Lockdown in Lagash

Publié en mai 2024 sur le label australien Nice Music, ”Lagash” est le dernier opus du musicien Alastair Galbraith, basé à  en Nouvelle Zélande.

Galbraith est accompagné du guitariste Jackson Harry, suivi d'une face B consacrée entièrement à la splendide pièce instrumentale ”Lockdown In Lagash”, avec Galbraith au violon et Chris Heazlewood à la batterie.

” … dans la musique d’Alastair, il y a une sorte d’intimité et de quiétude, une sorte de solitude fonctionnelle… son écriture est si magnifiquement épurée dans sa structure de base, c’est quelque chose que j’apprécie sur le plan technique parce que je sais combien il est difficile d’être simple et réduit au nom d’un sens spécifique. Mais Alastair parvient d’une manière ou d’une autre à toucher davantage cet espace négatif et à rendre son vide tangible. Et je suppose que cette intimité parle également des aspects émotionnels auxquels je m’accroche dans sa musique… l’idée que l’on puisse prendre un moment ou un sentiment, et le suspendre dans le temps comme une miniature ou une sculpture… un monde sonore qui est si privé, chaleureux et délicat…” la compositrice canadienne Sarah Davachi

Nice Music presents ”Lagash” - the brand new album from Dunedin, New Zealand's legendary experimental songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and tape music idol Alastair Galbraith.

Enter 'Lagash', instantly a left turn at just 4 elongated tracks. 3 on the A side with accompaniment from guitarist Jackson Harry, followed by a B side entirely inhabited by 'Lockdown In Lagash' - a panicked dirge which sees Galbraith on fiddle, pitted against drummer Chris Heazlewood. 

"It’s hard to describe how Alastair’s music makes me feel, and it’s something that I’ve been trying to do for myself ever since I first fell in love with his records many years ago. In a concrete way, there’s a kind of intimacy and quietude, a sort of functional aloneness, that I admire so deeply in his music and that I aspire to in my own music. I’m consistently obsessed with the production and arrangement in his records. His songwriting is so beautifully sparse in its base structure, and that’s something that I appreciate on a technical level because I know how hard it is to be simple and reduced for the sake of a specific meaning. But Alastair somehow manages to touch that negative space further and make its emptiness tangible. And I suppose that this intimacy speaks to the emotional aspects that I latch onto in his music as well – from my perspective, what Alastair is so incredible at achieving in his music is the idea that one could take a moment or a feeling, and suspend it in time as a miniature or a sculpture of sorts that you can walk around and observe and maybe just sit with for a while. It’s an experience unlike much else..." - the Canadian composer Sarah Davachi 

&

"pure speculation"  to listen to

as well  don't miss the movie "Eccentric Isles" which features conversations with Alastair Galbraith,  Bruce Russell, and other "free noise" activist in New-Zealand.

!<0oIo0>!

Glass harmonium

Alastair Galbraith is a musician located in Dunedin, New Zealand.
He started in the early 80s with the band "The Rip" and collaborated with numerous musicians as Peter Jefferies, Matt de Gennaro (for long wires drone experimentation, listen for "Cry" CD released by "Emperor Jones") and Bruce Russell for the free noise band "A Handfull of Dust".
Despite of building recently a pipe-gas organ, he also build a homemade glass harmonium, and did perform it in march 2013 in Port Chalmers. 

and long wires

a part of this post was originally published in september 2013

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After quarantine

A l'issue de cette claustration (française), quelques nouveautés de certains de nos amis qui auraient pu vous échapper.

At the end of the french confinement,  4 novelties from some of our friends that you could have missed.

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 "Second mark III" nouvelle publication d'Alastair Galbraith, grand poète et figure de l'underground et du DIY de Nouvelle Zélande. Ce nouvel album reprend des titres qui avaient été publiés en 1988 et 1994 sur cassettes.

"Second mark III"   is a new album from Alastair Galbraith, musician and sound artist from Dunedin in New Zealand. A part of these songs and shorts had been published in 1988 and 1994 on cassettes.




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"Comme bon vous semble" par quelques membres du Grand 8 de Marseille
avec 3 trio de guitares et voix.

"Comme bon vous semble" played by few members of the Ensemble Grand 8 in Marseille
with guitars and voices.

Ed Williams - Classical Guitar (right channel)
Raymond Boni - Acoustic Guitare (center)
Nicoló Terrasi - Classical Guitar (left ch.)
Cati Delolme - Voix (left ch.)
Catherine Jauniaux - Voix (right ch.)

recorded in december 2019




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"Grassitude 3", une fantaisie bucolique par l'excellent guitariste français  Seb Martel

"Grassitude 3", a nice bucolic piece by the amazing french guitar player  Seb Martel





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"Element and Element" , un film abstrait réalisé par Clara de Asis pendant le confinement, film qui présente un extrait de la performance de Mara Winter de la pièce 'spirit etching', pour flûte basse médiévale. .

"Element and Element" , a short abstract movie directed by Clara de Asis featuring an extract of a performance by Mara Winter of her piece 'spirit etching', for bass Renaissance flute, during the quarantine.




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Eccentric Isles

A la rencontre de personnalités marquantes des scènes alternatives de Nouvelle-Zélande telles que Chris Knox, Michael Morley, Alastair Galbraith et Bruce Russell, ainsi que de quelques figures excentriques croisées au fil de la route.

Meetings with leading figures of the alternative and free music in New Zealand
such Chris Knox, Michael Morley, Alastair Galbraith, Bruce Russell and others
as well  a few eccentric figures crossed over the road,
the full movie "Eccentric Isles".

Music: Chris Knox, Dead C, Alastair Galbraith, Kim Pieters, Peter Stapelton, Michael Morley, Bruce Russell, Jean Jacques Palix

Discussion, production, voice : Zahia Rahmani
Sound mixing & recordings : Jean Jacques Palix
Discussion, interviewes, translation : Dean Inkster
Filming, recording, interviewes, editing : Nicolas Chesnais

A voir sur Vimeo - 70 minutes (code vimeo : stenka)
"Eccentric Isles" 2004 - (sous titré français)

Pure speculation

"Pure speculation" is a new LP composed by correspondance in between Alastair Galbraith, David Watson & Jean Jacques Palix.
It started in 2009 with sound material exchanged in between Alastair and Palix which generated short pieces, then joined by David Watson' bagpipes and finally mixed by Palix.
As a "limited edition" of 300 copies, this one one-sided LP , explorating drones' ambiances and melodies, is released by La Station Radar.

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Alastair Galbraith : Voice, bells, guitars, casio.
JJ Palix a.k.a. Amiel Balester : Noises, radiators, windmill sounds, electric keyboard, computer.
David Watson : Highland bagpipes.
Recorded and composed in Dunedin (Nz) , Paris (Fr), New York (Usa).
Mixed by Jean Jacques Palix.
Mastered by Thimothy Stollenwerk.
Photography by Alastair Galbraith.

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"Pure Speculation is a record by three people who live in Paris (France), New York (New York) and Taieri Mouth (New Zealand). They have all met each other, but have never all been in the same place together. This single-sided LP now exists physically, yet the music on it lives up to its rather grandiose name – and does not actually exist in the real world. Watson is an improviser known for his bag-piping, Galbraith an instrument builder and song-writer known for his long-form sound works using little-understood acoustic phenomena and for his very short songs, while Palix is a radiophonic composer and sound designer who composes balletic operas for aerobatic teams. All these things are true but all sound like Munchausen’s wildest lies.

There is no point attempting to describe music that has been composed in three separate parts in the mind of such accomplished fabulists, and then realized as a totality via a form of long-distance ouija-board manipulation. It is a highly-fictional salad of bells, gongs, drones and tones which will stick in your mind long after you have heard it. No one planned it, at least two of the musicians were ignorant of its existence for most of its lifetime, and only a perennial over-reacher such as myself would attempt to justify it in prose. When I first heard Pure Speculation, I thought someone had spiked my drink. Then I realized that the name should be taken perfectly literally. So do your ears a favour and indulge in this rarified form of speculation, it’s unlike much else you’ll hear until the next time you’re going under for major surgery – only this auditory hallucination is one you will remember once you regain consciousness. Drink up – here’s to speculation!"
Bruce Russell - september 2013

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"One of my favorite thing about Alastair Galbraith’s records is the dichotomy between “noise” and “song” that permeates his discography. Galbraith has always been adept at creating lurching drone-y soundscapes that somehow manage to give way to moments of melodic bliss. Like many of the best noise rockers, Galbraith’s music creates a world where form, melody, and harmony all rely on/emerge from noise/drone. On Galbraith’s collaborative work Pure Speculation with Jean Jacques Palix and David Watson, the composer utilizes his collaborators to create a sprawling 22-minute work that merges several disparate soundworlds into a coherent whole while continuing to explore the dichotomy between noise and melody. This is articulated early in the track, when Palix creates a gloriously rustling palette of sounds that Galbraith uses as the instrumental foundation for a song before giving way to a massive drone anchored by Watson’s signature bagpipe playing. The ebb and flow between each section of this work too is handled masterfully. When the white noise of the piece’s opening field recordings return, it provides the first obvious sign that the trio imperceptibly structured the piece so that certain formal tendencies reoccur and develop into different themes."
Tiny Mix Tape - October 2013.

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"Stunning three way collaboration that does violence to any notion of ‘collaboration’, with the songs of Alastair Galbraith bisected and book-ended by bagpipe drones, damaged guitar downs and occult Industrial settings: all three artists recorded their contribution separately before knitting the whole deal together into a delirious side-long setting that moves from what sounds like The Albert Ayler Orchestra plays the A Handful Of Dust songbook into occult regions of scrape and drone that could almost be Nurse With Wound before giving way to one of Galbraith’s most magical and heartbreaking songs, with that forlorn edge-of-the-world sound supported by all sorts of drizzy occult spectra. David Watson’s bagpipe work is particularly psychedelic, rising from Faust-scale nod-out rhythms and deep bass tectonics to sound like an orchestra of berserkers marching through the fog while touching on the fantasy scenario of Ayler’s unmade bagpipe orchestra album for Shandar. Jean Jacques Palix specialises in balletic radiophonics and sound design so I’m guessing he’s responsible for the hallucinatory sound works, with slow tectonic eruptions accompanied by distant Morse melodies and the kind of sleight of hand of a Peter Christopherson using noises, radiators, windmill sounds, electric keyboard and computer. This is a stunning set; imagine Rien or Outside The Dream Syndicate as the kind of Industrial/Orchestral context for brokedown NZ singer-songwriter-isms and you’re close to the dazzling reality-warping potential of this singularly potent disc. Edition of only 300 copies, silkscreened sleeves, very highly recommended!"
David Keenan - Volcanic Tongue - november 2013

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"Constructed by three musicians who live in different parts of the globe and have never been physically present in the same place at the same time, “Pure Speculation” is as much a sound- art installation as a piece of music, each person bringing a different compositional strand to the project creating a 22 minute track that is powerful, emotional and inspiring. Experimental, droning and rich with imagination the track features, electronic sounds (Palix), bells, guitars, voice (Galbraith) and Highland Bagpipes (Watson) each player adding new layers and textures with the Bagpipes having the most impact mainly because it is not a sound that you hear very often in this context, their plaintive drone filling the piece with sound, with Watson skilled enough to be silent when needed, giving the bells and electronics a chance to add scrapes, rattles and chimes to the music. Constantly changing in tone, pace and mood,the music is never still,never dull rewarding the adventurous listener as it seems different every time, the way you hear it dependant on your mood and circumstance as much as the actual composition. Highly recommended, this is my personal favourite out of three excellent releases from a label of high quality."  
Simon Lewis - Terrascop Mag - January 2014



"In a sad indictment of some of the bollocks that passes for music these days I’ve just hurled the last three records off the stereo and out of the window (I wish). I’m only sticking with this as I’m a fan of Alastair Galbraith and once the bagpipe has done its thing it gets pretty interesting. Yup, the one long 22 minute piece opens with a bagpipe drone (who needs that?) before a kind of rubbery beat takes charge and Galbraith whispers his distinctive voice atop.
The track is one long improvised piece by the three composers who all live in different parts of earth. It goes through several moods on its way to completion, a nice organic ambient section follows the vocal bit with bouncy shards of synth being layered one upon the other until it all breaks down to rumbles of thunder and a squeaky gate. A highly atmospheric piece which veers from enjoyable sections to lengthy sonic explorations."Norman Records - November 2013

and another comment

to listen

to order 

more about Alastair Galbraith

more about David Watson

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