M Squared

When this article was first published in Mucchio Selvaggio (issue no. 59, December 1982), the Australian label M Squared was hardly known here in Italy. I'd discovered its existence a year and a half earlier thanks to who knows which foreign underground magazine, had written to the address in Sydney and received a few promos (I immediately reviewed the Belle du Soir 45), and had had little trouble convincing my friends at the Roman record shop Disfunzioni Musicali to import a batch of copies of its still-available releases. In short, we got there before the French kids at L'invitation au suicide (another legendary label of those years: I'll come back to it), who in 1982 would put out the compilation "Entrave et etouffement", a thoroughly delightful double 10-inch: and it was precisely this last release that convinced me to put together a proper piece on the subject, since before then it had felt too much like showing off to shine such a bright spotlight on music that so few people would ever get to hear. Oh, I almost forgot: the term "minimal wave" doesn't appear because back then it hadn't been coined yet, SoliPsik were a kind of parallel project to SPK, and I can't explain why the piece makes no mention of Denial, whose cover of California Dreaming by the Mamas & Papas is one of the gems of the catalogue.

Lastly, I ask for your indulgence regarding my rather clunky, didactic prose, but I was only twenty-two and was teaching myself a trade as I went, with no mentor at my side.

Well, the problem is finding the right words to open the discussion on M Squared, the Australian label that, though almost entirely unknown, deserves a leading role within today's sonic exploration. However improbable it may seem, a vast circle of musicians has formed around the Sydney label, all moving according to precise directives and a clearly defined purpose. "A new sensibility, an anxious search for the essence of a style yet to be reached. This new Sydney music operates through subtleties, particularities, precise deformations or variations" (Jean-Pierre Turmel). The M Squared artists are indeed the architects of a singular, mysterious sound, rich in appeal. "An enigma. Music like Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. An enigma that is not clearly expressed, that needs no formulation, because it stems from a feeling of the undefinable, from the proven clash between something perceived so intensely and our inability to define it" (Jean-Pierre Turmel).

The universe of sounds bearing the M Squared stamp is made of muted colours, delicate hues, chiaroscuro, dreamlike atmospheres. It's a deep, inspired, introspective music that discreetly probes our emotions, stirring passions that, these days, are so often repressed. "The music of most of these bands is completely 'bound'. Bound in the sense that, once they've settled on a certain number of rhythms and melodies, they refuse to look for others. All the compositions seem to contain the same sounds, used with different harmonies, in an almost sadomasochistic music that draws its satisfaction from its own limitation, from its own bondage. There's the same suicidal feeling in cinema, particularly in 'Mad Max' (released in Italy as 'Interceptor'), where the costumes create the image of a sadomasochistic world in which the roads of the highway network cut across the desert's surface like cords binding a tortured body. The feeling stems from the almost permanent absence of perspective, which makes movement seem impossible, suggesting a perpetual stillness" (Mary Lemeure, Yann Farcy).

M Squared was founded at the end of 1979 on the initiative of Michael Tee, guitarist for Barons and later Scattered Order, and sound engineer Mitch Jones, joined a month later by Patrick Gibson, leader of Systematics. The aim was to give a home to music that, despite being highly interesting, was being snubbed by the major labels, while also leaving artists total creative control over their own output. In almost three years of activity, M Squared released around twenty records in various formats, plus half a dozen cassettes; every single release is undoubtedly worth attention, both for its originality and its unquestionable charm, though they will probably remain forever incomprehensible to the general public. "Cult" status still seems the most fitting role for the label's bands. Systematics, led by Patrick Gibson and Michael Filewood, were the first band to record for M Squared and remain one of the most interesting examples of this Australian "new wave"; an essential sound, built on synth, guitar and voice, documented on the single "Pulp Baby" (Doublethink), the 12" EP "Rural" (catalogue no. 1 for M Squared), the 7" EP (released after the band's split in January 1982) "My Life In The Fields Of Cows", and other tracks found on cassettes and compilations, which astonishes and captivates even as it remains sparse and far from easy listening. "Patrick Gibson built the ensemble on clearly minimalist foundations of precision and clarity. On a superficial analysis, their music seems to form a whole dominated by balance and simplicity, with a distinct lack of surprises. Don't be fooled: the reality behind appearances proves ambiguous and shifting. Patrick Gibson, who knows how to hold back, practices the art of escape with cunning and courage. This almost mathematical dryness in the compositions repeatedly returns us to a kind of static atmosphere, where no movement can shift the faintest breeze" (Jean-Pierre Turmel).

Systematics, however, were only the beginning of the adventure: over the following months, numerous other bands joined the M Squared family, and many wonderful records followed, tracing, with the obvious deviations, the path laid down by Gibson and co. The watchword remained "essentiality", though it took on ever different forms of expression. Particularly strong are the seven-inch releases by EST, vaguely reminiscent of the darker British rock of '79/'80, by Prod, almost entirely instrumental, and by Scattered Order (made up of the label's three founders), all marked by denser instrumental interplay. EST, Prod and Scattered Order each delivered excellent records, avant-garde enough to spark interest without being so unconventional as to demand too strenuous a listen: the right balance, in other words.

Releases kept multiplying, and M Squared put together an LP, "A Selection", followed by the 12" EP – also the work of various bands – "Growing Pains": the musicians were by now becoming aware of their own abilities, wanted to be heard, and compilations were certainly the most effective way to achieve that. The circle kept widening. "A Selection", however, wasn't the enterprising Sydney label's first LP: in March 1981 they had released "The Vessels", the debut of the marvellous The Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast, a band that deserves closer attention. Formed in July 1980, they are the jewel in the crown of the scene that grew up around M Squared, as confirmed by records that won acclaim even in Britain and America. The quintet's sound – featuring Greg Addison (guitar, vocals), Steven Couri (bass), Shane Fahey (synth, vocals), Peter Richardson (piano, percussion) and Tim Schultz (sax, percussion) – boasts a decidedly personal character, while still fitting perfectly within the stylistic canon of their labelmates: hazy, velvety atmospheres, dominated by an ever-present yet never intrusive piano, around which the other instruments alternate and interweave; the vocals are used in a strange way, focused more on the sound of the words than their meaning; noises, barely sketched chords, notes and harmonies that surface as if by magic, merging into a whole that is both cohesive and full of stimulating contrasts; and a creativity free of any constraints, taking shape in a melodic form that is "aesthetically" and emotionally different, and therefore all the more compelling. "The Vessels", with its eleven tracks, is a work of real merit, one that vividly captures the thousand facets and reflections of the Dead Travel Fast prism, capable of hypnotising with its allure anyone whose musical sensibility is tuned to that of M Squared. The already-mentioned compilation "A Selection" and the double 10" "Entrave et etouffement" (an anthology released by L'invitation au Suicide) are perhaps the best way in to Sydney's underground world, and a good test of whether your tastes run on the same wavelength as those of the bands discussed here. "A Selection" is a compilation of great interest, featuring one track each from Wild West, Dead Travel Fast, Negative Reaction, The Limp, Severed Heads, Slugfuckers, Tame O'Mearas, Splendid Mess, Pel Mel, Systematics, Scattered Order, Solipsik and Aural Indifference, and listening to it you can immediately pick out the common threads running through the various contributions: essentiality, emotion, originality, harmony.

The story continues with further releases always inspired by the same concepts: Solipsik, Belle du Soir, Same, Denial, Wildlife Documentaries, Xero, Ya Ya Choral, Coolies all contributed to a rapidly expanding project. Coolies, in particular, mark an important moment for M Squared, being the first non-Australian act to release a record on the label; their single "Do You Agree", while a bit atypical compared to the rest of the catalogue, still fits reasonably well within its overall theme. Both tracks show a leaning toward funk rhythms and a more traditionally "rock" approach, but the New York quartet enrich it all with bizarre arrangements and a rather unconventional use of many instruments. A heightened emphasis on rhythm can also be found on the 7" EP by Sydney's Same and on the excellent 12" by Brisbane's Xero, which show just how far M Squared's horizons could stretch, and how open the label's managers were to different approaches, not shying away from more "conventional" releases. Even so, the finest works remain the strangest ones, and among these it's worth mentioning the seven-inches by Solipsik and Belle du Soir, two highly distinctive bands whose music holds great appeal. See-Saw by Solipsik is a convulsive dirge in which a female voice intones the lyrics amid a chaotic tangle of melodies, hisses and distortions, while the four tracks of the self-titled EP by Belle du Soir are hushed and minimal, wrapped in rarefied, dreamlike atmospheres.

"Musicians, like all who create, try to reproduce their own sensibility in their work. By offering us such a bleak vision of a fossilised world, populated by their own monsters, the Australians may perhaps be trying to assert their own existence. To be objective, what do we actually know about Australia? Very little, in truth, aside from a few mythical images (Aborigines, kangaroos...). That country seems to have been erased from the surface of the world, its evolution seemingly frozen almost at a prehistoric stage. Faced with this indifference/nonexistence, Australians can only develop two feelings/desires: they can be happy in their 'abnormality', living quietly within a stagnant situation and accepting their isolation in a schizophrenic way, or they can choose the path of suicide, first trying to mutilate themselves by coming as close as possible to death, so that life, in escaping, affirms their existence. In fact, through this game that borders on perversion, they want only one thing: to draw the world's attention to themselves, so that we might see them and understand them. An act of despair that cries out hope".

(Mary Lemeure, Yann Farcy).

Postscript, April 2013

By the end of 1982, everything suggested that M Squared had a long, bright future ahead of it. Instead, less than a year and five records later, the Australian label stopped releasing music, remaining for over a quarter of a century a cult known only to the truest diehards. What brought it back to the attention of (the more attentive) enthusiasts was, in 2009, "Pardon Me For Barging In Like This... – M Squared Rare Recordings 1979-1983", the precious (in every sense) box set from the German label Vinyl On Demand: a full five LPs of assorted recordings, mostly previously unreleased on vinyl, plus a live 10" by Systematics included only in part of the pressing (of roughly six hundred copies); half of the material was later reissued on the double CD "41 Pardons: M Squared Rare Recordings 1979-1983 Volume 1" (Ascension, 2011), with a Volume 2 presumably still to come. For newcomers, though, the quadruple-CD anthology "Terrace Industry" (Ascension, 2010) is a far more accessible entry point, offering a broad selection from those extremely rare – eBay prices are frightening – vintage records. Anyone wanting to dig into every last detail of the story should head to http://www.msquaredrecords.com.

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