WHAT WE DID TO AMUSE OURSELVES ONE THURSDAY EVENING AT NO. 3 WILSHIRE
STREET
(morphing into)
SPACE LIGHT MUSIC
(MAKERS OF) THE DEAD TRAVEL FAST - EARLY
SCATTERED ORDER - A DANCING FOOT AND A PRAYING KNEE DON'T BELONG ON THE
SAME LEG
THE BARONS - HOME RECORDINGS
PATRICK GIBSON - I'M HERE TOO YA
KNOW
PATRICK GIBSON - THE MOST BEAUTIFUL...
All remastered at home
from good to excellent quality cassettes.
These cd-rs show the depth and breadth of experimentation that was
rampant at the time. They give an indication of the amount of boiling
creativity that was happening in many lounge rooms from Surry Hills to
Newtown via Chippendale and the Northern Beaches and how it still
continues to this day.
A Cloakroom Assembly is an early solo effort from Michael T. There's lots
of tape loops, drum machines, synths and guitars leavened with the
occassional glimpse of the pop smarts that he'd bring later to Ya Ya
Choral. It was meant to be released as part of the M2
Cassette range but, for some reason, was withdrawn.
What We Did... is a more languid affair with drones and pulses and echoes
and, hopefully, tape loops hanging round the walls. Were drugs imbibed on
this late week jam? I'll leave that up to you to decide. It was changed
slightly and finally used for the Space Light Exhibition that toured
Australia in 1982.
The early DTF material (this is probably before the actual DTF song was
written) has some Eno-esque synth pieces and lots of tracks with that
slightly out of tune piano that they loved so much leading up to the
slowly rocking "A Dab From The Diabolist".
Scattered Order's 1984 album sounds fine after all these years. The music
has a late 80s drone-rock feel with excellent playing and production all
round. However, Mitch's spoken vocals were always a problem for me even
when they matched the music perfectly.
The Barons were Michael T's project just as M2 started up. Obviously
played by people still learning their instruments and with the influence
of the Residents hovering benignly, there are some great, funny moments,
most obviously captured by their version of Paint It Black - later
released on the Growing Pains compilation.
I'm Here Too Ya Know is a compilation of Patrick's early 90s
experimentations. It starts off with a fantastic 30 minute trawl through
the M2 catalogue, much in the vein of Faust's recent Patchwork release,
with snatches of previously recorded material, twisting and bubbling in a
sea of possibilities. The rest are loops and dislocations and
juxtapositions, some, like Eric Satie and the Netherlands, still showing
his wit and erudition.
The Most Beautiful... is systems music played by a casio and a synth.
