It's been a while between visits, but on the Sunday just passed, it was my pleasure to fill in for Ian Parson's, The Sound Barrier. Ian is a passionate advocate for Avant-Garde music and Art Music. A Doctor of Philosophy, Ian's doctoral work is titled, The Phenomenology of LIGHT: an interpretation of Stockhausen's opera cycle drawing on Heidegger's Fourfold and Lacanian psychoanalysis. Don't freak out - he's down (or is that up?) with the everyman.
On The Sound Barrier, Ian reaches out and welcomes us to explore a genre that for many may seem unapproachable, his enthusiasm and love of the sometimes misunderstood avant-garde is infectious. Ian's blogs on The Sound Barrier program page at PBSFM are educations within themselves - he's into engaging you when sharing his knowledge.
I began with thematically continuing on where Ian opened and closed, his Connecting and constructing in Australian new music broadcast, from March 17 ... and musically myceliumed and morphed from there.
AUDIO ARCHIVE - available for around three months from broadcast date
ROOM40 released Mokuy, by Hand To Earth in November of 2023. Mokuy explores a hybrid between the ancient Yolgnu songman tradition of David and Daniel Wilfred, and the extended technique musical disciplines of Aviva Endean, Peter Knight and Sunny Kim. What results is music redolent of the Fourth World explorations of the likes of say Jon Hassell, Michel Banabila and Brian Ales. This rich sound palette is further enhanced by the post-production and musical contributions of ROOM40 label founder Lawrence English. Then, we dwell momentarily in the muted jitter, scrape and skip of an ant microworld via Helen Svoboda, Andrew Saragossi and Mike Roelefs' song Ant Farm (Part 1), from the 2021 release Ant Songs. This attention to musical detail continues in the gently whirring and percussive tocking of Brian O'Dwyer's We Sleep In Shifts, lifted from his recent 9000 Computer album. It's got some neat billowing going on too, which is a great way of seguing to the cooing within Lachlan Dale's Revealing A Silver Stream from the forthcoming Shrines album, due for release in April of this year through Art As Catharsis. We close the set with a staple of Gelareh Pour and ZÖJ's live performances, My Empty Boat (Part 3) - lifted from their recent masterpiece, Fil O Fenjoon.
The second set opens with a single from Meanjin/Brisbane based, Fhae, titled 2001. I reckon 2001 has a darkly angelic, churning, epic quality about it, while remaining understated. Fhae has recorded almost exclusively on 4000 Records, indeed, she donated a song to their recent benefit curation Solidarity Soundwaves. Included on this valuable curation was a song by Abstract Human Radio, Listening, a self contained, womblike soundworld that's tricked with cycles of belltone and Rothko (ie Mark Beazley) like guitar meander. I have enjoyed pretty much all of explorations of UK based guitarist Ray Robinson who goes by the nom de plume of Wodwo. He released də ˈstaɪl in February of this year, it's delicacy and detail are prettily, grittily poignant - an album of dedications, I played Gerrit. Then Ryuichi Sakamoto, a brief moment of trilling bells from the 2023 album, 12, titled,2022034. The first anniversary of Ryuichi's death is March 28 and gee are we fortunate to have so much beautiful music created by him. Then, to close the set, a track from the tribute album, A tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto - To The Moon and Back, by Lim Giong. Attributed as the Lim Giong Follow The Steps Remodel of Sakamoto's Walker, this composition featured on Sakamoto's async album, released in 2017.
A Ryuichi Sakamoto piece opens the third set, titled 20211201, it featured on the 12 album too. From one poignant work to another, Ian Hawgood's Movement VII, from And Then There Was Nothing follows. Ian is celebrating the 15th anniversary of the label he founded and curates, Home Normal. It was founded in Tokyo initially, before he and family relocated back to the UK, then Poland and back to the UK again. Ian's honest and open sharing of his life has had some truly harrowing trials and tribulations. In particular the genesis of this album and it's twin, Where I Go You Cannot Follow, is a reminder of the fragility of all that we hold true and dear to ourselves - sometimes, we can be overwhelmed by circumstances and it seems that the worth of living has gone. We are fortunate indeed when chance, or determination, gracefully whisper for us to hang in there - there is purpose. Closing the set with a track by multi instrumentalist, vocalist, broadcaster Karen Vogt, Every Feeling, was penned by Vini Reilly. Every Feeling is narrated by Cedrik Eyemenier who has created a number of videos for Karen, and a bunch more people. Fessing - apologies for the abrupt ending to this beautiful piece.
The fourth set starts in 2010, revisiting the Home Normal label with one of their early releases, Drifts. L/M/R/W is the abbreviated name of the ensemble playing Drifts and it featured - Leo Fabriek, on harmoniums; Mariska Baars, guitar, voice; Rutger Zuyderveldt (aka Machinefabriek), guitar, sampler, effects, editing; and Wouter van Veldhoven, on taperecorders and melodica. The track, Birthday, explores a harmonium drone that envelopes and whorls ones ear and headspace through the subtle musical contributions of the ensemble. To close this set, we visit the music of Tokyo based sound artist Iu Takahashi. Iu released Sense /Margin on the Belgian Laaps label earlier this year and we listened to Awake / Lakeside - for me it suggests partial sumbersion beneath a jetty on a misted lagoon. Don't ask.
To close, Lawrence English and Loscil's Black, from their Kranky release, Colours of Air.
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