Last year saw longstanding Australian electronic music & arts collective Clan Analogue holding a monthly night at Melbourne’s Loop venue where a random assortment of likeminded collaborators could meet up, exchange ideas and jam together live on gear. This latest download only compilation Gear Shift sees Melbourne-based Clan contributor Kim Lajoie sifting through the hours of material that were generated from these sessions to present some of the highlights. Despite the collective’s analogue-centric moniker, there’s a wide range of musical gear being pressed into service here, with software synths and tablet apps being employed alongside classic synths and drum machines. As you’d expect given the free-flowing nature of these live collaborations, there’s a wide range of different territory being explored over the eleven tracks collected here. Michael Mildren & Nick Wilson’s ‘Jam 1, April 30 2014’ kicks things off on a moody Krautrock-flavoured tip as heavily processed vocals murmur against a gliding backdrop of vaguely Neu!-esque bass synths and clicking drum machines as analogue synths noodle and theremin-esque squeals burst into life.
Michael Mildren & Damien Murphy’s ‘Jam 1, August 27 2014’ meanwhile calls to mind Tangerine Dream given a eerie coldwave push as icy phased vocals wash against minor key arpeggios and a propulsive, vaguely EBM-tinged drum machine stomp, before AC, Syx Ekoh and Chris Lynch’s ‘Jam 2, September 24 2014’ sees acid 303 squelches providing the muscular grooves behind a propulsive undercarriage of techno snares and kicks. Elsewhere, Tim Moore, Damien Murphy, Alessio Pittau & Andy Maggio’s ‘Jam 4, October 29 2014’ sees sung vocals making their most obvious appearance here against an ebbing backdrop of downbeat brooding synths and drum machines, in what’s easily the most New Wave / Minimal Synth-tinged moment to be found here. As you’d expect, there’s a rough and loose feel to a lot of the material here, with all of the ‘accidents’ inherent in improvised performance left intact. But at the same time, there’s the palpable sense of a group of people getting together, hooking a heap of gear together and trying ideas in the heat of the moment, an ethos that Clan Analogue has built its foundations upon and continues to follow to this day.
