CycliC dEfroSt MagazinE ISSUE 19 April 2008 www.cyclicdefrost.com Editor-in-ChiEf Contact PO Box A2073 editorial contents Sebastian Chan Sydney South If our last issue was the dubstep special then 04 snawkLor Editor NSW 1235 Australia Cyclic Defrost #19 (you’re holding it in your Matthew Levinson [email protected] Angela Stengel www.cyclicdefrost.com hand) is a tribute to music’s rich stew of sound. Sub-Editor donorS A Dylan-busking dubstep producer (Sydney’s 08 WEStErn SYnthEtiCS Polly Chambers Donors who made major financial Matthew Levinson contributions to the printing of this issue: Westernsynthetics), a desert rock band who Art director Ben Askins, Alister Shew, Alan Bamford, Alex took two decades to release a record, but still Bim Ricketson Swarbrick, Mark Lambert, Clayton Drury, 11 blank realm Jen Teo, Megan West, Renae Mason, Mathew stamped their influence across the abstract end Richard MacFarlane AdditionAL dESiGn Wal-Smith, Morgan McKellar, Robert Susa Dold O’Farrell, Eve Klein, Jeff Coulton, Lachlan of the rock spectrum (California’s Yawning Worrall, Ewan Burke, Aden Rolfe, Chris 14 orEn ambArChi AdvErtiSinG Man), a retrospective on a music academic, Downton, Andrew Murphie, John Innes, Dan Rule Sebastian Chan Wade Clarke. Thank to all the others who experimental record producer and indie pop have made smaller donations, and of course, empresario (Julian Knowles), and a former AdvErtiSinG rAtES all our advertisers. See page 47 for details on 17 ii Download at cyclicdefrost.com how to support Cyclic Defrost. member of B(if)tek and now alt-country Eliza Sarlos diStribution StoCkiStS crooner (Melbourne’s Nicole Skeltys). Inertia Distribution The following stores stock Cyclic Defrost 19 NAkEd on thE vAGuE although arrival times for each issue Former Cyclic Defrost scribe Daniel Spencer (www.inertia-music.com) Chris Downton may vary. gave up writing about music to make it with PrintinG NSW - All Music Byron, Castle Recs, Electric Monkeys, Explore Music, Fish Records Brisbane psychedelic noiseniks Blank Realm. 22 aluf Unik Graphics (inner city stores), Freestyle, Freestyle 2, But while Jon Tjhia from ii is making more Matthew Levinson WEbSitE Gong Records, Hum on King, Hum on Oxford, Leading Edge Penrith, Leading Edge and more beautiful music, he also found time Scott Brown and Sebastian Chan Warriewood, Mall Music, Market Music, 24 juLiAn knowles this issue to visit Francois Tetaz’s Melbourne Eve Klein WEb hoStinG Museum of Contemporary Art, Metropolis, Music Bizarre Lismore, Plum Music, The Blueskyhost studio for a piece on the legendary Australian Record Store, Recycled, Red Eye, Redback, 28 storM thE Studio: (www.blueskyhost.com) Reefer, Salamander Sound, So Music, Spank producer’s recording environment. Records, Spot Music, Voyager Ivanhoe frAnCoiS tEtAz CovEr dESiGn VIC - Central Station Melbourne, Ghislain Poirier hangs out in the space Jon Tjhia Snawklor (www.snawklor.com) Greville, Heartland, JF Porters, Leading between the head and the dancefloor. Edge Bendigo, Leading Edge Geelong, iSSuE 19 ContributorS Licorice Pie, Metropolis, Missing Link, Same could be said for Greek-Australian 31 yawninG man Adrian Elmer, Angela Stengel, Bec Paton, Bob Shaun Prescott Noise Exchange/Synaesthesia, Northside, beat maker Aluf, profiled this issue, whose Baker Fish, Chris Downtown, Dan Rule, Eliza Polyester, Readings Carlton, Record Sarlos, Emmy Hennings, Eve Klein, Ewan Collectors Corner, Sister Ray, Slap, Voyager crackly techno has been finding a worldwide Burke, Johnny Merkin, Jon Tjhia, Martin 33 Ghislain PoiriEr Port Melbourne, We Sell Music - Mildura Simon Hampson Peralta, Matthew Levinson, Max Schaefer, QLD - Butter Beats, Caneland, CC - listenership. Burnt Friedman’s work confounds Oliver Laing, Peter Hollo, Renae Mason, Harbourtown, Cosmic, Leading Edge Music both expectations - the headfloor? Richard Donnelly, Richard MacFarlane, Scene, Revolver, Rockaway, Rockinghorse, 34 autechrE Sebastian Chan, Shaun Prescott, Simon Skinny’s, Sunflower, Taste-y, Toombul Music Things changed since issue #18. A new Hampson, Steve Phillips, Vaughan Healy Peter Hollo SA - BSharp, Big Star government, a long awaited apology to PHOTOGrAPhErS WA - Chinatown Records, Dada’s, Mills, Jodi Shannon, Jon Tjhia, Daniel Mahon, Planet Video Australia’s Stolen Generation. But things 36 BURNT friEdMAn David Cooper, Bim Ricketson TAS - Chilli DJ, Mojo, Ruffcut, Wills Music Bob Baker Fish ACT - Landspeed aren’t black and white, despite our guest thAnk You NT - Casurina, Chatterbox All our donors both large and small, cover from Melbourne music/art duo If your store doesn't carry Cyclic Defrost then 40 Beach houSE advertisers, writers and contributors. Henry, get them to order it from Inertia Distribution. Snawklor, and the coming year is the test. Renae Mason Andre, Justin, and all at Inertia - especially The views contained herein are not necessarily the warehouse staff; Hugh at Unik Graphics; Enjoy. the views of the publisher nor the staff of Chris Bell at Blueskyhost; and all our readers. 42 SLEEvE rEviEWS Cyclic Defrost. Copyright remains with the Sebastian Chan and Matthew Levinson And, wedding bells for our art director authors and/or Cyclic Defrost. Bec Paton Bim and sleeve reviewer Bec, congratulations. Editors 45 SELECtS: niCoLE SkELtYS Edited by Matthew Levinson This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. COVer STORY SNAWKLOR By ANGELA StenGel both sonically and visually, the air- “Do you remember the time we tried to “MeloDy iS the Manure anD conditioning in the pub loses the race. I get start a three kilometre radius pirate radio SoMetiMeS the antS are flyinG the feeling that the environments we choose station by hooking up – was it an amp and the Ship when eVeryone’S in to play in will naturally dictate the music microphone? – to the pipes in the toilet?” hiBernation.” Snawklor will play in the future. Water Dylan asks. “This streak of blind optimism music, cave music, tram music, garden still rears its head occasionally, recently FantastiC Art music, zoo music, dog beach music, airport typified by the free gig and barbeque we music, hospital music, graveyard music, put on a couple of weeks ago in front of And disappearinG MomentS sewerage plant music, wetlands music, 30000 flying foxes on the banks of the Yarra. kindergarten music.” Unbeknownst to me was the six months They can already cross a few of in jail and $5000 fine for ‘disturbing’ the environments off their list. Music in a field bats. Of course nothing happened but good for bats? Done. Tram music? Done. times, great memories and 30000 oblivious Snawklor’S Dylan Martorell anD popular form amongst our friends and just had a weekend of performances and you could buy the “Yeah, we did a show on a tram. We did flying foxes. Oudah. Inside the head there’s a 3D viewer. nathan Gray are a whole artiStic a lot of rock and roll has gotten more singles that you liked. I think we did like a run of 10 or 20 of a brief residency in Osaka last year where “We always look out for interesting places There’s a 3D drawing that I worked on in packaGe rolleD into the one Duo. experimental. Shit’s got weird but we still each single. After that we started playing together as Snawklor we did a collaborative sound and visual to play and recently we got our own power collaboration with a friend of mine, Matt They do artwork for their own albums and don’t fit in somehow. No matter, really. We’ve the band when it quickly became evident that running a installation based on the tram and train setup with car batteries and a transducer so Voldman and there are speakers inside the they often create music to go with their also changed what we do numerous times record label wasn’t our forte, although it’s a great way to make systems of Melbourne and Osaka. We took that we can actually put on shows ourselves. costume as well playing the sound of the visual art. They don’t draw lines between from sculptural work to electronic then enemies and lose money. part in a day of tram based performances on The show we put on at the bat colony was fibres being burned but slowed down so it’s creative experiences and instead their to acoustic instruments and now to this “When we started Snawklor it was a gallery based project. the one tram line in Osaka which is about one of those and we’re going to do another all crackly. The other one I’m doing is hard artistic endeavours are often a package of synth/guitar trip.” We were using sound sculptures with record players, seven or eight kilometres long. They had a one on the banks of the Murray. When we to describe. It’s a four-armed figure playing diverse elements. You could say that the Dylan and Nathan both come from Perth xylophone keys and using answering machine tape loops bunch of Japanese performers. I think it was got to the bat colony I was convinced that tone clusters on various keyboards. It’s boys like to think of new ways of doing old but didn’t meet until after Dylan had moved and percussion from water and things like that. Then we got just us and some Japanese people and that no one was going to turn up. We ended up supposed to be a street musician ,circa 2030 things, and so for this article they decided to to Melbourne where they both now reside, into laptops. We got into computers when we could afford was great. It was like a sister exhibition with playing to about 30 people which I was more from Djemaa El Fna.” interview each other as well as talking to me. says Dylan.“I didn’t know Nathan when I one, probably five years after everybody else could! The first West Space tying the tram culture of both than happy with.