Various Artists – Incidental amplifications (Room40)

In a welcome challenge to muzak, happy inoffensive classic hits, and music designed to make you purchase, Brisbane based Room 40 offer sounds to occupy the spaces for shopping. In July and August 2005 Brisbane based sound artist Lawrence English curated a spatial sound installation in various malls and shopping centres across Brisbane. Putting a call out to experimental musicians, this disc is a documentation of some of the more interesting submissions that greeted shoppers. Whilst some bigger names such as Chris Watson and Terre Thaemlitz offer submissions, it’s the locals such as Camilla Hannan who provides some of her factory sounds from her lyrical More Songs About Factories (Cajid) release, Joe Musgrove (Botborg) who gets high pitched and Thembi Soddell who flirts with silence and doom ridden textural noise who provide some of the more interesting efforts to fill the consumerist void. So whilst it doesn’ make you want to buy shoes Aaron Ximm’ sales pitch will confuse with its multiple indecipherable vocals and M Roesner’ wonderfully crafted field recordings would’ve no doubt wrenched shoppers from their feeding frenzy and had them scratching their heads with confusion.