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 ISSUE 7
CONTENTS
CDITORIAL
Issue 7 is here. Another CD as well. This time it’s an ambient work
4 COVER DESIGNER: STEVE SCOTT which should set you up for some interesting dreams if you listen at
by DH bedtime. There’s also interviews with Pimmon, Triosk and Lawrence
6 PIMMON English as well as Animal Collective and Buck 65, plus all the
PO Box a2073 by Tim Colman regulars and a cover by animator/illustrator Steve Scott.
Sydney South It’s been an curious few months since our last issue. In the online
8 THE DUPLEX PROJECT
NSW 1235 Australia field there’s been so much movement in terms of internet file sharing
by Bim Ricketson
We welcome your contributions
and the explosion of iTunes, basically as a way of selling iPods. Apple
10 TRIOSK had to remove their claim to ‘being better for artists’ from their adver-
and contact:
by Damian O’Keefe tising when it was revealed that the majority of the US$0.99 went to
info@cyclicdefrost.com
www.cyclicdefrost.com 12 CREATIVE VIBES the traditional owners – the major labels. And whilst lawyers were
by Vaughan Healy raiding the universities and ISPs here in Sydney and the offices of
ISSUE 7 DEADLINE: APRIL 25, 2004
14 ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Kazaa and the RIAA in America continuing to go after end users two
by Bob Baker Fish positive things happened. The first was Warp Records’ Bleep.com
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
experiment. Bleep.com is a low cost way of buying individual tracks
Sebastian Chan 16 BUCK 65 from Warp’s entire back catalogue. Almost everything is there includ-
Art Director & Co-Editor by Tim Colman ing those rare and impossible to find vinyl tracks from AFX, Gescom
Dale Harrison 18 MUSIC REVIEWS and others, but best of all none of the tracks have any form of digital
Sub Editor 27 DVD REVIEWS rights management. They are in standard MP3 format and properly
Aparna Khopkar tagged and encoded. There are no limits to the number of copies you
Jordan Spence 28 SLEEVE REVIEWS can make, CDs you can burn, or devices you can use it on. It seems
by Alex Crowfoot like Warp might actually ‘trust’ their fans. Now that’s a novel idea isn’t
Reviews Editor
Dale Harrison 32 SELECTS: LAWRENCE ENGLISH it? Further, it looks like Warp will extend this to other labels that they
Advertising by Sebastian Chan currently manage through their Warpmart online store. The other inter-
Sebastian Chan 34 DEAR DEGRASSI esting news on the internet front was a report from Harvard University
Advertising Rates
Professor Terry Fisher. Fisher’s report suggests that if US broadband
download at www.cyclicdefrost.com users were charged just US$6 per month then not only copyright
Stockists music but also Hollywood movies could be freely traded and delivered
NSW: BPM, So Music, Disc, Red Eye, Reefer Records, without digital rights management. Under such a system both the film
Mall Music, Victory Music, Metropolis, Freestyle, Good and music industry would make more money than they currently make
Distribution Groove, Museum Of Contemporary Art,, Recycled
Inertia Distribution Records, Parade Music, Blockbeats Music, Music Bizarre
from traditional sale channels – even including the most skewed ‘lost
www.inertia-music.com (Lismore), Velvet Fog (Katoomba), Bloody Fist (Newcastle) revenue’ figure possible. Not only this, he contends that subsidiary
Printing industries would boom – blank media, and copying/playback device
VIC: Synaesthesia, Substrata, Raouls, Gaslight, Central
Torch Publishing Station, Record Collectors Corner, Greville, Readings, manufacturers as well, and artists could also be fairly compensated. It’s
Polyester, Second Spin Tech, Kent St Records, Northside an interesting theory. You can read about it at www.tfisher.org.
Web Programming
Giv Parvaneh, Qbique www.qbique.com Anyway, before your music choices get locked down, get reading.
QLD: Rockinghorse, Butter Beats, Sunflower, Skinnys,
Gooble Warming, Chinatown Music, Victory (Surfers
We’ll be back with Issue 8 in May.
Web Design
Luke Elwin, Qbique www.qbique.com Paradise) Sebastian Chan & Dale Harrison
Editors.
Web Hosting SA: Big Star, B Sharp, Uni Records
Blueskyhost www.blueskyhost.com
WA: Dada's, 78's, Mills, Central Station, Planet Video
Guest Cover Design
Steve Scott TAS: Aroma, Ruffcutt, CD Centre, Wills Music

Issue 7 Contributors ACT: Landspeed

Jordan Spence, Bim Ricketson,
Vaughan Healy, Alex Crowfoot, Bob
Baker Fish, Lawrence English, Tim
Levinson, Tim Colman, Peter Hollo,
NT: Casuarina
If your store doesn't carry Cyclic Defrost then get them to order it
from Inertia Distribution
www.cyclicdefrost.com
The views contained herein are not necessarily the views of the publisher
+ Extended articles

Wayne Stronell, Damian O’Keefe
Thank You
Jordan for the extra sub editing, Doe
& Adam for the cover CD project,
Nick, Ash, Justin, Ruby, Chloe @
Inertia, Natalie & Noel @ Torch
Publishing, Giv @ Qbique, Chris Bell
(happy 30th!) at Blueskyhost, and all
our advertisers.

nor the staff of Cylic Defrost.
Copyright remains with the authors and/or Cyclic Defrost.
Music downloads of featured artists
A New Audiences project, ISSUE 7 EXCLUSIVE WEB CONTENT:
assisted by the Australia Council, the
Federal Government's art funding
Additional reviews,
and advisory body, through its Exclusive on-line giveaways
Audience and Market
Development Division.
4
O TT!
T S C
+ GREAner
ig ott
 over Des Steven Sc
C ith
iew w
Inter v
by DH
Beginning design life by constructing car and
butchers ads for a local paper, Steve first came
to wider public attention with the video for the
Telemetry Orchestra track ‘Swingers
International.’ Idealistic and exciting times as
they were, the mid-‘90s heralded both the rise in
electronic music as well as the appearance of
vector animation applications such as Flash.
‘Swingers…’ captured that time perfectly – the
loping break, synth horns and analogue squelch
of the track was paired with campy spy-themed
vector animations that were perfectly retro-
futuristic. At a time when local releases were
scarce and the scene was in its infancy, it was
almost too classy not to be from overseas.
Since then he has created superlative film clips
for Salmonella Dub and B(if)tek as well as count-
less flyers for 2SER (most notably the later
Freaky Loops parties), Clan Analogue and others,
as well as a number of notable CD designs.
A founding member of Telemetry Orchestra,
musically he has also followed an idiosyncratic
path. Originally members of the seminal collec-
tive Clan Analogue (with whom they released
their first album) Telemetry Orchestra have now
moved on the Silent label – a move made simple
by virtue of their elegant avoidance of stylistic
overtures and their willingness to change.
Indeed, their latest album Children Stay Free
displays an easy languidity that disguises the
complexity of the arrangements. A fact reflected
in the Yellow Submarine inspired cover artwork,
whose quirky lines belie the eminent craftsman-
ship on display.
Despite his trips overseas to England and the
sub-continent, and the impending schedule of
work that he had amassed on his return, I managed
to put several questions to Steven Scott about the
relationship between graphic art and music.
Cyclic Defrost: Which is first in terms of inspira-
tion: colour, shape, concept or form? Is it the same
for music (with timbre being replacing colour)?
Steven Scott: Well everytime you draw some-
thing you are inspired by something new, but I
guess its usually the concept that I start with. But
I also tend to doodle a lot and you get into this
weird zone where images just pop out. Music is
different and the same. I usually play around
with little musical ideas and if something grabs
me then it can blossom out into a finished piece.
CD: Your work seems to proliferate with quirky
vector humanoids – especially facially. Have you
always been drawn to characters as a design
approach? What is it about faces that so appeals?
SS: Well I started off wanting to make comics
and tell stories, so I like creating characters. I
like the fantastic and bizarre. Anything to avoid
the humdrum – there’s something very enjoyable
about drawing a human figure and warping the
hell out of it. My friends have said that I draw
the people around me, but it’s an unconscious
process. My girlfriend will often say ‘you’ve just
drawn so and so’ but I’ll always deny it.
CD: Are vectors the closest thing we as designers
can get to creation (and therefore to playing
God)? What’s your current relationship with
vector art?
SS: Err . . No. Not sure if I feel godlike when draw-
ing. If all goes well I feel like my body’s just evapo-
rated and I’m an eye attached to a pen – even
though it sounds kind of macabre. As for my rela-
tionship with vector art, well it’s passed the seven-
year itch and is settling down, buying a house and
paying off a huge mortgage. I guess I don’t really
care how an image is created as long as it hits you
somewhere between the brain and the heart. If you
look at an image and all you can think about is the
technique then that’s boring to me.
CD: The design of Telemetry Orchestra's first
album was all angular lines, san serif faces and
blue/white sparseness, whereas the second
album is delicious curves, warm colours and
flowery type. Was this the subtle result of the
addition of a new (female) member of the group
(Charlotte) or was it something more deliberate?
SS: Yep, Charlotte did change what we were
doing, but we also all got interested in making
the music more organic. So I don’t know if that’s
more feminine, but maybe it’s more human! So
when I did the cover I wanted to reflect this new
music we were doing. Which is maybe softer,
more melodic. The idea behind that last cover was
that this lone astronaut was exploring the moon as
Jules Verne may have imagined it.

CD: What have been your three favourite design

jobs and why?
SS: Well I cherish any job that gives me creative
freedom. My faves would have to be the first SPECIAL
Telemetry clip I did with Matt Willis. It was how I
got into animation and I really got into this flow of SCREENING
Thunderbirds/James Bond imagery. It was like all
my boyhood dreams about the future came tumbling
out. The Salmonella Dub video clip I did for the
song ‘Problems’ was great. I directed it, wrote it and
animated it and really pushed myself in terms of
animation. I’d been doing some clips using the tech-
nique of rota-scoping and I started to realise how
limiting it is. So I wanted to do something looser
and crazier. I’ve done loads of work for B(if)tek.
They’re always fun to do. I get to draw lots of
women in outerspace. Also the last Telemetry
Orchestra album, which was pretty effortless in
terms of coming up with an idea and the execution.
Just trying a different feel from what I usually do.

CD: Do you find there is a continuum between visu-

al art and music, particularly when it comes to dis-
playing a finished product (i.e. playing live/sending
to print)?
SS: Well not really, playing live, you’re in the
moment. It can be joyful, maddening, crazy, scary
but once it’s finished it’s over. Whereas with print it
just hangs around, staring at you. It won’t go
away… I’m not even sure what I mean by that – I’m
not sure if there is a link between drawing and mak-
ing music. It comes from a different area of the
brain. They do different things to you. Music sur-
rounds you, envelops you. Good art sticks needles
into your eyes and straight into the brain.
CD: Is there a difference in your attitude to making
music vs pictures (i.e. do you see one as being more
self expressive compared to the other)?
SS: Well I tend to veer towards music but if I do too
much then I miss the drawing. Like a swinging pen-
dulum. I've spent the last year drawing and animat-
ing and I'm now going crazy cos I'm not doing
music. I guess drawing comes more easily to me
than music so when I do something musical the
high I get is incredible. I’ll stay up for days on the
buzz of it.
2004 OSCAR NOMINEE (Best Documentary)
2003 GRAND JURY PRIZE WINNER –
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
The Friedmans seem at first to be a typical family... until
one Thanksgiving a police battering ram splinters their
front door, officers rush into the house search every corner
and seize boxes of the family‚s possessions. Arnold and his
18-year old son Jesse are both arrested. As the police pur-
sue the investigation, and the community reacts, the fabric
of the family begins to disintegrate, revealing disturbing
questions about justice, community, family and ultimately -
truth.
CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS is a non-fiction feature film
that explores the elusive nature of truth, through the prism
of one of the strangest criminal cases in American history.

CD: As you work in one field do you find that

strategies in the other (be it music vs design or vice
versa) suggest themselves?
SS: The only thing that I find similar to both is the
ability to turn off that critical part of your brain and
just let the work come through you. I try not to edit
or criticise at the beginning of a process because it
just kills any spontaneity. In fact, at the moment I
think that’s what I’m really into, spontaneity and
organicness. Like, you know, rolling around in a big
grassy field.
For more on Steven Scott, see
www.stevescott.com.au
Dendy Films and Cyclic Defrost
invite Sydney readers to a special
advance screening of the Oscar
Nominated film, CAPTURING THE
FRIEDMANS. To receive your free
double pass simply fill in the form
at www.cyclicdefrost.com/comp
Tickets are strictly limited and are allocated on a
first-come, first-served basis. Successful entrants
will be posted the double pass prior to the screening

6 break such a release, were supportive.
SSOR
R O F E
 MAnD
P melody, the listener will be drawn to it more
ough
immo Paul G
P ith
iew w
In t e r v n any of the tracks on commercial radio – but it
T i m Colma
b y
Sydney’s Paul Gough has been conducting
abstract experiments with electronic sound since
the late ‘80s. Not your average electronic pro-
ducer, Gough spent the first part of his career
working on commercial radio, most notably
with the likes of John Laws and Alan Jones.
Since then he’s moved to ABC Radio working as
an engineer. Covering a range of styles and
moods, he is better known within the electronic
community by the name of Pimmon – having
released for a variety of labels including Japan’s
Meme, Portugal’s Sirr Records, ERS in The
Netherlands, Fat Cat in the UK and Kid606’s
Tigerbeat6 imprint. Also comfortable behind the
mic, he hosts the weekly ‘Quiet Space’ on Radio
National and ‘Gough’s Play Lunch’ on FBi.
His most recent effort for Tigerbeat6,
Snaps*Crackles*Pops, maintains the Pimmon
style – manipulating samples beyond recogni-
tion, layering these into skeletal tracks, creating
unique pieces of music which traverse minimal
glitch, drone, noise and ambience – but it has
also taken steps into beat and even pop territory.
‘The fact is I’m an old bastard and I wanted to
muck around. I use the word “pop” but in a very
loose way,’ explains Gough. ‘I grew up listening
to a lot of melodic popular music, which I still
love and listen to a lot. I guess I wanted to take
what I did and somehow embed it into that. It
was something a bit more rhythmic, not neces-
sarily accessible, but I think by nature when you
make things more rhythmic, or you add more
than something that’s just abstract.’
Despite the use of more melodic and rhthymic
structures, Snaps*Crackles*Pops is far from pop
in the orthodox sense – you certainly won’t hear
begs the question; is this Gough’s perverse take
on the pop industry?
Gough replies. ‘The word pop has changed so
much. These days, from what I perceive, it seems
to refer to Britney and that end of town. Whereas
for me, I’m thinking more Go-Betweens, some-
thing with a melody like the Beach Boys, some-
thing catchy. I guess all I was trying to do was
incorporate some melody and structure that peo-
ple would recognise as being song-based.’
It’s a structure that Gough’s children have only
recently picked up on; He explains, ‘One of my
sons is pretty familiar with weird music, he
doesn’t blink an eye if I play him something pret-
ty fried up. But when he discovered 2DayFM he
came to me and said, “Why don’t you write some
songs which have a verse, and a chorus?” It
struck me that up until that point he hadn’t fig-
ured out that was what a ‘song’ was all about.
Despite the romantic notion – Snaps*Crackles
*Pops didn’t arise from the 2DayFM-inspired
pleas of a son. In fact Gough had been working on
the project for a number of years: ‘the idea for it
had come up after Electronic Tax Return. [Kid606]
was really happy with how that went off and said,
“I really want to do a release.” I was just figuring
out what I wanted to do, and given the nature of
the label I thought it was probably the vehicle
where I’m more likely to send something that had
beats on it.’
A departure from his previous
efforts, Gough was unsure
how the public or critics
would react to the release. To
his surprise the reactions were
mostly positive. Even UK’s The
Wire, a publication with the ability to make or
Despite the favourable press he still reserves
some ire for music critics in general: ‘I’ve read
some positive reviews of my music where they
say all this stuff and I sit there and start to laugh
– I don’t really imagine that’s what the average
listener would think. It’s flattering; it’s nice they
said nice things. Of course, people need sign-
posts. I just wish the signposts were a little more
directional. The way some people write it’s a bit
like driving and seeing a signpost saying ‘Dubbo
– Dead Boring’ instead of saying Dubbo has this,
this and this.’
What type of signpost would he use to
describe Pimmon? ‘The things that tickle me the
most are when people say they’re not really sure
what I’m doing,’ answers Gough. ‘It’s as though
they’re perplexed attempting to categorise it.
That’s the best compliment I could get because it
expresses the thought, “Well that’s a bit differ-
ent”. I’d like to be thought to be a bit different,
not just for difference sake, but because there’s
some thought in it.’
It is this relaxed attitude coupled with a unique
musical vision that originally drew Gough and
Tigerbeat6 (via label boss) Kid606 together to
release Snaps*Crackles*Pops. Although the
details are hazy, the record deal came about in an
amazingly obscure turn of events.
‘I got in contact with this person in Slovenia
through friends in Sydney. This guy in Slovenia
wrote to me and said, ‘I love your work. I’m going
to do a two-hour real audio showcase of
Pimmon’. I was able to patch in and hear it at
6am. This guy was talking away and I couldn’t
understand anything except for the odd
‘Pimmon’. He posted it on just about every email
group and electronic website and I think Kid606
saw this and decided to listen and I think he (the
Slovenian) may have given Kid606 a CDR of some
of my work. Then I got an email from him saying
“I heard your stuff. I want to do a swap with
you”. We swapped about five CDRs.’
This lead to Kid606 approaching Gough for the
NWA remix project. It was something he was ini-
tially unsure about.
‘I had to admit that I’d never really listened to
their music,’ remembers Gough. ‘I wrote back
and said, ‘I don’t know if I’m
your man, I don’t
really

listen to this kind of stuff.’ I knew these were all
brash young kids on Macs and I said, “I’m this thir-
ty-something in Sydney who uses a PC”. He wrote
back, “That’s why we love you, man.”’
Although most of his work now stems from that
same PC, Gough has utilised a range of analogue
and digital equipment to create his layered sound
collages in the past, and the old equipment still gets
a work out from time to time.
‘I’ve got an old Korg MS-20 that I mess around with
and occasionally sample into the PC,’ explains Gough.
‘There’s a track on one of my earlier CDs where I’d
fiddled around with this sound and it was beautiful. I
jammed the power cord into it so it would just keep
playing over and had a cup of tea. It sounds really
lazy, but I had the basis for what I wanted so I just
manipulated it in the studio as well as through the
laptop. I also used to have this really old analogue
desk. I was really familiar with it, so when it came to
doing stuff, I’d just dump everything on it. I’d put a
skeletal track on the multi-track and just overlay it.
Some of my early stuff was done with an Eventide
Harmonizer and I would process vinyl, old radio sig-
nals and old tapes then layer it together. It was a lot of
fun, but these days I just do it virtually.’
Some Pimmon sounds and effects have even
come from faulty programs, resulting in tracks
emerging from the sounds emanating from the
y
Sydne
et h ing in , afterwards and listening to it and thinking, “I really
ty-som back
is thir wrote
m th . H e n.”’
“I’ C”
u sesaP v e y ou, ma
who e lo
why w
ha t’s
“T
mundane experiences in life – everything from set-
ting the table to catching a train.
‘On Secret Sleeping Birds there’s one track made
from a cracked version of Spectral Delay,’ says
Gough. ‘It had a fault, so rather than reading the
sample it read the laptop mic. I was visiting my par-
ents and I captured all these sounds of setting the
table for dinner, my father saying, “Move that
bloody thing off the table”, and knives and forks
going down. For some reason I foolishly loaded a
proper copy and I’ve never been able to find the
cracked one, which has really annoyed me.’
Pimmon tracks often emerge from short periods of
immense creativity. Ask Gough how this happens
and he’s not entirely sure. It appears he’s lost in a
zone of obsessive creativity. There’s a box of CDRs
which have emerged from these periods, just wait-
ing for the finishing touches.
Even when listening back to his own releases he
has difficulty working out how some of the sounds
appeared. He explains, ‘I remember sitting back
can’t recall what I did, I don’t know how I did it”.
It’s this weird high. I’ve referred to myself as a mad
professor, I get so engrossed in it.’
He often goes into these writing periods unsure
where he’ll end up. ‘I don’t go into writing with an
idea. I start by listening to sounds, then pick up on
things and say, “This is where I want to go”. It might
be something I think I going to be quiet and minimal
but ends up being raucous and crazy. It’s an intuitive
thing, I follow the sound. Some sounds will work in
combination and others won’t. I like layering lots of
different things so you get weird orbiting sounds that
don’t seem to match but if you take time to listen,
you’ll see they fall into a pattern and slowly fall out
again.”
So is Pimmon a musician or an assembler of
sounds? Gough himself is not sure – but as long as
the end product is worthwhile it doesn’t seem to
bother him.
‘I love music, I love sound. I see myself more as
melting pot. It’s somebody taking all these things
and putting it in a structure. It’s not academic. I lis-
ten to things over and over and get excited when I
hear something I’m really happy with.’
Snaps*Crackles*Pops is out now
on Tigerbeat6 through Inertia
8
C R EW
LIVECover CD
+ TWO Project /
 he Duple
x n
T illipso
ith Ph
iew w d Tom
Inter v k a a n
Zielon on
Adam ts
B i m Ricke
by
Every two bit hack writer has done their article
on the marvel of the internet in creating the
‘global village’ we now live in. We usually
describe how people on either side of the world,
through cheap instant email, can share ideas,
build friendships and create a peaceful and
understanding world for our children. In this
magazine there have been numerous references
to Australian artists remixing songs via emailed
files or arranging distribution with kindly face-
less Belgians, taking their music to a global
audience, often resulting in more recognition
overseas than at home.
Fortunately in this case the hackneyed ‘music /
internet’ story has a new twist involving two
cities, a pair of radio stations, one ISDN line and a
couple of Hornsby natives in a long distance col-
laboration in which the limitations of technology
were an integral part of the musical experience.
The Duplex Project, featured on the cover of
this issue of Cyclic Defrost, is a remastered ver-
sion of a live improvisation between Ray Diode
(Adam Zielonka) in Sydney and Given (Tom
Phillipson) in Germany, recorded in July last
year through the financial assistance of the Buzz
grant from the Australia Council.
Aiming to ‘explore the dynamic of perform-
ance between two artists completely separated by
distance’ and to ‘break down the divide between
the audience and the artist by transforming the
artist into the audience’, the CD is an audio
scape of minimal yet rich drones and static
described by one listener as ‘the end of the
world’ and by another as ‘strudel’.
Tom Phillipson describes
his music background as
‘Kinda normal… I started
going to warehouse parties in
1993 and from there started
listening to 2SER. From listen-
ing I volunteered at the station
and from volunteering I was
exposed to a whole different
side of music. It wasn’t too
much after that I started making
music and about five years ago
Dumphuck industries was born. I
had always been interested in cre-
ative stuff and working on CDs was a perfect out-
let. You spend 3-4 months creating, compiling
and mastering a CD, then you send it off and a
few weeks later you have 500 of them in your
house. It’s great, as opposed to painting or draw-
ing where there is only one of the object, produc-
tion means you can spend the time making some-
thing and then have a tangible object you can sell
or give away and still have one for yourself.
‘I am an untrained artist, in the sense that
nearly all of the fields in which I fiddle I have
had no training or education. Anyone who
knows me will not be surprised when I say my
main interest is building robots, but actually
building one is a different thing altogether.’
Until recently Tom ran the Dumphuck label,
now defunct other than being an outlet for his
freelance design work. Tom’s partner in the
Duplex project, Adam Zielonka, is a member of
house/soul/tech trio Alphatown, who were ‘piv-
otal to Dumphuck and that whole adventure.’
Alphatown is a trio made up of Adam, with
friends Luke Mynott and Andrew Maher. High
school friends whose experiences within the
early nineties warehouse rave scene left an
‘indelible mark’, they have been performing live
as Alphatown for the past four years Sydney’s
clubs and parties. ‘The
Alphatown live set is highly impro-
vised,’ enthuses Adam, ‘we bounce off each other
and the audience. Stylistically, we play a
hybridised blend of soulful, bumpy electro-house
with an infectious dancefloor sensibility. For us,
good music of any variety is all about balancing
the rough and the smooth – bittersweet flavours
make for a more memorable experience. We try
to create music with feeling.’
Adam’s alter ego Ray Diode has a slightly more
dubious background, raised on a diet of commu-
nist propaganda in Poland and long nights with
nothing but the soothing tones of radio static as
company. Now completing a master’s degree in
researching the effects of frequency static on his
unconscious and hoping to decipher the mes-
sages that static has to tell him, Ray is ‘fascinated
and perplexed with the textural sounds of radio
transmissions, telemetry readings and micro haus
structures.’ And ‘thermos innards.’
The Duplex project was not their first musical
collaboration. ‘It was a mixture of a few ideas we
had been playing with,’ explains Tom, ‘A few
years ago I was producing a radio program called
Aeon, which was very much in the same vein as
Duplex. Occasionally we would experiment with
the broadcasts, like calling in on the phone and
then playing stuff down the phone line and put-
ting it to air and experimenting with delayed
feedback loops. From there, it was kinda logical
to try and use more than one studio.
Then, many years later, I saw the Buzz
grants were open again, the idea just
kinda dawned on me and within about
three days we had a grant application
written and submitted.’
Tom, whose girlfriend worked at the
German radio station Antennae
Muenster, laid the ground work for the
gig. ‘The station is a
commercial
d ] w hy we
[e
y ask
rm an lad rld”
tle old Ge
o f the o
w
lit nd
“One ting the e
ca s
broad
had to physically mix them
radio station
during the day. Community
radio doesn’t exist as such in Germany,
instead you have two hours a day in
which the community can get on air
and pretty much have free reign. It’s the
same with television. Though the con-
trast between one minute Shania Twain
being played and the next an hour of
bleak grey drones was pretty funny.’
The performance was made possible
through the high speed digital phone
connection ISDN. ‘ISDN is basically
just a digital phone line,’ describes
Tom ‘It allows you to connect to anoth-
er studio via the line. It’s pretty
straightforward (in theory); you dial
the number on the codec, it rings and
connects, then as long as the studio is
set up correctly, the number you are
calling should just come up on the
desk as a fader. Doesn’t always work
like that, as we found out... and having
a German technician who doesn’t
speak much English made it kind of
amusing/stressful.
‘For the most part, it’s very much
more an exercise in mixing than it is
playing conventional instruments. As
we both were running about four to
five different sound sources at once, in
many ways the mixing desk became
the instrument. In total there was six
CD players, two turntables, one reel to
reel, two minidiscs and a laptop.
‘The CD is a mashup of elements of
live recordings from both sides of the
broadcast glued together with tracks
that for one reason or another didn’t
sound as good on the DAT tapes. We
rebuilt the set from scratch to reflect
the original set and then we cut up the
recordings from the set and layered
them into that mix. A lot of the set on
the CD is the broadcast, but then there
is also parts of it which just didn’t
sound as good due to the com-
pression over the
ISDN
re
that
we decided we
again to ensure we got a solid mix.
‘In the end it’s a seamless mix, there
is no indication where the live stuff
starts or ends as its all layered and
mixed in. Just like a strudel, layer
upon layer upon layer. Yum.’
An Australian broadcast time of
3am, combined with a tight turn-
around between the successful grant
application and performance made it
difficult to promote the experiment.
‘Promoting the event was kinda stress-
ful because I was leaving Germany
mid-July and we didn’t actually get
confirmation of the grant until mid
June, which meant we had under a
month to pull it all together. We had
all the press releases set up, and had
tentatively booked some interviews,
but as we didn’t know until the last
minute, it was hard to really co-ordi-
nate anything effectively.
‘We were lucky to have the media
officer of the Muenster City Council
offer us help promoting it in Germany
which did open a few doors for us.
Alas as the broadcast in Sydney meant
people had to wake up at 3am, so the
coverage in Sydney wasn’t too strong.
Strangely enough the local paper up in
Hornsby did a story on it as both Adam
and I as we are both from the shire.’
‘We had a few interesting calls [dur-
ing the broadcast], including one little
old German lady asking why were
broadcasting the end of the world. As
long as we can touch just that one per-
son in that special way, it’s all worth it.’
The Duplex Project is
this month’s cover CD
10
EDOM
THRE
E OF
RIC
TH
 THE
e
ce Pik
s k u r e n
rio T La ith Triosk formed with the idea of combining the
iew w
Inter v an O’Keefe
three members’ talents as jazz musicians with
electronic elements including the use of micro-
mi
by Da samples. The collaboration with Jelinek hap-
pened purely by accident, says Laurence Pike,
drummer with the trio, ‘I discovered Jan’s music
very much by chance. I was recording sound
bytes off the radio late one night, and unknow-
ingly sampled some pieces from his album Loop-
One of the highlights of last year was the finding Jazz Records. We based a couple of our
collaboration between local jazz trio Triosk, and early tunes around these samples, as they were
German minimal producer Jan Jelinek on the perfect for the sound we were trying to achieve.
album 1+3+1. An unlikely venture conducted by Later when I found out what it was, I bought the
unlikely people, it united two sides of the world album and became his number one super fan.
and, seemingly, opposing ends of the same aes- ‘Adrian and I went to see Jan’s gig in Sydney
thetic. in November 2001, and we approached him after
the show about what we had been doing with his
music, if only to see if he was OK with it. I gave
him a CD and my contact details, 3 weeks later
he sent me an e-mail from Berlin and suggested
we should record together. I told him to talk to
my agent first of course…’
The resulting album, 1+3+1, is an inspiring
combination of Jelinek’s trademark bleeps, tones
and micro-audio processing and Triosk’s unique
s
homa
ryn T
re by Kath e, Waples
Pictu mpes, Pik
Klu
to R:
SK L
TRIO
instrumentation and attitude. Despite the subtle
nature of the music itself, there is an undercur-
rent of intensity throughout the album. ‘I think
both Jan Jelinek’s and Triosk’s music has this
quality,’ says Pike, ‘It can float across the surface
even though there is a lot happening in the
cracks and underneath.’ The listener merely has
to decide whether they would like to explore the
surface or delve into these darker cracks… or
move between the two.
Adrian Klumpes’ vibes swirl around looped
tones (and vice versa) while Pike’s drumming
and percussion slowly builds in its focus or
alternately stutters along in counterpoint to Ben
Waple’s smooth double bass. The subtle intensity
comes from a feeling of tension between Triosk’s
free-flowing sound and the rigid sample-loops
and clicks of Jelenik.
Pike acknowledges that the challenge of com-
bining the improvisational aesthetic of jazz with
otherwise highly-structured electronica is a sig-
nificant intention for Triosk, ‘Using turntables in
a jazz improvisational way in Pivot (which
Adrian and I also play in) really opened up the
possibilities of improvising with other sound
sources. I wanted to explore combining a more
traditional jazz ensemble sound with electronic
textures and improvising with both, with the
electronic layers more or less being another
improvising member in the overall group sound.
I started to really identify with the more mini-
mal, glitch and ambient electronic music, and
felt that the ‘chance’ or ‘found’ nature of many
of its sounds seemed to have a natural link to the
process of jazz improvising. I find it hard to say
that we have a specific method, we try a lot of dif-
ferent things, and it’s often hit and miss.’
w it h the m
y lt
The fact this challenge was conducted via air identif nd fe
mail and e-mail seems bizarrely appropriate. In t o r eally m u sic, a
I star
ted tronic eeme
t elec nds s
fact, Triosk and Jelinek have never spoken since
their first and only meeting; the musical connec- m b ie n s s o u
and a y of it g.
tion and understanding between the two parties
r e o f man p rovisin
would be sure to overload the circuits of Perfect n a t u zz im
Match’s Dexter.
o c e s s of ja
‘The writing process was very natural, says Pike, pr
elaborating on the process behind 1+3+1, ‘We just
responded as best we could to the feeling of each tracks needed best. From this perspective, I thought
track. I think I wrote ‘Vibes/Pulse’ for example, the mutual trust between Jan and ourselves was
more or less from my first listening to the CD, many quite impressive. Jan then posted back some first
of the tracks we also just established a concept and drafts and we discussed very minor changes in the
left space for spontaneity and invention in the stu- mix and ideas via e-mail until we were all happy.’
dio. We put down Jan’s material as a stereo track For Pike the biggest surprise was how true Jelinek
and layered our parts on top. We spent two days stayed to Triosk’s original recordings, something he
recording. The first day we recorded everything for appears to appreciate even more as a fan. ‘I was
1+3+1 and the second day we recorded material for really flattered by the fact Jan obviously liked what
another album of our own. About 15 tracks all up, it we added so much that he left most of it alone, and
was a marathon session. We transferred the 2-inch chose to enhance it instead of chopping it to bits…
tape onto digital and burnt all the files on CD and which I would have been fine with also.’
posted them to Berlin…There was always the ele- The challenges are far from over, though. Whilst
ment of not knowing what the final result was going both Triosk and Jelinek have independently been
to be at either end, which was very exciting. It made playing shows based on the material from 1+3+1,
us focus on delivering whatever we thought the there are plans to do some live shows together. As
tch ound’
in im al, gli ’ or ‘f
r e m n c e
o h a the
t h a t the ‘c a l li nk to
u r
a nat
d t o have
enthusiastic as he is about this, Pike is still slightly
unsure how this would work, not to mention a dis-
tinct lack of enthusiasm from potential promoters.
‘Promoters are extremely hesitant to take on 4 peo-
ple and lots of equipment, especially when they are
accustomed to presenting one person and a laptop.
I’m confident it will happen later in the year, and
hopefully in Australia as well as Europe. I would
like to think that we could present a really unique
show, play material from the album, but also be
highly spontaneous and interactive. I would also be
very interested in doing some completely impro-
vised sets and have Jan improvise textures and lay-
ers and live manipulations of the sound that the trio
generates. This is ultimately how I would like to do
all Triosk gigs, but we are still developing our meth-
ods as a trio, and we’re often limited by only having
six hands.’ At least that adds to make one more than
the album title!
1+3+1 is out now on ~scape
through Inertia

12
AD
D E CAnniversary
E O FVibes’ 10th
+ AN AG
tive
L E : Crea l
E L P ROF I
e r P asqua
AB L Pe t Evolutionary Vibes Volume Five is the latest, sub-
ith
iew w ealy
Inter v H a fully-fledged record company in 1996 and
V a u ghan
by
A good record store can sometimes resemble a
support group for misanthropes. Every now and
then, however, all the digging and competition
can lead to something positive – just like in 1994
when three friends decided to set up their own
distribution company. Peter and Heidi Pasqual
and Gordon Henderson were sick of working for
The Man and decided to start Creative Vibes.
‘We used to work for a distributor, but there was
so much music we wanted to buy for ourselves
and it was costing us a bomb. So we thought if
we wanted to feed our vinyl habit we may as
well do something about it and bring in some of
this music ourselves. We ended up quitting the
distributor we were working for and started up a
business in our bedroom. We thought, “If we
bring in one copy and someone wants it, why not
bring in five copies?” It went from five to ten to
twenty. We went on building up to some labels
doing 300 or 400 releases on vinyl and we were
distributing to about 15 stores!’
ANCE
E -D
Creative Vibes expanded from distribution into
began to sign, promote and release local artists.
The financial rewards were immediate – Creative
Vibes moved out of a Glebe bedroom into a plush
34th floor office in Australia Square in the
Sydney CBD, and opened a London office under
the guidance of law specialist George Butler.
Moves were also made into Tokyo, New York,
Paris and most famously in Riga, the Latvian
capital, in an attempt to corner emerging markets
in the former Soviet Union.
The decision to launch Creative Vibes as a label
for local talent was easy. DJ Soup, AKA John
Blake, was a vocalist and bass player in go-go
band the Sydney Kings whose Slam Dunk EP has
become another lost 1980s classic. Peter explains,
‘our involvement with local artists came about
when we signed DJ Soup. The company I was
working with before had signed his band and did
an EP with them, so releasing a solo DJ Soup
album was a natural progression for me when
Creative Vibes started. We firstly released the
Soup & Avene EP in 1996, followed by the
Souperloops album a year later. Looking back that
was a ground-breaking album, the guy was doing
a lot of cut-up and breaks stuff a long time before
anyone else was, especially in Australia. He is
such a production genius and he was always
ahead of his time in what he was doing.’
Listening back, the Soup and Avene EP still
sounds hot, vastly superior to so much of the
boring ‘trip-hop’ blah that got mad props on
labels / brands like Mo’Wax. Unlucky for us,
those early Creative Vibes releases remain
obscure, getting limited release and exposure in a
population having trouble with the difficult con-
cept of instrumental, synthetic music. ‘The thing
was that radio here had not caught up. Triple J
was so focused on doing rock stuff that when
artists like Soup finally got some airplay, they
weren’t understood by the audience. But he is
going to be doing music forever, so he will have
his time one day. When that happens he will get
the recognition he deserves.’
Creative Vibes have since continued their com-
mitment to pushing local music alongside the
imports, with their catalogue numbers creeping
up to the magic 50 releases. Over that time, the
Evolutionary Vibes compilations have acted as a
showcase for the Creative Vibes sound.
titled ‘Winter of Our Discothèque - Summer
Edition’. ‘It’s the first one for three years, the last
one came out in 2000. I didn’t want to do anoth-
er one but I had so many one-off tracks that were
so good, plus a lot of full artist albums coming
up soon so I thought it would be good to intro-
duce a lot of these artists to the public, to have a
precursor to the albums coming out. I honestly
didn’t have any intentions doing one after num-
ber four but the tracks are just too good.’
Volume Five covers a huge stylistic area. ‘This
time round I have decided to put out as many dif-
ferent styles as possible and not stick to any one
genre. The electronic music industry out here is
so diverse, and if you are going to do a compila-
tion which sounds just like the last one you are
really not doing the scene any favours, so I really
wanted to put out as wide a sound as possible. If
I have offended people then tough luck, I don’t
put tracks on there to appease people.’ Old timers
Koolism snuggle next to new comers like Gotye,
whose new solo album Boardface has been get-
ting played in all the right places. ‘Gotye has an
amazing track which almost has a New Order-
type feel. There’s a new track from Ubin, whose
album is coming out in March. There is also a
track from Quro, which is incredible. It really
shows where hiphop is going.’
 Other projects lined up for Creative Vibes’ 10th
birthday include a Best Of, and the prequel remix
album Don’t believe the hype, it’s a prequel. Word.
The established Australian jazz and funk series
Respect Overdue is also getting another instalment,
with paperwork currently settling on Volume Three
as I type. ‘There is so much amazing Australian jazz
music that got overlooked, which explains the title
of Respect Overdue. There was no respect given to
any of these guys when they released these albums,
a lot of them sold next to nothing. By properly
licensing these tracks and making sure the artists
get paid is just our way of saying thank you.’
I ask Pete what forgotten slice of wax would get
the Creative Vibes reissue treatment if he was King
for a day. ‘The album that we are trying to release is
called Eastern Horizons by the Charlie Munro
Quartet. It was recorded in 1967 and originally
released on Philips. The guy was a genius. Equal to
anything by Pharaoh Sanders or Alice Coltrane; it’s
an amazingly well written and thought out piece of
work. But a lot of Australian-based artists never got
a look in on the international markets.’
It would be a lie to suggest that the only music that
Creative Vibes deal with is achingly cool European
electronica and black dance music. Browsing through
most of the dusty corners in a well-stocked store turns
up music from across continents, genres and ages all
distributed by Creative Vibes: difficult modern jazz
ot
u sic that g sure
the
ja z z m a kin g
alian and m
z ing Austr s e tr acks
a
ch am licensing th
e you’
s o mu ly yin g thank
is r a
‘There prope y of s
o k ed...by s t o ur wa
overlo ju
aid is
tists get p People only think that of us because in the begin-
ar ning we were doing a lot of French music, French
labels like New World and ECM, original bluegrass hiphop, house and funk. Things like St Germain,
and vocal labels like Document, avant-gardists World and we were the first ones to break Bob Sinclar,
Serpent, specialist European library music labels and Super Discount, I:Cube, and stuff from F
loads of other stuff defying any sensible description. Communications, which did extremely well for us
Pete agrees: ‘Yeah, there is only a really small market out here. Because we were getting such massive hits
for much of the stuff we do, things like the Sub Rosa with that European stuff, people from that side of
label, which I hold close to my heart – we might only the world were talking and saying ‘Look, Creative
sell 25 copies of an album, but it’s viable because then have done 10,000 of this, you should get them to
when something like Bill Laswell comes along we work with you in Australia’. We became very Euro-
might crack 1000. We do a lot of labels because we centric after that, it was just the way it was going. I
adore them and feel that they should be represented don’t think we were conscious of the fact then, but
out here, not because they sell.’ now we will be branching out and you will see a lot
While accessing styles broader than broadway, more US labels being distributed, everything from
undoubtedly the Creative Vibes cash-cow remains jazz re-issues to electronic labels.”
modern and European. It is a company synonymous
with contemporary occidental music. ‘We are
changing tack this year, I will be dealing with a lot For more information on
of American labels to get their catalogue with us. Creative Vibes releases see
www.cvibes.com

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 A
an hour or so and record it all,’ he continues.
14
NTI ‘Those tapes got stolen and I’m still upset for

ME
that. But I think much of what we do or at least

D E our attitudes about music and our music come a

AL
lot from that summer together. We would use

S IC
Ul Collective a Bear
are and what we think of things is inside all of us
anything like plates and the door and anything
we would touch because we’d constantly be

M
nima Pand
somewhere and somehow, and there isn’t much
need to talk about it,’ offers Panda Bear when
pressed about where this unique sonic approach
around the room moving from one sound to the
next. I suppose the freeness of those days has
played out as a big inspiration for our attitudes.’
A ith
iew w
sprang from. Responding via email during some This freedom is also reflected in the revolving

Inter v a k er Fis
h downtime in New York, Panda has been friends nature of the group, where the Animal Collective
b B and musical collaborators with the Collective can refer to anything from one to four members
by Bo since 1992, though it wasn’t until 2000 that they or any configurations in between. The name
came together under the Animal moniker, with Animal Collective came from a desire to label all
the emphasis producing something new, even if it their disparate projects, perhaps a recognition
Here Comes the Indian from Brooklyn based wasn’t actually explicitly discussed. ‘We all want that whilst the sonics may vary, the approach
quartet the Animal Collective was one of those to do something new and fresh and try and work and impulses behind them were linked. ‘It was a
amazing bolts from the blue you get from time to as hard as we can and go as far as we can with way of talking about all of it all at once sort of
time, a disc that seemed to exist in a totally dif- everything we do, but I don’t know that we’ve like a big blanket name if you know what I
ferent time and space as all of its contempo- talked a whole lot about that. We try and move mean,’ states Panda. ‘It’s not my favorite to be
raries. A twisted brew of off-kilter wailing and around a lot as far as styles and approaches and perfectly honest because sometimes I’m afraid
chaotic though melodic sounds, it seemed equal- instruments and things like that are concerned someone might think were stuck up a little and
ly informed by psychedelia as rock, folk and but I suppose that’s more to keep us excited than intellectual, and not that I think we’re stupid but
pop, yet felt like a bizarre form of musical anything, and again there isn’t much discussion I don’t think we’re like that. Collective just
dementia, where everything had been taken of that sort of thing. sounds a little jaunty to me but it gets the job
apart and reassembled by some sincere yet very ‘There was one summer, it was my first sum- done I think.’
troubled minds. mer living in New York, so I guess that was four
years ago – that Avey and Geo Bresson and I
Released early last year, its distinctive, astonish- would set up all sorts of things in Avey’s room
ing and uniquely imaginative sounds prompted on Prince and more or less improvise together for
interest from English label Fat Cat (home to Sigur
Ros and Múm) who, on the advice of David
Grubbs checked out a live show and were so
blown away by the outfit’s exuberance and musi-
cal dexterity that they invited them over for an
English tour. Fat Cat’s enthusiasm even stretched
as far as rescuing their two earlier works Spirit
They’ve Gone Spirit They’ve Vanished and Danse
Matanee from distribution hell and releasing
them as a two disc set. With stage monikers like
Deaken, Avey Tare, Geologist and Panda Bear,
everything about them is cloaked in a strange
kind of psychedelic backwoods mystery. Not all
participants play on each release, ensuring each
album posses its own unique personality. Whilst
Here Comes The Indian exercises some of their
more abrasive tendencies, their debut, featuring
Avey Tare and Panda Bear, is a much more
skewed psychedelic pop influenced outing, and
2003’s Campfire Songs featured the Collective
playing acoustically on a screen porch in
Maryland. Whilst elements such as tone, struc-
tures and temperaments can differ dramatically
between releases, their spirit of inventiveness
and experimentation remain intact throughout.
‘We’ve known each other for so long and been
through a whole lot together so I think who we
 Each release is such a peculiar collision of ideas
and influences. Whilst their debut was much more
vocally based, with skewed though unmistakable
song structures, echoes some of the folksier
moments of a prepubescent Mercury Rev, elsewhere
they touch upon all kinds of strange and conflicting
influences. ‘There are so many things that have
pointed us in the directions we go so it’s hard to
gather them together,’ offers Panda stating the obvi-
ous. ‘I think most of them aren’t so musical
although lots of attitudes of musicians or artists in
the past have inspired us to feel a certain way about
what we do. The freeness I talked a bit about before
from psychedelic or folk or music of the world like
African music or something is in there for sure. All
sorts of things. I think who we are as people and
what’s inside us has defined our music more than
anything and we’re all very different and into all
sorts of different things, I guess that makes it even
more difficult to say just where we’re coming from.
I like music that’s very ritualistic, like to ward off
spirits, or to heal somebody who’s hurt – it’s an
expression of something very real and true and it
has a purpose and that purpose is to be better in
some form. I like that very much.’
Given the looseness of their structures and their
refusal to operate within traditionally accepted
forms, not to mention some of the abrasive squalls
of sound, there is a common misapprehension that
the Collective are simply giving into the moment
and improvising aimlessly. After all how could they
reproduce the rapturous energy and strange combi-
nations of sounds? ‘There isn’t much improvisation
at all, live or recorded,’ clarifies Panda. ‘It is an ele-
ment of almost all the music though and it is very
important to us to have that feeling of confusion.
We all like that energy of moments very much. Avey
sometimes says that the mood of a song is impro-
vised and I think that’s true for the most part.
Sometimes when were playing on stage and the
crowd gets super rowdy then we get real rowdy so a
song that isn’t so aggressive will get that way.’
Consequently most of their new material comes
from a combination of live jams and prepared parts
that each member brings to Collective. ‘It goes both
ways,’ states Panda. ‘There’s been times where lots
of it comes from just playing together without any-
thing in mind and there’s times where we work
with something very structured that comes from
someone in the group. But what comes out at the
finish is always fashioned and built in some way or
another so we never wing it at all. I think some peo-
ple think we do just shoot from the hip all the time
but that’s really not true at all. And it’s not that I
don’t respect improvised forms of music but for us I
think its only one part of a process to get where
we’d like to go.’
Whilst much of the Collective’s output is chal-
lenging structurally or emotionally, a yen for
now
so n I am
er king
the p rs ma
u ldn ’t be ye a
o so
ainly w st eight or
I cer t la
for th
e nds.
if not y be st frie
with m
music
extremely high-pitched textures has meant that they also have
the propensity to be sonically challenging. Whilst you get the
sense that many artists delight in tormenting their audience or at
the very least making the listening experience a test of
endurance, for Panda this couldn’t be further from the truth. ‘I
don’t think we ever mean to annoy anyone or drive them off at
all,’ he assures. ‘Some of our songs or the records I can’t listen to
any more either because it’s not what I’d like to hear any more. I
suppose there is a fine line between challenging someone and
driving them away. I’d hope to bring someone to a better place or
a wiser place or a happier place or something with music, but I
certainly wouldn’t want to screw with them just for the sake of
doing that.’
Panda’s favourite album thus far is 2003’s Campfire Songs,
where the quartet retreated to a friend’s porch in Maryland with
only acoustic instruments and crooned and harmonized into the
countryside. A calming album, on initial listens its relationship
with some of their other more tempestuous outings may seem
tenuous at best. It’s only after a few listens that it becomes clear,
its effects arriving more from the carefree joyful and natural
expression of the players. ‘It’s the only one I listen to at all and
it’s very nice to go to sleep with,’ Panda reveals. ‘It’s very pretty
and moves slowly like I do when I go to sleep and I guess that’s
why it works well. The music is who we were at the time; how
we were feeling, what we were excited about doing and where
we were excited about being (in Maryland countryside and
forests) and I think all the music works along those lines. That’s
how it fits with the rest, if you know what I mean.’
Beyond currently working on a new album tentatively due in
spring as well as participating a couple of other mysterious proj-
ects and touring through the next three or four months, Panda
appears a little overwhelmed by all of their commitments as their
music continues to reach new audiences. Regardless, he remains
energized and enthusiastic, conscious of the personal rewards
that playing with the Collective brings. ‘It feels very good to be
working with people who are important to me on so many lev-
els,’ he offers. ‘It’s very hard work and it forces us through all
sorts of things, I’ve learned more from my parts in the collective
than anything else in my life. So I suppose it’s how it changes
who I am that gets me so excited. I certainly wouldn’t be the per-
son I am now if not for the last eight or so years making music
with my best friends.’
Animal Collective’s Here Comes the Indian,
as well much of their back catalogue, is
available on Fat Cat through Inertiia
16

folk
erican
of Am roots
nex t form n ed those
ke the bando ut
p ] was li to h ave a to that b ith
[Hiph
o
it se ems f a retur n
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but ore o pre-
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... I’d tten r ys.
’s g o th e se da
p s
hipho ursuit
e w eird p
som
over and over again. I knew that I didn’t want to
do that again. I wanted to push myself a little

GST) further and see what I was really capable of. To

push myself further as a musician or take steps

P L US towards being able to rightfully claim the title of

(
‘songwriter’.’

.5 0 To claim the title ‘songwriter’ Terfry found

$u1
himself picking up instruments like the
guitar again and re-evaluating the way he used

Terfry
the sampler.
ck 65
B Rich ith
‘I still use the sampler to make all my music
iew w but I use live instruments then process the
Inter v n
Colma
sounds, sample them and chop them up,’ he

by T i m
Rich Terfry, aka Buck 65, casts a unique shad-
ow in the world of hiphop. With seven albums
under his belt the Novia Scotia native’s
abstract, bittersweet lyrics have yielded recent-
ly to a gruff delivery reminiscent of Tom
Waites. Musically, the beatmaker in Buck 65
favours folk, jazz, blues and country – not your
average hiphop mixture – but Rich is not your
average hiphop figure. A baseball fanatic, he
was once scouted by the New York Yankees,
he’s dropped rhymes for Sesame Street and
has worked with a diverse array of artists
ranging from the Anticon collective to the
Beastie Boys. School music theory has given
him experience in the tuba.
‘I did study music in school when I was younger
so I did learn theory and how to read music,’
says Rich. ‘I played tuba and drums for five
years. As a strange as it might sound to have a
background in the tuba it has served me well, at
least a little bit.’
The tuba isn’t very hiphop. “No, but neither is
banjo and steel guitar and both those things are
all over my album. Who’s to say really, the way I
feel is there are no limits.’
Buck 65’s latest offering is 2003’s Talkin’
Honky Blues. Despite the absence of the tuba it’s
a mixed bag covering folk, reggae, jazz, blues,
rock, even a track bearing a striking resemblance
to Italian horror soundtrackers Goblin. Recorded
in Paris, the album isn’t as dark nor as abstract as
previous efforts.
‘I was in Paris looking for a change of scenery
and some new inspiration,’ states Rich. ‘Just
looking at new faces, meeting new people and
having new experiences gave me a lot to write
about. The city also conjured lots of inspiration
and feelings of romance and whimsy, things like
that,’ he remembers, laughing.
‘At the same time I felt like a lot of my musical
tastes were beginning to change. I was spending
a lot of time listening to old folk music, old jazz
and old blues. I felt, to honest with you, that the
last few records I had made before Talkin’ Honky
Blues were basically me making the same album
explains. ‘I still really like that approach, using
the sampler as a tool in the studio and as an
instrument. But there’s two major concerns I
have with tha method. One is that being on a
major label the legality of samples becomes an
issue. The other thing is that I really want to try
and establish myself as a songwriter and for me
to do that I can’t just write lyrics, I have to write
music as well. It was just a natural move to start
using instruments and so on. I want to gain some
sort of legitimacy out there in the world of
music. If I’m just recycling other people’s sounds
that wouldn’t really qualify me as a songwriter. I
really endeavour to push myself in that way.’
Don’t you think sampling is a valid form of
songwriting? ‘Unfortunately I don’t think that the
art-form of sampling is given the legitimacy that
it deserves in the courts and by a lot of other
musical people out there,’ replies Rich. ‘It’s a
tough issue, you could argue it either way.
There’s a lot of people who would say an impor-
tant part of songwriting is sitting down at a piano
or with a guitar and writing music and learning
how to read music off a sheet. That’s a whole
other discipline that, strictly speaking, sampling
is outside of. That’s not to say it’s not a legiti-
mate artform but I don’t know how neatly it fits
in with the technical definition of songwriting.’
There’s no doubt many are interested in Buck
65’s approach to songwriting. In 2002, after five

independent releases, the Canadian arm of Warner
Music signed him. Anyone afraid a lack of inde-
pendence would result in a drop in quality would
have been pleasantly surprised with 2002’s Square
– four tracks each clocking in at around 20 minutes.
‘I was really happy the first album I did on a
major label was a really challenging record because
I know some people out there would have been
really sceptical to see me coming out on a major,
thinking compromises would be made,’ says Terfry.
‘I think all those fears were put to rest pretty quick-
ly when people took one look at the album and saw
how out-there it was.’
Still, it didn’t stop the odd critic voicing a nega-
tive opinion about the move. ‘I’ve certainly heard
my fair share of shit-talking,’ explains Rich.
‘Unfortunately there’s a lot of people out there who
position themselves as some sort of authority on
music and they have the say on what’s right and
what’s just. Their opinions though aren’t so much
based on the music and whether it’s any good –
there’s a whole separate agenda.
‘There’s people who are sticklers for the whole lo-
fi aesthetic or the idea that if it’s not underground
it’s not special any more. People don’t want to have
to share with other people but I just like music that’s
good. I don’t care where it comes from, what country
or what label it’s on. I have records in my collection
that probably no one’s ever heard of and then I’ve
got other records amongst my favourites that are on
big labels and everyone has in their collection. I
wish everyone was the same but some people are
really willing to dismiss you for reasons that have
nothing to do with the music you make whatsoever.
Obviously that’s something I find frustrating.’
Shit-talkers aside, the move has meant Buck 65
is now able to concentrate solely on the music as
the business side is all taken care of. His music
can also reach places it was otherwise unavailable
as he’s no longer restricted by independent
marketing techniques.
‘When you’re on an independent label, they’re
kind of genre specific, but a major label casts their
net out wider which is what I wanted to do,’ says
Rich. ‘I wanted to reach some people who like other
kinds of music, to see if that would work. So far I
can see they’ve been doing a really good job with
that. I think there’s still a long way to go but so far,
all in all, I’ve been really pleased.’
With the promotion side covered and Paris as the
backdrop, Rich decided it was time to bring his pro-
duction up a notch. Discarding his former bedroom
set-up he took the plunge into a studio.
‘I thought it might be good to actually record in a
somewhat proper studio,’ he says. ‘Every album I’d
done before I’d just done in my bedroom on a four-
track. It was a comfortable situation because it was
a place that a friend of mine ran and I just had my
friends in there. It wasn’t some kind of fancy place
by any stretch of the imagination. The place stunk,
it had naked women on the walls, there were no
windows. It was just as stinky as my apartment so it
didn’t feel to foreign to me.’
So you felt at home? ‘Yeah, which was important
‘It was interesting, like any experience it had its
to me. Being comfortable is much more important
ups and downs,’ says Rich. ‘I know the Beastie Boys
than going out and getting the best gear, the best
don’t like white people making hiphop music
producer and the best guitar player. I’d take comfort
which is kind of ironic. So I found those guys to be
over that any day.’
nice enough gents on a personal level but then there
Comfortable in his musical surroundings, Buck
some musical things philosophically we couldn’t
65 then attempted to recapture the lost art of sto-
see eye to eye on.’
rytelling, an art he believes hiphop has lost over
Even collaborations with like-minded artists have
the years.
not yielded satisfactory results. After working with
‘That’s one of the things that excited me about that
Anticon early in his career Buck has since distanced
whole form in the first place,’ says Rich. ‘It really
himself from the collective, although not for any
just kind of fell in line with a lot of folk tradition. It
personal reasons.
was like the next form of American folk music but it
‘I would still count all those guys as friends, I saw
seems to have abandoned those roots in a lot of ways
them a week ago in New York, but the fact is with
and I think that’s really unfortunate. It’s a tradition
me living in France and those guys living in
that I like to keep alive. I’d like to see more of a
California it’s not even feasible for us to try and
return to that but hiphop’s gotten really narrow and
work together,’ explains Rich. ‘I’ve come to the con-
pre-occupied with some weird pursuits these days. I
clusion I kind of prefer being the lone wolf and
just feel I’m kind of out there doing my own thing. I
being out there on my own. The danger you get into
don’t really think too much about what to call [my
with a label like Anticon is they have a political
music] or where it fits in or anything like that.’
agenda attached to them. That’s a really dangerous
His approach to lyrics and music definitely sit
thing because as soon as you really put your foot
outside the traditional hiphop framework.
down on anything and start waving a flag, you start
Attempting to pin point Buck 65 contemporaries or
to divide people. I found there were a lot of people
influences within the hiphop world is often difficult.
reacting negatively to Anticon and as soon as they
‘I don’t see too many similarities between what I
saw that label they were turned off. I want people to
do and what just about anyone out there is doing,’
judge me on my music alone and not associations or
states Terfry. ‘That suits me fine. I’m not out there
anything else. I felt it was best to go off and be on
specifically doing something different from anyone
my own but those guys are still friends and I respect
else, I’m just trying to do my thing.
what they do.’
‘I don’t know a whole lot of other hiphop fans
These experiences have meant Buck 65 isn’t
that are also huge fans of country music or are into
entirely comfortable with collaborations these days.
classical music, like Danny Elfman or something
While he does have a band he tours with his recent
like that. I wish that was the case, I would find that
Sydney show was a one man affair, with Terfry han-
really exciting if I could find a hiphop person who
dling DJ duties giving the audience his best stand-
would be willing to engage in a conversation about
up comic routine.
Jacques Brell or something like that. I don’t know
‘My experience collaborating with people hasn’t
too many people like that unfortunately. I don’t
been entirely positive so I’ve shied away from it
think there’s anything unusual about that but there
over the last couple of years,’ says Terfry. ’I prefer to
are some people out there who think I’m some sort
just work on my own then you only have yourself to
of freak because of that.’
disappoint. I figure it’s better that way.’
That’s not to say he hasn’t attempted to bridge the
hiphop divide. Terfry has over the years collaborat- Talkin’ Honky Blues is out
ed with Biz Markie and the Beastie Boys, although on Warner see buck65.com for
the experience wasn’t everything he had hoped for. more
 18
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(jazzy E HO (li Y it
UNCL SHUE –a n d
bbo ...
Sir Ro e V get in
Princ

APR IL s4e)
u
ub ho
(d
(live)
M E E M narl
ass S
Sub B Prince V

U N DAY
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EVER 10.30pm
5pm –
T O WN
EW E RD
@ N 2 ENMORwn RSL)
5 N ewto
FREE
( O l d
20 LOCA
L REL journ
ey. Th
Syndic
a
Weste EASE mic tr e exp The E te
rn S con ack slo e c tation nd
Glacia Grey tinue form wly b w (B loody
l Erra d of uildin ould be a
(Dr tic ing w orgiastic p g in te steady When Fist)
Jim) ith so ayoff nsion rhyth the op
me of at the u - ‘Chao ening
‘This
cd mu
some
other these end, a ntil some s and track
result st be b ehind id eas. O e x p ectati n d w p en Mayh is titl
s, so th listen ften ju o h ils t ta g ra m on em’ a ed
e d th e re ns SW flirt- fi nd th
collis at the to at h pulled p st as y M cult to th e
ion sh minu
te igh vo fr o m
e ti tious p
r ou’ve h a ve
S s e e w
e C D , it’s n re’s a
sionis reds y intens lume electr u im settle ure it here th ot too
tS our it for ics an nder you w al beat, th d in ’s dar ings dif-
Grey’s ean Baxter aural sens y of this so best seems d a str
a
ith on
ly
e rug
will b
atmos
phere
k, wit
h moo are headed
debut on th es,’ off nic to act as n g e winds a dull r e s but dy rep .
strang album e pres ers pe C o u d r u m the fr
e that
Baxte
. Tho s
ugh in release for
rcus- mpris
ed as
a buff w
er betw ept sound shing of T
and b
as s enetic etitive
ating e xperim a serie which h is is d w as enti bu
he r (Buc it
ketrid ially it ma
Weste s of lo een many the da efinitely n rely u rst of
(Cand re as a trio er/Laz y seem
rn scape ents in rhy osely of the rk prin ot a re nexpe
lesnu along y s, mu thm a co n n parts. c cted.
ff side g ), c h of B nd av e e d, dar c e ord to
electr
on
er/ Bu
ck uita who is
oper-
impro
vis inary ant ga cted parts e I say by as this worsh
offerin ic compose et rider/ La rist David ing dy ed, conce Input
to Fle
rde so
u
or c r o o k ed sp c la s s y asso
is a w ell cra
ip
g rP
okay,’ the traditio hillip Sam ), and min
zy Brow
n namic ntrati
ng sh An nd- azzed r ft-
but th nal ro artzis imalis
piece s
. In fa , than as an more on e tenna funky
a m up fre tment of
er ck , wou t ct it’s y strin xp feels playe phetam netic
about of it a gently loring shift- beats
Glacia e is someth cry of ‘pla ld sB a litt r fr
Warre om Newca hythms. T
ine r and
seems l Erra ing un y it lo be be see inary Inpu le hard to comp n s he fir
to be ti c at h mista u d n as a t to F know o sed and G tle b a st lon
logue th igh vo k ably ja es befo nu lesh A what th eir wo avin B sed bro
and e eir primary lume. r re it fi mber of fa ntenn to ma
heavy rds a ‘70-o
urke,
Syndic ers
th g
offer lectro in te And th ring m in n all ls e starts,
a cou
ld
ke
mome nic im nt. In at u te m y kick a lm c u t a dd m ate is
corpo ark, a s in a o o nd pa in
gentle nts of pr
extrem ovisations, ratin holds
th nd fo round r rhythmic st abuse
.’ Wh ste Am ute wheez in
series
electr
o pitc e Weste g ana- ing sy e repetitiv
r the
remain the twenty teas- an all at the iga 60 e of
of sho hes an minimalis rn Gr n e de -e n y d o n 0 brea
pluck rt imp d hum m, Sa
m
ey extra
thesiz s
ed so wamp beats r of the pie For ev compassin ’t say
h o w
kbeat
ing, r rovise s juxtap a rtzis’ pe un e r g mons e ver, is
ubb de prima rcussion. In ds squeal a ver which
o ce that a y twitchy
ments
of fou ing or scra pisodes of
osed
wit l, trap nd sc lo rhyth ter of a wo what
frenzie h a the en reech soar- In fac t of time e m and rk
seem
intent
nd pe
rcussio
tching
of guit d
th e electr p e d -i n-the-j d th e p ie o ve r t it’s a ffort a s ample this is.
within on hig n ar slowly onics claw ungle ce is le structe ll tigh nd ca it’s cle
hlighti . Initially th and frag- -with ft wit d tly c re has ar
togeth
their
palett ng the e trio s
wind. ubsides an abidly at th -cannibals
r ha unrele , rare and in ontrolled been
taken
er the e, ma extrem a c tually E p d w emselv fe e l, n ti n g d eed d a n d d .
cult li in k in e con Bob B ic a nd ex e a r a s r ecorde ly e if e ft ly
stenin gredients.
g little
a tt e
trasts aker hausti e left with es, th
e beat
n
d betw ergetic. Fe ficult for a con-
g, but It’s at mpt to F ish ng. th at infe in g the een th aturin re
to. Th
ere it is time fuse rnal c e mid g mate lease so
handle are no gro also music s tense and Fraug undou ontinuity -‘90s rial
s to g oves, to d h m b te d of the and 2
active iffi Consta an and v ly dar sound 003 it
ating rab on melod
ies ly liste - ibr k, so s an ’s ama
world
somew to,
here b rather thes or vocals, n n
(Extre t Decay the op ate, though me of the b d approac z-
of etw e ar no m e Elec ti m istica th e kind e a ts lite h. It’s
Whils sound des een a spars e sounds o The b
litz tr o n ic s)
engag
in g.
lly titl
ed ‘Th o f d o o
rally
b oo
t th
‘Open e fourth c
ign or e
scienti stripped b er-
p openin krieg of n Bob B
aker e End m breakbea m
Space ut, th fic im ack g cut oise s Fish ’ is als t on
’ fe e tw p r m is o f C h a r d s o v e r
tal ma ov sed th onsta that is y
nipula atures som enty four m isation. allusio e cov n
er and t Decay en ‘XXX Apsci
impro tion’ e ‘add inute ns as sures ’, the
viser from e d e nviro e to titl e , th G et it Tw
the dis Kaffe renow rratic the co listen at if th
ned E nmen a ers ar isted
c Math nglish - pound nd dark re ntent of th e ey (Elefa
earne Glacial Err ews, for th in g a lease. is unc under no nt Tra
ks)
stly b atic fe e rem fr ag nd om A sca omfor Who
u nkere e ainde m ents o inous tt ergun table d o thes
spasa
ming d dow ls like the r of th e f n o is beats o f d e ta l m e guy
and e n clip trio -floor e, Con torme e usic v s thin
betwe
en the xplor ping, trial in intensity stant nted b p faith? igilan k they
m ing th clickin s a n D e c a y d if T h tes? D are? T
thing . Inter e size g, tanity d cha y is re ficult in is r e c efend rans-c
at all. esting of the b ass ja , o ally fo te o rd is a ers of
Bob B ly tha g u lf ckham furious oft s. The feel ur-to- S
nt: Ap
s c i c o m the br ontinen-
aker t’s no Drugs mer li e n imp is lo-f ydney m e a n p rehen ave n
t tore C e i , man b s ew
Fish a bad
being owbo
ke be
ats, th netrable d indus- age, a , it’s a usiness. Ne ive statem
a junk y moa e odd r ill an n d G e ll th e w Yor ent of
Shaoli At tim y and nin samp d Hipho t it Twis s ame in k, Ma
n Wo swirls g about sic le s p te this d nilla,
A Bin od
ary In en Men seems
es it b
egins and to kness uch as Twiste for the mo d is music igital
to to becom r r e nts of p a in d s w d e rn fo r the jo cyber
put T be d aps age -
(PsyH
armon o Fles nage
via pe riven by an e cohesiv electr and hipho
p (actu the grime . Believe it urney
.
Takin ics) h Ante r e , onics p a o f . G
g their nna backw c ussion instati howe . ack, s ll y, I am mode et it
ater g . At ti able d v er, if o rn b
ing de na more ar m esire mercia let’s settle not su
ppose ackpack
vice p me from a terrify age version es it feels for ca l fo
Shaw opula kung n a tu in g a o f M like a r- tro: fi college hip r east coas d to c
all it
ris fu n inistr rst ge t
Austr
Broth
ers film ed by coun train- v
re. W
hen th d evil due y, som seedy ti es nerati hop) for cle abstract n back-
alia’s s of th tless io lent e e voc to its ehow . Dana on sy an str on-co
S e a r s als co raw a ru D ia z n thesis eamli m-
fourth h ao ‘7 come fr h atterin me th nd ab g ged p Tutaa and c n
studio lin Woode 0s, om A g scre ey’re
p
usive L uns a
n
n’s vo
c lear, a ed elec-
n in a w l Jour eches receed aMott d ecc a c
ing fu releas
e find Men’s et genso and s a entric ls soar abo ute tonali-
rth
influe er afield fr Dead’. sock on th ns ound ed by the id . It’s a reco ve the
nced om th
s them
mov- This is e 20 m demonic to like th eas, th rd cle metre of R
ey produ e a rly fro a phael
upon beg
the ps innings an techno-
eir Bob B
aker noisy inu
evil te te cut ‘Dan s recorded
nsil ction, obtuseness m Ne
w Yor
but it ,
their yched
e
d exte
n
Fish rritory
.
ce wit
h
mayb
e it s ’s also the elliptic k City
more lic tra d Prepa Dana’s :
in as rec nce ro ing re you the beatz, voice
got an al
otherw electrical
a sing ent outings ck of rself. its parts
but th
is is a re , m a y be it’s o rld
A Bin le 40-m . Cloc cord fa e d g e:
ary In in
put to ute plus tr g
kin Vaugh . Really, re r grea
the cla
a stra
nge d Flesh ack, an He ally, r
eally ter th rity in the
is A aley g an the
jointe n o od. sum o
comp
lex d and tenna is f
 -
Ens ) ludin
g hich ellent ese s’ sec
& We
ft Vibes s, inc – in w nother exc sing th rganic on the
Warp r / C r eative w e a ther le r hyme L a z y Grey d . A e s t u t a ddres olve is Mo ly u p
ote en Fa
ir ba tt h ec te gu with o Ev ab ial-
vesco ith ab wit can be exp s the album vice. credit espec
(Groo p ro d ucer B lid debut w th e coll s , a s h o return M u phin’s s is a disser d it builds d d e but –
w tle
ne
Brisba ered a ver
y so s. On shine phin, ted on t it sit points um, a
n
self ti d by
me En Lazy es Mu s gues in tha t lo alb yed in his handle ecially in
has d
eliv d e r the na arp & Weft a c k featur le after Bia ut of place rt’ and ‘Nu o nd so rk la o n . Again – e s p
u n tr ro o rv e o ucti olid e
lbum bel, W ws its rance ls a b
it
ke ‘Pe e dw
groun ms of prod are more s ks lik
this a vescooter la z that dra appea e track fee cks li pectiv an h trac n-
G roo a l ja z h e str a , . T h ia s B tr a
m e in tr o s
e T h ly in te r
e b e a ts
e p tu n e s -i s
am e idiosy
th e d ig it c O rc s o lo o u s B e s a M o r ic s , th te d N th e s
g y ti ra u c ows th phin ’s bra - a n p a s s
is dar
k, ed inema Rob next to nd yet foll s’ from Mu ias is a cele of Morg synco ll pos
se ough d
om C avily ey sti laxed, as th s an MC an
nces fr d probably und Trio ta’, a time ith B arts the he Though th
influe bin a n
d e r g r o B u s
a s ‘S o m e
In B e d W
e to th e h e
t It ’. m m o r e r e
a tu re d . A
a tu r ity a
o Un e s s s if e m
T
Amon ’s Chicago ring th theme s
erthele a subject c obably wo
lo rth ‘L
s, the
y se cer ha
s m
ached aw abili-
Featu est for his . Nev
rikin,
r ith cracie produ ics re his r
Mazu
rek K noll. b Music r s , but p y ered w ic s the M organ o w ent
e Gra
ss y
, kno w n
opper
s f th e la p fa n ric s la
Mor g a n r s e , a t s h testam
and th orn of Sloth ney hip h tion o ss ie hipho o prefer ly o x e r of cou d tracks th atbox’ are o v id e
- r
yh Syd e won many
Au ose w
h beatb o – an acktothebe and p
mood h seminal r e a re som d. The in g for th n g ti me ag in g it b
e ll c hosen getting all
e . lo r
work
wit
Breath
, th recor avoid tance ch as
‘B
sts ar
ew porter w on
moky a r subs ties su ct. His gue Tranz uncing flo
Bass & ts on this s g deepe inson ts – Elf bo um
Meta e n sts , In v to th e fa li g h C ’s e a lb
r fu l mom turing voca
li
it h The Tim L
e
o f th e high and Wire M yrically, th a ll
d e a ed w org ie e ift It ’ out. L c
acks fe o has work scooter Ge e sics som from
two tr s Phy over ‘L stand atter – less imag-
m, wh ead-Groov
e e ep th usic v re , Busta Night’ both f subject m o me h
s tr o t to k M
ersco a d r e s ly t o e h ts suc
Lilje and h bly abstrac with each _Und ertia) comp as a ‘Lone gamu ts to th callou
men, a ercy/In Symbiotic iphop nic e full lemen ancefloor one
Baggs in s u it v it in g e s s in & M ta k e h
ru n s th rio u s e
to d is ‘P h
, rema more
in
the fl
abbin (Love ny of their ysics their
so the va ight’,
gh
e thou recorded,
Zuzak d become this is s. a vs Ph d) in r dif- outs to f ‘Lonely N es the cak
sound o’ Like m ne’s Music than an en gethe ever
moo d , a n a w in d ru m s ur p in a lt o g s o t ta k x ra p g it on
only fl me of the vertus a
o
Melbo point (rath y ending u wing the li
er ve inin ’. Wh
a est se t gettin ited
listen
. The o f so o n ‘Intro r a m n g a ll c h e a s ‘B ounce th e strang zical abou s e lic
o n s e e d star ti p ic e s ow ly o n
e p roducti larly the ca ‘8 0 s crim rwise a tu res – ty urprisingly eir live sh e d e x ’, possib s w a xing o ut the visio
th id adve n s S nic b
u
partic ng like a m ound. Oth eeking
e
territo
ry. S of th ple-ba sing Morga me a prud
e,
This is vocals holly sam li with
p lo ds alo d u
s
ll kick and worth
s ferent nd rapped o s t w th e tanta a lly . Call s h u dder.
h a alm to ee it of a
whic rribly debut drum
s
is an
g
cordin mewhat tw strate dig
e a bit
on a te ising rscore ffering. Ac gave m rrison
theme most prom _ Unde ta l o o n th e so
a r in gy fru - a
men on e H
fine a
nd
instru rmati to end e sou
nd Dale
pets o
f info nough score is th ar-
out. a n s n ip a re just e n d e r o m e s app
h h U c us rt
tian C whic ate, _ on be ever- Vario the A oke
Sebas cover, an illumin hough it so derscore n from lly br ll
th e r th lm . T d _ Un a ti c vistas S tr aight W a r ner) ip h o p fina alia, as we
r a fi te m l/ h Austr
B n a m ed k to a lost n e v er exis evoke cine sil y (E m pirica e year that c e in li an
s ias tra c o n a
Bia
with B a fella g film
at the es to sonic
ally laced
c
h as was th ider audie ngst Austr
In Bed um by inkin ent th ttes p ’, suc 2003 aw o
es, co
ming
an alb 1998 and th ost anag f vigne ‘songs oky gh to ce am
its pla er of releas
e )
(Obes ber pickin
g u p
c k in th e m th e le s s m
ll ec ti o n o
d e v e lo p e d
th e s m th r o u
if y in g b d o u tcome
a f o n
em z wax b s one o n . Fast u gh a c o f mor
e
e’ and rforming a a s soli
d a num ing idea a ht
I re m d B e e e w a d s e e th ro
a cou
p le T h e m e d , o n it S ig
tr a
s B name s a p ackag h e ard an c a m eo u n d ‘O r igin’s a te g y of p o r tu nity h e ads an e v e r to un
tio n . That s is a sig-
Bia a d r o f tr p c
m
e albu ssie release fter countl
s I’ ess a
en ca
ll o The s an op er than rodu arner
that th e – an
d
the sir Drop’. film is colour rath s closer stronger p ased on W com-
ss iv e Au y e a rs – a b a tt le titl u m O p Alley im a g inary e s o f c c e e d r o u gh a s rele r p o int in
imp r e st six e r M C s es a lb ‘P o s t a n l fla s h r e s u th A r t w m in o r th e
o lv a to r a c o e ly e
rd alm nd a Revo lly re
le les track y, tex
tu Unde
rs
holly from
th
proba
b wheth
forwa c e sa M C fina evitably sty ow, sound t mood tr a cks. _ lm ost w th e a n t, but p o r tant is esenting th
e
e a ra n o u r n e s in e fl re s e n h e d a r e a w it h n if ic r e im e p r
p p e lb a s h y m to p fi n is c k s d , M o in r n d
a
teran
M
e year
sp dr hole, a
teen tr They proc
ee n. ds op a
the ve two. As th ibits a dev
elope h the solid than w the seven uid gr
ace pariso self succee alian hiph whole
.
b e r e x h u la rly wit
r e y , Ja se,
th is – o r a ffairs. h th e lang y a lb u m it o f A ustr
a c o h erent t
num s artic zy G in it picall ainst t state h
Bia
e, and njoyable, p likes of La g in
tempo
,m ks, w m it’s s, Stra
ig
chang relaxin down w trac at is ty ag curren as an albu awles a
s u lt is e n o f the ti n g is the d ti o n of a fe le beauty th nk and rub ntion; h e th er r fr om fl c e ed ed on
e o s p p li e w fa c
The r d u c ti In te r e ia s a n e x c e s im le s s fo r a tt h it ’s a s t su s to
bap p
ro
ptamu
s.
likes
of B ferent ching
ly
s; sam
p
mewl ny Altho
ug s at le , it manage
boom and O tween the tly dif and a feline rr and in sun per- Art ha tly -
e a p on X s b e re s e nt vas as been on s e r v ed for ; delays pu tr e tc h out . T h e fr o m the levels: firs isparate ele st-
W ti li ti e m r e p X h s r e le g s n e s s o r ld e r o f th e d m p o
s o po n r e li w b f r o
of the
ho
th of
wh . Wea e yea beats
lik synth of the Harrison num any o hop (f
o n X, bo o p in Oz is m over th reli- e a m bient to th e rest D a le e p r e sent m tralian hip o m the
Wea p h ic e d whil viou s t. r s fr
to hip harsh crit rebuk imen of Au tion); y’s
aches of cent – roduction es obli accompan ments (re)presenta Sydne s of
appro in g end ric an ac is p o n patch n ig ht to w e stern es
e iv m e H e te d e o f ir in
c
the re is use of A MCs. ey sh
in fect la co edges crisp
a
e to h A u s tralian ugh and th trengths r o ugher rib e to the ta in s .
du mos t o ’ s al T oun
ly by stiona
ble th . Bias anics t simp
le Cannib de’s Blue M d of work
is
gious ovin’’ ervations, Morg e mos
a re unque ‘Keep It M d o b s r c o v er- e n ’t th e s e mi- H e rm itu s ta n dar m o re
skills track a n atte Evo lv ork is r of th e per- e , wit h
ening utlook subject m enden
t)
ics’ w embe dly, th fronts h of bril-
the op rous o MCs (Indep ing Morgan founding m nce as a li
v Secon on all
humo acterised b
y
le ; wack le g h a b le a l flas a
h is r fes ty o u b
Addre
ss
tus as
a e s e
ble pr ucation thr
o u pa s s
occas
io n th’ is
lay in ’s cha t hiphop li s no tr his sta is formida
he Pa
h o u gh he o r ta n ie s . He ha th e most s k – h t to e d te to a th an the Robbo’s ‘T n like a
alt
e all-i
mp lad
k with ceding he
isn’t lf ta
etabas
s,
mitm
en
contrib lt.
u ; Sir ridde
ing th lack of luc himse nal M nd his com y work all liance g monster u, Oz
i
is n g, con p is s out of tr a s ts r a n it h o ut fau an is dif- to m pin b y M Cs Ha
h a ti e n e u it s ed e
and eprec kes th ease. He c
o form omm gly w om the m ughbr , and
th
self-d also ta nt ressiv
e and c seemin fr g an thoro thboy string
s
being M C, and too appare h some agg youth V that is g the music c r it iquin a a nd Ur sly intense
n te d ll it h o p C a ti n a n d B a tl e s
le h a w h ip p e r u lt , n tl
ta wit this Se fic rele
22
LOCA INTE
of Lay
L REL
EASE RELERNATIO
Third
cours
la’s M
ly, it h
averic
k
S con
as a c are only m
tinue
d Utabi ASES NAL
e th o a
ns tched Manc
there’s ere’s som iderable fe by he hu
at lea e less
er mo
male
prese
r flow
s (ADA rian Candy
Jason
Gilles
st one
track ments nce. O . The Ja
ADAT
/19-t)
pie’s in the as f
proba
bly be groin, re tha well, and th
panes
e brea
st left b u t’ s e mome dance
Harris to the t that kind weaker tha nt, wit kcore/idm ab
on onlin a hati
n n broth
e r Jo h esta scene indec le, comple
e foru g is c se p h blishe is flou ipher x elec
ms. D o mers Nothin d rishin able m tr
Lione ale li g bein artists like g at latter
are str anic e o and near
s ADAA ke Ove N p ly
Lione
s DAT c a xx. Fle g sh own u C o m .a and o n the rig a n g e ly com isodes. Eve
Donn o dgelin p ht wa n the
(Indep a Sum -released a g Eng by new- of min
d velen pelling if y
en a bril mer la split C lish la more gth, th ou’re
Brisba dent) liant s
new C t year, and D by Ove N el
b glorio
us am easily reac ough, a fra
ne MC with D from Affec bient hed v me
ly bea Lione refere hot on axx a ted’. O tr acks li ia
uti s’ deb appro nces to Utabi its he nd the fe
mythic ful, beast. ut is a a c ju s H ir o e ls c ra th er dis n c e y ou’re k e ‘A d
w
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th ti m es exp th e artists an d indi- s ta th e r shud is te m 1 2 ". The
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ed sisten
ce. Uti at the la te x labe sepa- l, Sou ell selecte quick time
scann shortwave
secon
d new bel, re d by a serie l. And Gonn
funk.
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er, an radio lising n e s ig gularly s of h a H u e fl ip blues groov
tenna w mo ning b allu ijinks rt Y is the , folk e
and w
hite n , stati signals, Aphe niker. With eing indee ding that e and bassli
ne an ou’ which mour
nful ‘S ck and
ro
wove o ise, K c e le ctricit x sound out do d v ery o ut for d s o r o lls
na a y u Ja m e s und the ne m e sw o n a u m m
rkows that v with bt the eet m sorrow er’s
fortab dense som ki has ague
and b parts re are er a his m
ixes o w album a elanc ful
Intere
le tap
estry
ewha
t unco
scatte
red d eautifu of the disc links
to the S e b n Tur nd try holy. Keep
of sou rum a l e xistin a stian n table to a n
stingly nd.
m- nd ba electronic g with Chan Lab. track
down eye
ss in

Comatone - One Into One Out
“Cut is a heavy star-lifter of a
track, a spaceship cruising deep
space, smooth, dark and cool with
real weight and presence . . .
My personal favourite is Toy -
music-box jingles over crunching
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out now on Feral Media
Plankton - The Undertone Album of the week 3PBS October 2003
Feature album FBI December 2003
“It’s a beautiful record”
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“ . . . it doesn't suffer
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trouser bands. A very
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sive debut. 4.5 out of 5"
Comatone is not a musician afraid
(The Brag, Nov 3, 2003.)
of experimenting, and more often
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rate it highly . . . ” electronics and live
(www.inthemix.com Nov 2003.) instrumentation into an
intensely beautiful and at
“The execution is exceptional”
times unsettling collage”
(Chloe Sasson, Metro, SMH, Oct
(Lawrence English, Time
2003)
Off, Nov 2003).
Catnip
Pink And Blue And Green EP
“… when they slow
down and become more
gentle, darker and
moody… they really
begin to distinguish
themselves.”
(Bob Baker Fish, Inpress,
Nov 2003)
“Both short and extended
“This will strike hard and fast
pieces are gently
for the lovers of bands such as
controlled and without
The Sundays or Cardigans but
indulgence and have
offering some neat tricks not
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yet exposed by either… “
captivate and/or soothe (http://www.cumbersome.net)
for the hour-plus
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(Paris Pompor, Metro, SMH,
ness about them, something
Jan 2004)
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(http://www.ozmusicproject.net)

For more info, other releases and exclusive MP3s check out www.feralmedia.com.au Distributed by MGM

couchblip! Keep an eye out in your local store for the following upcoming releases
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some new releases to tickle your lobes Deceptikon - Lost Subject + more

Telefon Tel Aviv Aphilas Deru Quench Various

Map of What is Effortless (Hefty)
Crackling electronic textures
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a followup to Fahreinheit Fair
Enough that exceeds expectations
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Instrumentally Ill (Merck)
Merck's newest addition from
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Pushing Soil (Delikatessen)
Lusine ICL, LoGrey Beam, Xela and
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Dyn (u-cover)
The brothers Funcken (previously
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26
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28

SLEE
Sleev VE R
e Des
ign by EVIEW
Alex C
rowfo
ot
S
Muslimgauze
Re-mixs [sic] volume 1 & 2
(Soleilmoon 2003)
Format: 2 x CD
Designer: Plazm
Last issue I mentioned being dis- ed treatment of ‘Muslimgauze.’
appointed in a Muslimgauze This runs right across the panel,
release (a review that appeared from the card onto the CDs and
only in the web version of off again. And it lines up perfect-
Cyclic). Soleilmoon have ly, a sign of good craftsmanship.
redeemed themselves with this On this panel are also brief copy-
one, a re-release of remixes by right details in typically
Bryn Jones (Muslimgauze) that restrained typography. The discs
have been out of print for seven also feature their respective titles
years. It comes in a 26cm by in minimal white type. In the
13cm folder covered in fur, look- spine, the limited edition num-
ing like Chewbacca’s fair ber is handwritten. The packag-
Swedish cousin came to an ing doesn’t appear to be covered
untimely end. The folder is held in fur for any reason other than
together by a 4cm paper band, for aesthetic effect – which it cer-
printed with several versions of tainly has, when combined with
the word Muslimgauze, artfully the stark black and white. The
hand-painted and reversed in sublime and the ridiculous,
white and grey. Slide the band together at last. It’s beautifully
off and the folder opens to reveal made as well as designed, and is
glossy black printed card. One completely impossible to store
half is just black, the other has with your other CDs.
the two CDs attached with black
plastic fixtures. The CDs are also
black, with the same hand-paint-
Various Artists
Beanbag Aesthetics
(Pink Dot 2003)
Format: 2 x 3" CDs
Designer: Uncredited
The music here reminds me of a car journey I once
took in the US with an industrial-strength bong-head
who had a huge collection of odd and rare vinyl. He
played me mix tapes he’d made with three decks;
three tracks running at once, some spun by hand,
others at the wrong speed. It was similarly mind-
bending. Anyway, a new genre is proclaimed here,
and the CD packaging is suitably distanced from the
norm. An old-style thick double CD case in black
and clear plastic has a clear plastic sticker on the
front with white type: the CD name and catalogue
number set in ITC Bauhaus. The box is filled with
polystyrene bean-bag filler which has a side effect
that will give stoners hours of fun – the static means
that when you touch the box the balls move. Stop
sniggering. One CD is printed in red with a cropped
circle in orange containing the word ‘beanbag.’ The
other is similar, in green and beige, with the word
‘aesthetics’. The design here seems to reference ‘70s
design, in keeping with the lounge-music-through-a-
head-blender. The standard black tray has cutout
sections so the overall effect is quite graphic. A
small card insert tells the story of the music genre’s
birth, and lists the tracks. The consistent use of
Bauhaus keeps the look lean: simple and unfussy,
albeit with tight leading. The track titles are quite
revealing as well as being funny, from ‘we have
obsolete technology’ to ‘big chins as a sign of good
breeding’ via ‘dole rage’ and ‘gated community spir-
it.’ I like the way the CD takes a standard pack and
uses it in a new way. It makes a feature of a box that
would normally just be the carrying device for the
design content – a booklet and the CDs. It’s an exam-
ple of how a good idea can make much more of less.
The Great Ereat
Doddodo
Untitled
(Self-release 2003)
Format: CDR
Designer: Uncredited
It doesn’t get much more
hand-made than this. The
front is made from a
piece of silver wrapping
paper printed with solid
stripes in that eighties
favourite, dusty pink. A
seriously distressed
octopus/intestine creature is rendered in crenellated
black lines. This is printed on a clear sticker that’s
stuck to the pink-striped paper. Another sticker fea-
tures the title in heavy Helvetica. The back cover is
a blank piece of blue tissue paper. This is then sta-
pled together – all the way round, so you have to
rip it to get to the CD. Not just any old staples, but
metallic green, magenta, yellow and blue ones. The
CDR has another clear sticker on it with another
illustrated character in jagged lines, this time
clenching its fist and yelling. Inside is a bright
orange piece of paper, hand-cut into curves. On it,
in black, the artist name in the same type as the
cover and a hand-drawn illustration of a figure
holding a microphone whose head is an explosion
of viscera, and whose back has a large hole expos-
ing its innards. The track numbers and times are
scattered in various sizes of heavy Helvetica/Ariel.
On the back are the contact details and a series of
joined cartoon figures, wailing and tumbling their
way across the paper. A unique aesthetic, somehow
very ‘now,’ and as eccentric as the music on it.
Leibe ist Cool
Du und ich
(Self-release
2003)
Format: CDR
Designer:
Uncredited
This is the first exam-
ple of a made-to-order CD I
have come across. Leibe ist cool consist of a Berlin
couple who fell in love and decided that love is so
great they’d make a record about it. The CD comes
with a printed sheet telling their story, set in a tech-
no vernacular typeface in red and blue. The CDR is
slipped into a hand-made white fabric circular
pocket. One side has a label sewn onto it, the kind
mums used to sew into the necks of their kids’
clothes so they wouldn’t lose them at school.
Embroidered in red is a heart and the name ‘Leibe
ist cool.’ The reverse features a clear plastic disc
sewn onto the sleeve which contains a circular print
of the track listing and credits in red and black. The
typography here is a little heavy, a couple of points
smaller would do the trick, but it’s nicely understat-
ed all the same. The CDR has a printed label in
white with black a red type. Again, a slightly lighter
touch typographically would give it a slight lift.
Completing the package is sheet of heart stickers.
Overall it projects a kind of sophisticated inno-
cence. Musically it’s a mix minimal, insistent and
slightly spooky techno with a splash of mellow
house. Have a look at
www.liebeistcool.de and
marvel at the thanks page
– the innocence fades a
little, too. I can think of
some local artists who
could do with that level
of sponsorship. Fact: you
can also buy a red-striped
wristband with a Donald
Duck football medallion
attached to it called
‘That’s Donald!’

SLEEVE REVIEWS 29
SLEEVE REVIEWS 30
Sleeve Design by Alex Crowfoot
Hafler Trio
How to Slice a Loaf of Bread
(Phonometrography 2003)
Format: 3 x CD
Designer: The Man Behind the Curtain
Hafler Trio and Autechre
Ae3o & h3ae
(Phonometrography 2003)
Format: 2 x CD (‘3” things embedded in 5” things’)
Designer: The Man Behind the Curtain
These first two releases on Phonometrography are intricate
examples of careful creation. Both are encased in custom
die-cut folders made of thick, textured white stock. A matte
silver paper band closes them, with a red paper seal
embossed with the record label logo, positioned to cover
the closing flap of the folder. The Hafler Trio release opens
to reveal a card featuring details of a live performance –
presumably this is a document of it – set in a decidedly
eccentric typeface. Next comes a booklet, the removable
cover of which is printed with a photo of a notebook con-
taining geometrical designs. A large piece of concertina-
folded thick card forms the book- cut into its pages. A CD is mount-
let inside, with the text of what ed on each page, attached with a
appears to be an interview set in white foam dot. Each CD features
Caslon Italic around more photos a different geometric form,
of notebook spreads. Next anoth- reversed out of black. Because
er folder in the same thick stock, there is no white base under the
embossed with the record label black, all lines are in silver – and
logo, contains eight black and the black has a lustre to it caused
white images printed on card, by its translucence. This also
most of them murky, but they means that you see ‘rainbows’ in
seem to be from the live event. the black as you would on a plain
Next is an ingenious die-cut silver CD.
booklet, in plain white, with tabs
The cover of The Hafler
Trio/Autechre release is printed
with the titles in a grey sans
serif, an ornate ampersand
ghosted behind. It opens to reveal a three-panel die
cut gatefold sleeve, all in the same thick white tex-
tured stock as ‘...Bread.’ The cover of this sleeve is
traced with lines of script type. One the left and
right of the gatefold a fold of Japanese paper encases
each CD. Both of these are 3" embedded in 5". The choose. They certainly feel pre-
typography of the outer sleeve is repeated here, in cious, almost worthy of white
black and grey, with beautifully quirky copyright gloves. They also feel both con-
details. In the centre are ten square pieces of tracing temporary and timeless, steering
paper, each printed with a different blurred black well clear of graphic trends.
and white geometric image. Some of these are remi- Personally, I have a dislike for
niscent of DNA. All are like strange x-rays. Both the typeface used on the Hafler
these releases allow for plenty of space, not only Trio release but it’s there to
graphically but for interpretation, or the creation of complete the quirky impression.
meaning. No explanation is given, it’s up to the
viewer to make their own sense – or not, if you
Various
Background Moods
(Reader’s Digest 1965)
Format: 10 x 12" vinyl LPs plus bonus record!
Designer: Uncredited
If you thought the chillout compilation was a recent
phenomenon, here’s the evidence to the contrary.
But do the morass of contemporary easy listening
CDs come with a die cut Pleasure Programmer to
match the music to your every mood? No they do
not. According to an ‘expert statistician’ (as
opposed to a completely crap one I suppose) you
can devise up to 2,216,288 Pleasure Programmes.
You can be playing this set to your grave. The stur-
dy box comes in at 3.5 kilos when fully laden with
vinyl and promotional gumph for the umpteen
other Reader’s Digest boxed sets to tantalise subur-
ban America. The cover of the box features a soft-
focus doe-eyed babe on one side and tasteful tex-
tured teal on the rest of it. Out slides another box,
in white, with handy flip-down quick-reference
track listing, with the record numbers printed in
matching teal. Noice. The 10 albums each use the
same organic texture, in a different colour, from
beige to mint. Looking closely the texture could
even be a photo of a doily. And it’s all ‘Recorded in
the MAGNIFICENT NEW DYNAGROOVE SOUND.’

SLEEVE REVIEWS 31
 32

ing
o n slamm
ly d
k fond er an
lo ok bac l togeth
“I still m eta nc ”
e
pie ces of th e audie
giant s into
din g spark
grin

G LISH
C E E N
W R EN Public Enemy

LA C T S bastian Chan HEY’R -

E
Fear Of A Black Planet
(Def Jam, 1990)

E
SEonvLersation with Se TH A
NGED
THEIR
T CHA ORABLE M DSP EFFE
LIV
USIC
ND T
ES, A S AN EMO
MAKE T’. THIS
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There’s a lot of contention of which is ‘the’ PE
record and to be honest I think it may well just
come down to what you got into first. For me Fear
EC ORDS ST MEM R A ‘HOT
L R M O ’ O Of A Black Planet was the first record that really
PECIA NGS. THE BEAT
In c H
OSE S O
AS TH EENAGE S N JUST A
‘DOPE made me think about the power of lyrics and word-
YON E ST T
EVER YS JU E THA ISBANE. play and the possibilities to convey a message
ALWA , MOR R
NOT N NECTION S FROM B directly or indirectly through sound and words. I
L CO COME still am impressed by the way the record plays out,
TIONA SELECTS
’S Ornette Coleman each of the tracks fit well into the next and there’s a
ISSUE
Free Jazz real sense of narrative and journey over the course
(Atlantic, 1961) of the record.
The reputation of Brisbane even in musical output I can’t really explain what I felt when I first heard
would not immediately bring avant-turntablism to this album. I’d just come out of a long period listen- Nine Inch Nails
mind. Indeed, in terms of electronic music ing to pretty straight electronic music and some Pretty Hate Machine
Brisbane’s close proximity to what was the trance metal and hearing Coleman’s double quartet literally (TVT, 1989)
mecca of the late 1990s, Byron Bay, would tend to blew my head off. It was so free, so uninhibited and I think was the first album I heard that really got me
indicate that all things fractal may be more the so frantic, it really took my breath away. I was thinking about the link between electronics and
case. However, along with DJ Sheep, who runs the amazed to hear how the instruments fitted together acoustics. It’s a killer album for your teenage years
Australian outpost of Bomb (responsible for the and how random acts of the musicians created this and I’m sure it fuelled my angsty times at school. It’s
Return Of The DJ series), Lawrence English has very unusual interaction and complimentary feel in also one heck of a great pop album, even though
been quietly carving out a niche for experimental the music. While most of the improvising I partici- most people seem to disagree with me on this – it’s
electronics and turntable manipulation. For the pate in isn’t quite as firey as this, there have been got the full dynamic. At the time I really listened to
past few years Lawrence has been curating a moments with my Ubique Trio that have come close this album I was playing in a whole lot of industrial
monthly event called Fabrique at the Brisbane to me sensing what these musicians must have felt bands, and I still look back fondly on slamming giant
Powerhouse and running his boutique CD label, working together during that session. pieces of metal together and grinding sparks into the
::Room 40:: (formerly Horrorshow) which has its audience. As for a favourite track I’d say that’d have
sleeve design done by fellow Brisbanites, Rinzen. to be ‘Sin’ – but not the version from the record, the
From afar Lawrence seems a pretty serious guy, but live version from the ‘Solid Gold Hell’ bootleg
up close he is better known for his penchant for recorded somewhere in Europe – Chris Vrenna’s
acting out bad taste Michael Jackson jokes and gen- playing on that was remarkable! There were industri-
eral pranksterism. al clubs in Brisbane, in fact I ran a quasi-industrial
night with some great folks Marky and Deanna called
Club Mondo... but I never was a dancer...

Young MC
‘Bust A Move’
(Delicious Vinyl, 1988)
This song was instrumental in leading me to my
wife, Becks, who incidentally I’ve been with for the
better part of half my life. It was during this song at
a school dance that I approached a friend of hers
and before long the letter writing that was so com-
mon between our schools (both were single sex), led
me to hook up with Becks and the rest is history
really, in that fourteen years later we’re still togeth-
er, now married, and we still laugh every time ‘Bust
A Move’ makes its way onto Rage or even better
Saturday morning TV. Who would have thought
Young MC would leave a lasting mark on someone’s
life? Ironic when you think about the lyrics too!
DJ Olive
Sleep
(theAgriculture, 2002)
I’ve always been a very big admirer of DJ Olive’s
work. On his first trip to Oz in 2001, he brought
down a wad of CDRs of his newly completed ambi-
ent record Sleep – designed to help him and his
friends chill out (and literally sleep) following 9/11.
To this day, it is a record I can come back to again
and again. It’s an excellent exercise in sleep music
and its integrated style means the listener is sub-
merged deeply into the ebb and flow of the record.
This style of mixing track into each other was some-
thing that influenced the way I constructed Calm and
along with some of Biosphere’s records, Sleep was a
major conceptual influence for that first I/O record.
Fennesz
Endless Summer
(Mego, 2001)
Apart from thinking that Brian Wilson was certainly
onto a winning idea with his Endless Summer con-
cept, this record by Fennesz was one of the first lap-
top records that I heard that really made me realise
the possibilities of combining processing with
acoustic instruments. Fennesz is a great guitarist
and a fine composer and this record shows off both
of his talents. I was impressed with how much emo-
tion he was able to create on this record and no
matter how abstract the sound sources seemed,
there’s not a moment on the record which is cliched
or impersonal.
Luc Ferrari
Presque Rien Avec Filles/Heterozygote
(1989/1963)
Discovering Luc Ferrari’s work and these two com-
positions particularly really helped focus my work
with field recordings and concrete composition. Just
about all his pieces are enjoyable exploratory works
– they have a real sense of narrative, invented or
otherwise. Ferrari has a wicked sense of humour
that makes some of his works come off as playful,
but there’s also a very serious side to his composi-
tions. He’s really able to use textures to creative
emotions in his works and I’ve always found that to
be impressive about his output He’s also one of the
composers from that generation still very much
embracing new techniques and collaborating with
numerous musicians.
Cliff Martinez
Solaris OST
(Trauma, 2002)
Coming across the soundtrack well before seeing the
film, Martinez’s work for the flawed US remake of
Solaris is easily one of the strongest and most
engaging film scores I’ve heard in ages! Everytime I
listen to it, especially if I’m out in public, it really
effects how I view the world. It’s a very powerful
piece of work...what’s funny about this record is I
don’t actually know how I found out about it, but
since then I’ve collected most of his available
recordings for the archive here.
Melatonin : Mediations On Sound
In Sleep is out on ::Room40::.
 DEA R
A REG
ULAR
DOSE
Dear Degrassi,
‘What ever happened to Short Round from
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?’
D Petch
Boy oh boy, I had to trawl long and hard through
the virtual deserts of forgotten actors in order to
extract any information about Short Round, who
goes by a number of names, including Jonathan Ke
Quan, Key Huy-Quan, Huy Quan Ke, Jonathan Quan
and Ke Huy Quan. While this seems like a lot of
names, I’m sure most of them are due to the fact
that a lot of ‘Westerners’ don’t bother to find out the
order South-East Asian names should go in, and
therefore they throw them at the page hoping some-
thing will stick. Only people like Madonna and
well, me, can afford to go by a single name.
Although it comes at a price. Just the other day I
heard that Roseanne has returned to being called
Roseanne Barr because she found it so frustrating
trying to explain to banks and other such institu-
tions that she didn’t have a surname. I know her
pain, but I digress.
While we are on the subject of names, has anyone
else realised the irony that Steven Spielberg should
receive such acclaim for the epic Schindler’s List,
portraying the terrible plight of Jews during the
Holocaust, and yet he is quite happy to name a
main character ‘Short Round’ in a film made only a
decade earlier? I find the name as offensive as
Mickey Rooney playing a prosthetically buck-
toothed Japanese photographer in Breakfast at
Tiffany’s. Upon further research, however, I discov-
ered that ‘Short Round’ was actually that of the
screenwriters’ dog. Since Indiana was named after
George Lucas’ dog and Willie after Spielberg’s, I
guess there is a pattern. I still find it horribly inap-
propriate though.
DE G R
OF IR
REG ULAR
POP C
ASSI
ULTU
RE
For all you trainspotters out there, the night club
in the opening of Temple of Doom is called ‘Club Obi
Wan’. Also a rather major screw up occurs in the film
when Harrison Ford refers to Quan as Data, but of
course anyone who was a kid in the ‘80s doesn’t need
to be reminded that that was Quan’s character’s name
in The Goonies. This is odd considering Doom was
made before The Goonies where he was the child of
many gadgets which had a varying degree of success
saving the other kids. including Corey Feldman, with
whom he would later work. Who knows, perhaps he
got on the pipe with him which might account for his
absence from the big screen for a number of years.
Or perhaps that could be better attributed to his
work on television. First stop was his starring role in
Together We Stand, which was a phenomenally
unsuccessful show. Remember that episode of The
Brady Bunch where some friends of the Bradys’
adopt a little boy and he convinces his new parents
that they should also adopt his other two friends but
they happen to be, shock, horror, black and Asian?
Well, I do. Neighbours grumble, but ultimately the
family live happily ever after and deface a book with
the Three Musketeers in it by colouring in one brown
and another yellow. (Don’t ask me how or why I
remember these things.) Sherwood Schwartz, the cre-
ator of The Brady Bunch, tried to sell this episode as
a pilot, but failed until the mid-‘80s when he con-
vinced Elliot Gould to head the family. The show
was pulled after just six episodes and Gould was so
ashamed of his involvement that he not only had
some of the episodes shelved, never to reach the light
of a cathode ray tube, but also had his character
killed off before they exhumed the show with a new
title, Nothing Is Easy. I recall catching one of those
six rare episodes during a non-ratings period and let’s
just say that his recurring cameo in Friends is a vast
step up! Other than that, Quan had a guest role in the
weekly horror show Tales from the Crypt, which was
pretty forgettable, and is said to have done a stint on
Head of the Class, but I don’t ever recall seeing him.
He did manage to score the supporting role of Kim in
1992’s Encino Man, but whether this could be con-
sidered an achievement is still to be determined.
After all, it is a Pauly Shore movie.
Despite being Vietnamese it is said that Quan
speaks Cantonese and Mandarin fluently, which has
helped him to achieve minor ‘success’ in the
Hong Kong film industry. By that, I mean he has had
some bit-parts in some reputedly shocking films, but
hey, I’m sure they covered a month’s rent. These
include 1991’s Breathing Fire, which has plot as
flimsy as a porno, with kickboxing sequences
instead of sex to flesh the film out. 2001’s Second
Time Around sounds more interesting at least,
although all the reviews I could find said that about
half the English subtitles are missing, which should
make for some interesting viewing and make the far-
fetched plot even more difficult to understand. To
save you the trouble I’ll give you the gist: think the
gambling sub-plot from Lock, Stock and Two
Smoking Barrels, but in Vegas, meets Galaxy Quest,
and throw in a bit of the unlikely romance from Out
of Sight. Get the picture? I thought you wouldn’t.
Somewhere along the way Quan graduated from
the University of Southern California School of
Cinema Television. This prepared him for the behind
the scenes roles as Producer, Director of Photography
and Editor of Voodoo, staring ex-Goonie cohort
Corey Feldman as Andy Chadway, an unlikely (given
his age) college student who gets lured into a Voodoo
cult fraternity. While I’m a Feldman fan, there are
just things you can’t bring yourself to see, and this
film is one of them. I think I’d cry the same way I
did when a co-worker told me that Duran Duran
were supporting Robbie Williams.
It hasn’t been all low-rent accommodation with
peeling wood panelling for Quan though, as he was
the Stunt Coordinator for the X-Men movie back in
2000. But if he wants to get his profile up there
again, he's going to have to do what Steve
Guttenberg did and create his own ‘fan site’. The
only fan page for Quan I could find was possibly the
lamest I’ve ever seen, so much so that it is even
shorter than its article and the FAQs are mainly
answered with those three magic words ‘I don't
know’. If you don’t believe me, see for yourself:
www.angelfire.com/ab/horizons/.
 Neue Musik aus Berlin

Maximilian Hecker Goethe-Institut Barbara Morgenstern

Friday 12 March / 9pm / The Studio

The Sydney Opera House / $25 / $20 concession
Bookings: www.sydneyoperahouse.com/thestudio or call: (02) 9250 7777
More information: www.goethe.de/welttournee