"Everything's Broken" is the new CD from Undecisive God.  It contains new works from the last 3 years, featuring further exploration of turntable/broken record preparations, extended guitar techniques, field recordings and mixer feedback pieces.

 

To hear a sample track, go to http://www.myspace.com/undecisivegod

 

Since 1990, Undecisive God has been pushing the limits of the guitar as an instrument.  “Everything’s Broken” is the latest step in this strange journey.

 

Available from http://ShameFileMusic.com for AU$10ppd (US$8ppd), or for a trade of your own music.

 

Clinton

Shame File Music – specialising in Australian experimental

http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

New Undecisive God mini CD "Duos for guitar and broken records" (limited edition of 52) - this release documents some new directions I've taken, this time with prepared turntables/broken records dueting with guitar.  Each cover is indivudually handmade out of said-broken records and their covers.  This is a preview of work on my upcoming full length CD "Everything's Broken".  You can hear one of these tracks here - http://www.myspace.com/undecisivegod .  About half of these mini CDs are gone already so be quick AU$7ppd (US$5ppd)


Clinton Green Live in collaboration with Zac Keiller - as part of the "String Theory" compilation CD launch, at Bar Open, Brunswick St, Fitzroy, Melbourne.  Tuesday 6 November - $7.  Also with Seth Rees, Chris Smith, Barnaby Oliver and various other axemen.


Other new editions to the Shame File catalogue:

Ernie Althoff - we've been fortunate to acquire a large chunk of acclaimed instrument-maker and composer, Ernie Althoff's back catalogue:

"Thirty More" cassette - 1992 release that provides 30 small audio snap shots of Althoff's work at the time, including voice, tape and installation pieces. Each cassette cover is an individually designed collage. - AU$5ppd (US$4.50ppd)

"Heliosonics" CD - Australia's premier instrument maker creates a series of solar powered music machines and plays them together in various combinations, evoking images of the natural enviornment. Comes with a booklet detailing these extraordinary machines. - AU$20ppd (US18ppd)

"Catchment" CD - Recordings of water in various different situations; from the rain on the roof to hose, basin and pool. Althoff makes this precious resource an instrument over which he exercises deft control - AU$10ppd (US$9ppd)

"Dark By 6" CD - Five recordings of Althoff's extraordinary sound installations, featuring his homemade music machines that are largely turntable driven. Comes with a booklet detailing each installation and excellent photos - AU$10ppd (US$9ppd)

Jim Denley - "Through Fire, Crevice and the Hidden Valley" CD - Denley spend 15 solitary days in the Budawant Mountains in the east of Australia, interracting with the natural soundscapes with his saxaphone. These sublime recordings are the result. AU$25ppd (US$20ppd)

Justice Yeldham - "Cicatrix" CD - The definitive document of Lucas Abela's bloody plate glass-playing/smashing noise act. Three sets of recordings - studio, soundcheck and live - plus a graphic booklet in full colour. AU$15ppd (US$12.50ppd)

Splinter Orchestra CD - Sydney's improv big band (sometimes swelling to over 50 musicians) go from minimalist to maximalist in their debut release, using just about every instrument imaginable. AU$25ppd (US$20ppd)

**as always, Shame File Music welcomes trades of your own music**

http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

First gig in Melbourne for a while:

 

Sunday 19 August, from 7pm

Carni, 60 High St, Preston

$10

 

The Wall of E Electric Guitar Ensemble (17 guitars!)

Undecisive God

JK Fuller

Tim Catlin

Seth Rees.

 

I will also be performing and speaking on a couple of panels at this year’s Electrofringe in Newcastle (late Sept).  See http://www.electrofringe.net/ for details.

 

Cheers,

Clinton

http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

On the fiction side of things, I have a story in the brand new Flashspec Volume Two anthology, called “Trepanation”.

 

I have very limited copies of the anthology available – you can order from http://shamefilemusic.com/clinton/index-4.html but be quick before they all go.

 

My debut novel The Percival Tyler Files and Butchershop Quartet, which features my novella “The House on the Hill”, are also available from here.

 

Clinton.

I’ll give your inboxes a break – read ##Artefacts Communique 6## at http://www.halftheory.com/index.php?go=blog&id=297 – the subject of which is avant garde composer Felix Werder.

 

Clinton

http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

##Artefacts Communique 5##

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 Wednesday night from 10pm, myself and Warren Burt will appear on 3RRR-FMs Symbiosis programme to chat about the Artefacts project.  Stream from http://www.rrr.org.au .

 

Bruce Clarke – The Jingle Workshop

 

A major landmark in the history of Australian electronic music was not the result of an extensive research project, but of a musicians strike.

 

In early 1960s Melbourne, Bruce Clarke discovered the electronic works of Stockhausen, and was inspired to begin exploring electronic music himself.  Clarke was one of the first Australian’s to work with early synthesisers, like the Moog.  Clarke worked in a “Jingle Workshop”, where advertising jingles were written and recorded.  A strike by the Australian Musicians Union in the early 1960s led to Clarke creating a completely electronic soundtrack for a cigarette commercial.

 

Clarke is one of those rare cases in Australia of experimental music coming from a commercial industry.  He expressed doubt regarding the notion of ‘art for art’s sake’, favouring more practical applications of problem-solving experimentation.  Clarke said experimental musicians could only overcome the conservative Australian artistic climate by presenting their work as a saleable commodity.

 

Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930 – 1972 features Clarke’s “Of Spiralling Why”, one of the first completely electronic compositions produced in Australia, commissioned for the Adelaide Arts Festival in 1966. 

 

Clarke continued to work in both experimental music and jazz.  He worked extensively with composer Felix Werder, including Werder’s excursions into electronic music, also featured on Artefacts.

 

The Melbourne CD launch approaches:

 

Friday 13 July, North Melbourne Town Hall, from 7:30pm – Robin Fox on analogue synthesisers again, and a panel discussion on the history of experimental music with Robin, Pauline Oliveros, Warren Burt & Rainer Linz.

 

Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930 – 1973 is available now from http://ShameFileMusic.com for AU$27ppd (US$23ppd).  Look for it in shops in the coming week.

 

 

##Artefacts Communique 4##

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

Keith Humble – The Mentor

 

Keith Humble had a major influence on the fledgling Australian experimental music scene from the late 1960s onward.  Humble established himself early in life as a child prodigy on the piano and later as a composer, before leaving Australia for Paris in the 1950s.  There he ran the alternative performance space Centre de Musique. 

 

He returned to Melbourne in 1966 and set about inspiring a new generation of composers and musicians to explore new musical ideas.  Humble established the Society for the Private Performance of New Music, which provided an outlet for young composers such as McKimm, Rooney and Clayton.  The monthly Society concerts took part in the Grainger Museum (Humble wanted to draw attention to an Australian music tradition with the connection to Grainger) and took the form of performance workshops directed by Humble and other composers .  He also took up a teaching post at Melbourne University (where his students included Ron Nagorcka) and taught in San Diego in the early 1970s.  Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930 – 1973 features a piece Humble created during his time in San Diego.  “And Tomorrow” was recorded the San Diego University’s Electronic Music studio, and is believed to be a computer piece for an unrealised opera.

 

Humble’s compositional palate ranged from avant-garde music to electronic works to his vast Nunique events, which involved rock bands, lectures, dramatic performances and string quartets all taking place simultaneously according to a detailed plan.  Most significantly, Humble mentored several young composers who would form the next generation of Australian experimental music.  He set the scene in the late 1960s that made the later burst of activity in Melbourne possible, including institutions like the Clifton Hill Community Music Centre.  He pioneered the La Trobe University Music Department, which in turn brought another musical ‘lightning rod’ to Australia in Warren Burt.  Humble died in 1995.

 

 

Hear some of the equipment Humble used during these times at the Brisbane and Melbourne Artefacts launches in the coming 2 weeks, where Robin Fox will be performing on these analogue synthesisers, as part of the Liquid Architecture Festival:

 

Friday 6 July, Brisbane Powerhouse, from 7:30pm – Robin Fox and others

 

Friday 13 July, North Melbourne Town Hall, from 7:30pm – Robin Fox on analogue synthesisers again, and a panel discussion on the history of experimental music with Robin, Pauline Oliveros, Warren Burt & Rainer Linz.

 

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 .  This special deal ends this Friday!. 

 

##Artefacts Communique 3##

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

I will be chatting to Fenella Kernabone from The Sound Lab about the CD on JJJ Sunday night from 11pm – tune in or stream from http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/

Melbourne Dada Group (featuring Barry Humphries) – Buy Kellogg’s Bulk!

 

Best known for his Dame Edna Everage character, Barry Humphries began his stage career as an 18 year-old in Melbourne in a series of Dada-influenced performances.  For the first time “Wubbo Music” by Humphries’ Melbourne Dada Group is officially released, on Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930 – 1973.

 

Humphries says “Wubbo” was a pseudo Aboriginal word that means “nothing”, and was used to distinguish the group’s activities from European Dadaists (the Melbourne group at this time had not heard any of the European Dada or Futurist recordings).  Recorded in 1952, this is the earliest known experimental recording made in Australia.  In the context of conservative 1950s Australia; with its thumping piano dirge, whistles, hammers, gramophone recordings and shouted advertising slogans (“Kellogg’s bulk!); the recording conveys an iconoclastic spirit that is peculiarly Australian.

 

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 .  This special deal is only available for 1 more week. 

The CD will be launched in Brisbane this Friday night as part of Liquid Architecture 8, with Robin Fox performing on ancient Keith Humble synthesisers.  Friday 6 July from 7:30pm at the Brisbane Powerhouse.  Melbourne launch to follow on Friday 13 July.

 

More new stuff on the Shame File mailorder catalogue:

Various Artists "Smell The Stench" 5CD  Celebrating their 100th net release, noise label Smell the Stench put together this massive 5 CD set documenting the best of contemporary noise, featuring among the masses Fckn'Bstrds, Rats With Wings, Novasak, Mystified, Undecisive God, Sonic Disorder, XV Parowek, Bone Machine, Cripple Slaughter and dozens more. - $20ppd

 

r.domain  “Conscious and Dreaming” 2CD  Adelaide’s r.domain furthers his mastery of sombre ambient instrumentals and soundscapes, with layers of guitar being the main tool  - $14ppd

 

Sympathetic Division CD  A collection of this Adeladian's best electronic/ambient material of the past few years, these tracks fill as many spaces as they leave in a balanced ambient workout - $8ppd

Shame File Music – specialising in Australian Experimental

http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

 

##Artefacts Communique 2##

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

Percy Grainger – The Quest for a Free Music

 

In the early 20^th century, Percy Grainger was the equivalent of an international pop star.  Famed as a composer and pianist, Grainger was also a collector of folk music, as well as an eccentric interested in sado-masochism.  He was also the first Australian to record a significant body of experimental music.

 

In the early 1920s he worked with cutting player piano rolls by hand to enable his complex compositions to be played.  His work with Free Music took place in the late 1940s and 1950s, but the idea had been developing throughout his life.  A young Grainger, boating on Melbourne’s Albert Park Lake, observed the waves lapping against the side of the boat led him to wonder why music couldn’t have the same continuous motion.

 

The central idea of Free Music was the concept of a “gliding tone”.  He worked with Leon Theremin and his theremins in the 1930s to realise the idea, but Theremin returned to Russia in the late 1930s and Grainger was frustrated with the lack of control he had over the pitch of the theremin.  His desire for more precise pitch control led him to work with physicist and engineer Burnett Cross to construct devices that could produce the gliding tones Grainger envisioned.

 

Cross recalled that Grainger was on a lifelong search to explore this unknown territory, and he was impressed by the composer’s persistence in his quest.  Many people didn’t understand what Grainger was trying to achieve, and some even questioned his mental stability.  Later in life, Grainger became somewhat socially isolated in the conservative Australia of the 1950s.  Keith Humble suggested that Grainger, who he saw as the most radical and significant musician Australia had ever produced, be commissioned to write a music for the opening of the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956, but the idea was treated with scorn.  Grainger died in 1961, and it has only been in more recent times that some appreciation of what Grainger attempted to achieve with his Free Music experiments has begun to emerge.

 

Some of Grainger’s Free Music recordings have been released elsewhere, but “Free Music (Reed Box – Top and Bottom Ranks – Thick)” is presented for the first time on Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930 – 1973.  Recorded in 1951, the piece is a riot of tone clusters produced by a re-tuned reed organ and hand-cut paper rolls.  The voice at the beginning of the recording is Howard Cross (brother of Burnett).  The rolls were cranked by hand, using variations in speed and direction.  This astounding recording is power electronics/noise from 1951!  Warren Burt has said that he likes to play this to people who only know Grainger for his composition English Country Garden and watch their reaction.

 

 

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 .  This special deal is only available for 2 more weeks.  Look out for launch events at this year’s Liquid Architecture Festival in both Melbourne and Brisbane.

 

##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.

 

 

Two long-term projects from different spectrums of my work – writing and music research – are coming to a head.

1. The Horror That Came To FootSCARY – Book launch for The Percival Tyler Files : an novel by Clinton Green

My debut novel The Percival Tyler Files has finally been published in the UK by Rainfall books.  I have limited copies to sell in Australia, and will be holding a launch for people in Melbourne.

But it will be much more than a book launch.  The Horror That Came To FootSCARY will feature book readings from two other local horror writers in Anna Dusk and Deborah Crabtree, as well as from myself.  Anna’s stunning werewolf paintings will also be exhibited, and there’ll be live dark ambient music provided by Screwtape.

Friday the 13^th of April, 7:30pm

The Dancing Dog Café

42a Albert Street, Footscray

Free Admission

Read an excerpt from the novel at http://ShameFileMusic.com/clinton.  If you can’t make it on the night, you can order a copy of the book here as well.

 

Clinton Green’s writing explores traditional horror themes from a realist perspective. The symbolism of horror myth is evoked in everyday settings, both modern and historical. His stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies.

 

...packs a powerful punch, providing the kind of dread that horror aficionados love... - The Horror Channel

 

Green creates strong, realistic characters drawing horror from the inner demons each is tormented by – HorrorScope

 

Clinton Green has produced a fine tale of psychological horror...9/10 - SF Reader

 

Anna Dusk is the author of soon-be-published “werewolf fairytale” In-human.  Dusk also painted elaborate works for her novel, some of which will be shown at this event.

 

Deborah Crabtree’s stories have won & been nominated for occasional awards, and have appeared in publications such as Aurealis & the Shadow-Box e-anthology. One has even appeared in operatic form and was performed by OzOpera in 2001. She has a story awaiting publication in the US Anthology, Vintage Moon, a novel in (slow) progress awaiting a conclusion and several short stories on the go. She is also a judge in this year's Ned Kelly Crime Book Awards. She will read from a current work-in-progress.

 

 

2. Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930 – 1973 CD

Over three years in the making, this compilation of early Australian experimental music is nearing the light of day.

Here is the finalised track listing:

1. Jack Ellitt "Journey #1" excerpt (Early 1930s)

2. Percy Grainger "Free Music (Reed Box - Top and Bottom Ranks - Thick)" (1951)

3. Melbourne Dada Group (featuring Barry Humphries) "Wubbo Music" excerpt (1952)

4. Robert Rooney "Duo 3" (1965)

5. Bruce Clarke "Of Spiralling Why" excerpt (1966)

6. Val Stephen "Fireworks" (1967)

7. Barry McKimm "Monotony for Eight Trumpets"

8. Syd Clayton "Yehudi" excerpt (1968)

9. Arthur Cantrill "soundtrack for Eikon" (1969)

10. Tully "Phsssst" (1970)

11. Felix Werder "Oscussion" excerpt

12. Keith Humble "And Tomorrow" excerpt from an Opera (1972)

13. NIAGGRA "Excerpt #2" (1973)

14. Ron Nagorcka "Apathetic Anomaly 2" excerpt (1973)

Excerpts from the extensive liner notes that will accompany the CD along with some mp3 samples are available from http://ShameFileMusic.com

The CD is scheduled for a July 2007 release.  Look for details of special launch events in the coming months. 

Pre-order your copy now for the special discounted price of AU$23ppd (US$17.30ppd) (shipped in July 2007)

 

 

NMATAPES, the essential series of compilations documenting Australian experimental music that ran from 1982-92, is now available in full for free download or on CDR from Shame File Music.

 

NMATAPE 10, originally released on cassette in 1992, completes the series.  Of particular interest here is “Changing The Subject” by Machine For Making Sense, a veritable super group featuring Chris Mann, Jim Denley, Rik Rue, Amanda Stuart & Stevie Wishart.  Also included is a vocal performance by the late Jas H. Duke, as well as tracks by Caroline Wilkins, Stelarc, Alistair Riddell and others.

 

Each edition of the series is available from http://ShameFileMusic.com for free download, or on CDR for AU$8ppd (US$6ppd) (with the exception of NMATAPE 4, which is slightly more expensive as it is a double CDR) or for trade.  Full cover artwork and original liner notes is included in each release.

 

Alternatively, you can purchase the entire series on CDR for the special price of AU$75ppd (US$55ppd).

 

This series is pretty much essential for anyone with an interest in Australian music throughout this period.

 

Original publisher of NMA, Rainer Linz, will join myself and Simon Hampson on 3RRR-FM’s Symbiosis program on Wednesday 13^th December from 10pm for a special on the series.  Those outside Melbourne can tune in via the live stream at http://www.rrr.org.au

 

Stay tuned for Shame File Music’s upcoming compilation of early Australian experimental music from the ‘50s and ‘60s entitled “Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music, due out in mid 2007

 

Clinton Green

Shame File Music – specialising in Australian experimental

http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

Also new on Shame File:

 

Alien Tape CD - A remote collaboration between Screwtape's Andrew McIntosh in Australia and US-based Richard Wixner, creating a mix of ambient industrial pieces with a space theme

NMATAPE 9, the penultimate in Shame File Music’s reissue of these seminal compilations, is now available for free download or on CDR from http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

Of particular interest here is Ross Bolleter’s “That Time (Simulplay II)”.  Bolleter is perhaps best known for his work with ruined pianos, but here he composed a piece for two improvising players on opposite sides of the Australia to be played simultaneously without being able to hear the other, as an exploration of synchronicity.  Bolleter’s accompanying article on the concept of the piece from NMA 9 is linked from the web site.

 

Other names of interest here include Alan Lamb, Lindsay Vickery and Jonathan Mustard.

 

NMATAPE 10, the final in the series, will be available in a few weeks.

 

Also new to the Shame File Music catalogue:

 

• Baka Tatakau “1^st” CD – collaboration between Brisbane’s Joe Musgrove & Daiji Igarash AU$12ppd (US$9ppd)
• Lloyd Barrett “Mise En Scene” CD - unique sound compositions based on theories of filmic sound, that range from starkly alien to all embracing AU$20ppd (US$15ppd)
• Robin Fox & Clayton Thoms “Substation” CD – two of Australia’s best contemporary improvisers, on live processing and double bass respectively; a must have AU$20ppd (US$15ppd)

 

Cheers,

Clinton

http://ShameFileMusic.com – specialising in Australian experimental

DEFENDERS OF THE AXE #3,  Wednesday October 25^th 2006 – Loop Bar, Myers Place, Melbourne – from 8pm - $5

 

The third in Dreamland Records’ series, showcasing live performances from guitarists with new approaches to the instrument.

 

The West Footscray Community String Band (Chris Smith, Justin Fuller, Barnaby Oliver, Clinton Green) come together to play new compositions for multiple guitarists by Barnaby and yours truly.  My two pieces are essentially structured improvisation that explore dynamics between guitarists and enforces a musical co-operation guitarists are not traditionally known for!  My scores available online at http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

Also performing are Tim Catlin, Chris Rainer, & Troy Naumoff.

 

Hope to see you there,

Clinton

 

 

 

The eighth edition in Shame File Music's reissue of the seminal Australian experimental music series NMATAPES (as referred to in the current issue of The Wire's article on the Clifton Hill Community Music Centre) was originally released in 1990, and collects together a series of media, voice and installation pieces from artists active at the time.

Of particular note are the pieces by Ian Andrews, whose collages of advertising and commercial radio snippets hold up a mirror to consumerism. Similarly, Douglas Kahn's "Hotel", uses audio from the 1980s TV programme of the same name in his collage piece.

Other names of interest include Densil Cabrera, and Richard Vella's composition for multiple funk bass guitars.

Download NMATAPE 8 from http://ShameFileMusic.com  as well as tapes 1-7, or order a CDR copy.

 

Clinton

http://ShameFileMusic.com – specialising in Australian experimental

Shame File Music continues in the reissue of the seminal NMATAPES series, the 7th installment now available for download from http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

NMATAPE 7 features some of the very early pioneers in Australian experimental music, including Percy Grainger, a controlled improvisation from Keith Humble, Ron Nagorcka, Ernie Althoff & Graeme Davis. Two tracks of particular interest are from former Teletopa and AZ Music member, Ernie Gallagher, who is working with mulitple off-centre records.

 

NMATAPES 1-7 are available for free downloads, complete with cover art and liner notes, from ShameFileMusic.com.

 

Related to the history of Experimental music, Shame File now has copies of the Five Fold Galactic Bells "Omni-Viola!" CD fo a couple of years back.  Five Fold featured custom-made 1970s synthesisers salvaged from the dumpster by Robin Fox and Michael Munson when La Trobe Uni Music Dept was shut down a few years back.  See the catalogue for details.

 

Cheers,

Clinton

http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

 

Shame File Music is past the halfway mark in the reissue of the seminal Australian compilation series NMATAPES, originally released on cassette in the 1980s, and now presented as free downloads complete with cover and liner notes.

 

NMATAPE6 (1987) focussed on the early work in computer music.  One of Australia’s pioneers in this field, Warren Burt, presents a piece made up of processed orchestra samples, and Mark Rudolf’s “Beautiful But Marred by the Blemish of a Perpetual Dissatisfaction” is an early example of voice performance processed by a computer. 

 

Other names of interest here include David Hirst, Alistair Riddell and Cindy John (Robin Fox’s mum!).

 

NMATAPES 1-6 are available for free download as a complete zip file from http://ShameFileMusic.com, or for trade on CDR if you haven’t got the bandwidth.

 

- Also new on the Shame File Catalogue:

 

* Bokor “Loss” CD – Atmospheric, ambient guitar workouts interwoven with field recordings of natural sounds, featuring yours truly on 2 tracks.  AU$8ppd (US$6ppd)

 

* Biffplex “Music for Piano & Electronics” CD – First new studio work in 3 years, the Brisbane duo take a slight left turn whilst looking over their shoulders to the electro-acoustic 1960s/70s and explore the piano, inside and out.  Limited edition of 50.  AU$15ppd (US$11ppd)

 

Clinton

Shame File Music – specialising in Australian experimental

http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

Our re-issue of the NMATAPES compilation series as free mp3s continues with 1987’s NMATAPE #5, available for free download (including cover and liner notes) from http://ShameFileMusic.com, or for trade on CDR.

 

Of particular interest here Syd Clayton’s “Lucky Number”, an excerpt from this 9 hour chance pianissimo composition.  Clayton’s work has been criminally ignored, and this was his only recording released in his lifetime.  Look for more of Clayton’s work released by Shame File Music on a compilation of early Australian experimental music due in 2007.

 

Other names of interest on this edition of NMATAPES include Chris Mann, Rainer Linz, Amanda Stewart and Ernie Althoff.

 

*****

 

Also new on Shame File Music, from 2006 this time, is a taste of culinary noise in “Bite the Capsicum”:

 

“If my memory services me correctly, and I think it does, it was in 1995 when I appeared as a contestant upon television program The Iron Chef. Regrettably, my defeat was to such an extent that it would dishonour my ancestors even more to speak of it here. I vowed from that day that I would never cook again. I managed to obtain the network's master copy of this episode, and in a rage wiped the tape so my shame could never be witnessed again. Or so I thought…

It has come to my shameful attention that this hated master video tape was not completely wiped despite my efforts. Thankfully, no images remained, but some audio was still evident. The magnetic wiping process as distorted the audio to such extremes that it is surely beyond the recognition of anyone except for my shameful self, yet some knave has seen fit to release this distorted shameful memory to the public at large. To the unsuspecting listener, the cries of "Corn!" and "Foie Gras" amongst the layers of distorted noise will simply arouse confusion, or mild curiosity at the most. Yet for myself, it brings back those shameful memories of eels overcooked, sea urchin under-salted, and caviar forgotten.

I urge you all to not submit yourself to this mini CD entitled Bite The Capsicum

PS - you get a free recipe with each CD”

 Bite it yourself for AU$7ppd (US$5ppd).  See http://ShameFileMusic.com to download the sample track “Dreaming in French”.

***

Also new on the catalogue is Screwtape’s latest CD “A Hundred Flowers Bloom”, which sees a new plunderphonic approach to his dark noise, looping the likes of jazz, bagpipes and more onto themselves.

***

All this and more at http://ShameFileMusic.com

Cheers,

Clinton.

 

The wheel has turned and I’ve finally got myself a web domain and said good bye to the ads and pop-ads.  With many thanks to Scott Sinclair and Half/Theory, you can now browse the Shame File catalogue ad-free at http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

To spread the good will around, there’s a special for the month of July where if you order 2 items you’ll receive a 3^rd item of equal or less value for free.

 

Of course, there’s also lots of free stuff every day of the year on Shame File, including the reissues of seminal compilations NMATAPES, available for free downloading (or on double CDR for trade).

 

This month we go back to 1985 for the fourth edition of the series.  NMATAPE 4 concentrated on female Australian composers of the time.  Highlights include Sarah Hopkins’ Interweave, performed with 6 of her “whirlies” (a precisely-tuned instrument twirled in the air), and Annea Lockwood’s inferno-like “Shadow Burn”.  Other artists of interest include Catherine Schieve, Ros Bandt and Caroline Wilkins.

 

Download this as well as the first 3 NMATAPES from http://ShameFileMusic.com as complete .zip files including artwork and liner notes.  Look out for NMATAPE 5 soon.

 

Also new on the Shame File Catalogue is Warren Burt’s "Poems of Rewi Alley" CD. Rewi Alley was a New Zealand born poet who spent most of his life in revolutionary China, and his poems paint vivid pictures of turbulent times, both from Alley's revolutionary and dissident viewpoints. The poems are read by actor John Britton, and Burt processes the recordings through Audio Mulch to create ringing artefacts of the spoken words as a musical setting - AU$8ppd (US$6ppd) or trade.

 

We also have new in stock some reissues of the back catalogue of Sydney’s Rats With Wings.  RWW runs the gamit of minimalilst industrial soundscape to electronic noise over a series of releases, and each CD comes in innovative handmade covers using recycled materials including corrugated cardboard, academic journals and the like.  Each CD is AU$8ppd (US$6ppd) or available for a trade of your own music.  See the web site for full details on the releases available.

 

Clinton

Shame File Music – specialising in Australian experimental

http://ShameFileMusic.com

 

 

Shame File Music continues with the re-release of Australian 1980s cassette series NMATAPES, now available as free downloads or on CDR.

 

NMATAPES 3 (1984) featured tape work, electronic and theatre music and commercials.  Of particular interest on this collection are 3 Japanese Coke Ads and a “theme song” for the Australian Bi-centennial.  Also featured are Jon Rose, The Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast, Rik Rue and more.

 

Download this and NMATAPES 1 & 2 from http://ShameFile.tripod.com.  All three are also available on CDR for trade.

 

Other recent additions to the Shame File Catalogue:

 

Ross Bolleter “Crow Country” CD – features Bolleter’s well-known composition for ruined piano in a sheep shed (“ants poured out of the piano as I started playing”), and other pieces including an improvisation for two performers on opposite sides of Australia. $10ppd

 

Warren Burt “Harmonic Colour Fields” CD – Burt has been a leader in microtonal work for some time, and this CD demonstrates the spatial effects he can achieve as his drones will the room. $10ppd

 

Duct Tape Sadist “Demo” & “Satan Records” CD – DIY cover disguises rather interesting minimalist electronic noise. $8ppd each

 

Y35.3 “Ballarat Tour” CD – Power electronics duo currently clearing pubs in Melbourne.  $8ppd

 

DNA fanzine – recent additions of this long-running Adelaide underground music fanzine are now in. $2ppd

 

 

And on a non-music note, I scribbled some horror fiction that’s been included in an anthology called “Butcher Shop Quartet”.  You can read an extract of my story, a rather good review and order the book for AU$23ppd from http://clintongreen.tripod.com/stor/houseextr.html

 

Cheers,

Clinton

Shame File Music – specialising in Australian experimental

http://ShameFile.tripod.com

 

 

 

Butcher Shop Quartet is a new anthology of 4 novellas (or long short stories if you prefer) by Boyd E. Harris, Michael Stone, A.T. Andreas, and me! – Clinton Green.

 

The Horror Channel said of my story “The House on the Hill"...packs a powerful punch, providing the kind of dread that horror aficionados love...It is the subtle underplayed horror and the questions left thereafter that makes 'The House on the Hill'  such a great read.  Read the full review at http://www.horrorchannel.com/index.php?name=Reviews&req=showcontent&id=962

 

You can also read an extract of my story at http://clintongreen.tripod.com/stor/houseextr.html

 

I have some copies of Butcher Shop Quartet for AU$20 (AU$23ppd).  You can order online via secure credit card from the extract page above.

 

I also have some copies of Horror Library Volume I from the same publisher for the same price.  It contains 30 new stories from the best up-and-coming horror writers.  Order from http://clintongreen.tripod.com/stor/houseextr.html as well.

 

Love to hear what you think of the story.

Clinton Green.

 

 

Shame File Music continues with re-release of the NMATAPES series with NMATAPES now available on CDR or for free download at http://ShameFile.tripod.com

 

NMA Magazine was published from 1982-92.  Ten issues were produced, each accompanied by a cassette compilation featuring Australian experimental music of the time.

 

Originally released in 1983, NMATAPES 2 covers vocal, electronic, environmental and chamber music.  Highlights include three recordings of Ernie Althoff’s “Music Machines” and an excerpt from Ron Nagorcka’s “Atomb Bomb”, a piece for voices and four portable tape recorders, recorded live at the Clifton Hill Community Music Centre.  Other artists of note on NMATAPES 2 include Chris Mann, Les Gilbert and Rainer Linz.

 

NMATAPES 3-10 will also be re-released by Shame File Music over the coming months.  Note there was an problem with downloading NMATAPES 1 (released last month) that has since been resolved – so if you had a problem downloading this then, try again now.

 

Both NMATAPES 1 & 2 are available for free download or for trade on CDR from http://ShameFile.tripod.com

 

Also recently added to the Shame File catalogue:

 

Gyanism “Yr Nicked” mini CD – Brisbane shronknoisecraziness – AU$7ppd (US$5ppd) or trade.

 

Clinton

Shame File Music – specialising in Australian experimental

http://ShameFile.tripod.com