article about my personal journey for truth in the decade that was my 20's. Ok, not really but its uncannily specific down to the fact that Coil and Coltrane are my two favorite musicians of all time. My personal affectations not withstanding, this is a wonderful piece. Enjoy.

Peter Bebergal celebrates the original synthesis of LSD with a thoughtful look at acid and transcendent magickal music. Read it HERE