Paper Money | A Mixtape by Raphael Dixon

December 6th, 2009 Stu

Raphael Dixon is a broadcaster on Sydney’s FBi Radio. His show follows mine, which means that I always get the chance to listen to his selections when I’m hanging around the studio or I’m on the drive home. When I first heard that Raph was ostensibly presenting a hip hop show, my heart sank a little. There’s already an upfront hip hop show on the station (the perennial Stolen Records), and I remember thinking to myself, “do we really more of the same?”. And that’s when Raph pretty much blew my mind. His curation of sounds from the outer fringes of hip hop, includes innovative beat work and often radical production methodologies, but his real skill also comes to the fore in his ability to map that with other sounds, to cross-pollinate and thus recontextualise our often misplaced notions of what hip hop means in 2009. I hope this mixtape helps to add some critical mileage to Raph’s ongoing mission. Stuart Buchanan

“The genre of Hip-hop has a certain stigma attached to it, often rightly so. Personally, I have always been fascinated by the hip-hop sound and indeed it is the hip-hop sound that this mixtape explores. I say ‘hip-hop’, but I’m sure that there would be a lot of hip-hop  fans who would not enjoy this mixtape, moreover, I’m sure many a ‘purest’ would go so far as to call it “not hip-hop” (an insult of sorts in the hip-hop world). This mixtape is predominately instrumental, ranging from sample based downtempo works, to bassy, electronic, club-influenced glitch-hop.  The drums loops are often slightly wonky or glitchy, the samples brutally chopped or the basslines fuzzy. The idea is to strip down hip-hop to its basic form and rebuild it in a re-contextualised manner that critiques its mother genre. As the experimental hip-hop netlabel Error-Broadcast awkwardly, yet acurately describes it, the wonks, quirks and distortion is  “…the glitch that interferes with crept over mainstream Hip Hop, the increment of postmodernism”.

“Many thanks to the artists, I hope you enjoy their work as much as I do” Raph

DOWNLOAD: Paper Money | A Mixtape by Raphael Dixon (110 MB)

1. Ilz – Paper Monies (Discontent Mixtape Exclusive) [4:31]
2. Shlohmo – Socks (Error Broadcast) [3:23]
3. Bentone – Casual Recurrance (Unsigned) [4:00]
4. Swede:art x A-rec x Fuer.steps – Wonky Carz (Error Broadcast) [3:05]
5. Look Mom No Plans – Falling Apart Ft Ted Faley (Unsigned) [3:44]
6. Freddy Todd – LoFi Fiction Blaster (Unsigned) [4:36]
7. Black Moth Super Rainbow – Sun Lips (Graveface) [3:16]
8. WD4D – Have U? (Unsigned) [2:44]
9. Akira Kiteshi – Ulysses (An-Ten-Nae Presents…) [3:43]
10. Fever Ray – When I Grow Up (Bassnectar Remix) (Amorphous Music/Child’s Play) [4:13]
11. Blunt Instrument – Smashing Plates (Unsigned) [4:39]
12. Nasty Nasty – No Names (Unsigned) [3:31]
13. Eskmo – From The Standpoint (Demo) (Planet Mu) [2:13]
14. Black Era – Just Left Hand Left (A Quiet Bump) [3:54]
15. Claviq – Osika (Amenorea) [2:34]

Raph’s Blog: thegetby.blogspot.com

img: Jade Cantwell

Tags: a-rec, Akira Kiteshi, bentone, Black Era, black moth super rainbow, Blunt Instrument, Claviq, Eskmo, feur-steps, Fever Ray, freddy todd, Ilz, look mom no plans, Nasty Nasty, Raphael Dixon, Shlohmo, swede-art, WD4D

Posted in Mixtapes. | 2 Comments »

We Sleep In This Cave | A Mixtape by Pink Priest

November 21st, 2009 Stu

Discontent is regenerating – and the key shift is a significant one. Discontent will no longer be a home solely for my own curations, I’m opening it up to other minds, other voices, other sounds. I’m opening the door ajar to friends and colleagues thus far, but may well open further as the experiment progresses. First up, an artist who appeared on the recent ‘All That Glitters Is Gold‘ mixtape, Pink Priest. He emailed to thank me for including his track on the mixtape, I suggested he might want to put his own together.  ’We Sleep In This Cave‘ is the result – a singular treat awash with hypnotic tones and drones, punctuated by rough bursts of primal punk and lo-fidelty abstract pop.  It’s a genuinely beautiful curation, and one which I hope sets a benchmark for further guest-tapes to come.  Stuart Buchanan

“Recent days, months, weeks, year(s) have been a good time for music… at least, they have been to me. Over the past year to year and a half, I’ve discovered so much incredibly epic, gorgeous, utterly mind-blowing music, that it’s been hard to keep up with. I don’t want to go too far into detail concerning each and every track on this mix, but these are some musicians, peers, projects, and tracks that have really stuck out to me this year. There’s an aesthetic that flows through this music; it’s grainy, it’s reactionary, it’s radiant, it’s intelligent, it’s haunting, and it packs this intense vibe that you can’t help but take notice to. I won’t keep throwing cliché adjectives around, I’ll simply let this wonderful music speak for itself… Here’s some of my favorite music of recent days, months, weeks, year(s)…” Pink Priest, November 2009.

DOWNLOAD: We Sleep In This Cave | A Mixtape by Pink Priest (94.4MB)

01. Jen Paul – Late Film
02. Peaking Lights – Silver Tongues, Soft Whispers (from Imaginary Falcons – Night-People)
03. Among The Bones – Hark From The Tombs (from Chosen Sons Of Snakes Demo – self-released)
04. Cough Cool - Girl Tell Me (from Buy Some Dust – BATHETIC)
05. Flight – My Business (from Flight 10″ – Kill Shaman)
06. Taped Hiss – Underwater Casino (from Underwater Casinos – self-released)
07. With Moths – Swimming (from 5 Old Songs EP – self-released)
08. Dem Hunger – Nah Fiat Shit Mama (shelleyduvall.blogspot.com)
09. Twins – Less Weight (from Doubles – Peace Age/self-released)
10. Dirty Beaches – Coast To Coast (from Dirty Beaches c22 – Night-People)
11. Wild Nothing – Cloudbusting (Kate Bush Cover)
12. Ducktails – Deck Observatory (from Landscapes – Olde English Spelling Bee)
13. Terrors – Soft Proliferating Light (from Ceaseless Fall c20 – BATHETIC)
14. Ye Olde Maids – Hawk Over The Highway From My Way To You (from God Blesses Us, Mother Dresses Us - Art Fag Recordings)
15. A Gal – And All I Could Think Of Was You (from Jeans Wilder / A Gal Split -BATHETIC)
16. Sparkling Wide Pressure – The Long (from Touching Pasture – Students of Decay)
17. Jen Paul – Muerte O Casamiento Durmiente

Pink Preist: godofblues.blogspot.com | myspace.com/pinkpriest

img: Plamen Stoev

Tags: 2009, a gal, among the bones, art fag recordings, bathetic, cough cool, dem hunger, dirty beaches, ducktails, flight, jen paul, kill shaman, night people, olde english spelling bee, peaking lights, pink priest, sparkling wide pressure, students of decay, taped hiss, terrors, twins, wild nothing, with moths, ye olde maids

Posted in Mixtapes. | 1 Comment »

New Weird Australia | Volume Three

November 12th, 2009 Stu

(cross posted from newweirdaustralia.com)

The old adage still holds true – one man’s meat is indeed another man’s poison. Divert the same philosophy to music and the song remains the same. One woman’s rock is another woman’s roll – or thereabouts.

We make this point to simply note that our definition of ‘weird’ is purely subjective – and we make no claim otherwise. The artists that represent Volume Three of New Weird Australia truly stretch, invert and redefine the notion of ‘weird’. To some, this selection might well be perilously unlistenable, to others we’re toying dangerously with pop at various flash-points throughout the compilation. And therein lies the point.

Our mission is not to meticulously scope and define what is to be ‘weird’ (#FAIL). Our mission rather is to map out a loose terrain – one that skirts around the topological spread mapped by mainstream alternative media, and one that sits both simultaneously in and out of reach. New Weird Australia is designed as a bridge to reach fresh pastures – at some points that journey might feel familiar, at others it might be terrifyingly new.

Given that we’re now on our third volume, we understand that in order to go deep, we also have to go wide – which means fucking with the boundaries at both ends of the spectrum. From Zeal’s quasi-Anticon hip-pop to Anon’s 14-min noise excursion, Volume Three does indeed traverse considerable distances – along the way winding via Lecter Macabre’s pitch-black slow-mo roar to Pompey’s steel-drum romp that winds the set towards a final, optimistic flourish. We could obviously go much wider and much deeper yet – there lies new worlds to conquer in future volumes.

For now, for this month, this is our definition of New Weird Australia. Some you’ll adore, some you’ll abhor – and with that very disagreement, we’ll all find common ground.

New Weird Australia Volume Three, November 2009, NWA003

DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE (AUDIO & ARTWORK):
Standard Quality, 160 kbps (90MB) | Higher Quality, 320kbps (164MB)

1. JEFF BURCH, Untitled 1 (The Western Hour) (3:44),
from ‘As I Remember, If I Remember Correctly, I Arrived Sweetly’
2. AFXJIM, Through The Woods (6:08), from ‘POWWOW Eight (Blackout Music)’
3. 48/4, Hlibt (3:39), previously unreleased
4. THE SINGING SKIES, September (2:52), from ‘September Sky’
5. K MASON, Of 2 Evils (7:15), from ‘2 (Evils)’
6. ALPS, Goosebeak Whale (2:21), from ‘Alps Of New South Whales’
7. DRIVE WEST TODAY, Anthropology (4:37), previously unreleased
8. ADAM TRAINER, Corrosion Party (4:22), previously unreleased
9. COMATONE, They Fall Freely (6:05), previously unreleased
10. ZEAL, Wasps (2:34), previously unreleased
11. NAMATOKE, A Mountain With A Secret (4:53), from ‘Chiaroscuro’
12. LECTER MACABRE, Granelli (New Version) (2:43), previously unreleased
13. BUM CREEK, Fast Forrest (5:13), from ‘Bum Creek’
14. ANON, Quiver Crura Quaker (13:46), previously unreleased
15. ERASERS, Lost///Found (4:26), from ‘Erasers’
16. POMPEY, Actual Locks (3:20), previously unreleased

Compiled by Stuart Buchanan & Danny Jumpertz
Artwork by Lee Tran Lam, www.leetranlam.com

Click artist title for background information and links.
All music donated by the artists for use in this compilation only, all rights reserved.

New Weird Australia is a not-for-profit initiative established to promote eclectic and experimental Australian music. Free compilations are available to download every two months from www.newweirdaustralia.com. Contributions from Australian musicians and designers are welcomed and encouraged – submission details and terms can be found on the About page.

Tags: adam trainer, afxjim, alps, anon, bum creek, comatone, drive west today, erasers, fortyeightfour, jeff burch, k mason, lecter macabre, namatoke, new weird australia, pompey, the singing skies, zeal

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Discontent | All That Glitters Is Gold

September 19th, 2009 Stu

Looking back at the collection of mixtapes that adorn the elongated top shelf of my CD stack, it’s fascinating to watch genres, trends and styles come and ago. As much as the mixtapes pin down flashpoints in time and space, they also reflect a linear narrative of sorts. Buried in between the idiosyncratic choices that I’ve made, are signals that indicate a broader passage. Some genres bleed in slowly over months or over a sequence of multiple tapes, others crash in without much warning, overtaking everything in their path. However, it’s often hard to distinguish whether I’m being pulled, or I’m doing the pulling. Am I responding to signposts in the ether, or am I fashioning my own?

Certainly on ‘All That Glitters Is Gold’ artists such as Gary War, Cold Cave, Oneohtrix Point Never and Best Coast (a post-Pocahaunted project for Bethany Cosentino) are garnering an increasing recognition factor from blogs worldwide, however Australian artists such as Cabaret Callado, Pompey, Hi God People or the newly reissued Pelican Daughters (Itch-E & Scratch-E’s Andy Rantzen in experimental / post-punk mode) remain almost entirely obscured from view, even in their home country. So, is this my story, or someone else’s? Truly, like all good mixtapes, it’s an eccentric combination of both.

What surprised me when pulling together this selection was the complete absence of remixes or covers. Instead, this is (with one slight exception) the original instance of all the tracks represented, not a reversion in sight. Perhaps the seemingly unstoppable glut of remixes and bootleg versions over the years has finally taken their toll on me – I need to return to the source. This theory is bourne out by events in my life – twelve months ago I was running down a clu-de-sac flogging ‘global ghettotech’ on Fat Planet, today I’ve reconnected with what drove my love of music in the first place: free experimentation, unbridled by a sense of scene, or notions of taste. Whether this is symptomatic of a wider condition is unclear, but I defy anyone to send me a bootleg electro remix via email and expect to see it cropping up on a mixtape anytime in the next era.

The title reflects this – these tracks shimmer and glow in their own right, with no need for spit or polish from any third party. It’s also a phrase culled from the closing track (the caveat mentioned above) – Buttress O’Kneel and Lucas Darklord’s destruction of the Led Zeppelin classic. In Lucas’ own words, this is not so much as a remix, as a “ruin”. And it befits a mixtape whose underlying purpose (initially unbeknown to me) was to draw a line, to ruin the past, and to plant a signpost for a different kind of future.

Discontent – All That Glitters Is Gold | download [Rapidshare, 105MB]

1. Pink Priest – Field Of Orgasms [U.S.] 2:02
2. Teeth Mountain – Black Jerusalem [U.S.] 5:42
3. Lucky Dragons – Power Melody [U.S.] 3:46
4. Gyratory System – Cargo Cult [England] 4:34
5. Blank Dogs – Set Living [U.S.] 3:18
6. Peace In – Candy Rug Lizards [U.S.] 2:52
7. Oneohtrix Point Never – Zones Without People [U.S.] 4:00
8. Cabaret Callado – Ware [Brazil / Australia] 2:56
9. Gary War – Good Clues [U.S.] 2:51
10. Cold Cave – Life Magazine [U.S.] 2:56
11. Flight – Flowers [U.S.] 2:51
12. Hi God People – Thunder On The Way To Funan [Australia] 8:24
13. Pelican Daughters – The Haywain [Australia] 3:38
14. Zaza – Sooner or Later [U.S.] 5:06
15. Pompey – Hands Miniature [Australia] 2:56
16. Best Coast – Something In The Way [U.S.] 2:11
17. Polyfox & The Union Of The Most Ghosts – Cross Boa Tangles Gently Around Polyfox [Australia] 3:02
18. Fol Chen – Cocktails at Shadeland [U.S.] 0:59
19. BOK Darklord – Stairway to Heaven [Australia] 2:12

img | anniewong

Tags: best coast, blank dogs, BOK, cabaret callado, cold cave, flight, fol chen, gary war, gyratory system, hi god people, lucky dragons, oneohtrix point never, peace in, pelican daughters, pink priest, polyfox, pompey, teeth mountain, zaza

Posted in Mixtapes. | 5 Comments »

New Weird Australia | Volume Two

September 12th, 2009 Stu

Grant Hunter’s cover artwork for the free download compilation, New Weird Australia Volume Two – featuring our country’s endearing emblematic marsupial with black claw outstretched and a murderous fleck in his eye – perfectly illustrates the ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ binary of the Australian story.

On one side, the world is sold on paradisal visions of Australian reefs and plains, care-free surfers racing down golden sands, and the classic long-shot of a sun-blemished Uluru. On the flip, with just as much fervour, we mythologise and peddle stories of perpetual gangland warfare, malevolent outback serial killers and dingoes eating babies for their morning snack.

If only the same warped duality could be brought to bear on the world’s vision of our musical worth. The exported track record is however largely one-sided – our place as the shiny, electro party-starter of the Southern Hemisphere is unrivalled, along with a seemingly endless passion for rock, culled from a 40-year old tombstone. Ask the world to identify a prominent Australian undercurrent and they will remain largely tight-lipped. Hence New Weird Australia – a project aimed as much at curating a contemporary library of alt-Australiana, as promoting that collection to the rest of the globe.

For Volume Two, we once again represent a strong geographic diversity with music from Tasmania, Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. We embody genre diversity from 21-year-oldWilliam Gardiner’s neo-classical work to the sprawling sample ephemera spread by Newcastle’s Cock Safari; from Maddest Kings Alive’s shoegaze chip-tunes to a seemingly perfect drift plain soundtrack, hewn by Solo Andata’sPaul Fiocco. There are also multiple exclusives from Kharkov, Lucia Draft, Mieli, No Art, Karoshi, Transmissions and Jason (Pretty Boy Crossover) Sweeney’s Panoptique Electrical project, and new work from Broken Chip, Ghoul, Oceans, Sam Price and Splendid Friends.

In mapping and redefining the local terrain, New Weird Australia represents a new breed of Australian musicians that cast an essential shadow over Australia’s sunny disposition.

(cross-posted from newweirdaustralia.com)

New Weird Australia Volume Two, September 2009, NWA002

DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE (AUDIO & ARTWORK):
Standard Quality, 192 kbps (103MB)
Higher Quality, 320kbps (159MB, via Rapidshare)

1. OCEANS, 02 + 03 (5:11) From ‘album’
2. GHOUL, Swimming Pool (Remix) (3:04) From ’Swimming Pool’
3. WILLIAM GARDINER, Sonance Arboreal (4:39) Previously unreleased
4. SAM PRICE, AutoHackney (5:28) From ‘Rand’
5. BROKEN CHIP, Summer Stars (5:06) From ‘POWWOW Seven’
6. KHARKOV, Crustacean (3:12) Previously unreleased
7. COCK SAFARI, 8MH (6:36) Previously unreleased
8. LUCIA DRAFT, Not Interested (1:16) Previously unreleased
9. MIELI, Hometime (3:34) Previously unreleased
10. KAROSHI, Re-Animate Me (2:44) Previously unreleased
11. NO ART, Fight In The Nocturnal House (3:56) Previously unreleased
12. TRANSMISSIONS, Staring At Lightning Strikes, Catching Every One (2:45) Previously unreleased
13. PANOPTIQUE ELECTRICAL, We Was Them (7:32) Previously unreleased
14. MADDEST KINGS ALIVE, Measels (4:05) Previously unreleased
15. SPLENDID FRIENDS, Holy Shears (1:42) From ‘Summer Moon Illusion’
16. PAUL FIOCCO, Torsions and Drifts (13:34) From ‘Torsions And Drifts’

Compiled by Stuart Buchanan & Danny Jumpertz
Artwork by Grant Hunter, granthunter.daportfolio.com

Click artist title for background information and links.
All music donated by the artists for use in this compilation only, all rights reserved.

New Weird Australia is a not-for-profit initiative established to promote eclectic and experimental Australian music. Free compilations are available to download every two months from www.newweirdaustralia.com. Contributions from Australian musicians and designers are welcomed and encouraged – submission details and terms can be found on the ‘New Weird Australia’ site.

Tags: broken chip, cock safari, ghoul, karoshi, kharkov, lucia draft, maddest kings alive, mieli, new weird australia, no art, oceans, panoptique electrical, paul fiocco, sam price, splendid friends, transmissions, william gardiner

Posted in Mixtapes. | No Comments »

Discontent | Burnt By The Sun

August 8th, 2009 Stu

For a brief moment at the back half of last year, it felt as if dubstep was everywhere – that more common forms of what we might simply term ‘electronic music’ had been effectively backed into a corner by a swelling legion of producers (new and old) finding inspiration through the low end. There were two net results: one, the overall quality of the music being produced naturally become diluted and duplicated and it was all the worse for it; two, producers at the top of their game took their work off to one side, far outside the genre schema, and it was all the better for it. This collection isn’t particularly post-dubstep in any real sense, but – if there’s any commonality to be found – each of the producers here are creating new electronic music that sits outside the path of any genre juggernaut.

Kicking off the mixtape, Jay Bharadia and Gaslamp Killer plough a seam that points back to sample-delica and cut’n’spice science, but they too find something new to say inside an over-represented marketplace. Jay Bharadia’s work was only recently introduced to me, although this cut is taken from his 2008 album, ‘The Yeti Cave’. More recently, he’s released a beautiful collection of warped remixes from Lone, Ochre, Implosion Quiet and two particularly sunburnt offerings from Airliner ‘67. The Gaslamp Killer’s cut is ripped from his new debut EP, ‘My Troubled Mind’ released via Flying Lotus’ label, Brainfeeder. For once, the hype is right – and The Gaslamp Killer delivers a short but instantly compelling delve into his inverted beat alchemy.

Lest you feel any predictably in where this mixtape might head, there’s a few curveballs tucked inside. One is Ikonika, a female producer that has hitched herself to the right star in signing to the Hyperdub label, a dubstep collective that (much like its founder, Kode9) has found a new lease of life outside the main genre arena. ‘Phonelines VIP’ included here sounds as if it could have been ripped from an early Artificial Intelligence collection from Warp Records, updated with a two step sensibility. The second is Mochipet, whose endless productivity is matched by a consistently high and consistently skewed quality. Mochipet certainly doesn’t take himself too seriously, but in doing so, he finds seemingly endless freedom and flexibility. Having the space to move anywhere, particularly inside a single track, is not something that every producer can lay claim to and – on the new album, ‘Master P On Atari’ – that ability once again serves Mochipet well.

The mixtape closes with Paul White, a producer that has been prolific for many years – primarily as a ‘library music producer’ for British television. Inevitably, this overtly informs his work – this track from the album ‘The Strange Dreams Of Paul White’, with its wonky analogue sounds, hip hop beats and haunted snatches of Asian vocal, manages to tap into a leyline that straddles the last four decades of music. As with the rest of these selections, White understands that while embracing currency and futurism has its place, there still remains much to be gained from distilling that sensibility with choice fragments of the past. A notion that our bland, copyist dubstep fiends might be well advised to consider.

Discontent – Burnt By The Sun | download [Rapidshare,114MB]

1. Jay Bharadia – Mother Culture / England [8:21]
2. The Gaslamp Killer – Anything Worse / U.S. [4:15]
3. Various Production – Trycycle / England [6:58]
4. Ikonika – Phonelines VIP / England [4:22]
5. Jogger – Nice Tights (Nosaj Thing Remix) / U.S. [3:00]
6. Bodycode – Subspace Radio / South Africa [6:10]
7. Dalt Wisney – Smokey Daze Forever / Pakistan [3:02]
8. Mochipet – Marshall Bass Stacks / Taiwan / U.S. [3:45]
9. Fulgeance – Ann Arbor / France [4:44]
10. Fletcher – Dreadlox Dub / South Africa [6:17]
11. King Cannibal – So…Embrace The Minimum / England [4:02]
12. Paul White – Burnt By The Sun / England [2:16]

img | tchola

Tags: bodycode, dalt wisney, fletcher, fulgeance, gaslamp killer, ikonika, jay bharadia, jogger, king cannibal, mochipet, paul white, variousproduction

Posted in Mixtapes. | 4 Comments »

Discontent | Hypnogogic Pop

July 30th, 2009 Stu

This mixtape is inspired by David Keenan’s ‘Hypnogogic Pop’ article in August 2009 issue of The Wire. Keenan asserts that the phrase refers to “pop music refracted through the memory of a memory“, drawing its power from “1980s pop culture into which many of the genre players were born, and which is now being factored into underground music as a spectral influence“.

I was drawn to this partly due to my admiration of Pocahaunted (featured briefly in the article), but also more particularly to the aesthetic – music drawn through layers of continual disintegration, indifferent to (and indeed almost entirely opposed) to clarity or crisp production, with instrumentation seemingly drawn from cheap, disposable sources. The packaging too is born of the same sensibility – many of these releases find themselves distributed via cassette, in limited runs, with photocopied covers and no hope for a simultaneous digital release.

In times when the printed zine is making a stand against the endless digital ephemera of blog culture, it’s perhaps unsurprising that a new generation of experimental artists would reject free and easy digital distribution in favour of lo-fi, corruptable, DIY recordings. But in this hypnogogic realm, looking back across the planes of over two decades, the time-scarred inspiration from that era is also corrupt, endlessly photocopied and degraded to such a point when it becomes almost entirely detached from the source. The natural result, as Keenan notes, is a sense of being “haunted by pop” – which also references “hauntology“, coined by Simon Reynolds in 2006 describing a crop of British artists who deploy “delectable morsels of decaying culture-matter”.

As with all material on Discontent, music found on this tape has been made available for free by the artists, hence it represents only a slice of the scene. Some of the artists on this collection are cited in the original article, others I’ve take liberties to include – such as Australia’s Cock Safari (whose new EP feels like the perfect bridge between continental scenes) and Salem’s take on Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Streets Of Philadelphia’, which feels like a more direct coda to the abstract references peppered throughout these 72 minutes.

Discontent – Hypnogogic Pop | download [Rapidshare, 145MB]

1. Jason E Anderson – Half / U.S. [2:37]
2. Cock Safari – Fleetwood Jack / Australia [3:23]
3. Yeti Scalp – Window To The Past / U.S. [5:10]
4. Sun Araw – Heavy Deeds / U.S. [9:50]
5. Pocahaunted – Ghetto Ballet / U.S. [8:53]
6. James Ferraro – Untitled 3 / U.S. [5:58]
7. Emeralds – Lawn of Mirrors / U.S. [3:16]
8. Steve Hauschildt – Cybernetic Inevitable / U.S. [10:16]
9. Brother Raven – Diving Into The Pineapple Portal / U.S. [12:09]
10. Salem – Brustreet / U.S. [5:02]
11. Witchbeam – Change Desires Into Realities / U.S. [5:55]

img | Neil Krug (Licenced Via Creative Commons, Some Rights Reserved).

Tags: hynogogic pop

Posted in Mixtapes. | 1 Comment »

Discontent | Music For Merce

July 30th, 2009 Stu

Earlier this week, just as I was about to re-launch the blog, I read that Merce Cunningham had passed away. Whilst regularly lauded as one of the finest choreographers and dancers not only in America, but also worldwide, Merce’s contribution to music is no less profound. His avant garde approach to movement was matched directly with his work within sound. His life partner, John Cage, was the inaugural musical advisor for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and, between them, the duo forged an unparalleled relationship between music and dance, so much so that the repertory now reads as something of a ‘who’s who’ in 20th century avant garde music. Familiar names such as Sonic Youth, Radiohead, Brian Eno, Sigur Ros, Gavin Bryars, Pierre Henry, Erik Satie rub shoulders with composers and musicians who bent form, twisted genres and stretched definitions – and all of them sound-tracked work from a visionary artist, the like of which we may never see again.

It seemed fitting to construct a tiny tribute to Merce, utilising music and sound both lifted from artists within the repertoire (Pauline Oliveros, Sigur Ros, Earle Brown, Brian Eno, Sonic Youth, Yasunao Tone and, of course, John Cage), and those who were inspired by it. The latter is represented directly and indirectly. La Monte Young, who scored Merce’s 1964 piece ‘Winterbranch’, cited Ustad Abdul Karim Khan’s ‘Jamuna Ke Tira Kanha’ as “one of the great masterpieces of music”. In addition to Charlotte Moorman’s realisation of a Cage piece, artist Mikrosopht also blends one of Cage’s many spoken words recordings into his own composition, where the composer’s influence on Nobukazu Takemura is more oblique – citing his “impressionist and objective conception” as key bearings on the creative process. I’ve also included My Brightest Diamond’s variation of Radiohead’s ‘Lucky’ from Stereogum’s OKX project – a puzzling hit and miss affair, particularly given the subject matter.

I was extraordinarily fortunate to have met Merce Cunningham a few years back – a close friend was working with him and invited me to lunch at his apartment when I was visiting NYC. I remember him being extremely warm, good humoured and incredibly genuine – it was one of those rare and beautifully uncommon episodes that will remain with me for life.

Discontent – Music For Merce | download [Rapidshare]

1. Pauline Oliveros – Sound Patterns [4:04]
2. Sigur Rós – ( ) #6 [8:48]
3. Ustad Abdul Karim Khan – Bhairavi Thumri (Adha Tal) – Jamuna Ke Tira Kanha [4:09]
4. Earle Brown – Hodograph 1 For Chamber Ensemble [3:34]
5. Brian Eno & David Byrne – Regiment [4:11]
6. Mikrosopht – Very Deep Pleasure (feat. John Cage) [3:23]
7. Charlotte Moorman – “26′1.1499″” For a String Player (abbreviated version)” [2:47]
8. Sonic Youth – SYR6 (Excerpt) [3:09]
9. Nobukazu Takemura – Cogwheel [9:46]
10. Yasunao Tone – Wounded Man’yo, No. 36-7 [10:23]
11. My Brightest Diamond – Lucky [4:14]
12. John Cage – John Cage Meets Sun Ra, Part One (Edit) [10:42]

img | yan.da (Licenced via Creative Commons)

Tags: brian eno, charlotte moorman, david byrne, earle brown, john cage, merce cunningham, mikrosopht, mixtape, my brightest diamond, nobukazu takemura, pauline oliveros, sigur ros, sonic youth, ustad abudl karim khan, yasunao tone

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Discontent Re-launched | ‘Free Music’ Mixtapes

July 30th, 2009 Stu

For over 20 years, I’ve been making mixtapes. Originally on cassette, briefly flirting with MiniDisc before landing now on the ubiquitous CD-R, there are just under 200 of my own mixtapes clogging up shelf space in the house. The first, titled ‘Aural Subculture’ (a vague reference to New Order) is dated February 1988 and includes tracks from The Sugarcubes, Cocteau Twins, Joy Division, The Fall and the Jesus & Mary Chain, amongst many other less notables.

For me, mixtapes serve two purposes – first, they are archival documentation that not only preserve a moment in sound, but that also ensure that I don’t lose pieces; that artefacts are catalogued and available to recall at any given moment. As a broadcaster, charged with identifying and promoting new music on a weekly basis, music can pass me by in a heartbeat – the average audition time for a track is less than ten seconds. It has to catch me in that time frame, otherwise I’ve clicked on to the next. Without that dictum, I’d never get through the volume required in any given week. Thus mixtapes help me preserve the stand-outs, to ensure that they get played (often repeatedly so) on radio and remain on the shelf for a lifetime to come.

If that sounds a little clinical, then be assured – the second purpose is pure pleasure. The curation, collation and sequencing of mixtapes is one of my favourites pursuits. Even if no one else ever hears them, it gives me great joy.

Thus, when considering phase two of Discontent, it felt very much as if the time had finally arrived to put two and two together. Blogging and mixtapes, as one. Blogging about a single track in a single post certainly gives space and context, but the time allocated to writing is disproportionate to the length of the music itself. With mixtapes, I can get across a wider selection of music, but also create context in a different way – by placing each piece in a sequence with a considered selection of other sounds.

Importantly, as always, all of the music on Discontent remains ‘legal’ or, more simply, ‘free music’ – that is, that the music in these mixtapes has been made available for free by artists, labels or other organisations. Perhaps they never considered that their music would be used in this way, but hopefully the introduction of a new filter, a new context or a new curation will help distribute and ’sell’ their work more widely.

To launch Discontent 2.0, I’ve posted two new mixtapes – the first is inspired by an article in this month’s Wire magazine on ‘Hypnogogic Pop‘ and features new music from Sun Araw, Pocahaunted, James Ferraro, Salem, Witchbeam, Yeti Scalp, Cock Safari, Jason E Anderson (also in his Brother Raven guise), Steve Hauschildt and Emeralds.

Although most of the mixtapes will feature new music, the second selection this week takes a more retrospective approach – in memory of artist Merce Cunningham, who sadly passed away on Monday. The mixtape includes musicians that have at one point or another featured in the repertory for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (Pauline Oliveros, Sigur Ros, Earle Brown, Brian Eno, Sonic Youth, Yasunao Tone and, of course, John Cage) as well as music inspired by Cunningham’s artistic and personal partner, John Cage. ‘Music For Merce‘ is a small tribute to a great man and a timeless body of avant-garde work.

In addition to these tapes, I’ve also reposted recent mixtape selections: Discontent Mixtape Volumes One & Two, the first volume in the New Weird Australia project, and ‘Databass Eclectic Audio‘ – a 1997 collection of (then) new experimental Scottish music.

I hope you enjoy this new approach for Discontent and get just as much pleasure from listening to these selections as I had putting them together.

So it goes,
Stu.

img | eatmorechips

Tags: Mixtapes., News.

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New Weird Australia | Volume One

July 5th, 2009 Stu

(cross-posted from newweirdaustralia.com)

New Weird Australia Volume One, July 2009

Geography dictates that, to some, Australia may forever remain as the Romans once saw it, as the “unknown land of the south”. However as technology conquers territory, distance becomes increasingly insignificant – a fact that is clearly illustrated on this first instalment of New Weird Australia. In borrowing (and expanding) ‘new, weird’ terminology, we hope to shrink the notion of distance between innovative Australian artists and their international compatriots; between the dot points on the vast map of our own land and between definitions of genre, taste or style.

For Volume One, we find ourselves narrowing the gap of the 4,000km range from the precision edit and bluegrass glitch of Brisbane’s Anonymeye, to the free-jazz of Yugoslavian ex-pat and Perth resident, Predrag Delibasich. We simultaneously compress time – moving from Pimmon (a renowned experimentalist with a significant international back catalogue) through to Kyu, a nascent duo freshly ripped from the Sydney soil. We additionally garner exclusive tracks from Telafonica, Tom Smith (of Cleptoclectics), Raven and Inquiet, and recent releases from Clingtone, Lessons In Time, Battlesnake, Loom and the inappropriately named Brutal Hate Mosh.

Neither popular nor alternative, neither one genre nor another, New Weird Australia represents a new breed of Australian musicians that find refuge in the space between us. We hope you enjoy this selection and seek out the full library of work that these artists have to offer.
Stuart Buchanan, July 2009.

DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE (AUDIO & ARTWORK) (89.6MB) *

1. CLINGTONE The Intruders (1:23) From ‘Mary Had A Little Lamp’
2. ANONYMEYE If At First You Don’t Secede… (5:31) From ‘The Disambiguation Of Anonymeye’
3. LESSONS IN TIME Those Plastic Street Signs Are Not To Be Followed (2:02) From ‘Lessons In Time’
4. TELAFONICA Time And Distance (6:32) Previously unreleased
5. PIMMON On The Other Hand This Carbon Fire Is (Flammable) (4:36) Previously unreleased
6. KYU Sunny In Splodges (5:19) Previously unreleased
7. BATTLESNAKE Shadow Of The World’s Tallest Midget (5:22) From ‘Umlaut’
8. TOM SMITH Settled For Less (3:09) Previously unreleased
9. RAVEN Presumption #1 (3:10) Previously unreleased
10. LOOM Snail Shell (8:06) From ‘All You Need Is Teeth’
11. INQUIET Honey & Seeds (3:28) Previously unreleased
12. PREDRAG DELIBASICH Heartburn (13:37) Previously unreleased
13. BRUTAL HATE MOSH Roads (1:43) From ‘It’s Pronounced Kate Moss’

Compiled by Stuart Buchanan
Artwork by Adrian Elmer

Click artist title for background information and links.
All music donated by the artists for use in this compilation only, all rights reserved.

Thanks to all the artists for the leap of faith in donating their tracks for the first volume in this initiative. Special thanks to Danny Jumpertz and to Adrian and Blake for their early support.

New Weird Australia is a not-for-profit initiative established to promote eclectic and experimental Australian music. Free compilations are available to download every two months from www.newweirdaustralia.com. Contributions from Australian musicians and artists are welcomed and encouraged – submission details and terms can be found on the About page.

* Problems with downloading? Click here for the Rapidshare Mirror download page.

Tags: mixtape, new weird australia

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