Friday 30 September 2022

Drusus – Spleen (7'' EP 1997)


Country: Romania

Tracklist
1. Cîntec De Mormînt / Grabgesang 07:49
2. Nervi De Toamnă / Herbstnerven 07:42

Pre-RA project created by Andrei Rusu (ex-Agathodaimon) in 1995.
After several demos Rusu released this limited EP (600 hand numbered copies) in 1997 through German Sombre Records.
The lyrics on the two tracks were taken from Romanian poets Mihai Eminescu and George Bacovia.
The name of the project changed in 1999 to RA.

Saturday 24 September 2022

Alejandro Jodorowsky / Don Cherry / Ronald Frangipane – The Holy Mountain (1973)


Composers: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Don Cherry, Ronald Frangipane

Tracklist
1. Trance Mutation 03:31
2. Pissed And Passed Out 01:48
3. Violence Of The Lambs 02:02
4. Drink It 01:37
5. Christs 4 Sale 00:43
6. Cast Out And Pissed 01:47
7. Eye Of The Beholder 02:17
8. Communion 01:23
9. Rainbow Room 04:40
10. Alchemical Room 04:14
11. Tarot Will Teach You / Burn Your Money 08:44
12. Mattresses, Masks & Pearls 05:53
13. Isla (The Sapphic Sleep) 02:21
14. Psychedelic Weapons 01:11
15. Rich Man In A Fishbowl 04:09
16. Miniature Plastic Bomb Shop 03:14
17. Fuck Machine 03:12
18. Baby Snakes 01:20
19. A Walk In The Park 01:31
20. Mice And Massacre 03:27
21. City Of Freedom 03:21
22. Starfish 02:21
23. The Climb / Reality (Zoom Back Camera) 04:14
24. Pantheon Bar (Bees Make Honey...) 03:45

The Holy Mountain (Spanish: La Montaña Sagrada) is a 1973 Mexican surreal-fantasy film
directed, written, produced, co-scored, co-edited by and starring Alejandro Jodorowsky,
who also participated as a set designer and costume designer on the film.
Following Jodorowsky's underground hit El Topo, acclaimed by both John Lennon and George Harrison,
the film was produced by The Beatles manager Allen Klein of ABKCO Music And Records.
Lennon and Yoko Ono put up production money and the film was shown at various international film festivals in 1973,
including Cannes and limited screenings in New York and San Francisco.
The film is based on Ascent Of Mount Carmel by John Of The Cross 
and Mount Analogue by René Daumal, who was a student of George Gurdjieff.
In this film, much of Jodorowsky's visually psychedelic story follows the metaphysical thrust of Mount Analogue.
This is revealed in such events as the climb to the alchemist, the assembly of individuals with specific skills,
the discovery of the mountain that unites Heaven and Earth "that cannot not exist"
and symbolic challenges along the mountain ascent.
Daumal died before finishing his allegorical novel, and Jodorowsky's improvised ending
provides a way of completing the work (both symbolically and otherwise).
Before the principal photography would commence,
Jodorowsky and his wife spent a week without sleep under the direction of a Japanese Zen master.
Members of the cast spent three months doing various spiritual exercises guided by Oscar Ichazo of the Arica Institute.
The Arica training features Zen, Sufi and yoga exercises along with eclectic concepts drawn from the Kabbalah,
the I Ching and the teachings of George Gurdjieff.
After the training, the group lived for one month communally in Jodorowsky's home before production. 
Thereafter, the filming started in early 1972 and was shot sequentially, entirely in Mexico, at a budget of $750,000.
Jodorowsky was also instructed by Ichazo to take LSD for the purpose of spiritual exploration.
He also administered psilocybin mushrooms to the actors during the shooting of the death-rebirth scene.
The film was completed just in time for the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, where it was much awaited.
Jodorowsky edited out twenty minutes of dialogue, with the intention of removing as much dialogue as he could.
The film had its premiere at Waverly Theatre, an art house movie theater in New York City on 29 November 1973,
where it had restricted run at midnights on Friday and Saturday for sixteen months.
It was also shown at Filmex on 30 March 1974, which was described as the "American premiere".
At a few places it was released as a double bill with Jodorowsky's 1970 film El Topo
 and eventually became a cult film with its influence on popular culture.

Saturday 17 September 2022

Thy Grief – The Frozen Tomb Of Mankind (1997)


Country: Norway

Tracklist
1. The Frozen Tomb Of Mankind 06:10
2. Blod På Himmelen 04:42
3. Into The Land Of Shadows 05:39
4. Twilight Shine Upon Majestic Mountains 05:34
5. Da Mørket Omfavnet Meg 04:11
6. Nocturnal Eyes 04:51
7. In Spite Of Victory 04:36
8. Echoes From A Past Forgotten 07:59
9. Sorgens Klør 04:35

Thy Grief was formed in the beginning of 1995 with the wish to create music
that combined darkness and rawness atmospheric harmonies.
It was also essential to put effort into improving the quality of their music and the sound as well,
and at the same time still hold on to the genre.
Lyrically Thy Grief is pure fictional with aspects to bring the music and lyrics closer together
through describing the emotions experienced within.
In August 1995 Thy Grief entered a studio to record the debut demo called "A Frozen Realm"
with Kim Anders Johannessen (guitar, keys), Kjetil Monsen (bass), Ken Larsen (guitar, keys) and Roald Fosse (vocals).
As the band had no permanent drummer at the time, Vrolok of Aeternus helped out with the drums on the recording.
The demo was recorded and mixed in four days in a 16-track studio.
Despite the short period the demo attained very good sound quality and received good responds.
As a result in May 1996 Thy Grief signed a two album record contract with the German label Solistitium Records.
At the time there were some line up problems when Ken and Roald left the band
and two new members had to be recruited.
This turned out to be Christer Korsvold (bass, keys) and Frode Gaustad (drums).
The new line up caused a delay due to rehearsals
as the recording of the debut album was originally scheduled to begin in August 1996.
Finally, in February 1997, Thy Grief could enter the studio to record their debut album "The Frozen Tomb Of Mankind".
The album was recorded in a 16-track digital studio containing nine tracks
and is a pointer to the high potential of Thy Grief could have.
After the recording of the album Christer left the band as he felt he couldn't express his music.
Some musical disputes were also present.
There were plans for a second album with half of the new songs been composed,
based on a slower tempo and given more weight on the melodic parts of the music,
and with the intention to to enter the recording studio in August-September of 1998,
but this never happened and the band split up around 1999 - 2000.