Electro Euro-Trash

Subtitled Blackglove Killer Thrillers, Electro Euro-Trash is the second in DJ Speedy's intriguing and ongoing project of cutting mixes of top-notch techno to Italian horror film visuals, following on from The Colors of Darkness.

It's the kind of combination that looks odd on paper but works surprisingly well in actuality. Moreover this new mix surpasses its predecessor thanks to the decision to focus on the giallo rather than Italian-style horror in general and Speedy's growing assurance in using his chosen multimedia.

The mix creates a kind of imaginary giallo circa 1969 – Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, very much the ¨r text here – to 1977 – Antonio Bido's Deep Red-inspired Watch Me When I Kill, using images for both effect and also telling a wild, psychedelic-tinged story:

We begin with arrival in Italy and finish with departure, the latter accompanied by an ironic soundbite from Argento's debut that "it's a peaceful country, nothing ever happens there" and Ennio Morricone's closing lullaby theme that's disproved by the material contained within the bookends – much sleaze, showcasing the considerable charms of favourite female startlets such as Edwige Fenech, Barbara Bouchet, Femi Benussi and Susan Scott; the best of 70s style and taste, featuring the ubiquitous J&B bottle, reel-to-reel tape machines, telephones, discotheques and sundry other signifiers of modernity, crash zooms, fisheye lenses, subjective camera; and, naturally, all manner of black gloved maniacs terrorising, stalking and slaying.

What impresses most is the Speedy's attention to detail in selecting and sequencing his material, as when the lyrics "they only want you when you're seventeen / When you're 21 you're no fun / They'll take a polaroid and let you go / Say they'll let you know / So come on" are intercut with the images of the naked schoolgirls from the shower scene of What Have You Done to Solange and of assorted modelling/photo shoot scenarios from the likes of The Case of the Bloody Iris and Strip Nude for Your Killer, the salacious imagery enhanced by digitally interpolated iris and freeze frame effects.

Though the original sound of 70s giallo may be the alternately sleazy and uneasy listening of Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, Berto Pisano and company, Speedy's impressive audio-visual combination is enough to make you temporarily forget it for 30 glorious minutes of eye- and ear-candy.

More information on Speedy's ongoing Eurotrash-techno project can be found on his website, spacetoonzmedia.com