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Exposing McMusic Would you like fame with that?
Indie
Rock
By Nike Reikjavike
Orchestral/taiko The drums!
The drums! By Peter Haydon There was a younger than usual audience at the Concert Hall for this gig - usually it is not so much of a greying crowd as a whiting crowd. I asked my twenty-something neighbour why she had come, and she said, "The drums!" And she was not disappointed. A dozen-odd taiko drums in three sizes - nagadou (smallish), shime-daiko (bloody big) and O-daiko (enormous, a meter and a half in diameter and carved from a single piece of wood).
The changing sound of music In this edition of The Dues we interview Jason Doonan, a sound engineer from Scotland who is embarking on a musical adventure that may well transform the way we think about sound in the future. With his colleague, the dubiously nicknamed "Beatwife", he invents sounds purely from mathematics. Whereas synthesizers and samplers have mostly used existing sounds and adapted or mimicked them, Doonan and Beatwife's approach is more deliberately synthetic: to use feedback as the basic material and to confect sounds not before heard. The style, known as "glitch" music, is unlikely to be to everyone's taste, but it is hard to gainsay its importance. Just as the way we see visual images has been profoundly altered by the rapidity of advertising images, so will excursions into artificial sound ultimately change how we hear music. Imagine, for example, how strange an electric guitar solo would have sounded in a nineteenth century orchestral production? (Although if it was playing over the top of a Wagner opera it might have been a decided improvement). Readers can get a taste of something similarly novel by listening to the MP3 accompanying the story. Doonan will conduct a glitch performance at Bourgie Bar in Melbourne on August 26. Disclaimer: Ted Egan: singer runs Northern Territory between gigs By Peter Haydon
Now Ted is launching what is in some ways his most ambitious project yet - a combination double-album and book which covers the human history of outback Australia in song and prose. Born in Melbourne in Coburg in 1932 into a family doing it tough in the hard years of the Depression, Ted Egan grew up surrounded by music. His dad played accordion, and his three sisters played piano. "Two of them had some lessons, and the other one learnt by ear, and I reckon she played the better for it," said Ted. "She could hear a song on the wireless and play it straightaway on the piano." During the excitement of the war, the house was often full of servicemen, and there was music going all the time. "My sisters and I could all sing in tune without an instrument - we knew hundreds of songs," claimed Ted.
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Numbers make bad sounds good... ...and
why Beatwife avoids spouse abuse.
Three years ago, budding sound engineer Jason Doonan decided to undertake a course at Falkirk University in order to get formal confirmation of skills that he already possessed. He quickly discovered there was little they could teach him, but during his short stay he met Mark Allen, also known as Beatwife. "After about three months there I had very rarely seen Mark because he wasn't liked by the rest of the class because he was very offensive," says Doonan. "He was a difficult guy to work in a team with. He just had his own little ways of working. So Mark started disappearing from college altogether after about the first two weeks."
By Peter Haydon Like his musical forebears Jeff Lang, John Butler and, yes, even Bob Dylan, Chris Mathews plays acoustic folk, blues and roots music; what he calls "hit the guitar and get into it" music. He plays six- and 12-string slide guitars and stomp box (that's a little wooden box with a mike in that you tap with your foot). It is music he has taken around the country. Originally from Perth, Chris started playing heavy metal at 13 after his sister's boyfriend taught him a bit of guitar. After digging electric blues and Jimmy Hendrix, he started to get into acoustic blues. Four years later he was gigging seriously, spending a further two and a half years in Perth, then touring up the west coast to Darwin, then across to Townsville." I was touring with the Australian Songwriters Association," says Matthews. "I got involved with ASA in Perth - on the tour, I did some camera work and stage managing as well as playing gigs." Jazz
By The Pete Mitchell quartet has gained many good reviews, including some from New York. (arguably the mecca of jazz). Many reviewers note the big sound, and the "comical deviations" that will tickle listeners. But this may be music that stimulates more than the ears. One reviewer notably said, "Great music to bonk to!" And perhaps one of the best reviews was the note handed to the venue owner after the Pete Mitchell Quartet played the Stamford Plaza Hotel, saying how fantastic the gig had been. It's nice to get plaudits from the critics, but ultimately, Pete Mitchell really wants to connect with the audience in front of him. Send us your email, notes, memos, random thoughts, trenchant complaints. Tell us about your adventures, strugggles, disasters, disappointments and successes as a musician. Somebody out there likes us... Dear Ed. Bloody awesome job on "The Dues" - a great read with really useful gutsy info. Well done! Diana Wolfe (via email) ...but somebody else isn't so sure. To the Editor Re. JJJ takin' bacon ([The Dues, Intelligence section] issue 2, volume 1, June 1st 2004) Clause 10. of the
'Unearthed terms & conditions of entry' relates only to physical entry
sent in to the competition. The clause gives us the right to play the
entry on-air, place it online as an MP3 and use it in the on-air promotion There is no intention, nor any need for triple j to obtain copyright of all songs entered to Unearthed. Winning Unearthed entries for each state are offered a completely separate recording and publishing contract by ABC Music for our new recording of their song, which they negotiate in good faith... We give preference to letters of 200 words or less, but try your luck anyway. We may edit your letters for reasons of space, or possibly because we're just a bunch of interfering bastards. Despite that, we welcome your feedback, comments and observations. You can use a pseudonym if you wish, but please include your real name, suburb/town and, if you are writing from outside Victoria, your state/country. Email us at musosunion@aol.com. Got a problem or question relating to the music biz? Ask Uncle Terry. (Uncle Terry is a grumpy old man who lives in a cave in one of the less fashionable corners of the Yarra Valley. He is not a qualified legal practitioner and he does not dispense formal legal advice. Neither he nor the publishers of "The Dues" accept any liability for the results of acting on the opinions, statements or recommendations expressed in his column) You can email Uncle Terry on musosunion@aol.com. Please provide your name and suburb (& state/country, if you're not a local yokel...) Mixing with royalties Dear Uncle Terry, We just sent in our EP to [radio station deleted]. Its gone down really well and its getting request and radio play. Is the radio station supposed to pay us each time it plays, or do we get royalties for that - how does it work? Simon, Glen Waverly. Dear Simon, If you wrote the music you are entitled to a public performance royalty. This is collected by APRA (www.apra.com.au) who are the collection agency for composers' public performance royalties. You should consider registering with them if you are the composer. If you own the master recording of the CD itself (i.e.: you paid for it and it wasn't done by a record company) you are entitled to the "Producer's" public performance royalty (don't confuse this use of the word producer with the one that means the person who claims to be able to make your recording sound fantastic and only wants 10% of the sales). This is collected by PPCA (www.ppca.com.au) who are the collection agency for producers' public performance royalties. If you are the "producer" you should consider registering with them. Most producers who are entitled to this royalty are in fact record companies. If you are the "featured artist" PPCA will give you a split of the producer's public performance royalty if you are registered with them as a featured artist, check the PPCA website. (Many people don't know about this wrinkle and the list of "unfindable" artists on the PPCA website includes some extremely well known names!) If you recording was done under a record company contract, check what the contract says about this royalty. If you are not the composer, the producer or the featured artist you get zip, bupkiss, nada, not a sausage. This is because unlike nearly every country in the world, Australia has not ratified the relevant section of the WIPO treaty, so the other musicians who poured their blood sweat and tears into the recording get nothing in the way of royalties. Uncle Terry
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Workcover workover By Theo Schulsus Pecs We hear musicians
in South Australian pubs have survived a lobbying attempt by several venue
owners to strip them of "workcover" protection, something which musos
in SA have had since 1979. Sources tell us that the amount the venues
have to pay under the current system is around $2.18 per $100 in band
fees paid. Given how little bands are usually paid it's hard to see what
the problem was!
When is an agent
a gent? ...click here for more Intelligence Deja who? Previewer: Glen
A. Baker By Emeline Pankhurst III
The author of this puff piece must have had Winston Churchill's "We will fight them on the beaches" speech in mind when he decided to characterise these particular bad boys of rock 'n' roll as innocent tea-sipping, law-abiding Brits getting picked on by resentful colonials, since the war cry of the '60s, "We will never surrender", resounds behind every word. Plush purple upholstery Reviewer: Xenia
Hanusiak By Maeve Prose It would be unfair
to describe Xenia Hanusiak's review of the Australian Chamber Orchestra
as totally devoid of information. In the review of the ACO's "Mozart
Celebration" at the Hamer Hall we learn three things about the actual
concert:
This took me 37 words to say, Hanusiak takes 213. What was the rest about? HARMONY
Part Three in a series
by Welcome back! ...or if this is your first visit I strongly suggest that you check out Parts 1 and 2 in the first two editions of The Dues. Last time I gave you some homework (if the dog ate it I don't want to know!). You were going to work out the notes in all twelve of the major keys (if you've forgotten how to do this then take a look at part 2). To refresh your memory, here is the pattern of tones and semitones that make up a major scale: The Young Shark's Guide to Negotiation Part III Continued from issue 2 of The Dues 1.
When does the Many people confuse negotiation and social encounter. As soon as two parties are communicating and at least one of them wants something from the other, a negotiation has commenced. This has implications for the manner in which you deal with people, particularly for the first time. Remember that perception is all. If the other party has, from previous encounters with you, formed the opinion that you are insignificant, stupid or rude then they will be in enhanced power position when you are trying to convince them to give you something. Maintaining good relations contributes to your power position and may even get you near the even point. When you contact someone you have dealt with before, you are merely continuing a negotiation in a new phase. Studios for the masses By Steve Smith The advent of the Will Smith film "I Robot" this month got me to thinking about how far computing has come in regard of music production. And how far from the Isaac Asimov story the screenplay has come.
You may have noticed that every great "killer" PC application comes in response to a new breakthrough in hardware capability. With graphics cards came full colour graphics, the GUI, and desktop publishing. With the hard disk came PC-based databases. With expanded and extended RAM came the spreadsheet.
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After
a support act with indifferent lyrics, uncertain vocals and a top end
that lashed my ears with tiny silver razor blades (I noticed a couple
of other patrons wincing with pain and wiping blood from their eardrums),
Motif could not help but shine. After a trip to my car in search
of something, anything, to stuff in my ears to protect them (I eventually
found a used McDonald's serviette, which gives you some indication of
my desperation), Greg Taraldsen sounded much better. His second-last song
featured the lyric "Don't push me over the edge". By that time
I was thinking, "Don't tempt me." Taraldsen's backing tracks
were competently put-together and, at times, interestingly industrial,
and his vocals had a moaning edge like Jim Morrison on one of his less
sexy days, but the overall effect was indifferent. I wondered whether
this was the kind of music where you needed to hear the words, or whether
you'd be better off just imagining them.
It's
hard to believe sometimes that Ted Egan, AM, M.A., is just one man. Country
music star, stockman, crocodile hunter, teacher, worker in aboriginal
affairs, author, film-maker, TV presenter and now, at 71, the recently-appointed
Administrator for the Northern territory (a vice-regal role equivalent
to that of Governor-General), he is like one of the larger-than-life characters
that he sings about. He's recorded 26 albums, and authored or co-authored
nine books, and was a member of the first National Reconciliation council.
He has written many well-known songs, including "I've Been Everywhere,
Man" and the moving song "The Drover's Boy".
This is the story of Beatwife. And a revolution in the creation of sound.
It is also a tale of the persistence - matched by an even greater eccentricity
- of two electronic sound creators who are using their "glitch" electronic
music to radically alter the mathematics of composition. 
Acoustic
blues 
Pete
Mitchell:
NSW,
has never had this. Our whisperers say the move has a good chance of succeeding
since both state government and one of the major employer groups don't
seem to have any objections.
