Troth Playing Collector CS Launch In Newcastle, January 2020.

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Out the back of the Hamo, where you would otherwise find me, Mycle and the guy who sits on his phone watching the horse racing on Free Pool Mondays.

2020 marks ten years of Altered States Tapes. Will be doing some shows in the usual zones to celebrate, more info as it eventuates.

YL Hooi Tape on Boomkat End Of Year Lists.

Ying-Li's excellent Untitled tape has been given a shoutout by Aussie legends Jonine Standish and CS + Kreme on their EOTY lists for Boomkat. A handful copies of the final run of her tapes still available via bandcamp.

Jonine's list


CS + Kreme's selections

Troth - 'Warm Winds Dispersed Us' Available via Bandcamp.

Live recordings from Brisbane and Newcastle shows.

Released in an addition of 15 copies for a performance at The Yurt in East Brunswick, December 2019 w/ Th Duo, Thomas Hardisty and Ava.

Troth - 'The Optimist' Available + Upcoming Melbourne Show.

On cassette / digital via excellent Brisbane label, Essential Minerals.



Tape
Digital

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YL Hooi + Antonio Premieres Available To Stream Via Inverted Audio.

Article here.

New Altered States Tapes Available: Antonio / YL Hooi / Nape / Simon J Karis / Rinpoche + Yuta Matsumura.

AST094: ANTONIO - HIGH VOLTAGE! C46



Antonio Barbetta of Italy has been maintaining an active streak of high-octane electro and rawer cuts more recently via his Raw Ambassador project (on Mannequin Records, amongst others). Here he appears under his own name delivering unrelenting shots in the arm of slippery synths and glistening percussion. A long-playing one for when you need that bump for the long-haul, white-knuckle ride. 



AST095: YL HOOI - UNTITLED C32



I really couldn’t be more proud to deliver this, the untitled debut release from Melbourne’s YL Hooi. Ying-Li's work gives subtle nods to various liminal genres: basslines that could have been snatched from 80’s UK, the deepness of dub’s most welcoming sinkholes and a thorough smearing of experimental composition congealing it together as a whole. These elements all combine to make a release that is unlike anything I’ve heard recently and has been on a regular loop since it was first sent to me. Hooi has contributed to various configurations for the last several years, most notably with Tarquin Manek (who aids in production here). Although many of these previous incarnations resulted in similar affects, I can’t help but feel that the disparate influences perfectly converge here in a tape that warrants repeated listens, revealing obscured subtleties with each unspooling. 








AST096: NAPE - WITHDRAWN INTEREST C22



Withdrawn Interest is another of this batch’s three debut releases, this time from the UK’s Severin Black (a real / great name). Due to the massive delays this batch has endured, this will be closely released with his follow-up recordings on UK imprint (and AST pals), Beat Concern. Sev has been a solid bridge between the Australian and UK electronic underground, as the dome behind the Archaic Vaults mix series, his own distribution channels and generally maintaining a close eye on our activities down under. A lazy turn-of-phrase would lead me to describe these tracks as “warehouse industrial” or some such, but I rarely have the desire to go to warehouses unless they’re abandoned and devoid of people so it’d be disingenuous to pretend that I know what I’m talking about. Regardless, the four tracks here are unrelentingly caustic, giving little space for reprieve even in cavernous rooms. Sev has obviously studied the three C’s: Container, Collector and chaos. 



AST097 - SIMON J KARIS - PARSLEY C22



Simon Karis is many things; tape label honcho, chinotto aficionado and my former employer among them. His own music veers off into various strains of refined electronics. To be honest, most any music that situates itself too far in the slick, digital realm (what I like to call ‘post-internet bullshit’) is not usually something I’m interested in. But SJK holds it down with a purity of single-mindedness with which he approaches his craft, a trait I often find lacking in others plopped comfortably prone on the PIB stool. There are arps dugs deep from dusted 16-bit cartridges and bass that'll make your guts squirm like you ate a plate from a dubious bain marie, moments of serenity and others of palpable trepidation. Plus, the release is called Parsley and has a track called ‘Pre-Cum Seizure’ (attached below), so you know he’s onto something here…




AST098: RINPOCHE - HERUKA SONGS C34



One of the best things about running this label has been making contact with like-minded folk from around the world completely organically, as is this case with this LA-based duo. I’ll spare you the long-winded backstory, Rinpoche were a revelation when they found me (and I them). On Heruka Songs, you will find excellently executed industrial techno/ambience filled with heaving unease and an occasional ear for floors, but without any of the usual, associated bleak imagery. HS sees Rinpoche branch further from the strictly electronic palette found on their (throroughly under-appreciated) past 12”s on the self-run Tears Of Joy imprint, here they also utilise sampled and processed live percussion to great effect.



AST102: YUTA MATSUMURA - UNTITLED C19



When he’s not reinventing Sydney hardcore by using a flange pedal in Oily Boys, climbing the charts as the mouthpiece of Orion or spreading the good word behind one of the guitars in Low Life, Matsumura also finds himself making slamming ear-canal cavers like these four offerings. As with most of my favourite contemporary Australian electronic music (for example, his bandmate Dizzy’s WRX project), Matsumura’s background in punk / hardcore results in a compelling, bullshit-free approach to production not apparent in some of the other cul de sacs comprising Australia’s bloated techno neighbourhood.


Troth Brisbane Shows + 'The Optimist' Release Forthcoming.

Title-track from forthcoming release, The Optimist coming on Essential Minerals for two shows in Brisbane.

Troth - Our Opaque Wreath Cassette Available.

Via Sydney's Moontown Records.

Young Druid (UK) Show In Newcastle.

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Young Druid (UK / 5 Gate Temple)
DPRK (Sydney)
Exmah
The Mermaids
Troth

Should be a good one.

AST Youtube.

I've started uploading some of the pearlers from the back-catalogue up onto the 'tube, as well as some of my own obscure(r) stuff. Click away.

Mix for Outhouse (Melbourne).

Another new mix, a follow-up to the one I did for Sanpo Disco last year mixing ambient and country.

"There's hope still in the soil, the sky too. You just gotta dig".

Troth - 'Nothing Still In The Stone Garden' Short Film.

For the Newcastle Music Festival event held at Watt Space, Besseny and Bowman created an accumulative live performance from within the loops surrounding them, an excerpt of which appears here. The room began the exhibition in silence and slowly sounds, both from the machines and the people working with them, entered until the performance was complete and all that remains is the dialogue between what now moves of it's own volition.

Cassette / digital release soon.

Troth - 'Nothing Still In The Stone Garden' Opening + Performance.

Fused Exhibition - Opening Thursday August 8th from 5pm
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In gallery 1, Amelia Besseny and Cooper Bowman have co-curated an exhibition aiming to pair soundscapes created by first-year students of the University’s music faculty with other creative disciplines from within the University in order to compliment each other’s work and foster dialogue. The audio contributions featured come from Bachelor of Music students Darcy Archer & Ellen Presbury, Dylan Davidson, Jack Watsford and an immersive installation by Dylan Davidson and Campbell McGillivray. Visual accompaniment features from local artists Rachel Klyve, Louisa Magrics and Wednesday Sutherland.

Troth - ‘Nothing Still In The Stone Garden’
'Nothing Still In The Stone Garden' is an installation by Troth as part of ‘Fused’, running for the event’s duration. The work comprises hand-cut reel-to-reel and cassette audio loops paired with a film projection shot in Glen Davis, NSW created by their friend, filmmaker Gregory Perano. Together, the works form a cohesive statement about the awe and inspiration that can be gleaned from time immersed in natural environments, the often-complicated interplay of elements that is found within these zones and the flux that ultimately maintains their vitality.

For the Newcastle Music Festival event being held at Watt Space, Besseny and Bowman will create an accumulative live performance from within the loops surrounding them; the room will begin the exhibition in silence and slowly sounds, both from the machines and the people working with them, will enter until the performance is completed and all that remains is the dialogue between what now moves of it's own volition.

Our essence, to bend and flex
Nothing still in the stone garden
I bind 'round, I fasten


Filmed entirely in Glen Davis in The Gardens of Stone national Park in Northern NSW between Sept 2014 and Jan 2017.
Glen Davis was once a shale mining town whose population high of 2000 in the mining days dwindled to 25 in 2019.


Also, there will be an evening of performances on Sunday.
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Lucy Cliché (Sydney)
https://soundcloud.com/lucy-cliche
Lucy has carved out a niche of her own bodily contagious techno over her last two decades of practice and is one of Australia's foremost electronic artists. She has performed at the Sydney Opera House, soundtracked films at The Gallery Of Modern Art (Brisbane) and NSW Art Gallery (Sydney), as well as being regularly billed on both dance festivals and DIY shows alike.

Troth
https://soundcloud.com/altered-states-tapes
Troth is a recently-formed Newcastle duo comprising Amelia Besseny and Cooper Bowman. Together they fashion ethereal environs from vocals, electronics, zither, tape loops and sampled percussion and piano. They will be performing in the centre of their film and reel-to-reel installation in Watt Space's Media Room, titled Nothing Still In The Stone Garden.

e4444e
https://soundcloud.com/e4444e
Romy Church is a student of music at UoN and a tireless live performer, gigging regularly both in Newcastle and elsewhere in Australia. As e4444e, Church crafts ornately-structured electronic pop and has revealed himself as one of Newcastle's eminent emerging musicians.

Darcy Archer
Darcy Archer is a student of music at UoN who predominantly works as a percussionist. For this performance, she will be creating a set of meditations via vibraphone. Her collaborative work with Ellen Presbury, The Natural World, is featured in the Fused exhibition in Gallery 1.

Tsap + Troth - First Shows.

Two new duos, two shows in Sydney and Newcastle respectively.

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Tsap - Deceptions Of Mechanised Worship Available (Total Black) + Mix For Friendly Potential (NZ).

New experimental / industrial hardware duo made up of Chris Colla + Cooper Bowman. This is our first release, on Germany's Total Black. We'll be playing a couple of shows and probably some other things shortly.

Blooms Of Antimony (Soundcloud)
Buy Deceptions Of Mechanised Worship

A recent mix feat. unreleased forthcoming tracks leading up to Altered States returning to life after a period of hibernation:

Friendly Potential (NZ)

Out From Under (Resonance FM) Feature on Altered States Tapes.

Stuart Buchanan talks to me about the history / process of the label and I play some tracks from releases that will be rolling out in the near future. Replay here.

Opal Beau (Taiwan) Australia Shows.

One of my favourite elec musicians (and people generally), Simon Scott aka Opal Beau will be playing his first shows in Australia.

Originally from Melbourne, but now based in Taipei, Simon Scott is one of the more unique producers currently operating. His productions, like himself, are free of any strict geographical pattern-imprinting. Rather, like any of the legitimate forbearers of pioneering electronic music, they are aimed at shifting consciousness to something outside the immediate gaze. There’s an off-kilter nature to some of his beat-placement and woozily psychedelic swirls simmering underneath. Despite the atypical template, Scott still provides a solid grounding on which to shuffle your feet.

Sydney March 30th at Petersham Bowls Club
(flyer above by Sarah Davis):
Opal Beau (Taiwan)
Lucy Cliché
Call Compatible
Enderie Lit(e)

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Also, he's playing this Melb show at the Post Office March 21st w/ Jannah Quill:

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Maybe a Newcastle show TBA, possible but unlikely...

AST100 Review on Yellow Green Red.

Courtesy of YGR.

AST100 12" Compilation Review in February's Issue of The Wire.

Here is the opening track from the always excellent Opal Beau:



Vinyl / digital copies still available from bandcamp.

Riding The Blinds Article on Resident Advisor.

Article via Resident Advisor.

Riding The Blinds Vol. 1: LA Suffocated (Sydney) + Impatiens / Newcastle Station / January 20th.

Riding The Blinds is a proposed series of monthly events curated by Newcastle musician, Cooper Bowman, at Renew Newcastle’s unique venue, The Station.

The gigs hope to provide an opportunity for young and emerging Novocastrian artists working with musical forms outside of the traditional guitar, bass and drums arrangement. Each event will feature a local electronic artist and pair them with a complimentary project from Sydney. This is done to both encourage a dialogue between young producers and sound-artists from Newcastle, allowing them to tour if they wish and, similarly, to encourage artists from Sydney (and elsewhere) to play in Newcastle.

Newcastle has a rich history of homegrown music and historically was a regular port of call for Australian touring acts, however this has not been the case for many years, despite the best intentions of initiatives like the 'Live Music Taskforce'. We hope to contribute to Newcastle continuing to produce (and retain) it's musical talent and to make it a viable place for more marginalised cultural activities generally.

The first event will take place on Sunday, January 20th.
Free (with licensed bar open)
Running 5-8pm


LA Suffocated

LA Suffocated are an electronic duo from Sydney comprising Millie Hall and Ellen Pearce. They take elements of 80’s synth-pop, combining them with influences derived from more contemporary rhythm-oriented music. Both Pearce and Hall share production and vocal duties live, creating music that simultaneously balances modern gloom and blissful innocence.

Despite touring New Zealand in 2018 and playing regularly in Sydney and Melbourne since forming in 2015, LA are yet to have a tangible release to share. That will change this year when seminal Sydney underground label, Paradise Daily Records, releases their first album.

Live in Canberra 2018 (Youtube)

Impatiens

Impatiens is a recently hatched synth-pop outlet for Amelia Bessany. Bessany’s electronic productions are largely hardware-based with her vocals foregrounded. Impatiens takes queues from folk, experimental and post-punk approaches, crafting vivid scenes that are immediately captivating and firmly stand on their own in the current Newcastle landscape.

Impatiens Soundcloud

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