Saturday, November 12, 2016

PHANTOM CADAVER "REALMS OF THE MACABRE" CDR (AOW 427)

Phantom Cadaver returns to AOW with a loose continuation of the work begun on the project's last AOW release, "Maze Of Morbidity."  "Realms Of The Macabre" continues down that path, pulling the listener further into dark areas of depravity and over-the-top madness.  This release is epic in every sense of the word, comprised of a truly destructive 80 minute wall that progresses through a number of distinct movements without ever sounding like anything other than a composed whole.  It's pretty much a descent into hell.  It is true wall horror for the HNW devotee, and again demonstrates why Phantom Cadaver deserves a place among the genre masters.  Gloriously, unbelieveably great stuff here, from one of the best in the field.
Packaged in a DVD case and released in a limited edition of 15 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $26 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

Friday, November 11, 2016

KOSMODROM "CONQUEST OF SPACE" C30 (AOW 395)

Very honored to be unveiling this cassette from Kosmodrom, the fantastic new kosmiche noise project from Aleksandar Nenad (whom many will recognize as the mind behind the now-defunct Dead Body Collection.)  Though Kosmodrom has since released several outstanding cassettes, "Conquest Of Space" is the project's sophomore effort, and represents an amazing synthesis of cosmic psychedelic synth/theremin sounds alongside truly massive HNW clouds.  The sound of space collapsing in on itself, essentially.  Utterly engulfing, beautifully expansive noise, a totally new sound that is simply some of the coolest work being done in the genre right now.  I was very pleased when Alex asked me to release this, and i hope fans of the project, and of Alex's work overall, will find much to enjoy here.
The cassette is one of the loveliest I've done through AOW, with full colour labels on transparent red Chrome cassettes, and a gorgeous, deeply colour saturated layout by me that reflects the project's themes and interests.
Released in a limited edition of 50 hand-numbered copies.  $8 ppd. in the United States, $24 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

URBAN DECAY "V" 4CDR (AOW 431)

Very pleased to be releasing this new set from Mitchell Rotunno's (The Ebony Tower, (A)sex) Urban Decay project.  Urban Decay, while rooted in the form of HNW, takes things further out, existing in an empty zone of hollow and distant shredded HNW that veers on ANW.  It's like looking through a muddled foggy window pane at structures that seem to offer some semblance of shape and familiarity, but are really illusory objects of unknown origin.  This is some seriously dark and cold material, unsettling in the best possible way.  The four pieces here are essentially a severely prolonged feeling of dread and darkness, disorientation taken to its limit, the boundaries of existential malaise.  It's beautiful, forward-thinking soundcraft, and I get lost in it every time i listen to it.
Packaged in a DVD case and released in a limited edition of 10 hand-numbered copies.  $25 ppd. in the United States, $41 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

SHE WALKS CROOKED " A DANCE INTO DARKNESS" 3CDR (AOW 432)

Very pleased to be releasing this new three-disc set from She Walks Crooked.  "A Dance Into Darkness" is inspired by Bela Tarr's beautiful, glacial, and unnerving film Werckmeister Harmonies.  I don't want to ruin anything for anyone who has not seen it, but Tarr is a singular filmmaker whose only real contemporary is Tarkovsky.  SWC's work here is thoughtfully composed blasts of shifting, dense, crushing and LOUD HNW, echoing the psychic detritus of the film.  Masterful stuff as always from SWC, and sure to disappear quickly.
Released in a DVD case in a limited edition of 10 hand-numbered copies.  $20 ppd. in the United States, $36 rest of world. 

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "THE DIAMOND SEA: A REINTERPRETATION" C90 (AOW 428)

Crumbling, distant, and severely DEEP ANW reworks of Sonic Youth's seminal track, the epic "The Diamond Sea."  This song was pretty much the template for my band the Kafka Dreams, and the level of formless, gorgeous noise SY creates on this track were the zone we all aspired to arrive at collectively during our live performances (echoes of our approach can still very much be heard in Dreamless, especially during our very infrequent live performances.)  I spent MONTHS reworking this track and creating these pieces, trying to get at the right sound; many prior attempts were trashed and destroyed.  These two pieces are exactly what I want them to be.  If you've enjoyed my work as Eugene Critchley, you'll enjoy this cassette as well.  90 minutes of epic, bass-heavy sonorous drift.
Released in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $10 ppd. in the United States, $26 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FUDGE: A REINTERPRETATION" 6CDR (AOW 429)

Deep ambient rework of one of my very favorite records of all time, Mudhoney's "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge."  I listened to this record constantly in my teens and still spin it regularly to this day; in the 23 years or so since i first heard it, it has lost none of its emotional rawness or power.  All of Mudhoney's songs were about depression, heartbreak, and suicidal feelings, and they never crafted a more focused synthesis of those three subjects than on this record.  It's fucking devastating.
My rework is nearly 8 hours of hollow and chilling ambient and drone, attempting to augment the record's intense despondency and sadness.  I think I've done pretty well with it.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $35 ppd. in the United States, $51 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "BOOGIE NIGHTS: COMPLETE" 27CDR + DVD-R BOX SET (AOW 435)

Huge rework of both volumes of the soundtrack for P.T. Anderson's magnificent film Boogie Nights.  To say this film ha been an influence on me is an understatement; it is simply one of my very favorite films of all time, and one of the films that changed the way I looked at cinema, inspiring me to make it the focus of my academic life.  I saw this in the theaters in 1997, on a whim, without knowing anything about the film or its director.  I came out of the theater changed, convinced of the power of cinema to move me emotionally and open me up to experiences with art that I had not had prior.  The film is a stunning panorama of image and sound, comparable to the best work of Martin Scorsese, but existing in its own thematic universe.  There is not a single wasted moment in this film, no image that isn't glorious, no performance that isn't outstanding (Mark Wahlberg's performance as Dirk still gives me goosebumps every time i watch this film, and Burt Reynolds has never been better as a Jamie Gillis-type producer of pornography.)  The soundtrack, comprised of disco and rock hits from the 1970s and early 1980s, is a masterful example of curation (and a lot of fun, to boot.)  It's a stunner, and I've wanted to do this rework for a long time.
The set is made up of 27 discs of frigid, melancholic ambient crafted from the film's OST, with an HNW "Totality" recording of the entire film's audio track on DVD-R.  Each disc is housed in a black sleeve and accompanied by a double-sided full frame art card utilizing my favorite images from the film, with each card and disc then housed in a clear plastic bag; the entire set is housed inside a wooden box, hand-lettered by me, with an additional info card (the presentation is very similar to my large "The Virgin Suicides: Complete" set.)  All of the screen grabs were done by me personally from a blu-ray transfer of the film.
Released in a limited edition of 3 hand-numbered copies.  $275 ppd. in the United States, $291 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "I KNOW WHO KILLED ME: A REINTERPRETATION" 25CDR +DVD-R SET (AOW 436)

Massive rework of Joel McNeely's score for the maligned Lindsay Lohan neo-noir I Know Who Killed Me.  For all the shit people toss at her, Lindsay has actually chosen some daring roles; her work in this film stands as perhaps her most interesting (aside from her role in Paul Schrader's The Canyons.)  I hadn't done any Lindsay-themed work in awhile, and I thought a detailed exploration of this film's stellar score (it really is quite lovely and haunting) would make for a good deluxe set.
The set is comprised of 25 ambient pieces crafted from the film's score, in varying lengths, plus an HNW "Totality" rework of the entire film's audio track on DVD-R.  Packaged in 26 separate DVD cases, each with their own artwork utilizing my favorite images from and ephemera associated with the film.  All of the screen grabs were done by me personally from a blu-ray transfer of the film.
Released in a limited edition of 3 hand-numbered copies.  $260 ppd. in the United States, $276 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com