Author: cdgsham

New release: “Relativity/Only” LP/digital

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My new solo album Relativity/Only (Nice Music/Shame File Music) has had a bit of a journey. It is my first solo 12” vinyl release, which makes it a bit special for me, so it seems appropriate that it’s had a winding path to realisation.

The album’s beginnings came from attempts to sonically document the main sound sculpture from my Stability exhibition of 2019. Basically, I was not happy with my own recordings of this complex sound sculpture, so I started fishing around for an engineer who had the skills and interest to record this multi-turntable driven beast. Ernie Althoff recommended Michael Hewes, who has done a lot of work recording Speak Percussion. Michael and I communicated by email in late 2019, when I sent him some demos and videos of the work, and it was obvious from those early exchanges that he got what I was trying to achieve.

We made tentative plans to record in his Richmond studio in early 2020. Throughout the summer, I honed the sculpture in my own studio space, working on sketches (see end of this post) to make it easier/quicker to set up in Michael’s recording studio. I also created and demoed several variations on the initial sound sculpture. By February 2020, I was in the studio with Michael, setting up for four different pieces, all based around 3 turntables and a suspended/swaying horizontal pole, and various percussive objects suspended from/placed on each.

Setting up mics in the studio

I’ve since come to understand what I’m aiming at as a kind of percussive episode that is free from human intervention or ego, yet has enough variation and chance at play that the rhythms constantly shift. “Everything Is In Motion” documents a more honed version of the original sound sculpture from the 2019 exhibition, whereas “Drum Circle” is more kit focussed (‘egoless drummer’). The two flipside tracks “Only (Two)” and “Only (Four)” are more reductive, where the hits/beats have much more space between them.

Our initial mixing session was in March 2020, just as the Melbourne lockdown was looming. Later tweaks were done remotely. I was very pleased with how the recordings came out. Michael’s knowledge of mic placement especially bridged the gap in what my own amateur recording skills lacked. These recordings all involve five microphones around the sculpture, covering different perspectives and conveying a sense of physical space.

I really didn’t know what, if anything, I would do with these recordings. The exercise was initially for documentation, but I was thrilled with the end product. When Simon J Karis of Nice Music expressed an interest in co-releasing them with Shame File Music, I was very happy at the prospect of these recordings having a public life on vinyl.

And now here they are, with Tim Panaretos’ photography large and stunning on the front cover, hot off the magnificent new Program Records press in Melbourne and sounding crystal clear. I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I do.

Relativity/Only is out now on limited edition vinyl LP and digital formats from Shame File Music and Nice Music, and on all streaming platforms.

Many thanks to Ernie Althoff, Michael Hewes, Simon J Karis, James A. Dean for mastering, and Nat Grant for generously donating some of the drums used.

New THIS Ensemble double album on Shame File Music

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THIS Ensemble “Brown Paper Business” 2CDR + box/digital – The long-awaited first audio documentation of legendary Melbourne interdisciplinary collective THIS Ensemble is finally here. Digital available now, and the lovingly-assembled-and-scarred double CDR housed in hinged wooden box on it’s way and available now for a special pre-order price (only 50 numbered copies). Shipping mid-February.

New in the online shop:
David Watson and Tony Buck “Ask the Axes” LP
Jim Denley/Eric Normand “Plant 3” LP

Jim Denley/Eric Normand “Plant II” CD

Musgrove Barrett “Special Problems” CD

Judith Hamann “Music for Cello and Humming” CD – limited copies now in stock

Will Guthrie “Nist-Nah” LP/CD – back in stock

Will Guthrie “Sticks, Stones & Breaking Bones” LP – back in stock

Mattias Gustafsson “Frusen Musik” CD – back in stock


Order these and many more from http://ShameFileMusic.com

New radio mix for sub_text

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Deep in the heart of the Melbourne winter lockdown, European online radio stream sub_text invited me to make a mix for their upcoming end-of-year broadcast. I’ve made a mix of Australian sonic pioneers, bangers and oddities, historical and contemporary. This will be streamed live on 19 December (at 22:45 Euro time), which will be at 08:45am on Sunday 20 December AEDT (Melbourne) time. Relevant links:


*live at* https://threadsradio.com/ (select stream II)
*later at* https://www.subtextradio.net/
Facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/420136192347608

Direct link to mix now on MixCloud.

Track details:

Untitled – Club Sound Witches, from “bdtd 165” (Breakdance the Dawn)

Def Whitlam – Volvox, from Various Artists “Spill Compilation Tape” (Spill) http://spill-label.org/spill1.shtml

Vegetable Items – Sister Gwen McKay, from Various Artists “The Rebirth of Fool: Vol 2” (Dual Plover) http://dualplover.com/fool2.php

Hi Lo – David Ahern (unreleased)

Breaking Bones – Will Guthrie, from “Sticks, Stones & Breaking Bonees” (Antboy Music/Lespourricords/Gaffer Records) https://willguthrie.bandcamp.com/album/sticks-stones-breaking-bones

Floor Tom 1 – A.S., from “Two Floor Toms, Two Kick Drums, and a Cymbal” (Tape Ways) https://youtu.be/9mCIaC2t85w

Readymade Marimba – Ren Walters, Clinton Green & Michael McNab, from “At The Salt Museum” (Shame File Music) https://shamefilemusic.bandcamp.com/album/at-the-salt-museum

No, No You Can’t Do That – Jas H. Duke, from “Poems of Life and Death” (Collective Effort Press) http://www.ubu.com/sound/duke.html

Journey #1 (excerpt) – Jack Ellitt, from Various Artists “Artefacts of Australian Experimental Music: 1930-1973” (Shame File Music) https://shamefilemusic.bandcamp.com/album/artefacts-of-australian-experimental-music-1930-1973

Death to the Users of the World – NO, from “NO” (Au Go Go)

God – Primitive Calculators, from “The World is Fucked” (Chapter Music) https://primitivecalculators.bandcamp.com/album/the-world-is-fucked

Sickness & Death – India Bharti, from “Spirit Sound” (Shiva Sounds)

And Now You Have To Go – Surge Guard, from Various Artists “Spill Compilation Two” (Spill) http://spill-label.org/spill2.shtml

Boomerang Tape Recording Club – Rik Rue, from “All Gear Drive”, JJ radio archive cassette (unreleased)

Make It Up Club 2012 – Carolyn Connors, from “Surface Noise Vol. 9” (Iceage Productions/Shame File Music) http://shamefilemusic.com/product/ernie-althoff-carolyn-connors-surface-noise-vol-9-cdr-digital/

Dub for St Rita – Rik Rue, from “Dub for St Rita” (Shame File Music) https://shamefilemusic.bandcamp.com/album/dub-for-st-rita

Who Do I Tell – Kallista Kult, from “Kallista Kult” (A Colourful Storm) https://kallistakult.bandcamp.com/album/kallista-kult-2

Through Fire – Jim Denley, from “Through Fire, Crevice & Hidden Valley” (Splitrec) https://splitrec.bandcamp.com/album/through-fire-crevice-and-the-hidden-valley

An Echo – Todd Anderson-Kunert, from “Past Walls & Windows” (Room40) https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/past-walls-and-windows

Irregular Correspondence Mixcloud

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During Melbourne’s winter lockdown, I spent some time making a couple of mixes. The first was commissioned for an online radio show and will be broadcast next month (stay tuned…). The second, Irregular Correspondence, I made off my own bat because I enjoyed making the first one so much. In compiling it, I found myself reflecting on loss, grief, and this strange year.

Full details and track listing below:

  1. Albert Ayler “Truth Is Marching In”, from “Live in Greenwich Village: The Complete Impulse Recordings (Impulse! 1998, rec. 1966)
  2. Sun Ra and the Omniverse Jet Set Arkestra “Journey to Saturn/Saturn’s Rings”, from “The Complete Detroit Jazz Center Residency” (Transparency 2008, rec. 1980)
  3. Reverend Sister Mary M. Nelson “Judgement”, from “Anthology of American Folk Music” (Folkways 1952, rec. 1927)
  4. Splatterheads “Ticket”  (live to air Triple J, 1990)
  5. A.A. Gray and Seven Foot Dilly “The Old Ark’s A Moving”, from “Goodbye, Babylon” (Dust To Digital 2003, rec. 1930) https://dusttodigital.bandcamp.com/album/goodbye-babylon-2
  6. Dickson Dee “HK Now”, from “East Asia PhoNographic Mornings” (Each Morning of the World 2020) https://chaquematindumonde.bandcamp.com/album/east-asia-phonographic-mornings-2
  7. The Donkey’s Tail “Why Noise?”, from “Why Noise?” (White Circle Records 2013)
  8. Cor Fuhler & Dale Gorinkel “Live at CURRENT 2018” (private recording)
  9. Pateras/Baxter/Brown “Bern 3”, from “Bern – Melbourne – Milan” (Immediata 2018, rec. 2006) https://immediata.bandcamp.com/album/imm014-bern-melbourne-milan
  10. Clinton Green “Setting for ‘The Iliad’”, from “Iliad” (Frustration Jazz 2018) https://frustrationjazz.bandcamp.com/album/iliad
  11. Michael Pisaro (performed by Greg Stuart) “A Cloud Drifting Over the Plain”, from “Four Pieces for Recorded Percussion (Il faut attendre)” (2020) https://gregstuart.bandcamp.com/album/four-pieces-for-recorded-percussion-il-faut-attendre
  12. Diane Cluck “My Teacher Died/Countless Times”, from “Countless Times” (Voodoo Eros 2005) https://dianecluck.bandcamp.com/album/countless-times
  13. DFFDL “Corella”, from “Corella” (Reduction Group 2020) https://dffdl.bandcamp.com/album/corella
  14. Sun Ra and His Arkestra “They Plan to Leave”, from “Ra to the Rescue” (Saturn 1983)https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/ra-to-the-rescue
  15. Fiona Apple “I Want You To Love Me”, from “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” (Clean Slate/Epic 2020)

New in the Shame File Music web shop

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Judith Hamann Blank Forms albums pre-orders – Pre-order numbers for Hamann’s two new albums from US label Blank Forms will soon be finalised, so be sure to get your pre-order in to avoid disappointment.

Mattias Gustafsson “Piano & Tapeworks 2017-2020” cassette
Mattias Gustafsson “Tapeworks Volume VIII” cassette
Mattias Gustafsson “Tapeworks Volume VII (Landmusik)” cassette
– Compelling chamber tape works from Swedish sound artist.

Open Space 22 “For Chris Mann” magazine – an issue of the US-based magazine dedicated to the late artist.

DFFDL/Scenic Recovery “Split” cassette – prime Melbourne drones/ambient split.

Red Kangaroo “Symphony” CDR – anti-radio composition created with captured radio frequency fields

Nick Ashwood “Strings” cassette – bowed/prepared acoustic guitar recorded in a Tasmanian concrete bunker

Tom Hall “Particle Transport” CDR  – uplifting synth studies.

Firoza “In the Noon of Ashura” LP – beautiful electronic pieces alongside field recording vignettes on green vinyl.

Greymouth “Telepathic Dunce” cassette – expat Kiwis record lofi tape in Japan.

Dan Gilmore “Undercovers” cassette – nocturnal subconscious tape mumblings.

Dan Gilmore “Drupes” CDR – sounds of objects up-close.

LST “Hard Drive Vinegar Vol. 1” cassette – from Tarquin Manek of Bum Creek, Kallista Kult, etc.

Alexander Garsden “Of Another (Duos 2018-2019)” CD – debut collection of acoustic guitar duos back in stock.

Order these and more from http://ShameFileMusic.com