"This is the soundtrack for a movie that does not exist"
Maybe it's not as cool as all that, but for years, before and after I wrote that poem, I did make soundtracks for movies that didn't exist (i.e., mixtapes on cassette and then later on burned CDs). And then when I began my Will Feral electronic project, the goal was to make scores for films that, of course, don't exist. My most recent cyber-punk themed attempt was "Hellweb," which is out on Metal Postcard Records:
At any rate in recent years I've seen several other people use the same terminology about making non-existent film scores, and I think that's pretty neat. I'm not saying I invented it, of course. It's not a difficult concept to think up (especially if you're, to quote Jon Stewart, "on weed," or maybe you're just a sober yet creative individual, whatever); but it's fun and interesting to be contributing to a micro-genre mini-zeitgeist.
David Wallraf is a noise artist and researcher out of Hamburg, Germany, and his latest release, Subsongs, is also "supposed to function like the soundtrack to a nonexistent film," a non-existent film about birds, according to a pdf he supplied about the release. It's availble on cassette, and limited to 30 copies, from German experimental label Econore. 10 tracks of fascinating noise textures, complete with field recordings of birds. Very impressive and inspiring. Here's the second track from the album, called "Parliment of Birds," which, according to the PDF linear notes for the album, "refers to both a fictional secret language in William Gibson’s 2014 novel The Peripheral and the ancient Persian poem ر الط منطق ("The Conference of the Birds") by Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar." Too cool:
Over on Wallraf's own Bandcamp page, he has a number of releases, both digital and physical cassettes, and the most recent, released back in December, is a 20 minute, two track release that is panic inducing at its heights and highly recommended for noise freaks:
Lars Haur is an experimental artist from Oklahoma, and his latest release is a 4 song EP called Valences :2:2:2:2:. It releases Jan. 31, but you can hear the first two tracks already on Bandcamp. Of the EP, the artist says it is an "uncomfortable ambient EP created through a combination of typical writing and heavy use of semi-random generation of melodies. These semi-random melodies were then processed through a long chain of varied FX that were combined in a likewise semi-random fashion. The name of the EP derives from the characteristic of elements that dictates what other elements they may combine with."
Pivoting from noise to more straightforward hardcore punk, The Usurpers are out of Salt Lake City and have a split with Russian band Night of Rage, a cassette is due out this month but the Bandcamp page doesn't mention it. Fans of DIY hardcore should enjoy:
Captain Average is a 3 piece fronted by László Sallai, who I'm told is "one of the most active member of the Budapest underground," playing in various underground bands and running a cassette label and DIY booking agency. Captain Average "mixes post-punk with krautrock vibes and the lyrics are reflecting on Eastern Europe’s political issues." Their first album is an 11 song digital release called Heaven Capitulates. The single, "In The Post-Future," is a fun listen:
And, finally, it wouldn't be a CNQ post without new releases from the aforementioned Metal Postcard Records. K. Board & The Skreens Langue - EP is the debut album from the Italian group with only one member, and MP describes it as "bedroom electronic 8-bit chip music and add the magic of Italo." Sounds right to me. Super-tight:
The Conspiracy I assume are British. MP says: "Old songs re-recorded and released on Metal Postcard Records...It's like listening to the missing link between Squeeze & The Clean and World Party. They also have the uncanny knack of creating choruses that conjure up echoes of Steve Harley & The Cockney Rebel." Highly listenable:
