Artist: Blake Freele
Title: Pins
Catalogue Number: NWAED02
Released: October 2010

Free Download

Limited CD $10

Tracklisting:

1. Bitter Springs Formation 13:40
2. Bitter Some 08:41
3. Delirious Adjudicated 14:50
4. Palookaville 12:57

The New Editions label is managed by New Weird Australia.
Sleeve design by Heath Killen.
Photography by George Roukis.

Copyright Blake Freele, September 2010.
myspace.com/blakefreele

Bitter Springs Formation uses the following sample -
“Close My Eyes” by ‘duckett’ via ccmixter.org/files/duckett/10371
Licensed under Creative Commons; Attribution (3.0)

Blake Freele Thanks- To Kevin, Michelle and Alun for their teaching and support. To Dingo and past house mates for their patience and listening. To sleep paralysis for inspiration. To Stu and Danny at New Weird Australia for their support and experience.

Sleeve Notes:

For the second release in the New Editions series, New Weird Australia presents the debut release from Sydney-based musician Blake Freele, titled ‘Pins’. Mapping and reconsidering terrain traversed by contemporaries such as Ben Frost and Pimmon, Blake’s work ranges from vast and spacious drones to rhythmically driven electronic compositions, married with often intensely processed guitar improvisations. However, unlike much abstract experimentalism, Freele’s work has a clear and unmissable narrative – a dark sequence of drones, frequencies and cinematic sweeps, laced with anxiety, restlessness and paranoia. Over 40 minutes, ‘Pins’ tells a daunting true story, born of dysfunction – a semi-conscious journey into the dark world of sleep paralysis.

Press:

“Straight outta Sydney, Blake Freele mixes guitar improvisations with extended electronic techniques to produce a soundscape that hovers in the indeterminate space somewhere between waking and dreaming… Blake sounds a little bit Hecker-esque, a garnish of Fennesz, a sprinkle of Pimmon and a touch of Frost (Ben, not Inspector) – not bad reference points, by any stretch of the imagination. But Pins really hits a resonant tone with this listener when Blake concentrates on being his own musician and developing his own curious syntax.”
Cyclic Defrost, February 2011

“Large, distorted sounds created out of bright harmonies and timbres clash against one another on this very interesting album … a worthwhile release and an enjoyable series of pathways into fields of sounds and ideas.”
Foxy Digitalis, March 2011

Title: New Weird Australia, Broadcast Two
Catalogue Number: NWAB002
Released: August 2010

Free Download

Tracklisting:

1. DANGER BEACH, Lakes (feat. Tv Colours) (2:10)
2. COLLARBONES, I Sea A Wolf (Psuche Cover) (3:06)
3. GHOST_, Seqe (feat. Black Pyramid) (6:30)
4. BLAKE FREELE, Bitter Springs Formation (12:19)
5. DUAL UZIS, Quick Draw (11:53)
6. RAVEN, It’s Too Fucking Hot But We’ve Still Got Melody (5:10)
7. NHOMEA, Jam @ FBi (9:23)
8. KATE CARR, From These Dreams A Boat (5:09)
9. ACTUAL RUSSIAN BRIDES, Sun Shadow Analysis (4:42)
10. CRAB SMASHER, Card Shark (2:55)
11. FORENZICS, Untitled (Two) (6:25)
12. GHOST_, Outro (feat. Black Pyramid) (2:36)

All recordings previously unreleased.
Originally performed & broadcast live on New Weird Australia on FBi Radio.
Stream FBi Radio at fbiradio.com, or listen in Sydney in 94.5FM.
‘New Weird Australia’ broadcasts every Thursday at 9pm (Aus EST).

Compiled by Stuart Buchanan.
Artwork by Heath Killen, www.madebyhk.com.
All music donated by the artists for use in this compilation only, all rights reserved.

Sleeve Notes:

New Weird Australia broadcasts weekly on Sydney’s FBi Radio – playing two hours of new, experimental and ecelctic Australian music. The show features regular guest performances, playing exclusive in-studio sessions – many of which are previously unreleased. This free download collects together twelve of these exclusive tracks from Danger Beach, Collarbones, Ghost_, Blake Freele, Dual Uzis (feat, members of The Splinter Orchestra, Nhomea, Seeake and Ghoul), Raven, Nhomea, Kate Carr, Actual Russian Brides, Crab Smasher and Forenzics.

Press:

Title: New Weird Australia, Volume Five
Catalogue Number: NWA005
Released: March 2010

Free Download

Tracklisting:

1. MOOKOID, Hex River Valley (3:32) from ‘Fishy’ (Pimalia)
2. DOT.AY, You Knight (5:25) previously unreleased
3. PEACE OUT!, Running On Sand, Walking On Water (4:29) from ‘Peace Out EP’ (self-released)
4. BURNING PALMS, Mockery (2:12) previously unreleased
5. THE ATLAS ROOM, Iris (5:18) previously unreleased
6. ///▲▲▲\\\, Spit Shine (2:00) previously unreleased
7. KATE CARR, Textopera (3:06) from ‘First Day Back’ (Retinascan)
8. RED PLUM & SNOW, I Would Die 4 U (2:21) previously unreleased
9. DUNS, Bad Rythm (sic) (5:47) from Cowardly Attack (c40 cassette, Willaston Tapes)
10. VORAD FILS, Temple Leak (2:42) from ‘The Warmest Static – POWWOW Ten’ (Feral Media)
11. JUSTICE YELDHAM, March Of The Bodypumpers (4:54) previously available as a Wire Magazine download
12. GAIL PRIEST, Etchings (3:22) previously unreleased
13. CAUGHT SHIP, BlackHole/SweatBeat (5:32) previously unreleased
14. CRAB SMASHER, Skin Destruction (3:58) previously unreleased
15. RIPPLES, False Mission (5:06) from ‘Ripples EP’ (self-released)
16. BLAKE FREELE, Inside There’s Expectations (8:59) previously unreleased

Compiled by Stuart Buchanan & Danny Jumpertz.
Artwork by Kris Keogh, kriskeogh.com

All music licenced via Creative Commons (Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives), except: Tracks 1, 3 & 6, all rights reserved.

Sleeve Notes: March 2010

In his 2007 essay ‘Mob Rules’, futurist Mark Pesce noted that “John Gilmore, who co-founded SUN Microsystems … recognised an inherent quality of networks: they promote the sharing of information. This was codified in what I (only half-jokingly) call Gilmore’s Law: The net regards censorship as a failure, and routes around it.” This phrase has stuck with us in the intervening years – that the net (or more accurately, the human beings that use the net) finds censorship, and routes around it.

It came to mind again recently when considering the fracas surrounding the diminishing state of live venues in Sydney and Melbourne, highlighted by the struggles of The Tote and The Hopetoun. It was also front and centre of our minds when looking at the Australian Recording Industry Association’s 2009 Sales Report - claiming that despite an annual 72% increase in digital album sales, that “illegal file sharing… continues to erode profits and hamper investment into the local industry”. Clearly the mainstream music industry remains bewildered and befuddled by the ever-changing landscape unfolding beneath its ivory towers.

These are cited merely to highlight Gilmore’s Law in a new, weird, Australian context – that the artists on this compilation (and their kin spread throughout the country) find censorship, or find a blockage, and simply route around it. Closed venues are a blockage, mainstream industry machinations are a blockage, lazy media are a blockage, indeed any predefined ‘norm’ that restricts freedom of expression and dissemination of art, is a blockage – and in all these cases, we simply find it, and we route around it.

Crab Smasher and Red Plum & Snow route around distribution hierarchy and manufacturing expense by selling their music direct to fans on the digital platform Bandcamp. ///▲▲▲\\\ routes around traditional expectations of PR & marketing by refusing to be photographed and refusing to present a media release or bio, yet still ends up featured on the renowned U.S. site, The Fader. Justice Yeldham, aka Lucas Abela, finds a wall of noise and litigation around illegal downloads and routes around it by promoting Australian music on WFMU’s Free Music Archive (and thanks to Lucas, you’ll also find our releases there soon). The Atlas Room and Mookoid wind up on this compilation by routing around existing promo & media frameworks by hitting us up directly on Soundcloud. Burning Palms route around traditional marketing and find themselves with over 500 fans on their social network pages with zero releases under their belt. Need we go on?

Venues, channels, infrastructure and norms will all come and go. And if we can’t work with them, we’ll regard them as a failure and we’ll simply route around them. We will always network, we will always share and we will thus always survive. Call it (only half-jokingly) the NWA Law.

Press:

Who The Bloody Hell Are They? “I’m a big fan of these compilations, and what I’ve found impressive is that they’ve managed to uphold the quality of those first couple of compilations, the point where Vol. 5 might actually be my favourite so far… Definitely worth checking out.”

Throw Shapes “Be ready to feel your brain tickled via your ears, like some long, thin device has snuck its way in there and wiggled around. Ahem.”

Engendered From Devine Breath “If you want to get some excellent examples of contemporary avant-garde rock music, you should certainly listen to this compilation.”

Blake Freele is a musician living and producing music in Sydney, practicing and exploring experimental composition techniques to create sound works.

He is interested in the effects upon structured musical forms when coupled with more abstracted and wholly improvised sound.
Blake’s musical soundscapes range from vast and spacious drones through to rhythmically driven electronic compositions, and intense processed guitar improvisations.

It is through the ‘full range’ use of the frequency spectrum that Blake finds a different and exciting sound world which breaks free from the confines of traditional instrumentation and its inherent and identifiable frequency range.

myspace.com/blakefreele

Blake Freele appears on ‘New Weird Australia, Volume Five‘, ‘New Weird Australia, Broadcast Two‘ and as the second release in the New Editions label series: ‘Edition Two: Blake Freele, Pins’.