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Breakdance the Dawn
Matt Earle is the brains behind the horrendously underrated and underappreciated Breakdance the Dawn label. Hailing from Australia, some of his many (many many many) projects, like XnobbqX, have been getting their due recently, but as a whole not enough people are aware of him and his cohorts. Hell, don't take it from me, take it from Jon Dale: "Matt's a genius, man. Seriously. Total genius." Absolutely. This interview was conducted through email over the past 2 years (started in July 2006!).
- Stasis Duo with Adam Sussmann, plays abstract techno music…. It sounds like after getting kicked out of the club face down in your own vomit under a flickering neon sign and realising that you are the chosen one! We have recently released a c12 on Breakdance The Dawn and a CD-R also on Breakdance The Dawn. Other releases by Stasis Duo are ooh CD-R (Sphone), Beetrooits CD-R (Sphone), Hammer and Tongs CD (Impermenant), Explode CD-R (Document), Whitenoise and Burnouts c40 (Breakdance The Dawn), Music 2 c40 (Breakdance The Dawn), 101007 CD-R (Breakdance The Dawn). We have been playing live since 2000 and have played support to acts like Fushitsusha, Merzbow, Whitehouse, Jojo (Hijokaiden), Kknull, Tetuzi Akiyama, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Justice Yeldham.
- The Sha with Adam Sussmann and Christian Durham plays monomaniacal psych rock mantras that go for hours, kind of like Ash Ra Tempel but with better weed. We’ve been recording stuff since ‘99, but have only released one (double) album “Sweet Jane” on Breakdance The Dawn.
- The Mosweintraub Band (MWB) (Mosseisly) started as a duo with Adam Sussmann in 1997. We had been inspired by stuff like AMM, then more free jazz stuff like Ayler Coltrane but it was Coleman and Captain Beefheart that inspired us to make a more rockin’ sound we recorded “Mosseisly Moseisley Mossaisley” in 2003 for Tenzenmen but it was rejected and released on Breakdance The Dawn. Inge Olmheim joined on bass in 2004. The sound became stark, stripped back, no effects, no distortion, no riffs, no melody…. Feedback, buzz and repetition. Our album “Still Photos Melting on Ice” (BDTD) is a favourite of mine for sure. Also available are “Mt. Hay” (BDTD) and “MWB” (BDTD).
- Xwave (Xola) with Adam Sussmann and James Heighway is simultaneously the most accessible and the most far-out. We play a mix of covers and original stuff; it sounds kinda like the Stooges, Les Rallizes Denudes or The Fall, but also like none of them. It’s xwave.
- Ora(ra) with Rory Brown, Rivka Shrembri, and Adam Sussmann has been described as being like a bubble bath or a dream. We play gentle improvisations with a mix of acoustic and electronic instruments. We have released two albums, “Pine Trees” (BDTD) and “Berries” (BDTD).
- 2779 with Adam Sussmann and Ben Dropsie. We started as a guitar trio playing hazo-skuzz but have more recently been playing drums, synth, guitar, and vocals. We recently released “Toowong Village” (BDTD).
- Sun of the Seventh Sister (SSS) has formed around a regular gig in the Blue Mountains called Tsuji Giri. “Tsugi giri” is an old samurai saying that means “to test your new sword on a passer by”; another friend translated it as tsuji “to experiment”, giri “honourable duty”. It's a band with no members; it’s the flickering light outside Akemi. There is no composition and absolutely non-exclusive.
- Muura is a continuation of the Minerals. It started when Anthony Guerra asked me if I was interested in recording something for Black Petal. Black petal has also recently released my solo “Golden Guitar,” which is all acoustic guitar. And also another Muura CD-R “Black Bird Sings” is due out soon.
- XnobbqX with Nick Dan has been very active over the past few years. Siltbreeze has recently done a vinyl reissue of our first album “Sunshine of Your Love” and Pulled Out Records has just released an amazing picture disc.
04 “Sunshine of Your Love” c40/12-inch (Breakdance The Dawn/Siltbreeze)
05 “Roast Spit Sessions” c90 (Breakdance The Dawn)
06 “Blues” CD-R (Seedy R)
07 “Bbqnite” CD-R (Diagnosis Don’t)
07 s/t 12-inch (Pulled Out)
08 “People All Over the World” CD-R (Breakdance The Dawn)
Top 40!, listening to the radio, when I started playing the drums I was into “Lean On Me” by Club Neuvoux and “Slice of Heaven” by Dave Dobbins. That’s what inspired me!! The first cassette I got was “Are We Not Men?” and “Duty Now for the Future” by Devo. Then I found a Jimi Hendrix tape. It had a track called “Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice.” Then din a test build “Programme 1” …
I had a 4-track tape recorder; it was really good when that broke. It’s hard to tell though. Sometimes I listen to old recordings and cringe but then listen to the same recordings a few months later and think it’s the best stuff ever, or vice versa. I s’pose it depends on what you’re looking for at the time.
Early 2004, but it was really much earlier that was just when it got the name. Breakdance The Dawn came from the lyrics of a Minerals song. It was in lots of the Minerals songs.
There had been a lot of interesting music happening in Sydney, and the realization that no one else was gonna do it. It was to release the Minerals album at first. I thought the music was very special, but it didn’t fit in anywhere. I found boxes of cassettes at a recycled junk shop…, and a double cassette deck for $4…. That’s the studio. I like releasing stuff out of basically nothing... recycling and using junk.
A friend, Caleb, who was organizing a series of concerts in Sydney called Impermanent Audio, had been raving about these guys (Stern/Guerra) who had been living in London but were coming back to Australia. We met at What Is Music Festival 2002 in Melbourne. He was still living in London at that time; Impermanent Recordings had just released Stern/Guerra’s “Stitch” and Stasis Duo’s “Hammer and Tongs”, and had arranged for us to play on the same bill. The next week Anthony played live on Radio Alice, a show on 2serfm featuring live experimental music that Adam and I were hosting. When he moved back to Australia, he started heaps of stuff....
Getting around wasn’t so bad…unless the bus stopped….
It was crazy… There was a few casualties. Free music is not every body’s cup of tea but some unlikely people really dig it…and other unlikely people don’t!
So far there’s been releases from Nylstoch, James Heighway, the Whitepetunias, Impromtulons, Djwhitepimpernell.... There is upcoming releases from Bong Village, Anthony Guerra, Francis Plagne, Arklight Blankrealm, heaps of stuff....
Not being able to define it…. Surprises….
Part of me thinks no, everything is the same these days. But isolation causes mutations; maybe there is a different attitude toward music here. All our music is site specific. It is the environment.
2008.
Breakdance The Dawn!!
-- Brad Rose (20 May, 2008)
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