Posted on

Astasie-abasie interview & Melbourne performances

Ian Andrews of Astasie-abasie was recently interviewed about his work by Clinton Green for this special: Plateaus of intensity. In it, Andrews discusses his interest in sound in childhood, early projects, the development of Astasie-abasie, as well as his interests including turntablism, aleatoric art, and phenomenology.

Astasie-abasie will visit Melbourne in early December 2022 for two rare live performances, to celebrate the recent release of his Elliptical Gamelan LP:

  • Sunday 4 December @ Static Open, Footscray (more details and pre-sales to come)
  • Tuesday 6 December @ Make It Up Club, Fitzroy (duo with Clinton Green)
Posted on

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).

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

(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

Tickets

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

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.