Avant Gardening's current sub-focus on under-the-radar local label activity and self-published expat wunderkindery takes a different turn of the screw this week, with a look at the prolific output of a local figure whose recent defection has been across artforms, rather than geographical borders.
Founded in late 2002 by Australian import Jim / Jimmy (nee James, nee Jimb) Currin, United Fairy Moons was, in its proprietor's words "started in order to release one record and one record only" : the item in question being a limited lathe-cut pressing of a barely-attended live performance from 2001 at the now defunct Gresham Hotel. UFM 001 is named 'Liquified', and is credited to 'Donald McPherson & co.' : a pre-Three Forks underground-supergroup configuration which also included Sandoz Lab Techicians Tim Cornelius and Nathan Thompson, as well as James Currin himself.
Needless to say, it didn't - or perhaps more accurately, wasn't allowed to - stop there. Over the next 5 years UFM's catalogue swelled to the double digits, its post-lathe, pre-neo-cassette aesthetic enlivened by the then recently accessible CDR technology, all packaged up in handpainted / handscreened 'craft boutique' covers, in the process becoming not just a reflection or documentation of, but a generator for, much local musical and associated artistic activity.
the reviews started to roll in :
"I imagine what Ray Off divines across these five tracks of peyote laced aural fever dreams would make for a fine backdrop to images of sun scorched rock formations, distant liquid hallucinations and other strange lizard-scuttling desert phenomena. One of the earliest UFM releases, currently in its third press and still roaming the wilds, highly recommended for lovers of skin-crawling, head-tickling sonic mutations."
"The effect is sort of like reading some obscure sci-fi comic book while listening to Harmonia, Vocokesh and ingesting LSD all at the same time, but there’s a lot more going on here, too."
Founded in late 2002 by Australian import Jim / Jimmy (nee James, nee Jimb) Currin, United Fairy Moons was, in its proprietor's words "started in order to release one record and one record only" : the item in question being a limited lathe-cut pressing of a barely-attended live performance from 2001 at the now defunct Gresham Hotel. UFM 001 is named 'Liquified', and is credited to 'Donald McPherson & co.' : a pre-Three Forks underground-supergroup configuration which also included Sandoz Lab Techicians Tim Cornelius and Nathan Thompson, as well as James Currin himself.
Needless to say, it didn't - or perhaps more accurately, wasn't allowed to - stop there. Over the next 5 years UFM's catalogue swelled to the double digits, its post-lathe, pre-neo-cassette aesthetic enlivened by the then recently accessible CDR technology, all packaged up in handpainted / handscreened 'craft boutique' covers, in the process becoming not just a reflection or documentation of, but a generator for, much local musical and associated artistic activity.
the reviews started to roll in :
"I imagine what Ray Off divines across these five tracks of peyote laced aural fever dreams would make for a fine backdrop to images of sun scorched rock formations, distant liquid hallucinations and other strange lizard-scuttling desert phenomena. One of the earliest UFM releases, currently in its third press and still roaming the wilds, highly recommended for lovers of skin-crawling, head-tickling sonic mutations."
"The effect is sort of like reading some obscure sci-fi comic book while listening to Harmonia, Vocokesh and ingesting LSD all at the same time, but there’s a lot more going on here, too."
- Lee Jackson, Deep Water Acres
"Despite its' fringe characteristics there's a sense of beauty and isolation that is much more seducing than it is perplexing, like following a hidden trail through a region draped in dramatic natural beauty. Seven Layer Ape is a slice of timeless improv.... a visual and aural masterpiece that comes highly recommended to every avid Broken Face reader."
- Mats Gustafsson, The Broken Face"Despite its' fringe characteristics there's a sense of beauty and isolation that is much more seducing than it is perplexing, like following a hidden trail through a region draped in dramatic natural beauty. Seven Layer Ape is a slice of timeless improv.... a visual and aural masterpiece that comes highly recommended to every avid Broken Face reader."
then, soon after the emergence of Ray Off's 2008's monumental three CDR release 'Split the Lark' (UFM 020), the label went into hiatus. Tune in tonight as Jim joins us in the studio to spin the back catalogue and discuss the past.
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Playlist:
1. Donald McPherson & co., from Liquified (UFM 001)
2. Ray Off, track 2 from Ghost Wolf of Thunder Mountain (UFM 004)
3. Three Forks, 'Drunken Traffic', from Seven Layer Ape (UFM 013)
4. Sinking Infinities, 'L'Orb' from The Life of Riley (excerpt) (UFM 017)
5. Jo Jo ef Steve, 'Ballad of a Thin Line Man' from A Quiet Night in With... (UFM 014)
6. Rory Storm, 'Valerie Solaris Space Station' from Fuck the Memescape (UFM 016)
7. Rory Storm, 'Title Track' from Fuck the Memescape (UFM 016)
8. Spit, 'Piece for Bells' and 'Painting for Prepared Piano (ex. 3)', from Trash Music Spitacular (UFM 011)
9. CJA, 'Ok to Want Me', from Ponds (UFM 019)
10. Ray Off, 'AE', from Clean & Dry Area Before Application (UFM 015)
11. Ray Off, 'Rory & Jim Play Train Gamelan', from Clean & Dry Area Before Application (UFM 015)
12. Ray Off, live at Lines of Flight 7th October 2006, from Split the Lark, disc 3 (UFM 020)
13. Ray Off, 'Smoke People', from Split the Lark, disc 2 (UFM 020)
14. Ray Off, 'Eleballetphant', from Don't Touch your Moustache (UFM 21)
15. Ray Off, 'On Pinmero Pimero', from POLyp pop Ok Oh-oh (unreleased)
(& live interview with Jim Currin throughout the show)
