New Weird Australia is a non-profit collective of sorts, whose major statement are these free to download compilations comprised of submissions from artists throughout Australia. The aim is more eclectic than the more-clearly defined beardy-folky American version, whose name they plagiarised. This second volume captures everything from garage indie to extended field recording, but there’s a heavy, indeed leaden, emphasis on clunky broken rhythms and bedroom glitch, painting a blinkered, unrepresentative view of Australian music that is far from dynamic.
Tasmania’s Oceans work a muffled rumble and a synthesised choir into crackly loops, Sydney’s William Gardiner explores Reichian minimalism with vibraphone and digital fizz, and Broken Chip’s ‘Summer Stars’ arpeggiates soft tones like Kompakt’s Pass Into Silence, only to shatter the calm with intrusive clunky rhythms. Victorian Kharkov’s ‘Crustacean’ is a dust-blown squall of 4/4, Mieli of Queensland’s ‘Hometime’ delves into the easy IDM of Plaid, while WA’s Splendid Friends squawk, howl and moan like Animal Collective on acid, or rather more acid than usual. These latter tracks are the collection’s finest, but the final piece by West Australian Paul Fiocco, ‘Tensions and Drifts’, makes the whole endeavour worthwhile. Windswept strings and sparse, menacing drones recall Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and with the closely miked field recording of quintessential Australian sound markers – flies, cicadas, and the sound of red dirt underfoot – Fiocco repositions the drama of Sergio Leone down under, all the portent and dread of Picnic at Hanging Rock condensed to 14 minutes of vital sound. Essential for this alone.
Download free at www.newweirdaustralia.com
Joshua Meggitt
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