Closed Circuits: Australian Alternative Electronic Music of the ‘70s & ‘80s. Volume 1
Subscribe
X

Get the latest from Beat

Closed Circuits: Australian Alternative Electronic Music of the ‘70s & ‘80s. Volume 1

closedcircuitscdpackshotgrande.jpg

A treasure trove of Australian electronic music composed during the ‘70s and ‘80s. From the obscure Informatics, German Humour, And An A, Distant Locust to the borderline important, The Metronomes, Voight/465, Whirlywirld, Primitive Calculators to those who had at least 15 minutes of fame such as The Reels, Models, Dugites, Ya Ya Choral and Machinations. This is a delightful compendium for nostalgia buffs, revisionists and those prepared to dabble in the diabolical, unseen or unexpected.

Conversely, Informatics were an acceptable art school project, making manipulated collages of advertisements and vox pop snippets which oddly defy any attempt to categorise them of pinpoint a time and place. Bring Phillip are reminiscent of early Hunters & Collectors, at least in as much as Firetruck allows. Abundant inspirational nuggets litter the 20 tracks. A Young Mans Old Girlfriend is a soaring track underpinned by total anonymity and keys. Models’ On provides evidence why for many years their sonic contrasts kept them at the summit of brilliance.

Listen to And An A and the oscillating Affirmation while the disco mix of Primitive Calculators suggests that even punishing experimentalists could lend their music, in the right hands, to the secret passion of the pop song.

By Bronius Zumeris