The E.L.F.

About E.L.F.

"ELF" or "E.L.F." or later known as "XELF" was a sibling music project of EYE that became active from 2001. The E.L.F. project showcased the quirky psychedelic electronica dance music (IDM/EDM) that EYE was producing at the same time as other distinct styles (eg. electro industrial, hip hop, synth punk rock).

ELF's music was featured on several radio stations and national radio shows during the 2000s. This included daily broadcast for several months on the most popular alternative music station in Australia ("JJJ") for "A Nice Walk in the Park" . See further on for some playlists.

E.L.F. songs were released on ~10 compilation CD albums (in USA, Europe & Australia)... ELF performed live around a dozen times including at esteemed festivals such as ElectroFringe, Indyfest and at Club Kooky in Sydney ... Several major media publications ran features about the ELF & EYE projects... E.L.F. even placed 2nd in a song competition! ... For details on each point, read on. :)

Regards the name: along with "elf" the letters denoted "Electronic Liberation Front" and "Earth Liberation Front" - also the titles of several E.L.F. tracks.

News: In Feb 2024 we overcame years of procrastination to make the "Live at XXL 2001" album available on bandcamp.

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ELF Music

The genre styles that ELF's electronic dance music encompassed include: IDM (intelligent dance music), Acid, House, Electro Pop, Electronica, Psychedelia, Drum n Bass, Illbient, Electroclash, PsyTrance, Breakbeat & forerunners to Witch House & Glitch Hop... Some ELF albums and tracks are available at this ELF Music Bandcamp page.

In 2002 the late-90s EYE track "CIA Hypno-Programmed Robot Assassin" was remixed and released as E.L.F. on the "A.S.I.N.G.E.D" compilation CD album.

The ELF track "Music, is Here To Protect You" was a live mix recording made in 2002. It is also featured on EYE's youtube channel among other tracks that were regularly performed live as E.L.F.

A 2003 live version of "A Nice Walk in the Park"

In 2024 ELF re-released the "Live at XXL 2001" album on bandcamp. It was the first E.L.F. gig.

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Prior to "ELF" the title of AYA was used for several years in the 1990s (for quirky instrumental electronic tracks by EYE). Some of those pieces prominently featured analogue synthesizers. You can hear them at the AYA Music Bandcamp page. An example:

From 1996

From 1998

ELF-styled music can be heard on all albums at the EYE Music Bandcamp page. Some examples:

From 1999

From 1993

From 1998

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E.L.F. on Radio

One of the most popular radio stations in Australia, Triple J (JJJ), added the 2001 ELF track "A Nice Walk in the Park" to their daily playlist in 2003. It was featured thusly for several months; broadcast regularly across the nation, like several times per day. It was also broadcast on specialty shows in following years (see adjacent image).

The playlists show the track was played on shows like: "The Club", considered to be Australia's premier dance music show; and "Home & Hosed" the Australian music program. These playlists were found 10 years later on the internet archive website!

Earlier broadcasts of ELF-related tracks on national Triple J radio included broadcasts of EYE's "Mandate!"
As well as the track known as "Motivator/Challenger" - which was featured during the late 90s on a Saturday night JJJ "Mix-Up" program; in a set by DJ Michael MD [of Clan Analogue]

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In the 2010s "A Nice Walk in the Park" was added to EYE's Youtube Channel . It was included on the EYE album "Propaganda Machine".

Other radio stations that broadcast songs & interviewed the members of ELF & EYE include: 2SER, 2RRR & Bondi-FM (Sydney); 3RRR, 3CR & 3PBS (Melbourne); 4ZZZ (Brisbane); 5DDD (Adelaide); 6RTR (Perth); 6CCR (Fremantle); 2XX (Canberra); 2NUR-FM (Newcastle); VOX-FM (Wollongong); the national radio shows "Beatroot" (Community Radio Satellite) & "Alchemy" (SBS).

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ELF Live

E.L.F / ELF performed at more than a dozen dance parties ("doofs", "raves" or "gigs") in several cities - Sydney, Newcastle and Canberra ...
See this page for a list of most of the live performances that were done as ELF or E.L.F.; including flyers and posters.

After the publicity brought by the radio JJJ broadcasts, ELF were offered slots to perform with international artists on upcoming tours and at festivals ... But, just as it was 'all happening', unfortunately a family health crisis meant all the projects had to be put 'on hold' in 2004 ... Following that, a major hindrance to further music-making, was that from the mid-2000s the main producer of the music, Robot Citizen, became too busy with saving community radio 2XX from closure and then with DJing in Canberra nightclubs; organising club and band events that friends wanted. In hindsight, doing that was a mistake.

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ELF Interviews

Several newspapers and music magazines have interviewed members of ELF/EYE - mostly as "J Citizen", "John Citizen" or "Jane Citizen".

These publications include: Sydney city's music papers 3D World (for electronic dance music nightclub culture) and DRUM Media (for rock and pop music) ... The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper (article about underground Australian electronic music producers) ... A feature article in the Cyclic Defrost magazine about alternative electronic music ... In the "BMA" music magazine (Canberra street press) and The Canberra Times newspaper (about early innovators with independent home studio recording) ... An article about EYE's activism and protest music in the Australian political newspaper Green Left Weekly ... An interview with EYE in Chain DLK (magazine from Europe on the electro industrial music subculture) ... An article in the American Industrial Nation magazine ...
The links above open a new window with images of these articles.
Plus reviews in many publications.

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E.L.F Albums

Record Labels in Europe, North America & Australia featured tunes by "ELF" (or earlier as "AYA") on around a dozen compilation CD albums, in addition to the 40+ compilations that featured tracks as EYE - for a list of collections see this EYE discography.
The Blatant Propaganda label released several CDR albums by "E.L.F." or "elf" or "AYA". These include the titles: "Live at XXL"

As well as "Preview" and "Aphazia" ...

Those CDRs were meant to be teasers that led up to an officially pressed CD release ... Despite plans to release an "official" E.L.F. CD album in the early-mid 2000s (an album that was mastered, polished and factory-pressed) it was not released for several reasons explained further on.

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Awards to E.L.F.

In 2002 the MusicOz.org song competition awarded ELF with 2nd place in their dance music category for the electro-glitch-pop song "Bring It Down (Yer Lurrve)"

That track was later included on the EYE album Propaganda Machine

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Post-ELF

Despite all that great momentum - of reaching major milestones, which were stepping-stones from which to launch to greater things - the E.L.F. project had to be put on hold due to a serious injury, illness and lengthy recovery period ...
It then became demotivating to re-commence working under that title when:
i) Our mp3.com ELF web-page was deleted - after we had concentrated on building a large following for it, over several years, when a major-media corporation bought website and replaced our page with content about a major-label "elf" rock band from the early 1970s...
ii) During our time-out in 2004-05 another Australian artist was using "E.L.F." as their title; and national radio were broadcasting them (possibly assisted in part by the significant publicity we had already achieved before them through "A Nice Walk in the Park" in 2003)...
iii) It was also realised that having several project names was too demanding on limited time and resources...

Hence, it was decided later on to re-assimilate the E.L.F./elf/AYA tunes under the original
www.EYEmusic.info umbrella. Some of these tracks can be found on EYE albums at EYE's BandCamp page' and others are on the EYE Youtube Channel ... More are scheduled to be re-released during 2024 and thereafter on the ELF Bandcamp page.

Some more information (image and links) will be forthcoming.

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E.L.F. Links

ELF on Bandcamp

E.L.F. on Discogs.com

XELF on Discogs.com

Blatant Propaganda - Record Label

Music by the E.L.F. under other titles:

EYE Music Band

AYA Music Band

DJ Citizen

About club nights & radio by E.L.F. member:
DJ Robot Citizen

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