Thursday, August 27, 2015

CORY STRAND "THE BROOD: A REINTERPRETATION" 2CDR (AOW 321)

The second of a pair of Cronenberg-themed soundtrack reworks, based off the recent LP reissue of Howard Shore's scores for Scanners and The Brood.
This set takes Shore's "The Shape Of Rage" suite and transforms it into two twin reworks, one a drone version, the other a dense and sludgy HNW version.  Unnerving but also quite lovely and meditative at times.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $15 ppd. in the United States, $28 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "SCANNERS: A REINTERPRETATION" 4CDR (AOW 320)

The first of a pair of Cronenberg-themed soundtrack reworks, based off the recent LP reissue of Howard Shore's scores for Scanners and The Brood.
This release transforms Shore's score into three expansive, very long-form drone pieces focused on emptiness and ominous ambience, with faint whisps of melody occasionally rising to the fore; the set ends with a scalding HNW rework of the score.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $25 ppd. in the United States, $38 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

Friday, August 21, 2015

DEJECTION/BIG HOLE "SPLIT" C48 (AOW 315)

PLEASE NOTE: This is currently offered as a preorder, to help offset the cost of manufacture.  I expect the cassettes to be in stock and shipping by the end of September.

A crushing split cassette between my new project Dejection and Denton, Texas's stellar Big Hole.  Each project turns in a massive 23 minute track, two monolithic slabs of depression, anxiety, unease, and disgust.  Dejection's side is a creepy and discordant synth piece that gives way to leveling HNW texturalization, a despondent journey into a fraught and overworried mind (my own!)  Big Hole's side is an enormous, deeply bassy and unrelenting HNW excursion into memories of a life wasted, with subtle shifts in mood and texture as the piece progresses.  Christopher (of Big Hole) and I both agree that these pieces complement one another extremely well, adding up to 48 minutes of sheer mental torture and exhaustion. 
Released as a grey C48, with full colour artwork.  Released in a limited edition of 20 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $23 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

Thursday, August 20, 2015

CORY STRAND "SUSPIRIA: A REINTERPRETATION" CDr (AOW 318B, SINGLE DISC EDITION)

This is a single disc edition of "Suspiria: A Reinterpretation, Volume II"-the NOISE half of my large Suspiria rework (just recently released.)  I created this version because I felt there'd be people that would like to hear this work, but might not be able to afford the "artsy" 12 disc original version.  This version contains all the same music, just packaged as a single disc (in the 12 disc version, each reworked track is its own, short disc.)  It also has different artwork.
Packaged in a DVD case, with full colour artwork.  Released in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $23 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

Monday, August 17, 2015

CORY STRAND "BLACK SWAN: A REINTERPRETATION" 9CDr + DVD-R SET (AOW 319)

My drone rework of Clint Mansell's score to Darren Aronofsky's 16mm psychosexual Bergman-esque nightmare Black Swan.  Mansell's score is already pretty deep into drone territory (as is his style), but Black Swan really ups the ante in terms of empty, nihilistic menace; my rework has preserved this quality and the result is an immense journey through vast spaces of numbing terror and dread.
Packaged in ten single disc DVD cases, each with their own unique artwork utilizing images from and ephemera associated with the film.  Discs 1-9 are the score reworked in drone mode; disc 10 is an HNW "Totality" recording of the film's audio track.
Released in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $75 ppd. in the United States, $88 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

Saturday, August 8, 2015

CORY STRAND "SUSPIRIA: A REINTERPRETATION, VOL. II" 12CDR SET (AOW 318B)

Secondvolume of a two-volume rework set dedicated to perhaps the most stylish horror film of all-time, Dario Argento's masterpiece Suspiria.  Goblin's score for the film is equally famous; i've wanted to work with this film/score for years, but have always felt intimidated by the sanctity of the film and the music.  I feel this rework set aptly pays tribute to both.
Volume Two is the HNW side of the rework, with the score transformed into relatively short, violent blasts of audio holocaust.
Packaged in an oversize DVD case, with a decidedly "old school" vibe (much like my recent "Fright Night" and "Hellraiser" sets).  Released in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $50 ppd. in the United States, $63 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "SUSPIRIA: A REINTERPRETATION, VOL. I" 9CDR + DVD-R SET (AOW 318A)

First volume of a two-volume rework set dedicated to perhaps the most stylish horror film of all-time, Dario Argento's masterpiece Suspiria.  Goblin's score for the film is equally famous; i've wanted to work with this film/score for years, but have always felt intimidated by the sanctity of the film and the music.  I feel this rework set aptly pays tribute to both.
Volume One is the ambient/drone version of the score rework, done in my recent "prestige" style.  And as you'd expect, these are some deep, heady ominous drones.  Also included with this set is an HNW "Totality" recording of the entire film's audio track.
Packaged as a 10 disc set, with each disc housed in its own DVD case with unique artwork using images from and ephemera associated with the film.  Released in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $75 ppd. in the United States, $88 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

Thursday, August 6, 2015

CORY STRAND "RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: A REINTERPRETATION" 14CDR + DVD-R SET (AOW 317)

Pure, joyous nostalgiah on this one.  Being in my mid-thirties, I was the perfect age to fall under the spell of Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones" series; i remember seeing the films in the theaters with my parents and today the films still hold a special place in my heart.  While my personal favorite film in the series is The Last Crusade, it's obvious that, from a purely cinematic/theoretical perspective, Raiders of the Lost Ark is the best film.  I'm not going to say too much more other than this one is just meant to be fun, and that for some reason, John Williams scores make AWESOME drone and HNW.
This set contains some of both: some hugely empty ambient drones (they're huge and sound more like ANW made out of windstorms) and some crushing, assaulting HNW horror.  Adventure never sounded so...adventurous.
As always with these "prestige" film reworks, each of the 14 discs is housed in its own DVD case, with unique artwork culled from the film's imagery.  Also included is an HNW "Totality" recording of the film's audio track, also packaged in its own DVD case.
Released in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $110 ppd. in the United States, $123 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

Monday, August 3, 2015

CORY STRAND "PULP FICTION: A REINTERPRETATION" 18CDR + DVD-R SET (AOW 316)

Another Tarantino soundtrack rework, this time for the brilliant Pulp Fiction.  Do I need to tell anyone about this film?  It changed everything circa the mid-90's and was very much one of a handful of films that got me thinking seriously about film as an artistic medium (my parents rented this for me in 1995, knowing i'd enjoy the violence and the labyrinthine nature of the plot-they know me so well!)  Even if you hate Quentin T. (and lots of people do, for various reasons), there's no way to downplay this film's status as a stone-cold fucking masterpiece.
My rework of the equally famous soundtrack shucks away most of the violence and goes straight to the film's cold, nihilistic heart, an unforgiving excursion into frigid, empty death ambient textures.  Eighteen discs of big, monotonous DRONES-there's a stagnant beauty to them that I didn't expect, and as usual in my work, a sense of yearning.
In addition to the soundtrack reworked in ambient mode across 18 discs, there's also an HNW "Totality" recording of the film's audio track, just for good violent measure.  Each disc is housed in its own single DVD case with its own unique artwork, culled from the film's imagery and associated ephemera.
Released in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $175 ppd. in the United States, $188 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "KILL BILL: A REINTERPRETATION" 25CDr + 2 DVD-R SET (AOW 314)

Another massive set exploring a single film's soundtrack in intense and expansive detail, this time for Quentin Tarantino's formally experimental masterpiece Kill Bill.  This rework is all HNW and noise this time out: no ambient diversions, no melancholy drones, no shoegazey atmospheres (except for the double disc "workprint" pieces included).  It's all harsh, it's all loud, and it's all NOISE.  Super chaotic bursts of highly psychedelicized noise, the sort of shit i was making about two years ago (as of late my noise work has been intentionally monotonous and tonally dense-this record is far from that!)  I can't think of a better way to reimagine such an absurdly violent, beautiful, daring, and nihilistic film.
The set consists of the soundtrack reworked noise style across 23 discs, a very special double CD of the "workprint" ambient textures made by me (from which i created the noise pieces) and two HNW "Totality" recordings of the film's audio track, each on their own DVD-R (divided as the film is, into Volumes I and II.)  Each disc is packaged in a single DVD case (except the "workprint" set, housed in a double DVD case) with unique artwork utilizing images from and ephemera associated with the film.  This is one of the most gonzo sets I've done-it's insane!
Released in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $225 ppd. in the United States, $238 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com