Z Berg - Strange Darling (Original Soundtrack) - VINYL LP

John Williams wrote this suite for concert performance, and then worked with the National Philharmonic Orchestra to bring that experience to vinyl record. This fantastic long out of print album comes in a gatefold jacket with the original iconic Star Wars paintings by William Stout, images of John Williams, and notes from author Ray Bradbury, composer and critic, Christopher Palmer, and from the maestro himself. Out of print since original pressing in 1980. LP Packaging 180 gm black vinyl pressing. Gatefold Jacket

In Peter Strickland's Flux Gourmet, a dysfunctional group of performance artists undertake a month-long residency at an institute devoted to culinary disciplines. Food is interrogated for it's sonic potential as the group mic-up, amplify, distort and transform what they cook in front of an audience. The noise that the characters in the film itself make is driven by food blenders, overflowing cauldrons of gurgling soup and sizzling frying pans (courtesy of The Sonic Catering Band), yet the music that soundtracks the culinary capers is engorged with aching melodies and wordless, airy vocals. Contributors include Cavern Of Anti-Matter, Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost of A Hawk And A Hacksaw and Trost's band, Roj (formerly of Broadcast), and Nurse With Wound. Flux Gourmet is presented in a rich 2xLP package with an ornate, colorful design and Strickland's detailed liner notes. Image, color, light and sound are integrated and heightened to delirious levels of hyperreality, much like Strickland's past works, Berberian Sound Studio and In Fabric. Flux Gourmet very much alludes to his past as a member of The Sonic Catering Band, which he founded back in 1996. The band split on several occasions and got back together to create new pieces for the soundtrack, concocting strange sonic morsels and treating recipes as if they were scores. The lines between what is on the screen and what is on the soundtrack are blurred, with the band (mostly) using the exact same equipment (which they loaned to the production) and recipes as in the film. However, for all the conceptual rigour on display, the music on the Flux Gourmet is ultimately in pursuit of catharsis, as one character concedes. The power of music and / or noise to purge and cleanse it's makers (and hopefully, listeners) of their ills and woes.

Long unavailable, this album makes a welcome return as a 2LP pressing on battered metal colour vinyl. The album included an additional 4 non-album tracks from the era as chosen by front man and main songwriter Sam Herlihy. 'The Lost Riots' was the debut album and includes 'Black Dollar Bills', 'Enemies/Friends', and 'The Red the White the Black the Blue'. The band have reformed and will be playing a handful of live dates in October.