Here are some quite obscure releases which have included City Frequencies music. You’ve got an impressive collection if any of these are on your CD shelf!
(This list is gradually being expanded as I uncover more archival material).
Sampled Synthesis 1 (2000)
This Clan Analogue Melbourne sampler CD mainly went out to media and venues. A few may have been sold at gigs also. Our track “Dawn” on this one was based around the sax playing of Tony Ceff, a busker who used to be heard at the Vic Markets. I was experimenting with time-stretching software, which was a relatively new thing then, when putting this one together.
Download or stream Sampled Synthesis 1
Sampled Synthesis 2 (2001)
The second of Clan Analogue’s Melbourne samplers. This one focused on mostly ambient material and is probably my favourite of the six released in total.
Our track here is apparently called “City Frog” but I recall this was just a working title and we ended up calling it “Night”. Matt and I tended to call tracks by different names which caused a lot of confusion. This was our first collaborative composition I think.
Download or stream Sampled Synthesis 2
Sampled Synthesis 3 (2002)
We were getting into the swing of putting out the Sampled Synthesis releases once a year at this point. Volume 3 aimed for a chilled-out but groovy vibe, so a little more commercial compared to some of the others. I don’t remember much about making this one. I think this was mainly Matt’s work.
Download or stream Sampled Synthesis 3
Sampled Synthesis 4 (2003)
This release was another in the Clan Analogue series of Melbourne sampler CDs. The focus of this release was on more experimental material. I recall our track “The Quiet” was mainly put together by Matt, utilising recordings he made before dawn from his bedroom window when we were living in a warehouse on the 3rd floor of Curtin House in Swanston St at the turn of the 2000s.
Download or stream Sampled Synthesis 4
Cyclic Defrost Presents (2005)
The legendary Australian electronic and experimental music magazine and website Cyclic Defrost put out this sampler double-CD to promote Australian artists. We’re in some great company here, including Oren Ambarchi, Lawrence English, Saddleback and Maddest Kings Alive.
The track “Pedestrian Pulsars” was made from some recordings I did at a pedestrian crossing in Royal Parade at around 4am. Take a listen!
Intone: Voice Abstractions (2015)
Intone: Voice Abstractions was an experimental music compilation released by Clan Analogue with Australian and overseas artists exploring ways of using the human voice to create music. The album was a finalist for the Award for Excellence in Experimental Music in the 2016 Australian Art Music Awards.
We contributed a stereo mix of “The Most Beautiful Walk”, an excerpt from our Cafe Voyeur installation created from recordings of conversations in a Fitzroy cafe. This one was written by Matt. Take a listen below!
Distance: Sounds for an Empty Space (2020)
More recently we contributed a piece of music to the Clan Analogue compilation Distance: Sounds for an Empty Space, released in 2020. Our track “The Interests of Entities” samples sounds that surround us in the city outside of the range of human hearing, including signals from mobile phone data, internet streaming and advertising billboard trackers.
Have a listen!
Check out the extensive details about these projects on the official City Frequencies website and via the links below (will be active soon folks!)
City Frequencies
Original City Frequencies project
Café Voyeur
Performances & Installations
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