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)

(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.

The Discontent Mixtape series is an irregular series of compilations, designed to give blog readers an extreme intro into the Discontent world – a collection of tracks that have appeared on the blog in recent times. For this, the second volume, I’ve included a few tracks that didn’t quite make their way from hard drive to blog, and so are included here for the first time (Mutamassik remix, Ras G, Psychic Ills, Xiao He and Entertainment For The Brain Dead).

All the tracks have been published freely online by artists or labels, so feel free to post the link or distribute the mixtape. If you do, please also link back to www.discontentblog.com.

Discontent – Mixtape Two | rapidshare download

1. White – Build A Link [China]
2. Three Trapped Tigers – 1 [England]
3. These Are Powers – Life of Birds [U.S.]
4. Mutamassik – Commo The Rag (Claws Costeau’s All Dirty Remix) [Egypt]
5. Kid606 – Mr. Wobble’s Nightmare [Venezuela]
6. Ras G – Shinelight [U.S.]
7. Psychic Ills – Fingernail Tea [U.S.]
8. Underlapper – Meanderthal (Cleptoclectics Remix) [Australia]
9. Lloop – Lei-tzu [U.S.]
10. Vorad Fils – Android Creche [Australia]
11. Growing – Green Flag [U.S.]
12. Cauto – Despertar [Spain]
13. Xiao He – After Time [China]
14. Entertainment For The Brain Dead – What You Get (Part Timer Remix) [Germany]

Discontent Mixtape One remains available here, featuring Fever Ray, Harmonic 313, Mi Ami, Hudson Mohawke, Salem, Filastine and more.

If you’re new to the Discontent blog, greetings. Here’s a quick way to catch up on what you might have missed over the last few months – Discontent Mixtape One.

This mixtape features a selection of tracks posted on the blog since its launch in November last year. All the tracks have been published freely online by artists or labels, so feel free to post the link or distribute the mixtape. If you do, please also link back to http://www.discontentblog.com. Enjoy…

Discontent – Mixtape One | rapidshare download

1 Fever Ray – If I Had A Heart (Instrumental Edit) [Sweden]
2 Harmonic 313 – Dirtbox [Australia]
3 Lone – Beach Bump [England]
4 The Long Lost – Woebegone (Flying Lotus’ Luckiest Charm) [U.S.]
5 Fantastikoi Hxoi – Kyriarxoi Tou Sympantos [Greece]
6 Ghoul – Fuck Math [Australia]
7 Mi Ami – African Rhythms [U.S.]
8 Hudson Mohawke – Polkadot Blues [Scotland]
9 Pacheko – Green Bull (B Bull Mix) [Venezuela]
10 Filastine – B’talla (feat. Rabah) [U.S.]
11 AGF aka Antye Greie – Disturbia [Germany]
12 The Sight Below – With Her Kiss (I’d Pass The Sky) [U.S.]
13 Sleeps In Oysters – Moths’ Wings For John [England]
14 Salem – Brustreet [U.S.]