Lighten Up Sounds Unleashes a Limited Edition VHS of THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI with a New Original Score Created by Experimental Outfit BRUTE HEART!
Fans of the 1920 German horror classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari are indeed apt to get excited about this little morsel of fresh VHS news from analog-obsessed experimental / noise label Lighten Up Sounds. LUS has teamed up with experimental psych / noise / rock group Brute Heart out of Minneapolis to release the silent black and white expressionist classic on Limited Edition VHS set to an original and all-new soundtrack crafted by Minnesota's Brute Heart.
I think is a particularly inspired session for Brute Heart, and my favorite of their work, setting a perfectly dreamlike mood to the film.”
The Lighten Up Sounds Limited Edition VHS of THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI featuring a new score by Brute Heart. VHSexy, indeed.
Here’s the official press release from Lighten Up on the Limited Edition rewind re-animation of Caligari featuring the re-score from Brute Heart: “Happy to unleash this supreme analog document of the classic 1920 German expressionist horror film, presented with new original score by Brute Heart. Commissioned by the Walker Art Center in 2012, this score was originally performed live at an outdoor screening of the film as part of the Summer Open Field performance series. The soundtrack was initially released on cassette by Moon Glyph in 2013, but until now the film and original score have never been synched together for private viewing. This work finds the Brute Heart trio of Jackie Beckey, Crystal Brinkman, and Crystal Myslajek expanding their ranks and sound palette to include Jonathan Kaiser on cello and John Marks on modular synthesizer/processing.” When asked about the release, Lighten Up Sounds main brain Matthew Himes remarked, “
A close up on the lovely purple videocassette and the full-color label for Lighten Up Sounds' release of CALIGARI. So dope, man.
Each edition of Caligari from LUS comes committed to bright purple videocassettes with full color label and card stock artwork housed in a large black vinyl clamshell case. Duplicated in real time, high-quality SP mode with full stereo surround sound, it also includes a 2.75 x 3″ print insert. This is a hand-numbered edition of 50 copies in NTSC format.
A peek at the back panel for the LUS CALIGARI VHS release. So fresh and so classy clean on this layout, man.
Just one look and I’m VHSure you’ll agree that this is an absolutely gorgeous analog edition of this early horror essential, Tapeheads, and as evidenced by the sample tracks made available on YouTube, Brute Heart’s original score aurally reshapes this film with an in-depth and adept approach, adding a strange, experimental and ultimately refreshing audio edge to an absolute classic. Don’t miss this one, man. If you do, you’ll certainly rewind regret it. The Lighten Up Sounds Limited Edition VHS of The Cabinet of Dr. Calgari is available starting today (12/10/15) on their Official Store. Grab your slab, feed it to your VCR and keep living that analog dream, every day. Josh Schafer