Xray Dubs - electronicmusic tag

John Foxx

Mon, 05 May 2008 01:43:51 GMT

I saw Foxx last night, it was totally fantastic. He gave a performance of his work 'Tiny Colour Movies' which I found particularly moving (its a very ambient series of compositions for super-8 home movies and other found footage -- extremely Ballardian). After that there he returned to the stage with his latter-day collaborator Louis Gordon and performed updated versions of his more familiar material (i.e. stuff from Metamatic & later material, and even at least one track from early Ultravox! material). Despite its slight updating (mostly in the low end) it was the icy electro synthpunk typical of what you'd expect of Foxx, only it puts the current rash of 20 year olds imitating this style in the charts to complete shame. Loud, clean and crisp sound system helped as well. Remarkably well-preserved for his age too. The only downside was the small crowd it drew to the Tivoli, anyone who claims to be a fan of electronic music, "electro" or any of it's thousand modern variations and who misses it without a good excuse is a complete pretentious dilettante who should never be taken seriously on the topic of electronic music ever again. Inspiring night all round.

Severed Heads R.I.P

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:26:55 GMT

Via Dennis Remmer of Transcom:

Tom Ellard of Severed Heads has announced his retirement (of Severed Heads, but not his ongoing projects) after 30 years. See http://www.sevcom.com and http://sevcom.com/beta/

The band is a keystone to post-punk electronic music development. Crucial. We were very fortunate to host their last ever live performance here in Brisbane, last October at the Upgrade @ Next Level event.

From where I sit it has been a pleasure to be at the receiving end of *so* much (30 years - unbelievable) creative, intellectual, thoughtful, incisive, evolutionary (and fun) electronic music, video, performance, and media. I count my most influential music artisans with one hand, and Sevs sit on the biggest cushion.

Last ever frigid @newtown ... feat Luke Vibert, June 10.

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 22:07:49 GMT

Line up & info: frigid @ n e w t o w n...

Frigid over the years @ Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/finalfrigid/

The last ever Frigid is being held @newtown on the date of its 10th anniversary. If you are in Sydney this weekend Sat June 10, you should get down to it. As I said on the clan-l mailing list;

Frigid has been really important not just for touring known overseas artists here but also introducing local audiences to overseas & interstate artists as well as fostering local talent. It's a pity that it will be ceasing operations after ten years but in a fickle and shiny-surface-obsessed town like Sydney it's actually rather amazing that it lasted as long as it did.

Big props to Seb and Luke and the rest of the Frigid clan.

Shame I cannot be there at the final moment as I'm now interstate but thanks guys for all your efforts over the years.

thanks & regs
scot.

Problems in Computer Music

Sun, 28 May 2006 02:04:37 GMT

PostClassic: Post-Semester Rampage, Electronic Version. A discussion about the approach to Computer Music in the academy.

And in a similar vein, Bob Ostertag on Why Computer Music Sucks from 2001.

Little bands, 1981 - 1984

Mon, 05 Sep 2005 12:30:50 GMT

Inspired by what I termed "baby boomer congratulatory back slapping" on Larvartus Prodeo regarding "music’s greatest year ever" (1971 according to Chris Sheil), and up to my usual arguing for the sake of arguing, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the alternative greatest year ever - 1981.

World’s greatest collection of “little bands” — right here, from Sydney, courtesy of Phil Turnbull; Memoirs from various of the aforementioned Sydney bands or more generally Phil’s site No Night Sweats and you can also try Inner City Sound and Australian Post Punk 1976 - 1981.

Geez it was a marvel to be a teenager in 1981 - or a twenty-something in 1984

I would offer a proper discography of 1981, but, in typical generation X slacker style, I could not be arsed. If you push me further I’ll just snarl at the camera, then if you persist I’ll claim that I’m only here for the drugs and the birds after the show, and then finally, declare my total and unrelenting boredom with the entire topic at hand in a very studied and offhand manner.