Beautiful Days' End For Hall

Australian noise specialist Tom Hall has come a long way from his AXXONN project. Not that that was a musical definition - Hall has traversed the gamut of sonic manipulation, whether it be a study in field recordings, electronic improvisation, atonal drone, rhythmic pulse or scorched-earth doom. Since moving to LA, he has continued to expand on this amorphous creative world, and the imminent release of his LP Many Days End is something to celebrate. A considered reflection on his time in LA, specifically the places he goes to to clear his head - the Santa Monica Mountains, San Fernando Valley and the South Bay - these tracks bubble and percolate, am organic suite of soundscapes that simultaneously display external environments (helped in part by field recordings taken from these same geographical areas) and internal ruminations and conflict. Thus Many Days End is not only an incredibly personal document for Hall, but is extremely immersive and relatable - the meshing of the natural and the electronic, the bursts of static with the languorous stretch of subtle feedback, mesh together into a cool, calming platform for reflection. Let it wash over you.

You can buy Many Days End through Hall's Sonoptik label here.

New Dreamscapes & Nightmares Beyond Axxonn's Light

 

It's been a while since we have seen AXXONN AKA Tom Hall in our midst, and a little longer since we have had any new material. He had an amazing debut in noisy melange Let's Get It Straight, and his abrasive electronics called to mind the likes of Fuck Buttons and Growing. Since then he has winged over to LA, and is about to drop followup album Beyond Light, which is much more accessible and almost dance-oriented in his synthesised approach to sonic exploration - an extreme backflip on past endeavours. That said it still isn't easy listening, or club fodder (although 'Oceans Clear' with guest vocals (?) from gets close - plus it's a stellar burn of a track, a clear highlight), yet there is some fun and genuine growth here. It reminds me a little of some of the tracks off Errors' brilliant LP from this year, Have Some Faith In Magic. Hall has been flirting fast and furiously with Hollywood, which we will hear more about very soon. It's still the same guy, but it's evidence on how a change in environment can evoke exciting about-turns in creativity.

 

Beyond Light is out through Sonoptik next week - pre-order the cassette here.

AXXONN - Sequel To Acid
AXXONN - Sky's One Kite

No Muted Hall For The Angels

Sonoptik are making a name for picking up great sound artists. I mentioned last week the new Secret Birds release - well, here is another one that almost slipped through the cracks (and the artist has played with Secret Birds in the past too...so, thanks Secret Birds!)

Tom Hall is also from Brisbane, although he now calls LA home. He has/had a great noise industrial instrumental project called AXXONN that I managed to catch a couple times at the beginning of the year before he made his exodus. A swirling mix between Jesu, My Bloody Valentine and Coil (can you tell I'm a fan?), AXXONN was a force to be reckoned with. However there were ambient moments amongst the fiery darkness, and its these shades of light that Hall's latest effort under his own name, Muted Angels, attacks.

Thick, sparse, melodic, drone, noise, ambiance - none are my words, yet Muted Angels claims them. The album is supposedly inspired by life’s mysteries, cruel happenings and wondrous surprises, with Hall striving to represent these intangible moments and emotions through sound, particularly sound derived from an in depth studio practice that he describes as “trying to find the sweet spot in a speaker cone just before it tears”. He does that with alarming regularity across all his guises, but it is more nuanced here. A true innovator amongst the experimental noise realm.

Grab Muted Angels here. Watch a clip and grab the mp3 of '4 Seconds Of Emotion' below. Let Hall spirit you away.

Tom Hall - 4 Seconds Of Emotion from Sonoptik on Vimeo.

Tom Hall - 4 Seconds of Emotion

Dreamtime/The Rational Academy/Secret Birds - An Aural Triptych Feast

Seeing as I was doing posts about these three bands independently, and they are playing a show together tomorrow night, I may as well do it all now in a massive post, right? Strap yourselves in folks...


I cannot believe that I saw Secret Birds for the first time only this year. Admittedly Ive seen them about five times now, and never has one gig truly resembled the others. Their brand of undulating noise has ebbed and flowed over the course of their releases, hence such a disparity in their live sets, and this is once more prevalent in their latest release, Moon Clouds Infinite (out through Sonoptik). The sonic ambiance on display on the two sides of this record are a little less schizophrenic, yet showcase the reflections of noise and its denizens to beautiful effect.

Secret Birds - Part II


The Rational Academy are a band that have also been honing their craft in the Brisbane music scene and abroad for over a number of years and a plethora of releases. The latest - a small collection of cassettes detailing a stellar show they did at Brisbane's inimitable sweathole and musical palace The Zoo back in September (you can buy it, along with a tee, for $20 here). New songs, drastically remodelled oldies, it bodes well for the ever-evolving future of Ben Thompson and his battle-hardened brothers in arms...




The party though is all about enthusiastic psych-os (is that even possible? Or appropriate?) Dreamtime and the release of their debut LP. Ill be picking this bad boy up on vinyl for sure - its a stellar, assured debut that has as its highlight a space jam about Gympie (although no reference to the Muster...shame...). Seeing as it was cut with the help of Donovan Miller, he of No Anchor and the brilliant song about another Qld country town Gatton, this comes as no surprise.



Come on down to The Waiting Room tomorrow from 8pm!!