| #578 |
|
2001 |
Perilous 578 Kid Kenobi in his column last week was irritated by the attitude of people to the concept of Australian dance music and its apparent slavish adherence to European/UK trends. This year’s Sound Summit showed the tremendous diversity of music being produced and played locally. But at the same time, the overseas speakers and performers dispelled the myth that its somehow ‘better’ or ‘easier’ overseas. At the commercial end of things, its no wonder that overseas tourists think that Australia is ‘several weeks/months/years’ behind the UK. The UK or European music press seems to be universally regarded as the indicators of taste at the commercial end – not only by tourists, but also by record shop staff here in Australia, local DJs, and local record distributors. The volume of music being made has increased exponentially in the last ten years yet I’d argue that the proportion of music that is any good has stayed pretty much the same. Perhaps its even decreased. For every unique record there were perhaps 200 clones in 1990, that is more like 2000 now. Independent labels are finding that rather than increasing, this ‘music overload’ affects everyone, and labels in the UK that were viable 2 years ago are suddenly selling fewer releases despite increase press. Market saturation? John Saul Kane’s label DC Recordings has been moving into reissuing classic soundtracks – a pretty logical step for someone who has made his name sampling film dialogue as Depth Charge. First it was La Planete Sauvage (Fantastic Planet), and now the latest is Piero Picconi’s soundtrack to Puppet On A String. Picconi’s soundtrack has been picked by Kane for its ripe-for-sampling breakbeats and atmospheres, and unlike the “reissue as kitch” ethos of Crippled Dick Hot Wax (who usually plunder the vault of Italian cinema forsoundtrack reissue fodder), Kane’s approach to his reissue choices comes very much from his own musical background in hip hop. DC Recordings has now been picked up for local distribution by Creative Vibes after floundering without a distributor for the last year or so. In a similar vein, Lo Recordings have been approaching musicians to compile selections of library music from the vaults of the British and French production houses of the 70s. The first in their series of library music collections was Luke Vibert’s Nuggets. Whilst containing some curious tracks, Vibert’s selection could have really been anyones’. On the other hand, the second in the series, chosen by Add N To X’s Barry 7 (Barry 7’s Connectors) brims with character. At times you can almost hear the prototype of the Add N To X sound – weird mutant electronics, strange French vocal pop. An excellent listen from start to finish, Connectors is worth tracking down. At Frigid on the 11th we are launching the new Pole album R which features a series of reworkings by Kit Clayton and Burnt Friedman. Melbourne’s Science Project plays live. On the 18th its New York's infamous DJ Olive. Olive is best known for his work in the late 1990s with his 'super group' We who recorded for Ashphodel, as well as his collaborations with colleague DJ Spooky, Sonic Youth and a multitude of other famous faces. Olive's work is diverse and draws on hip hop, electro, musique concrete, and avant-garde classical composition, and his show promises to be exceptional. Yellow Peril  Goto
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