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LP
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ADA 007LP
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Exek present their debut LP Biased Advice, following a self-titled cassette EP (2014) and a single contribution to a split cassette (2015). Biased Advice collects rerecorded and past material, which together stands as the fullest realization of an Exek identity, honed during two years of haunting Melbourne's live gig circuit. Before forming as a four-piece band in 2014, Exek remained an abstract concept in the mind of front man-to-be, Albert Wolski. With songs written but no musicians to perform them, he enlisted Andrew Brocchi (synthesizer), Henry Wilson (bass) and Sam Dixon (drums) and they began recording material according to Wolski's vision. The addition of Nell Grant on saxophone made previously murky reference points plainly obvious: Exek are the progeny of a Melbourne scene that established itself around Dave Chesworth and Philip Brophy's Innocent record label of the 1980s and its greatest offering, Essendon Airport's 1981 album, Palimpsest (CH 087CD). But Exek dared to abandon the pop and funk tropes of the early Australian new wave scene reaching out to German post-punk of the same era. Wolski's songwriting is akin to records put out by Hannover's No Fun Records and Hamburg's Zickzack, channeling the droll lyricism of 39 Clocks, saturated with self-deprecating attitude. Their vision mirrors Tuxedomoon's "Holiday for Plywood" but crucially, Biased Advice is a sermon that Exek preach to themselves. The band pit themselves as both victims and saviors living in a world that's trying to extinguish them. The conceptual weight carried in Wolski's lyrics follows on from process. Dub and other studio techniques are used throughout Biased Advice and are no better evidenced in the 16-minute modern (and instant) classic, "Baby Giant Squid". This song remains unchanged from its cassette release on Melbourne's Resistance/Restraint label, but here it lays bare its perfection over a whole side of the record. Basslines that stand out one moment give way to dubbed out percussion, hissing tape delay and reverb drenched vocals. Simply, this post-kraut-dub-psyche-punk excursion looks back over it's shoulder as it leaves "Bella Lugosi's Dead" for dead. It's a sublime balance of improvisation and cold calculation. It's the tension between this teetering psychotic nihilism and arrangement with studio-like precision that gives Biased Advice the tone of a forewarning. But of what?
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LP
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ADA 006LP
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Great Waitress present their third album, Hue. First performing in 2009, the trio's debut album, Lucid (2011), on Splitrec was a dazzling offering on Jim Denley's institutional imprint. Their follow-up was Flock (2013), on Portuguese label Creative Sources. Hue is a sophisticated distillation of these. On Hue, free improvisations offer flourishing moments of intensity that give way to shy, tender passages. The deep, textural explorations of each instrument confirm the accomplished musicianship of Magda Mayas, Monika Brooks and Laura Altman and at times the record is so minimal it sounds closer to field recordings. This sparse real-time arrangement shows the performative class and collective listening of this trio, honed over seven years of working together. Great Waitress is strengthened by a staggering number of collaborations and solo works by its members. The wide-reaching influences and technique of each member converge on Hue in a way that makes close listening unavoidable.
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12"
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ADA 005EP
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The seven minute title track connects the hissing snares of Cut Hands, the ear-worm anxiety of Dynamo Dreesen and the sub-bass and breaks of Metalheadz. "Stung" and "AGR 803" fill out the DIY/avant-rock B-side. No vocals here, only chaotic guitar riffs, percussion and synthesizers flung against the roller shutter garage door. With jaw clenched tight, Tackle collides noise and clinical motorik drum patterns, solidifying the dance floor tendencies of Shit & Shine and Gnod.
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2LP
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ADA 004LP
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Matthew P. Hopkins and Chris Schueler were Vincent Over the Sink and 22 Coloured Bull-Terriers was their 23-track opus.
"Think about music, but then dig a hole."
Hidden beneath an astoundingly diverse range of experimental and DIY output by Hopkins (The Bowles, Naked on the Vague; Penultimate Press, Vittelli, Kye) and Schueler (The Bowles; Kye) is the disorienting, psychedelic mess of Vincent Over the Sink's 22 Coloured Bull-Terriers. Written between 2005 and 2007 in Australia's Blue Mountains, Sydney, and Melbourne, its limited 2008 cassette release was lauded by those who heard it and lusted after by those who hadn't. This 2015 reissue, remastered by Mikey Young, comes in the form of a double-vinyl gatefold designed by Hopkins. Ten years on from its conception, 22 Coloured Bull-Terriers is still a rollicking, psychotic, and kaleidoscopic dream that demands reinterpretation on every listen. Made of 23 dazzling lo-fi vignettes and songs that range from tender spoken and vocal excursions ("Number Theory") to acoustic and instrumental sketches ("Santa Maria"), lullaby duets ("Blackbird" and "Rainblame"), and devastating, fleshed-out, no-new-wave songwriting ("Mice in the Ocean" and "Horses Screaming"). Schueler and Hopkins formed Vincent Over the Sink in 2001 and offered little in the way of heralded releases. The project lurked in the shadows of the Australian east coast scene. Even the 2008 cassette release of 22 Coloured Bull-Terriers saw no Vincent Over the Sink shows and only one (excellent) street press interview given by Schueler. Their most penetrating music came on a 7" on Graham Lambkin's Kye label in 2011, sounding like a terrifying washed-out DIY chamber music record. Sadly, it was released posthumously in memory of Schueler who had passed away a year earlier. What little material had arisen from this long partnership would be all the world was left with. These 23 tracks capture one part of the southern zeitgeist in the same way Flying Nun's early archive did. Vincent Over the Sink were two mates who could have been trying to record a Mick Hobbs record in their garage. The album mirrors The Shadow Ring's Put the Music in Its Coffin. It's a work full of the forlorn, dark humor in Pink Reason's alienating lyrics. 22 Coloured Bull-Terriers is all of this but none of it and Another Dark Age is extremely proud to present it with all the fanfare it deserves.
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LP
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ADA 003LP
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LST is the solo project of Australian artist Tarquin Manek. Recorded in 2013, Th Duo is a lo-sci-fi composition that is both uninhibited and hypnotizing. The origin of each sound never betrays itself and Manek's arrangement hints at nothing familiar. Th Duo sits on the mantle as a dusty relic from the future. Pieces like "Lego Swept Terrains" and "Lemon Suck Teeth" conjure images of vast junkyards one moment and extraterrestrial frequencies the next. The mind roams free but is inevitably led by the music. Th Duo was recorded using mobile phones and micro cassettes, which is partly the reason for its peculiar aesthetic. The question of process, however, might be more prominent if the record weren't so immediately enchanting. Such brave artistic methods will not surprise those familiar with Manek's long list of solo and collaborative projects. He is a member of the eccentric Canberran non-pop-music trio Bum Creek, who are notorious provocateurs in Melbourne's music and arts scene. Manek has also composed solo work under the alias Static Cleaner Lost Reward for Melbourne's Altered States Tapes.
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12"
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ADA 002EP
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11 Put Aside was compiled from Andrew McLellan's solo work as Cured Pink and is a critical precursor to the project's current incarnation as a four-piece band. Over the course of the record Cured Pink channels the same anxious energy of Cromagnon's sole LP for ESP Disk (1969) and shoves it onto the dancefloor. The B-side was recovered from destructive recording sessions across Indonesia, deep within Cured Pink's solo phase (2011). Cured Pink owns a specific Australian sound that references the gamut of avant-rock, dance music and power electronics, and these recordings are a singular piece of the puzzle that makes up Brisbane's unhinged and isolated scene.
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12"
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ADA 001EP
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This V/A release reaches across oceans and continents to connect music from four obscure projects. From Providence (USA) to Melbourne (Australia), Another Dark Age delves deep into the noise and experimental scenes of both cities. Form A Log is a trio of which Ren Schofield (aka Container) is a member. Their twisted analog improvisations are as disciplined as they are chaotic. "In the Streets" is a chugging percussive jam that winds its way between noise and entropy. Phantom Selector, Victim and Carrier are artists who have released diverse music on cassettes under ever-changing monikers. Tortured vocals, eerie textures and cavernous kick drums represent the fleeting moods of these artists.
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