Out From Under

This week’s episode is a mix of new music released in recent weeks featuring from work from Severed Heads alumni Garry Bradbury and Room40 mainstay John Chantler; Regis takes on MY DISCO in a remix for the Downwards label; Blake Freele & Sam Price drop a new collaboration; we tackle brutal noise from Blut; and also hear new work from Panoptique Electrical, Pale Earth, Cooper Bowman, Harrow, Hextape, FATE ÆFFECT and Catfingers.

In the second episode of a two-part special, Stuart Buchanan talks to Mitchell Jones; founding member of both seminal Australian experimental band Scattered Order and the early 80s record label M-Squared which balanced the prevailing sounds of post-punk with lo-fi punk electronics and experimental explorations from a close knit community of artists. We hear from M-Squared artists Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast, Systematics and Ya Ya Choral, along with Prod, A Cloakroom Assembly and Solipsik, the offshoot of renowned Australian industrial group SPK. We also pick up the Scattered Order story following the demise of M-Squared in 1984, and hear about their journey through the 80s and 90s, heading to an unexpected reformation seven years ago.

Whilst the legacies of post-punk, DIY electronics and proto industrial are widely known and documented in the UK and US scenes, their impact in an Australian context is less widely recognised. Bonding over the discovery of Cabaret Voltaire imports in Sydney record stores, Scattered Order formed in 1979 and gorged on a wide range of inputs to create a sound and visual aesthetic that was unique in Australia at the time. Together they also formed the label M Squared and fostered an impressive roster of bands such as Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast, Systematics and Ya Ya Choral. In Part I of a two-part interview, Stuart Buchanan talks to Scattered Order’s Mitchell Jones about the early years of the band and the formation and impact of the M-Squared label throughout the late Seventies and early Eighties.

Brett Thompson has been the guiding force in the Australian band Rand and Holland for nearly fifteen years, but its been a tumultuous and often torturous ride. Widespread love for their lo-fi folk debut led to a polished pop follow up that furthered their critical acclaim whilst also setting in place a chain of events that led to the band conducing an artistic volte-face. They recorded a dark, intense and experimental third album, polarising audiences at a short series of live shows before abruptly breaking up. Four years later, in 2015, the fabled album posthumously saw the light of day, and in this episode of Out From Under, Brett Thompson gives a rare interview, explaining the background to the album and the breakup, and revealing that Rand and Holland is, in fact, far from over.

Experimental and underground music from Australia. In this week’s episode, we hear new music from Melbourne electronic producer Ju Ca; Canberra’s Wives get remixed by Enderie Nuatal; there’s two releases from Hyperborea and Fia Fiell (pictured) through cassette label Nice Music ; new work from Cold House member Morgan McKellar recording as Bright Sea, plus tracks from Teef Record’s charity compilation Imperium In Imperio II featuring Making, Hence Therefore and Tracy Chen.

On this week’s Out From Under, artists Andy Rantzen and Jochen Gutsch discuss their new collaborative project, which fuses Andy’s poetic spoken lyrics and Jochen’s diverse musical background, recording and performing as Hinterlandt. Highly conscious of the potential pitfalls of fusing poetry and experimental music, Andy and Jochen carve a path to an outcome that is tense and fascinating, and compels you to listen close. We also hear music from Jochen’s Hinterlandt Ensemble and take in back catalogue work from Andy’s Pelican Daughters project.

This week’s Out From Under is another in our new music playlist series, presenting a selection of underground and experimental work being made right now in Australia. We check out two compilations both surveying experimental electronic terrain - from labels Butter Sessions and Iceage Productions; music from two Canberra labels, Dream Damage and Moontown Records, featuring Danger Beach and Scraps; new releases from Sydney artists M.O.B. and Lortica; abstract sounds from Sam Filmer; and a new recording from Half High, featuring Lucy Phelan and Matthew P Hopkins from Naked On The Vague.

Electronic artist Martyn Palmer has been recording calm and tranquil sounds as Broken Chip for many years, but in recent months something fundamental has changed - precipitating a shift from light to dark, from tranquil to anxious, culminating in a new project under the alias Hidden. In this week’s episode of Out From Under, we hear from Martyn Palmer about his new work, the impetus for the shift in direction and how it contrasts with his work as Broken Chip - taking in an exclusive mix of brand new tracks from Hidden and a walk through Martyn’s back catalogue.

This episode of Out From Under is the second in a series which looks backwards to the early years of experimental music making in Australia. We explore the latter half of the 1970s, taking in the electroacoustic and multi-media collective WATT; early avant-garde work from renowned figure Carl Vine; prototype tape experiments from the foundation days of Severed Heads; Western Australian composer Ron Nagorcka whose work took a turning point on discovering John Cage; incredible acoustic recordings made in grain silos from Ros Bandt, and tracks from Jon Rose, one of the key influential composers and players in Australian experimental music, free improv and sound art.

This episode of Out From Under is the first of an irregular series that gazes backwards to the early years of experimental music making in Australia, tapping a rich and fertile vein that came to fruition in the late 60s and early 1970s. This is the first of two episodes that explore the Seventies - taking in psych prog rock band Tully, composer Felix Werder, Moog master Martin Wesley-Smith, free improvisation group NIAGARA and the incredible Tristram Cary, whose work underpinned a number of classic science fiction television series, including the first appearance of the Daleks in Doctor Who.

This week’s episode of Out From Under is the latest in the new music playlist series, surveying the terrain of eclectic and experimental music across Australia. We hear from experimental quintet Tangents, a quasi super group of sorts exploring the outer ranges of rock and jazz; Canberra’s Reuben Ingall on a new cross-continental split series; Melbourne artist & musician Lisa Lerkenfeldt; brand new material from Brisbane avant-garde trio Feet Teeth, Melbourne’s Fad and ModB, NSW duo School Girl Report, and the collaborative project of Andy Rantzen & Jochen Gutsch; plus a trio of tracks from one of Australia’s longest running tape labels, Altered States.

For six years, Nathan Jenkins was part of Australian extreme metal band The Amenta, known for their refusal to fully commit to any sense of what a metal band should be. After working within those extremities and contradictions, Nathan established the solo project titled Host, fusing dark ambient, noise and drone. In this episode of Out From Under, Stuart Buchanan talks to Nathan about this transition and his highly ritualistic approach to music making, as well as his role as curator for the upcoming two-day event, Black Mountain.

Marcus Whale has been straddling the worlds of experimental music and alternative pop throughout his career, from his early improvisational work as Scissor Lock, through the densely layered electronic pop of Collarbones to the taut, politically charged BV project he formed with Guerre aka Cassius Select. Celebrating the debut solo release under his own name, Marcus Whale talks with Stuart Buchanan on Out From Under about his work, his personal growth and his political intent, and reflects on the outcomes - one foot on both sides of the channel.

Brainbeau are Brisbane-based underground electronic duo Chelsey Charlton and Kat Martin, aka Chelvis Chesley and Kat Martian, aka Dust Storm Jogger and X in O, aka Emotional Hoon and El Crumple Dash. There are vestiges of classic Detroit and Chicago techno in their music, riffing off Warp and Reflex, Not Not Fun and 100% Silk, muddied with a lo-fi aesthetic redolent of a slew of North American tape labels. In this week’s Out From Under, Stuart Buchanan talks to Chelsey and Kat about Brainbeau and Brisbane, the world they’ve created and now inhabit - a place where they take fun very seriously indeed.

Sydney artist Jannah Quill works in electronic installation and performance, exploring and exposing hidden energies, predominantly through the photo voltaic process - translating light into electricity and ultimately into sound and music. Through her work she begins to “uncase electronic music for what it really is". In this week's episode of Out From Under, we talk to Jannah Quill about her work and her process, and listen to her solo sound works - including a set recorded for the Liquid Architecture event, 'Ritual Community Music' - and works recorded under her WDK project with Laura Hunt from Sydney punk band Ghastly Spats.

This episode of Out From Under is the latest in the new music playlist series, surveying the terrain of eclectic and experimental music across Australia. There’s music from Melbourne’s Carla dal Forno thru Blackest Ever Black (pictured); from artist and producer Thomas William Smith; a new collaboration from the west coast between Perth’s Rabbit Island and Nicholas Allbrook; cracked industrial techno from Newcastle producer Collector; plus tracks from New Zealand’s Purple Pilgrims, Dan Thorpe, WA?STE and more.

Andrew Tuttle is an artist who for twelve years has been exploring the relationship between the electronic and the acoustic - primarily by marrying the worlds of laptop processing with that of banjo and acoustic guitar. He has played live with artists such as Matmos, Mike Cooper and Blank Realm, and recently released the album Fantasy League on the Room 40 imprint, Someone Good. In this episode of Out From Under Andrew discusses the inherent tension in his work and his relationship with his home city of Brisbane. In the second half, we hear an exclusive new recording from Andrew, titled Transitory Adaptations - a mixtape of edited improvisations created while on the road in Europe, recorded in hotel rooms in Lausanne and Berlin and on a train from Berlin to Basel in April 2016.

Curator, musician and sound artist Lawrence English founded his Room 40 label over fifteen years ago, and in the intervening years has nurtured over 150 releases in a roster that includes David Toop, Tim Hecker and Grouper and Australian figures such as Oren Ambarchi, Chris Abrahams and Ben Frost. In a wide-ranging interview, he talks about his long-standing relationship with the city of Brisbane, his deep commitment to opening the doors to seemingly inaccessible music, and the ways in which he considers our complex and evolving relationship with sound and listening.

The latest new music releases are featured in this week’s Out From Under, testing the temperature of eclectic and experimental Australian waters. We hear tracks from the new EP by Melbourne producer waterhouse; future bass from Sydney’s JV; smooth MDMA music from Canberra’s Bum Creek; the debut solo single from Marcus Whale; experimental R&B from Pillow Pro; remixes of work by HTML Flowers and Dylan Michél; plus Lost Salt Blood Purges, Gentleforce, Kell//ua, Hidden, Orlando furious, and new music from Australian electronic music legends Severed Heads.

Sydney label 3BS Records was originally created by Blue Mountains-based musician Jonathan Pizzay as an outlet for his Mannheim Rocket and Klangberg projects, but has subsequently grown into a home for other artists sharing their label manager’s respect for experimental techno, ambient exploration, dystopian noise and low-end sonics. On this week’s Out From Under we’re guided through the back catalogue taking in fellow Mountains resident Broken Chip, New Zealand’s Borrowed cs, Simon Unwin aka Hence Therefore, and Jonathan’s confrontational noise project Extreme Misanthropy Crew.