MESS+NOISE:

Alex Vivian is a pygmy whooping out a psychotic reaction. Interested? Under the guise of Always, he takes that pygmy and celebrates the possibilities of chance. In the process they make a mockery of convention and order, resulting in waves of indecipherable gargles and all manner of oddball sparks. Always is a linguistic circus, a vowel vandal and a syntax destroyer all in one. Essentially he's looping vocal tones into a continuous elastic rhythm and sewing them together in a cosmic playground. A less interesting explanation would go something like "experimentation in the manipulation of voice", but that'd be missing out on all the fun.

With F.I.S.T. Always works within a very basic framework (seemingly self-imposed) to draw out hypnosis through repetition. It works, mostly. When it doesn't it's because it's overstayed its welcome – the 25 minute Slimed Aztec is a case in point, believe me. The continuous 2-second loop courts tedium before reaching a plateau of sorts and going off down only a slightly different path. It's a listening test, and one you will probably fail, so skip it after 15 minutes – that's the length it should be.

As a gabble of disparate voices squirming in delay, F.I.S.T. is a brave and bold venture into the unknown. Looked at in light of being recorded totally live and improvised, it's a fluke. Many will no doubt view it as junk sound. But children and pygmies will hear Always as a kaleidoscope of lullabies that's a little bit scary but lots of fun, and certainly not boring.

Reviews:

INPRESS SINGLE OF THE WEEK 21/11/07

Birth Glow singer Ellen Carey sounds halfway between Joanna Newsom and '70's folkie Melanie, which reading back on it, seems like a nauseating proposition, but channeled through the freak folk sounds of this Adelaide trio, her thrilling voice is something to behold. Providing the adage that less is more the songs on this EP are furnished with sparse instrumentation and an assortment of quirky lyrics that, importantly, never lapse into cute/twee territory. Sadly absent is Kelly Clarkson cover and live fave, Since You've Been Gone, which sees said song rendered a chilling ode to melancholia. Otherwise, bravo Birth Glow!

DRUM MEDIA:

Sure, on the face of it Birth Glow is the epitome of the playful side project: a trio of Adelaide musos (No Through Road guitarist Steph Crase, Sweet Raxx's Nick Walton and former Jemina Jemina vocalist Ellen Carey) writing a bunch of stripped down songs, with three of the eight songs not cracking the 60 second mark. However, it's anything but throwaway.

Carey's voice is utterly astonishing: not only is it possibly the purest, truest, most tuneful voice I've ever heard, but she's also blessed with a twittering vibrato that's more suitable to a '40s jazz singer than a contemporary vocalist – think Joanna Newsom channelling Jolie Holland. She's paired with Crase's tuneful harmonies, tasteful guitars and occasional drums (and, if you've seen then trio live, you'll know she's not above doing them both at once), and Walton's maudlin – and, let's not beat around the bush, extraordinarily out-of-tune – baritone. However, the contrast of Carey and Walton's voice works better than you'd expect, partially because of the brevity of the songs and partially because Walton knows when to concede the spotlight. Highlights include the melancholic Ransom, the opening Carey solo a cappella snippet Pilot and the circular vocals of Pathos Face, but the hands-down masterpiece is the 47 seconds of Shirts For Washing, with all three members getting a handclaps'n'voice swing going – although it's almost matched by the gloriously batty Palm Tree Ukelele. The always-reliable Crase is in superb form throughout and Walton's peculiar charms ooze through, but mark my words: that Carey's going to be a star.

MESS+NOISE:

Inside the cover of Ultimate Relief there's a photo of a grotty old couch, torn and stained, with an overflowing ashtray on the table beside. This picture will tell you more about Adelaide's Birth Glow than words could. The couch looks worldly; a likely witness to colourful and admissive late night conversation: exchanges sometimes profound, occasionally trite, often secretive and suggestive. Listening to Ultimate Relief is like eavesdropping on these conversations. This is a band with lyrics like "some say I'm not pretty/They all live in the city" with no indication of a conspiratorial wink – no apparent irony – just naked rhyming phrases left to simmer and gain profundity through speculation.

Some of it never begins to make sense, but for the most part Ultimate Relief works in its own very peculiar, innocuous way. Like the Vaselines without the underlying sexual tension, Birth Glow write cheeky and colourful two-minute jibs, sometimes with guitars, sometimes with just handclaps, sometimes with only a voice. Ellen Carey's tone is rich and effeminate, while her male counterpart Nick Walton has a narcoleptic, baritone drawl similar to Calvin Johnson. When they sing together, as on Too Slow, the result is delightful, while on solo vocal outings such as Carey's Pilot and Walton's short moment at the end of Fanta, the focus edges towards awkward.

Even during their more textured outings Birth Glow remain a vocal driven band: without voices there'd be very little else to hear, as instruments are often used just to add colour, or to pronounce a rhythm. Running at a mere 18 minutes, it's impressive how many fluorescent colours Birth Glow manage to inject into Ultimate Relief. If only everyone's after hour vacuities sounded this good.

Collection of 23 spiritually aligned independent minds. Contains 91% previously unreleased material from Michael Yonkers, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Kelley Stoltz, Kiosk, Superstupid, Mount Eerie, The Stabs et al.

1. Panel of Judges – Absolute Boys
2. Crayon Fields – Claps
3. Always – Practical Joke
4. Calvin Johnson – Breakfast in Bed [live]
5. Sly Hats – Papery Clothes
6. Guy Blackman – Unsteady
7. Kelley Stoltz – All the Way to Down and Out
8. Eddy Current Suppression Ring – She's Dancing Away
9. My Disco – Calling Cure
10. Kiosk – Validator
11. Weird War – Elfin Orphan [live]
12. The Stabs – Musings of a Self Righteous Prat
13. Michael Yonkers – I Talk in Night
14. Sean Bailey – Temporal Blaze
15. Superstupid – Toe
16. Paul Flaherty and Chris Corsano – Down a Quart
17. Fabulous Diamonds – 1:52
18. Francis Plagne – Untitled
19. Birth Glow – Hey Little Hen
20. Little Wings – Whatever Happens
21. Hi God People – The Sunshine Decides
22. Josephine Foster – Asafoetida
23. Mount Eerie – Cooking

Reviews...

3RRR: Album of the Week 10-16 September 2007

THREE THOUSAND:

Tireless music personality and friend of ThreeThousand and nownow, Michael Kucyk (AKA Nervous Jerk) holds up an ingenious mirror for us to see with the new concept album compilation, ESP. Assembled more along the lines of an obsessive fanzine or curated visual art show than your regular label sampler – ie: with planned, combinative aesthetic effect – this document stages new meaning to the music of more than 20 acts in a spirit of positive unification. Like the refrain from local eternal-flames Panel of Judges' opener 'Absolute Boys' – "These things only come around every so often" – the overall feeling here is of a specious, unheard creativity, delivered to listeners as a personal gift.

Local notables and Nervous Jerk stable artists Sly Hats, Always, Kiosk, The Stabs and Fabulous Diamonds all appear, but so too do the seldom heard Superstupid (flat-out cosmic garage spliff), Hi God People (re-scored Zabriskie Point desert freakout), Sean Bailey (restless distorto prayer) and Birth Glow (spectral campfire folk). As many transcontinental artists again are included, revealing the far-reaching success of this young label's community-building predicate – Paul Flaherty and Chris Corsano, Weird War and Calvin Johnson all seamlessly beam into the meeting of psychic hearts.

Summed: a triumphant archive tour of Nervous Jerk's fertile trans-underground network.

LEXICON DEVIL:

"An excellent snapshot for anyone who's been trawling the pubs and clubs, record shops and radio dials of Melbourne in the 21st century…. E.S.P. paints a picture of a community of likeminded individualists and weirdos who've found a nice home here, and the excellent booklet and artwork round out what will likely be one of the best local releases of '07.

It's an eclectic mix, to say the least. There's some kinda big-ish (relatively speaking) international names on show here: DC's Weird War (a whole lot better than their ex-Make-Up pedigree may suggest; didn't Neil Hagerty have sort of involvement in them? This sounds a lot like Royal Trux/Howling Hex, which is a good thing), Calvin Johnson, Kelley Stoltz (a guy I recall enjoying immensely when I saw him play a few years back), Little Wings (North-West popsters I actually had a fondness for about 5 years back when stuck in an indie-retail ghetto), folkster Josephine Foster, Paul Flaherty and Chris Corsano (who were set to tour here last year then pulled out at the last minute due to illness) and more. Locally, there's some great tracks by Always (one-man-band circus act featuring hand claps, tape loops and various chants, last years' 7" on Chapter was a fave), Eddy Current Suppression Ring (another goodie from our fair land's best rock outfit not featuring myself), Fabulous Diamonds (local "buzz" duo who, on the one occasion I've seen them, impressed the shit outta me w/ their dub-inflected Rough-Trade-ca.-'79 tunes and have an LP coming out soon on Siltbreeze), My Disco (local Fugazi/Shellac worshippers who usually don't budge me an inch, though the tight-assed rock grooves on their "Calling Cure" track here had me possibly rethinking my previous stance), Crayon Fields (great, great, great local outfit who rip out a kind of Zombies-esque psych-pop, a far cry from what I saw of them in their very early days, when they struck me as the only Australian outfit in living memory who truly sounded like they'd been influenced by Television and Slovenly. They hadn't), a cool bit of gonzo trance-rock from Melbourne's premiere avant-drone performance-art freak ensemble, the Hi-God People, and even a number from local arse-monkey pomp-rock dynamos, Superstupid, featuring The Wire magazine page-3 pin-up boy, Oren Ambarchi."

BEAT:

As far as compilations go, the Nervous Jerk compilation ESP is pretty damn good, to put it mildly. Comprising a stack of Melbourne bands and artists (including Guy Blackman, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Crayonn Fields, Sly Hats, The Stabs, My Disco, Fabulous Diamonds, Francis Plagne) and some choice overeas acts (Calvin Johnson, Weird War, Michael Yonkers, Kelley Stoltz), ESP is an eclectic and wildly entertaining musical ride. There's highlights everywhere you look and hear, but stand out tracks include Eddy Current's She's Dancing Away, Superstupid's Toe, Weird War's Elfin Orphan (performed live during its tour last year), The Stabs' Musings of a Self Righteous Prat (possibly the them song to a university tutorial dominated by mature age students that I attended many years ago), to name but a narrow selection. And if ou like your off-beat oddities, you won't be dissappointed - way down the bottom of the compilation lies Paul Flaherty and Chris Corsano's rhythm explosion in Down a Quart and the quaint idiosyncratic Beach Boys pop of France Plagne's Untitled, Little Wings' Whatever Happens, the Hi God People's atmospheric musings in The Sunshine Decides and Josephine Foster's sub-industrial pop in Asafoetida.

This is a compilation you can listen to again, again, again and yet again, and still find something you missed the first time around. Next time some bogan tells you there's no good music being made anymore, shove this compilation in their face and be done with the argument.

VICE: 9/10. "A mix of Australian bands blended with a well-picked bunch of international artists makes for one helluva crazy compilation."

JERK004 - FABULOUS DIAMONDS DUAL 7"+CD

Fabulous Diamonds are the Melbourne based hypnotic acid-dub duo of Nisa Venerosa and Jarrod Zlatic. Their debut delivers a five track psychedelic exploration, caputuring a lush sound composed of inconsistent drumming, entrancing electric organ, piano, wonky saxophone and Venerosa's stricking vocal call. This trip is consumed by swelling infinity delay effects while maintaining a sense of minimalism. Maybe the missing link between Terry Riley and Beat Happening? Limited to 500 7", packaged with a CD and co-released by Mistletone.

Reviews...

Z-GUN BLOG

Wrapped in an especially beautiful and enigmatic package, the debut from this Australian duo is a mesmerizing albeit brief foray into the grey interzone of dubby post-punk.  The modernist arrangement of a cymbal-less drum kit and sax (and the occasional touch of keys) - sounds complex without being too complicated, a more sleeker and meditative vision of Essential Logic.  Fab Diamonds are bound to get compared to Blues Control and, though there are some obvious similarities (coed duo, heavy on the delay), this stuff never spins into heaviness.  This EP is a compelling exercise of "less is more," creating enough space amidst the noise to disguise itself as accessible or easy-to-get-at, which couldn't be farther from the truth.  Highly recommended, but I have a hunch that this is only a hint of their incredible potential. -SW

DUSTED - STILL SINGLE

Australian avant-pop duo with a strong concept of their own sound and the leeway they have to roam within it. Sounds a bit like something that might have been on Crammed Discs back in the '80s; patient, tamarind-flavored untitled pieces that tie together dub, "world soundclash" and mannered art-schoolisms into an affected, stylized end product that initially comes off so slight as to not register. A few listens, though, and you'll find the requisite handholds to scale this material. The vocals come off in that sort of new animal sort of way that Ari Up used to remember how to deliver before her mind succumbed to tropical heat and ganj blastage. If they're the modern-day equivalent of the People in Control, I'll take that; if they're the careful, polished answer to the myriad questions asked by Blues Control, I'll take that too. Forthcoming efforts in the hands of Siltbreeze, so here's your ground level entry.

THREE THOUSAND

Fabulous Diamonds make avant garde music humbly disguised as pop minimalism. A counterpoint to all card-carrying local 'art' groups, this restlessly inventive Melbourne duo is without doubt the genuine article; truly experimental, defiant of glib categorisation, advanced and yet totally stoned-sounding. Split published by new labels Mistletone and Nervous Jerk, this highly anticipated debut 7" is ten glorious minutes of rhythmic disorientation, concrete tones and glowing wormwood dub – all doused in so much delay as to sound like ink absorbing into blotting paper.

Like a set of lab experiments, the tracks are named simply by their duration. Side A has two woozy, singing affairs on it; the nocturnal crawler, '1:49' (known as 'Whiskey Soda' by fans), and the 'Tattoo on breadknives' one (also a live favourite). It is an edge-of-midnight sound with buggy sax, enchanting voice and stroboscopic organ. Side B has a bright vox acapella, delayed sax over echoey cowbells and jazzy piano smoking rocks of white. Yep - it' pretty high stuff, and the last track is a sound collage. As important now as Melbourne's Little Bands were in the '70s, or as good as Implog in the '80s. (Mark Gomes - Barrage)

MESS+NOISE MAY/JUNE 07:

Borne out of a tradition that lies somewhere between classic dub, experimentalism and post punk, Fabulous Diamonds foreground a style (unique) and substance (intriguing) that come together in a hypnotic frenzy. Assembled amidst high levels of delay, this Melbourne two-piece creates a truly bewildering mix. On the melody side of things Zlatic brings the unconventional approach practiced in his previous musical happenings (Oh! Belgium) to both the saxophone and chording of electric organ exhibited here, creating a sound that sits awkwardly with Nisa Venerosa's elegant vocals.

It's an awkwardness that befits the duo, constructing a compelling, evolving array of sounds to match its audience (likewise compelled). Coupled with unrelenting and creative percussion, Fabulous Diamonds are ultimately a band who capitalise on idiosyncrasy. '1:52' opens with trademark FabD: a repetitively entrancing rhythm that persists throughout the meet n' greet of sustained saxophone, sporadic piano and Venerosa's enthralling vocals. It's the hit you've been waiting for throughout this post post-punk mêlée we live in. Fabulous Diamonds present a world drenched in discordant jams stemming from a parallel universe of sonic intensity, one that picks up on the heritage embedded in post-punk, but recreates rather than rehashes the influence. From a debut, who could ask for anything else? (Eliza Sarlos)

DAZED AND CONFUSED

Melbourne dub-heavy twosome Fabulous Diamonds debut with this vinyl offering of five sparse and nameless musings. Nisa Venerosa's simple drumming and fragile Australian twang neatly completment Jarrod Zlatic's delay-drenched saxophone and organ, and although not recorded to best effect, the result is strangely, eerily compelling.

Pairing of northern suburbs conceptual improv performance art collective and New Zealand noise addicts of a 20 year vintage. Dead C boil down the top-impact sections of their relentless 2002 LA ATP performance to 18 minutes of rhythmic noise rock. Hi God People take ears on a free form sonic adventure. Limited to 500 copies, each come with silk screened artwork by Dylan Martorell that'll implode your mind at first sight of its intricacies.

Reviews...

ARTHUR MAGAZINE – BULL TONGUE TOP 80 OF 2006:

#10 HI GOD PEOPLE/DEAD C split lp (Nervous Jerk) Debut release by the great Australian label formally known as Art School Dropout. Dead C's side was live at the 2002 ATP Festival and is a brilliant evocation of elemental, abstract forces, culminating in a destroyed exorcism of "LA Blues". The flip, by Melbourne's finest, is their own, very special sorta rumble through a variety of style-dodges. Wonderful destruction of pre-dawn tongues. (Thurston Moore/Byron Coley)

VOLCANIC TONGUE – TIP OF THE TONGUE 18 JANUARY 2007:

"Excellent split LP from these two Antipodean freedom units. Dead C provide two tracks recorded live at ATP LA in 2002 that are just mindblowing and rank way the fuck up there with their most wasted early jams like "Power", "Mighty" et al, with that same explosive approach to rock form, single notes of monolithic feedback, power drums and Morley's prodigiously-stoned vocals. Totally fantastic. Hi-God People work almost NNCK-style abstruse improvised snatches into long investigations into the sustained brain-massage potential of barely fluxing sound via subtle Ra-inflected keys, electronics and percussion. Highly recommended."

PITCHFORK – FORKCAST

On Repeat: Hi-God People: "Thunder on the Way to Funan" [MP3]

It starts with a cryptic announcement: "We follow through the woods at a safe distance distance distance..." and then you're pulled into the labyrinth. Telescoping through detuned twangs, scary whispers, Mason-ic tom tom pulses, unexpectedly deadpan spoken word recitations (from children!), and acidic, amps-breathing guitar reverie, Hi-God People's "Thunder on the Way to Funan" comes off like a sticky, sun-drenched response to the moonlit pageant of Sonic Youth's "Halloween". It's got the same stateliness, and the same freaky, forthright confidence in chiming texture. Not many bands could hold their own on a split with The Dead C, but this tribal Australian four-piece makes it look easy. I hope I never make it out of these woods. (Drew Daniel)

DUSTED MAGAZINE – STILL SINGLE:

After 20 years, we're actually hearing another side of the Dead C. It's a confusing start that turns out it's just the tune-up phase for their "L.A. Confidential," one of their most outwardly rock offerings since the Vs. Sebadoh EP. What's great is that the recording is compressed in such a way that any escaping undertones fight for the width of the audible spectrum, as a feedback phantom rhythm coats the backbeat and bass frequencies with the presence of some sort of dance music. It's the damnedest thing, and must have happened purely by luck, but it gives the track a character that none of their other recordings has. Their "L.A. Blues" follows it up, somewhat to its namesake, a lengthy, free drone/rock meditation that sounds like sentient factories crooning themselves to sleep with the sounds of howling, seared scrap metal, industrial grinders operating at full speed, and bricks rubbing against one another. Robbie Yeats' kick foot will be bronzed someday. Australia's Hi God People play ascendant, temple-of-priests style psychedelia, allowing analog synths to swoop through sine waves, possessed Jonestown-style chanting, and shambling electric instruments and percussion rolling beneath. Their sound references both This Heat and Royal Trux at the same time (via Confusion is Sex-era SY) and have that thousand-yard focus that separates psych-folk crossdressers with those who can improvise. As good as everybody's been telling you it is, maybe a bit better.

SYNAESTHESIA RECORDS: "Local record of the year....?"

AQUARIUS RECORDS: "The Dead C offer up two tracks...The first opens with a sort of minimal Velvet Underground style groove, simple drums, muted melodies, but the whole thing is swathed in squealing, shrieking, creaking, stuttering shards of feedback. Eventually that feedback takes over, creating a new rhythm of its own, the drums spazz and sputter out, and suddenly we're in classic dark and dangerous Dead C territory again. Fuzzed out, blown out, overdriven, psychedelic NOISE rock, somehow free and abstract, but totally propulsive and groovy, with strangely super melodic vocals buried WAY down in the mix. The second track is another blissy drone out, that by the end of the side breaks down into some seriously noisy freakout action, sounding almost like some bootleg Stooges jam, pulled apart, jacked up and blown wide open! Fuzzy and murky but still strangely (noise) rocking!

On the flipside...Australia's Hi God People, are still noise rock, but much less abrasive and more melodic. The opener is super abstract, with bits of sample conversation, warbly organs, shimmering feedback, a lazy glimmering drift. The second track kicks in with some almost Sonic Youth like grooves, simple drumming and tangled up atonal guitars, and some awesome, out of the blue snarling tigers (!). They finish things off with a super moody laid back blown out psych jam, with weird Patty Waters like vocals. Cool."

MESS+NOISE: 20 Best Australian Release Artwork of 2006 – #10

Australian Tour 7". Features two previously unreleased studio jams recorded during the Feels sessions. People is a 6.30 min drift in hazey ambiance closely vibing with Sung Tongs, while the flipside Tikwid is (only slightly) more upbeat freak-out twisted pop. Limited to 500 copies.