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All releases limted to 200, hand numbered.
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Absoluten Calfeutrail & Blarke Bayer Conflict Resolution Seminar (SBB010)
A live in the studio collaboration between Absoluten Calfeutrail (Mark Groves) and Blarke Bayer (Ben Andrews) Conflict Resolution Seminar offers five violent harsh noise and monstrous electric drone takes, at times also pushing towards terrain associated with present day power electronics. Text used as the basis of vocal content was appropriated from the corporate context, and deals with leadership, management and the resolution of workplace conflict. Listeners struggling with the expectation to exercise assertive behaviour and settle absurd disputes between colleagues during business hours should pay attention. Tracked and mixed in April 2008 by Marcus Cook (Default Jamerson) at Head Gap studio in Preston Victoria, during a windstorm that tore sections of the studio roof off and created intermittent brown-outs. Nature may have sought to sabotage, but this work exists regardless.
Default Jamerson Stable Government and Adequate Sanitation (SBB009)
The past couple of years have seen a gradual honing of Marcus Cook's work as Default Jamerson. From his early distortion-drenched industrial estates, recent releases on labels such as Diagnosis... Don't! and Isolated Now Waves (in addition to a number of self-released efforts) have pursued a more tone-driven pure ambient path. Stable Government and Adequate Sanitation comes as a neat distillation of this activity, comprised of a range of components now familiar within Cook's work. Brilliant tone vapours glide and lethargically evolve, largely defining the spirit of this extended piece. This is no bliss-out mind you, as throughout proceedings diseased dives in pitch intrude and trouble the wash. Occasional deep rumblings also swoop into view, at times leading to an ominous atmosphere and augmenting the scope of this spacious composition.
Pikelet Pre-Flight Jitters (SBB008)
Following a warmly-received self titled album on Chapter Music, Evelyn Morris presents a new collection of Pikelet material for Sabbatical titled Pre-Flight Jitters. This EP was recorded at Head Gap studio in Preston with Marcus Cook in May 2007, with production duties handled by Evelyn and Marcus. While the narrative elements of her self-titled debut are largely absent here, vocal harmonies continue to play a key role alongside melodic cycles and deceptively complex rhythms. Pre-Flight Jitters also pursues some unexpected textural qualities and compositional approaches, while maintaining the rich layering typical of Evelyn's recent work.
Maximum Awesome Maximum Awesome (SBB007)
Maximum Awesome is Michael Bray (Snap! Crakk!, Jemima Jemima) and Jarrod Zlatic (Fabulous Diamonds, Oh! Belgium etc), two restless artists often found residing continents apart but sharing much in spirit. Maximum Awesome is a live in the studio document of a brief period of intense activity in which Bray returned from abroad and resumed this duo project with Zlatic, utilizing his command of keys and delay. Recorded by Marcus Cook at Headgap, these four extended electronic meditations pulsate and fold over in a gorgeous fashion. This is truly a welcome balm for the anxious, taking in a remarkable expanse of terrain. Mare Tranquillitatis!
Naked on the Vague Sad Sun (SBB006)
Following a warmly received debut 7” on the Dual Plover label, Sad Sun finds our hosts Lucy Phelan and Matthew Hopkins building an edifice of tense ambiance. Stuttering and severe machine rhythms anchor many of these looping arrangements, pointing to an unexpected industrial undercurrent within the duo’s sound. These throbbing components are positioned adjacent to comparatively serene and reverberant corridors, exemplified by the delay-saturated title piece closing this EP. Four of these dark, alluring compositions were captured by Marcus Cook of Sabbatical at the Headgap Studio in February 2007, while the stunning title track was recorded by the duo themselves in Sydney.
Bone Sheriff Moonee Ponds (SBB005)
Bone Sheriff is made by blending the finest quality contact microphones and pure ground tone generators and is enjoyed in so many ways by millions of consumers each year. This perennial 'Winter Warmer' is the perfect way to relax on the long dark evenings. Some of the most stylish bars are now creating new drinks by exploiting the, perhaps, unique potential of Bone Sheriff. Not to be outdone, the current generation of chefs have smuggled Bone Sheriff into the kitchen to bring the smooth, rich ginger flavour to any number of dishes, sauces and puddings.
Contrabass, mandolin, melodica, ride cymbal, Stones Green Ginger Wine, splash cymbal, Turkish wok, floor tom, keytar, lap steel, tone generator, Coopers Sparkling Ale, broken amplifier, contact microphones, ring modulator.
Bone Sheriff is Robert Mayson (Grey Daturas, Whitehorse, EOH, It's Is, Maggoted) and Simon Taylor (Whitehorse, Malakat, EOH, Hommes). Three extended pieces comprise Moonee Ponds, recorded late night by Marcus Cook at Head Gap studios in Preston late 2006. Moonee Ponds follows Huh Again, a 2006 3”CDR on Mayson’s own Diagnosis… Don’t! label.
Absouten Calfeutrail Total Scum Materials (SBB004)
Total Scum Materials is the debut solo release from Northcote resident Mark Groves (Whitehorse, True Radical Miracle). Recorded during Semester 2 2006, synth-muck, spring reverb cracks and MS20 headaches characterize these demented Vangelis gunk bursts and Frostwave tantrums. The skuzzy error bank on offer is clearly perceptible: audible mobile phone interference peppers opening tirade ‘Tenant Howl’, while loop start/end points hiccup and derail the drones under ‘Perpetual Quandary’. Maybe that kind of garbage is your thing. Maybe you like to hear broken, wasted sounds. Hey maybe you would even like to hear a grown man impotently rage against a real estate agent! Black comedy! Proceedings conclude with a totally diseased take on the USHC classic ‘Negative Approach’. Cover art by Seldon Hunt.
Aux Assembly Even Cowgirls Get Dementia (SBB003)
Five apparitions, five hazy hallucinations borne from considered gesture and calm contemplation. Even Cowgirls Get Dementia is the debut release from duo Aux Assembly - Elise Bishop (On, Badcopbadcop) and Dimitra (Archaic Forms). This gathering of phantoms meanders in, quietly rearranging the furniture until a moment of recognition, followed by mesmeric observation. Although primarily a tranquil affair, the tempest associated with the previous output of these artists is given some opportunity for release, creeping up slowly in the ascending drone of ‘Accordion Madness’ and crashing down in the concluding feedback squalls of ‘Battlesub Galactica’.
Mof Far Far Rah Little More (SBB002)
Mof Far Far Rah a.k.a. Moth Tha Tha Ra is Christopher LG Hill, Northcote local and member of numerous units (Bohemian Knights, Castle Mice, Paeces, MofHoprah, KkrissKkristofiston, Dumb Crystals, Allley Oop, Galatick Locksmith and Slotholith) associated with Sean Bailey’s Inverted Crux label. Little More is Chris’ first full length as Mof Far Far Rah, following a series of self released CDRs (and several variations on his moniker). Structurally Little More is simply described as a dense library of vocal miniatures leading toward a comparatively expansive concluding piece. This portrayal reduces Little More however, for the trail through these 75 growing odds and ends reaches from fragments of necro-growl through Eye-shriek to reverb-drenched moans and onward. By number 75 growth reaches a whopping thirty seconds, but is then dwarfed by 51 minutes of a monolithic planet teeming with gorgeous commotion. Ever seen a scaled diagram of our sun next to red giants like Betelgeuse or Antares? That’s what this feels like. Beautiful cover art developed in collaboration with Josh Petherick, and in accordance with instructions utilising the same blue as the back of the Carpenters Greatest Hits.
True Radical Miracle Roaches Parts 1 & 2 (SBB001)
A companion piece to the 2006 full length album Cockroaches (Missing Link), two-track EP Roaches (SBB001) collects improvised material generated during the Cockroaches sessions with Neil Thomason and Brent Punshon at Sing Sing South in late 2005. This side of True Radical Miracle is rarely seen, and in fact has only been attempted publicly once in Brisbane as a part of a national tour surrounding the release of Cockroaches. In this mode the group’s distinctive rhythmic crux is abandoned in favour of an isolated drift. This is in keeping with the loose thematic approach of the album, expressing another dimension of the alienation and remoteness that is the foundation of Cockroaches. The two numerically-titled pieces comprising the Roaches EP are devoid of vocal input from Mark Groves, opting instead here for simple effected oscillators, and drummer Evelyn Morris shifts to piano, exploiting various elements of the instrument. Leith Thomas allows his bass to rumble and ring out, while Scott O’Hara revisits the diminutive guitar manipulations not heard since his early solo recordings and collaborations in Adelaide.