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At some point we’ve all got to realise when an idea is a dud that we need to pick ourselves up and get on with the most natural and healthy solution. I think this post can be pretty much summed up by that sentiment.

After much personal drama, both in my own head and with my partner R – we have decided strongly to give up on this whole Brisbane idea and move back to Armidale. More on why we came to this realisation later; but already R has an excellent job secured in her interest-area and I have been chasing work back at UNE. And, it looks like we have a rental lined up as well – a cat friendly RSPCA friend has offered an old house close to town. R’s job starts very, very soon and the rental may be available in much the same time – which means we could be negotiating a move back up that hill to New England quick smart! To sum up without the rambling, we’re both really happy about this and I’m looking forward to getting back to that lifestyle, and I am looking forward to getting back to a stable headspace to pick up my artistic projects again.

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Yet another little trip up to Brisbane over the weekend saw us catch Hunz at The Globe on Friday night. A little tired from traveling all day we found sitting through the support bands a little bit of a challenge – the PA was just way too loud for my fragile ears and the bands were performing music that wasn’t really my sort of thing. It must have been late, possibly quarter to midnight that Hunz with his lappy, mics and keys, plus his bandmates Phil Evans on bass & Richie Young on drums, delivered a shortish set for over 30 minutes.

Playing only songs from the album When Victims Fight the band delivered enhanced versions of the songs with live intensity and genuine emotion, all which came across most enjoyable and beyond expectation. Going off my limited knowledge of their YouTube posted performances, it seems that the band is quite tight and Hunz has embellished the songs with live keyboard, extra melodies and effective ‘tape loop’ style self-sampling of his vocals to perform lovely weaving auto-choruses and builds. There were many moments when I though ‘this is all better than the CD, especially the strength in Hunz’s voice’. It was a slight shame there were only 50+ odd people there to see all this – but I’m reminded of a time I saw Augie March playing beautiful music to a small and totally unresponsive Bistro Audience up at UNE in 2000 before they got very big on Triple J. Somehow, and I know it’s a cliche, I feel it’s the same for Hunz: that wide and appropriately deserving attention will befall this music one way or another. Good gigs leave you with this feeling. There are all too many acts out there that suffer from having too much style and not enough substance – but if you ever catch these guys play live you’ll see that there’s no such issue here. The music left us feeling both entertained as well as inspired.

What a motivator to keep on with my own music.

We met up with him after the set to have a quick chinwag. He told me that the Renoise XRNS files for the new album Thoughts That Move have been released, which you can read more about here. Oh yeah, and of course that means the album has gone fully public and the band will be performing the new songs at future gig dates (lucky for Brisbanites). As stated before, I’m excited for him and think that it’s a good sign of what is yet to emerge.

As for myself at the moment there is little to report other than I’m continuing with much work where I can as time allows. I’ve recently started using Reaper, which is audio software based on much the same philosophy as Renoise. I’m looking at ways I can get the two joined up with ReWire, or using Renoise to do mixes and Reaper to do masters. More soon…

Occasionally this blog shares the good oil on what counts a interesting listening, and I’ve a few to recommend today. About two weeks back R and I made a quick holiday to Brisbane to soak up some warmth in respite from the long slog that is Armidale’s winter. I can’t tell how thankful I am that spring is finally arriving, sun and warmth make all the difference to your spirit and motivation. Anyway, one of our purposes for heading north to the city was to see some live music:

Room40.org played host for Tujiko Noriko, who played at the Judith Wright Centre on the 20th of August. Playing to an audience seated or lying on the floor with eyes closed, Tujiko delivered an interesting set of ‘avant pop’ by simply singing along with her laptop as it played the backing tracks. Her voice was so captivating, full of confident yet understated melody that lulled you into some sort of magical place – it became the central focus of the performance. The most amazing moments were when the backing track became paired down to minimal elements allowing us to focus on the drama of her performance. It certainly was a treat to see and hear, and largely unlike the usual live bombastic noise we’re used to with rock and pop experiences. She has a new album out which I picked up, U. A particular standout (as it was at the gig too) is ‘I Can Hear The Heart’, which is both dark but reaching toward the light. You can find out about the album here:

Worth mentioning also is the support act, Melbourne’s II. Armed with just two guitars and an array of effects devices, they played two loop-based long-form improvisations that merged post-rock warmth with ambient strangeness. Their moments of gold were produced with sensitivity to melody’s relationship to emotion, yet keeping it interesting with abstraction. You can get more here:

Now patiently waiting for Spring to emerge…

A ‘closing down party’ of sorts saw 50 plus ‘alternative creatures’ migrate to the Artspace to spook away the bad spirits with their own costumes and antics. Naturally, with Iain organising parts of the gig, Bas[sic] aka L graciously provided the soundsystem and Stanton virtual DJ setup.

I had the duty of covering for L between sets, and it was good fun. It was difficult operating gear and software I’ve never used before, as well as selecting tunes completely from L’s unfamiliar funky playlists. In parts I held it together well enough, and we had many happy dancing people. Party DJing is not really for me, and I was not willing to placate the drunk dancer’s requests for ‘more 80s retro please’. I am, on the other hand, grateful for the opportunity to learn.

The decorations and lighting were superb, and it is a shame the space will no longer be used for arts. The following are some images, including some evidence of a communal painting in progress:

Thanks to Room40.org Armidale got a little live music treat last Saturday at The Armidale Club. Supporting their new albums, experimental and avant-pop acts Tenniscoats, For Barry Ray, and Lawrence English played to a well mannered appreciative crowd of 30-40. And as an extra bonus, all members mixed and matched their presence in the sets to make for deep, human and dynamic renditions. Music of this level of delicacy, sensitivity and freshness doesn’t happen here often, so I naturally gave thanks at the end and picked up the following:

Tenniscoats – Totemo Aimasho

For Barry Ray – New Days

A little more about Lawrence…

I had the chance to meet and chat with Lawrence. I passed on copies of my albums Futurology and 2 Smargaid Maerd’s Unconsciousness half – which he seemed encouraging about. We discussed the opportunities of playing soundscapes live in Brisbane and about some people I should network with to make that a possibility.

In the weeks since getting my RAM established I’ve been working probably harder than ever at generally every project. Nothing to boast of yet in the way being finished, but some new twists and turns are leading me down new avenues. My previous soundscape work (linked to above) was largely based on automations, samples and in some cases noise. Now, things are moving in a much more melodic ambient direction. I am getting deeper into using tape-loop processing to build large progressive pieces using my guitar as the main input, not dissimilar at all to Robert Fripp’s method. I’m working on being able to perform this live. It may prove to be a more direct voice for my unrestrained ideas, being less of the compromised-commercial variety (like some of my works in progress, ala Paradox). Ideas are floating about to play in conjunction with art-gatherings, or non-pub venues.

Along with everything else being worked on, I will share some of these slow melodic pieces soon…