##Artefacts Communique 1##

 

Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930 – 1973 is a landmark compilation CD documenting the forgotten pioneers of Australian music.  For full details, track listing and audio samples, go to http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

This is the first of a series of communiqués giving you a taste of some of the characters who populate the history of Australian experimental music.

 

Jack Ellitt – The Sound Pioneer Australia Never Knew It Had

 

Jack Ellitt is virtually unknown in the annals of Australian experimental music, yet his work in sound composition as early as 1930 was cutting edge on an international scale.

 

As a teenager, Ellitt met New Zealander Len Lye (who later became an important avant garde filmmaker and sculptor) in Sydney in the 1910s, and later followed him to London in 1928.  The two antipodeans worked together in experimental film during the 1930s, with Ellitt often composing the live soundtracks to accompany films. 

 

Ellitt saw film sound technology as an opportunity to reinvent music through the use of the entire spectrum of sounds.  He expressed a desire to “free our ears (from) tight-laced musical values”.  He advocated abstract sound where it could be appreciated in its purely elemental state. Prophetic of modern day sound art practice, he wrote, “When good recording apparatus is easily acquired, many people will record simple everyday sounds which give them pleasure.  The next step would be to mould these sound-snaps into formal continuity”.  Yet Ellitt felt there was much opposition to his ideas and became increasingly secretive about his music experiments.  This continued for the rest of his life, eschewing contact with other more famous electronic music pioneers who attempted contact with him, including Stockhausen.  This also partly explains why Ellitt’s music has never before been released.

 

Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930 – 1973 features “Journey #1”, the first Ellitt recording ever released.  Recorded in London around 1930, this astounding piece was originally made to accompany a Lye film on space travel.  “Journey #1” is a musique concrete style collage of sound recordings, either recorded by Ellitt or culled from film sound libraries, and spliced together on audio tape.  Not only is this an important find in the context of the history of Australian music, but in regard to experimental music on an international scale.  Here a sample of this track at http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

After retiring from the film industry, Ellitt returned to Australia in the early 1970s and devoted himself to sound composition.  He completed several new works but did not seek public performance.  He died in 2001.  Tragically, many of his recordings and documents were disposed of after his death.  “Journey #1” and some other later recordings were amongst the few that were saved.

 

Pre-order your copy of Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930 – 1973 compilation CD for the special price of AU$23ppd (US$17.30ppd) from http://ShameFileMusic.com .  Look out for launch events at this year’s Liquid Architecture Festival in both Melbourne and Brisbane.