#latitude zero

"Go forth and find the misfit toys!"

And so King Moonracer did, bringing them all to the Island of Misfit Toys.

gifs above by me

Latitude Zero (1969)

Dir. Ishirō Honda // ☆☆☆☆

Part 6 of a series interrogating the track titles for Kaijupop, the debut album of my Soft-Bodied Humans project.

The album is available on LP and digital from Gang of Ducks.

Track 6: Bat People

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The Bat People (人間コウモリ Ningen kōmori, lit. Human Bat) are eutherian humanoid kaiju created by Toho that first appeared in the 1969 Toho film, Latitude Zero.

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I was first introduced to the expansive sonic universe of Angel Marcloid via Fire-Toolz’ 2018 classic Skinless X-1.

I was stunned that a small label like Hausu Mountain could apparently find the resources to hire a pro-level producer, as the album SOUNDED like it had been cooked up in a million-dollar recording studio somewhere.

I was also stunned to find that not only all of the production work was done by the artist themselves, but that Angel’s own mixing and mastering services were available at very reasonable cost, an offer I immediately took up when I started my Cut A Lonely Figure and Soft-Bodied Humans music projects.

Angel wove her magic on the kaiju releases and, as I was approaching all of my favourite vocalists regarding contributing to the project, it was completely logical that I would offer her a track to vocal, and I was ecstatic when she agreed.

I explained that the music was constructed out of samples from old kaiju films and that there was ‘very loose’ theme about monsters that could be interpreted as literally or abstractly as you liked, and Angel was like ‘what if the monsters are like my personal demons?!’ and I was like yes 100% make it so.

Angel’s track on Kaijupop, Bat People, adds something searingly emotional to the project that it really needed. Musically, too, it is typically untypical – Angel unloads a shapeshifting, FX-treated, industrial howl of naked feeling over one of the project’s more atmospheric tracks.

Bat People sits perfectly between the abstract, expressive textures of Anna Homler’s Battra and the thudding, menacing shades of extreme metal in Abysmal Growl of Despair’s Minos, in one of the album’s most exciting sequences.