It was back in 2018 that saxophonist Jean Jacques Duerinckx came together with guitar-vocalist Guillaume Cazalet to form the genre-defying, boundary-pushing collective Neptunian Maximalism aka NNMM. Pulling on the Sun Ra inspired concept of the Arkestra, NNMM blend drone with free jazz and doom metal predicated on a sense of ritual, primal rhythm and otherworldliness. Untethered by expectations, their works range in intensity and scale as its members switch between genres, while always leaning heavily into the power of live performance. As such, their latest release, Le Sacre Du Soleil Invaincu is a voyage through the world of raga revisiting and reworking three classical Indian pieces recorded over four nights at St John’s Church in London’s Bethnal Green. 

From the late 70’s, Thirst is one of the more original/ distinctive takes on vampiric cinema. The contemporary set Australian film adds elements of kidnap thriller, drama, and sci-fi into its genre mix. It regards one of the descendants Elizabeth Bathory- been abducted by a high-tech blood sucking cult. Here, from Powerhouse- either as a UHD or Blu-ray- is a new release of the film. Taking in a new  4K scan, and an archive/ few new extras.

Booger is a coming-to-terms-with-grief drama, wrapped in elements of dark humour, body-horror, and indie artiness. The New York City-set film focuses on twenty-something Anna, whose close friend/ apartment mate has recently passed. She gets obsessed with finding ‘Booger’, the stray cat the pair had, who has recently disappeared. Here from Arrow Video UK is a Blu-ray release of the 2023 film, featuring a few extras.

Pyroclastic Sleep is a thirty-seven-minute slab of densely slipping, sliding, and searing noise craft, which sits somewhere between walled and harsh noise. It’s the first release from SADOPRAXIA- a new collaborative project between two Polish noise acts- Sado Riutals and ECHOPRAXIA.

Taking environmental recordings to the next level, Natasha Barrett utilizes 3D ambisonic microphones to capture the sonic imprint of various locations in exciting new ways. With this as a base, she then transforms the sounds and atmospheres into abstract works that will give the listener an entirely new approach toward the area as initially perceived. Toxic Colour is her latest work, with five pieces of intricately recorded and deconstructed soundscapes to tickle one's brain.

Here’s an Untitled split between two US wall projects- Chianti Ohio's Polyester Ghost, and South Carolina’s  Absurd Reality. The former severs up two shorter/ tauter tracks. While the latter gives us a single slice of longer/ slightly harmonic/ densely moody wall.

Kawaii From The Edge is the very welcome return of Portland’s Hana Haruna, who is one of the more creative projects working within today's walled noise scene. I’m happy to report this new album is up to Hana Haruna's normal high standards, with each of the three twenty-minute tracks blending rewarding/distinctive layering, ambient elements, and a generally skilled/ creative approach.

Here’s a new four-track release from Tucson, Arizona’s Ennaytch- and as we’ve come to expect from the project, it’s another trip into interestingly/ creatively layered wall craft. 

Girl With A Suitcase is a 1961 black and white drama directed by Bologna-born Valerio Zurlini.  It is presented here in a crisp restored version from Radiance in a limited edition of three thousand copies.

Here is another mini-CDR from Inner Demons Records, featuring the work of Sven Phalanx whom I was completely ignorant of, I’m afraid. The packaging and artwork is very diy, and that’s great; in a time when noise releases can be increasingly professional or deluxe there’s something refreshing about a no frills, old school, ‘bedroom released’ noise album: those expensive Urashima vinyl reissues you buy started off like this. Navigation has five tracks, all reasonably different and all ranging from around three minutes to five minutes in length.

80 is a collage work of samples and snippets culled from the eponymous decade and worked into two long tracks, each with a rather telegraphic title, "80:81:82:83:84" and "85:86:87:88:89", respectively. This is the third and final installment in a trilogy that began with 60, and then 70. The source material is necessarily limited in the scope of such a copy-and-paste project, so the familiarity with the sampled sounds will certainly depend on where you spent your 80s, or how you came to acquire an affinity for said decade. Why the archive fever? The question seems to linger like the stale air of a basement room throughout, whether intended or not.

Drawings is a two-CD release bringing together five pieces from up-and-coming Berlin-based modern classical composer, whose work bridges the gap between atmospheric simmering and hauntingly harmonic.

Penumbra serves up four slices of low-key, pared-back, and glumly fragile modern classic minimalism. Think Morton Feldman at his more drifting & fragilely fraught- you’ll get an idea of what is on offer here.

Here, we have a recent, more grown-up cinematic retelling of the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale, which concerns a miller's daughter making a deal with a forest imp. This new version has a darker, more adult hue with swearier language, sexual suggestion, and fleeting nudity, though until its last quarter, it remains a period drama with fantasy edges...where, after more horror elements come in. Here from Miracle Media is a VOD release of the film.

Rats: Night Of The Terror is a campy, creepy, and action-edged slice of post-nuke sci-fi horror. The early 80s cheapie Euro cult film is a schlocky & enjoyable ride, with touches of gore, cheesy tough guy to OTT acting, and a moody-to-bounding electro score. Here from Severin is a three-disc release of the film, taking in a UHD, Blu-ray, and CD. The set takes in a 4k scan of the film, three hours of new/ archive extras, and the film's score on the CD.