Strange Times Are These

We are living in extraordinary times, not only are there massive natural disasters, crazed despots and lunatic celebrities but we see these things live as they happen, which makes us simultaneously feel connected but also distanced as we see then through small rectangular windows of limited periphery. We are connected, we can feel these events in our hearts and our souls. It feels strange writing to you while all this is happening and promoting releases and gigs, is it just a case of life goes on? That seems a pretty hollow sentiment. I can't physically help but I want to do something so I've decided that I'll donate $5 from every Chakra DVD purchase to the Red Cross appeal for Japan. Our family has already donated to our neighbours across the Tasman Sea in Christchurch. It's not much, and there are only about 30 discs left, but every drop counts. They are $20USD each including shipping to wherever you are in the world. Purchase on the website via Paypal.

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1. Gigs

Ascension Engine at Loop Bar 2011

Straight from the Rainbow Serpent Festival comes the Ascension Engine for an exclusive Melbourne event. Ascension Engine is an audio/visual cornucopia of meditative sound and vision from some of Australia’s finest audiovisualist experimenters.
With the killer sound system and massive screen at Loop, sit back and connect with the universe that these visionary artists will weave for you.
Be prepared for sacred frequencies, audio reactive mandalas for meditation, binaural beats and alchemical transformations through sound and vision.
Ascension Engine comes alive from 2pm on Saturday 26th March.

Tickets on the door are $10 full or $5 conc.

Loop is at 23 Meyers Place Melbourne 3000 VIC, check it online: http://www.looponline.com.au/

Artists:
Truant is a audiovisual project using hand crafted analogue circuitry to create ambient textures and tones to match landscapes of composed pixels.

Siilt
Dusty atmospheres, drones and post-dub subsonics.
Siilt layers looped chords, voltage-controlled tones and low-end sonic detritus into minimalist dub-inspired soundscapes.
http://antisound.net

GRIST is shamanic improvised black zen non-genre occult minimalism - no instruments, no composition – channelled by post-pagan chaos-audiomancer A Demon Sheen (GNAUMGN / The Horn / HAARK / Dead Ants Rainbow / Merge into Stripes / RAKSHASA / Forgotten Cairns / etc), using 100% Found Sounds – this is the musick from the collective unconscious.  the self is dead – long live the self!
http://www.myspace.com/thegristproject

Electronic Shaman
Taking inspiration from the works of Lovecraft, Romero and the mystics, Electronic Shaman takes inspiration from the sciences, both real and unreal. Stygian vistas of distant worlds give way to intimate moments of the psyche. A fascination with conspiracy and fact merge to deliver ambient soundscapes of worlds unknown.
http://electronicshaman.com

Steve Law/Zen Paradox
Steve Law has been producing electronic music in Australia since the early 1980′s. During that time he has gained a reputation as one of Australia’s foremost electronic artists, creating and performing music in almost every sub-genre that has been spawned over the past couple of decades.
After exploring many areas of electronic experimentation with the groups Guild of Fire, Foil and various solo projects, Steve formed the techno project Zen Paradox in 1992. The debut album “Eternal Brainwave” was immediately signed to Ollie Olsen’s new Psy-Harmonics label, and licensed to KK/Nova Zembla in Europe and Restless in the U.S. to critical acclaim, and was a huge success. Steve went on to release further material under the Zen Paradox banner during the nineties, backed up with extensive and successful overseas tours. He was named best live electronic act at the 2000 Australian Live Music Awards.
In the meantime, Steve Law continued to explore other areas of cutting edge music, and was awarded the inaugural ABC classic FM computer music award in 1996 for his electroacoustic composition “Urbania”. He has composed music for film, dance and various multi-media works, and has contributed to the Fringe, Next Wave, Experimenta, Electrofringe, Liquid Architecture, Articulating Space, Make it Up Club  and Melbourne International Animation festivals.
Steve has collaborated with many other local and international artists, both live and in the studio, and has continued to release music on various labels around the world. He is an inspired live performer, regularly doing impromptu live improvisations with many of Melbourne’s underground musicians. He is also a member of the Melbourne band Black Cab.
http://www.solitary-sound.com/

Abre Ojos
Deep drones, sacred frequencies and sacred geometric animated visuals combine to create a psychedelic visionary meditative experience. Abre Ojos is the improvised audiovisual project of Scott Baker fusing analogue modular synthesis and digital vision into deep listening experiences touching on the work of Alan Lamb, Steve Roach and Robert Rich. “Abre Ojos” was a constant saying by the Spanish and Portuguese sailors while navigating the dangerous reef infested waters surrounding Australia’s coastline meaning “Watch Out” or “Open Your Eyes” there is danger all around.
http://abreojos.net

Zero Point aka Darren Curtis
Australian musician & artist that weaves eastern and western influences to reveal the mystical soundscapes of supernature. via Live Laptop, controllers and mapping.
Through years of research his speciality of music works on the unique frequencies of supernature, through research found in many of ancient structures like the great pyramid in Egypt & Mayan pyramids. Through mapping new music patterns and chord structures a whole new electronic synthesis is created that is in harmony with the body.
He travels around Australia doing live music and visuals performing at festivals i.e. Rainbow Serpent 2010/2011, Reconnect 2010.
His wider style draws from the GOA Ambient, Chill, Techno, Electronica & New Age fusing these elements into new style of Electronic Future Chill .
Co-director of Sacred Resonance  – Darren Curtis <BA.Hon.MUS.Tech> & Bradley Pitt are visual and sonic immersion experts with full dome projections, animation, and installations.
http://djzeropoint.blogspot.com

2. Releases

Chakra DVD

This has been over a year in the making and something I am super proud of. Bunk Data and I really hit it off in our creative processes. This a true deep space adventure, here is the blurb:

A received unknown binary transmission…

The message channeled through synthesizer technology,
Tones and scratches sent in response.
Ascension dialed in with analogue/digital oscillators and vocal incantations.
Strange encounters… Harmonics distorted… Control lost…
Emergence of the new archetype.

Bunk Data: Analogue Modular, Virus TI, Monome
Abre Ojos: Analogue Modular, Vocal

Recorded – August 2009 – February 2010
Minneapolis, Minnesota / Melbourne, Australia

Download Full Album:
ea014 -bunk data vs abre ojos – sidereus (91.8 MB)

Download Songs:

Track 01 - a beam from eon (9.81 MB)
Track 02 - 1679 digits (17.9 MB)
Track 03 - long rivers of dust (21.3 MB)
Track 04 - photon belt encounter (25.6 MB)
Track 05 - at the mercy of inertia (35.3 MB)
Track 06 - terra nouveau (23.6 MB)

Visit the page at Endless Ascent and grab some of their other fine releases!

Also as a special bonus here is a collection of desktop images that were leftovers from the cover creation:

Sidereus Desktop Images (8.32 MB)

3. Misc News

So many things to talk to you about we'll start with some disturbing legislation that the Federal Attorney General wants to expand the list of federally prohibited plants. The list currently has 5 types of plants in it which can be used as drugs. This is to be expanded to include hundreds (possibly thousands) of other species, including all Angel’s Trumpets, many common cacti, many native and exotic wattles, powderpuffs, fodder grasses, Jimson weed, and many other common ornamental plants.

These laws will make criminals out of most nurseries, commercial propagators, gardeners, cactus collectors, farmers, and people working in landcare and dunecare. Selling just a single one of these plants can cause you to be charged and convicted with a federal drugs conviction and criminal record. There is a heap more info including a click-and-send petition to the govt:

http://www.gardenfreedom.com/the-proposed-legislation/

Following on a similar topic Dateline on SBS recently aired a segment called Happy Juice a fairly shallow look at people travelling to South America for Ayahuasca. There has been a call for interested people to contact SBS and ask for a more tempered view via the documentary "Vine of the Soul". With the above legislation change this is even more crucial that these sacred medicines stay accessible, that the government and general public understand that these aren't the latest designer party drugs but that they are medicine and contain important keys for our evolution as human beings.

At the Astor theatre gig and at Rainbow I was lucky enough to meet an artist called Pumayana who creates the most amazing digital mandalas and artworks. Have a look through his site, you will love it! He also works with another artist from Healing Hertz and together they make up Luminaya. I'm hoping a collaboration will come off with these guys although distance may be a factor.

Two last things- on the very awesome community blog http://exp-melb.blogspot.com/ there has been a discussion lately about noise and drone performances and how it's a fine line to keep an audience engaged. Have a read and drop some comments, you must like some kind of drone because you are on this mailing list somehow....

Finally on the subject of drone there has been a couple of great new releases I've been enjoying- Attack Sustain has a new release out, full of short and sweet tracks each with their own personality but remarkably together as a whole. The liner notes are great too with lots of crazy gear shots.

Tom Hall has a release out that can only be described as dreamy- Past Present, Below.

That's it folks, check out some of my latest twitter's to see some gear pics, be well,

Scott
http://abreojos.net
contact@abreojos.net