CORY STRAND "NO ONE EVER CHANGES: THE FILMS OF TODD SOLONDZ" 7 DVD-R + CDR SET (AOW 285)

As i've gotten older, I find myself veering more and more towards a philosophically pessimistic view of life; the cosmos is indifferent to anything any one of us might want to do.  Dreams, hopes, desires, faith-all of it is meaningless and illusory, psychic salves to mask the tedium and pain of being.  Perhaps no filmmaker better chronicles this pessimistic outlook than Todd Solondz, who has consistently followed a cinematic vision of despair that finds much in common with the philosophies of Schopenhauer and Sartre.  My first exposure to Solondz's work was in 1998; I read a review of "Happiness" in the Minneapolis paper and knew I had to see it.  It quickly became, and still is, one of my favorite films of all time; in Solondz i found a patron saint of the dour, a director willing to push past cultural notions of propriety in order to present a vision of humanity that reflects its tendency towards cruelty, selfishness, hatefulness, self-loathing, and aberration.  Since then I've seen all of Solondz's films during their theatrical runs and have been impressed with the consistency and persistence of his pessimistic vision; for me, he represents a niche pinnacle of American independent filmmaking, illustrating the power of creativity to triumph over a Hollywood system that rejects all things truly dark and disturbing.
It is my honor to present this set of recordings dealing with Solondz's filmography; in working with the material, I have sought to preserve the darkness that permeates the films and retain their pessimistic edge; the result is 7 massive blasts of desolate HNW and a shorter, experimental assemblage of audio and noise (the bonus disc.)  Films included: Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness, Storytelling, Palindromes, Life During Wartime, Dark Horse, and Fear, Anxiety and Depression.
Packaged as 8 separate albums, each in a DVD case with their own unique artwork, in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  No box, no inserts (similar in presentation to my "True Detective" set from several months back.)  $105 ppd. in the United States, $118 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "STALKER (TOTALITY)" DVD-R (AOW 282)

Gargantuan full HNW rework of the audio track to Andrei Tarkovsky's masterful work of metaphysical science fiction, Stalker, here split into two parts due to its monolithic size.  I've wanted to work with Tarkovsky material for quite awhile but wasn't sure of the approach; Stalker's intensity seemed a perfect fit for my "Totality" series of recordings.  This is some deep, dense, static HNW (as the audio from Tarkovsky's film is eerily monotonous) made for dark nights of the soul.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $20 ppd. in the United States, $33 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

BLUE VELVET: POETE MAUDIT (AOW 216O)

Chillingly bleak and haunted death ambient HNW from Poete Maudit, here turning in two frigid tracks for the "Blue Velvet" series.  Poete Maudit's approach is one that mines out all the unease and anxiety present in the film and transforms it into equally anxious noise pieces of hollow and cavernous beauty.  Difficult but meditative listening, these pieces sound like nothing else in the series thus far; all the violence is there, gleaming like a knife in the night.
Packaged in a fold-over cover in a clear plastic bag, in a limited edition of 10 hand-numbered copies.  $7 ppd. in the United States, $20 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

BLUE VELVET: WRIST CLUTCH EXPLODER (AOW 216N)

Schizophrenic blast of electrical haywire noise from the beautifully named Wrist Clutch Exploder, here working with something of an oddball point in Lynch's film-Jeffrey's father's stroke.  Crazy noisy and circuitous, this installment of the "Blue Velvet" series references the electricity abuse of the old Japanese masters and filters it through a modern WALL aesthetic-all crafted from a sample of the stroke/hospital scene in the film.
Packaged in a fold-over cover in a clear plastic bag, and released in a limited edition of 10 hand-numbered copies.  $7 ppd. in the United States, $20 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

BLUE VELVET : DISTORTED SOULS WITHIN A CORRUPT VISION (AOW 216M)

Massive, crushing onslaught of staticism from Distorted Souls Within A Corrupt Vision, turning in a truly nihilistic slab of HNW for the ongoing "Blue Velvet" series.  HNW diehards will find much to love here; DSWACV definitely comes from the classic Vomir school of wall-riding.  The piece here is 72 minutes of perfect, nightmarish WALL centered around the severed ear and Jeffrey's growing fascination with all things dark.
Packaged in a fold-over cover in a clear plastic bag and released in a limited edition of 10 hand-numbered copies.  $7 ppd. in the United States, $20 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

MIND OF GOD "OMINOUS" CDR (AOW 203)

Debut AOW full-length of Jason Pizzolato's Mind Of God, following the project's "Electro-Battle Preparation Tactics" EP.  "Ominous" is a much darker and more frigid work, a hypnotic assault of buzzing minimalistic deathdub electronic detritus and deeply psychedelic textures.  Given a crushing mastering job by John Stillings (of Steel Hook Prostheses), "Ominous" is an absolutely room-shaking affair through speakers and a hallucinatory excursion into drug-addled staticism through headphones.  A nightmare vision of dystopian anxiety, "Ominous" has already received some impressive accolades:

"I must say, this Mind of God record is sincerely badass!! It is really effective at influencing the 'lighting' in a room. It's really well put together, and in moments, it beautifully pays homage in sound and arrangement to some of its more Broadrick-esque predecessors." -Tannon Penland (LOINCLOTH / GAUCHISTE)

"Mind of God has things working.....onto something VERY cool." - Josh Eustis (NINE INCH NAILS / PUSCIFER / TELEFON TEL AVIV)

"Nice stuff! Not often do you hear metal dudes with an electronic music sensibility.....I dig it." 
- Tristan Shone (AUTHOR & PUNISHER)

"I think it's killer!! Minimal, weird, & beat-heavy....what more do you need? And the Mind of God video stuff is great...sick footage..!" - Mike IX Williams (EYEHATEGOD / CORRECTIONS HOUSE )

"Ominous" can be streamed in full at Mind Of God's Bandcamp:( https://mindofgod.bandcamp.com/album/ominous-lp )

Packaged in a DVD case with artwork by Jason and released in an edition of 20 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $23 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com 

  

CORY STRAND "FOXCATCHER: A REINTERPRETATION" 10CDR + DVD-R + BONUS CDR BOX SET (AOW 278)

Truly dark and immersive rework of the soundtrack to Bennett Miller's superlative study of emasculation, self-loathing, and despair.  In scoring the complicated relationship between Mark and Dave Schultz and John Du Pont, Rob Simonsen and West Dylan Thordson find disease in drones and affliction in the ambient; in working with the score myself, I've attempted to elongate and prolong the feelings of melancholy and anxiety the film depicts.  The result is a glacial wave of bleak, depressive death ambience and ghostly emptiness.
This box set is comprised of the 10 CDR rework of the film's score housed in five double DVD cases, plus a DVD-R of my HNW rework of Foxcatcher's full audio track (2 hours and 14 minutes), housed in a DVD case.  Also included is a bonus CDR created from various elements of the soundtrack.  Each has their own artwork; the entire set is housed in a handpainted box with a stencil-painted rendering of the Team Foxcatcher logo (stencil cut by Gina Newman.)  I loved this film and I hope my work with the score does it justice.
Released in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $130 ppd. in the United States, $143 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "CRIME & PUNISHMENT (TOTALITY)" DVD-R (AOW 281)

An epic, devastating slab of existential HNW dread crafted from the full audio track of Lev Kulidzhanov's 1970 film adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Crime & Punishment.  Obviously there are many cinematic interpretations of the novel to choose from; I chose Kulidzhanov's film for its truly immersive length (nearly four hours), its beautifully minimalist but highly expressionistic photography, and its faithfulness to the source material (most of the film's dialogue is verbatim from the novel).  The result is a gargantuan, anguished, raging psychedelic wall rendered into bloody shades of grey and black.  Raskolnikov's attempts to overcome nihilism and reconcile himself with the ordinariness of existence are some of the most grueling depictions of self-inquiry in all of literature; I hope this violent piece of audio static helps one to achieve the same sort of transcendence in the face of life's yawning, purgatorical emptiness.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $20 ppd. in the United States, $33 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com