Monday, May 31, 2004
Local scene
I have quite enjoyed this subject on music subcultures, not only in that it has provided an opportunity to assess theoretical structures around the production and consumption of music in an historical and contemporary sense but it has also afforded the chance to meet some interesting people in Andrew, Renee, and Chris.
The past two weeks we moved onto a look at the local Brisbane scene… and I realise so far I have only written on the blog about artists from overseas. Not that in anyway I have a disinterest in local and Australian artists, as I feel somewhat entangled in local and national music… and on the contrary I have been excited by many Australian artists and tend to view them more in the context of a global sense. Actually maybe the influence of the Internet has been to view the world in such a connected sense. I find the what is now happening on the World Wide Web is this new sense of extended community and accelerated information. Relationships can be established with people who have the same interests… and in light of the concept of disintermediation, producers (as in artists) can (and do) create information portals whereby regular updates are literally are at the touch of the fingers. This tends to relocate the notion of locality as being noticeably separated by spatial and temporal concerns. In a virtual type of way, the world feels more like a local scenario.
Otherwise artists that I have found engaging in the context of being geographically from Australia include:
The Dirty Threeoriginally from Melbourne (but who left early in their career to move around the cultural zones of the world like rootless cosmopolitans seemingly aware that the possibilities were much expanded if they ventured away); The Necks from Sydney (and again due to the progressive nature of their music wandered the world when the opportunity has arisen and generally self-released their music); Regurgitator from Brisbane (but now based in Sydney); Curseovdialect from Melbourne; Full Fathom Five from Brisbane; Spod from Sydney; Gerling from Sydney; Underground Lovers from Melbourne (and highly underated on past few albums); TISM from Melbourne (for the sheer insanity of what they continue to do); The Mark of Cain from Adelaide (for the strange mixture of intellectual existentialism and military aesthetics); Kim Salmon from Melbourne and Perth (especially his work with seminal artist The Scientists and his STM album), Spiderbait from Melbourne (by the way great website), Nick Cave from Melbourne originally but who left these shores early (and his work with Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party and the Bad Seeds) … as well as such luminaries as The Go-Betweens, King Snake Roost, King Idiot, Pell Mel, The Fireballs, Pangaea, Kiss My Poodles Donkey, Decoder Ring, The Triffids, The Laughing Clowns (with Ed Kuepper), Radio Birdman, The Celibate Rifles, The Avalanches, The Bird Blobs, Bit by Bats…
In general it is interesting to note the minimal amount of Australian artists who have made it beyond Australia to establish international profiles… they could possibly be counted on two hands. The transition from local to global presence is not an easy process, and although things are improving… being from Australia and the physical distance seems to offer boundaries of a sort. Will the Internet contribute to a shift in this regard?
In the process of locating these artist sites stumbled across this interesting overview of Australian music history.
|
I have quite enjoyed this subject on music subcultures, not only in that it has provided an opportunity to assess theoretical structures around the production and consumption of music in an historical and contemporary sense but it has also afforded the chance to meet some interesting people in Andrew, Renee, and Chris.
The past two weeks we moved onto a look at the local Brisbane scene… and I realise so far I have only written on the blog about artists from overseas. Not that in anyway I have a disinterest in local and Australian artists, as I feel somewhat entangled in local and national music… and on the contrary I have been excited by many Australian artists and tend to view them more in the context of a global sense. Actually maybe the influence of the Internet has been to view the world in such a connected sense. I find the what is now happening on the World Wide Web is this new sense of extended community and accelerated information. Relationships can be established with people who have the same interests… and in light of the concept of disintermediation, producers (as in artists) can (and do) create information portals whereby regular updates are literally are at the touch of the fingers. This tends to relocate the notion of locality as being noticeably separated by spatial and temporal concerns. In a virtual type of way, the world feels more like a local scenario.
Otherwise artists that I have found engaging in the context of being geographically from Australia include:
The Dirty Threeoriginally from Melbourne (but who left early in their career to move around the cultural zones of the world like rootless cosmopolitans seemingly aware that the possibilities were much expanded if they ventured away); The Necks from Sydney (and again due to the progressive nature of their music wandered the world when the opportunity has arisen and generally self-released their music); Regurgitator from Brisbane (but now based in Sydney); Curseovdialect from Melbourne; Full Fathom Five from Brisbane; Spod from Sydney; Gerling from Sydney; Underground Lovers from Melbourne (and highly underated on past few albums); TISM from Melbourne (for the sheer insanity of what they continue to do); The Mark of Cain from Adelaide (for the strange mixture of intellectual existentialism and military aesthetics); Kim Salmon from Melbourne and Perth (especially his work with seminal artist The Scientists and his STM album), Spiderbait from Melbourne (by the way great website), Nick Cave from Melbourne originally but who left these shores early (and his work with Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party and the Bad Seeds) … as well as such luminaries as The Go-Betweens, King Snake Roost, King Idiot, Pell Mel, The Fireballs, Pangaea, Kiss My Poodles Donkey, Decoder Ring, The Triffids, The Laughing Clowns (with Ed Kuepper), Radio Birdman, The Celibate Rifles, The Avalanches, The Bird Blobs, Bit by Bats…
In general it is interesting to note the minimal amount of Australian artists who have made it beyond Australia to establish international profiles… they could possibly be counted on two hands. The transition from local to global presence is not an easy process, and although things are improving… being from Australia and the physical distance seems to offer boundaries of a sort. Will the Internet contribute to a shift in this regard?
In the process of locating these artist sites stumbled across this interesting overview of Australian music history.
|
Comments:
Post a Comment
