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CA049B: Michael Mildren | Process 2: Post-Kraft

November 16, 2017

Melbourne electronic music virtuoso Michael Mildren continues his Process series of mini-albums with the second instalment, Post-Kraft. The Process series is Michael Mildren’s new collection of four mini-albums, each exploring a different facet of electronic music technique and artistic philosophy. Clan Analogue is releasing each instalment in the Process series monthly until early 2018, with Process 1: Studies In Kraft having been released recently.

<a href="http://clananalogue.bandcamp.com/album/process-2-post-kraft">Process 2: Post-Kraft by Michael Mildren</a>

Process 2: Post-Kraft follows on from Process 1: Studies in Kraft, in which Michael explored the music of Kraftwerk by replicating a selection of their greatest tracks with the equipment, techniques and musical mindset of these German electronic music pioneers. With Process 2: Post-Kraft, Michael Mildren has taken the lessons he learned through exploring Kraftwerk and applied them to eight new original compositions, all infused with the aura and consciousness of the German electronic pioneers. The result is a collection of songs which sound both classic and current, of interest to fans of Kraftwerk or to anyone who appreciates the sounds they inspired, whether new wave synth pop, Detroit techno, modern electro or the myriad of other electronic styles they spawned.

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Read What Michael Mildren Learned From Kraftwerk as he worked on the first two installments of the Process series.

Michael Mildren has made his mark with several acclaimed performances in the Melbourne Fringe Festival. These include his 2015 Men/Machine performance, where he reworked classic Kraftwerk tracks with vintage gear and period performance techniques, and more recently with Music Non-Stop, a stunning 12-hour improv set in 2016, where an array of guest performers augmented his layered atmospheres and propulsive rhythms throughout the sonic marathon.

Download album from Juno Downloads

Post-Kraft opens with the epic ‘Levels’, where Michael explores the development of electronic music from unfiltered noise through to manipulated drones before emerging into arpeggiated melodic polyphony and the propulsive rhythmic drive of the motorik German sound. ‘Like Me’ follows on with a song epitomising the machine-inspired pop of Kraftwerk’s late 70s style, with vocodered vocals and the theme of the effect of technology on human relationships.
‘GeoEngineering’ explores the early 80s Kraftwerk sound that inspired Detroit techno, with a minimalist take on a modern environmental issue. ‘This Is an Emergency’ pays homage to some of the slower, more contemplative tracks on Kraftwerk albums such as Autobahn and Radio-Activity. ‘Treading the Fine Line’ continues in the introspective vein, with a melodic reflection on existence before album closer ‘Meditation in G’.

Process 2: Post-Kraft from Michael Mildren is available now from Clan Analogue. Process 3 will be released this Summer.

Track list:
1. Levels
2. Like You
3. GeoEngineering
4. Satellite in the Sky
5. This Is An Emergency
6. Find Your Here
7. Treading the Fine Line
8. Meditation in G

CA050: Coordinate: Collaboration Beyond the Algorithm | Various Artists

September 29, 2017

The legendary collective Clan Analogue collective celebrate 25 years of independent Australian electronic music-making in 2017 with the release of their 50th record, the new compilation album Coordinate: Collaboration Beyond the Algorithm (CA050).

<a href="http://clananalogue.bandcamp.com/album/coordinate-collaboration-beyond-the-algorithm">Coordinate: Collaboration Beyond the Algorithm by Various Artists</a>

Already hugely respected for their diverse and innovative compilation albums, Coordinate: Collaboration Beyond the Algorithm sees Clan Analogue take their most unusual approach yet towards putting together a release. Fifty electronic and experimental music artists from Australia and overseas registered to take part in the Coordinate project, each one paired up to collaborate with artists they had never met before. Their only instructions were to move outside stylistic comfort zones and to respond to the theme ‘beyond the algorithm’.

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Whether working with cloud-based collaborative DAW software or posting back and forth CD burns, each collaboration found its own method to bridge the geographic and stylistic divides they faced. The results are an exceptionally diverse yet thematically unified release, traversing much of the terrain of electronic music over the last 25 years yet moving forward with new evolutions of sound with each collaboration pursuing its own unique vision.

Buy CD direct from Clan Analogue:

The theme of ‘beyond the algorithm’ was chosen to reflect the ways in which we are increasingly herded to interact with those who think like us. Through the ubiquitousness of social media as the dominant communication platform of today we are driven more and more to interact with those who think like us, who share our values, who will confirm our attitudes. The result is an echo chamber that narrows our perspectives and standardises outcomes, including in the area of art. Collaborators were selected for each Coordinate artist specifically to undermine this tendency and to push each collaborator ‘beyond the algorithm’.

Download album from Juno Downloads

Coordinate spans 12 diverse collaborative visions. Opening track ‘Let the Robots’ by German classical musician Sunitram and Bowral-based techno artist Wasters of Time asks what we are prepared to give over to algorithmic control. Electro-pop artist John von Ahlen collaborates with psychedelic aficionado Shane Osterfield to create the stomping rockno excursion ‘Millonario’. Modular synth devotee SFBM joins with experimental sonic practitioner David Prescott-Steed on ‘Heuristic’, a techno journey into the extremes of sound. These are just some of the sonic avenues explored in the album’s 12 tracks.

The artists’s perspectives on how the collaborations happened.

Track list:

1. Wasters of Time and Sunitram l Let the Robots
2. Jani Ho and Justin Mullins l Melberra
3. Eighth Arrow and Pradip Sarkar with Damian Tangram l Deep State
4. Kitty Xiao and Campbell Drummond l Dialogue
5. Simon Mann meets ZAZIZ l Memories of Attar
6. Auto_Horatio and Tony Tralongo’s Cocoon l Choonosaurus
7. John von Ahlen and Shane Osterfield l Millonario
8. iubar project vs Modus Op l Untold
9. EchoZilla and Nat Grant l Three Part Ratio
10. JOR and PantsOfDeath l Remote Access
11. David Prescott-Steed and SFBM l Heuristic
12. dyLAB and lightwell l Two Minds

CA052: Random Acts of Elevator Music | Random Acts of Elevator Music

September 22, 2017

When Random Acts of Elevator Music first appeared a decade ago, striding the streets in business attire with their portable studio hidden in briefcases, they struck terror into the hearts of security guards and HR departments throughout the CBD. What would happen to their performance bonuses if Random Acts of Elevator Music successfully infiltrated their office buildings and enlightened the consciousness of their workers with live muzaktronica?

<a href="http://clananalogue.bandcamp.com/album/random-acts-of-elevator-music">Random Acts of Elevator Music by Random Acts of Elevator Music</a>

Now appreciators of ambient tones and soothing melodies will be simultaneously delighted and challenged with the Random Acts of Elevator Music album. The surface sheen of new age synths and major key melodies is overlaid with glitch aesthetics, low-fi production, improv attitude and a Situationist philosophy drawn from the elevator jam sessions where this music began.

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Virtual modular bleeps mix with early-80s digital technology, conveying the social and psychological landscape of the modern metropolitan work environment. Tracks such as ‘Lunchtime Meditation Session’, ‘Power Walk’ and ‘Spreadsheet Dreams’ convey scenarios familiar to all office workers, where the demands of corporate productivity often seem impervious to the humanist spirit.

Buy CD direct from Clan Analogue:

If this album doesn’t help to raise your personal productivity we won’t be giving you a refund, unless you complete our 3-stage application form. But we guarantee that if you load it up on your phone your lift journey to the 39th floor will be a lot more stimulating. For proof we recommend you check out our website for the personal endorsements of lift-travelers captured on video when stumbling into a lift where Random Acts of Elevator Music had appeared.

Random Acts of Elevator Music is the latest project from City Frequencies, a collaboration between Matt Adair and Nick Wilson, who work together on sound projects within the metropolitan environment. For more on Random Acts of Elevator Music and related projects visit www.cityfreqs.com.au

Tracklist:
1. Waiting in the Foyer
2. Their Eyes Met Across the Partition
3. Up and Down
4. Power Walk
5. Message
6. Spreadsheet Dreams
7. Lunchtime Meditation Session
8. Transmission of Statistical Data
9. Lunchtime Meditation Session (live version)

CA051: Kable54 | Volca Galaxies

September 20, 2017

Following on from 2016’s “plastic ambient” album The Month Machine, Melbourne’s microsynth virtuoso Kable54 has turned his hand to creating an album of acid-tinted krautrock jams with electric circuitry and voltage, the superb Volca Galaxies.

<a href="http://clananalogue.bandcamp.com/album/volca-galaxies">Volca Galaxies by Kable54</a>

Volca Galaxies evolved over 12 months of live performances and improvisational jams around Melbourne using a minimal setup of small portable analogue Korg Volca synths. Kable54 took those jams, polished them up and fed them a diet of East German steroids and West German psychedelics before piecing the whole thing back together again. The record sounds like an energetic, emotional journey through the hypercolour enormity of the Milky Way galaxy. For once we elected to keep the hyperbole to a minimum and let the artist tell his only story….

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“Last year, I was sick of making music by sitting in front of the computer, alone. I wanted to play live performances to real people. I wanted to move away from the computer” said Kable54 about his initial motivation. “Then I found out about Korg’s Volca synths when I stumbled on a random youtube clip. Realising this would be a way more intuitive and performative way to make music, I worked some extra shifts to raise some cash and soon had a great little setup sitting on my kitchen table. Then it was goodbye laptop!”

“The development of the album is more like a 70’s rock album than modern EDM thing… songs were written, then tested out by performing in a bar that night. They developed and changed as I roadtested them from gig to gig. The weaker ones were kicked out of the set, new ones composed and ideas honed for maximum impact”.

“I was performing once a fortnight or so, at pubs, bars, cafes, festivals, wherever. Melbourne’s a great live electronic music scene if you know where to look. After six months or so, it really came together. Instead of individual songs, they started merging, becoming one hour-long piece”.

When Kable committed his sounds to tape he focused on capturing the live improv spirit. “Recording the album, it was really important to stay true to the live performance… the limitations that live performance has, as well as the limitations of the Volca synths. I wanted to take my live set in its entirety, disassemble all the pieces, polish them up, feed them performance-enhancing drugs, then re-assemble the whole thing”.

Volca Galaxies, the new album from Kable54, will be launched at Bar 303, 303 High St, Northcote on Saturday 16th of September at Analogue Coordinates, part of Clan Analogue’s 25 Anniversary Electronic Weekend in the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Tickets are available from www.melbournefringe.com.au

Tracklist:
1. Viper Live
2. Ballet Statique Redux
3. TR Sparks
4. Quick Jam
5. Empire Files
6. Ubermensch When I Can
7. Son of a Snakeoil Salesman

CA049A: Michael Mildren | Process 1: Studies in Kraft

September 1, 2017

Michael Mildren launches his Process EP series with Studies In Kraft
CA049A

Melbourne-based electronic music virtuoso Michael Mildren launches his Process series, a collection of four mini-albums, each exploring a different facet of electronic music technique and artistic significance. Clan Analogue will release each installment in the Process series monthly between now and the end of 2017, beginning with Process 1: Studies In Kraft, an exploration of the seminal work of German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk.

<a href="http://clananalogue.bandcamp.com/album/process-1-studies-in-kraft">Process 1: Studies in Kraft by Michael Mildren</a>

Read more about Michael Mildren’s Journey Into Kraftwerk, including details on the equipment he used and techniques he explored.

Download album from Bandcamp

Studies in Kraft is the product of Michael’s intense study of the classic 1970s work of German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk. Given their huge influence in electronic music, Michael aimed to develop his craftsmanship by exploring in infinitesimal detail the composition and production techniques used to produce Kraftwerk’s greatest work. To this end Michael scoured eBay to source the right vintage synths, drum machines and vocoders from all over the world, from Stylophones to Texas Instruments Language Tutors to Mattel Synsonics electronic drums. He analysed every bass note, synth tone and rhythmic pattern of his selected Kraftwerk tracks, spending hundreds of hours on sonic experimentation, programming and playing, until he achieved the perfect Kraftwerk mind-meld.

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The results of Michael’s work on Process 1 are eleven tracks which trace Kraftwerk’s most influential work backwards from 1980’s Computer World album through to their 1975 breakthrough Autobahn. Although there have been many Kraftwerk covers released over the years, this is a rare occasion where their material has been explored with the level of detail and intensity applied by classical musicians to the interpretation of composers such as Mozart or Beethoven. This is not however a slavish re-enactment, but an interpretation of Kraftwerk as they themselves may have played the tracks in an alternative reality – less a re-enactment and more an inhabitation of the Kraftwerk sonic headspace. The results will be of interest to anyone interested in classic electronic music and its influence in our musical landscape today.

Buy album from Juno Downloads

Process 1: Studies In Kraft from Michael Mildren is available now from Clan Analogue. Process 2: Post-Kraft follows on from Process 1, where Michael explores the techniques of Kraftwerk in his own original music.

Tracklist:

1. Computer World
2. Pocket Calculator
3. Computer Love
4. The Robots
5. The Model
6. Neon Lights
7. The Man Machine
8. Europe Endless
9. Radioactivity
10. Antenna
11. Autobahn

CA048A: Aeriae | Peril Triage

August 24, 2017

Aeriae continues to carve out his unique space in modern electronic music production with Peril Triage, the new 7-track EP out now on Clan Analogue. A hyperkinetic evocation of psychological response, Peril Triage emerged following Aeriae’s touring to support his enigmatic 2014 album release Victris.

<a href="http://clananalogue.bandcamp.com/album/peril-triage">Peril Triage by Aeriae</a>

Download album from Bandcamp

Honing the Aeriae controllerism setup through live performance enabled heightened levels of instinct and drama during the atypically rapid (for Aeriae) composition and production process for Peril Triage. Previous Aeriae releases were heedless of whether they could be reproduced live in any practical sense. With Peril Triage, Aeriae takes a set produced especially for live performance back into the studio environment to synthesise the two approaches. The result is a gapless forty-three minute set of labyrinthine synth programming and rising tempo. Beneath the pace and skittering beat design, compositional structures morph slowly via the producer’s trademark serialist melodic figures and intricate sound design, always with an ear towards the ultimate emotional destination.

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The perilous-eponymous journey opens with ‘Firmament’, a vortex in which a steadfast beat and subsonic organ riffs eventually collide with a searing synth sky. The segue into ‘Charnel’ is seamless. Its bass churns in darkness beneath a dauntless organ line until a series of surprising pivots resolve all.

In ‘Ceanic’, bright 303-like lines duel with an emerging baroque riff through eruptions of burbling synths, plosives and reverb, and finally descend into melancholy. Centre track ‘Resolver’ describes the EP’s favoured dynamic literally, rising steadily in tension before breaking into prolonged catharsis at the halfway point.

‘Valified’ is the closest Peril Triage comes to straight techno, with its sequential drum machine attitude and incredibly mobile bassline. The emergence of sparkling atmospherics, melodramatic counterpoint and syncopated phrasing ensure it is bent right out of shape by the end. Sprays of metallic beats dominate ‘Where All Past Burdens No Longer Shall Be Worn’ for more than two minutes before the track begins to hint at its harmonic hand to come.

Final track ‘Haliday’ is ostensibly the most playful, and was originally developed around samples of Wa Wa Nee – which have most assuredly been removed from the finished track for legal simplicity – but it also has the playfulness to turn to menace at the last.

Peril Triage is the third major release on Clan Analogue from Sydney producer Aeriae (Wade Clarke) following on from the Nurse 2 Alyssa Type EP and epic album Victris.

Tracklisting:

1. Firmament
2. Charnel
3. Ceanic
4. Resolver
5. Valified
6. Where All Past Burdens No Longer Shall Be Worn
7. Haliday

CA046: Analogue Redux: Hardware Explorations | Various Artists

August 15, 2017

Legendary Australian electronic music and arts collective Clan Analogue return to their roots with the new compilation album release Analogue Redux: Hardware Explorations, celebrating the voltage-driven intensity of analogue electronic music hardware.

Download album from Bandcamp

<a href="//clananalogue.bandcamp.com/album/analogue-redux-hardware-explorations">Analogue Redux: Hardware Explorations by Various Artists</a>

Buy CD direct from Clan Analogue:

Buy from iTunes

Clan Analogue’s infatuation with analogue hardware goes back to the Australian electronic music collective’s inception in the early 90s when multitudes of obsolete analogue synths and drum machines were being discarded by the mainstream music industry only to be eagerly snapped up from pawn shops by a generation of young underground artists keen to explore the new sounds of techno. In recent years a new generation of musicians has been inspired to move away from purely computer-based systems and to re-embrace the joys of getting hands-on with analogue hardware.

Celebrating the new wave of hardware-driven electronic music, Clan Analogue put out a call for artists to contribute tracks featuring their favourite analogue gear and classic technology. From around the country came a selection of tracks ranging stylistically from experimental soundscapes to classic techno, acid house to ambient. Whether dusting off their old analogue synths from the back shed, messing around with the latest budget-priced gadgets or tweaking their modular setups, the artists on Analogue Redux responded to the call-out with their best and squelchiest efforts.

The tracks on Analogue Redux span the full frequency range of electronic music styles in the modern era, with industrial techno from Black Lung, nu-IDM from Miles Cosmo, downtempo garage from Tiatto, krautrock improv from Michael Mildren, lo-fi ambience from Random Acts of Elevator Music and everything in-between or beyond.

Analogue Redux: Hardware Explorations is ninety minutes of analogue intensity and voltage-driven sound, available on all leading online platforms and on CD from Clan Analogue’s website.

1. James Heighway l Dialtones (edit)
2. !!* l Sound Eagle for Seasonal Toxic Tonsil
3. Luke Killen l UKREF
4. two4k l HS50
5. Black Lung l The Cold Call
6. Ming Onel One
7. The Family l PCP Enema
8. Wonderfeel l Snotty [bonus track on online version only]
9. Miles Cosmo l Loneliness
10. Greg Singh l Kamala
11. Dope Genes l Stereo Chemistry (4114 Future Fix)
12. Bias l Stargate 999
13. Swinging Tasty Bag l Kim
14. Random Acts of Elevator Music l Up and Down
15. BluNjin l Nebulous Fossil
16. Michael Mildren l Music Electronic 21
17. Damian Tangram l Blood Red Moon [bonus track on online version only]
18. Cocoon l Memory of Dreams [bonus track on online version only]
19. Tiatto l Onwards Home

Baby Swindle presents Spotify Playlist

December 4, 2015 Leave a comment

Each month one of Clan Analogue’s artists presents a Spotify playlist highlighting influences, inspirations, obscurities and anything else interesting in the world of electronic music.

This month Baby Swindle, otherwise known as Lindsay Webb and one half of Actual Russian Brides, presents a selection of tracks inspired by the new Clan Analogue release Intone: Voice Abstractions. Lindsay curated the Intone compilation with Actual Russian Brides partner Elle Knox. Baby Swindle‘s track Actual Russian Khor is featured on the album.

Let’s let Baby Swindle tell us all about it…

“This playlist is inspired by Intone and my time living in, or looking towards Germany from the mid-nineties to to mid-noughties. It was there, while at art school, I discovered synthesisers and drum machines. There was also a ready access to all sorts of electronic music and pop songs rendered in that more synthetic manner seemed more accessible to me, even when it got a bit weird. It probably had something to do with learning another language and trying to decipher the songs but the sensibility has stayed and definitely informs any music I might happen to make.

Alog – Islands of Memory
When the Intone idea came up, the first thing I thought of was Alog and their mix of sampling, synthesis and electroacoustic genius. I’ve been following them since first discovering them in 1999. Each record they make is different, sometimes difficult but always inspiring.

Atom™ – Wellen and Felder 11 & Funksignal
Uwe Schmidt is a prolific genius and the album Liedgut a real highlight. Really, the whole album should be listened to in one sitting with a good hi-fi or headphones, but these two tracks give a taste and highlight his immaculate use of speech synthesis and vocoding.

LB – Jealous Guy
Schmidt again under his LB moniker. I was flawed when I first heard this record. Full of gold beyond this track.

Quarks – Alles + Mehr (Gonzales Au Pianet mix)
I’ve been a huge Quarks fan since my time living in Germany however the remix album Rehmix is full of its own particular kind of magic. It’s what they call Wohnzimmer (living room) pop, but remixed by some of the best electronic artists of the late 90’s early 00’s. Somehow this record was the inspiration for Actual Russian Brides although we don’t really sound anything like any of the tracks.

Alog – Write your Thoughts in Water
Again Alog because Intone… in my mind

Felix Kubin – Excuse Me, Too Many Segments & Wenn Dein Hund Stirbt:
The wonderful world of Felix Kubin is a surreal playground of his Korg MS20, Casio and TR606 all mixed together with his dada lyrics and wit. Two tracks here because I just wanted to convey a fragment of the oeuvre which one track can’t.

AGF – Uralow:
AGF goes under the umbrella of artist name Poem Producer. Her work is tightly knit around text through tech. She is prolific and great. I never see her represented in Australia though. Maybe that could change

Die Weltraumforscher – Gravity, Hier spricht Ihr Kapitän & Die Liebe liebt dich selbst
A band out of the Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave NDW) movement that were from the more obscure corner, such as The Plan or Andreas Dorau. I discovered them later in life through the best of CD, 21 Weltraum Standards of which these three tracks come. Representing an active period of over 20 years, the entire record is for me what I wish pop sounded like; spare, intelligent and delightful.

Chris & Cosey – Oktober
Spotify is pretty light on C & C but this track represents here because when we – Actual Russian Brides – played our first gig, someone compared us favourably to them and that was a surprise and a compliment.

Gudrun Gut – Rock Bottom Riser
Gut is an inspirational figure on the Berlin indy music scene. I like this track because it uses voice(s) that are detuned, out of key and surprisingly musical. Whether achieved through voice or other instrumentation, this is method always gives me goose bumps when done so well.

Malaria – Geh Duschen
I missed Gudrun Gut’s NDW band, Malaria, first time around but they were remixed in the 00’s including a semi hit with Kaltes Klares Wasser performed by Chicks on Speed. There was also some minimal club tracks around that you couldn’t avoid if you lived in Germany in the 00’s. This Matador remix of Geh Duschen is the perfect combo of MS20, metal snare and processed voice. Best heard loud. (or maybe not with crappy Spotify compression)

Ego Express – Aranda
I just loved this track for its teutonic minimal vibes; questioning with clear sense of purpose with poetic text and perfect production. Just search Mr Google and watch the video

Lali Puna – Antenna Trash
I learn’t about Lali Puna at art school and this track was the epitome of cool there. The combination of sprechgesang and fragile female vocal was unstoppable. I was also lucky enough to see them at Robert Johnson ( a hip club in Offenbach) and unlike many of their ilk, they rocked it live.

2raumwohnung – 2 von Millionen von Sternen
2raumwohnung are household names in Germany. A pop starlet from the 80’s teams up with a 90’s DJ/Producer to ride the popular wave of Wohnzimmerpop in the late nineties. As with the Quarks, their popularity tempted the big labels and consequently records started to come out in english but it never worked so well as in the rectangular German language. I chose this track, partly because of the vocal treatment and partly because of a memory of the track that was licensed for an ad campaign that said (sentimentally) goodbye to the Deutschmark. The art direction and music were like nothing i’d ever seen before.

AGF – Kalt
Another AGF track using absolute minimal vocal effect to maximal impact. Stunning.

Stereo Total – Cosmonaute
Finishing off with a quiet track from those normally raucous and prolific popsters who continue to amaze. They are inventive and smart songwriters who should be more famous.

CA044: Intone: Voice Abstractions | Various Artists

December 1, 2015 3 Comments

Clan Analogue’s latest compilation album Intone: Voice Abstractions showcases new experimental and electronic treatments of the human voice. Intone features 21 unique manipulations of vocalisation and verbiage from Australian and international artists working in the left-field reaches of electronic sound. These interweavings of ones, zeroes and vocal chords utilise the human voice as their sonic essence, in ways that are electric, rhythmic, melodic, hypnotic, chaotic and eclectic.

<a href="//clananalogue.bandcamp.com/album/intone-voice-abstractions">Intone: Voice Abstractions by Various Artists</a>

Download album from Bandcamp

Buy CD direct from Clan Analogue:

Through locales from Sydney (Disla System) to Melbourne (City Frequencies) to Russia (Baby Swindle) to Macedonia (Robert Sazdov) to Japan (Su Veneer) to outer space (Hethre Contant), Intone guides the listener on a journey in vocal abstractions across all levels, from the meditative to the earsplitting.

Tracks from Rantzen & Spinoglio, Automatic Teller Machine Machine, Doctrinaire and Alex J Wise explore club music styles using sounds entirely derived from the human voice.

Other artists take traditional source material and rework them in a multitude of ways – Robert Sazdov explores renderings of politicised people and traumatised places; Baby Swindle collages choral singing recorded in the venue made famous by Pussy Riot; and Wonderfeel reworks a spiritual using the natural reverb of an immense concrete stairwell.

KOshowKO and Thallium & Milo evoke the purity of the untrained voice, while GEORGIASWEBB and Carrier go meta, philosophically recomposing the base functions and absurdities of human vocal communication. Sound artists Contant and Pascalle Burton make mischief with the intoned authority of figures such as Philip Tagg and Walter Benjamin. The album is topped and tailed by impressive abstract solo work from Kusum Normoyle (Dark Mofo) and Gail Priest (Pretty Gritty).

Intone has been curated by Actual Russian Brides, who previously released their Wife Beats EP through Clan Analogue, with assistance from performance poet Matt Hetherington (DJ Zaziz) who developed the original concept with Melbourne experimental musician Robert ‘Bo’ Boehm (who sadly passed away before the album was released). Significantly, it contains the last track completed by Bo’s legendary duo Winduptoys.

Finalist for Award for Excellence in Experimental Music, 2016 Australian Art Music Awards

“The curatorial premise is strong, using the voice as core sonic material in 21 beautifully recorded tracks cataloguing current Australian artists.”
comments by 2016 Art Music Awards judging panel

“Veering from jarring confrontation through to more melodic and accessible territory. All up, ‘Intone’ manages to cover an extremely wide range of sonic territory within its thematic remit, with consistently interesting results.”
Cyclic Defrost

released in September 2015

Tracklist:

1. Kusum Normoyle l Octopus
2. Carrier l You Can’t Keep
3. Robert Sazdov l Bogorodica 28.08
4. KOshowKO l Now You’re Talking Baby
5. Doctrinaire l Le Petit Prince
6. Su Veneer l Ebisu
7. Pascalle Burton feat. Renee Vaughan Sutherland l As If, Philip Tagg
8. Kusum Normoyle l Body Contact #1 [bonus track on online version only]
9. City Frequencies l The Most Beautiful Walk
10. Hethre Contant l Die Eisenbahnkatastrophe Vom Firth of Tay: Heard From Outer Space
11. Thallium & Milo l God’s Rainbow [bonus track on online version only]
12. Wonderfeel with Harmony Byrne l Amazing Grace
13. Robert Sazdov l Tetovo: 2001 [bonus track on online version only]
14. Alex J Wise l Deserted Landscapes
15. Automatic Teller Machine Machine l Kronik Tonic [bonus track on online version only]
16. Dislasystem l Umbilical
17. Rantzen & Spinoglio l Sonic Manipulator
18. Baby Swindle l Actual Russian Khor
19. Winduptoys l Broken Language
20. Georgiaswebb l Paregoros
21. Gail Priest l Stranglers