And then there were three...

And then there were three
Steam on the lens. Near and dear, good and bad and a colony of bats,
Machines and G.O.D
There is something important to be said.

So it's been a busy couple of months since the last post, hence the delay. Here's a catchup!

Arthur David Warren was born at approximately 12:30am on May 8, 2010. Suffice to say, we are very happy, he is very kind to us newbie parents and seems to be a very happy chap most of the time despite the couple of bouts of ill health. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be a parent, but it's pretty damned good, especially the hidden smile beneath the horizon of a blanket upon his waking. That's a bit of a heart melter. He has slotted into our lives very well, we enjoy his company, he enjoys ours, what more can you say? Cliches like, 'children change your life' are a cliche because they are true. I would think that's fairly obvious. But having said that, (perhaps we are lucky) it doesn't feel like he's disrupted our lives too much. Certainly when not in a gallery or performing we are homebodies for the most part anyway and although as he gets older there will be more socialising to be done (as far as school and so forth), at the moment we are content to all hang out together and get on with stuff, Sally and I take turns with duties, (though I probably owe her quite a few more nappy changes). We are under no illusions that it will be like this forever, but right now it feels very natural. Who da thunk it?

Speaking of socialising, those near and dear to us would have noticed a very minimal amount of images of Arthur online. This is deliberate. As adults we make our own choices to show ourselves on the web, kids can't. This is not really a PC-fearing reaction to online predators or anything like that, though of course like any parent we are concerned about that. And it's not that we aren't proud of our little boy. It is simply a clean slate that allows Arthur anonymity until he's old enough to put himself out there (if he chooses). Who knows what online social networking will be like in 12-14 years?

And with all good intentions comes the possibility of something not going to plan. The planned homebirth was, let's say 90% successful. A relatively short 9 hour labor (easy for me to say) ended up with the final stage (about 45 minutes from arrival) at the Royal Hobart Hospital, where Arthur's arrival was assisted with a ventouse. I still maintain, you go to hospital when you are sick, childbirth is not an illness. The risk to mother and child's health was mounting at that stage and so it became health issue. Again this would've happened in hospital anyway and in fact may have been worse or happened sooner due to the stress of being there. Sound a bit defensive maybe? Possibly. The subject of homebirthing was recently in the media because of Danni Minogue's recent homebirth drama, with a lot of folk (medicos) talking about how it's not a good idea, and speaking as if mothers are just there at home doing it themselves with out experiences midwives supervising. Not surprisingly, TV-medical expert Dr Penny Adams took a typically traditional 'I do not support home-births' stance. But to give her props, she at least pointed out that hospitals and hospital staff should consider the fact that women are not wanting to give birth in hospital and are choosing to have home births, many times because a hospital is not a nurturing, comfortable or friendly place and this should be
looked at. Perhaps there's hope.















May 5: Save 10 Murray Street Presets: 'Please Don't Let Me Be Understood' http://save10murray.wordpress.com/ So being at the time, kind of on stand-by for the impending birth, I did not attend the opening of the this show. By all accounts it was well attended. My work didn't sell, but there is to be a second round of selling so maybe then. The work I created was the 2010 version of Exhalation and I performed this work in my studio (Dead Letter Office) and on the final breath took a photo, with lens steamed up with breath. The physical work I donated to the exhibition is a print (the only one apart from the artist's proof) and a CD of the performance recording (again only one apart from the artist archive copy). The A4 print looks like this:




















On Saturday May 29, M.0.1.0 played along with AXXONN, Traitor and my other duo Untermorast for Thrall's 'Antipodean Homecoming' show. Was a cool night, enjoyed both my sets and everyone else's. Mr Hall borrowed my fog machine for his AXXONN set and this was the result!:





AXXONN (image: Matt Warren)












Untermorast (image: Tom Hall)


M.0.1.0 debuted a couple of new songs 'End Credits' and 'Idiom Grim' which will form part of a new EP we are doing pre-production on right now. Word of warning, when using a digital sound recorder to record your loud set, make sure you keep the recording levels relatively low otherwise this will happen: M.0.1.0 - Idiom Grim (live excerpt)










M.0.1.0 (image: Tom Hall)


June 16 - 27: mumble(speak) - the good and bad people and things tour. Supported by Sound Travellers on their last round of funding. When I put this tour together, I knew I was due to be a father. It was important to me to be not away from home too much, so I planned it basically around two weekends. Last year's TRIAD tour, as great fun as it was, sometimes felt like there was a bit too much downtime between gigs (especially with the cancelled show in Sydney). So it was my plan with this one to compact it by flying in, playing a show and flying out the next morning, this would also help with the being at home sooner plan. As it happened, somewhere between the too scenarios would be the best as sometimes this was slightly manic. No complaints though, here's what happened.
Wednesday June 16: Stutter, Melbourne (played with: Heilbron, Hansen, McLean)
Flew into Melbourne on the day of the gig. Is always good to catch up with brother Nick and my old friends Jenny and Ted. Stutter, a weekly experimental music night is held at Horse Bazaar, a fantastic venue and same place TRIAD played at last year. HHM were a trio of two prepared double basses and drums/percussion. They were very cool, angular and spiky with odd moments of calm. My set went off reasonably well, though being the first night there were some audio levels I had to work on in regards to the mix. Small but pretty appreciative crowd.








Heilbron, Hansen, McLean (image: Matt Warren)










mumble(speak) (image: Nick Warren)


Friday June 18: 6a, Hobart (played at Pip Stafford's exhibition opening)
This was the largest audience of the tour, but I must say I cannot really take credit for that. Pip's show was great and I think it was a pretty good combo letting me play at her show. Some of the rough edges (where not required) were ironed out by this show. I looked up a couple of times to see both Josh and Tim seated on the floor taking it all in. Thanks guys, hope it was good for you.








mumble(speak) (image: Sally Rees)

Saturday June 19: Kurongkurl Katitjin Art Gallery , ECU, Perth (played with: Joel Ong and
Candied Limbs [Cat Hope and Lindsay Vickery])

Next morning I flew to Perth, it's a long flight, especially considering there seem to be no direct flights from Hobart. Was met by my lovely friends and hosts Susie and Dale (with their kids Charlotte and Edward) and had a nice lunch at there place. Went to the venue which was a very cool gallery space with a curved roof perfect for the projection. Caught up with Cat who sorted the gig for me and who was to be playing that night as one half of Candied Limbs (with Lindsay Vickery). We had a brief chat about our mutual love of Scott Walker and then I met Joel. He had set up a kind of interactive sound work consisting of drones and other sounds enclosed in a wooden wall, exploring it's acoustic properties, where the audience would take turns listening via stethoscopes. Up next was Candied Limbs and I must say I was completely daunted to play afterwards. At this point feeling like my set was very 'easy listening', I nevertheless performed an okay set and the reasonable sized crowd seemed to like it. Dale and I went to get something to eat afterwards and then went back to his and Susie's place.








Joel Ong (image: Matt Warren)










Candied Limbs (image: Matt Warren)









mumble(speak) (image Dale Lewis)

Sunday June 20: Serial Space, Sydney (played with: P>A)

Next morning I got an early morning flight to Sydney and caught up with my mate and host Deb. When I arrived at her place she was 10 minutes from the end of 'Blue Velvet' she being as am I, a confirmed Lynch fan. She had a guest over watching the film too. He had never seen the film and I was amazed at that, not sure why I thought everyone had seen it.Got cab to the funky little warehouse gallery space, caught up with Pia who booked the show for me who I met years ago in Hobart when she was part of the trio Conductor. Soon after I arrived in came the two guys who make up P.>A (Phil Williams and Andrew Gadow). Lovely fellas. Got to see my dear friend Felix, Cy (another Conductor almuni) and Justin (who I used to be on the Gallery Dunce ARI board with at least 12 years earlier and who I hadn't seen for about that long). P>A played a very cool set of no-input low frequency feedback drones with video projection made up of lo-tech digital visual response to the sound, lots of interference lines and noisy textures. My set, again pretty easy listening in comparison was not bad. A very small crowd, I think due to me being a bit of an unknown as mumble(speak) it being a Sunday night and the fact that Serial Space is unable to do major promo because they have variously had gigs shut down. Still it was a very nice room to play in. Late night pizza and catchup with Felix in Enmore and some needed correspondence via web and som time in my two favourite New Town record shops Egg Records and Repressed the next day, before flying home to the family.








P>A (image: Matt Warren)

















mumble(speak) (image: Felix Ratcliff)










mumble(speak) (image: Felix Ratcliff)










Enmore Coffee

Friday June 25: DVVA, Darwin

Uh oh. Not a disaster by any means, but, well this was funny ol' gig. Primarily I wanted to stretch out venue and city-wise with this tour and really wanted to include Darwin. Firstly I had never been there, secondly I suspect my kind of music didn't happen up there much. Flew up via Melbourne (I didn't realise there was a Terminal 4 at Tullamarine) on Thursday afternoon/evening arriving at just on 12:00am Friday morning. The heat was intense, sweating in an air conditioned airport at 1:00am waiting to board the shuttle to the hotel was a test after a long flight. I won't name the hotel, but suffice to say they should update their website to mention that the price per night had gone up $20. Even at the previous price it wasn't worth it, plus being that I arrived at 1:00am I had to pay for two nights...

At least, it turned out, that it was a five minute sweaty stroll from the venue, Darwin Visual Arts

Association, run by Lisa Wolfgramm who was very helpful and understanding after an email to her

had gone missing and she assumed I had cancelled on her. This meant missing out on a promo opportunity,

but Lisa was still happy to have me. Ahh the trials and tribulations of booking tours...The day of the gig,

I was told by a few local that it was unusual hot that day, oh good, I thought, it's not just me. It was sweltering.

It's been a long time since (read never) I've been in Australia in June and wanted to go to the beach. I

wandered around a small section of Darwin, went down to Bicentennial Park and Lameroo Beach (didn't

swim though, got some photos and field recordings). And so the gig on the back verandah of the art centre,

first mumble(speak) show I've performed in shorts, was to the crew of 3, one punter and a colony of bats.

At least there was some good one on one discussion about the state of the arts, experimental music and so on.

Thanks anyway guys, a new experience is worth the undertaking. 

Bicentennial Park









Lameroo Beach









Lameroo Beach (with giant ants)











mumble(speak) (image: Lisa Wolfgramm)

June 26: Browning Street Studios, Brisbane (Almost Invisible #4 night 2 with Geese, Restream and Tom Hall)
Due to my 6:00am flight to Brisbane, I needed to be in the hotel foyer to be picked up by the bus at 4:30, so I set my alarm for 4:00. Not that I needed it. Stifling heat, coupled with the delightful sound through the thin walls of my neighbour bringing up something or other for a good 20 minutes, well you get the picture. Flight from Darwin to Brisbane was fine and arrived around 10:00am and was picked up at the airport by the ever lovely Tom Hall, who always knows about good coffee and food (what was the name of that superb coffee place we went to Tom?), so apart from being a great bloke, he's awesome to hang out and eat with! A partial eclipse and a lovely evening. The venue was funky little building that looked to be a converted house that is used for rehearsals, recording exhibitions and live recitals. A nice guy named Cam along with some assistance (I believe) from Ian Rogers (ex-AXXONN, current Ambrose Chapel and fellow JK Broadrick fan) had organised this two night mini-fest and this was night 2. Tiny crowd again, I think most folks who were going to come, came the night before. Geese were a kind of loose, noisy garagey band that had a nice feel. Restream did a kind of chaos dj set that really had its moments, was a bit of an ear opener. Tom did a lovely set with some jittery projection as only he can. My set felt a little rushed as I was aware we had a curfew so some sections were shortened. For some reason, my recorder crapped out just as I started the set, so I have no recording of this set, but Tom got some great images and the small audience, seemed very blissy at the end of it, lying on the floor, Cam was laying under the moon projection.
I hope that was good sign!








Geese (image: Matt Warren)










Restream (image: Matt Warren)










Tom Hall (image: Matt Warren)

















mumble(speak) (image: Tom Hall)












mumble(speak) (image: Tom Hall)

Sunday June 27: Feltspace ARI, Adelaide.

First time to Adelaide and I was astonished to discover how cold it was. I realise it's pretty far south,

but, twas chilly, especially after Darwin and Brisbane. Very flat, but very nice place.

My old mate and fellow VOIVOD fan Leo picked me up at the airport and we went back

to his place, a veritable library of old school metal. We listened to a lot of NWOBHM and then

went to the gallery, a fantastic space and met up with board member Logan. He was very helpful

and couldn't do enough for me, even suggesting some vegetarian eating spots nearby after I set up

the PA and did a soundcheck. Alas it was another small turnout...the unknown factor again?

Maybe the cold? Pity, as it was the best set I played on the tour, well balanced and flowed

really well. But the few that turned up were full of praise and such an amount allows for good

intimate discussion. Sold a CD and chatted with one punter about what software I use and so on.

I'd play there or exhibit there again in a flash. Later that night Leo and I listened to more

oldschool metal and watched the World Cup (he's mad into sport), which I actually quite

enjoyed. Next day, tried to go the Samstag Museum only to discover it's closed on Mondays

and Leo showed me around Adelaides glut of good record shops. 

mumble(speak) (image: courtesy Feltspace)














mumble(speak) (image: courtesy Feltspace)

One superb falafel later I was on the plane home (via Melbourne). There's nothing like smiles from loved ones after such whirlwind travel. So of course I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed by some of the turnouts, but I wasn't entirely surprised. It isn't always my first choice to go out and see some droney guy with projections of the moon, much less someone from out of town either. Was this a prog rock show? Some Pink Floyd tribute gig? Whose to really know. In the end, regardless of how much promo you do you can't force people to attend. However attractive or unattractive the act is, you cannot second guess the numbers. But I do thank those who did turn up and especially the venues and the folks who hosted me. I enjoyed myself and it has taught me a lot and inspired new sounds and that can only be a good thing. Here's to the next tour.

On Friday July 2: M.0.1.0 had the pleasure of playing a set on a bill opening for legendary experimentalist KK Null. We shared the bill with Oceans (Hob), Spheres (Lton) and Thrall now with the addition of Lee Ritson on Bass. We played a short compact set to keep the night flowing smoothly and it seemed to worked well. We played only one new (non EP) track this time ('End Credits') and as mentioned before it will be on the next recording and we will likely be revealing all new material (with some older ones) next gig, in early September. Again I underestimated the volume of our sound and blew out the levels on my recorder. Will get it right one day. Oceans were (was? - it's one guy) great, a nice lofi set and Spheres filled the room with wonderful washes of sound. Thrall seemed a tad tentative at this gig, but it was the first gig with Lee. Still when it worked, it really had some guts. KK did an incredibly clean, crisp layered soundscape. It sounded like an 1980s computer game with some chaotic virus reeking havoc on it's sound generating components, that's compliment by the way. BTW, M.0.1.0 now have a page on Facebook, come and say hello and 'like' us!

Upcoming:

So the Hobart artist run initiative known as INFLIGHT, a well respected gallery/institution and my employer since January is moving. Our lease of 5 years ran out at the end of June and was suddenly not renewed for reasons not entirely clear to us. We were able to get an extension and fulfil our July show obligation. And as it happens, the August show was to be my Sönaris exhibition. Being that I'm local and the remainder of the program contains artists from interstate, it was easier for me to postpone my show until the new year, so that's what's happening. Our first show in the new space will be in September and the new space is at 100 Goulburn Street on the city edge of West Hobart. Exciting times ahead, we will now have street frontage, a good size but controllable room, no neighbouring sound of grounding marble and of course nearby Pigeonhole Cafe does pretty good coffee.

City of Hobart Art Prize – New Media. I can announce (I think) that I've been chosen as one of the 8 contestants (is that the right word?) to exhibit and compete in the New Media section. Who da thunk it? Certainly not me! While I think that what I do is not bad and is known to move people in a way I find very satisfying, I never thought it was 'competitive' in relation to other respected New Media works. My piece is a digital video and audio work embedded into the top of a black plinth and is called Project Blue Book. The exhibition opens at on Friday July 23 and continues until August 29. Two words: People's Choice (wink)

'Souvenirs /Cite 3' at Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart.

Leigh Hobba has curated me into a group exhibition of people who have spent some time at the

Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris. I'm in great company (including my old buddy Sean Bacon,

Jane Burton, Matt Calvert and more) and I will be presenting a slightly reworked version (no longer

using headphones and some extended light play) of a 2005 installation called

Les anges appellent (convocation). This work was last shown in late 2005 in Medium Rare artspace

in Redfern, NSW as part of Gail Priest's one night event series called 'e)scapes'. Images below (courtesy Gail Priest).

The show opens at 6:00pm Friday July 30 and will run until August 27.









































DJ Broken Tiny set.

The night after the above show opens, I'll be doing another DJ set for Ben Crothers' Brand New

Second Hand DJ series. This month's theme of 'Drum Machine' will hear me include Godflesh,

Dälek, Kraftwerk and Donna Summer (!) in my set. Around 9:00 pm Saturday July 31,

Front Bar at Brisbane Hotel, Hobart with DJ BTC and Cough Syrup.



Just to end this long post; I have been listening to the following track incessantly.

Lobby Loyde and the Coloured Balls plus guests live at Sunbury 1973 (in the early hours

of the morning) playing a piece called G.O.D. Heard this about 18 years ago, recently

rediscovered it and cannot stop playing it. It has influenced me in so many ways. It's hard to

find just the track alone online so here is an excerpt (the full version is close to 18 mins)

forming the soundtrack to a film about Melbourne Sharpies by Greg McCainsh

of Skyhooks no less! Enjoy and take care of each other!

First of May 2010

"When I was small and Christmas trees were tall,
We used to love while others used to play.
Don’t ask me why, but time has passed us by,
Some one else moved in from far away.
Now we are tall, and Christmas trees are small,
And you don’t ask the time of day.
But you and i, our love will never die,
But guess we’ll cry come First of May."
There's something important to be said.

There may be those of you who know me and my partner and our current "situation" and thinking, why is he writing a blog and not taking care of other more important things? Yes, Sally and I are at the waiting stage, the 'hoping it will start soon' stage! Both of us can be notoriously control-freakish and therefore, us much as one can be prepared, we have planned and set up for the birth. And so at the moment there are long periods of waiting and thus this little entry. Yes, by the time of my next entry (perhaps by the time you read this) I will be a father. Daunting, exciting, terrifying and inspiring all simultaneously, which is a lot to be experiencing. For the last 9 months it's been in my mind whilst trying to carry on with day-to-day business and life. The last month or so has been particularly scattered psychologically, but ultimately I know it will be good!

And I'm only speaking of me, it's not really my place to speak about Sally here, but I cannot possibly imagine what it must be like to be an expectant mother. So here's my utter respect and admiration! Ultimately any words that I attempt to write about something so profound and yet so simple and everyday (which is why it's profound), can potentially trivialise it, so I'll stop there.

So amongst the thoughts of impending parenthood, some other things have taken place and I'll outline them here;

On March 12, I performed a live soundscape/mix at the opening of Chora Choruses at Kings ARI in Melbourne. I had initially produced a surround soundscape for Fiona Lee's work in the show (with Cath Robinson) and was also asked to perform at the opening, using the same audio sources (10 songs chosen by the Kings board). Seemed to go over okay. Images below; two live performance shots (taken by Fiona Lee)






















mumble(speak) performed as opener for the Jandek show at the Philip Smith Centre in Hobart on March 26, 2010. All I can say is, it was an honour to be on the same bill as Jandek, a great band and fantastic folks and my set was well received and proved to be a good warmup for the upcoming tour, see below. Thanks very much to Heathen Skulls for bring Jandek to Australia and to Pip and Andrew for organising the Hobart gig with MONA and allowing me to perform. Cheers also to Lee for the mix and to Jason for lights. Below two images from the mumble(speak) set (images by Sally Rees) and below that some live excerpts from the set.

mumble(speak) - 'Goodend/Godsend' by MattWarren
mumble(speak) - 'storm' by MattWarren
mumble(speak) - 'bad' by MattWarren


Untermorast (my dark/drone/psych duo with Tim Panaretos) played a set for the Edge Radio Benefit 'Weird Heavy' night at the Brisbane Hotel on April 14. We played with Evil Goat, The Wizar'd and Traitor. Cool bill, under-patronised unfortunately. Please keep an eye out for Untermorast releases, possibly as split-cassette and a CD sometime in the future.

Coming up soon:
May 5: Save 10 Murray Street Presets: 'Please Don't Let Me Be Understood' http://save10murray.wordpress.com/ I began the Exhalation performance project in 2008 and I intend on performing it every year for the rest of my life. It is an ongoing work about mortality and as I was invited along with 34 other artists, to contribute to this exhibition, I thought it was an apt work to include. So for this version I performed this work in my studio (Dead Letter Office) and on the final breath took a photo, with lens steamed up with breath. The physical work I am donating to the exhibition is a print (the only one apart from the artist's proof) and a CD of the performance recording (again only one apart from the artist archive copy). Opens: 6pm - Wednesday May 5, 2010 at the Waterside Pavilion, Mawson Place, Hobart.

May 29: The Antipodean Homecoming Show. The first Australian show for THRALL in 3 years will also feature local harcore/grinders Traitor, my mate Tom Hall's awesome AXXONN and my projects Untermorast and first gig since February for MOIO. MOIO by the way are currently working on new material, approx. 5 new songs (we will debut some at this next gig). We will be releasing a new recording sometime in the future and have been invite to contribute a track to Julian Teakle's second edition of 'Community' a compilation of Hobart bands/musicians. The gig is at 9pm, Saturday May 29, 2010 at the Brisbane Hotel, Hobart.

June: mumble(speak) tour
Thanks to Sound Travellers, mumble(speak) will be undertaking an Australian tour called 'The Good and Band People and Things' tour 2010. Almost all dates/venues confirmed;
June 16: Stutter, Melbourne
June 18: 6a, Hobart
June 19: …., Perth
June 20: Serial Space, Sydney
June 25: DVVA, Darwin
June 26: Browning Street Studios, Brisbane
June 27: Feltspace, Adelaide.
Hope to see you at one of these!

















August: Sönaris - a video and surround sound installation. A new solo work that will be an ongoing exploratory and hopefully evolving work. An in-progress still is below.




















That's it for now, take care of each other, see you at the next stage!
















Photo: visit to Hell Toupee/Hell Gallery, Melbourne March 13, 2010 - (photo: Cath Robinson on Fiona Lee's camera)

Aching affection and drones that do more than work. (March 8 2010)

Aching bones, sweating and breathing hard.
Drones, crackles and all things in between.
And so it comes to pass, end of an era, genuine affection and new opportunities.
There is something important to be said.


Everyday we wake up and as we get older our bones ache, there are more seemingly pointless forms to fill in. We sweat in our clothes and our deep breath quickens. The items on the lists we write never all seem to get ticked off at the end of the day. The eyes grow bleary and we still have more to do. And sometimes what we do are thankless tasks, some just have to be done. Some we've put before ourselves to undertake. We want others to know how hard we work, we complain about how there's not enough hours in the day. And in the final analysis, it's all relative. I get tired, I groan under the weight (wait) and I feel like the tasks are mounting up. But I realised recently, that I would much rather be able to wake up in the morning and have something to do than to not wake up or wake up with no aim in sight. A great guy known as Beta Cloud (aka Carl Pace) who's a cool electronic experimental musician (and fellow expectant father) is in the process of producing a music release with all proceeds to go to cancer treatment/research.

"i'm doing a new release on relaxed machinery, and i'm proud to convey that ALL proceeds will go directly to cancer research/treatment.
the label-
http://relaxedmachinery.com/
the foundation-
http://www.roswellpark.org/
it's in the mastering phase now by mr james plotkin. "


It bought to mind a very good friend who was taken way too soon a couple years ago, who really had only just begun bringing good things into the world. It bought to focus that there is much we can achieve while we are alive. Of course we need to rest and take in the good stuff around us, (working towards putting good things in the world is not always about physical undertakings either), but to complain about what we have to do, what we have before us, seems to me to be somewhat of a crime, when the alternative is to not be alive to have those burdens. When I think about that, the idea of them being burdens, for the most part fade somewhat.


Speaking of a bit of chore(!) at times, MOIO played a support gig to Ghost and The Storm Outside's final show on Wednesday February 3rd. Due to some (still) unexplained technical hitches, it was quite an undertaking of drudgery, but keeping in mind the chance I might contradict my above paragraphs, I will say that with a fair degree of fortitude we pulled through it. In the end it seemed the audience appreciated our set and it's most of yourself who realises the bit's you screwed up the most. We greatly appreciated the audience's patience and the guys in Ghost for allowing us to play.


Just recently finished was the Hobart incarnation of the two person (myself and Ms Rees) exhibition Of Heaven and Earth at 6a, (see previous blog post for more info). We included re-workings of the two pieces that were original shown in Montreal in 2008; 'Snowglobe' (Rees) and 'The Lull' (Warren) as well as works that were begun there, but completed here recently. These were three short sound works I produced called 'Five Roses and an Incorporeal Voice', 'We No Longer Speak' (Rue Bridge) and 'Between Frontenac and Pie-IX (singing man)', Sally's single channel video loop 'Rue St. Pierre' and our collaborative widescreen video projection with stereo soundscape 'The Great Escape/La Evasion Grande'.
Here are some documentation images and an excerpt from the 'The Great Escape'.


















'The Lull' by Matt Warren














'Snowglobe' by Sally Rees



















'The Great Escape/La Evasion Grande' by Sally Rees and Matt Warren

This Friday (March 12) is the opening of Chora Chorus, a two person exhibition by Cath Robinson and Fiona Lee at King's ARI in Melbourne. I created a remix-surround soundscape for Fiona for her contribution and will also be performing a cross between a DJ set and a electro acoustic performance at the opening on Friday night. On the Saturday will be a artists talk that will include Lee, Robinson, myself and Ms Rees who wrote a wonderful piece of text for the show.


There's another gig at the end of the month that is incredibly exciting for me. I as mumble(speak) was very fortunate to land the opening slot for Texas-based bleak avant- folk (is that a genre?) musician Jandek. Not until 2004 had Jandek appeared live, but had since 1978 released a multitude of eccentric and incredibly personal/unique recording, sometimes 3 albums a year. So although the live appearances of late have increased, it's still quite amazing that he will be on our shores. For someone I only discovered in the past 18 or so months, to not only be able to witness the great man here in Hobart, but to be playing on the same bill, well my head swims. Very thankful. Big cheers to Heathen Skulls for bringing Jandek to Australia and to P and A for having me on the bill along with the great Hobart guitar genius Greg Kingston. This will be a night!
March 26, 2010 at the Philip Smith Centre, 2 Edward Street, Glebe, Hobart.


DJ Broken Tiny will be on the bill, performing a set for DJ BTC's monthly 'Brand New Second Hand' nights. This month's theme is '60's' - expect some garage punk, psychedelia and all things in between.
March 27, 2010 at the Brisbane Hotel, Main Bar, Brisbane Street, Hobart.


Other things coming up…
Gigs for MOIO and Untermorast in May,
mumble(speak) on tour in June
and a solo exhibition called Sonaris in August.
Oh and of course….parenthood in late April!!!!!


I'd like to finish by saying how nice (yes I'd like to rescue that word from the clutches of banality) it was to be at Pip and Andrew's nuptials in Swansea a couple of weekends ago. There was genuine affection in the air, a sense of community and a real sense of hope that is rare in an overly cynical environment. I think a lot of people felt it. It was nice (yes I said it). There are many photos of the happy couple floating around that capture the happy moments better than any of mine. However, here's an image taken the next morning that somehow captures the general sense of goodness that was there. Take care all.

Of Heaven and Earth (exhibition with Sally Rees)

Of Heaven and Earth
Sally Rees and Matt Warren

Of Heaven and Earth is a collection of works, solo and collaborative, by Hobart artists Sally Rees and Matt Warren, produced or begun whilst on residency in Montreal, Canada in 2008.

Stranded in Montreal for a month after original art-making plans fell through, and feeling like aliens in a strange, but beautiful city in the dead of winter, the pair were inspired to make these works.

The resulting videos, soundworks and installations are both a portrait of the the city and an antidote to the alienation and homesickness sometimes felt whilst there. They portray a desire for an imagined sanctuary, created using the materials available at the time. Comforting snippets of ‘home’ (the Australian night sky, the beloved pet rabbits left behind) conspire with signifiers of ‘the other place’ (captive exotica, endless snow, a foreign electrical hum) to speak of the isolation of the alien and the toll of the willing exchange of comfort for adventure.

The original incarnation of the exhibition featured only two installation works, Rees' Snowglobe and Warren's The Lull and was shown in the tiny artspace in the Auberge Alternative in Old Montreal (an alternative hostel/accommodation where the the pair were given refuge), founded and run by Tasmanian native Angela Reeve, whom the pair gratefully acknowledge.

This extended version of the exhibition features re-worked versions of both Snowglobe and The Lull and also includes a collaborative piece The Great Escape that was begun in Montreal in 2008 and completed in Hobart recently. With these works now being shown in their hometown, the artists consider this exhibition to be the closing of a challenging but pivotal chapter.

Home is where the heart is.

The time has come, the 1st month over, much done, much still to do. The world is an exquisitely arranged soundscape, it's an exquisite corpse. We have to wait and see or hear the response. We need to be patient. We must be silent to hear it. We need to stare through to see it. And a chapter will close, and maybe I will forgive, but I won't forget. I won't say any more, but, There's something important to be said.

This will be a short blog (readers breath a sigh of relief). Just a brief catchup of the past, first month of 2010.

Throughout January in Kelly's Garden at Salamanca Arts Centre in Hobart I presented the work The Last Beach Movie. I was pretty happy with it. Responses were quite positive. It felt like a rather light-hearted work for me, which isn't bad, but it quite surprised me. Even though your work may come together pretty close to your original vision, you don't always know what the work is until it's there. Despite some issues with folks seemingly wanting to check how secure the toy piano was (often lifted out of the sand exposing the lock) and the 'stool' incident, (it going missing, then being found damaged), the work remained fairly intact. There were even some nice additions in the form of shells and driftwood that punters had made. Thanks for those who came and enjoyed it. Thanks to SAC for hosting it and MONA for including it in the festival. Now if I can get rid of the sand.


Also part of MONA FOMA was a wonderful fellow Mani Neumeier, (of Krautrock legends Guru Guru) whom I had the pleasure of meeting back in 2003 on my research trip to Germany and his partner Etsuko Watanabe, performing percussion and vocals. Mani did a few other side performances as well. It was great to catch up with him again after nearly 7 years and I was happy to have played a small part in getting him to Tasmania to play and he bought his own unique style to proceedings. Glad S got to meet them both!













I started my new position as Gallery Coordinator at Inflight ARI. Bit of a learning curve at the moment, but it will settle in to my brain soon enough. I'm proud to be working for something that over time has become a bit of an institution and I look forward to the years program and the continued challenges.

The psych/black/drone project that was forged in later 2009 with former Soundtracks Will Dissolve member Tim Panaretos called UNTERMORAST now has a web presence. There is a track up now, we are looking at more gigs and recordings in the future.


I presented a sound art/listening work shop up at 6a ARI on Saturday Feb 30. I essentially spoke about listening to the layers of sound that make up the world, how to make your own performed sounds and mixing, manipulating and arranging your own soundscapes. Everytime I do something like that, a lecture or workshop, I learn something as well. Although sparsely attended, it was well received. Thanks 6a.

This Wednesday night; M.O.I.O (my slow noisy sludgey/rock project with Aaron Metcalf) is doing a support gig for The Ghost And The Storm Outside final gig. Will be interesting to be slotted amongst a slew of faster bands. The proverbial dogs balls, in a good way though I think. We are also currently working on a couple of new songs that we are quite excited by. Not quite ready yet, but soon.

I received a couple of copies of the Concrete Lung CD EP. Very happy to have been part of it and Aaron is also happy to have engineered my drum track. I think we did good.

Finally; Ms Rees and I have a two person show at 6a ARI opening on Feb 12. It's an extended incarnation of the Montreal show from 2008 called Of Heaven and Earth. This will close a chapter of our lives that was a bit of a test, but we are really keen to see the works here at home.

















"Of Heaven and Earth is a collection of works, solo and collaborative, by Hobart artists Sally Rees and Matt Warren, produced or begun whilst on residency in Montreal, Canada in 2008. Stranded in Montreal for a month after original art-making plans fell through, and feeling like aliens in a strange, but beautiful city in the dead of winter, the pair were inspired to make these works.
The resulting videos, soundworks and installations are both a portrait of the the city and an antidote to the alienation and homesickness sometimes felt whilst there. They portray a desire for an imagined sanctuary, created using the materials available at the time. Comforting snippets of ‘home’(the Australian night sky, the beloved pet rabbits left behind) conspire with signifiers of ‘the other place’ (captive exotica, endless snow, a foreign electrical hum) to speak of the isolation of the alien and the toll of the willing exchange of comfort for adventure.
The original incarnation of the exhibition featured only two installation works, Rees' Snowglobe and Warren's The Lull and was shown in the tiny artspace in the Auberge Alternative in Old Montreal (an alternative hostel/accommodation where the the pair were given refuge), founded and run by Tasmanian native Angela Reeve, whom the pair gratefully acknowledge.
This extended version of the exhibition features re-worked versions of both Snowglobe and The Lull and also includes a collaborative piece The Great Escape that was begun in Montreal in 2008 and completed in Hobart recently. With these works now being shown in their hometown, the artists consider this exhibition to be the closing of a challenging but pivotal chapter."

That's it for now. Take care of each other.