New Date for Oren Ambarchi

Live Dates January 2009

Thursday 8 January

Oren Ambarchi & Jim O'Rourke duo
+
Haino Keiji solo
+
Oren Ambarchi/Jim O'Rourke/Haino Keiji Trio

@ Playhouse,
Kitakyushu Performing Arts Center (River Walk 6F)
Kitakyushu
Japan

Red Eye Records Top Selling Albums of 2008

You can determine exactly how much relevance the following lists have, comprising of Red Eye records' top selling albums, staff picks and so on.

Top Selling Records

1. SIGUR ROS - MED SUD I EYRUM VID SPILUM ENDALAUST
2. RADIOHEAD - IN RAINBOWS
3. GEOFFREY GURRUMUL YUNUPINGU - GURRUMUL
4. KINGS OF LEON - ONLY BY THE NIGHT
5. NICK CAVE NICK & THE BAD SEEDS - DIG LAZARUS DIG
6. PORTISHEAD - THIRD
7. VAMPIRE WEEKEND - VAMPIRE WEEKEND
8. FLEET FOXES - FLEET FOXES
9. BON IVER - FOR EMMA FOREVER AGO
10. MGMT - ORACULAR SPECTACULAR
11. DEERHUNTER - MICROCASTLE
12. PRESETS - APOCALYPSO
13. BLACK KEYS - ATTACK & RELEASE
14. DRONES - HAVILAH
15. MARS VOLTA - BEDLAM IN GOLIATH
16. CRYSTAL CASTLES - CRYSTAL CASTLES
17. DENNIS WILSON - PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE / BAMBU : 2008 Re-Issue
18. RED SUN BAND - SHIRALEE
19. PAUL WELLER - 22 DREAMS
20. ROBERT FORSTER - EVANGELIST

Metal Store Top Sellers

1. METALLICA - DEATH MAGNETIC
2. MESHUGGAH - OBZEN
3. NINE INCH NAILS - SLIP
4. NINE INCH NAILS - GHOSTS I - IV : 2CD SET
5. OPETH - WATERSHED
6. SLIPKNOT - ALL HOPE IS GONE
7. EARTH - BEES MADE HONEY IN THE LIONS SKULL
8. EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN - ALLES WIEDER OFFEN
9. CAVALERA CONSPIRACY - INFLIKTED
10. DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN - IRE WORKS

Staff Picks

Abbe May - Howl & Moan
Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
Asecretdeath - Secret Death
Beck - Modern Guilt
Black Mountain - In The Future
Bloodbath - Fathomless Mastery
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Bowerbirds - Hymns For A Dark Horse
Brian Eno & David Byrne - Everything That Will Happen Will Happen Today
Cult Of Luna - Eternal Kingdom
Cut Off You Hands - You & I
Danny George Wilson - Danny & The Champions
Deerhunter - Micocastles
Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue / Bambu : 2008 Re-Issue
Department Of Eagles - In Ear Park
Doug Wimbish - Cinemasonics
Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
Duffy - Rockferry
Dungen - 4
Earth - Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull
Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Primary Colours
Emiliana Torrini - Me & Armini
Enslaved - Vertebrae
Eric Matthews - Imagination Stage
Exodus - Let There Be Blood
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Flight Of The Conchords - Flight Of The Conchords
Flo & Eddie - Phlorescent Leech & Eddie / Flo & Eddie (2 on 1 2008 Re-Issue)
Further - Tactics
Gas - Nah Und Fern
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Harvey Milk - Life...The Best Game In Town
Haunted - Versus
Hush Arbors - Hush Arbors
Imaad Wasif With Two Part Beast - Strange Hexes
James Jackson Toth - Waiting In Vain
Jean Grae - Jeanius
Jeff Loomis - Zero Order Phase
Kills - Midnight Boom
Ladyhawk - Shots
Laura Jean - Eden Land
Lawnsmell - Lawnography
Lee Hazlewood - Strung Out On Something New
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
M83 - Saturdays = Youth
Marnie Stern - This Is It...
Martha Wainwright - I Know You're Married But I Have Feelings Too
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Moffs - Collection
N*E*R*D* - Seeing Sounds
Neon Neon - Stainless Style
Nick Cave & Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig
Ohana - Dead Beat
Optimo/Various - Sleepwalk
Padded Cell - Night Must Fall
Peabody - Prospero
Phoenix Foundation - Happy Ending
Plants & Animals - Parc Avenue
Portishead - Third
Quiet Village - Silent Movie
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
REM - Accelerate
Replacements - Let It Be : 2008 Re-Issue
Retribution Gospel Choir - Retribution Gospel Choir
Russian Circles - Station
Sam Phillips - Don't Do Anything
School Of Language - Sea From Shore
Scott Walker - Til The Band Comes In : 2008 Re-Issue
Sea & Cake - Car Alarm
Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Songs - Songs EP
Starling Electric - Clouded Staircase
Streets - Everything Is Borrowed
Studio - Yearbook 2
Supergrass - Diamond Hoo Ha
Syclops - I've Got My Eye On You
Tan Or Boil - Seamstress In A Suitcase
Testament - Formation of Damnation
Todd Rundgren - Arena
Todd Sparrow - Modern Western
Tricky - Knowle West Boy
Trus'Me - Working Nights
TV on the Radio - Dear Science
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
War On Drugs - Wagonwheel Blues
Wedding Present - El Rey
Week That Was - Week That Was
Whitechapel - This Is Exile
Wire - Object 47
Yael Naim - Yael Naim
Various - Death Before Distemper : Volume 2
Various - Nigeria Rock Special
Various - Nigeria Disco Funk Special
Various - Notwave

There are definitely some good selections made by the staff and consumers this year, but there are definitely some ones which are pretty embarrassing (read: all records that sold due to being fashionable and not based on their actual artistic merit). Hopefully sometime this week, I'll post up Rollaroll's "Best of 2008" and we'll see how that compares with some of the more corporate or mainstream lists out there, who most often focus entirely on trends and commercial sales and leave some people with the impression that as each year goes by less and less good music is being made. Hopefully our list will open you up to some music that will boggle your mind.

Experimental Australian Music Makers Directory Now Up

In edition to a wonderful new book on Australian experimental music, the editor Gail Priest has started up a growing directory of Australian experimental music makers. You can check it out at this location. The details for being included in this director are as follows:

This will be a growing directory of Australian experimental music makers, audiovisual creators (including collaborating video artists/VJs) and curators.

If you would like to be included download the form and on completion email it to info@experimentalmusicaustralia.net. Or contact for further information.

This directory will endeavour to be as open as possible, however your work must be of an experimental nature and inclusion is finally at the discretion of the editor.

In addition to the directory there are a slab of other resources, including a calendar for upcoming gigs across Australia and a list of other sites and books on Australian music.

Interview with Marcus (Scissor Lock)

Wrapping up the Rollaroll interviews for the year, this time with Scissor Lock:

How did you get into making and performing music under the name Scissor Lock?

When i was 14, i started playing around with all the shitty musical equipment i had, mainly with guitar, making this really delay heavy experimental music. Some of it sounds really quite otherworldly, and there's no way i could reproduce that kind of sound now, back then it truly was experimental. I had no idea what i was doing, which gives it a certain charm.

Why the name "Scissor Lock"?

Who knows. it has lots of meanings -- slang for sleep paralysis in north america, a wrestling move (think scissor, lock), and i generally choose whichever of them seems appropriate at the time. I think i just liked the sound of it, since i was a fan of the band Dredg when i was 14, who have a song called "scissor lock".



How many releases have you released under this name?

I think its around ten now. In some ways I wish I'd paced myself a little more, or been less tenacious or precious about the content that i allowed out into the public, because i've come to regret many moments one or two of those releases -- Above & Below particularly. Its all part of growing and shedding skin i'd imagine.

How would you define or describe your sound?

I used to call it experimental solo post rock but it never really had much of a stylistic focus. At the moment you could probably say its pretty focused on sonority and colour, particularly in terms of attempting to compose bits and pieces of sound electro-acoustically, whether it be
voice, or a reed instrument, or plain old guitar, without losing the integrity of either element, blurring organicism with the electronic. I've become a little obsessed with a lot South East Asian folk music, so that's another element i've been juggling with -- i think that began as a sidestep from the release i did which was based mainly around Himalayan singing bowls.



What equipment do you use to perform live with?

I used to play guitar and occasionally sing through a guitar amp -- the live show used to be a little more ambient guitar oriented, but now i've been playing through an interface running audiomulch on a laptop.

Forgetting all that, though, the central tool has been the loop sampler of the DL-4 delay modeler, which has been useful for me particularly because of the decay that it has, which encourages newer musical ideas to progressively push out older ones and has an interesting influence on the life of an improvisation.

This year has seen you move leaps and bounds; from performing shows with some of the heavyweights of the Australian experimental scene (e.g. Grey Daturas at Static Age Festival) to your upcoming collaboration with Jasper Tx and Mirrored Silver Sea, how does it all feel?

Firstly, that's a split with Jasper TX, which I'm unbelievably excited for, not least for it being my first release on wax. In terms of experimental music, Australia's a particularly friendly musical environment, its not all that difficult to find people who'll lend an ear, a word of advice, or even a show without much prompting. I've profited from this sort of atmosphere and I'm really grateful to people like Cam Webb (Seaworthy), Andrew Tuttle (Anonymeye), Seth Rees, Shoeb Ahmad and a number of others who've provided a motivation to continue with the project.

Tell me more about your upcoming split and any other future releases you may have slated for this year (or next).

The 7 inch with Jasper TX is part of sound&fury's Passeridae 7 inch split singles series, with pairs Australian artists with their international counterparts. As much as i feel far less than Dag Rosenqvist's counterpart, i'm really looking forward to see how the two pieces work against each other. I still havn't actually heard Dag's side of the 7 inch, so it should be a pleasant surprise for Christmas. Thanks Mr. Adam D. Mills!

There's a collaboration with Mousetrapreplica which should be arriving on Monstera Deliciosa, Crab Smasher's label, early next year. I'm launching a split 3 inch CD-R with Seaworthy at Bohemian Grove on 1st February, which involves Seaworthy reconstructing a piece of mine. There's also a CD-R on hellosQuare in around April called "Now", which i recorded the summer 2 years ago as a sort of last hurrah to post-rock. Then, we'll see what happens with the Mirrored Silver Sea material.

Which current bands interest and excite you?

From what was released this year, the albums by Richard Skelton, Why?, Atlas Sound and Nico Muhly have been the best of a huge number of bits and pieces i've been creaming my pants off to. Locally though, Qua, 3ofmillions, Ohana and Ghoul have been awesome to watch and listen to, "Silver Red", the Qua EP from earlier in the year is probably my pick of the Australian releases.

What really excited me right now though is a prospect of a new Solo Andata album. Those guys are my heroes. Elsewhere, i've been listening to lots of Art Ensemble of Chicago and Stravinsky, but my head's been firmly adjusted to stuff that's been released this year in the past few weeks, catching up on all the shit i missed out on when i was doing the HSC thing.

And lastly, Isis or Mogwai?

Mouth Of The Architect!



Note: Look forward to some more interviews with us in the new year!

New Book on Experimental Australian Music

UNSW Press have just published a new book called Experimental Music: Audio Explorations edited by Gail Priest. More info as follows:

Experimental music has been mostly unrecognised in Australia, but it is in this ‘underground’ area that the major innovations and creative developments in music occur. Through testing perceived boundaries, breaking rules and creating new forms, the artists in this field force us to question what, in fact, music is. Written by artists who have been actively engaged in the areas they are covering, Experimental Music explores the development of forms, ideas and scenes from the 1970s to the present.

The book costs $30 (plus postage) if you order it through UNSW Press, but only about $26 if you pick it up in person from UNSW Bookshop. I can say with confidence that this publication is worth the cost, as it also includes a CD of major pieces by experimental-musicians/groups, some of which are previously unrealeased.

New Issue of Unbelievably Bad

Issue number 8 of Sydney zine Unbelievably Bad came out a little a while ago, but based on the frequency of which they release their zine I can say that it's still quite fresh. Featuring Homicides, Neil Hamburger, Splatterheads, Extortion, Hellmenn, Cut Sick, Schifosi, Death Angel, Depression, Kevin 'Bloody' Wilson, I Spit On Your Gravy and Viking Skull (amongst other things), this issue is something you definitely want to get a hold of. You can pick it up from the following places (or alternatively through MySpace):

Re-Pressed (Newtown NSW), Paint It Black (Newtown NSW), Resist (Newtown NSW), Holy Moley (Newtown NSW), Redeye (Sydney NSW), Utopia (Sydney NSW), Mojo (Sydney NSW), Snapshot Distro (Sydney NSW), Music Farmers (Wollongong NSW), Landspeed (Canberra ACT), Missing Link (Melbourne VIC), Polyester Books (Fitzroy VIC), Sticky (Melbourne VIC), Off The Hip (Melbourne VIC), We Empty Rooms (Melbourne VIC), Metropolis (Melbourne VIC), Afterdark (Collingwood VIC), Fist2Face (Ringwood VIC), Rockinghorse (Brisbane QLD), Big Star (Adelaide SA), 78 (Perth WA), Tommy Gun (Hobart, TAS), Tasmanian Alcoholic Distro (Kingston, TAS).

Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno at SOH 2009

David Byrne will be performing The songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno at Sydney Opera House on the first of February, 2009. Consisting of material from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and Everything that Happens Will Happen Today, which just got released recently through Topspin. Supporting them will be 1980s Australian rock band The Church. More info below:

David Byrne 2009 Australian Tour
"Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno"

“Byrne delivered a two-hour show as enigmatic and adventurous as his three decades-long career. ...... In short, the man was the same as he ever was: brilliant.” (The Boston Globe Nov 1)

Does anyone get better live concert reviews than David Byrne? Seriously. If there is a more uplifting, stimulating, innovative, memorable or just plain joyous concert than David Byrne’s, we’d like to hear about it.

And so it is with great pleasure that Andrew McManus Presents announces the return to Australia of the wonderful David Byrne in February 2009 to perform his extraordinary new concert “Songs Of David Byrne And Brian Eno”.

Byrne’s new album ‘Everything That Happens Will Happen Today’ is set for release in the US on November 25 (and for purchase via iTunes and as a stream and digital download through everythingthathappens.com) and is his first collaboration with long-time friend Brian Eno in 25 years. It continues the association began when Eno produced three classic Talking Heads albums and the ground-breaking solo record ‘My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts’ (1981).

The partnership, which has produced much of Byrne’s best work, has inspired the current touring show. Whilst Eno may be absent physically, he is more than present spiritually as Byrne covers classic and current Byrne/Eno material in a concert which, although only four weeks old, has been lauded by U.S reviewers and may well be Byrne’s most acclaimed ever!

With a ten-piece band - five musicians, three backing singers and three dancers - all dressed in white, Byrne has raised the bar yet again in the marriage of music, art and theatre.

It’s not surprising that Byrne has once again created something very special. Since the beginning with his band Talking Heads, he has always pushed the envelope, taking popular music into new directions, both in terms of sound, lyrics and visual presentation. Outside of music, he remains a prolific artist, photographer and film-maker.

In “Songs Of David Byrne and Brian Eno”, Byrne performs songs from their numerous collaborations including the new album, the three Talking Heads albums and ‘My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts’. The show has just commenced a six-month world tour in the US and is absolutely not to be missed.

The Church are the tour’s special guests. As their 25th anniversary approaches, the band continues to push the boundaries of what a rock band should be. They make music without regard for current trends and have remained enigmatic and innovative. The sonic perfection of The Church will be a wonderful appetiser.

Running Times:
7.30pm - 8.30pm The Church
8.30pm - 9.00pm Interval
9.00pm - 10.50pm David Byrne

Tickets on sale this morning at 9:00 AM!

The Now Now 2009 Festival

Details for The Now Now 2009 Festival have just been released. Spreading itself over three days in the Blue Mountains from the 16th to the 19th of January, this looks like it's going to be a good one. Featuring, amongst others, Eugene Chadbourne. Make sure you check it out if you're in the area. More info below:

Founding mothers, Clayton Thomas and Clare Cooper will be here, along with friends from Berlin - Magda Mayas (piano) and Steve Heather (percussion). Also american maverick songster and noise magician Eugene Chadbourne with some of the most exciting improvised music talent from Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Brisbane and Melbourne.

the NOW now 2009 is brought to you by Jim Denley, Peter Farrar, Monika Brooks, Mike Majkowski and Alex Masso. To contact us: series at thenownow.net

the NOW now would like to thank Arts NSW, The Australia Council and ABC Classic FM for their support.

Friday, 16 January, 2009

Afternoon concert @ Lhamda Books
5pm : THE PROPHETS : drums and saxophones and masks : Dale Gorfinkel / Peter Farrar / Rosalind Hall / Sam Dobson / Finn Ryan / and more
5:30pm : Inge Olmheim / Aemon Webb : Electronics

Evening concert @ Wentworth Falls School of Arts
7:00pm : PIN PIN PIN TRIO : Clare Cooper (guzheng) / Magda Mayas (piano) / Steve Heather (percussion)
7:30pm : THE SPIDERS : James Heighway (everything)
8:00pm : Adam Sussman / Martin Kirkwood : Acoustic Guitars
8:30pm : (outdoors) : T.A.D. and Yusuke : voices and guitars
9:00pm : Eugene Chadbourne : freely improvised country guitar and banjo http://www.eugenechadbourne.com
9:45pm : Pateras / Baxter / Brown + Louise Curham : prepared piano / prepared guitar / unprepared drums / performative film (respectively)

Late concert @ Akemi
from 11:00pm :
Clayton Thomas (double bass) / Dale Gorfinkel (vibraphone / inventions) / Finn Ryan (drums)

Cinemusic (1972) : a film by David Ahern, made with Phil Noyce : introduced by Geoffrey Barnard

Lloyd Honeybrook / Robin Fox : prepared saxophone and computer

Saturday, 17 January, 2009

Morning concert @ King's Cave
6:00am : Steve Heather : percussion

Sound Walk : with Anthony Magen : from King's Cave and midday

Afternoon Concert @ King's Cave
2:00pm : Inge Olmheim (electronics) / Ian Pieterse (baritone saxophone) / Rosalind Hall (prepared alto saxophone)
2:30pm : Sam Dobson (double bass) / Jon Rose (violin)

Afternoon talk @ Wentworth Falls School of Arts
5:30pm : Birdsong : The Music of Nature and the Nature of Music : Hollis Taylor

Evening Concert @ Wentworth Falls School of Arts
7:00pm : Clayton Thomas / Clare Cooper / Robin Fox : strings and computer manipulation
7:30pm : Joe Derrick / Simon Ferenci : trumpets
8:00pm : Kusum Normoyle / Aaron Clarke / Rivka Schembri / Bonnie Hart : voices
8:30pm : HELMET HEAD : Rod Cooper and Anthony Magen : Audiovisual madness
9:00pm : Laura Altman / Magda Mayas / Monika Brooks : clarinet, piano and accordion
9:30pm : BOTBORG : audio visual feedback web

Late concert @ Akemi
from 11:00pm :
Pilgramage from Scattered Points : a film on the Scratch Orchestra by Luke Fowler

Doc Chad (Eugene Chadbourne) Left Wing Country Jam

Sunday, 18 January, 2009

Midday in Wilson Park : KITE MUSIC : Jon Rose and Robin Fox

Afternoon Concert @ Wentworth Falls School of Arts
2:00pm : THE SPLINTER ORCHESTRA : the NOW now's very own house band
2:45pm : Anthony Pateras : solo piano
3:30pm : THE LOOP ORCHESTRA : Australia's longest running experimental music project : John Blades / Richard Fielding / Manny Gasparinatos / Hamish Mackenzie / Juke Wyatt
4:00pm : Mike Majkowski : solo double bass

Evening concert @ Akemi
from 7:00pm :
- Dave Brown / Joe Musgrove / James Heighway : guitars and electronics
- THE UNAUSTRALIANS
- Hosebeast : Jon Hunter / Ivan Lysiak / Peter Newman : guitar and drums and computer
- Lucas Abela / Sean Baxter

Click here to get your festival tickets.

Chick Corea and John McLaughlin - Five Piece Band Second Show

Chick Corea and John McLaughlin, who are teaming up with a few other people to form a five piece band for some shows around Australia, have just announced a second show at the Sydney Opera House. Tickets for this event go on sale this morning: don't miss out. More info below:

Drummer Brian Blade will now join Chick Corea and John McLaughlin’s Five Peace Band when they head to Australia & New Zealand this summer, February 2009.

Blade replaces Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, teaming up McBride (upright bass) and Garrett (saxophone), and of course the legendary Chick Corea and John McLaughlin. Colaiuta has become unavailable due to other continuing tour commitments.
Hailing from a Louisiana childhood infused with the sounds of Gospel, Blade’s musical development began in the school band, gaining an early appreciation for Jazz. Graduating to University Blade moved to New Orleans, establishing himself as a versatile & accomplished drummer, becoming apart of the local scene with inspiring & nurturing musicians such as Ellis Marsalis, John Vidacovich, to Harry Connick Jr & Daniel Lanois. In 1998 Blade & friend Jon Cowherd formed Fellowship, eventually evolving into his highly acclaimed Blue Note debut Brian Blade Fellowship. Blade has since appeared on albums with Joshua Redman & Kenny Garrett, & more recently recorded with Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris & Joni Mitchell.

This will be the first time Grammy Award winning pianist-composer-bandleader Chick Corea & guitarist John McLaughlin have joined forces since they were members of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew era band over forty years ago. Playing music from then & now, with Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride & Brian Blade, the Chick Corea & John McLaughlin Five Peace Band is poised to elevate new audiences with series of legendary concerts.

With illustrious musical careers dating back over more than four decades, Chick Corea & John McLaughlin created explosive live bands melding rock with jazz, Return To Forever & the Mahavishnu Orchestra, two of the most popular instrumental groups of all time. Their music went far beyond the ordinary, fusing energy, spirituality, emotion, with improvisation & hard rock. These groups inspired a new generation to expand their own musical horizon.

Don’t miss this chance to witness these incredible artists shine on stage.

New Dälek Record January, 2009!

Dälek have just recently announced that they are planing on releasing a follow up to their groundbreaking hip-hop record Abandoned Language, which was release on Ipecac Recordings in 2007. The new record is called Gutter Tactics, and will also be released on Ipecac, slated for a January 27, 2009 release. More info below:

What's good my peoples????
Well the subject line is pretty self-explanatory. Our new album is set to be released on January 27th, 2009 on Ipecac Recordings! ARTWORK AGAIN by MR PAUL ROMANO, photos by ALEXANDRA MOMIN, graff tags and pieces by MARKO BURBANO,OPIEM, and PAUL HIMSELF!!! REAL OTHER LEVEL WORK!! WORTH THE PRICE OF THE RECORD JUST FOR THE ARTWORK!!!! I just posted two joints off the new one, "2012 (the Pillage)" and "No Question" here on our myspace page. Hope yall feel them as much as we do.

Just got back from a 3 week+ run of Scandinavia, with shows in Spain, Germany, Belgium, and Greece. We want to thank everyone who came out to the shows, as always we APPRECIATE the love and support!!!! Mad respect to NIC, ACTION BEAT, OTTO von SCHIRAC, GRIMELOCK, LAINEEN KASPERI, ZU, FULTON LIGHTS, and the rest of the bands we had the pleasure of sharing a stage with this time around!

We head back out after a week of pseudo-rest, on NOV. 24th with our family DESTRUCTO SWARMBOTS on a 3 week + run all over the UK, SCOTLAND,IRELAND, with a few other random stops (GERMANY, CHECH REPUBLIC, and SWITZERLAND). So even though technically we are wrapping up touring for the year, yall know us by now, we never stop!!!! Plans are already in the works for full GUTTER TACTICS WORLD TOUR in 2009!!!
Will keep you posted! Line ups should include us out with ODDATEEE, DESTRUCTO SWARMBOTS, ZU, among others!!!

ON the ODDATEEE front.... DEADVERSE RECORDINGS is up and running!!!!!
ODDATEEE's "Halfway Homeless" was released on November 4th!!!! So if you haven't already GET A COPY!!!!! CHECK YOUR STORES, CHECK ITUNES, JUST GET IT!!!! WE AIN"T SONY MUTHAFUKAS BUY OUR RECORDS (dälek records too!) EVEN IF YOU DOWNLOAD THEM FIRST....BUY OUR SHIT!!!!
aight enough ranting.

I got plans as to upcoming releases, but I'll keep them close to my vest for now!!!!
Check www.myspace.com/deadverserecordings and www.deadverserecordings.com for updates!

deadverse.com will be updated as well. For now it all starts here! SPREAD THE WORD. 10+ YEARS IN THIS GAME!!!! AND WE STILL COMING, BOUT TO SMACK MUTHAFUCKAS ACROSS THE MOUTH WITH A BRICK!!!!
I'm amped for this, hope yall can tell!!!
ONE,
dälek

Five Shows You Should See This Week in Sydney

Here are some shows you might want to catch throughout the week if you're in Sydney:

1. Sunday 22/11/08: Dracopede, Onani and Camoo at Re-Pressed Records (365 King Street Newtown). Cost: Free!



2. Monday: 24/11/08: Now Now Festival launch at Serial Space (33 Wellington Street Chippendale). Cost: Free!



Here's all the info you need for this:

NOW now 2009 Festival Program Launch

In 2009 the festival will again be held in the Blue Mountains from
16th-18th of January, based around the Wentworth Falls School of
Arts, with a packed line up of some of the sickest improvising talent
in the country, and a few from out of it. There will be gigs at
Kings Cave in Linden (one at dawn), late night events at AKEMI, some
historic films, unscheduled jammimg into the wee hours and sonic kite
flying in a park.

The festival program will be launched at a free concert on November
24th, featuring three performances.

Anthea Caddy (cello) / Thembi Soddell (electronics), whose CD ILAND
is one of the classics of exploratory music from Australia - two
young Melbourne women redefining what it means to play with
instruments and recorded sound.

Jack Dibben / Finn Ryan / Abel Cross / Aemon Webb ? four of the
best looking sonic explorers in Sydney form a boy band from hell.

+ Lloyd Swanton: a rare solo performance by Sydney's master double
bassist. His work with The Necks has for years been a sensuous anchor
- come and hear him up close and alone.

Discounted festival passes will be available on the night, and the
program - featuring extraordinary international and Australian
musicians, new collaborations, rare films about experimental music
from Sydney.

3. Saturday 29/11/08: Pivot and My Disco at The Gaelic Club. Cost: $15.



4. Friday 28/11/08: Woev and Lloyd & Michael at Serial Space. Cost: $8/10





5. Sunday 30/11/08: Mike Nock at Bohemian Grove. Cost: $10

Fantômas Coming to Australia

According to Trevor Dunn's MySpace page, Fantômas will be playing a slab of dates in Australia as follows:

Jan 16 2009 8:00P	Big Day Out Festival	Aukland, NZ
Jan 18 2009 8:00P	Big Day Out Festival	Gold Coast, Aus
Jan 21 2009 8:00P	The Tivoli (supporting Serj Tankien)	Brisbane, Aus
Jan 23 2009 8:00P	Big Day Out Festival	Sydney, Aus
Jan 24 2009 8:00P	Enmore Theatre (supporting Serj Tankien)	Sydney, Aus
Jan 25 2009 8:00P	Palace Theatre (supporting Serj Tankien)	Melbourne, Aus
Jan 26 2009 8:00P	Big Day Out Festival	Melbourne, Aus
Jan 30 2009 8:00P	Big Day Out Festival	Adelaide, Aus
Feb 1 2009 8:00P	Big Day Out Festival	Perth, Aus

Fantômas are slated to perform their record The Directors' Cut on these dates.

Adrian Belew Power Trio Tour

Adrian Belew will be touring Australia soon for what's dubbed as his Power Trio Tour. Belew, having played with King Crimson, Frank Zappa, David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails, is an exceptional guitarist and this a tour you won't want to miss.

Here are the dates/venues he's playing:

03 Dec 08	The Corner Hotel	Melbourne, Australia
04 Dec 08	The Basement	Sydney, Australia
05 Dec 08	Adelaide Intl. Guitar Fest	Adelaide, South Australia
06 Dec 08	Adelaide Intl. Guitar Fest	Adelaide, South Australia
07 Dec 08	Adelaide Intl. Guitar Fest	Adelaide, South Australia
08 Dec 08	Vanguard	Newtown, NSW
09 Dec 08	Vanguard	Newtown, NSW
10 Dec 08	Brass Monkey	Cronulla, New South Wales
11 Dec 08	Heritage Hotel	Bulli, New South Wales

And here are some clips to whet your appetite:

King Crimson solo



Recording parts for Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I-IV



Adrian Belew With Frank Zappa (pre-King Crimson)



Adrian Belew with Bowie performing "Changes" off Hunky Dory

Mogwai and Cult of Luna Announce Australian Tours

Post-Rock daddies Mogwai and the crushing Sweedish Post-Metal band Cult of Luna have both announced (separate) tour dates for next year. They are as follows:

Mogwai:



3 Mar The Tivoli QLD
4 Mar Enmore Theatre NSW
5 Mar The Forum VIC

Cult of Luna:



12 Feb The Tivoli QLD
14 Feb Manning Bar - Sydney University NSW
15 Feb The Hi-Fi VIC
17 Feb HQ SA
18 Feb Club Capitol WA

New Boris Record: Smile Live

Boris are releasing a live version (recorded at Wolf Creek) of their wonderful new record Smile through Daymare Recordings on the 21st of November. You can also pick up the record through Diwphalnx and Inoxia (overseas orders).

Earth "The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull" Now Avaialble on Vinyl

Earth's terrific new record The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull has been given a super-deluxe vinyl treatment by Southern Lord Records. More info and pictures below:

The excruciating wait is over! It is with honor that we are able to offer the deluxe double vinyl version of the latest recording from Earth: "the Bees Made Honey In The Lions Skull". Featuring the exclusive vinyl only bonus track: "Junkyard Priest" (featuring Milky Burgess on slide!).

The audio was specifically mastered for vinyl and the LP lacquers were cut by Bob Weston (Shellac). Complimenting the audio is the supreme packaging presentation.

These 180 gram gold vinyl lps come housed in a over the top bible-esque triple gatefold jacket. Outside is faux leatherette with gold embossing. Think CSNY "Deja Vu" lp meets the Holy Bible!. Inside is the amazing artwork and photography from Arik Roper.

We feel that this may be the best packaging we have ever done, definitely a site to behold! Of course the pictures dont quite do it justice and you need to see and feel this in person to get the proper effect.

Pressing is 4980 total. (3k black, 1k clear (for European Distribution only), 980 Gold (mailorder ). Once these are gone we will not repress this version again. We think this was well worth the wait, we hope you do to!

Pictures:

Issue 17 of Rock-A-Rolla Now Out

Rock-A-Rolla's 17th issue is out now and features Grails, Bohren & Der Club of Gore, M.G.R. Akimbo, Zach Hill, Hair Polic, Deerhoof, Porn, Moha!, Helms Alee, Ten East, Aaron Dilloway, Southern Records, release and live reviews.

Subscribe now: Click here

Buy issue 17: Click here

Mastodon Boxset

If you can afford it, a Mastodon boxset has just been released through Relapse Records. More info below:

9 LP limited edition super deluxe box-set featuring Mastodon’s entire recorded output from the Lifesblood ep all the way through to Blood Mountain. This heavy duty box-set contains ‘Lifesblood’, ‘Remission’, ‘Leviathan’, ‘Call Of The Mastodon’, the final copies of ‘Blood Mountain’ ever to be pressed on vinyl and for the first time ever on any format-Mastodon’s blazing live set from the Relapse Contamination Festival in 2003. Also featured are 3 killer covers-their legendary version of Thin Lizzy’s ‘Emerald’, as well as 2 covers of both Melvins and Metallica, which have never before been on vinyl. Each lp is pressed on heavy-weight 180 gram vinyl for maximum stereo destroying sound! And to protect your record players from the crushing heaviness of over 5+ hours of Mastodon, each box set comes with a special Mastodon turntable slip-mat. Also included is a deluxe vinyl sticker pack. This box set is strictly limited to 1100 copies and will absolutely be the cornerstone of any record collection. Quite literally the heaviest box-set EVER!

[via Relapse Records]

Links:

Mastodon - Boxset [U.S. Only]
Mastodon - Boxset [Canada Only]
Mastodon - Boxset [Mexico Only]
Mastodon - Boxset [International Only]

Captain Cleanoff This Saturday at Maggotsville

1990s Australian grindcore outfit Captain Cleanoff will be playing Maggotsville (Sydney) this Saturday at 8:00 PM as well as quite a few other venues/cities around Australia.

Sydney Festival 2009 Announced!

The events listing for Sydney Festival 2009 (January 10-31) was announced last night. The festival, which has brought out high-profile acts in the past such as Lou Reed performing his Berlin record in 2006 and Brian Wilson performing Pet Sounds in 2007, boasts an impressive selection of events designed to make your mouth water. In addition to music, the festival also highlights dance and theatre productions, and have been responsible for the world-premiere of a theatre adaptation of Samuel Beckett's short-story/novella First Love in 2007.

Some of the highlights of the festival are as follows:



This year, Sydney Festival brings out Grace Jones, who will be performing a series of shows at Enmore Theatre tagged as her Hurricane Tour. The dates for these performances are the 11th, 13th and 14th of January.






Over at Cockatoo Island, the first ever Australian All Tomorrow's Parties (curated by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) will take place on the 17th and 18th of January, featuring a too-good-to-be-true lineup.

Tickets for all of the events at Sydney Festival go on sale on the 10th of November. For those of you (including me) who cant afford breaking the bank for a lot of these shows, don't fret. Sydney Festival have always presented series of free events, some of which are surprisingly good. Of particular interest is the festival's opening night on the 10th of January, which is an all day event featuring everything from dance productions to Grace Jones and Santogold.

For the full list of events, visit the official Sydney Festival website.

Column: Show No Mercy

Pitchfork Media have a new column by Brandon Stusoy called "Show No Mercy". If you remember, Stusoy wrote the excellent article "Blaze in the North American Sky" on the historical and musical development of black metal, which was posted to Rollaroll just last month.

This month, Stusoy interviews quite a few people, including Brian Williams of Lustmord. As always, Stusoy is excellently perceptive and well-informed, so it's definitely worthwhile to check it out.

Spartak Interview with Shoeb Ahmad

I recently caught up with Shoeb Ahmad of Canberra-based band Spartak to discuss, amongst other things, their incredible new album, Tales from Colony Room, touring and collaboration. Read the interview below:

SPARTAK INTERVIEW with Shoeb Ahmad

Would you like to give readers of Rollaroll some background into how you came about performing as a musician and became involved in Spartak?

Basically, I decided one day in primary school I wanted to play guitar and be in a band and music then ruined my potential sporting career…met Evan Dorrian in year 7 and we've been making music together ever since. Been working on solo recordings for the best part of this decade so far and still continue to on such wicked labels like Sound&Fury, Low Point and Cook An Egg. So a couple of years ago, best mate Evan and I decided that it'd be a great idea to make music that sounded busted, messy and retarded so that's how Spartak came together. Further ideas like no songs, no pre-planning and use whatever sounds good came to fruition as well and here we are today, at home after surviving a most recent tour of this barren land and two countries on the humidity threshold while storming hellosQuare place with fractal noise and treble blast.

Your new record, Tales from Colony Room, has just been released through HellosQuare recordings. Would you like to take me through the recording and studio process for it?

We came back from a short tour of Malaysia and Singapore, where we played with hardcore and noise bands and basically decided that was the time to record an album, capture us after an intense period of touring basically. So we had a couple of weeks off from each other during Christmas and then spent two days at hellosQuare house playing and recording live, just banging out the pieces according to certain ideas and narratives we had in our minds. The record is more mellow then we both expected but we were really drawn to the fragility and the ambience of say 'The Bloodletting' alongside the noisier, more taut pieces like 'Sunstrokes' and honestly, we wouldn't want it any other way.

I find it quite an impressive record, but how have other people been responding to it?

Cheers for yr kind words! The response has been generously good so far, obviously it's not as representative of our live digs as it could be and people have mentioned that but I think once they understand that we see both mediums (performance vs recording) as separate ideas and play accordingly, they definitely appreciate the record even more then they might have before. That said, we've always been ready for people not to really dig on it so we are finding ourselves lucky to be in a situation where people are genuinely excited by what we are doing and for that we’re seriously grateful.

Are you and your band-mates pleased with the record yourselves?

Yeah, I think for what it is, we are proud of it and while we know the next one will sound even better through the changes we’ve gone through and the circumstances we want to set it up in, we're definitely not ashamed of ‘Tales…’ at all.

I think I remember you mentioning that you were happy with the artwork for the new record. Who conceived and produced the artwork and designed the layout?

hellosQuare's good friend Traianos Pakioufakis was kind enough to put together the photo cards and design which is great because I've always dug what he's done with his label Meupe and he's a great photographer to boot! He basically designed the whole package to go with the cases that I picked out from Portland, Oregon's best organic printers Stumptown and I think it's worked out really well.



Performing live, you seem to create a wide range of sounds through what appears to be quite a simple set-up. What kind of equipment and performing techniques do you use in order to achieve your unique sound?

It's quite hard to say if there is are any techniques involved with the performance itself. We've got the guitar and drum kit that we work from but we compliment these melodic and textural sources with computers and junk along with whatever else takes our fancy. It's just so Do It Yourself and we just want to be making interesting and exciting sounds so really, even if we're just using two laptops, guitar + percussion or if we’re a no-input mixing board and bowed cymbal duo for the night, we just set up a narrative with the initial movements of a set and take it from there.

I saw you perform with Spartak collaborating with 3ofmillions at Bohemian Grove, which worked really well. Any plans to collaborate further with them, either in a live setting or in recording?

Who knows homie? It'd be awesome to play with them again and we've done so much stuff together between all of us anyways but being in different cities does make it a little difficult so yeah, who knows. We do a lot of collaborating with other people in general though, both during jams and live like the Bohemian Grove dig and at the Canberra album launch, where we had a saxophone, trumpet and trombone do the second half of our set with us. It's just fun to get thrown into the deep end with a different element that helps dictate the way we move.

What's next for Spartak?

A nice long break! We have plans to record another album really soon and we've got a couple of tentative ideas in regards to how to do it and what we want to look into sound wise. For now though, just constant jamming and watching cricket to no end!

And lastly, what are some new records you're currently enjoying?

Ah my young friend, I've been listening to heaps of records lately, many of which were bought while Spartak traversed the country so here's a list of current faves:

COOL SCHOOL

Ohana - Dead Beat
Embers – Slag-Welter
The Twilight Sad - Here, It Never Snowed, Afterwards It Did
Tape - Luminarium
Mark Stewart - Edit
The Bug - London Zoo
Robbie Avenaim - Rhythmic Movement Disorder

GOLDEN OLDIES

.snd - Tender Love
Saint Etienne - Finisterre/The Sound Of Water
Low - Drums And Guns
The Necks - drive-by/Chemist
Town And Country - Up Above
The Go-Betweens - Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!



Some of the treats Rollaroll have in store for you over the next couple of weeks include a new interview with Shoeb Ahmad of Spartak, and some new articles/posts by a friend of mine, Alex Robinson (AKA Captain), who has recently come on board Rollaroll and who is well versed in jazz and classical music. Stay tuned.

New Releases on Important Records

Important Records' monthly newsletter, with updates on new releases:

Greetings!
Our fall release schedule is now in full swing with brand new records from Slomo, Nadja, Aidan Baker, Tecumseh and the debut solo record from Grails songwriter & multi-instrumentalist Zak Riles. Riles' debut is as essential piece of the Grails equation as often Riles songs are the origins of Grails material. He writes them his way and then once they're part of the Grails cannon they take on a different form. Riles' versions of these songs have the same intensity but delivered in a slower and more subtle way. For fans of Grails/Blackshaw/Fahey/Popol Vuh etc.

As you likely already know Ocean's "Here Where Nothing Grows" has outsold everyting on Important and received major international acclaim. Well, after 3 years of work their follow up is ready and will be released in early November with the LP version and bonus track ready sometime in December. It's appropriately titled "Pantheon Of The Lesser" and everything you could possibly wish to know about it can be found here:

http://importantrecords.com/ocean_lesser/

Also, Risil is delayed for a couple of months. The good news is that the record will be even better and will be available on both CD/LP. Risil is a caravan headed through the audio desert and under the canopy can be found Guillermo Herren (Prefuse 73/Savath & Savallas), Zach Hill (Hella), Tyondai Braxton (Battles), John McEntire (Tortoise), Alejandra Deheza (School Of Seven Bells), Eva Puyuelo Muns (Savath & Savalas). Get ready!

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We're still offering the Fall 2008 Back To School sale which gives you the opportunity to grab some key Important titles for as low as $5 each.

Chose from a list of almost 80 sale priced Important Records releases:
15 cds: $100
30 cds: $200
55 cds: $300
all 78: $400

Everything can be found here:
http://importantrecords.com/sale.html

*******************************

And don't forget to treat yourself to a Rega P1. Your ears and your record collection will thank you for it.

http://importantrecords.com/rega/rega.htm


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NEW RELEASES:

ZAK RILES "self titled" CD $12
Zak Riles is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in the Important band Grails. His creative contributions to the group are immeasurable and can be heard clearly on this self titled debut solo outing. In fact some of the pieces on this solo record have been reinterpreted into Grails favorites......

TECUMSEH "Avalanche & Inundation" CD $10/LP $12
Heavy drone/heavy meditation. Be inside the sounds.
Formed in 2004, Tecumseh creates drone metal of the heaviest variety although with more forward movement than some of their peers and with the addition of cold electronic hiss.

SLOMO "THe Bog" CD $12
Holy McGrail: Moog Taurus II, Sunn Mustang, Clatter
Howard Marsden: Korg MS10 & Korg MS20, Hiss
Julian Cope: Poem
The Bog is the 2nd full-length release from Slomo, honing down the ritual clatter of their first album, The Creep (2005), into a more cumbersome and laden affair, ever heading downwards into the Northern Underworld upon slurries of unsignposted mung....

AIDAN BAKER "I Too Wish To Be Absorbed" 2xCD $12
Aidan Baker's I Wish Too, To Be Absorbed is a 2 disc compilation of tracks from various out-of-print, limited edition releases spanning the last 10 years of Baker's output, ranging from his very first release to material that was featured on the soundtrack to a book of his poetry.....

AIDAN BAKER/LEAH BUCKAREFF/NADJA "Trinitarian" LP $14
100 white/100 blue. One per customer.Trinitarian represents an attempt to break down the essence of Nadja by offering a solo track from each of its two members plus one Nadja composition; two stripped down ambient pieces featuring single instruments (guitar and bass, respectively) to a full Nadja composition......

SKULL DEFEKTS "Waving" 7" $10
Last copies of this extremely limited edition of 300 tour 7" available only at shows and direct from Important

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New Apparel:

SKULL DEFEKTS SHIRTS $10
- two different prints in two different colors
CONIFER $10
- Crown Fire shirts designed by Conifer member Zak Howard
HOTOTOGISU $10
- tour shirt printed on American Apparel
IMPORTANT RECORDS tote bag $10
- a tote bag + an Important logo = an Important Records tote bag. Fits records, books and groceries.
MERZBOW Dolphin Sonar $10
- available in two colors
JULIETTE ALARM CLOCK MOBILE $5
- new Important design inspired by a junk shop Juliette brand alarm clock.
DOUBLED UP 2008 $5
- update of the ever popular and ever so out of stock Doubled Up shirt design.


JULY/AUG NEW RELEASES:

KAWABATA MAKOTO & MICHISHIT SHINSUKE "Basement Echo" CD $11
MERZBOW "Dolphin Sonar" CD $11
TOM CARTER "Shots At Infinity 1" CD $11
TOM CARTER "Shots At Infinity 2" LP $14
ASTRO/HIROSHI HASEGAWA "Live At Muryoku Muzen Temple" LP $14
ASTRO/HIROSHI HASEGAWA "The Echo From The Purple Dawn" CD $11
BASS COMMUNION "Molotov & Haze" CD $12

REPRESSED:

GRAILS "Take Refuge In Clean Living" LP $15
- The first 100 orders will receive amber colored vinyl. When those are gone we'll start shipping
black copies
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS self titeld LP $12
- Third pressing. This time around the first 100 copies shipped are on white vinyl.
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE GURU GURU "Psychedelic Navigator" CD $10
- This sold out immediately and is finally available again
JULIA KENT "Delay" CD $10
- Another immediate sellout finally available again.

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PLACING AN ORDER:

If you'd like to add anything from ImportantRecords.com please click the ORDER
link on our site and fill out a complete order form including items from
this email as well as the new items from the website. Or you can put it all
in an email to me and I'll get back to you quickly with a total.
Your order will not be held until it is paid for.


SHIPPING IN USA:
CD/7": $3 for the first and $1 each additional
SHIRT: $3 for the first and $1 each additional cd/lp or shirt
LP: $4 for the first and $1 each additional cd/lp or t-shirt


SHIPPING TO CANADA:
CD/7": $4 for the first and $1 each additional
SHIRT: $6 for the first and $2 each additional cd/lp or shirt
LP: $6 for the first and $2 each additional cd/lp or t-shirt


SHIPPING OVERSEAS:
CD/7": $5 for the first and $1 each additional
SHIRT: $10 for the first and $2 each additional CD, and $2 for each additional shirt
LP: $12 for the first and $2 each additional cd and $2 each additional LP or shirt


CALCULATING POSTAGE:
Items above are listed in order by weight. CD/7" are the least heavy, followed by shirts and then LPs which are the heaviest. Select your heaviest item and then add in the prices for all additional items.
For instance, if you live overseas and you are buying two LPs and a CD you would calculate $12 for the first LP, $2 more for the 2nd LP and then $1 more for the CD. That would make your shipping total $15. If you are in the USA and you make the same purchase you would calculate $3 for the LP, $1 more for the 2nd LP and then $1 more for the CD making your total $5 for media rate shipping.
If you don't feel comfortable making this calculation please email me your complete order and address and I'll quickly respond with a total. imprec@importantrecords.com

Paypal ID is: imprec@importantrecords.com

or you can send payment to:

Important Records
Box 1281
Newburyport, MA
01950
USA

Very Best,
John & Important Records

John Scofield: Tonight at the Sydney Opera House

John Scofield will be performing tonight at the Sydney Opera House. If you can make it, make sure you don't miss it as it sounds like it's going to be a terrific night. Unfortunately, I'm tied up with other commitments, so I won't be able to make it. Here are the full details:

Joe Lovano ‘One of the greatest musicians in jazz history’ New York Times

John Scofield ‘Arguably the most influential jazz guitarist.’ International Herald Tribune

Sydney Opera House is proud to present two of the most dynamic players in contemporary jazz, Joe Lovano and John Scofield, sharing top bill with their quartet for one night only.

When this Grammy Award-winning tenor saxophonist and master guitarist come together they make one of the most exciting jazz collaborations of our time. Close friendship shines through formidable musicianship in a technically brilliant performance beaming intensity, skill and fun.

The highly anticipated merger of Joe Lovano and John Scofield reunites the stellar duo that led one of the most popular jazz groups of the early 90’s and the powerhouse group ScoLoHoFo. Teaming up once again, these stellar musicians will play repertoire from their Blue Note classics ‘What We Do’ and ‘Meant to Be’ as well as new compositions.

Grammy Award winner and perennial poll winner, Joe Lovano is one of today’s most formidable and stylistically eclectic tenor saxophonists. Lovano’s playing possesses in abundance the sense of spontaneity that characterises the music's finest improvisers.

Hailed by Down Beat magazine as “King John,” John Scofield is a true legend of jazz guitar, collaborating with the Miles Davis band, Herbie Hancock, Bill Charles Mingus and Pat Metheny. Armed with his trusty Ibanez, he continually explores the outer edges of contemporary jazz.

Don’t miss these masterful jazz improvisers, joined by Matt Penman (bass) and Matt Wilson (drums) for one night only!

Duration:
Low Fidelity: 8pm - 8:30pm
Interval: 8:30pm - 8:50pm
Joe Lovano and John Scofield Quartet: 8:50pm - 10:20pm

You can book tickets at this location.

Keep on 'Rockin!

Over at The Chauvel Cinema, in Paddington (Sydney) as part of the cinematheque program, there will be a special screening of D.A. Pennebakers' 1969 Keep on 'Rockin!, which is being screened with Cosmic Ray on the 15th and the 17th of November. More info follows:

SAT. 15/11 & 17/11 KEEP ON ROCKIN!

Cosmic Ray USA/1961/B&W/4mins/16mm/NFVLS Dir: Bruce Conner. A rapid montage of images cut to the music of Ray Charles.

Keep on Rockin! USA/1972/Colour/94mins/16mm/NFVLS Dir: D.A. Pennebaker. Filmed at the 1969 Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, this concert film features four legends of rock ‘n’ roll: Bo Didley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. The compere is Kim Fowley. Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix also feature.

Make sure that you check out the rest of the program, as there are quite a few highlights this season, including a guest appearance by Albie Thoms.

Dai Pritchard - The Guitar Session

Rose Tattoo’s powerhouse guitarist Dai Pritchard will present a blistering one hour guitar session for those who want to learn how to really rock.

Allans Music Pitt Street Sydney
28 October @ 1pm - (02) 9283 7711
To Register click here

Allans Music Bourke Street Melbourne
7 November @ 2pm - (03) 9654 8444
To Register click here

Allans Music Adelaide
28 November @ 1pm - (08) 8223 5533
To Register click here

Allans Music Brisbane
12 December @ 6pm - (07) 3229 2155
To Register click here

This sounds pretty cool. It's free, so make sure that you can catch it if you're in the area.

Tango Saloon Play Secret Halloween Show

The Tango Saloon are playing a secret Halloween show this Friday, the 31st of November at a secret venue in the inner-west of Sydney. The only way you can find out more details is by emailing thetangosaloon@hotmail.com. Make sure you do, because it sounds rad.

Antony Milton

For our second series of interviews with musicians for Rollaroll, I spoke with New Zealand's Antony Milton, who recently performed a series of shows in Australia, including a show at Newcastle's This Is Not Art festival. Read the interview below:

For readers of Rollaroll who aren't aware of what you do, would you like to give a brief overview/description of your work?

I started out as a kid who was obsessed with tape recorders- recording weird noises. I particularly liked radio static (because it sounded like rivers and I was equally obsessed with wilderness and nature). Later on I got into writing (stories/poems), and when I was about 15 or 16 my Dad taught me to play the guitar. Inevitably enough this lead to me writing songs. But right from day one of learning my first guitar chord I was recording everything I did. It wasn't long before I was mixing weird noises with my songs and I spent much of my 20s (the 1990s) making hybrid song/noise albums that I released on my cassette label Wire Bridge (The 'Sirens' CD on Last Visible Dog is a collection of some of the best of this stuff). It was also during this period that I discovered that I wasn't the only person in the world who was doing this stuff. NZ labels like Metonymic and Xpressway became big influences. Around 2000 I had something of a 'post structuralist' crisis. I lost faith in 'the word'. Haha. This lead to me focussing far more on instrumental and drone and noise based works than previously. Basically I no longer felt comfortable employing words in my art.. It was also around this time that I started playing live on a regular basis. I had been very shy and insecure about putting myself 'out there' previous to this. It was strange really, one day I simply woke up and that insecurity was gone and it never came back. (Recently I've started writing the odd song again (albeit with as spare a use of words as possible..)). Anyway since 2000 I have been doing music semi-professionally. Touring, doing sound installations, making records and running my new label (PseudoArcana). I have several different on-going solo projects, as well as many collaborative ones. The common threads linking these projects- for me-are an interest in ecstatic states and musics; a reverence for 'place' (trying to draw out or represent the feeling of being in a specific environment); a fascination with textures (I like the rough rumble of tape); and the aspiration to play hands-on instruments in a sort of calligraphic gestural manner..

I saw you twice recently; once with Campbell Kneale for Birchville Cat Motel at This Is Not Art Festival in Newcastle, and once at Serial Space in Sydney performing a live set of your solo material. Both were exceptional performances. How different do you find it to collaborate with another musician than it is to perform your own music?

Thanks! I think in Campbells interview for you he might have pointed out that the Newcastle show was actually meant to be billed as With Throats As Fine As Needles? That's our ongoing duo where in we basically set up a single one note drone and sing over the top. For records we traipse out to bunkers and caves etc with battery operated gear and make use of the natural reverberant acoustics of those spaces. When playing live we make our own caves and bunkers from electronics! In answer to your question I find playing with other people a lot more 'fun'. Playing layered electric music solo can sometimes be a bit like juggling - trying to keep all the balls in the air without the dynamic crashing to the floor.. In a duo it is at least twice as easy to keep the dynamic up where you want it. Playing solo is a lot more intense. That's not necessarily a bad thing of course. I get a great deal of satisfaction from the intimacy of solo performance. When playing with others the energy interchange is primarily with the person/people you are playing with. When playing solo it is necessarily between yourself and the audience.

On both occasions, but particularly at Serial Space, you seem to have quite an intricate set-up. Would you like to talk about what equipment and instruments you use during your performances?

My set up for doing sets like that live has evolved so gradually over the years that it still seems fairly rudimentary to me... But yes, there are a lot of gadgets employed. My father-in-law actually came along to one of the shows on the tour. Hes 79 and I'm not sure that he actually listens to ANY music for pleasure. Ha. I had something of an insight into how bewildering my set up must look to others when I was trying to explain to him what all the different bits did. The Serial Space show was mainly guitar and effects. Wah, reverbs etc. Having a hands on expressive instrument is really important for me when I play. I used vary-speed cassette walkmans to play tapes of field recordings. I layered rubbed and e-bowed guitar strings using a loop pedal. (This looping pedal also has 'beats' on it. Over the years I have had some disasters in shows when I would accidentally turn the beats on. Recently though I have decided to embrace them.) I had an sk1 sampling keyboard that I was using to drop in synth like pulses of sound, and for further drones. I had a contact mic'd caster wheel that I was running through a distortion pedal. This caster wheel is the new addition to the set up. I'm not sure that I've got it working right yet.. The idea is that I will spin it and it will make this huge grrrrggghhhrrrrrrrr sound- kind of like as a noise interjection. But despite it working really well at home it didn't really do its thing at any of the shows. So instead of using it for that I discovered that I can fit it in my mouth and sing through it. Haha. (I find that singing- or howling perhaps..- is actually one of the best ways of getting 'into the zone' when one plays.) Everything runs through a small cheap 12 channel mixer that also has cheesy built in effects that I can play about with.

And what about what equipment and instruments you use to record with? Is it different from what you use to perform live with or is it pretty similar?

Different projects have radically different set ups... Mostly when recording I play only one instrument at a time and build up layers through careful crafting. My live shows are far more chaotic than my records. They are truly improvised and tend to range across different feelings and modes of playing. As a result I actually release a lot of live things because that is like a recording project in its own right. In my recordings I'm kind of on two diverging paths at the current moment. On the one side I've been trying to make the loudest heaviest and most intense psychedelic guitar noise records that I can. Layers and layers of feedback and guitar riffs with pseudo-techno beats.. So its almost like 'pop' noise or something. That's really fun. On the other hand I've also been doing a series of records where I go camping somewhere for a week or so and try to make a record about the place where I am. For example I recently spent a week in a small village at Arthurs Pass in the mountains of the South Island where I made a banjo record. (Admittedly it only sounds like banjo some of the time..) Anyway these records tend to be a lot more nuanced and subtle and more aligned with say haiku than spectacular bombast.

How did you find the shows in Australia, were they enjoyable?

I think this last tour in Australia was maybe the best tour yet. It was really very fun. I found myself laughing a lot and I was happy with the shows and got to see some killer performances from other folk as well.

What do you have planned for the future?

Well.... Theres some big changes happening actually. My girlfriend and I are flying off to Sth America in March where we are planning on travelling together for one year. I'm taking some basic recording gear and have been talking about a few possible shows in Argentina but ostensibly 2009 is a year off music. Certainly off the label at any rate. So before then I am busy trying to finish off the various records I'm working on and packing up my NZ life. I'm already excited though about getting back into playing and touring in 2010. I also have ideas for some big installation projects that I would like to work on.

The following short clip is from a solo show of Antony's at Sydney's Serial Space. The night also featured Inappropriate Tough Guy Behaviour, Seaworthy, Brassskulls and Birchville Cat Motel:

Links: Antony Milton, PseudoArcana, Our Love Will Destroy the World, Sound&Fury, CPSIP

Related articles: Interview with Campbell Kneale of Birchville Cat Motel