eclectic and experimental australian music

All posts tagged kris keogh

Posted:
January 8, 2012
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Wormwoodstock 2012

Since 2010, Octopus Pi has staged a monthly event in Sydney titled Wormwood (absinthe & psychedelia) -incorporating experimental music from Australian artists, curated visuals, performance art and a myriad of interactive elements. Wormwood has become a haven for curious and creative souls, as well as a welcoming platform for diverse and DIY bands, and later this month, it’s being taken to the next level. Wormwoodstock, The Wormwood Festival runs from Friday 27th January at 1pm to Sunday 29th and over thirty inspiring DIY bands and solo artists from around Australia, in an intimate camping setting, 1.5 hours from Sydney. It’s designed to be an intimate festival for around 300 people, with DJs, performance artists and mind-blowing visuals from Wormwood regulars Optic Soup thrown into the mix.

The line-up includes Scattered Order, Zeahorse, Brackets, Domeyko/Gonzalez, Thomas William, Nakagin, Feathers, Justice Yeldham, No Art, Nhomea, Kris Keogh, Kasha plus an array of acts from Melbourne label Fallopian Tunes – Document Swell, Trjaeu, Wild Dog Creek, Red Hymns & Yolke.

New Weird Australia is delighted to be supporting Wormwoodstock in its inaugural year, and will be documenting many of the performances for later release through the site.

Limited, final release tickets are now available from Greentix for only $45 (including camping) + BF.

You can also support this DIY event by donating and downloading the Wormwoodstock 2012 compilation, featuring 13 acts playing at the festival, available from octopuspi.bandcamp.com.

WORMWOODSTOCK ON FACEBOOK

Posted:
May 21, 2011
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‘Wild, Strange & Beautiful’ – Kris Keogh’s ‘Processed Harp Works, Volume 1′

Kris Keogh‘s ‘Processed Harp Works Volume One’ is the sixth release on New Weird Australia’s label imprint, New Editions. Several years in the making, this genuinely unique album is made entirely from harp recordings, processed using self-made Reaktor ensembles.

The eleven track release – with cover art from New Weird Australia’s Heath Killen – is available as a ‘name your price, no minimum’ 320kbps / FLAC digital release, from our Bandcamp store.  The original run of limited-edition CDs, housed in a gatefold card sleeve, has now sold out.

More info on the release, plus a video for “Above Paris, with stars in our eyes” can be found on the New Editions Release page.

Reviews & Interviews for ”Processed Harp Works Volume One”:

MUSIC NT feature an extensive Q&A with Kris titled ‘The Future Sound Of Darwin’ with rare photography of Kris at Aoyama Harp Studio in Osaka: “His new album – entitled ‘Processed Harp Works: Volume One‘ – is a luscious, dreamlike conglomerate of ‘click music’ and sampled harp sweeps, processed through software which he wrote himself. It might sound like an odd mix but the glitches marry organically to the harps strings, to produce work reminiscent of Japanese electronica pioneer Susumu Yokota, known for making equally haunting, beautiful electronic symphonies.”

Kris supplies the cover art and is interviewed by Alexandra Savvides in Issue 28 of CYCLIC DEFROST. “Processed Harp Works, Volume 1 is the sort of soundtrack that could easily accompany a Shigeru Miyamoto video game – imagine a Legend of Zelda-esque aural aesthetic married to beautiful imagery on screen.” You can read it online at cyclicdefrost.com, but we recommend downloading the PDF version for full effect.

The Australian blog EAST TO WEST is always unearthing amazing new local music. On Kris’ album, they say: “The crackling of the synths engulfs you as you come in and out of consciousness. It’s a cold, Eastern European winter and you wake up shivering throughout the night. Roll out of bed, crack open a bottle of vodka, warm your insides as you drown out the heavy rain beating down on the windows. Eventually, you’ll drift back to sleep…”

COME INTO LAND: “Though it’s every bit meditative as you might imagine an ambient composer’s approach to harp music would be, every moment is compelling. Keogh’s sampling gives every moment of disconnectedness a heavy emotional charge, with each periodic interjection of harp tones punctuating a complex and sympathetic textural layer.”

GRASS HOUSES: “As the name implies, the record is purely made up of recorded harp, processed and chopped, to an effect like a CD expertly scratched to skip choreographically. Moment of heavenly epiphany cut short by the subdued tones that should have built up to them. This, along with linear song titles, creates a narrative; or at least, it creates the sense of a narrative, obfuscated by constant jumps between chapters. Not so much a record of ‘catchy tunes’, treat this more as a piece of sound-art to be analysed, or else, on the contrary, as an ambient record to chill to.”

FLASHLIGHTTAG: “It sounds absolutely wild. Strange. Beautiful.”

REVIEWS NT: “Under a new label and a new name Kris Keogh has pushed himself again to create sounds that the intelligent listener can understand. Not restricted to the mainstream structure of chorus, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, smash instruments. Kris has beautifully created his own world of noise that is visually enhanced by his own art work behind him on the stage and his laptop next to him.”

GRIND ONLINE “Like holding your breath so long you hear the tinkling of the angels wings”

Thanks too to all the radio shows that have supported the record, including Sound Lab (Triple J), Sound Quality (ABC Radio National), Utility Fog (FBi), Difficult Listening (RTR FM), Delivery (3RRR), War Is Peace (4ZZZ) and more.

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Posted:
March 24, 2011
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Kris Keogh, Processed Harp Works Volume 1

Kris Keogh is an Australian musician, producer, artist and designer and is the sixth artist to feature on New Weird Australia’s ‘New Editions’ release series with ‘Processed Harp Works, Volume One’.

Several years in the making, the genesis can be traced to leaving behind the tropics and moving to Osaka in 2008.  Coming from his base in Arnhem Land and never having lived in a city before, Kris soon realised he could do whatever he wanted. Learning to play the harp was top of his list. Spending a year studying harp by day and mixing it with the Osaka underground by night was the perfect double life. After writing his dream audio software, he moved back home to Arnhem Land, locked himself away for three months with the girl of his dreams and made this album.

With a long history of music making, from his renowned Blastcorp project to the recent work as the duo Red Plum and Snow, ‘Processed Harp Works, Volume One’ represents a sonic departure on an epic scale – one that required an organisation the size of the Darwin Symphony Orchestra to realise. Kris discovered their harp in storage, allowing him to continue the learning curve initiated in Japan – recording by day, splicing and mutating by night.

With influences as diverse as Debussy, Merzbow, Prince, Kris explains his rationale thus: “I made this record to make girls swoon, scare animals and bewilder my family. Imply everything. Bury melody. Obscure rhythm. Respect tradition. Fuck presets.”

‘Wild, Strange & Beautiful’ – Reviews & Interviews for Kris Keogh’s ‘Processed Harp Works, Volume 1′.

The eleven track album – with cover art from New Weird Australia’s Heath Killen – is available in two formats: a run of limited-edition CDs, housed in a gatefold card sleeve, with photo inserts by the band – available from Kris’ shows & New Weird Australia events; and a ‘name your price, no minimum’ 320kbps / FLAC digital release, available from the link below.  UPDATE: LIMITED CDS NOW SOLD OUT.

New Editions, Edition Six.
Kris Keogh, Processed Harp Works Volume 1.
Catalogue, NWAED06.

DOWNLOAD at newweirdaustralia.bandcamp.com

1. As we said goodbye to everything we ever knew 00:56
2. You sat, looking out, but couldn’t begin to explain 02:22
3. Above Paris, with stars in our eyes 03:45
4. With our own atmosphere 00:45
5. Secretly knowing we’d never be the same 03:29
6. It felt like my future, inside a black & white movie 02:44
7. As meteor showers melted your heart 02:16
8. Frozen, danger ringing in my ears 02:49
9. Your eyes said we were never coming back 03:55
10. I held on so tight as our whole world disintegrated 05:52
11. We were gone, further than forever 02:45

Written, played, recorded, processed, mixed and mastered by Kris Keogh.
This album is entirely made from harp recordings processed using self-made Reaktor ensembles.
Harp recorded at CDU Theatre, Darwin (Mar-Sept 2010)
Processed and mixed at home in Nhulunbuy, Arnhem Land (Oct 2010 – Jan 2011)
Reaktor ensembles built by trial and error (2003-2010)

Sleeve design by Heath Killen.

Posted:
March 6, 2010
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New Weird Australia, Volume Five.

New Weird Australia Volume Five, March 2010, NWA005
DOWNLOAD FREE at newweirdaustralia.bandcamp.com

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

Click artist title for background information and links.
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.

New Weird Australia is a not-for-profit initiative designed to promote and support new eclectic and experimental Australian music. Our current projects include a free compilation series (available to download every two months), a weekly show on Sydney’s FBi Radio and an irregular program of live events. Contributions from Australian artists are welcomed and encouraged -submission details and terms can be found on the About page.

Press for New Weird Australia Volume Five:

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.”