Untitled by Carnage

AST128: CARNAGE - UNTITLED C60



Dang, this is a doozy.



I had been attempting to locate Anthony Maher, aka the head behind the phenomenal 80’s Australian experimental-dub project, Sheriff Lindo, for a year or so with no luck. Through some of the usual kismetry, paths were connected via a US-based 80’s Oz experimental music aficionado following AST’s issuing of Space Light Music a few months ago.



Carnage is a trio comprising Maher, Annette Messenger and Martin Day. They released this hour-long cassette back in 1982 via the infinitely influential Terse Tapes, ran by Severed Heads’ Tom Ellard.

On hearing Carnage’s Untitled, I had no idea what to expect as the tape is not available online and the project has no other releases to its credit. 

Based on the bleak imagery of the original cover and the project name, I was perhaps expecting something much closer to Lechenscrei / Information Overload Unit era SPK. Instead, I was beautifully confounded by the wild variety across Untitled’s 60 minute running time. The first, self-titled track is the kind of pulsing industrial murk I had been expecting, but I could not anticipate the stripped-down minimal-wave, subdued dark ambient and left-of-centre dubisms that followed.



These are the kind of releases that continue to inspire me about the past and future of experimental / electronic music and Altered States’ small role in it. And not just in Australia but globally, the connection here was made via the US, creating a trans-atlantic feedback loop.

There are still gems from the past waiting to be unearthed by the right ears and there are still people continuing these traditions (whether consciously or not) yet to make wildly innovative music. In a climate where it is tempting to fall into listless nihilism or question the validity and value of creative ‘production’, we (I) just need to be reminded every so often about the importance of these endeavours. Their ability to ring out over time, in this case decades, transcends anything that the banality of purely-commercial production can bunt our way.

https://alteredstatestapes.substack.com

Nipaluna tape label

Operating since 2010.

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