Links to Audio Albums

Genres of music in the collection: Electro, Electronica, Intelligent Dance Music (IDM), Electronic Dance Music (EDM), Industrial, Club, Acid, Stoner, House, Trance, Drum&Bass, Electroclash, Breakbeat, Witch-House, Glitch-Hop, Trip-Hop, SynthPop, Hip-Hop, Rap, DancePunk, SynthRock, Techno Pop, IndieTronica, PowerNoise, Experimental, Musique Concrete, Dark Ambient; Australian, Canberran.

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Article: "On Electricity"

The following article is a pre-release promotional review by music journalist Paris Pompor of DRUM Media Music Magazine, Sydney, Australia.

Canberra is a strange place. Anyone who's been there will tell you. It's a city of contradictions and extremes, with a history of survival and subversion. Whether it's the strange mix of thriving underground art and country town conservatism, or the relatively low cost of living and affluence versus one of the country's highest suicide rates - the city has a feel all of its own. I should know, I spent my teens there and then when it was time to get a job, like thousands of others I sought refuge in the huge and transient Public Service. Like many 'pubes', it was a double life; pen pusher by day (well actually I drove a motorised trolley around the labyrinthian corridors of the Dept of Defence (but that's another story)) and a musician by night. When the clock hit 4.51pm, the metamorphosis occurred.

It was a breeding ground for creativity. Not only was the work so boring that you would spend hours tapping out new rhythms on the filing cabinet, but you were privy to all sorts of bizarre government secrets that gave fuel to lyrical pursuits and certainly made seeing Club Of Rome at the Uni Bar at night seem like a covert operation. Out of this piping pool bubbled a never ending trickle of talent. Artists that went on to make loud noises around the world, whose humble beginnings in Canberra rarely made it into print. Besides rockier outfits like The Church and Midnight Oil who have connections with the place, the late 80s and 90s spawned a newer, geekier breed.

Canberra was one of the first places to open a chapter of the electronic music collective, Clan Analogue and while most of the city's residents were still downing beers in the fast disappearing pubs to the sounds of Chisel or Don McLean spouting duos, the forests around Canberra were starting to come alive to the flurry of electro-pixies who were gathering to organise and dance to the beat of a very different rhythm; one created by a drum machine. From here sprang the likes of B(if)tek, Australia's (and probably the world's) only fully electronic, 2 grrrrrrrrl , internet collaborating, femme power-pack who have gone on to sign to a major and make ears prick around the world.

Now one half of B(if)tek, the krafty and nowadays Melbourne resident, Artificial turns up on this long overdue compilation called ELECTRICITY- celebrating the host of new age electronic talent that has emerged from Australia's capital city.

Along with DJ Toupee, the two join other recognisable names like EYE and Chris Fresh (who still reside in Canberra, but whose numerous releases and activities have become known much further a field), for a double album that fuses everything from techno and politically charged beats, to kookier dance tunes and ambient extensions.

It's time for me to stop rambling and for you, if you haven't already, to pop the enclosed CDs into your player, turn up the volume and prepare to be surprised. You might recognise the names Nash T, Dark Network, Lackluster and Clone, or maybe the sounds of Mr Fink (who's moved to Sydney like 50% of Canberra) or maybe even Futureretro (the brainchild of producer Paul Bambury with umpteen releases around the globe under a myriad of pseudonyms including Alien Headspace) will ring a bell.

Whatever the case, nothing will prepare you for the diversity of tracks; from the housey flavours of Gruv Dios' The Flute Song to the acid-delay of Stalker; from the industrial-chainsaw strangle of Labrats' Police Brutality to the 1-800 techno of Lacklustre's late-night marketing; ELECTRICITY is like getting caught in the flow of one of Canberra's many roundabouts, only each circuit reveals a whole new view! Maybe it's the mushrooms? Best ask Voice Of The Dog.

In closing, I haven't lived in Canberra for a while myself, so looking through this CD's track listing for the first time was a bit like going to a school reunion where half the attendees are gatecrashers. Not only didn't I realise some of the recognisable names were originally from Canberra, but since leaving, a whole new bunch of people are making noises. It was kind of comforting therefore to see a name like Kimmo Vennonen's. He not only mastered the album, but also contributes the glitch-ambient epic and closer, Reality Intrudes. You see, when I was annoying the people at god-send community broadcaster 2XX as a youth in the 80s, Kimmo was the resident legend. Not only because he was the 'tech wizard' at the station who recorded all the underground acts who were putting out records and tapes, but he also enviously got his hair-cut and coloured at Civic's 'Nouveaux' salon, where a keen interest in English fashion and music was the only pre-requisite for being issued with a set of scissors! To me and the group of pubescent nu-wavers I called friends, he was the closest thing to 'making it' we thought we'd ever see in Canberra!

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Some Visuals

Youtube playlist: Canberra Electronic Dance Music (EDM) - Canberran Bands Groups Projects Artists Producers

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Some PIX

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