Matt Warren - The Small Hours: July 2008

Please excuse the grammar, these are song lyrics

Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Written about 10 years ago, but they seem currently apt...

CORONER'S REPORT
Are you forced to follow rules?
Do you wish I'd understand?
Human condition of fools.
You want your say, go ahead I can't hear nothing.

Now it's come to the end.
And the wisdom dies.
We no longer pretend
And the mourners cry.

I can't and won't read your mind.
Say what you want and you need.
Communicate your desire.
You want your say, go ahead I wont say nothing.

I don't hate you, you don't need to.
And at this point, it don't matter.
Will you listen from a distance?
All I wanted was the best for
You and me and all the power,
All the wisdom, all the voices.
Wasted moments last forever.
Won't forget you, don't forget me.

© Matt Warren/Time Office 1998/2002

The Right Place (May 21, 2008)

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

We are all 0s and 1s around here, but...
There is something important to be said...

I often wonder if the web and blogs in particular are the right place to vent or speak 'your' truth. It is a world of potential illuminations and potential illusions. You can present yourself however you see fit, how you want the world to see you...the virtual world anyway. Who you are, what you do and even what you look like can be and often is very different to actuality. I'm probably misleading you right now. I say probably, because my suspicion is that we present ourself, we censor ourself, we mold our public image unknowingly, at least to a degree. Perhaps you are being honest, it is simply how you see yourself, not necessarily how you are. As I write this, I am aware that I'm trying to choose my words carefully, not only to make myself understood, but to put across a certain degree of intelligence or insight (ahhh, you saw right through that huh?).

As it happens, I don't want to use the web to expose myself as I value my privacy too much. However I don't want to create an illusionary version of myself either because I value honesty. So why am I here anyway. Well, as we all know, the world is more communicable than ever and friends and acquaintances are dotted around the globe. I'm interested in what they're doing and I hope they might feel the same about me. The wonderful thing about the web is we can keep track of friend's and acquaintance's progress or regress through life very easily...perhaps a blessing and a curse simultaneously.

So this a round about way of letting real friends and acquaintances in the virtual world what I've been up to of late and specifically the Montreal trip. I've been overwhelmed by how we were welcomed back home by those near and dear and for that I'm eternally grateful. One of the first things asked, quite naturally, is; "How was the trip?" I have to answer by saying that at least 50 percent of the time there was tense, sad and disappointing. Some falling out, confusion and wasted time/opportunities occurred. And it was a long and expensive journey to discover those things.
I won't go into details about specific situations or personal details because it's actually irrelevant to anyone else but those involved. And to be honest, still kind of painful to talk about. I don't want to come across as some kind of 'victim' here either, because perhaps the situation could've been averted had I had more insight. But it wasn't to be and it ended rather badly for something I thought could've been really good. I'm trying to move on from it, but as it was a sad, difficult time it's been rather hard to let some things go. But I'm trying (some might say in more ways than one!)

Some of the work/research I went to Canada for did happen or is still in progress and I'm very thankful to those who assisted in or facilitated that, you know who you are. It was really great and you still have my utmost respect. Some of this has been shown already ("Of Heaven and Earth"), but I will soon post some more examples of stuff as it's completed and/or documented.

Headlong back into it upon landing back in Australia as Deborah Pollard and I re-staged our performance/installation "Apparently Nothing" in the group exhibition 'Dream Home' curated by Mary Pridmore at the Plimsoll Gallery in Hobart.
It opened on Friday May 2nd and included our 'meal' performance (ably assisted by Sally Rees). We had an unexpected 'guest' for dinner (sat down in the absentee's chair, ate bread and spoke to us), a known dickhead in the small Hobart art circle, who believes himself to be a radical rebel by doing what he does, but is just a knob. Hope he had a good time. Anyway it went pretty well, reactions have been quite positive. Look for images and/or video elsewhere around here.

I'm heading towards the tail end of my degree so I have a full plate and much to think about and do. As a consequence I'm trying to cut back on extra-curricular activites, but old habits die hard. There will likely be TRIAD show(s) in late August. I will also be exhibiting that month in "Parallel" at the Long Gallery, also 'Watch the Skies' will be ending then as well, so those who want to contribute, you still have time, but it's running out, I'd love to get some more stuff!
I have a couple of music projects on the go at the moment and will probably be exhibiting in October locally. Will give details closer to the dates.
That's it for now, be good to each other.

Of heaven and earth... (April 14, 2008)

Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The sound of hums and sight of rising snow. Headaches and heartaches...
There is something important to be said.

Sally Rees and myself have produced a new work each whilst residing here at the Auberge Alternative in Old Montreal. We are exhibiting the works in the Auberge's new little space "Squeezbox". The show: 'Of heaven and earth...' has a short run of April 14 - 20 open daily from 12:00pm - 4:00pm. There will be a closing event announced soon, likely with pics of the works.

Listening: Discharge - "Decontrol - the singles" (comp 2006), Hawkwind - "Warrior of the Edge of Time" (1975), Arvo Pärt - "Music for Unaccompanied Choir" (2006)
Watching: "Heima - Sigur Ros" (documentary 2007). Dr Katz (season 1)
Reading: "Flying Saucers" - C.G Jung (collected/translated 1978)

Quick

Thursday, April 3, 2008
Just a quick one...Some new works on the way and some updates...

The Sculpture Trail that included my soundwalk piece "Follow Me" is over. There is now the 'webedit' 2:45 version of the soundpiece up at the site. CLOSED

There has been an update to the project: "Ritual 5: Watch the Skies"
Come join the group over here
And the main page with videos is here

Sad news for Krautrock fans; Klaus Dinger, the pulse behind NEU! and La Düsseldorf amongst other projects (he was also once the drummer in an early version of Kraftwerk) has died at age 61. RIP

Be good to one and other

Thaw...March 19, 2008

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Drip...drip...drip...crackle....crackle....There is something important to be said.

So it's been a couple weeks in Montreal at JYT & LMS house.
Snow fall here has been pretty extensive and for us Tasmanians it's quite the novelty, but for locals, understandably, it's a bit of a pain. As I write, snow has stopped falling and the ice has thawed somewhat.

Today we saw and collection of exhibitions at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal including a large Geoffery Farmer show and having a Boltanski work from their collection permanently installed is always a good thing in my books. The place was crawling with a large group of nasty private school teenagers. As we were leaving one gallery attendant came up to us and apologised for their behaviour (apparently there was some carpet torn up!) and fast tracked the return of our coats from the cloakroom. Nice fella. I'd like to see these exhibitions again.

I've produced a few dribs and drabs of work, mainly sound, that I've called "Montreal Basement" and "Snowfall". What has inspired these works, I could not say! The titles give nothing away. Excerpts can be heard on the front page here.

I've done a bit of video editing of still images that are intended to accompany some sound works. These are based on amplified silence from field recordings of an old Burnie house and a derelict shack in Turner's Beach, on the North West Coast of Tasmania that I recorded in December last year. Kind of demo versions of some of the work I intend to work on over here, but will likely be works on their own.

Speaking of over here; the work (mainly the recording of silence in disused factories and research into ambience) that I plan to do with JY is still in the planning stages, but there is time yet.

I'd also like to try my performance/ritual work called "Exhalation" over here. It is a work about mortality and it features the extended, slow exhalation of breath the amount of times as one's years. So an ongoing work, more breaths each year, possibly shorter durations, depending on ones health. Especially outdoors on one of the colder days (it's actually warmed up a bit), the breathy steam could be a good visual.

Back home; I hear it's incredibly hot for this time of year and there are bush fires. I hope all is well. The Mountain Festival's Sculpture Trail, I believe, is going well. Haven't really heard much, but I think in the end the mp3 player/headphone sets for my work "Follow Me" are not at a specific place for pickup/dropoff, rather you ask a trail attendant. The mp3 file (for those with their own players) and instructions are available for download here CLOSED

That's it for now. Be good to one another.

Two months in...(Feb 23, 2008)

Saturday, February 23, 2008
Pressure and relief, sleep often elusive. Body is exhausted but mind won't switch off. Ants in the kitchen, enormous drops of rain, public appearances, private doubts.
Visitors from afar, lost luggage. Open eyes, ears and hopefully mind. Won't switch off. Lapse in health regime. Can't hear for the rain, a wonderful sound that drowns out the collaborative sound in the gallery and drowns the ants on the street. Switch off for now.
There is something important to be said.

Much has already happened this year and as I'm not a consistent blogger, often it's a case of catch up. Would I fill the web with my ramblings more if I did it more often or in bursts like this. If there's nobody out there reading this did it actually happen...if a tree falls in the woods....

As I write this I am sitting at Inflight gallery, invigilating for the final day of D Group's "Hiatus" exhibition. The flow of visitors to the gallery seems to have been about average for shows here, but responses have been pretty positive when I've sat, though folks don't tend to say a whole lot, especially if you're one of the artists. The comment book has a single entry from someone called Lucas that says "fucking cool", so I guess that's good. Commenting on one's own exhibition is a risky ego trip I suppose, but since I was not responsible for the images, I can say I love the photographs produced by Lena and Sally and feel honoured to be in a show with them. So too, I'm proud to have produced sound work in collaboration with Jean-Yves. All you guys rule. Thanks. D Group lives! More to come!!!

Last night and this morning I de-mounted my work-in-progress installation "Whitepinkblack Noise". It's often quite a sad day when a show comes down as a lot of work goes into it and a tremendous amount of energy to set it up (not least of all from Sally, the queen of curtain construction and moral support). In the end I'm not sure how many people came through, it was a short run and (my fault) under advertised, but it was pretty much an experiment to see how the work comes together outside of concept and inside a gallery. Flawed to be sure, but the beauty of doing the show was to see what needs to be improved and I think I know. Thanks to those who contributed their voices to the work and those who came. The show will return sometime in the future. In the meantime there is a page over at my site dedicated to the project and I'm aiming to have some documentation up soon as well as an extended artist statement/essay eventually.

Music:
A little while back, myself and Scot Cotterell (1/3 of TRIAD and all round good egg) decided to form some kind of guitar-based duo. There were initial stylistic plans and name ideas. But it seems likely it will remain a kind of "what will we play this time" kind of deal and we will operate under our own names (what a novel idea) rather than a high concept character.
Our first live performance was anonymously accompanying Andrew Harper's performance "Acrid" at 6a on January 25 where we played a grinding, sludgy, feedback soundscape. I enjoyed it immensely and and would do it again at the drop of a hat, thanks for asking Andrew.
Our second appearance was a kind of open backyard party at 'The Lawns' in Mount Stuart for James (on Sunday Feb 10). More ebbs and flows in that one. Hopefully more to come.

The Friday before (Friday Feb 8) I was invited (after a bit of self promotion...ha!) to perform a live soundscape as my droney/ambient project mumble(speak) by Mish Meijers and Tricky Walsh for the opening of their wonderfully creepy installation "The Collector 3 - Secretions" up at 6a. It was only my second mumble(speak) live performance, but it seemed to go over well and fit with the atmosphere of the work.
Thanks Mish and Tricky, it was a pleasure. BTW keep an eye out for a CD or two from mumble(speak) - a recording of the live soundscape at 6a and possibly a CD single. These might be ready in time for the upcoming Art Fete at 6a.

On Saturday, Feb 16, I had the pleasure and honour to play drums as part of Damo Suzuki's Network at the Brisbane Hotel along the other 'sound carriers' Mathew Anderson (bass), Scot Cotterell (electronics), Leigh Hobba (sax, clarinet and bass clarinet) and Reggie Norris (guitar). Damo himself performed great, especially considering he hadn't really slept for 72 hours and somehow the airline had lost his luggage from London to Melbourne leg. It was an exhausting but thoroughly enjoyable gig that I won't forget. Hope you all liked it. I'd love to see any photos, please feel free to post them.

TRIAD (the improvised electronic trio of Scot Cotterell, Tom Hall and myself I mentioned earlier) will be performing at 6a's Art Fete on March 2nd, 2008. It's been a while since we last played, but should be fun. We are opening for Drunk Elk and The Vivids who are launching their CD.

So next on the cards is my and Sally's upcoming trip to Montreal where we will reconvene as D Group to generate thoughts, ideas and sketch out new stuff. I am also going to do a writing and research stint with the wonderul Jean-Yves and produce new sound and visual works as part of my current research degree.

Whilst we are away, Sally and I will both be exhibiting work for Hobart's Mountain Festival in their "Sculpture Trail" public art exhibition. I'm creating a soundwalk (for mp3 and headphones) called "Follow Me" inspired by the work of Christina Kubisch, Danny McCarthy and Janet Cardiff. More info soon.

Despite the frantic nature of the last couple of months, life's been pretty good. And I don't for one minute forget that I'm pretty lucky. Of course there is a lot of crap in the world and I guess one just has to recognise it and don't let it infiltrate your life too much. You get little glimmers of hope and glimmers of light along the way. For example; when the new Prime Minister says something that our nasty previous one could never say (believing it to be a sign of weakness?), that is, saying sorry to the stolen generation, well that gives a you a sense of hope. Listen to some good music, watch a good film, read a good book and realise there's some good folks out there doing good things, not just superficial bollocks and fear mongering 'leaders'.

That's it for my long ramble for now except to say, be good to each other.

A busy new year so far (Feb 3, 2008)

Sunday, February 3, 2008
Happy New year.
It's already very busy so far...but that's a good thing.
D Group (Rees, Stuart, Thériault and Warren) has opened our show at Inflight called "Hiatus" (see in 'Events') for more info) and I'm about to have "Whitepinkblack Noise" open, my in-progress installation at Entrepot Lounge Gallery (also see 'Events').

A couple of live music things coming up too:

mumble(speak) will be performing a live soundscape for the opening of "The Collector 3 - Secretions" at 6a (see 'Events')

I will be a drumming 'sound carrier' at the Damo Suzuki Network show at the Brisbane Hotel, Hobart on Saturday February 16, 2008. (see 'Events')

More stuff coming up...
Take care
MW

"The Dust Blows Forward" NYE 2007

Monday, December 31, 2007
"The dust blows forward and the dust blows back"
- Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart)

It might be a cliché to say there has been many bad things and many good things that have happened this year. But it's a cliché because it's true and happens to everyone. I am no exception, some luck and some loss.

The losses were particularly hard. Wherever Stuart is now, it is such a shame he is not here. Not only do we miss him, but there are so many things that have come up since he went away that I would have loved to have shown him, played for him, gone with him to see and discuss.

But I take the good with the bad. One thing I got to show him before he passed away was a preliminary version of 'Cantus 35', the sound work I did for "The Port Arthur Project" for this years '10 Days on the Island'. I received many positive responses to this work, particularly from those who lost someone in the massacre in 1996, I am still overwhelmed and humbled. I thank you.

My mumble(speak)music project and my collaboration with Scot and Tom as part of TRIAD received a great response also. I'm glad I've made something alone and with others that is enjoyable for me to create and experiment with and enjoyable for others to experience.

I am looking forward to laying this year to rest, good and bad it's been tiring. The new year will bring lots of things. These are mentioned below if you care to take a look.

Myself and Scot Cotterell will be accompanying Andrew Harper on his performance at 6A Gallery/Studios in North Hobart on January 25 2008. More news as it comes to hand, but suffice to say Scot and I will be playing some black, sludgy, down-tuned guitar and thuds whilst Andrew does his black, sludgy thing.

I would again like to thank everyone who contributed their time to my "3 Projects" interviews. The first of these works will be "Whitepinkblack Noise" and will be shown in February 5, 2008 at Entrepot Student Gallery at the Centre of the Arts in Hobart. Please note there is still an open call for people to participate in "Ritual 5:Watch the Skies"

D GROUP will also be exhibiting in the new year. "Hiatus" a long distance/file sharing collaboration exhibition of sound and images will be shown at Inflight ARI in Hobart from February 1 2008. I was fortunate to receive some funding to travel to Montréal to work with Jean-Yves as part of my research as well as part of D Group for future projects. I'm really looking forward to this. This will be happening in March/April (at this stage).

Damo Suzuki will be making his second visit, but first show here in Hobart on February 16 at The Brisbane Hotel. I hope you all come along, his shows are fantastic and he is a true legend. I am so happy we were able to organise it this time. Subject to final confirmation the band playing with him as part of the Damo Suzuki Network is as follows: Mat Anderson (Bass), Scot Cotterell (Synth/Laptop), Leigh Hobba (Sax/Clarinet), Reggie Norris (Guitar) and myself (Drums)

There is also the possibility of a Triad gig in Hobart in late February.

"Apparently Nothing" the collaboration with Deborah Pollard is to be part of a group exhibition at Entrepot Gallery in May. More news as it comes to hand.

"Parallel" a group exhibition at Salamanca Arts Centre's Long Gallery will be happening throughout August 2008. This show will likely include the second "3 Projects" project called "In Haunted Attics"

There's also a couple of music and exhibition things that I cannot speak about yet, but suffice to say, along with my on-going degree (into my final year), I will be (gladly) busy in 2008.

I hope 2008, finds you all well, busy, happy and healthy.
Best
M.W

Excited about 2008 or Hawkwind???

Ashes, news and so on (Nov 15, 2007)

Thursday, November 15, 2007
There's been two too many funerals this year. 70 years difference between those that passed away. Neither one is easy. I'm staying here, but my thoughts go out.
There is something important to be said.

As a reminder of the upcoming Australian Federal election (like you Aussies need reminding) I thought I'd present my version of a "protest" song. Not presenting any sides, (I know where I sit), but hopefully the tone of the song will put across how I feel. Since I cant post songs directly on this page, I've put it up elsewhere. My myspace TIMEOFFICE page was stolen from me, but I've managed to get it back and I put it up there, even though it's not really a TIMEOFFICE piece. Please find at the bottom of this not, I've posted the full lyrics to our national anthem, (some are a bit scary and I see why we are not taught them all in school)

Also there is a new Broken Tiny experiment over here.

All these online music files and more are over on my Virb page nicer format, less ads.

Stuff coming up...
Dec 14: Group exhibition- "Room" at Burnie Regional Gallery, Burnie, Tasmania
February 1: D GROUP exhibition - "Hiatus" at Inflight Art, Hobart, Tasmania
February 9: Solo installation - "Whitepinkblack Noise" at Entrepot Lounge Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania

Unconfirmed:
March/April: D Group and personal research in Montreal, Canada
May: Group exhibition to include the Warren/Pollard work "Apparently Nothing" at Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania.
August: A confirmed group exhibition called "Parallel", but what work I'll be contributing is still on the cards.

Be good to one another:
Listening: This Mortal Coil-"Blood", Giacinto Scelsi-"Natura Renovatur"
Reading: Colin Wilson-"Mysteries"
Watching: "Control" (Anton Corbijn)

ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR (full lyrics)
Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free;
We've golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in Nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history's page, let every stage
Advance Australia fair!
In joyful strains then let us sing,
"Advance Australia fair!"

When gallant Cook from Albion sail'd,
To trace wide oceans o'er,
True British courage bore him on,
Till he landed on our shore.
Then here he raised Old England's flag,
The standard of the brave;
With all her faults we love her still,
Brittannia rules the wave!
In joyful strains then let us sing
"Advance Australia fair!"

Beneath our radiant southern Cross,
We'll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing
"Advance Australia fair!"

While other nations of the globe
Behold us from afar,
We'll rise to high renown and shine
Like our glorious southern star;
From England, Scotia, Erin's Isle,
Who come our lot to share,
Let all combine with heart and hand
To advance Australia fair!
In joyful strains then let us sing
"Advance Australia fair!"

Shou'd foreign foe e'er sight our coast,
Or dare a foot to land,
We'll rouse to arms like sires of yore
To guard our native strand;
Brittannia then shall surely know,
Beyond wide ocean's roll,
Her sons in fair Australia's land
Still keep a British soul.
In joyful strains the let us sing
"Advance Australia fair!"

The Long Now (Oct 9 2007)

Tuesday, October 9, 2007
The air is filling up, with sounds, with gas, with nothingness.
Soon we won't be able to breathe. They have given permission for
disaster, they have passed the point. They have to go. No more.
It's now. They don't listen, they don't care, they don't have clue.
How hard is it it to move away, to emigrate?
Is it cowardly to make a break?
There is something important to be said.

Yes the Pulp Mill is a goer! Our 'leader' has bent over for money now, not anything we can look forward to. I've been thinking a lot lately about what the Long Now Foundation say. Our sense of time is all screwed up. Here and Now means this room and this 5 minutes, rather than the next 100 years or even 20 years. Now I don't want progress to stop, I use technology everyday, the web being an obvious example. There is a virus of superficiality sweeping across every aspect of our lives. A glance does not mean a deep understanding and yet it seems that's enough for some.
Maybe we can soon make a change in the Federal Government.
Okay down off the soapbox!

I'm in the process of working on 3 projects; "In Haunted Attics", "Until We Sleep" and "Whitepinkblack Noise", all sound and/or video installations. The first project will likely be shown in Hobart in August, the last one will be shown in February 2008 at Entrepot Lounge Gallery. There will be more details soon, but I'm doing a recruitment drive for interviewees that you will see elsewhere.

Also there has been an update on an ongoing project called "Ritual 5:Watch the Skies", but I'm hoping for more participants. If you think you would like to get involved, please do.

There is a new mumble(speak) track online called "Ether"

Upcoming;
December-"Room" group show tours to Burnie Regional Gallery, Tasmania
February- "Hiatus" an exhibition by D Group at Inflight Art, Hobart, Tasmania
February- "Whitepinkblack Noise" solo installation at Entrepot Lounge Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania
May- "Apparently Nothing" by Pollard/Warren possible included in a group exhibition at Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania.
August- "Parallel group show at Long Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania, (possible tour later)

Thats it for now. Be good.

Listening: "Ohm-Early Gurus of Electronic Music" (comp 2006),
"King Tubby meets The Aggrovators at Dub Station" (1975/2007)
Watching: "30 Century Man-Scott Walker" directed by Stephen Kijak (2006)
Reading: "Rat Salad: Black Sabbath, The Classic Years 1969-1975" by Paul Wilkinson (2006)

and again

Monday, September 17, 2007
Just a brief addition to the last note. There are some more images here up now. Not particularly inspired I must admit, but hopefully they may give a small sense of what it's like in Tábor, Czech Republic. This was the first time I was there in 2003, a difficult language to grasp and we were stopped at the border at Cheb, on a train for a passport check. Czech Republic was yet to join the EU (it did the following year) so a special Visa was required prior to leaving Australia. You don't need that now.
Also if you go here you can see some Euro video, a travelogue in 4 parts. I hope it's not like some boring slideshow, that only I think is interesting! Take care all.

Nostalgia

Friday, September 14, 2007
In 2003, I was fortunate enough to travel to Germany to research German Expressionist cinema and Krautrock, two influential passions. The result was a still in-progress documentary on Krautrock called
"Stoic Rhythms" and some insight. It struck me recently that I covered a lot of ground in the two months I was in Europe (my first European trip). I travelled, mainly by train, in England, Germany and Czech Republic and outside my research I saw some interesting sites and I thought I'd share some of them with you.
So have a look here for images that I'll add to. I'll also put some video up over here.

Thanks for your attention, enjoy!

Mick and stuff

Monday, September 10, 2007
Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I've been making an audio documentary (perhaps first in a series) on UK electronic musician/composer Mick Harris. He has been a big influence on me and I think also on a lot of others in the electronic music area. In September 2006 I was fortunate enough to interview him in Birmingham on the tail end of our European trip. This was prompted by my ongoing interest in his work (going back to early Napalm Death) and my research and the interview form the basis of the documentary. A little while back I posted part 1 (early years) and I've just recently posted part 2 (covering his Scorn, Lull and Quoit projects) with a part 3 still to come. Hope you enjoy it.
Go to: Mick Harris - In the Deep End

It struck me last night about the myriad of things I've got to do in the next year, no complaints, I like to keep busy doing what I do, but it's kinda snuck up on me.

December 2007:
A group exhibition called "Room" that was at CAST gallery earlier this year is on tour and is opening at Burnie Regional Gallery in December. Looks like it has some interest from mainland galleries in the new year too. It includes my work: "The Angels are Coming"

February 2008:
An exhibition by D Group (which includes the equally influential to me; Jean-Yves Theriault, Sally Rees and Lena Stuart ) at Inflight Gallery in Hobart. The show is called "Hiatus"
I will also have an installation at Entrepot Lounge Gallery at the Centre for the Arts, Hobart called "Whitepinkblack Noise"

May 2008: Possible inclusion in a group exhibition at Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart.

August 2008: Group exhibition called "Parallel" at the Long Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart. Possible tour for that too.

And here I was trying to cut back...

Dust

Wednesday, September 5, 2007
When doubting my own abilities, I sometimes (perhaps self-indulgently) try and change tact (read-procrastinate) and try and clear out older things that have metaphorically collected dust. In doing this I found a few old CDs of older music projects I have been involved with. Listening to them, I thought "hey these aren't bad" and thought maybe folks might want to hear them.

My first major band where I was drummer/lead vocalist, (just like Phil Collins...no that's a joke...come back) and main songwriter was Bodies Drawn Backwards (1993-98). I was very sad when we split up, even though I was not a happy camper a lot of the time. I've put up a couple of songs from the unreleased album we spent two and a half months recording at Red Planet Studio in Hobart. I haven't really played music like that since.

In 1998, Arts writer, curator and occasional filmmaker Ted Colless and I wrote an article for Broadsheet, "Op Music" about the soundtracks for European horror and exploitation films. With this in mind we decided to try a contemporary version of it. With Ted's sample ideas and my old 1970s synth and an analogue four track recorder we made 4 pieces under the name Project Airsheet. I'm not sure if anyone heard this stuff, but now there's a couple of songs up in all their hissy glory.

In 2003 whilst in Tabor, Czech Republic doing a collaborative project, I began making music with my laptop that would become the DnB-inspired project zeropointzero. It only ended up being a one-off recording project, when I realised that I really didn't know what I was doing in this genre, but I kinda like it now. There's 2 pieces up.

So dusting the archives has made me kinda wistful. This along with seeing an old image of mine posted by Sean Kelly of Dianna Graf in an old installation has made me realise we all have good things in our past.

The music can be heard at: Matt Warren Muzik
Cheers all.

Switch on and simplify (Aug 22 07)

Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Stripping back, simple lines, minimal, cleaning up.
A basic life. There is something important to be said.

I am genuinely feeling older today, have been for a while actually. That is not some "woe is me" statement, nor am I looking for sympathy. There seems to be a distinct lack of drive or passion in people younger than myself. I'm generalising of course and that's what we old folk do. That's what's making me feel old..."I don't understand the youth of today". I don't want to be that guy! There must be some arsekickers out there, not just kids going through the motions, concerned with the inane and superficial. Switch on!
You see, there I go again.

"It's the children who are wrong" - Principal Skinner

It's ironic and yet apt that I write the following here on a blog on the good ol' information superhighway (see how old I am). I find it baffling how computer savvy and yet naive some people are. Our government (Australian) is looking at spending a large chunk of money to wipe out internet smut. As it happens the internet is the perfect place for smut, it's anonymous, that's the point. This is not reality, this is a filtered version of real life, yet it can come back and bite you. Just keep in mind, what ever you put out here can be used by other people and possibly not as you intended it. What ever information you get from someone, may not be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth your honour. Except what you're reading here!

Don't let a conservative government take into their hands, YOUR responsibility. I understand there are dangerous people out there, I understand that people may be hurt and people need to be protected. I understand that. All I'm saying is we are already living in an overly litigious society, where we don't look where we're going, we are not responsible for our actions and we don't think before we dive into the rocky shallow waters. It's much easier to leave it to a faceless entity to make our decisions. Okay rant over.

TRIAD, the newly formed electronic music trio of Cotterell, Hall and Warren played a couple of shows recently and we want to do more. Thanks to those who came along. Tom has put up some images of both gigs and an mp3 of a bit of the second one:
http://www.tomhall.com.au/blog
There's a new TRIAD - http://www.myspace.com/triadaustralia

Have finally seen Lynch's "Inland Empire". Anyone who knows me, knows I am one of his biggest fans and could drone on for hours about him and his work. My good friend Neil got me this movie on DVD for my birthday. Safe to say it's probably his most abstract work since "Eraserhead", possibly more so, because it has a facade of normalcy that "Eraserhead" doesn't. On first viewing there were a few things that bugged me a bit. It did seem overly abstract, in some ways irritatingly so. On reflection though, there are images that simply will not leave my head. It certainly prompts a re-watching and that's what Lynch does best. A flawed masterpiece.

Did you

Thursday, July 26, 2007
Did you ever have one of those days where you want to strip everything back to a minimum? Yeah I'm having one of those

Mist

Monday, July 23, 2007
Mist and steam. Core temperature dropping. Time to breath. Float.
Sitting still. Wish the inertia was not so strong.
There is something important to be said.

I've recently returned from a few days of sound design production in Sydney with Deborah Pollard for her performance work "Blueprint". This work is inspired by the loss of her parent's home during the Canberra bushfires in 2003. I feel quite honoured to have been asked to contribute to such a personal work. I've worked with Deborah a few times before and consistently find working with her very inspiring and I'm really looking forward to how this piece turns out. It was nice catching up with my old sparring partner Felix too. We went to check out the Anslem Kiefer show at Art Gallery of NSW, well worth seeing.

Sally's father gave us a bit of a scare recently with him undergoing some pretty serious and unexpected surgery in Melbourne. Thankfully, everything seems like it's going as well as hoped. She flew out this morning for a couple of days to support her folks.

Saw Alice Cooper in Launceston on Saturday night. Just great! What an ol' trooper.
Sublime moment the following morning: driving down into Launceston through thick fog with Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain" playing.

Reading: "Stone Age Soundtracks" - Paul Devereux (2001) and
"The Air is On Fire" - David Lynch exhibition catalogue (2007)
Watching: "Paths of Glory" - Directed by Stanley Kubrick (1957)
Listening: "zAndEr" - Scorn (1996)

Upcoming gig for mumble(speak):
The Loft, Hobart. Saturday August 18 2007
w/ U_ER and Tom Hall.

It feels time...

Thursday, June 28, 2007
Not sure what to say, but for some reason it feels time to write something. Perhaps silence is golden.

The gig went well

Sunday, June 10, 2007
The gig on Friday night went pretty well. It was the live debut of my new ambient/drone/mood project mumble(speak) which opened the night. Lots of deep rumblings, voices and drones. Seemed to go over okay, though I've got some new ideas for next time. Next up was Scot as U_ER, manipulating an old mixing desk feeding back on itself and the occasional punctation from a beatbox. Crazy and cool. We dubbed his sound "Squelch-core" and he seemed pretty happy with that. Tom's set was a beautiful re-presentation of the field recordings of a bridge in Brisbane, creating a dense and evocative soundscape. We then all got up and jammed. It could have been one of those slightly self-indulgent one-upmanship kind of things, but having all seen those things before we tried to avoid that. After a slightly uncertain start it gelled really well and the textures, throbs and drones we created worked pretty well together. Seems to me the key is listening rather than playing. I go back to the best elements of "Krautrock" where it's often better to play the minimum one can get away with. And as Tom said (paraphrase) you can often have too much, but it's very difficult to have too little. Hopefully I'll be able to post some sounds on my virb.com page and more images soon. Thanks Tom for the images elsewhere on this site.

Postering Etiquette (June 6 2007)

Wednesday, June 6, 2007
A recurring thing is starting to piss me off. Everyone can do what they want right? Of course, but we do share the world. When bill postering on a public place to advertise for a gig or an event it continues to amaze me how many people don't have any 'postering etiquette'. That is to say they put posters up over other ones advertising events that haven't yet happened. Look at the dates people!!! Don't worry SYRUP...I won't mention names.
You know maybe this is the way it's always been and I'm too polite, but it angers me, surely we are all advertising elements of culture that brighten up this grey little world, why don't we allow everything to be seen.
If you've read this far, you may be thinking, "boo hoo...such a big problem" And true in the scheme of things it's a piddly little issue and we all have bigger problems. But I do try and look at things as part of a a bigger picture and I think this is a symptom of the "me as centre of the universe" mentality that is increasing all the time and I don't think it should be that way. Play nice children.

Matt Warren - The Small Hours

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Suspension of Disbelief

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Exploitative headline

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Archive of videos (documentation, excerpts and promo)

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An archive of blogs: June 6, 2007 - June 17, 2008

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