In order to whet your collective appetites for a soon-to-ensue deluge of rare late 70's/early 80's Australian underground material (both released and unreleased, including reams of rare Severed Heads and SH-related material) which Mutant Sounds friend Marcusholst has generously agreed to share, I've decided to present an assortment of unreleased Australian underground sounds from two of the era's finer outfits. This material originates from CDR compilations which were obtained in trade from Phil Turnbull (ex-member of Voigt/465 & Wild West) who runs the extraordinary Aussie underground music information site No Night Sweats and who has been one of the true keepers of the flame for this stuff for all these years. As an adjunct to these recordings (and a necessary crash course for those of you not really familiar with the glorious sounds of Australia's post punk heyday), I urge you to pay a visit to his site and investigate, not least because he's made available a huge raft of unreleased material from the period, which he's posted as MP3's in association with Tom Ellard at Sevcom and which links off the top of the main No Night Sweats page Here
Rightly considered to be one of the brightest lights of the Aussie post punk scene, The Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast walked a highwire between the sort of languid electronic pastoralism Eno was plying on Another Green World's instrumental passages and an unobvious take on post punk angularity that would have been right at home on Cherry Red Records. On their entirely instrumental early material here, the watery Eno-ism's take center stage, though the consistent use of out of tune piano gives everything a just-slightly-sour edge that's rather haunting. Their live material could often be mistaken for the work of another band, as their more rocking remit here (albeit obtusely rocking) makes them sound like they should have been sharing stages with Tuxedomoon back in the day.
The Systematics engagingly rinky dink keyboard settings and Wurlitzler preset sounding rhythms on this recording have the same fragile peculiarity as fellow Aussie's Essendon Airport, which makes for an appealing frisson when it rubs up against their more dour post punk song structured impulses.
NEW LINK FOR TMOTDTF-EARLY RECORDINGS!
Get The Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast-Early Recordings Here
Get The Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast-live part one Here
Get The Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast-live part two Here
Get The Systematics-Demos Here
thanks for the link. i think the systematics description does them a disservice. their pre-demo material (pulp baby and rural, et al) is at least as interesting as any of the minimal synth stuff posted here. and possibly more visionary.
ReplyDeleteHoly Cow! Wow! Can't wait to hear this. I used to have Garage D'or but it was stolen. You wouldn't happen to have a copy? Thanks for having a site that defies reality. It's just impossibly great.
ReplyDeleteEric, your shares are awesome. They are so far beyond a lot of standard p2p fodder, and they are much appreciated. I'm glad your not chintzy on the bitrate, and Mediafire is working great.
ReplyDeleteHi Phil,
ReplyDeleteSorry that you felt that I did The Systematics a disservice with my description. My intention was hardly that. Minimal synth isn't a phrase I'd think to readily associate with what The Systematics got up to, any more than I would for the cited Essendon Airport, which from a musical standpoint I think is still a valid touchstone for some of this material (and one intended as complimentary...I'm quite a fan of Essendon Airport...). The presence of rhythm box doesn't automatically, in and of itself, connote minimal synth for me and The Systematics use of it strikes me as no more "minimal synth" per se than would the Young Marble Giants use, to cite one example.
One of the downsides of writing about music is that others don't necessarily share your frame of reference, so statements about "rinky dinky" this and "Wurlitzer preset" that which are mean as complimentary (some of my favorite bands have this "rinky dinkiness" from The Fibonaccis to The Decayes) don't automatically translate to those who aren't part of your circle. By that measure, I've not made myself entirely clear I fear. 'Tis a risk you run when you're attempting to write up to five record reviews a night. More specifically, having written this at the tail end of said night when I was borderline slap happy from exhaustion, I somehow failed to note that...nope...no organ present to speak of, so I've altered my phrasing in the description slightly. As an aside, If you're interested, I'd be happy to post your own No Night Sweats material here, as, to my ears, it's some of the finest Aussie stuff of the era. My CDR of it glitches out on the last third, but if you're interested in providing a useable copy, posting that would be a pleasure. Get in touch if interested at vdoandsound@yahoo.com
Eric
I love the Systematics! Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoying the Makers of the Dead! Thanks for introducing this stuff! You're right, the plinky piano on the early recordings is quite disarming.
ReplyDeleteLovely stuff and a terrific contrast to the decidedly post-punk clamor also excellent live recordings.
Yay Mediafire!
The file Get The Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast-Early Recordings was deleted by mediafire...
ReplyDeleteI've just re-uploaded the early recordings link...
ReplyDeletewell, i should have used the term "slight disservice" so we're all prone to misunderstandings in these circumstances.
ReplyDeletethanks for the Makers' live stuff, I was looking for it! Unfortunately mediafire seems to have deleted the album second part. Pity! Anyway, thanks again!
ReplyDeleteTHE MAKERS OF THE DEAD TRAVEL FAST PT2 LINK DONT WORK ,WHATS UP WITH THAT?
ReplyDeleteThanks! Severed Heads was just spinning on the turntable a few days ago and I am now anxious to hear more Australian underground material.
ReplyDeletethe link for the early recordings has gone again it seems, would love to hear as a compliment to the Terrace Industry box that I´m currently spinning....cheers!
ReplyDeleteRE-UP ASAP
ReplyDelete