An old man remembers.......noise arts

Now for a little walk down memory lane...careful, it is a dark and twisty lane......The sound art/performance/noise scene in Sydney, Australia between when I moved there in 1992 and when I basically left in 1996 was fantastic. So many places to perform and see others make their art. Today ten years later I find stuff on the net about Lucas (who performs these days as Justice Yeldham And The Dynamic Ribbon Device), Jasmine Gufford, Phoebee Jeebee (the band Seven Golden Vampires was one of the best) and the now becoming quite famous Oren (who with Robbie and the truly Artaudian Nik blew our minds with Phlegm). Plus there is the group with which I still have close contacts, many of which were lurking down the side streets of Newtown in 1993.

From this time "before everyone on stage was a careerist" (to quote Dr Jim Glaspole) there are also available many Mp3 for download, some not so old and some harking back to a time when rents were cheap and noise was for all:

Dr Jim's Mp3s
Dr Jim's Records closed down in 2006. Although based in Melbourne they worked with many experimental sound people from Sydney as well. I spent time with the Dr Jim crew when I accompanied Phlegm and the Mu Mesons on a tour of Melbourne in 1994.

The Mu Mesons
Under the shaky guidance of Jaimie Leonarder (the same SBS movie critic and founder of the Mu Mesons Archive) the mu mesons gave the world something that is difficult to describe really. Part free form sound installation, part punk rock concert, part art brut event.....they changed my life as I saw them perform maybe 10 times over my years in Sydney.

Dual Plover
Started in 1995 by many of the artists involved in the first What is Music? festival in 1994. Dual Plover offer a selection of Mp3 sounds from 12 years of audio salvation as well as video evidence.

Hallo Excentrico
A web music label that does not seem to sell anything but rather gives it all away.
A huge selection of experimental sound and noise music including a whole CD by Justice Yeldham And The Dynamic Ribbon Device (Lucas).

Spill
Among the many gems here is a live Volvox set. I witnessed Volvox in 1994 in Melbourne and it was like giving you mind a bath.