And so it goes, go round again, but now and then we wonder who the real men are. Some light filtered and flickered onto the walls. Some lovely noise made by myself and with friends. Those near and and very dear have fed me with food and smiles and given me breath when I’ve dipped under the surface. There is something important to be said.
Well to be frank, I’ve had better years.
But to take on board the philosophy from one of my son’s books ‘The Happiest Pig’, trying to find the best in everyone and everything. So rather than saying I’ll be glad to see the end of 2011, let just say I’ll be happy to see the beginning of 2012.
There were of course some bright moments, they were with my nearest and dearest. And some great opportunities as well. I exhibited 5 times this year including 1, 2 solos. M010 recorded an EP, did a launch gig and appeared on a couple of compilations and played a bunch of gigs. Untermorast did a few gigs including performing at the Now now in Sydney.
My solo drone project mumble(speak) did a few gigs and released some recordings including a cover and a Yuletide track!. I even performed noisy beats as Broken Tiny at the final Red Wall Gallery opening – having not performed that project in that way since Glitchfest in 2009.
Was pretty busy, I like to be busy. I turned 40 and I like the fact that I reached that milestone. But situations can conspire to take a toll on your mind, body and spirit. I should have found the off-switch, or at least utilised the ‘standby’. A fear of missing something? Worrying about one’s own abilities? Un-realistic self expectations?
When you fill all the spaces, you can’t see because it’s too dark. You can step off the ride for a little while and get back on later. You may have to find your place again, but there is a way.
I’ve got my own new years resolution, it seems I make one every day. You don’t need to know, I’m sure you’ve got your own. But I am looking forward to leaving space for things to emerge rather than filling up spaces with things pre-emerged.
Coming up in 2012 (with glorious spaces in-between)
Writing an abstract text piece for Darren Cook and Laura Hindmarsh‘s Long Gallery exhibition Closure Loops in January.
WhitepinkblackNoise at Sawtooth, Launceston in June. This is a work from a couple of years back that was only shown in a preliminary version and then as part of my PhD submission and I’m quite proud of it. Glad to be able to give it another airing.
In A Silent Way at CAST. As mentioned last blog, I was chosen to be mentored as a curator for CAST and am currently putting together a sound show for late July. Here’s hoping I can pull this off.
M010 recording full length album scheduled for a vinyl release, already in progress.
mumble(speak) projects in various states of progress:
- a collaboration with Concrete/Field
- a ‘concept’ EP for download on Terranean Records
- and eventually a new full length.
Untermorast will appear on the DF Arte/INFLIGHT collaborative compilation CD and at the launch and possibly will release something else.
But that’s all to come. And there’s no need to worry, there will be time to made to breath and to be with the ones I love who support me and make me smile.
Best to all for the coming year. Take care of each other.
Pinched nerve between the ribs. One day at a time…obviously To happily allow a break in transmission. Dead air is healthy. Beyond the surface noise Trying to take my time and not let time take me. To improve on keeping my mean spirit at bay. Trying to shut up and listen. Short and sweet, There is something important to be said.
Just as things started to get better in the noggin, we lost our second rabbit in a short amount of time. Goodbye Smidgen, you dear little thing. Sally was key caregiver and was amazing.
During that time I also mysteriously injured my back with a misjudged bend and twist.
I’m on the mend, but it really slowed me down which may not be a bad thing. However it’s not good for the spirit when you can’t sleep. Anyway, enough whinging.
This is a short entry.
I recently set up a Bandcamp site called Room Of Silence which is an online label for sound works associated with my music, art and curatorial practices. An archive of older works and newer solo, collaborative and curated collections. Some free of charge, some at a minimal charge. There’s a couple of free things up at the moment.
One is called Sönaris – audio works which are sound pieces used in various incarnations of the Sönaris art works or pieces created specifically for the album.
The other is from my own archive of a couple of found documents, containing recordings of an unknown artist, discovered in Mundy Park in British Columbia, Canada, 2001 whilst living there. I digitised them and posted them for all to hear, maybe someone can shed some light?
The mumble(speak) and Concrete/Field collaboration has begun. Not sure what it will sound like or where it will end up, but that’s half the fun. Details when they come to hand.
Coming up:
mumble(speak) will be appearing with Moe Grizzly, Black Habit (debut) and Drunk Elk at the Brisbane Hotel, Hobart, Friday – November 18. Gig starts around 8:30 and is $5/$7 entry.
I will be DJing as DJ Broken Tiny at Ben Crothers’ Brand New Second Hand evening, this month’s theme “Seventies”! Ben’s moniker DJ BTC will host and do sets. Also DJ Doorbitch will do a set and another as yet TBC DJ as well. Should be great fun! Front Bar, Brisbane Hotel, Hobart November 26th. They usually start around 10:00pm I think.
Other news: I was fortunate to be granted a Curatorial Mentorship with CAST Gallery, Hobart which means I will research and curate an exhibition for their 2012 program. It’s a great opportunity and am really looking forward to getting further into it. More details as they come to hand.
Soapbox, brainwash, overdone. Trying to take care. There is something important to be said.
Hey wha happened?
So a lot to catch up on. Well maybe not, sort of depends on if anyone wants to know, but I have found this kind of forum useful to put things in order, promote activities and vent and rant!
The past 6 or so months have been kind of all over the place. I don’t want to get too deeply into personal stuff, suffice to say, my mental health has been somewhat lacking. I would like to say, please don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it. Sometimes it takes a while to realise something’s wrong. Sometimes it’s painfully obvious, but you are afraid to get help. Sometimes you worry that it’s nothing or a sign of weakness. Get help if you need it. So what happened? Excessive doubt, fear and worry in my art practice, work and life in general.
I think those in the arts may at some point consider that what they do is not important or contributing to society.
We may not bake the bread or dig in a mine. But I think we contribute to what makes life bearable, what makes it worth living. That in itself has a value.
Is this doubt some working-class hangup? In my case, yes I think so and I think a way of compensating is to overdo it, to over commit myself. Now I want to make it clear that is not some form of what I call ‘Busy Bragging’ – you know that thing that some folks indulge in (I have in the past), listing and talking about everything they’ve done or have to do as some kind of oneupmanship? I don’t want to do that, I for the most part am please to have something to do, but it can take it’s toll if unchecked.
It seems like since about 1996 I’ve been pretty flat-out with various art projects, music, travel and study, lot of it unpaid or unrecognised. I think quite frankly I’m exhausted, but not wishing to be unemployed or twiddling my thumbs, I kept on going. Being a parent has shifted my priorities somewhat, but old habits die hard and it’s hard to let go of. So in an attempt to ‘fix’ things and get stuff into some kind of order, I had to make changes.
I know of a bunch of people around my age with mental health issues. Is it a symptom of my generation? We were on the cusp of new technology where we were expected to and had to learn a whole lot of new stuff that the previous generation just left up to us and the following generation grew up with it already in place. The web came along with it’s myriad of pros and cons, a love hate relationship with the impersonal mass-communication. We lived through a lot of formative years of either unsympathetic or conservative government. A lot has happened in our recent history. Of course, this sounds like a ‘woe is me’ rant. I’m sure all generations have their crosses to bare, but I can only really speak of my own from experience. And after all you young folks….we never had it so good!
In the end it’s not all external influences, I don’t blame anyone or anything else. I also don’t blame myself. It just is. And it’s alright. In some small gradual ways, I’m on the mend. http://www.mhca.org.au/ http://www.beyondblue.org.au/
Network
Steps up onto soapbox, clears throats.
“Want to clear social networking sites of homophobia, racism, sexism, over zealous organised religion? Simple, get rid of it in the real world…oh wait…
If Facebook is a microcosm of society, then of course it’s there. You can ignore it/ block it or you can call people on their shit.
Have a nice day”
Steps down, grabs coat.
You know FACEBOOK and other forms social networking are odd places to visit when you think about them objectively. I really do get a lot out of it and it’s basically habitual for me now. People use the web as they see fit which is great, but it seems we all see it’s function and potential different and that can make for strange bedfellows and queasy combinations of intent. The joys of a (somewhat) democratic platform I suppose.
Is FACEBOOK a microcosm of society? If so, should the social norms in the meat world apply? People can and do act out a version of themselves behind an online persona and it’s very difficult to know how to take it sometimes. Some folks really do forget, don’t know, or don’t care that what they say can be forever.
If you go out into the street and shout an obscenity a small amount of people might hear and might be offended and then your voice will be gone…you might be called on it, you may pay a fine. You post a picture, write something, voice an opinion…you better expect that it may well end up living on forever. Hmmm, should I be saying this? Just think about it is all I’m saying…
Should FACEBOOK and the like be some flippant place where I can post my favourite song every morning or someone posts a funny clip? Or is it a forum for serious and heavy discussion about hate crimes and politics?
And I suppose the answer is, like society it’s both things and it’s everything and it all depends on what you bring to it. It’s still new, we are all still learning about it. There’s a hell of a lot of stuff that’s said, written, shown, linked and alluded to that I don’t like and when I feel so moved I call people on it. And honestly, I’m not sure I would have the courage to always do that in the real world, but I’m trying.
Self Importance Event Denial -
One more FACEBOOK related thing before I move on. When an event is posted and someone who has been invited can’t go, it’s okay to just say nothing on the wall, it’s even quite polite I think to say, “sorry, can’t make it, have a good one!” But it’s pretty funny when someone goes out of their way to make an excuse like: “Sorry I can’t go to your event as I am already flying to the moon with Richard Branson on that day.” Okay slight exaggeration, but do keep an eye out, they turn up all the time. Awesome!
Clear the decks. So in an attempt to clear the decks a bit, for anyone who might be interested, I’d like to recap on some of the years activities that due to some of the above mentioned issue, I haven’t really touched on:
Jan 7, 2011 saw the second only (to my knowledge) appearance of the Hobart Improv Collective of which I and a group of Hobart improvisers of various instrumentation perform sporadically. This particular appearance was at the event that signalled the close of Hobart ARI 6a. I performed drums alongside Ben Crothers (decks), Julian Teakle (guitar), Jordan Marson (keys) and Josh Santospirito (guitar). Here is a picture of my son tapping his feet while his dad’s feet sat beneath some drums!
On January 28 of this year was the opening of an INFLIGHT exchange group exhibition at HELL Gallery, Melbourne called ‘(Tasmania Is An Anagram of) I AM SATAN’ that I was part of . I contributed a small canvas with Acrylic, ink, shaving foam, hair on 12cm x 12cm canvas, speaker and mp3 player. The piece was called Dog Fo Ecaf.
mumble(speak) – my solo drone also project performed at the opening event, re-soundtracking Kenneth Anger’s ‘Lucifer Rising’ ritual film.
Hobart Art trail
Between January 14 – 23, there were a series of art works exhibited in shop fronts along Elizabeth Street, Hobart as curated and organised by Nicole O’Loughlin. My contribution was a light, sound and video projection work called Alien Codex and was shown around the upper floor of Big World Imports:
February 4 opened a month long exhibition at INFLIGHT debuting my new series/body of work/research project called Sönaris. I also did a second version of this later in June at Poimena Gallery in Launceston as part of a two person show with Scot Cotterell called “Pirate Radio (and other hauntologies)”. The below documentation covers both versions. I’m excited about this new project and see it being an ongoing and evolving body of work. Sönaris an ongoing project; research, aesthetic and ritualistic. A personal psychdelic/dreamscape environment, a ‘hauntology’ of fears, memories, turn ons, depictions of mental and physical sublime moments and enveloping throught procresses and states of mind. The visual and aural abstraction of such elements will create an environment that will hopefully resonate with others so they may feel empathy or a sense of familiarity. An ‘ecstatic truth’ (Werner Herzog).
Feb 4 (The Pitt – Hobart) and Feb 5 (Devonport Regional Gallery) myself and Scot Cotterell performed as DÜ0 as support (with Spheres and Oceans) for AXXONN on a national tour. Much fun was had by all. Here is DÜ0 in Devonport (image by Jordan Marson):
Silence Is Golden (Adelaide)
In June I undertook my first solo exhibition in Adelaide at the fabulous ARI known as FELTspace. The title of the show was “Silence Is Golden” and contained two works, Üüüüüüüü a multi channel sound and object installation about tinitus and the single channel video The Big Reveal showing an illusionary version of the ambience of a rock gig; imagine Sunn0))) playing in a stadium, but only seeing the lights.
Untermorast
My drone/psych/black metal tinged improv duo with Tim Panaretos has played a variety of gigs throughout the year including an appearance at the amazing Now now Festival appearing on the 22nd of January and a few in Hobart throughout the year. We do plan on releasing an album in some form at some time, but probably out first professional release will be the upcoming DF Art (Spain) and INFLIGHT (Hobart) co-curated CD compilation due sometime in late 2011/early 2012.
Wanted to mention that at the June 24 opening of ‘Pirate Radio’ – the two person exhibition mentioned above, Mr Cotterell and myself also performed an improvised live soundscape, in keeping with the hauntological, pirate radio thematic and some of it can be heard here:
M010 launch
After quite a few months of writing, re-writing, recording, mixing and mastering M010, my metal/industrial/sludge duo with Aaron Metcalf released and played a release gig for our second indie EP ’0.5 – ASSUMPT10N’ on July 9, 2011, (falling between our respective 40th birthdays) at the Brisbane Hotel. We played with Thrall, Cycle and Evil Goat and had the pleasure of performing with guest apearances from old band mate and current Laura member Caz Gannell and amazing musician, artist and friend Leigh Hobba on Sax and bass clarinet. Just prior to the release we had some discussion with Tom Hall and both parties decided to work together with Hall’s label Sonoptik distributing our material as downloads and future physical releases. Also exactly 1 month prior – June 9, saw the release of our track ‘Fatigue’ as part of the free download compilation ‘Bleak Metal’ on the New Weird Australia imprint. Good company!!! Click the image below Sound 2 Light
On August 20, myself and Jordan Marson as Oceans presented our performance/installation collaboration called ‘Stadium’ - a noise drone soundwork made from multiple guitars and amps and video projection of a live manipulation of miniature light show. Hope to get some documentation soon. http://www.soundtolight.net/
mumblespeak releases/gig and future releases and collaborations.
Apart from the one off gig at HELL in January, my solo drone project was pretty inactive. There was a couple of remixes I did that have yet to see release (as far as I know), but things didn’t pick up until September really. I had been on and off working on a drone cover of the Jane Wiedlin song Rush Hour as a kind of exorcism and this was finally completed as a free downloadable single with the B-Side ‘The Dark Spirit’ available from (click image):
There was also the release of the long delayed single E/E2 as a download and a downloadable version of the out of print live album Henri’s Songs (Live at 6a). These are both available at the mumble(speak) Bandcamp page.
mumble(speak) appeared at Sound Klub IV at INFLIGHT on Sept 30, 2011 playing with Flight Habits, a two piece Hobart Improv Collective and Drive West Today.
Future mumble(speak) activities include a remix of a Tom Hall track, a collaboration with Concrete/Field and an EP for Terranean records. No solid dates for any of these yet…thank goodness.
Upcoming M010:
M010 are currently in the process of writing and arranging demos for an album. The plans were for us to do a 7″ single on Sonoptik by years end. This plan has now been dropped and we are currently looking at recording a full length album for Sonoptik for 2012. Ultimately we would all like to do this as a 12″ vinyl as well as a download and possibly CD. We will see.
Coming up on Wednesday the 19th of October, we will appear at the CD launch gig for “Community 2″ a Hobart compilation that we appeared on. Starts at 8:00pm at the Brisbane Hotel. $5
So, that’s it in a very large nutshell. Enough of the busy bragging. Didn’t want it to appear that way, but needed to recap. If you’ve got this far, thanks for reading. And as I say, we can all do with a little help sometimes, we also need to remember to take care of ourselves too. I’m trying to get better at that.
Born with a mid-life crisis. It’s only a matter of time until I notice. Stare into the light, but blink when you need to. Has the last 40 years been a fit of pique? Time to recover. There is something important to be said.
Come September I plan on doing a thorough website update and some more details on activities undertaken during the year so far that I’ve not spoken about. Right now, I don’t quite have the nerve or mental fortitude to start. So for those interested, bear with me.
For now here are some upcoming activities:
Saturday August 20, 2011 at 8:00
Myself and Jordan ‘Oceans’ Marson will present a collaborative piece ‘Stadium’ as part of the ‘Sound 2 Light’ event in the Long Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart. Jordy will be making unholy sounds with loud amps and open tuned guitars, I will play with LEDs and fog inside a “Mondo Box” We’re in fantastic company too. http://www.soundtolight.net/ Facebook event Tickets
Wednesday August 24, 2011
My Psych, doom-drone, space, ritual duo with Tim Panaretos known as Untermorast will play a gig at The Brisbane Hotel, Hobart. Starts 8:00, costs $5 and also features, Mike Harris, Dead Comic and Scot Cotterell. http://www.myspace.com/untermorast Facebook event
In July M010 released our EP ’0.5 – ASSUMPT10N’
both in physical form and download (via Sonoptik) which has garnered the following reviews:
Sometime later in the year (possibly late October) M010 will release a 7″ on Sonoptik. This follows on from the above EP and recent compilation appearances (such as ‘New Weird Australia – Bleak Metal‘ and the soon to be released ‘Community 2‘) and will be a teaser for a possible full length in the new year. Stay tuned.
Fragility and chemicals, strength behind the virtual mask, weakening, cynics and aching. There is something important to be said.
I will make a proper update of the recent comings and goings later on. I haven’t had the time to do it because, quite frankly, it’s been crazy. Not one to whine about being busy, (at least not openly), I just get on with it. Some stupid stiff upper lip crap I suppose. Over the past couple of months, I’ve made some notes and observations…here they are.
Teetotal blues. I’m not one to preach. People should and will do what they want, but we don’t all have to like it. But since sometimes people ask me why, there are no short answers, there are a multitude of angles to take. Here’s but one. The mind is a terrible thing to waste. It is fragile, sometimes in that state you can’t trust it. But it is all you have. And because it is fragile I do ask myself often, why addle it with chemicals unnecessarily? Staying on the straight and narrow is not the easiest thing to do at the best of times, clouding your judgement further seems absurd. This is of course my opinion, some may be able to ‘handle’ the addling. However, I’ve seen and continue to see people who can’t, people who really shouldn’t. I try not to judge though, I just get on with life and hope myself and other folks will be okay and be good to each other, but also themselves. And if people ask me why I do what I do and don’t do what I don’t do, I have nothing really to say other than to suggest they ask themselves the same question.
It’s easy to use this virtual online forum as a platform, I’m doing it now. Inform yourself first, realise what you say is there forever. You can bring the noise, but expect to be called on it.
Opinions aren’t facts, truth is relative, there are no absolutes, each to their fucking own.
Weakeners. I didn’t coin the phrase, (thanks Mr Harris), but they are everywhere. My silence does not indicate your victory, but rather my journey on the high road.
Cynicism be damned.
I feel like a man always in recuperation.
Here’s some of my upcoming activities:
Silence Is Golden
solo exhibition at FELTspace ARI, Adelaide.
June 1 – 18, 2011
PIRATE RADIO (and other hauntologies)
exhibition with Scot Cotterell at Poimena Gallery, Launceston.
June 24 – July 16, 2011
M.0.1.0 New EP CD-R Hobart launch.
With special Guests: Evil Goat, Thrall and Cycle.
Special guest appearances by Leigh Hobba, Carolyn Gannell.
Brisbane Hotel, Hobart.
July 9, 2011
In brief: Untermorast scheduled to be included on a compilation CD, M.0.1.0 scheduled to be included on a compilation CD, mumble(speak) to release a cover single (!) for free download.
Hope to see you around one or more of these.
Be good to each other.
“This is the time and life that I am living And I’ll face each day with a smile For the time that I’ve been given’s such a little while And the things that I must do consist of more than style there are places that I am going” *
There is something important to be said
Another year of ups and downs, what else is new right?
What happened? Where did the time go? Some key points from 2010.
I started some regular work, as the Gallery Co-ordinator at INFLIGHT ARI, which has been a rewarding and challenging experience. Most importantly, I’m proud to be part of such a cool Gallery with a wonderful history and fantastic future. I look forward to continuing with this in 2011.
I cannot express what a wonderful addition to my (our) life our son Arthur, now in his 8th month, has been. To encapsulate him and his impact on us in a few words would really not be sufficient and I don’t really know where to start. I also don’t want to say, ‘all you parents know what it’s like’, because before I was a parent, that kind of stuff bugged the hell out of me. Quite simply, folks are all different and experiences are not just a cliched line, but suffice to say, I enjoy him he seems to enjoy us and Art is Sally and myself greatest collaboration.
He has taught me much.
I went on my first solo tour as mumble(speak) which was not that extensive, but somehow took a lot out of me. Big projects, when finished will throw you into a lull afterwards, because it’s suddenly over after such a big buildup and prep. Not sure I’ve fully recovered because it wasn’t such a great success in terms of turnouts and ‘spreading the word’. But if I’m philosophical about it, it does seem to be true that you can learn more from failures than successes…I’m just not sure of what I’ve learnt yet.
Towards the end of the year, the Hobart Art community lost two people, both by their own hand. Out of respect I won’t name them, as those close will know whom I talking about. Although I’m sometimes mired in some very deep funks, I can thankfully say I’ve yet to ever feel like taking my own life. I’ve sometimes wondered what difference it would make if I wasn’t in the world, but that seems to me to be very different than removing myself from it. It’s more of an esoteric/abstract musing I suppose. I’m quite confused still about these deaths. I oscillate between anger because of how they selfishly left people behind, empathy because they could not see another solution, pity because it is a weak, easy way out and admiration for having the courage to take control by removing oneself from the equation. None of these are right, none are wrong. The mind is a weird, sometimes murky place and it’s sometimes very difficult to travel through. Just wanted to say…they will be missed and although I have no real belief an an afterlife, hopefully there is some peace for them now. Beyond Blue
Although unrelated to the above, another death in the art and music world really struck me and that was the passing of Don Van Vliet/Captain Beefheart. (January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010).
As I don’t know them personally, it’s rare that the death of a famous (albeit cult) figure overtly affects me, but this did. Firstly it was how I found out. In the morning we were sitting in the lounge room, drinking coffee, playing with Arthur, with ‘Safe as Milk’ on the turntable. I went online to the Avalanchers Forum that I regularly visit only to find it mentioned there. A similar thing happened back when Beefheart’s old sparring partner Frank Zappa died. I hadn’t listened to Zappa for a long time as even though I had tremendous respect for the man and his work ethic I was really just a casual fan of his music. However one afternoon I listened to this great Zappa bootleg I have called ‘Freaks and Motherfuckers’. Next morning, I read he had died. Weird. I knew he was sick, but it was a bit of shock still. But with Beefheart, I was introduced to him at a very formative time in my development as a musician and artist (thanks to Peter Hill) and he honestly changed the way I thought about music and art and how and what it can be. He encouraged and presented surreality, abstraction, absurdity, ugliness and joy. A giant Captain shaped hole as been left, but we still have his music and his paintings.
And so a catchup since the last Blog entry.
As it happens, I didn’t watch the skies on Halloween morning as it poured with rain…stand by…
M.0.1.0 performed two shows at the Brisbane Hotel in November. Metal Matt’s birthday (Nov 6) was interesting. We had worked up our longest set we had to date only to discover at the gig, that bands sets had been slashed to 20 minutes ! Still it was rather fun anyway and we debuted a new song ‘Fatigue’ which will likely not make the new EP, but some other release I imagine. I also did a DJ Broken Tiny set in keeping with the metal theme. I had fun with this, always enjoy DJing and a wonderful highlight was when one band member of another band playing that night, of the more glam/sleaze persuasion asked if I had anything ’80s’. At the time I was playing a Bolt Thrower song….I yelled, “this is the 80s!” He replied, “I mean some good 80s, you, know some decent rock stuff”. I laughed and said, “sorry maybe the next guys will play that”. Kids today!
We also played on a bill supporting my mate Tom Hall’s AXXONN CD launch on November 12. That too was fun, pity about the turn up. AXXONN’s current sound is like big distorted instrumental pop with sinister overtones and lots of fog. Good one Tom! Thanks for having us.
Decay Laboratory. (Nov 22 – Dec 12)
Myself, Sally and Deborah Pollard were in residency at Salamanca Arts Centre, primarily in the Peacock Theatre and the Sidespace Gallery during this period where we undertook an exploratory journey of performance, installation and sound, with the basic theme of ‘Decay’. We utilised ideas of endurance, duration and the point of failure. It was non-outcome dependent which was wonderful, allowing us to try things with out the pressure of showing them has a finished work. We did and artists talk at the conclusion and have set up a blog. We will continue to update it and we all hope to present more evolved versions of the works we started on at a later date. Thanks to all those at SAC that helped us out and for presenting this opportunity and to the Australia Council Inter arts fund for support it. Untermorast, my duo of dark droning psych ritual experimental improv music with Tim Panaretos played a gig for Sound Klub III on December 9.
This was a sombre evening as it was the day most of us learned of one of the aforementioned deaths. This in some way enhanced the catharsis already inherent in our performances. Enjoy is not the right word, but I was happily empty afterwards. Also appearing were Cycle, Cotterell/Stafford, Oceans and Moe Grizzly. I’ll try and get some footage up on the Sound Klub blog.
My project Broken Tiny has been fairly quiet over the last year or so, apart from live DJing playlists under the DJ Broken Tiny moniker. But around October I contributed a construction to an as yet unreleased compilation of tribute pieces to Dennis Hopper via Avalanchers Forum. More recently I contributed two pieces in December for free download (again via the Avalanchers group).
The first one was as DJ Broken Tiny and was a slow-beat, murky mashup called ‘Tryptophan Mash (The Last Christmas)’ for a Christmas themed compilation. This was available for a while, but following a dispute with the guy who mastered the compilation (and also hosted it on his site) it’s currently unavailable online. Is a pity as it’s fantastic, great to be a part of and may well be something you listen to not just during the festive season. The other piece was a dirty, dubby remix/demix of a track by Kontrol Deprivator called ‘PROTO-SUBSTANCE’. Again this appeared on a downloadable compilation amongst very fine company. This is a cool forum to be part of with some great musicians/composers on board and there’s something another music project I have in mind for them that I hope to initiate for 2011.
2011 is already looking like an activity filled year, bring it on. Upcoming.
I wanted to mention a gig on Friday night, January 7 for two reasons.
One; it’s my first live thing for 2011 and I’ll be performing as part of The Hobart Improv Collective, percussion I believe, not sure who the full lineup is yet, but that’s the fluid nature of the collective. The Vivids, The Breeze and DJ BTC are also appearing.
Two; it’s the final event/closing of 6a, the Artist Run Initiative in North Hobart. 6a will be missed in the the Hobart arts and experimental music community. In it’s short life it has contributed greatly. I’ve performed in various guises a number of times there and also exhibited in early 2010 with Ms Rees. So I want to thank the board of 6a, especially Mish and Tricky and wish them the best in future endeavours.
Between 14-23rd of January will be the Hobart Art Trail, which is an series of works set in shop windows/street frontage up Elizabeth Street, heading into North Hobart. I am contributing a piece called Alien Codex consisting of sound, light, projection and fog (all being good). Not sure currently if the work will be presented everyday during that time, (seems not likely) but certainly on December 21 there is due to be a walk from Elizabeth Street mall into North Hobart from5:30. My piece will be situated at Big World Imports at 202 Elizabeth Street and can only really be viewed at night.
Production still of Alien Codex
Untermorast aka myself and Tim Panaretos have the distinct honour to be playing alongside great company as part of the 2011 Now now Festival in Sydney. This is the 10th Now now Annual festival of Spontaneous Music and it will be taking in 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 26th, 27th and 28th of January. We will be appearing on the 22nd at the Red Rattler. This is very exciting for us, really looking forward to it. http://thenownow.net/
The good folks on the Board at Inflight ARI (my employers), myself and invited guests will be exhibiting in a group exhibition called (Tasmania Is An Anagram Of) I Am Satan at Hell Gallery in Melbourne as the second part of a reciprocal exchange between the two ARIs. This opens on Friday January 28 at 6:00 running till late. The gallery is only open on Saturdays from 12-5 and should be up for about a month. Should be fun!!! http://hellgallery.blogspot.com/
My solo exhibition, the first version of a new exploratory work called Sönaris opens at Inflight on Friday 4 February 2011. Won’t say anymore about the work at this stage except that I plan it to be an immersive, hauntological piece with random elements and room to evolve. There is a ‘trailer’ below.
Sometime in the first half of the year will be the second release from UK industrialists Concrete Lung. Some may remember I played some percussion on their ‘Waste Of Flesh’ EP in 2009. Well I recorded some more stuff, ably assisted by M.0.1.0 partner Aaron Metcalf on two tracks for this second record. Haven’t heard the final mixes/edits yet, but I trust those guys and it’s their record. I’m looking forward to hearing it, it’s a great project to occasionally be a part of.
The night of my opening on February 4, at a Hobart venue TBC, myself and good buddy and collaborator Scot Cotterell have been invited to perform as our sometimes act DÜO as part of the Tasmanian leg of a New Weird Australia tour. The following day we will be playing at the Devonport Regional Gallery in the North West of the state. Not sure what our configuration will be at this stage, but is likely to be noisy. More as it comes to hand. http://newweirdaustralia.com/
Bio Logging exhibition in conjunction with University of Tasmania and CSRIO in March. Venue TBC. I’m planning two works, a reshowing of the 2008/2009 work In Haunted Attics and within the surrounding city environment, an installed soundwalk piece, as yet untitled. Stay tuned for more info as it comes to hand.
‘Silence Is Golden’ a solo exhibition of two works (Üüüüüüüüüü and The Great Reveal) will be presented in June (opening date TBC) at Feltspace ARI in Adelaide. Will let you know more soon.
M.0.1.0 took sometime off over the last couple of months of 2010, due mainly to other commitments. We will be reconvening very soon and must say I’m really looking forward to getting back into finishing the recording and designing the next phase of the band. At this stage July looks like a scheduled month for a release date with gig(s) for the next M.0.1.0 record. Cannot confirm dates yet, but likely to sit between our 40th birthdays, at least the Hobart gig anyway(!) Hopefully by the time you read this, the M.0.1.0 website will be active. http://www.moio.com.au
So all that in the first 6 months, amongst me turning 40 and my son turning 1, 2011 is going to be a full plate. Bring it on.
I won’t tell you my new year’s resolution, other than to say I will try and be good, better than I have been so far.
Take care of each other.
“This is the only thing that I am sure of And that’s all that lives is gonna die And there’ll always be some people here to wonder why And for every happy hello, there will be good-bye There’ll be time for you to put yourself on” *
* ‘You Set The Scene’ written by Arthur Lee, performed by Love.
Musing: There is a deep funk that happens following on from a big project, perhaps more so when it was a slightly disappointing outcome. The journey back out of the murk is a long one and may not be over as you first thought. Trying to keep the demons at bay. My wife and son exorcise me daily. Should one fill one’s life with projects as a means to a satisfying sense of achievement? Or should one strip everything back to a minimum in order to see life clearly and truly enjoy what is around you already? Am I doing a good job at what I do? Growth and evolution is slow and patience is a virtue. Is one speaking some kind of relative truth (truth as you see it) when talking shit behind the safety of an online avatar? Like when a drunk shoots their mouth off after consuming booze, are they telling it like it is when their mouth is loosened? Or are they just some drunk guy talking shit? Should one say anything at all? (this is the one that I wonder about the most). There is something important to be said.
What’s happened since last post.
No prize for Project Blue Book at the City of Hobart (TMAG July 23 – Aug 29), but didn’t really expect it. Was cool to be part of. But boy, got tired of the continual tech glitches. Thanks for your patience Brian. I say it a lot, maybe I should go back to painting, (my ex-painting teachers all shudder!). Here’s an excerpt from the video.
My work Les anges appellent (convocation) in ‘Souvenirs/Cite 3′ (Plimsoll Gallery July 30 – August 27) seemed to go off without any tech problems and was reportedly well received. I’m happy about this, knowing full well that it’s not initially the most inviting work, a strobe light, sound and flashing video. It was inspired by my experience of Gysin/Burroughs’ Dream Machine object and the ambient sound of Paris from the Cite’s studio window. The work is designed to be experience with eyes closed.
Had a good time doing my DJ Broken Tiny set for ‘Brand New Second Hand - Drum Machine’ on July 31. Love doing these sets. Anytime Ben! For those interested, here was my (approximate) playlist: Godflesh – Slavestate Dälek – Paragraphs Relentless CAN – Spoon Bush Chemists in Dub – The Power of Tape Suicide – Rocket USA Donna Summer – I Feel Love (extended vers) Kraftwerk – Metropolis Goblin – Flashing Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel and the Furious Five – White Lines Stewart Copeland – The Equalizer Busy Equalizing Kenny Everett/Mike Vickers – Captain Kremmen (Retribution) Alice Cooper – He’s Back (The Man Behind The Mask) Squarepusher – Hello Meow Jesu – Star
M0.1.0 played a short compact set at the Brisbane Hotel for the Damage/Amplified fest on September 3. We opened the night and were probably the least metal/hardcore of the night, but possibly the heaviest. There is a difference. Was a fun night with lots of hair, poses and distortion. Thanks Mischa! (photos anyone?)
In ‘The Shed’ I’ve done a bit more long distant recording for UK band Concrete Lung. This time it was on a couple of tracks for an upcoming release. Aaron contributed a bit of percussion assistance too, as well has engineering it. Not sure what the status is at the moment, but should be out at some point. Anytime fellas!
Following the Exhibition Closing/New Space Launch event at INFLIGHT on Friday Sept 24 that featured a DJ Broken Tiny set and the Native Cats performing in the rear carpark, I rushed down to the Art School for a ‘ring in’ session drumming job with The Souvlaki Six on the request from my friend and lecturer/supervisor Leigh Hobba (who plays sax in it). All covers, all the time, Milan is very entertaining!
Scheduled for Sept 30 was a MOIO gig opening for Zeni Geva with Thrall, which we were very excited about. I saw Zeni Geva back in 1997 at the Livid Festival in Brisbane and really enjoyed it and having recently played with ZG vocalist/guitarist KK Null, was really looking forward to contributing to what should have been a great bill. Due to some unfortunate occurrences that I won’t go into (I’m not sure I have the full story) the gig was cancelled at the last minute. Such a shame.
I contributed the single channel version of my 2006 work Smoke and Mirrors to The Highwire Gallery International Short Film Festival on Oct 1, 2010. This is a space in Philadelphia and sounds like a great place. I also sent a full quality version of MOIO’s clip to include somewhere, but not sure if it was used. Thanks for the invite Tracy! Excerpt from Smoke and Mirrors
Untermorast did a gig on Oct 14 at the Brisbane with Drunk Elk and Native Cats. Small turnout. First gig in a while for us. Is it possible for for an improv project to be rusty? Of course a true musician blames his gear or technical problems for an underwhelming gig, but to be honest Tim was concerned about an annoying hum and I was concentrating on not getting feedback, both of us too preoccupied to really let go. Next time! Drunk Elk and the Native Cats were great.
My beautiful rabbit Noodle died after a short illness on Wednesday October 20. She will be missed.
RIP Noodle 2004-2010
Upcoming: Will likely be watching the skies somewhere on Halloween morning
November: Two M.0.1.0 shows, both at the Brisbane Hotel. November 6 we will be playing on a bill for ‘Metal Matt’s Birthday Blitz’ (I’ll also be doing a DJ Broken Tiny set sometime in the early hours of the morning).
Sometime in the future M.0.1.0 will release new material, we are currently recording.
November 22 – December 12. Decayed This is an experimental laboratory in residency at Salamanca Art Centre in collaboration with Deborah Pollard and Sally Rees. We will be exploring ideas of endurance and duration presented as performance installation. There is some kind of presentation planned at SAC towards the end, but being a lab, can’t really say what it will be yet.
During that time on December 9: Untermorast will play a show (possibly a Sound Klub presents) at The Brisbane. More details later.
I will be exhibiting more in 2011, some confirmed, some unconfirmed…will let you know.
And then there were three
Steam on the lens.
Near and dear, good and bad and a colony of bats,
Machines and G.O.D
There is something important to be said.
So it’s been a busy couple of months since the last post, hence the delay. Here’s a catchup!
Arthur David Warren was born at approximately 12:30am on May 8, 2010.
Suffice to say, we are very happy, he is very kind to us newbie parents and seems to be a very happy chap most of the time despite the couple of bouts of ill health.
I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be a parent, but it’s pretty damned good, especially the hidden smile beneath the horizon of a blanket upon his waking. That’s a bit of a heart melter.
He has slotted into our lives very well, we enjoy his company, he enjoys ours, what more can you say? Cliches like, ‘children change your life’ are a cliche because they are true. I would think that’s fairly obvious. But having said that, (perhaps we are lucky) it doesn’t feel like he’s disrupted our lives too much. Certainly when not in a gallery or performing we are homebodies for the most part anyway and although as he gets older there will be more socialising to be done (as far as school and so forth), at the moment we are content to all hang out together and get on with stuff, Sally and I take turns with duties, (though I probably owe her quite a few more nappy changes). We are under no illusions that it will be like this forever, but right now it feels very natural. Who da thunk it?
Speaking of socialising, those near and dear to us would have noticed a very minimal amount of images of Arthur online. This is deliberate. As adults we make our own choices to show ourselves on the web, kids can’t. This is not really a PC-fearing reaction to online predators or anything like that, though of course like any parent we are concerned about that. And it’s not that we aren’t proud of our little boy. It is simply a clean slate that allows Arthur anonymity until he’s old enough to put himself out there (if he chooses). Who knows what online social networking will be like in 12-14 years?
And with all good intentions comes the possibility of something not going to plan.
The planned homebirth was, let’s say 90% successful. A relatively short 9 hour labor (easy for me to say) ended up with the final stage (about 45 minutes from arrival) at the Royal Hobart Hospital, where Arthur’s arrival was assisted with a ventouse. I still maintain, you go to hospital when you are sick, childbirth is not an illness. The risk to mother and child’s health was mounting at that stage and so it became health issue. Again this would’ve happened in hospital anyway and in fact may have been worse or happened sooner due to the stress of being there.
Sound a bit defensive maybe? Possibly. The subject of homebirthing was recently in the media because of Danni Minogue’s recent homebirth drama, with a lot of folk (medicos) talking about how it’s not a good idea, and speaking as if mothers are just there at home doing it themselves with out experiences midwives supervising. Not surprisingly, TV-medical expert Dr Penny Adams took a typically traditional ‘I do not support home-births’ stance. But to give her props, she at least pointed out that hospitals and hospital staff should consider the fact that women are not wanting to give birth in hospital and are choosing to have home births, many times because a hospital is not a nurturing, comfortable or friendly place and this should be looked at. Perhaps there’s hope.
On May 5: Save 10 Murray Street Presets: ‘Please Don’t Let Me Be Understood’ http://save10murray.wordpress.com/
So being at the time, kind of on stand-by for the impending birth, I did not attend the opening of the this show. By all accounts it was well attended. My work didn’t sell, but there is to be a second round of selling so maybe then. The work I created was the 2010 version of ‘Exhalation’ and I performed this work in my studio (Dead Letter Office) and on the final breath took a photo, with lens steamed up with breath. The physical work I donated to the exhibition is a print (the only one apart from the artist’s proof) and a CD of the performance recording (again only one apart from the artist archive copy). The A4 print looks like this:
On Saturday May 29,M.0.1.0 played along with AXXONN, Traitor and my other duo Untermorast for Thrall‘s ‘Antipodean Homecoming’ show. Was a cool night, enjoyed both my sets and everyone else’s. Mr Hall borrowed my fog machine for his AXXONN set and this was the result!:
AXXONN (photo by Matt Warren)
Untermorast (photo by Tom Hall)
M.0.1.0 debuted a couple of new songs End Credits and Idiom Grim which will form part of a new EP we are doing pre-production on right now. Word of warning, when using a digital sound recorder to record your loud set, make sure you keep the recording levels relatively low otherwise this will happen: http://soundcloud.com/mattwarren/m-0-1-0-idiom-grim-live-excerpt
M.0.1.0 (Photo by Tom Hall)
June 16 – 27: mumble(speak) - the good and bad people and things tour.
Supported by Sound Travellers on their final funding round.
When I put this tour together, I knew I was due to be a father. It was important to me to be not away from home too much, so I planned it basically around two weekends. Last year’s TRIAD tour, as great fun as it was, sometimes felt like there was a bit too much downtime between gigs (especially with the cancelled show in Sydney). So it was my plan with this one to compact it by flying in, playing a show and flying out the next morning, this would also help with the being at home sooner plan. As it happened, somewhere between the too scenarios would be the best as sometimes this was slightly manic. No complaints though, here’s what happened.
Wednesday June 16: Stutter, Melbourne (played with: Heilbron, Hansen, McLean)
Flew into Melbourne on the day of the gig. Is always good to catch up with brother Nick and my old friends Jenny and Ted. Stutter, a weekly experimental music night is held at Horse Bazaar, a fantastic venue and same place TRIAD played at last year. HHM were a trio of two prepared double basses and drums/percussion. They were very cool, angular and spiky with odd moments of calm. My set went off reasonably well, though being the first night there were some audio levels I had to work on in regards to the mix. Small but pretty appreciative crowd.
Heilbron, Hansen, McLean (photo by Matt Warren)
mumble(speak) (photo by Nick Warren)
Friday June 18: 6a, Hobart (played at Pip Stafford’s exhibition opening)
This was the largest audience of the tour, but I must say I cannot really take credit for that. Pip’s show was great and I think it was a pretty good combo letting me play at her show. Some of the rough edges (where not required) were ironed out by this show. I looked up a couple of times to see both Josh and Tim seated on the floor taking it all in. Thanks guys, hope it was good for you.
mumble(speak) (photo by Sally Rees)
Saturday June 19: Kurongkurl Katitjin Art Gallery , ECU, Perth (played with: Joel Ong and Candied Limbs [Cat Hope and Lindsay Vickery])
Next morning I flew to Perth, it’s a long flight, especially considering there seem to be no direct flights from Hobart. Was met by my lovely friends and hosts Susie and Dale (with their kids Charlotte and Edward) and had a nice lunch at there place. Went to the venue which was a very cool gallery space with a curved roof perfect for the projection. Caught up with Cat who sorted the gig for me and who was to be playing that night as one half of Candied Limbs (with Lindsay Vickery). We had a brief chat about our mutual love of Scott Walker and then I met Joel. He had set up a kind of interactive sound work consisting of drones and other sounds enclosed in a wooden wall, exploring it’s acoustic properties, where the audience would take turns listening via stethoscopes. Up next was Candied Limbs and I must say I was completely daunted to play afterwards. At this point feeling like my set was very ‘easy listening’, I nevertheless performed an okay set and the reasonable sized crowd seemed to like it. Dale and I went to get something to eat afterwards and then went back to his and Susie’s place.
Joel Ong (photo by Matt Warren)
Candied Limbs (photo by Matt Warren)
mumble(speak) (photo by Dale Lewis)
Sunday June 20: Serial Space, Sydney (played with: P>A)
Next morning I got an early morning flight to Sydney and caught up with my mate and host Deb. When I arrived at her place she was 10 minutes from the end of ‘Blue Velvet’ she being as am I, a confirmed Lynch fan. She had a guest over watching the film too. He had never seen the film and I was amazed at that, not sure why I thought everyone had seen it.
Got cab to the funky little warehouse gallery space, caught up with Pia who booked the show for me who I met years ago in Hobart when she was part of the trio Conductor. Soon after I arrived in came the two guys who make up P.>A (Phil Williams and Andreww Gadow). Lovely fellas. Got to see my dear friend Felix, Cy (another Conductor almuni) and Justin (who I used to be on the Gallery Dunce ARI board with at least 12 years earlier and who I hadn’t seen for about that long). P>A played a very cool set of no-input low frequency feedback drones with video projection made up of lo-tech digital visual response to the sound, lots of interference lines and noisy textures. My set, again pretty easy listening in comparison was not bad. A very small crowd, I think due to me being a bit of an unknown as mumble(speak) it being a Sunday night and the fact that Serial Space is unable to do major promo because they have variously had gigs shut down. Still it was a very nice room to play in. Late night pizza and catchup with Felix in Enmore and some needed correspondence via web and som time in my two favourite New Town record shops Egg Records and Repressed the next day, before flying home to the family.
P>A (photo by Matt Warren)
mumble(speak) Sydney (photos by Felix Ratcliff)
Friday June 25: DVVA, Darwin
Uh oh. Not a disaster by any means, but, well this was funny ol’ gig. Primarily I wanted to stretch out venue and city-wise with this tour and really wanted to include Darwin. Firstly I had never been there, secondly I suspect my kind of music didn’t happen up there much. Flew up via Melbourne (I didn’t realise there was a Terminal 4 at Tullamarine) on Thursday afternoon/evening arriving at just on 12:00am Friday morning. The heat was intense, sweating in an air conditioned airport at 1:00am waiting to board the shuttle to the hotel was a test after a long flight. I won’t name the hotel, but suffice to say they should update their website to mention that the price per night had gone up $20. Even at the previous price it wasn’t worth it, plus being that I arrived at 1:00am I had to pay for two nights…
At least, it turned out, that it was a five minute sweaty stroll from the venue, Darwin Visual Arts Association, run by Lisa Wolfgramm who was very helpful and understanding after an email to her had gone missing and she assumed I had cancelled on her. This meant missing out on a promo opportunity, but Lisa was still happy to have me. Ahh the trials and tribulations of booking tours…The day of the gig, I was told by a few local that it was unusual hot that day, oh good, I thought, it’s not just me. It was sweltering. It’s been a long time since (read never) I’ve been in Australia in June and wanted to go to the beach. I wandered around a small section of Darwin, went down to Bicentennial Park and Lameroo Beach (didn’t swim though, got some photos and field recordings). And so the gig on the back verandah of the art centre, first mumble(speak) show I’ve performed in shorts, was to the crew of 3, one punter and a colony of bats. At least there was some good one on one discussion about the state of the arts, experimental music and so on. Thanks anyway guys, a new experience is worth the undertaking.
Bicentennial Park, Darwin
Lameroo Beach, Darwin
Lameroo Beach (with giant ants)
mumble(speak) Darwin (photo by Lisa Wolfgramm)
June 26: Browning Street Studios, Brisbane (Almost Invisible #4 night 2 with Geese, Restream and Tom Hall)
Due to my 6:00am flight to Brisbane, I needed to be in the hotel foyer to be picked up by the bus at 4:30, so I set my alarm for 4:00. Not that I needed it. Stifling heat, coupled with the delightful sound through the thin walls of my neighbour bringing up something or other for a good 20 minutes, well you get the picture. Flight from Darwin to Brisbane was fine and arrived around 10:00am and was picked up at the airport by the ever lovely Tom Hall, who always knows about good coffee and food (what was the name of that superb coffee place we went to Tom?), so apart from being a great bloke, he’s awesome to hang out and eat with! A partial eclipse and a lovely evening. The venue was funky little building that looked to be a converted house that is used for rehearsals, recording exhibitions and live recitals. A nice guy named Cam along with some assistance (I believe) from Ian Rogers (ex-AXXONN, current Ambrose Chapel and fellow JK Broadrick fan) had organised this two night mini-fest and this was night 2. Tiny crowd again, I think most folks who were going to come, came the night before. Geese were a kind of loose, noisy garagey band that had a nice feel. Restream did a kind of chaos dj set that really had its moments, was a bit of an ear opener. Tom did a lovely set with some jittery projection as only he can. My set felt a little rushed as I was aware we had a curfew so some sections were shortened. For some reason, my recordercrapped out just as I started the set, so I have no recording of this set, but Tome great some great images and the small audience, seemed very blissy at the end of it, lying on the floor, Cam was laying under the moon projection. I hope that was good sign!
Geese (photo by Matt Warren)
Restream (photo by Matt Warren)
Tom Hall (photo by Matt Warren)
mumble(speak) Brisbane (photos by Tom Hall)
Sunday June 27: Feltspace ARI, Adelaide.
First time to Adelaide and I was astonished to discover how cold it was. I realise it’s pretty far south, but, twas chilly, especially after Darwin and Brisbane. Very flat, but very nice place. My old mate and fellow VOIVOD fan Leo picked me up at the airport and we went back to his place, a veritable library of old school metal. We listened to a lot of NWOBHM and then went to the gallery, a fantastic space and met up with board member Logan. He was very helpful and couldn’t do enough for me, even suggesting some vegetarian eating spots nearby after I set up the PA and did a soundcheck. Alas it was another small turnout…the unknown factor again? Maybe the cold? Pity, as it was the best set I played on the tour, well balanced and flowed really well. But the few that turned up were full of praise and such an amount allows for good intimate discussion. Sold a CD and chatted with one punter about what software I use and so on. I’d play there or exhibit there again in a flash. Later that night Leo and I listened to more oldschool metal and watched the World Cup (he’s mad into sport), which I actually quite enjoyed. Next day, tried to go the Samstag Museum only to discover it’s closed on Mondays and Leo showed me around Adelaides glut of good record shops.
One superb falafel later I was on the plane home (via Melbourne). There’s nothing like smiles from loved ones after such whirlwind travel. So of course I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed by some of the turnouts, but I wasn’t entirely surprised. It isn’t always my first choice to go out and see some droney guy with projections of the moon, much less someone from out of town either. Was this a prog rock show? Some Pink Floyd tribute gig? Whose to really know. In the end, regardless of how much promo you do you can’t force people to attend. However attractive or unattractive the act is, you cannot second guess the numbers. But I do thank those who did turn up and especially the venues and the folks who hosted me. I enjoyed myself and it has taught me a lot and inspired new sounds and that can only be a good thing. Here’s to the next tour.
On Friday July 2: M.0.1.0 had the pleasure of playing a set on a bill opening for legendary experimentalist KK Null. We shared the bill with Oceans (Hob), Spheres (Lton) and Thrall now with the addition of Lee Ritson on Bass. We played a short compact set to keep the night flowing smoothly and it seemed to worked well. We played only one new (non EP) track this time (‘End Credits’) and as mentioned before it will be on the next recording and we will likely be revealing all new material (with some older ones) next gig, in early September. Again I underestimated the volume of our sound and blew out the levels on my recorder. Will get it right one day. Oceans were (was? – it’s one guy) great, a nice lofi set and Spheres filled the room with wonderful washes of sound. Thrall seemed a tad tentative at this gig, but it was the first gig with Lee. Still when it worked, it really had some guts. KK did an incredibly clean, crisp layered soundscape. It sounded like an 1980s computer game with some chaotic virus reeking havoc on it’s sound generating components, that’s compliment by the way.
BTW, M.0.1.0 now have a page on Facebook, come and say hello and ‘like’ us!
Upcoming:
So the Hobart artist run initiative known as INFLIGHT, a well respected gallery/institution and my employer since January is moving. Our lease of 5 years ran out at the end of June and was suddenly not renewed for reasons not entirely clear to us. We were able to get an extension and fulfil our July show obligation. And as it happens, the August show was to be my Sönaris exhibition. Being that I’m local and the remainder of the program contains artists from interstate, it was easier for me to postpone my show until the new year, so that’s what’s happening. Our first show in the new space will be in September and the new space is at 100 Goulburn Street on the city edge of West Hobart. Exciting times ahead, we will now have street frontage, a good size but controllable room, no neighbouring sound of grounding marble and of course nearby Pigeonhole Cafe does pretty good coffee.
City of Hobart Art Prize – New Media.
I can announce (I think) that I’ve been chosen as one of the 8 contestants (is that the right word?) to exhibit and compete in the New Media section. Who da thunk it? Certainly not me! While I think that what I do is not bad and is known to move people in a way I find very satisfying, I never thought it was ‘competitive’ in relation to other respected New Media works. My piece is a digital video and audio work embedded into the top of a black plinth and is called Project Blue Book. The exhibition opens at on Friday July 23 and continues until August 29.
Two words: People’s Choice (wink)
‘Souvenirs /Cite 3′ at Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart.
Leigh Hobba has curated me into a group exhibition of people who have spent some time at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris. I’m in great company (including my old buddy Sean Bacon, Jane Burton, Matt Calvert and more) and I will be presenting a slightly reworked version (no longer using headphones and some extended light play) of a 2005 installation called Les anges appellent (convocation). This work was last shown in late 2005 in Medium Rare artspace in Redfern, NSW as part of Gail Priest‘s one night event series called e)scapes. Images below courtesy of Gail Priest. The show opens at 6:00pm Friday July 30 and will run until August 27.
DJ Broken Tiny set.
The night after the above show opens, I’ll be doing another DJ set for Ben Crothers’ Brand New Second Hand DJ series. This month’s theme of ‘Drum Machine’ will hear me include Godflesh, Dälek, Kraftwerk and Donna Summer (!) in my set. Around 9:00 pm Saturday July 31, Front Bar at Brisbane Hotel, Hobart with DJ BTC and Cough Syrup.
Just to end this long post; I have been listening to the following track incessantly. Lobby Loyde and the Coloured Balls plus guests live at Sunbury 1973 (in the early hours of the morning) playing a piece called G.O.D. Heard this about 18 years ago, recently rediscovered it and cannot stop playing it. It has influenced me in so many ways. It’s hard to find just the track alone online so here is an excerpt (the full version is close to 18 mins) forming the soundtrack to a film about Melbourne Sharpies by Greg McCainsh of Skyhooks no less! Enjoy and take care of each other!
Also exactly 1 month prior – June 9, saw the release of our track ‘Fatigue’ as part of the free download compilation ‘Bleak Metal’ on the New Weird Australia imprint. Good company!!! Click the image below
