Sunday, 17 November 2019

Breath of Light Remains


Primitive Motion has a new album out on the excellent A Guide to Saints label in collaboration with our friend Anthony Burr.  Here's what the label has to say: 

"Dream-like extended duration work from Brisbane duo Primitive Motion in collaboration with San Diego musician Anthony Burr. Breath of Light Remains is an improvised work recorded at PM HQ during one of Burr’s sojourns to his Australian home town. Summertime neighbourhood sounds of children playing, local birdlife and cicadas drift into the home studio as the trio arc sound around the room and beyond, colouring the air in shades both light and dark as time stands still.
Anthony Burr has enjoyed a distinguished career both as an improviser and reader of contemporary composition. He has recorded key works of Alvin Lucier and Morton Feldman and has played with Jim O’Rourke, John Zorn and Laurie Anderson. He has released work in duo form with both Iclelandic bassist /composer SkĂșli Sverrisson and Australian pianist/composer Anthony Pateras. While principally renowned as a clarinettist, on Breath of Light Remains he drops time-dissolving notes from the piano in a beautifully measured and delicate performance.
Primitive Motion is the collaborative project of Brisbane artists Sandra Selig and Leighton Craig. Over the past decade they have recorded an extensive body of work, with five albums released to date of their otherworldly musical dialogue, including a previous Guide to Saints edition. Their visual/audio collaborations have been exhibited, with a major work included in the 2010 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art. They have recorded and performed outdoor improvisations responsive to the natural environment, and on this release weave a group tapestry of floating sound with Burr that dissolves into the fading afternoon."



A special edition of 100 cassettes is available, with the cover photograph by Sandra of the trees outside her home studio where the work was recorded. Once again covers lovingly screen printed by No.7 Printhouse in Brisbane.  

Mastered by Lawrence English at Negative Space, the tapes sound as warm as the Brisbane summer afternoon on which they were recorded. We are very are very happy with this release! The cassettes come in lavender shells and a very limited number of grey.  Link below to purchase from Primitive Motion's Bandcamp page.

Wednesday, 13 November 2019

Primitive Motion - Open Actions Performance


Friends

Primitive Motion will give two battery powered outdoor performances this weekend at Enoggera Reservoir as part of the People Artist Place event Open Actions 2019.
  • Saturday 16th Nov - event opening 3.30pm. Primitive Motion performance 4.30pm
  • Sunday 17th Nov - early morning performance 7.30am
For full event details, including information on all the artists involved and a site map for where we will be performing, check out the the Open Actions 2019 catalogue by clicking here.

As part of the project we have made a new album "Descendants of Air" which we recorded in a bamboo grove at the Reservoir over a weekend in August this year, adding a few overdubs in our home studios. It was a magical experience making the album, and we hope some of that has been distilled in the sounds we collected that weekend.

          

We've had 100 CDs made to give away to folks attending the performances, but at this stage will not be making the release more widely available. The CD comes in a lovely gatefold sleeve, with cover and gatefold photographs of Enoggera Reservoir by our favourite photographer Marek Rygielski.  Check out more of Marek's stunning work with film on his Instagram account

Back cover by Sandra Selig

















In the meantime, the album can be streamed via Soundcloud over the next few weeks.  We trust you enjoy and look forward to seeing you there!

Friday, 25 October 2019

Saturday, 16 February 2019

Dean Roberts + Leighton Craig - The Junk Bar, 10 March


Folks - come join us at The Junk Bar on 10 March. From the Junk Bar website:

Dean Roberts is a Berlin-based musician from Aotearoa who has wandered the globe since the mid-90s honing his craft as a song-writer and threading his delicate compositions with a weave of electro-acoustic sound and improvisation. As a young pup in Auckland his band Thela shot out of the gate with two albums on Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace! label, and he has since released a run of exceptional albums culminating in three stunning works on Chicago’s Kranky label.  While based in Italy he formed the band Autistic Daughters with Werner Dafeldecker and Martin Brandlmayr. Their 2008 album “Uneasy Flowers”  featured contributions from The Necks’ Chris Abrahams and has become a classic of contemporary experimental song form. Dean last played a memorable set in Brisbane nearly 10 years ago and makes a welcome return in what promises to be a great night at the Junk Bar. 


Joining Dean and launching his new solo LP “Diamond Eye” is Holland Park West casio hymnist Leighton Craig. Leighton is a member of Junk Bar regulars Primitive Motion, and has bombed around the Brisbane sub-underground for the past 20+ years in a clutch of outsider combos including free-rock misfits The Lost Domain and pop miniaturists The Deadnotes. As a solo artist he has followed a low-tech/econo pathway to documenting keyboard works, songs, field recording and sound installation. Following a handful of solo releases on the Room 40 label and his own Kindling imprint, “Diamond Eye” ( released on French label Bruit Direct Disques) is a collection of recordings made at home and on beach holidays that unfolds as a personal sketchbook of fuzzy hymnals and haunting songs. Leighton will have vinyl copies available to purchase on the night. Get on down!

No booking fee is involved in pre-purchased tickets. Your name will go and on the door list and you'll receive an email confirmation once you purchase a ticket (usually in the evening - don't panic if you don't hear straight away!)

Note the drop-down menu below provides an option to purchase a special offer discounted copy of Leighton's "Diamond Eye" LP with your ticket, which you can collect on the night. Copies will be for sale at the show for slightly more dosh.

Ticket Options

Saturday, 12 January 2019

Leighton Craig - Diamond Eye LP

Friends
Back cover - image courtesy Guy Mercier

I have a new record "Diamond Eye" out on the exemplary French label Bruit Direct Disques. My sincere gratitude to BDD CEO Guy Mercier for making this happen. What a champ!

As with its predecessor "11 Easy Pieces", this album was assembled by gathering a selection of recordings made at home and on holidays over a few years, in this instance mostly between 2006-2008 (with a couple of outliers in 2009/10).  

Perhaps because this collection has gathered a sprinkling of dust, listening to it now has the same effect for me as flipping through an old photo album - I can generally remember the circumstances of each recording, including the music I was listening to and even the books I was reading. In their own small way, these pieces mark my passage on the planet during that time. Vertical lines descending.

So if you will indulge me briefly....the title track "Diamond Eye" was recorded in a holiday unit at Palm Beach on the Gold Coast, right next to the Currumbin lagoon.  Vocals were recorded on a broken 70s home stereo mic that has sadly since deceased (I've never managed to obtain that vocal sound again!) The accompanying drawings were made on the same holiday - another old habit.

"Sans Souci" is named after a 1950s fibro beach house on North Stradbroke Island, where I holidayed with my family over the Christmas break in 2008 - a week of surfing, eating and sleeping in the sea breeze. On returning to Brisbane on New Years eve I recorded this piece while still lost in a holiday reverie. It appeared on a Room40 compilation not long after; returned now to the pages from which it was lifted. 

And so I could continue for each track on the album - elsewhere a nod to Colin MacCahon, several other location specific odes and generally just enjoying listening to those Portasound tones. But enough you say!

Live at Fabrique, May 2008. Photo: Tom Hall
Copies of the LP are now available to purchase from Bruit Direct Disques and are currently on route to other outlets including Forced Exposure in the US and Boomkat in the UK.

I'll also have copies shortly in Brisbane and aim to ship on 1 February.

You are welcome to  listen and pre-order via my Bandcamp page or use the link below. You'll receive a download whichever method you use. Hey - thanks for reading!
Front cover - unboxed in Paris


Price includes postage



Saturday, 5 January 2019

Small Orbit t-shirts

Hi Friends
We've had a limited run of "Small Orbit" t-shirts screen printed by Matt Deasy at the excellent No.7 Printhouse in Brisbane. The design is based on one of Leighton's interplanetary potato prints.
We are selling these for $30 post paid world wide. The shirts are printed on AS Colour Staple tees. We have sold out of some colours and sizes - all available stock below. Check the sizing at the bottom of this post.


Midnight Blue




Light Blue



Khaki




Grey



White



Sage


SOLD OUT