Friday 14 November 2014

REDUNDANCY - NEW TAPES



#9 A.J.A. c40

Idiosyncratic electronic music from members (present & past) of Repairs. Obstinately an oblique tribute to Beckett & Fagan. Excerpts of neon tube interiors & electrically lit late night parks. 

#10 Nicky Crane c20

Fractured electronic music by journeyman James Vinciguerra. Internal monologues made external. Doesn't really sound like anyone else. Maybe if Graham Lambkin teamed up with the Burrell Brothers or something…?!

#11 Striker c20

Garage band NWOBHM; hard-ware humans & MIDI software. From the depths of Gippsland, circa early 2000's. Classic sounds for cruising the decayed highways.


Prior releases possibly available, NO BULK ORDERS.
$5 each.

Wednesday 12 November 2014

Lorna Coates and Commercial Concrète





'A sixty thousand sound girl' The Canberra Times, 8th October 1966.

I cannot find much concrete biographical information on Lorna Coates but she was originally from Adelaide, later moving to London in the early 1950s. She was involved in creating effects for radio stations in Adelaide during the 1940s and 50s and by the 1960s she had provided effects for the BBC
and was working for Stage Sound creating commercial musique concrète. In this she was part of a wider (though small) group of expatriates from Australia involved in commercially based experimentation such as Don Harper, Don Banks, and Dudley Simpson. There is not much further information available on Coates, though she was friends with writer Elizabeth Salter, also from Adelaide with whom she shared a London flat with in the 1960s, and English eccentric Edith Sitwell (whom Salter wrote a biography of). The National Library of Australia also has a small clippings file for Coates though unfortunately I can't find any documentation of her sound work ever having been published. I've also included some articles documenting the recording studio she opened in London in the 1970s.


Interview (1999) with Barry Hall from the Once Upon A Wireless: An Oral History of South Australian Radio Project


Coates is another example of how the early history of electronic music was invariably tied up with commercial rather than expressive avenues. Whilst there were musicians with an interest in its sonic and expressive possibilities much of the production in itself was as a complimentary component of other works. Whether it be radio plays, theatre music, film soundtracks, advertising jingles and so on (in Australia, at least, this further reiterates the point that 'modernism' often entered the local sphere via the backdoor. An integrated component of mass production and consumption rather than as rarefied 'art'). The functional and incidental nature of its production working to obscure its very existence. It was not understood to be creative work in the nominal sense, though the recent history of Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop are the prime example of this side-lining being amended and reversed. 



'Station Announces Armistice Day Features' The South Australian Radio Call, March 7 1945



'Diary' Studio Sound and Broadcast Engineering, November 1973.




'Diary' Studio Sound and Broadcast Engineering, January 1974.

Monday 20 October 2014

Sunday 5 October 2014

Beatnik & ET.


Lovell Jones 'Beatnik', Australian Women's Weekly 1961.

Tuesday 9 September 2014

Monday 1 September 2014

SUSSEX ST DEATH SQUAD


"FA011- Deconstructed Techno thematically exploring institutional abuse by the Sri Lankan government and the Australian governments silent support."

Available from: Warehouse Disposal & Future Archaic

SIOBHAN / MUD BRICK COUCH



"Split between Detroit’s Siobhan and Melbourne’s Mud Brick Couch.
Side A is Siobhan aka Travis Galloway (Traag, All Gone Records): Extended rhythms and crusty atmospherics loitering at mid-tempo. There’s some soulfulness here, but Siobhan injects it with gonzo adolescence — boneheaded loops smooshed together like some late-wave Spawn vs. Ghost Rider. For huffed-out goons with illustrated porn.
Side B is MBC aka Jarrod Zlatic (Fabulous Diamonds, Redundancy Tapes): Eerie pulses and radio transmissions stippled with drips and smears. MBC nabs that liminal space between house party ambience and modern compozishon, liquidating grooves and lending them a heady abstraction that offsets Siobhan’s scumtown bung."
Available from: Goaty Tapes

Wednesday 23 July 2014

Monday 14 July 2014

Australian New Wave Science Fiction: Micheline Cyna-Tang 'Erotic Shower' & SF Commentary





('The View From The Edge', ed. George Turner, Nostrilia Press 1977, pg. 81- 85)

The short story 'Erotic Shower' by Micheline Cyna-Tang was published in the collection 'The View From The Edge', the resulting works from a weekend science fiction writers workshop conducted by George Turner, Vonda McIntyre and Christopher Priest at Monash University in 1975. The collection is largely made up of amateur science fiction authors, though it also includes an early work by Sam Servajas (of Melbourne punk band The Ears, who also provided the inspiration for parts of 'Dogs in Space'). Michelines sole work is a slice of dry/sly piece of 'new wave' science fiction that is markedly different from anything else in the collection (or much other Australian science fiction from the period for that matter), unsurprisingly editors Vonda McIntyre and George Turner weren't sure how to take the story. 'Erotic Shower' seems to be in part influenced by the feminist and lesbian separatist movements taking shape in 1970's Australia (incidentally, lesbian separatism was the site for a rich vein of self published and small run science fiction work throughout the 1970's and 1980's) and a riff on post-hippie pleasure culture. Michelene Cyna-Tang did not publish any further works as far as I am aware, though in the editors notes there is mention that 'Erotic Shower' was part of a proposed collection of work dealing with a future world  with a "changed and withdrawn culture". 








(SF Commentary, from ISFDB)

As far as I can ascertain she was associated with the general 'scene' surrounding Bruce Gillespie & the SF Commentary fanzine in Melbourne, contributing to their 'Letters' forum. SF Commentary was an important vehicle for Australian science fiction culture and existed within the literary tradition of science fiction (the pre-Star Wars world, so to speak) and embraced the more counter cultural/radical aspects of science fiction and imaginative fiction of the period. For example reviews in one issue included Richard Braughtigans 'In Watermelon Sugar', Anna Kavans 'Ice' and Norman Spinrads 'The Iron Dream' while another featured multiple reviews of J. G. Ballards 'Crash'. Gillespie was also responsible for Nostrilia Press, who published 'The View From The Edge' anthology as well as Gerald Murnane's 'The Plains' (which has subsequently been republished via Text) Gillespie was also the original champion of Philip K Dick in Australia via SF Commentary and the first work published by Nostrilia Press was a collection of essays by Australian writers on Dick, 'Philip K. Dick: Electric Shepherd'. Gillespie begun publishing SF Commentary in 1969 and continues to publish e-editions to this day, available here.


(Tang photographed in George Turners apartment with science fiction artist Stephen Campbell, from eFNAC Supplement, Jan. 2002)

Friday 9 May 2014

‘A Hard Night’s Jazz’ & The Fat Black Pussycat, 1963 - 1966






Above is an extensive article on the jazz and folk scene in Melbourne from The Age, August 19th, 1964 by Leonard Radic, focusing on the 'vibe' of the establishments and their patrons, as opposed to the music and musicians. As an insight into youth night life it provides a grasp on  the atmosphere prior to the changes in alcohol legislation, that would pave the way for the 'beer barns' of the 1970's, and the growing secularisation of youth culture. The article is also pertinent in that it was written right on the cusp of Beatlemania - the beginning of the end for folk and jazz as major youth currency. In Melbourne the switch towards 'rock' took place largely within the club sphere, as discotheques quickly replaced jazz spots and the coffee houses. Keith Glass touches on this transition in his memoirs 'A Life in Music';

"In the wake of the beat music explosion, every jazz club in Melbourne is changing it’s music policy to accommodate young hopefuls with guitars and amplifiers. As ex-jazzers (that peculiarly Melbourne cult group deserves more time/explanation than available here) we’ve already got the long hair and therefore the jump on the more established, instrumental based regular "rock" groups who see this new thing as a passing fad. Soon we are working at Stonehenge in Beaumaris, Harlem in Caulfield and Penthouse in Ormond. Mentone Rock has become Mentone Mod, Jazz Centre 44 in St. Kilda is billing R&B nights each week, ditto the Fat Black Pussycat in South Yarra and dances such as OddMod at Kew Civic Centre are raking it in for the promoters while the bands are just excited to be there."

 One example of the transition between 'jazz' and 'beat' is the aforementioned Fat Black Pussycat, presumably the South Yarra venue mentioned in the article. Opening as a modern jazz venue in 1963 it provided a platform for the likes of the Brian Brown Group, The Heads (later the Bernie McGann Quartet) the Barry McKimm Trio, the Alan Lee Quintet, the Bob Bertles Quartet, and the Heinz Mendelson Quartet. Most were refugees from the Jazz Centre 44, in wake of clubs move towards trad jazz after its founder, Horst Liepolt, left for Sydney. It only lasted three years, having folding by 1966 and converting into one of Melbournes first discotheques, with a strict 'rock only' policy. 

The most 'known' of the groups that played at the Pussycat was the early incarnation of The Wild Cherries, pre-Lobby Loyde. A transitional act, members Les Gilbert & Kevin Murphy were modern jazz fans with a vogueish embrace of electrified r'n'b. Gilbert describes their experience with the venue, "The Fat Black Pussycat had been a jazz venue and was run by an American guy called Ali Sugarman – very much along the lines of a New York jazz club. With declining audiences he decided to change the music to stay in business and for some reason I can’t really remember, we were asked to perform the first night of its conversion from jazz to…I struggle with finding a word for what we called our music at the time,".


(The Age, Dec 11, 1964)

(Lot's Wife, Dec 2, 1965)
 
Though this gossip piece from The Age claims the venue had already moved on from jazz to mod by '64 (presumably not the jazz loving mods though) the venue would later be managed by Adrian Rawlins between 1965 and 1966, continuing to promote experimental jazz and poetry until its closure.

 (The Age, March 5, 1965)
 (The Canberra Times, Nov 4, 1966)
 (J.A. Hoffberg, "Fluxus Film and Sam: A Conversation with Jeff Perkins", 1998)

I’ve also included what information I could find on Ali Sugarman, an elusive (shadowy even?) figure in the narrative of jazz in Melbourne who came to tragic end. Like Horst Liepolt, Sugarman was another transnational influence on Melbourne cultural life in the post-war period, via the nexus of the ‘jazz club’. That he was tangentially connected with the Fluxus scene in New York is also an intriguing point, and may go someway towards explaining his willingness to promote the likes of Barry McKimm during the period they were embracing techniques influenced by John Cage and Ornette Coleman. Whilst jazz and ‘jazzers’ were the in thing I’m not sure how far towards that end of the spectrum audiences went (not very far, and would explain the change in booking policy) Pianist Chuck Yates provides an insight into his 'New yoik' ways, "The club was run by Ali Sugaman, who was later shot dead in New York. He was an incredible cat though. He was the first person I knew who would say any word in front of anybody. At that time in Melbourne nobody swore in front of women." I've read elsewhere that swearing in front of a 'blokes' 'girl' at that time in Australia was enough to cause a fist fight.... Perhaps The Fat Black Pussycat could be thought of as a small slice of New York in Toorak, perhaps?

In wider terms the shift towards rock proved disastrous in terms of commercial and social infrastructure for modern jazz in Melbourne, unlike folk and trad jazz, which both managed to sustain support (see W & G, East Recording Company, Score Records, Swaggie Records, The Seekers, Trevor Lucas, Red Onion Jazz Band, Frank Traynor etc. etc. ) The changes in taste in Melbourne away from jazz saw kept it absent from the official record. Unlike Sydney, which had the El Rocco and the major record labels such as Columbia and EMI, Melbourne had no venues, or labels - independent or major. Presumably this wasn't helped by the fact that artists such as Brown, McGann and McKimm, like their counterparts in Sydney, were at the height of their explorations in avant-garde and the 'new thing' (I say presumably as there are few available recordings to consult) That there  no one had a little money or interest in running something along the lines of ESP Disk is a shame as there was enough avant-garde activity during the period to sustain something. The only supporting documentation of artists in the 1960's period that I know of are two tracks by the Bernie McGann Quartet tracks on the Australia Jazz '67 compilation, the two EP's by the Alan Lee Quartet & Quintet from '61 and '63, the Max Reed Trio's EP from 1963, some of the tracks on Jim Minchin's 'Move 2 Mix' album, and there is one or two 'modern' style tunes on a live LP by Len Barnards Modern Jazz Group with Keith Hounslow on W&G from the late 60's, though mixed in with more 'trad' styles. I've read mention of a release by the Brian Brown Quartert, "Live in Tasmania", from 1969, but can't find any evidence that it actually exists. There are also archival recordings of McKimm along with Robert Rooney and Syd Clayton available on the Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music 1930 - 1973 compilation. 

The lack of venues or audience interest saw a real retreat from experimental music for several years in Melbourne, until the Carlton scene swung into life, and the establishment of the Victorian Jazz Club in 1969 provided some space for artists like Alan Lee and Brian Brown, though McKimm etc. had moved away from jazz into 'new music' circles, such as the International Society for Contemporary Music, and into the nascent experimental theatre scene around La Mama.