Super excited to have this album out in the world!
I joined my mate Lachlan Dale and excellent friend Timothy Johannessen in this very unusual band a couple of years ago – guitar through a raft of pedals and two amps, my cello through various pedals and bass amp, and Tim playing the daf, a Persian frame drum with chains hanging off the frame.
The sound of Black Aleph is influenced by post-metal and doom (although we've instrumental) as well as post-rock, Persian music and even Indonesian time signatures and rhythms. There's a lot of thought that goes into the themes being explored.
Listen here, and buy in various formats:
Also wanted to mention that today we also appeared on The Music Show on ABC Radio National, interviewed by Andy Ford, who is always very astute about the music he features. Nubya Garcia is the other guest, which is pretty awesome.
We played "Precession" and "Return" live in the studio. Listen back here.
As we gear up to release our album Apsides, Black Aleph (my ritualistic doom band with Lachlan R. Dale and Timothy Johannessen) have released a live video of one of the album tracks, "Precession". The album's theme is orbital mechanics, and the constant circular motion of the video brings that to life even more.
So I'm in another band. Black Aleph is, as always, an unusual lineup, with my dear friend Lachlan R. Dale on guitar with myriad effects pedals and two amps, and Timothy Johannessen playing the Persian frame drum called the daf. And me on cello through a bunch of effects pedals and one bass amp.
It's a heavy sound, likened to doom or drone metal, with some influences from our love of Persian and Central Asian music, and a lot from post-metal, doom and more.
We're proud of the debut album Apsides, which is up for pre-order now, released on October 11th, and the first single is streaming now.
I'll post again when our live video of "Precession" is released. It's very very Nice!
A little while ago, someone approached me via Bandcamp to ask if I was interested in having a limited vinyl edition of my EP in a cold cottage, in the dirt, in outer space – a collection of archival tunes that I released for one of the earliest Bandcamp Fridays in 2020. After some convincing that this was a genuine thing, I decided to join in, and now this beautiful object is a reality!
So huge thanks to JR from Dead Currencies, a new boutique label from Nashville, Tennessee, for including this EP in their first batch of releases. You can order it from the Dead Currencies website or from Bandcamp above.
It's limited to 25 lathe-cut transparent vinyl copies, so you might want to get in quick! Comes with lots of goodies and looks gorgeous.
I'm playing a secret little gig this Sunday, and while practising I recorded this improv, which starts off almost pretty and gets more demented as it goes.
Mostly cello through Fishman pickup through Line 6 DL4 pedal, but there's some stereo Ableton Echo biz in there at times.
This is an accurate depiction of some of what I do live, although the live laptop processing tends to be more prominent a lot of the time.
I've been working on a deep connection between my electronic processing and live performances; something that's happening in conjunction with my work with Tangents as well as solo.
Part of this is building up some sets of effects chains in Ableton that I can control live, through foot and hand controllers, but often these are triggered on and then only manipulated at times – not quite what Keith Fullerton Whitman called "Playthroughs", and not particularly revolutionary in itself, but close enough, and a statement of intent.
It's taking some time for this stuff to settle, and there are pieces I've been tossing around in live sets for some time now which are slowly coalescing (each performance being an improvisation through a set of known effects patches).
Last year during lockdown I was asked by Michel Banabila to contribute a work at short notice for a compilation raising funds for Yemen, a country that's continually suffering horribly from civil war but somehow doesn't get enough international attention. I sat myself down and quickly recorded two "naïve playthroughs" to my laptop's drive, forcing myself to stop editorialising, not worry about out of tune notes here and there, and let something happen. Both tracks are imperfect, but honest and full of yearning, and maybe the line between deliberate glitches and imperfections, and between aching slides and misplaced fingers is hard to find!
Then this year I was asked by Mike Nigro to contribute a track to a compilation he was putting together of experimental Australian artists, having come to Australia from the US only around 2 years ago. He's collected a phenomenal selection of local artists, and I'm honoured to be part of it. I have been stupidly busy but realised I had the twin of the other naïve playthrough, and Mike has included it on Undercurrents:
You can also hear some of the live processing ideas I've been working on lately in this recent video of Tangents, recorded at the phenomenal Phoenix Central Park in June, just before everything stopped (again).
In 2019 Rutger Zuydervelt, aka Machinefabriek, contacted me to ask if I would be interested in recording some cello for a film soundtrack he was preparing.
I'm a big fan of Rutger's work and got to work recording a series of ideas based on a concept Rutger had in mind, inspired by Joke Olthaar’s ideas about her film and what its music could embody.
These recordings were re-edited and combined with Rutger’s electronics, into a half hour piece that served as a proposed base for the movie’s soundtrack. Compared to the first track on this album, BERG (score sketch) is a much more dynamic and (relatively) dramatic affair. Further in the working process of the film, it was decided that the music needed another direction – a more minimal approach was needed, an approach that was more about adding texture and very subtle colour, and blending seamlessly with Hugo Dijkstal’s mix of nature sounds. Luckily, the piece I did with Rutger is preserved here on this album, because as a listening experience it’s a very welcome inclusion to this album.
The CD itself contains an edit of the final score, but I've got my collaboration digitally on my Bandcampm where I also have a limited number of CDs for sale for Australian listeners.
Find out more about the film BERG here.
Richard Allen at A Closer Listen reviewed the album. "The cello conveys its own narrative of struggle, leaving the ending wide open: surrender or survival, failure or success. Hollo bestows an additional layer of nobility on the hikers as they set out on the grand adventure. But the cello also communicates melancholy, as may be felt when one encounters the vastness of a great terrain and reassesses one’s own importance."
A few years ago my dear frenemies Stephen & Michael formed a band, based around shouting a lot, hammering away at guitar & bass, and adding amps and drums on computer. No Names are fucking great, and as I share with them a near-worshipful admiration of all things JK Broadrick, the Godflesh vibes are close to my heart.
So when – for the second time, mind you – they invited me to remix them, I couldn't say no. When I asked them for the lyrics, they were a little shocked – but it forced me to carry through the idea I'd had.
The raven "re-fake" of their excellent song "Fake Faith" is a near-complete rebuild of their preacher- (and dare I say politician)-baiting song, in which the industrial metal riffs and martial drums are replaced with pitched-down (and up) piano, mangled cello, programmed beats and chopped breakbeats, and – yes – my own vocals.
I'm really fucking proud of this song. Massive thanks to Stephen Owen & Michael Ritchie for getting me to do this, and supplying an inspiring original for me to destroy.
Stream & purchase it now, along with the great originals and a bunch of other great remixes. I'm track 5.
Very pleased to be releasing two albums on Bandcamp for "Bandcamp Day #2". As you may know, on the 1st of May 2020 Bandcamp are, for the second time, waiving their revenue share in support of musicians in the time of COVID-19. They will do this again on the 5th of June and 3rd of July.
This is mainly a catalyst for me to complete and release some archival material, so here they are…
in & out of fashion was originally recorded for an interactive installation that (for reasons beyond everyone's control) never saw the light of day. The 5 tracks are all at the same tempo (146bpm), and I've included a continuous mix as the preferred way of listening through.
The beats and heavy basslines draw on dubstep and footwork, juxtaposed with both melodic, acoustic cello lines and processed cello.
in a cold cottage, in the dirt, in outer space compiles a selection of archival tracks from 2009-2013. The first piece was recorded late one night in a cottage in upstate New York – released here with a little bit of post-production shininess.
The second was improvised live at UTS in between a beautiful set by Gail Priest with glasses of water and feedback, and a set by Alon Ilsar with his revolutionary AirSticks – they top & tail this piece.
The third is cello processed live through AudioMulch many years ago, and the fourth is a contemplative piece for cello & piano, an old & dusty thing for which I have quite a bit of affection.
raven resides and works on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. Sovereignty was never ceded. I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
