Here is some video footage of one of the projects I have been working on recently, titled Body Works. The video goes for approximately 10'. You can download the video file at this location, which is playable on an iPod and other portable devices. This work is available on a DVD titled Adrian Clement: Performance 2008, which also includes Dimensions and Advanced Standing. Strictly limited, it is available for $10, plus postage. Please email me at adrianclement@me.com if you would like one.
And without further ado, here is the video footage for Body Works:
Over the last couple of months, I've been working on a sound project titled Dimensions, which saw its first performance today. I was planning on posting pictures, videos, audio and a few items which will be put up for sale in the newly reformed adrian-clement.com store, but unfortunately, I never managed to take photos, and I completely forgot to turn the video camera on during the performance. Nevertheless, it was a complete success, and it got a very favorable reception. I am in talks for giving a second performance of the project, most likely a public one, so I'll keep you posted on how that eventuates. If it does (and I hope it will), I will be doing it in about four weeks or so. During this time I will be uploading decent photographs, better video footage than I would've been able to acquire today, audio, and everything else that I see fit.
Dimensions is my first proper performance in over a year, and the first one that has gone beyond my classical, jazz and contemporary-classical roots (predominately in piano) in that it explores different use of media and styles such as extreme metal and noise. Over the last three or four years, I've been drenched in experimental and avant-garde composition, and excited by the prospect of performing in a vein that challenges and defies genre, confronts responders, and experiments with different media and sound. I see Dimensions as the first proper step in that direction, one which I feel is in line with my artistic aims as a whole. I expect to work with sound a lot more from this point onwards. Hopefully it will culminate in some recordings and performances. Whatever the outcome is, I hope you that you enjoy what is to come.
For now, I hope the following artwork, which was designed for a series of five tapes and one CD (which are in a similar vein to Mixtape Volume 2) is enough to suffice you:
[Currently listening to a lot of new music, see below:]
Just as a precursor to this post: As you can see, I've been taking some time off from art/photography related things at the moment, during which time I have been planning and preparing larger scaled installations that will incorporate sculpture, photography and sound art.
Regarding my photography, I am also currently working towards purchasing a Canon 5D, which I should have by September. Once I get that, I'll be taking a LOT more photos than I have been, and I can assure you that the content and quality of them will far outstretch most of what I've done in the past (where I've only had very limited access to usually quite poor cameras).
The installation-type work I'm planning and preparing at the moment is also geared towards an exhibition at the end of the year, which I am in the midst of working out. For this I am mainly looking at places like Don't Look Gallery in Dulwich Hill, Black & Blue Gallery in Redfern and at The Chauvel. More information on this will come in the following months.
OK, now on to music. As I said in my previous post, a site that I used to write articles on music called We Are Not Journalists has strangely disappeared, and I've heard no word from Brock Sharp about what happened. Thus, I'll be going back to posting some articles here about music and whatnot (you may have already seen the start to that trend). Over the next few weeks I'm going to go start through quite a few artists and new music (at least relatively new) that I've been listening to lately. This feature will be repeated monthly, each covering reviews of 10 records that also highlights independent record labels and festivals.
1. White Mice - EXcreEAMANTRaINTRaVEINaNUS 2007, Blossoming Noise
The first band that I’ve been listening to lately is White Mice, who are a three piece noise-rock group hailing from the Rhode Island scene that spawned Arab On Radar, Lightning Bolt, Six Finger Satellite, Daughters and Chinese Stars. To date, they’ve release various proper and improper releases on cassette, CDr and full-length releases on CD and vinyl on Load and Blossoming Noise Records. Their latest record, EXcreEAMANTRaINTRaVEINaNUS, is a good example of their work and sound, even though it emits the theatrical element of their live performances, which dabbles in Satanic imagery and features the performers wearing blood-soaked lab-coats and creepy mice masks because “both are cheap and available in Black” (Rock-A-Rolla Issue 14).
To give you an idea of what The White Mice sound like, check out The White Mice's video for their 'hit' song "Cheesus Saves":
Also, if you're so inclined you can purchase some of of their stuff from their official website.
The next few records are from Southern Lord Records, a label operating in the U.S., which comes with the caption "Let There Be Doom" on all the packages I order from them. Specialising in excellent releases of doom, drone and experimental/avant-garde metal and headed by Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))) fame, this year kicked off well with a re-release of Burning Witch material on a compilation called Crippled Lucifer: 10 Psalms For Our Lord of Light consisting of Towers and Rift.Canyon.Dreams.
2. Pentemple: O))) Presents... 2008, Southern Lord
Now sold out on their official website and limited to 3000 copies on CD, Pentemple's O))) Presents... is a recording of a special live Sunn O))) show in Melbourne last year, where Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley collaborated with Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Tormentor), Sin Nanna (Striborg) and Oren Ambarchi. Wonderful dark and brutal low-end drone-doom that features a live drummer for the first time on a Sunn O))) record.
In the spirit of Greg Anderson's line of thought that "the underground may even be benefiting from downloads and digital sharing of recordings", here are the two tracks from this record:
'Pazuzu I' 'Pazuzu II' 3. Ascend: Ample Fire Within 2008, Southern Lord
In ways I could not provide myself, here is a description of Ascend from Southern Lord Records' website:
Ascend is a new collaborative musical project between Gentry Densley (Iceburn, Eagle Twin) and Greg Anderson (sunn 0))), Goatsnake, Engine Kid).
Both have been making music that has crossed paths several times in the last 19 years.(!!!) The most notable being during the 90s when Andersons' band Engine Kid toured with and shared a split album with Densleys' band Iceburn. During that time both were heavily experimenting with the fusion of jazz (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis, John Coltrane) and the dark behemoth tones of influences such as The Melvins, Gore, Slint, and the Caspar Bratzmann Massaker.
Ascend re-visits some of the tones, and moods of their past works as well as traveling into uncharted territory all done with the utmost focus on heaviness and power.
Special guest appearances on this album by Andy Patterson (drums), Steve Moore (aka Stebmo, also in Earth and often times : sunn 0))) ) trombone, organ and wurlitzer, Bubba Dupree (Void) guitar AND none other than Kim Thayil (Soundgarden) put down some incredible lead work! The packaging and layout was created by Stephen O' Malley with a homage to our favorite jazz records of the past from labels like ECM and Impulse! (Multi-panel digi-pac w/ booklet inserted.)
Here is the title track from Ample Fire Within:
4. Boris: Smile 2008, Southern Lord
Smile is the latest release from Japanese three-piece experimental metal band Boris. The record was released on both Diwphalanx Records in Japan and Southern Lord Records in the U.S., and are both significantly different sounding releases. Both records feature a sort-of continuation of the neo-psychedelic-rock sound of Pink, but flirt with other genres such as hard rock, Japanese hair metal and feature the standard Boris drone/doom cut. It also plays around with the concept of an "uncool" record centred around comical lyricism and Boris' re-examination of their Japanese roots.
Here's the video for the single "Statement":
And you should be interested in hearing "Flower, Sun and Rain" (a track on the new record) featured on Rock Dream, which is a live-collaboration with Merzbow:
5. The Chuck Dukowski Sextet: Eat My Life and Reverse the Polarity 2006/2007, Nice and Friendly
Founding and original Black Flag bassist Chuck Dukowski has ventured out to create a new band called The Chuck Dukowski Sextet with fellow musician, artist and wife Lora Norton, who provides the artwork for the albums as well as tantalising vocals that sound stoned or enraged above solid tunes rooted in Punk Rock. Their two records--Eat My Life and Reverse the Polarity--were released on Dukowski's own label, Nice and Friendly, which aims to "change the world with a smile". Eat My Life features wonderfully unusual (and somewhat baffling) cover songs of Black Flag's "My War" and Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs". Here are those tracks:
'My War'
'Venus in Furs'
Also of note is the Chuck Dukowski Sextet message:
Punk rock is dead. Maybe we can stand on its corpse and reach a higher ground. Maybe not. Perhaps the flimsy imitators and the cleansing maggots of tomorrow's fresh style have weakened punk's bony skeleton too much. It might take us nowhere. Crumble on punk rock! We give you props
But feel it! The wind of change is coming with all that is new and beautifully unnamed. Beware changing wind; when your name comes it will carry a burden. The happy burden of community, of recognition, and most ideally of change, will com with the dark side of rules, of cheesy merchandising, of co-op and distortion. So many things will rush under the banner of this name we can only hope this new wind can bear the weight.
Something new is coming, it always does. In music, the new has most often come with a fiery rejection of the past, like a phoenix from the flames. Actually, the fiery rejection is a pose; everything is born from something else or someone, and all musicians are influenced by what came before. It's liberating to claim to come from nothing. You shake off the doctrinaire. You reject the false concept of progress, because music is not a line, it's an expanding universe.
Musical revolution comes with a name, but it starts with iconoclastic vision. When someone creates something they want and haven't seen before. Others realize they want it too. More are inspired. The direction of the musical discourse is altered. A need is filled. People want to show they are part of this new direction. They create a style, so everyone who sees them will know that they set themselves apart from the mainstream. That's great but watch out 'cause it's also a product to sell. The iconoclast just wants to create; the revolutionary wants to make the new rules. He wants to sit on the old throne and say his is the only way.
The CD6 has no rules for you. We just throw in our DNA and hope to build a lovely new corpse.
Another independent record label that I'm really liking at the moment is Important Records. Also operating in the U.S., Important specialises in noise and experimental music related releases. To date, they've released music by bands like Boris, Throbbing Gristle and Grails through to spoken word material by Noam Chomsky.
6. A Place to Bury Strangers: S/T 2008, Important Records (Third Pressing on Vinyl)
One of my favorite new bands on Important Records, A Place to Bury Strangers, have received a third pressing on vinyl for their debut self-titled release, which has become increasingly popular. Drawing comparisons to early Jesus and Mary Chain, A Place to Bury Strangers take cues from noise and garage bands from that era and mix it with contemporary noise-rock influences such as Liars in a way that sounds completely new and fresh. Self-proclaimed loudest band in New York, A Place to Bury Strangers have acclaimed live performances, and are featured performing on the artwork for their record. A Place to Bury Strangers is also opening for Nine Inch Nails on their upcoming Lights In The Sky Tour, and are featured on a Nine Inch Nails compilation with other supporting artists Deerhunter, Does it Offend You Yeah?, and Crystal Castles, which you can access here.
Here is 'To Fix the Gash in Your Head' from the S/T release:
Also of note on Important Records is their wide selection of quality merchandise at low prices by designers such as Seldon Hunt (pictured in the third panel below) and Stephen O'Malley (pictured in the fourth panel below), which you can purchase from the Important Records official website.
Go to Important Records' official website to view larger images of their merchandise and apparel.
As mentioned in my previous post, Liquid Architecture is one of Australia's premier sound-arts festivals. The festival took place earlier this month, and featured concerts, surround sound presentations, audio-visual and recorded work, exhibitions and installations by musicians, composers, sound designers and media artists. I could only attend the first night of the festival in Sydney (for reasons I'll talk about later), but from what I caught it was a difficult (in the sense that it was challenging) selection of sound art by an impressive array of talented musicians/artists. The only complaint of the festival that I heard was its heavy focus on computer-based music, but I didn't see this as a drawback in any way. If anything it was interesting to see the variety with which that medium could be used to different ends.
7. Defektro: Valverian 2007, Lastgasp Art Laboratories (CDR)
Defektro is a "3 human, many machine noise unit" consisting of Hirofumi Uchino, Ayako Honda and Laura Oyaizu (of Australia unit KUNT). Hirofumi Uchino is the mastermind behind the machines and pedals used in Defektro, which he releases through his self-founded company/label Lastgasp Art Laboratories. I spoke with Hirofumi on the first night of Liquid Architecture, as he was there selling merchandise as well as watching the performers. I picked up this CDR and found it to be a well-crafted piece of work, highlighting the diversity of their sound (from abstract sounds to pieces of extreme computer music/noise). Defektro supported KTL on their Australian tour last September, which they were definitely worthy of doing. KTL are a two piece mixing elements of extreme computer music and black metal, consisting of Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))) and Peter Rehberg of Pita.
Here is 'Porncots' from Valverian:
Unfortunately, I missed what Hirofumi Uchino was there at Liquid Architecture for: a collaboration with Nick Wishart from local noise-group Toy Death. After seeing Toy Death at a special presentation at the Chauvel Cinematheque, scoring part of Sergei Eisenstein's classic 1925 silent film The Battleship Potemkin, I hope some sort of release of their collaboration will come out in the near future.
Erikm's record was given out for free to people who attended Liquid Architecture. I don't know too much about it, so here is some information from Room 40:
Between his reputation as swift shifting improviser, concréte composer and turntable deconstructionist, Marseilles based artist ERIKM has earned himself an enviable position in the European music community. With Stéme, his most ambitious and fully realised compositional work to date, he devolves and recontextualises the boundaries between sound source and sound media.
In essence, Stème originates from a selection of ten one minute long sound pieces burned on a CD which was deliberately damaged. These media (music on modified media or field recording) formed the basis of multiple improvised session including multiple stages of construction and destruction of these acoustic matters using my different electronic real time live music systems (3k-pad system & MD or CD-dj and electronics).
The resulting sounds are truly distinctive – filigree like sonic details are brought into sharp focus, tuning the ears with their paced spatial movements. Occasional grabs of the source sound material appear and are erased equally as quickly. A genuinely powerful statement of compositional intent.
ERIKM has instinctively followed a relatively unusual, even risky, career path. Stemming from his interest in visual arts and his first musical experience as a rock guitarist, he has for some years now become steadily more and more renowned for his virtuoso turntabling and his use of electronic instruments and tools in an integrated scenic set-up eRikm has followed up musical collaborations with Voice Crack, Christian Marclay, Luc Ferrari, among others.
He is certainly one of the better equipped artists of the new generation to actually demonstrate a relationship between rock music (in its widest sense) and contemporary music; hiding behind neither cultural camouflage nor an easy pandering to his audience.
Since it was free, I assume it will be OK for you to download the entire album. Here is the link to do that. If you wish to purchase it, you can do so at Room 40's website at this location.
I view this record as a highly conceptual piece consisting of soundscapes that explore our relationship with different environments. Audio-recordings of soundscapes and environments is an interesting concept, and was something that Andy Warhol showed interest in over a number of years. I'd recommend you research that a bit more if you are interested in this record, as well asother people who performed or exhibited at Liquid Architecture.
The next two records are from Heathen Skulls, which is a small Australian independent record label and booking agency that focuses on new and interesting recordings, usually of a darker, heavier, and experimental variety. Initially called Black Mountain, the label was founded in 2001 as a booking agency, mainly to accommodate Grey Daturas, and on the side as a record label. In November 2005, Black Mountain changed its name to Heathen Skulls, and since then, has been operating as a full time company.
The following two records are also from bands I have recently discovered after attending Static Age Festival (which unfortunately clashed with the second night of Liquid Architecture): a great showcase of a variety of musicians/bands ranging from garage rock, noise, noise rock, drone, metal, post rock, free jazz, grindcore, folk/singer-songwriter and ambient. Of special note is Scissor-Lock, a one man ambient musician, who has been self-releasing his own material. His set, which opened Static Age Festival, was highly absorbing and showed up quite a bit of his potential.
9. Grey Daturas 2008, Heathen Skulls
Grey Daturas (alongside Embers) of Heathen Skulls headlined Static Age Festival, which I wrote about in my previous post. Their performances were obvious highlights and complimented each other even though they were rather different. Grey Daturas, who have their roots in Sunn O))), Nadja and Earth style drone rock or drone metal in addition to noise and lo-fi rock, performed an incredible freely improvised set. It was an extremely captivating (and almost hypnotic) slice of their sound as of late that finds its way on their new record Return To Disruption.
Here is a review of Return to Disruption from Aquarius Records:
Huzzah! Our favorite instrumental down-under doom-bringers return (to disruption) with this new full-length, the prolific Melbourne trio's debut for Neurosis' Neurot label. It's a good fit, of course, this should go over well with the whole post-rock/metal crowd, this album often grindingly hypnotic, the Grey Daturas' lumbering sheets of distorto-drone skullflowering forth over a roiling bed of precision percussive clangor right from the get-go! Their threatening waves of pure heaviness, sharpened into a drill-drone of an attack, also occasionally take detours into areas of abstract ambience, the guitars of Bonnie Mercer and Rob MacManus carving psychedelic feedback sculptures, then tightening again back into full metallic impact, driven by the skittering drums of Robert Manson. As heavy as they are (which is HEAVY) you can't really call the Grey Dats a metal band. They're in that quasi-metal realm with the likes of SUNNO))), Boris, Harvey Milk, and Nadja, perhaps, with a certain amount of experimental lo-fi fuckery going on that reminds us of many of their freenoise comrades over in nearby New Zealand... The title track itself is a clattering, pottering about, like something the Dead C would come up with, while the track called "Undisturbed" is anything but, sounding like a violin or creaking door hinge dying a slow and dismal death. And the high-end scraping skree of "Balance Of Convenience" should peel some paint. And then, as already mentioned, there's all the juggernaut, trance-inducing, spaced-out, instrumental doom rock post rock surging through tracks like "Beyond And Into The Ulimate" and "Neuralgia". The Grey Daturas definitely like all the varieties of drone! And fans of, what should we call it, avant-doom, or drone-doom, or whatever, should like all varieties of the Grey Daturas, starting with this disc if you haven't already made their acquaintance, covering all the bases as it does
And here is Neuralgia, the final track from Return to Disruption:
10. Embers: Slag Welters 2008, Heathen Skulls
Now to Embers' performance: Despite the fact that Embers were probably twice as old as most of the musicians/performers there that night, their performance eclipsed everyone else's in terms of their high energy (which my friend and I had trouble believing they could sustain). Their set consisting of improvised free jazz meets grind-noise, which finds its way on Embers' Slag-Welter; an outstanding album that exemplifies their status as an incredibly talented, original and fresh example of the current Australian music scene. The recording quality is great as well, so do yourself a favor and purchase Slag-Welter from Heathen Skulls.
To conclude, here is the first track (also the title track) from Slag-Welter:
Note: Consecutive parts of this feature, 'Examples of Excellent New(ish) Music', will be posted monthly. Part 2 will focus on (amongst other things) Steve Reich, Thurston Moore, The Drift and Chocolate Monk Records.
With the strange disappearance of We Are Not Journalists, I've decided to go back to posting some things here about music and upcoming performances/festivals. Two festivals that are coming up this week/weekend that are especially of note are Liquid Architecture 9 and Static Age Festival. Both of which boast an impressive range of local and international artists, and are looking very promising.
Liquid Architecture is in its 9th consecutive year and is one of Australia's premier sound-arts festival. Featuring concerts, surround sound presentations, audio-visual and recorded work, exhibitions and installations by musicians, composers, sound designers and media artists, this sense specific (as opposed to art form specific) festival will take place at a variety of locations, including the Factory Theatre in Sydney this Friday and Saturday nights. The line-up for Sydney is as follows:
Friday 11th July 7:30pm - 12:00am
Kusum Normoyle Jaques Soddell Nat Bates Lawrence English Robert Normandeau (Canada) toy.bizarre (France)
Saturday 12th July 7:30pm - 2:00am
Kazumichi Grime Nick Wishart & Hirofumi Uchino Heil Spirits Metalog Andrew Peckler (Germany) Marcus Schmickler (Germany) Ivan Lisyak Toecutter
Installation Work
Cédric Peyronnet (France) Jodi Rose Rene Christen Melissa Hunt Mark Brown Jason Sweeney Jessica Tyrrell
(And screening program of new A/V works.)
Also, the Japanese extreme-noise group Defektro, who supported KTL (Stephen O'Malley and Peter Rehberg) last year in September, are apparently performing on Saturday night according to their MySpace page.
Tickets for the Sydney portion of the festival are $12 per night, and are available from the Factory Theatre's website, on the night, and a various outlets (including Enmore Theatre).
I recently found out about the improvised-noise-rock group The Grey Daturas through a friend who recently saw them in May (coincidentally on the same night as The Dillinger Escape Plan). Since recommending them to me, my interest in the group has grown quite considerably after hearing they got one of their records released on Neurot, and after they became featured in and received positive reviews from Rock-A-Rolla, which is one of my favorite magazines on music. Locally, The Grey Daturas are signed to a label called Heathen Skulls, which too has been the product of much of my interest lately. Together with another band off that label, Embers, The Grey Daturas will headline a festival of promising, interesting and exciting experimental music from around Australia. The details for the festival (including a preliminary program) are below:
Naturally, I'm excited about the prospect of a new Sunn O))) record. The following is some info on it from Noise Magazine:
Sunn O))) are currently recording their next album for a planned release in early 2009. Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson will collaborate once again with Attila Csihar and a myriad of guests including Oren Ambarchi and violinist/composer Eyvind Kang (Mr Bungle/Secret Chiefs 3), who will take charge of brass and string sections. Their seventh work is said to be "very different", once again. Not to worry, because fans will rush on Dømkirke, a live album available only on double vinyl ("super deluxe gatefold jacket"), recorded at a special performance in a cathedral in Bergen in Norway with the line-up: O 'Malley, Anderson, Csihar, Steve Moore (Earth, Ascend, Stebmo) and Lasse Marhaug (Jazzkammer). Tracklisting:
Side 1) Why Dost Thou Hide Thyself in Clouds? Side 2) Cannon Side 3) Cymatics Side 4) Mass of the Ætmospheres
I just spent some time scanning some old photos to make this post somewhat on track, but the scans didn't do them justice. Here's one of them as a thumbnail, however:
I've spent a bit of my spare time creating a news site for one of my favorite bands, The Dillinger Escape Plan. This site, called Spreading Like Wings, will attempt to keep other fans updated with news and events on a regular basis. I did this because of the lack of DEP websites out there. I mean, even the band itself don't have one (unless you count that loathsome cesspool of spam and cultural defecation, unsubtly disguised as MySpace). To visit the site go here. Please spread the word if you think that it's any good. For your information, the site was named after a lyric in "Phone Home", which just so happens to be one of my favorite DEP songs. On a slightly related note, I'm personally looking forward to their show in May. Only a couple of months away now.
I've been busy fixing up the overall layout for this site, hence why there have been a lack of posts recently. Part of fixing the layout included improving/changing the playlist, which had previously (for the last three months) consisted of the 2007 Southern Lord compilation. The playlist at the moment consists of a lot the music I've been listening to lately, including Modwheelmood's Pearls to Pigs, Vol. 2, which I very much recommend. Stay tuned for some exciting news in the next couple of days. I know I probably said this a few weeks ago, but things have been going a bit slow lately.
Obviously, it is true to say that I enjoy listening to albums in different ways. Some are pure fun, some are challenging, some move me on an emotional or subconscious level. Rarely, however, do I come away from an album truly amazed at its power to transcend beyond the typical constraints of music and create something spectacular. Oxbow's The Narcotic Story is exactly that. As I said in a previous post, Rock-A-Rolla gave this album it's number one spot on it's "Top 30 Records of 2007" and this propelled me to listen to it. Matt Evans (who is one of Rock-A-Rolla's writers) could not be more spot on to point out that the album is a "powerful reality altering substance, one that may not make much immediate sense to the logical mind, but has a profound sense on the subconscious." In not longer than 45 minutes, Oxbow's album is so go good, I am rendered unable to verbalise its significance (not much more than the few words I have offered already, anyway).
It goes without saying that Boris is one of my favorite bands. Their new album, Smile, is set to be released this year on the 7th of March through Diwphalanx and Southern Lord (though I'm not sure when Southern Lord are releasing it). Apparently, it leaked on the internet yesterday (or today if you count time zone differences). I'd listen to it if I could find a high bit rate or FLAC copy floating around. Needless to say, however, the 7th of March when I'll probably have both the vinyl and CD releases, is going to be a day I'm highly anticipating. I think Brian Cook from These Arms Are Snakes summed it up perfectly over at We Are Not Journalists when he said "I think it’s safe to say that anything Boris did [in 2007] slayed any competition. Whether it’s one of their multiple collaborations with Merzbow or Michio Kurihara they released this year or some other random release, they are a flawless band." If you haven't heard much of Boris I'd ask you what planet you've been living on since 1992, but that's a bit arrogant. Instead, look at the playlist in the sidebar and you'll find a song called "Flower, Sun, Rain" performed live by Boris with Merzbow on Rock Dream. According to my copy of the sampler, this song will find it's studio release on the upcoming album. Needless to say, "There will be doom".
I was thinking of putting a list of albums that made my year (2007), but because last year I listened to quite a diverse range of older music my perception on new music would be quite shallow and two-dimensional. Instead, I'm going to post Rock-A-Rolla's "best of 2007" list, because it's quite a good one. I tend to steer away from "best of" lists, mainly because I find them to be arrogant. However, Rock-A-Rolla made the smart move of emphasising that the list comprimised of "the top 30 albums that made our year" not necessarily the "best". Anyway, here it is:
1. Oxbow: The Narcotic Story (Hydra Head) "Their sixth album may continue their recent trend towards restraint and drama rather than pure physical impact but it's certainly not ll rainbows and unicorns. A powerful reality-altering substance, one that may not make much immediate sense to the logical mind, but has a profound effect upon the subconscious."
2. Neurosis: Given to the Rising (Neurot) "The opening sweep of songs demonstrate the band's coruscating powers to their fullest extent. A fulminating rite of passage to be undertaken and withstood whatever the emotional cost."
3. Tomahawk: Anonymous (Ipecac) "Not only as far removed frm the self-titled and Mit Gas albums as possible, but something that sounds like the work of an entirely different band altogether. An utterly surprising and often fascinating u-turn int leftfield territory."
4. Dillinger Escape Plan: Ire Works (Relapse) "A spectacularly successful record that sees Dillinger both spreading their wings and tightening their focus. It's simultaneously the most instantly accessible and most ferociously inventive work the band have ever produced."
5. Big Business: Here Come the Waterworks (Hydra Head) "Bigger, bolder, more fully realised and more instantly appealing than their debut. Big Business not only make surpassing themselves sound easy, the odds are they'll do it again next time."
6. Dälek: Abandoned Language(Ipecac) "The abrasive walls of noise are replaced by something altogether more impenetrable... Having already created an entirely new subgenre for themselves, Dälek rip it to shreds and mark a massive leap forward for both hip-hop and music in general."
7. John Zorn: Six Litanies for Heliogabulus (Tzadik) "Moonchild and Astronome served as preludes that would eventually lead up to thsis perfectly realized piece. Easily the best in the series and one of Zorn's most powerful pieces."
8. Om: Pilgrimage (Southern Lord) "Om's third album finds the duo continuing their attempts to transcend the physical through bass frequencies and heavy minimalism... The bullish repetition of the convulted patterns ensures that they're rammed deep into your brainpipe"
9. Jesu: Conqueror (Hydra Head) "The cumulative effect of the songs' sheer mass and inexorable, if stately, momentum makes them seem more like planets orbiting around a single, stellar idea. So where some artists create worlds with their music, Justin Broadrick has birthed a solar system."
10. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum: In Glorious Times (The End/Equilibre) "Easily the band's strongest, furthest reaching, most focused effort yet. If there's a draback, it's that there's so much going on... that will keep you from listening to anything else for six months while you obsess over its abundant detail."
11. The Locust: New Erections (Anti) "The sound of a ban perfecting their ideas, which were damn near perfect to begin with...A new benchmark from one of the mst important bands of the decade."
12. Angels of Light: We Are Him (Young God) "A thicket of contrasting emotional states, moving from all-embracing warmth to crawling fear... The work of an artist at an undoubted peak of creativity that stands comparison with the best of his career."
13. High on Fire: Death is this Communion (Relapse) "Sees High on Fire attain ever greater heights of brusque grandiosity., wiping as mercilessly as a warrior's cudgel. A staggering achievement."
14. Unsane: Visqueen (Ipecac) "The band's tradmark head-caving sonic attack is at full force, presiding over a collection of bullish, hard-bitten songs, brimming with the stale iron stench of blood."
15. Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso Ufo: Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under the Stars (Important) "The band's legions of followers will be tickled not just pink, but all the colours of the rainbow and some others that don't exist to hear that this is their finest release for some time."
17. Pig Destroyer: Phantom Limb (Relapse) "Sees the band display more ebullient and straight-ahead sensibilities... Pig Destroyer could never be accused of kicking back, but here they most certainly kick out the jams."
18. Fog: Ditherer (Lex) "Fog firing on all cylinders, fully achieving the potential they've shown so many signs of before."
19. Qui: Love's Miracle (Ipecac) "At times it feels more like a rough demo, a wax crayon sketch of an idea, than a fully realised project - and yet sometimes that same elusive scrappiness feels like its greatest strength."
20. Pelican: City of Echoes (Hydra Head) "Sees Pelican moving away from their at times crushingly heavy but slow-burning earlier material, becoming faster, louder, and generally embracing the rock like a long-lost billionaire uncle who arrives bearing sacks of hard currency."
21. Orthodox: Amanecer en Puerta Oscura (Alone) "Exotic in a dark and frequently disturbing way, experimental but controlled, strangely uplifting but nevertheless oppressive in its stronger moments, this is an album of contrasts and touching extremities"
22. Thurston Moore: Trees Outside the Academy (Ecstatic Peace) "A definite success and perhaps even better than his more well-developed debut."
23. Sunburned Hand of the Man: Fire Escape (Smalltown Supersound) "Kieran Hebden's visualization oof the Sunburned collective is that of a sprawling, unstructured thing swallowing genres whole, more Can than the new Grateful Dead. A Chained-up krautrock monster."
24. Shining: Grindstone (Rune Grammofon) "A frighteningly intelligent, original and wide-ranging album, viscerally powerful and perplexing in the best way possible."
25. Magik Markers: Boss (Ecstatic Peace) "Their free psychedelic rock punk-out style is so utterly them that to date no one's even dared an attempt at replicating their string of influences.. Perhaps their best album yet."
26. Battles: Mirrored (Warp) "Very few albums out there can truly be termed genius or groundbreaking, and Mirrored is exactly that - an utterly original and brilliant piece of work."
27. Caïna: Mourner (Profound Lore) "Caïna takes the listener on a subtle jaunt through his deviant psyche and has pulled off a polarising but important document"
28. Merzbow: Coma Berenices (Vivo) "Merzbow's furious release schedule should be seen as pages of an ongoing scribbled sketchbook of ideas and this is further evidence to support the reality of Merzbow as a constantly evolving artist. Feels like the beginning of another definitive era fror Merzbow"
29. Pissed Jeans: Hope for Men (Sub Pop) "Weaned on a healty dose of Flipper, Black Flag and Amphetamine Reptile, this is sludge-punk just like they used to make it - unflinching and heavy as fuck"
30. Liars: Liars (Mute) "For a band that specializes in confusion, this may be their most confounding release to date."
"I'm going to prove that the impossible really exists" --Björk
After having already waited from 11.30am in the morning for a concert that started at 9.00pm and having paid a hefty $150, my expectations for seeing Björk were set quite high. Before I'll tell you how the concert went, I'll tell you a bedtime story: In 2006 I had become mesmerised by Matthew Barney and his art. During that year, I managed to see The Cremaster Cycle in its entirety and I bought the Guggenheim Museum Exhibition book by Nancy Spector (which I cannot recommend enough). I had always heard of Björk in the past (who hasn't), but somehow I never ventured off to listen to any of her music. It was not until I had the experience of seeing Matthew Barney's epic masterpiece Drawing Restraint 9 that I became equally mesmerised by Björk's music. When watching Barney's films, I always experience it on an emotional level, and for some reason it never fails to move me in unprecedented and unexplainable way. I find an incredible similarity between the way I am moved by Barney's art as I am by Björk's music. Don't get me wrong; both of these artists are very individual from each other - the similarity I'm pointing out here is my own personal response from experiencing their work. I came out of Drawing Restraint 9 feeling incredibly moved and somehow reinvigorated. The person I went to see it was equally impressed. She hadn't heard of Matthew Barney before seeing the film but came out saying that the film was "just what she needed" and that, even to this day, it is one of the best (if not the best film) she has ever seen in her life (take that down knowing that she has incredible perception/judgment). I must have been so transfixed by that film, because she also said to me that she got frustrated by the fact that I didn't move once. (The next time we saw a film together I deliberately moved my legs and pointed it out to her.) Even though both of us were incredibly moved, I never immediately sought out Björk's music for some strange reason. It wasn't until the last 8-10 months when I sought out her music. I listened to two of her albums; Post and Vespertine. It was in the latter that I found what I was looking for; an incredibly moving album that launched me into a pursuit for more of her music. I listened to Volta and found that too to be an incredible experience. What I had been given from Barney, therefore, was exposure to an artist I now highly appreciate.
As soon as I heard rumors of her performing here in Sydney, I got very excited. I heard that she would be playing as part of a festival, which led me to believe that it would simply be the Big Day Out. However, much to my surprise, it was announced that she would perform as part of Sydney Festival. I waited until I could find out more details, and as soon as I did I was a bit turned off by the high cost of the ticket ($145 plus booking fee). During that month I had to purchase tickets for Sufjan Stevens, The National and Clogs and the Big Day Out, roughly costing all together (excluding Björk) about $250 or more. I was also planning on buying tickets to Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem and UNKLE. However, with Björk added to that list, I had spent $400 on tickets by then, and I had two friend's Birthdays and Christmas coming up in the following weeks. Since she hadn't come to Sydney for something like 10-15 years, I thought that I would cough up the dough and go. So I did. I got someone to buy the ticket for me because I was preoccupied that morning. I was lucky to get it, but I got it and that was all that mattered. I found out she was playing at the Big Day Out somewhere in between all of that (probably before I bought tickets about a month before) so now I knew that her concert was the same price as the Big Day Out itself.
Skip to months ahead and I find myself sitting down amongst not too many other people waiting in line. I'm glad I did. By 2-3pm, if you're familiar with Circular Quay, the queue was allegedly down past the Dendy cinemas. The management were unorganised, which was a bit stressful, but I got in eventually; front-row middle barricade position. Unfortunately, as I found out a bit earlier, there was a support band (who probably wasn't chosen by Björk); Shy Child. I had about as much as I could after about 3 songs. I found it really ironic when he commented on one of the upcoming songs in his set: "This one's a different type of funk." I thought, 'Oh, really'. As soon as he played it, I thought, 'Yeah, I think I've heard this one a few times already.' Maybe they were OK, maybe it was the fact that I was incredibly tired and fustrated that all I wanted to do was see Björk. The good thing about the support band (this is going to sound petty) was the fact that it made it dark for when Björk played.
As soon as she came out, following an 10 or 11 piece brass band and the rest of the instrumentalists, I new that it was going to be an incredible show. Björk is a true artist; the stage was elaborately set up (but not overdone) with flags, banners and strange dark lighting, which I later learned was used to illuminate the performers elaborate glow-in-the-dark costumes. Speaking of which, the costumes were nothing short of spectacular. Björk came out in a flamboyant but subtle gold dress down to her thighs, glittery gold tights and barefoot. The lighting also included an incredible lazer-light show that illuminated onto the Opera House itself. That, in addition to the full-moon, flying bats and Harbour Bridge as a backdrop contributed towards creating a perfect atmosphere. The set itself, although short (90 minutes), needed not to be any longer. It comprised of the following songs:
01. Intro - Brennið Þið Vitar 02. Earth Intruders 03. Hunter 04. Unravel 05. Jóga 06. Who Is It 07. The Pleasure Is All Mine 08. Pagan Poetry 09. Desired Constellation 10. Army Of Me 11. I Miss You 12. Bachelorette 13. Cover Me 14. Wanderlust 15. Hyperballad 16. Pluto
encore 17. Oceania 18. Declare Independence
As with Barney's Drawing Restraint 9, the concert had utterly moved me in a newly unprecedented way. I came away from this incredibly sensual and brilliant show which was impossibly perfect in terms of the performance itself and the visuals, presentation and aesthetics. It was a beautiful concert that now ranks high if not on top of all the concerts I have ever been too. Both the wait and price are now factors that have no significance; they have been rendered trivial because of the fact that I have experienced a true artist put her heart into what is and what I will always remember as a memorable, moving experience.
Fourth concert of the year this year will be Björk tomorrow night at the Sydney Opera House forecourt, which is part of Sydney Festival. The National and Clogs were great, by the way.
