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

Title: New Weird Australia, Volume Two
Catalogue Number: NWA002
Released: September 2009

Free Download

Tracklisting:

1. OCEANS, 02 + 03 (5:11) From ‘album’
2. GHOUL, Swimming Pool (Remix) (3:04) From ’Swimming Pool’
3. WILLIAM GARDINER, Sonance Arboreal (4:39) Previously unreleased
4. SAM PRICE, AutoHackney (5:28) From ‘Rand’
5. BROKEN CHIP, Summer Stars (5:06) From ‘POWWOW Seven’
6. KHARKOV, Crustacean (3:12) Previously unreleased
7. COCK SAFARI, 8MH (6:36) Previously unreleased
8. LUCIA DRAFT, Not Interested (1:16) Previously unreleased
9. MIELI, Hometime (3:34) Previously unreleased
10. KAROSHI, Re-Animate Me (2:44) Previously unreleased
11. NO ART, Fight In The Nocturnal House (3:56) Previously unreleased
12. TRANSMISSIONS, Staring At Lightning Strikes, Catching Every One (2:45) Previously unreleased
13. PANOPTIQUE ELECTRICAL, We Was Them (7:32) Previously unreleased
14. MADDEST KINGS ALIVE, Measels (4:05) From ‘Make Me’
15. SPLENDID FRIENDS, Holy Shears (1:42) From ‘Summer Moon Illusion’
16. PAUL FIOCCO, Torsions and Drifts (13:34) From ‘Torsions And Drifts’

Compiled by Stuart Buchanan & Danny Jumpertz
Artwork by Grant Hunter, granthunter.daportfolio.com

Click artist title for background information and links.
All music donated by the artists for use in this compilation only, all rights reserved.

Sleeve Notes: September 2009

Grant Hunter’s cover artwork for the free download compilation, New Weird Australia Volume Two – featuring our country’s endearing emblematic marsupial with black claw outstretched and a murderous fleck in his eye – perfectly illustrates the ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ binary of the Australian story.

On one side, the world is sold on paradisal visions of Australian reefs and plains, care-free surfers racing down golden sands, and the classic long-shot of a sun-blemished Uluru. On the flip, with just as much fervour, we mythologise and peddle stories of perpetual gangland warfare, malevolent outback serial killers and dingoes eating babies for their morning snack.

If only the same warped duality could be brought to bear on the world’s vision of our musical worth. The exported track record is however largely one-sided – our place as the shiny, electro party-starter of the Southern Hemisphere is unrivalled, along with a seemingly endless passion for rock, culled from a 40-year old tombstone. Ask the world to identify a prominent Australian undercurrent and they will remain largely tight-lipped. Hence New Weird Australia – a project aimed as much at curating a contemporary library of alt-Australiana, as promoting that collection to the rest of the globe.

For Volume Two, we once again represent a strong geographic diversity with music from Tasmania, Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. We embody genre diversity from 21-year-old William Gardiner’s neo-classical work to the sprawling sample ephemera spread by Newcastle’s Cock Safari; from Maddest Kings Alive’s shoegaze chip-tunes to a seemingly perfect drift plain soundtrack, hewn by Solo Andata’s Paul Fiocco. There are also multiple exclusives from Kharkov, Lucia Draft, Mieli, No Art, Karoshi, Transmissions and Jason (Pretty Boy Crossover) Sweeney’s Panoptique Electrical project, and new work from Broken Chip, Ghoul, Oceans, Sam Price and Splendid Friends.

In mapping and redefining the local terrain, New Weird Australia represents a new breed of Australian musicians that cast an essential shadow over Australia’s sunny disposition.

Press:

The Silent Ballet “there really is no reason for any curious avant-garde aficionado to pass this one up”

Real Time Arts “exposing listeners to some great hidden treasures with an impressive Australia-wide representation”

Foxy Digitalis “Kudos to anyone who is willing to get into the endeavor and gather unreleased songs for eleven of the sixteen tracks from bands all over the spectrum”