Chun-liang Liu’s new album I Thought It Was Colourful, But They Said It Was BLACK is out on November 17, available to pre-order on limited edition cassette and digital
Author: shamefilemusic
Undecisive God/Clinton Green “Archive” series digital release
The Archive series comprises ten volumes, issued on CDR from 2002-2013. The series collects out-of-print, rare and previously-unreleased material from Clinton Green’s Undecisive God project, beginning with nascent recordings made from 1991 through to 2007.
Primarily a private archival project, it has only been issued via on-demand CDRs. The CDR format will now be discontinued as the series moves to Bandcamp over coming months. The first two editions are now available on that platform, along with original liner notes:
Archive 1: 1991-4 (sham017) includes the debut cassette The Difference Between Light and Shadow in its entirety, plus some previously unreleased material and compilation tracks.
Archive 2: 1994-5 (sham019) features Undecisive God’s second release The Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge, plus 3 other compilation tracks and an early version unreleased of “Hallowed Be Thy Name”.
Preview tracks are available for free streaming (these are what I rate as the most-listenable tracks, the rest are really only for completists and the curious).
NEW RELEASE (sham123) Chun-liang Liu “I Thought It Was Colourful, But They Said It Was BLACK” cassette/digital – pre-orders and preview tracks now available
Taiwanese performing & sound artist, Chun-liang-Liu’s, follow-up her 2016 debut Friction album is a further development of her intimate vocal and sound works into more complex and layered sonic experiences. I Thought It Was Colourful, But They Said It Was BLACK was mostly recorded in Liu’s home, often in bed late at night, with multiple vocalisations added to create a polyphonic effect akin to a choir of interior voices or inner dialogue. Such an approach could easily be overwhelming for listeners, yet Liu crafts her work with a deft touch that offers a unique sonic, musical, and emotional experience.
Preview tracks and pre-orders here – shipping mid-November 2022.
Read Liu’s reflection on the album here.
Limited edition of 100 pro-produced cassettes with full colour covers.
OUT NOW (sham122) Ad Hoc “Distance” cassette/digital
The limited edition reissue of Ad Hoc’s 1980 “Distance” cassette is out today on Shame File Music and Albert’s Basement.
Ad Hoc (James Clayden, Chris Knowles & David Wadelton, and at times David Brown) were an obscure Melbourne outfit of the late 1970s/early 80s who stood curiously apart of from many of their more-storied contemporaries, but whose haunting ambient instrumentals sound remarkably contemporary four decades later.
“Distance”, their sole release besides some compilation tracks, has been sourced from the original 4 channel master reel tape, and is now available digitally and on a limited edition of 100 replica pro-produced cassettes with risograph cover. Read more about Ad Hoc here.
(25 Aug 2022) Steady State: an evening of spectral harmonies with Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver, Tim Catlin & Rod Cooper
Clinton Green (bowed metal bowls) and Barnaby Oliver (struck and bowed strings)
Spring (Tim Catlin and Rod Cooper)
Thursday 25 August 2022 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Tempo Rubato
34 Breese St, Brunswick
Barnaby Oliver and Clinton Green use aluminium bowls and strings to create a combination of shifting resonances, coalescing into other-worldly music that at first appears static, yet constantly shifts and re-grounds itself.
Spring features Tim Catlin and Rod Cooper playing their own newly-invented instruments – Vibrissa and Steel Keys.
Clinton Green & Barnaby Oliver’s latest album “The Interstices Of These Epidemics” available here
Deep Dive #30 – Various Artists “Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930-1973” CD/digital
The idea for this compilation grew slowly in the early 2000s as I sought out recordings of pre-mid-1970s music out of my own curiosity. These recordings proved hard to find, sometimes barely a rumour of their existence was all I had. Some clues led to dead ends or lost tapes, others to amazing discoveries. Slowly, a hidden history of Australian experimental music was revealing itself, and the results were like nothing I had heard before.
“Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930-1973” was released in 2007, and featured never-before released recordings of Percy Grainger’s Free Music Machines, Barry Humphries’ 1950s Dada band, graphic notation jazz chamber ensemble compositions by Robert Rooney, chance-based compositions of Syd Clayton, and the dizzying revelation of outsider electronic music pioneers like Val Stephen and the 1930s proto-musique concrete composer, Jack Ellitt.
Volume 2 followed a few years later, continuing the story from the years 1974-1983, covering experimental composition, the fringes of early post-punk, and early industrial and dark wave.
Australia has an apparent tendency to forget it’s history; these documents seek to remedy that.
Use the code ARTEFACTS for 10% off all the Artefacts series (expires 17 Aug 2022).
As always, free postage for orders within Australia over $100.
Deep Dive #29 – Will Guthrie “Sticks, Stones & Breaking Bones” LP/CD
Expat percussion/drum master now resident in France, Will Guthrie has spent decades developing an approach to drums and percussion that is equal parts subtle and powerhouse. He has released a varied range of albums, either in solo form or unique collaborations, and each seems to offer new insight into his rhythmic worlds. From his recent work with Ensemble Nist-Nah (the contemporary gamelan ensemble he leads), to far left field efforts with polar extremes like Jean-Luc Giuonnet to Rudolf Eb.Er, Shame File Music endevours to stock as many of these often-limited editions as possible.
For sheer physical impact, it is hard to go past Guthrie’s 2012 masterwork “Sticks, Stones & Breaking Bones”, a tour de force in rhythm. Side 2 is what drum solos were meant to sound like. “Sticks, Stones…” is available on CD, as well as the 3rd edition of the LP; only one copy of the vinyl left. If you don’t have this album, how serious are you really about the phenomenon of sticks hitting skins?
Use the code GUTHRIE for 10% off all Guthrie-related releases (expires 16 August 2022).
As always, free postage for orders within Australia over $100.
NEW RELEASE (sham122) Ad Hoc “Distance” cassette/digital – pre-orders and preview tracks now available
Shame File Music and Albert’s Basement present a reissue of Ad Hoc’s 1980 release Distance. Ad Hoc (James Clayden, Chris Knowles & David Wadelton, and at times David Brown) were an obscure Melbourne outfit of the late 1970s/early 80s, who stood curiously apart of from many of their more-storied contemporaries, but whose haunting ambient instrumentals sound remarkably contemporary four decades later.
Read more about Distance and Ad Hoc here
Distance, their sole release besides some compilation tracks, has been sourced from the original 4 channel master reel tape, and is now available digitally and on limited edition of 100 replica pro-produced cassettes with risograph cover – shipping early September 2022.
OUT NOW (sham121) Astasie-abasie “Elliptical Gamelan” LP
Astasie-abasie‘s “Elliptical Gamelan” is out now on a limited edition of 150 vinyl LPs, with full colour reverse board cover and download code, also available digitally.
Ian Andrews, a consistent presence of original sound in Australia since the early 1980s, posts another missive from the micro-sound-world-made-big he introduced us to with last year’s “Molecular Gamelan” album (sham115). “Elliptical Gamelan” continues Andrews’ experiments in the magnification of the insignificant sounds of small metal objects such as washers, returning us to a world that conjures images of late-night rituals and funereal rites. The music is beautifully meditative and compositionally fascinating.
Deep Dive #27 – Club Sound Witches “#freakinmeout” CD/digital
Club Sound Witches are Matt Earle and Nicola Morten. From their country NSW hideaway on the Hunter, they emit strange sounds that can alternatively be construed as dance music, electronic signal errors, or a combination of both. Their discography is lengthy and difficult to follow, usually limited edition releases, often untitled, and quickly out-of-print.
Shame File Music has released two CSW titles, both focussed on their unmistakable live sounds. The “#freakinmeout” CD (2020) consists of a live recording of duo’s transcendent 2019 live set at Melbourne’s Make It Up Club, backed with a lengthy studio track in two parts. Nicola’s ghostly vocalisations drift across both tracks, like Circe calling sailors into subterranean caves. CSW also share “Surface Noise Vol. 7” with Newcastle’s The Mermaids, this time with a more uncomfortable live set from 2017 (which overlaps with The Mermaids live performance as well). This limited edition CDR is sold out, but like the rest of the Surface Noise series, it is now available digitally.
Use the code FREAKINMEOUT for 10% off “#freakinmeout” (expires 27 July 2022).
As always, free postage for orders within Australia over $100.