The album's subtitle reads as follows: "M Squared: Rare Recordings 1979-1983 Volume 1". A bit of background is therefore in order: M Squared is an Australian independent label specializing in experimental sounds, ranging from industrial to noise and from post-punk to minimal electronics. Founded in 1979 by Michael Tee and Mitch Jones, two of the leading figures of Scattered Order, it ceased operations for good in 1984.
With this double album titled "41 Pardons" — the follow-up to last year's box set "M Squared Terrace Industry" — the modern Australian label Ascension Records sets out once again to pay tribute to that legacy, releasing no fewer than forty-one previously unreleased songs by artists mostly unknown to the wider public, but nonetheless of considerable significance within Australian experimental music.
The first CD features Scattered Order, Patrick Gibson and A Cloakroom Assembly. The former, probably M Squared's flagship act, known for the splendid album "Prat Culture", operate essentially within experimental post-punk territory ("Tanks", "Violent 4"), though their sound takes on different shades from track to track: sparky and industrial, like a "Nag Nag Nag" by Cabaret Voltaire ("Hold My Cold Hand"), but also abrasive and noisy in pure Chrome style ("This Is A Song About Love").
Patrick Gibson's songs, on the other hand, marked by melancholy, lullaby-like melodies, tread mostly new wave ground ("New Zealand"). Just as Gibson did, Michael Tee — also active in Scattered Order — throws himself into a solo project of his own: A Cloakroom Assembly. Here the main ingredient is electronics, which in some cases takes on the electro-minimal basis ("The Swing Box") so dear to the Dutch band Minny Pops, while elsewhere it turns more experimental and industrial ("Snare Grrr", "Over Heads Whoop"), coming across as akin to S.P.K. productions.
The second CD contains seventeen songs: six by Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast, four live tracks by Systematics, plus various singles by lesser-known bands or artists. Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast are probably the ones who push experimentation furthest; the sound here grows more complex, bringing in instruments like sax and percussion ("Urchin"), ambient-style field recordings ("Sea Heads Part 1") and assorted industrial scrap-metal noises ("Sea Heads Part 2").
Relying mainly on keyboards, drums and guitar, Systematics instead stand out for a kind of minimal electronic post-punk. Across their four extremely short tracks, keyboard lines alternate with obsessive drum beats, underpinned by a warm, highly distinctive voice ("Patrick Gibson").
The closing songs on the second CD are releases by various bands: Prod, East End Butchers, A Volatile T Shirt, Shane Fahey, Height/Dismay. Worth noting is the East End Butchers track, in which spoken word alternates with skillful tape manipulations ("The Elephant Freak"); also interesting is the Shane Fahey song ("A Run For Your Parlour"), with its playful synthetic sounds reminiscent of 1980s video games.
The forty-one tracks featured on this double album are all included in the limited box released in 2009 by Vinyl On Demand. This release nonetheless remains a fine piece of archival digging, while we wait for volume two.
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23/09/2011
This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Massimiliano Mercurio, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.
Tracklist
- Cd 1
- 1. Scattered Order
- 2. Tanks
- 3. Violent 4
- 4. Untitled
- 5. This Is A Song About Love
- 6. Hold My Cold Hand
- 7. Because They Are More Difficult
- 8. Waiting For You To Come Home
- 9. Patrick Gibson
- 10. Modra Inara
- 11. When a Band of Men
- 12. Yellow Suit Weighing Machine
- 13. Swimming
- 14. New Zealand
- 15. I Needle The Oven!
- 16. Hydrobes
- 17. A Cloakroom Assembly
- 18. Tom Salted
- 19. Clock Tom Snare
- 20. Snare Grrr
- 21. Keeping Apprehension Time
- 22. Drolling Rolling
- 23. Tom Tom Tom
- 24. Over Heads Whoop
- 25. The Airside
- 26. The Swing Box
- 27. Raft
- Cd2
- 1. Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast
- 2. Jacinto
- 3. Urchin
- 4. Brooding Buffalo
- 5. Sea Heads - Part 1
- 6. Sea Heads - Part 2
- 7. Industrial Baby
- 8. The Systematics
- 9. Suicide Beach
- 10. Vanessa Teratology
- 11. Fat Cows Go Down An Eastern Beach
- 12. Die For My House
- 13. Selection
- 14. Height / Dismay - Blood Pressure In The Sand
- 15. Prod - Jet Boy Survives The Fall
- 16. East End Butchers - The Elephant Freak
- 17. A Volatile T Shirt - Nautical Engineering
- 18. Shane Fahey - A Run For Your Parlour
- 19. Prod - Day Glo
- 20. A Volatile T Shirt - Making Babies In Heaven
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