Sep 19, 2007

Sunshine, Australia Uluru

Hello, more Sunshine as we cross the Indian ocean and see more desert, tropical forests and a great barrier reef in short the best place for the british riff-raff to better them selves and they did. Unfortunately this went at the expense of the natives but hey they didnt have a king or court let alone the godgiven right to rule. Well this blog is about music and expect my next 3 posts to contain a compilation what the Australians offered to the world musically, besides Murdochs News Corp, Crocodile Dundee or the favourite girl next door (neighbour Kylie).

The first undisputed recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but made no attempt at settlement. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The expedition's discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there.The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788. This date was later to become Australia's national day, Australia Day.

The term Indigenous Australians ( Aboriginal ) encompasses many diverse communities and societies, and these are further divided into local communities with unique cultures. Fewer than 200 of the languages of these groups remain in use — all but 20 are highly endangered. It is estimated that prior to the arrival of British settlers the population of Indigenous Australians was between 300, 000 and 1 million at the time of European settlement. The most immediate consequence of British settlement - within weeks of the first colonists' arrival - was a wave of Old World epidemic diseases. Smallpox alone had killed more than 50% of the Aboriginal population.The second consequence of British settlement was appropriation of land and water resources. The British denied the Aboriginals any rights, their children abducted to be re-ecucated and christianized The combination of disease, loss of land and direct violence reduced the Aboriginal population by an estimated 90% between 1788 and 1900. This decline in the indigenous population and cultural disintegration has only recently stopped and it is rising again and currently stands at 500,000 (about 2,5 % of the population). Likely because, after two centuries of total humiliation, these last decades of global interest in the Aboriginal culture certainly has stimulated the self-esteem and selfrespect of a peoples that had held their own during many millenia.



Uluru/Ayers rock: 335 metres ( 1,100 feet) high; 3.6 km ( 2.2 miles ) long; 2 km ( 1.5 miles ) wide.

Indigenous Australia's oral tradition and spiritual values are based upon reverence for the land and a belief in this Dreamtime. The Dreaming is at once both the ancient time of creation and the present day reality of Dreaming. There were a great many different groups, each with their own individual culture, belief structure, and language. These cultures overlapped to a greater or lesser extent, and evolved over time. Major Ancestral spirits include the Rainbow Serpent, Baiame, and Bunjil. The Yowie and Bunyip are also well known Ancestral beings. ( the Dreamtime stretches back into a remote era in history when the creator ancestors known as the First Peoples travelled across the great southern land of Bandaiyan (Australia), creating and naming as they went). Aboriginal people developed unique instruments and folk styles. The yirdaki or didgeridoo is commonly considered the national instrument of Aboriginal people, and it is claimed to be the world's oldest wind instrument. However, it was traditionally only played by Arnhem Land people, such as the Yolngu, and then only by the men. Clapping sticks are probably the more ubiquitous musical instrument, especially because they help maintain the rhythm for the song. Aboriginal art is thousands of years old, the best known forms being rock art and bark painting. These paintings usually consist of paint using earthly colours, specifically, from paint made from ochre. Traditionally, Aboriginals have painted stories from their dreamtime. Modern Aboriginal artists continue the tradition using modern materials in their artworks. Aboriginal art is the most internationally recognisable form of Australian art. Several styles of Aboriginal art have developed in modern times including the watercolour paintings of Albert Namatjira; the Hermannsburg School, and the acrylic Papunya Tula "dot art" movement. Painting has become a large source of income for Central Australian communities today.


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David Hudson - Rainbow Serpent
Icehouse - Primitive Man
Big Pig - Bonk
Shaolin Wooden Men - Shaolin Wooden Men
Yothu Yindi - Tribal Voice
Flash and the Pan - Collection

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David Hudson - Rainbow Serpent (94 ^ 208mb)

Abirigonal musicis clearly dominated by the didgeridoo. This hollowed- out tree trunk (by termites) with a mouthpiece made of beeswax produces continuous sounds, by virtue of a technique known as circular breathing, the player inhales thru the nose while exhaling into the instrument thru the mouth. This arcane and hard to master technique is also known in the mongalian art of overtone chanting .( see Rho-Xs page) .
David Hudson, a member of the Tjapukai tribe is an acknowledged master of the didgeridoo. A frequent collaborator with producer / musician Steve Roach he plays on "Dreamtime return" (88) and "Sound of the Earth" Roch produced the first truly audiophile digital recording and exploration of the sonic possibilities of the didgeridoo on David's first recording "Woolunda"

If there is a common element woven like a shining thread thru the fabric of Aboriginal culture it is the Rainbow Serpent. Considered by some the mother of life , whose birthplace was Uluru (Ayers Rock), the Rainbow Serpent s the major cosmological being known to the Aborigenes.Mircae Eliadein in his book Shamanism states"the rainbow is the bridge connecting the terrestial plane with the heavenly spheres, which the shaman croses in order to communicate with higher beings." The serpent or snake appears in all major world cultures, mythology is enriched all over the world by the presence of this powerful animal. The Rainbow Serpent is the symbolof utmost power Life or death, safety or disater, good or bad , the Raibow Serpent is all empowered to influence all aspects of life. Aboriginal society didnt keep written records , so the origen of a story an image or a tune are shrowded in mystery, they are handed down by teachers to their students over numerous generations. This contemporary rendition of the Rainbow Serpent, modern yet deeply rooted in tradition illustrates David Hudson's improvisations over motifs and ideas, concepts and feelings brought on by the mystique of his ancient culture.



01 - Bali Doo (5:31)
02 - Message Stick (4:41)
03 - Undara's Lava Tube (4:43)
04 - Dreampipe Rhapsody (4:43)
05 - Laura's Festival (7:51)
06 - Kuranda Warrior (3:34)
07 - Leprechaun Corroboree (4:30)
08 - Frenzy (2:55)
09 - New Beginning (11:49)

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Icehouse - Primitive Man ( 82 ^ 517mb)

Originaly started in 1977 as Flowers, sounding very much as Roxy Music, playing covers over the latter and T-Rex, Bowie and the like...they build a strong following in the Sydney area. This got them their first record deal, "Icehouse" was released still under the moniker of Flowers. The album sold well the single "Icehouse" generated some european interest, to avoid confusion with the scottish Flowers they decided to rename to Icehouse, under that name they toured extensivly around Europe and North America during 81. In January 1982, the band's original line up split, resulting in Davies recording Icehouse's much-anticipated second album, Primitive Man, on his own, with assistance from Keith Forsey, (worked with Simple Minds). Released in August 1982, Primitive Man was a huge Australian hit and became Icehouse's international breakthrough. The hit single "Hey Little Girl" has remained their most regularly played song, another remarkable track from Primitive Man is "Great Southern Land".

Icehouse's third album, Sidewalk, was far more sombre and reflective. After this album the band made further inroads into the U.S. market with their 1986 release Measure for Measure which featured none other than Brian Eno as a listed band member.
The next album, Man of Colours, was their best-selling album. It contained the hit singles "Crazy" and "Electric Blue". Both singles reached the US Top 20, with "Electric Blue" hitting #7. With this album, the band reached it's monetairy zenit, which was understood as Code Blue, Big Wheel and the Berlin tapes didnt reach beyond Australia. The rest of the world was treated on an endless stream f compilations, remasters and remixes of Icehouse's eighties work.



01 Great Southern Land 5:19
02 Uniform 4:13
03 Hey Little Girl 4:25
04 Street Cafe 4:13
05 Glam (Instrumental) 3:22
06 Trojan Blue 5:03
07 One By One 4:02
08 Breaking These Chains 3:43
09 Mysterious Thing 4:25
10 Goodnight, Mr. Matthews 4:00
11 Over The Line 2:45
12 Glam (12" Version) 6:33
Bonus Tracks
13 Uniform 12" (German Version) 6:07
14 Street Cafe (Single Mix) 4:13
15 Love In Motion (USA Recording) 3:37
16 Can't Help Myself (Live) 5:39
17 We Can Get Together (Live) 3:54

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Big Pig - Bonk ( 87 * 383mb )

In May 1986 after only five live shows in Australia, every major record and publishing company in the country offered lucrative contracts to the group. Mushroom Records became the band's label and their first album BONK was recorded in Melbourne and then mixed in London in 1986-1987. The album went gold, then platinum in Australia with three top-twenty singles ("Hungry Town", "Breakaway" and "Big Hotel"). In the U.S. "Breakaway" reached #60 on the Billboard magazine top 100 pop charts.The band were known in the United Kingdom for providing the theme tune for the BBC DEF II Rough Guides show with Magenta Devine, whilst "Breakaway" was used as the opening theme to the 1989 movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Noted for their dominant use of drums, harmonica and vocals, and with the absence of guitars, the band established a unique place in music, sounding quite unlike anything else. Their stage show featured all members wearing the same minimalist costume: a dark waterproof apron, similar to that worn by slaughterhouse workers. They disbanded in 1990 after the release of their second album, You Lucky People.



01 - Iron Lung (3:34)
02 - Hungry Town (3:06)
03 - Tin Drum (4:23)
04 - Breakaway (3:38)
05 - Big Hotel (3:27)
06 - Boy Wonder (4:14)
07 - Hellbent Heaven (3:28)
08 - Nation (3:34)
09 - Charlie (4:03)
10 - Fine Thing (3:23)
11 - Money God (4:28)
12 - Devil's Song (5:27)
13 - Breakaway (Popper Mix) (6:02)
14 - Hungry Town (Grub Club Mix) (6:28)

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Shaolin Wooden Men - Shaolin Wooden Men ( 94 * 381mb )

Ollie Olsen has been producing innovative music in Australia for the past twenty-five years. He began studying electronic music in the mid 70s under Felix Werder, a German composer living in Australia who had studied under Karlheinz Stockhausen. In the late 70's Ollie formed one of the first electronic bands, Whirlywirld, releasing a number of recordings on Missing Link Records. During the next ten years Ollie formed experimental outfits Hugo Klang and Orchestra of Skin and Bone, then the hard-core industrial techno band, NO.

In the 1980s Ollie was invited to be the music producer for the movie "Dogs In Space". He provided the movie's star, INXS front man, Michael Hutchence with the hit song Rooms For The Memory . Later Ollie was approached by Michael Hutchence to produce an album with him. The result was the successful and critically acclaimed MAX Q . It got Ollie a major record company deal and formed the band Third Eye. The group made one critically acclaimed album of songs before Ollie decided to concentrate on instrumental electronic music. Thus Psy-Harmonics was born, with the Third Eye LP Ancient Future as the first release. Ollie's role as A&R for Psy-Harmonics has been instrumental in the unique vision and sound of the label.

Ollie also produces a great deal of work for Psy-Harmonics. He has collaborated with other musicians on such projects as The Visitors, Antediluvian Rocking-Horse, Psyko Disko, and many others. Shaolin Wooden Men is one of his monikers under which he produces Goa -Psy Trance . On his latest release under his own name, the album, Emptiness, he explores his roots in avant-garde / experimental composition.

Besides work in his on-going commitment to Psy-Harmonics, Ollie also lectures on electronic music and continues to compose for film and television. He often collaborates on interactive projects with Troy Innocent and worked on the electronic component of Australian composer Richard Mills' new opera, "Batavia".



01 - Nigeb (6:46)
02 - Technique I Follow (5:57)
03 - Ohar (7:53)
04 - Nyah (8:09)
05 - HK/HT (10:04)
06 - Go! People (8:56)
07 - S.W.N. (7:45)


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Yothu Yindi - Tribal Voice (92 ^ 353mb)

Yothu Yindi is the most successful and internationally recognized of Australia's aboriginal bands.The name of the band translates as "mother and child" and is essentially a kinship term used by the Yolngu people of the Northern Territory's Arnhem Land. The group's central figure Mandawuy Yunupingu and clansman Witiyana Marika were originally part of the rock band the Swamp Jockeys with non-aboriginals Cal Williams and Stuart Kellaway. They gathered other aboriginal musicians and dancers to become Yothu Yindi, a troupe initially created to perform at cultural events both in Australia and internationally.

Mandawuy's family has a long and proud tradition in the struggle for aboriginal land rights and at the beginning of the 1990s there was political talk of the possibility of a symbolic treaty between black and white Australians. In an attempt to keep the idea on the political landscape, Midnight Oil's Peter Garrett and Paul Kelly collaborated with Mandawuy on a song called "Treaty." When it was initially released the song hardly created a ripple, treated as the political statement it was. Melbourne dance remixers Filthy Lucre decided to work their magic on the song, favoring the musical message over the political one. "Treaty'"s success spread to Yothu Yindi's second album, Tribal Voice, which took the band around the world and eventually saw Mandawuy Yunupingu named as 1992 Australian of the Year. Ever since "Treaty," Yothu Yindi has straddled its two musical words, their fusion of traditional music and performance with contemporary rock, with varying success.



01 - Gapu (2:45)
02 - Treaty (3:36)
03 - Dharpa (Tree) (4:03)
04 - Tribal Voice (4:13)
05 - Dhum Dhum (Bush Wallaby) (1:06)
06 - Mätjala (Driftwood) (5:27)
07 - Mainstream (4:24)
08 - Yinydjapana (Dolphin) (1:23)
09 - Djäpana (Sunset Dreaming) (3:57)
10 - Hope (3:32)
11 - Gapirri (Stingray) (2:20)
12 - Beyarrmak (Comic) (1:52)
13 - Treaty (Filthy Lucre Radio Mix) (4:04)

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Flash and the Pan - Collection (flac  399mb)

In 1966 Harry Vanda began a successful and enduring writing partnership with rhythm guitarist George Young; together they penned all of The Easybeats' late 1960s recordings, including their major international hit, "Friday On My Mind". In 1973, Vanda and Young took over as the house producers for leading Australian independent record production company, Albert Productions. From 1974 onwards they enjoyed huge success in Australia and elsewhere, writing and producing hits for a number of popular Australian groups and solo singers, most notably, AC/DC, producing landmark albums such as Let There Be Rock, Powerage, if You Want Blood, Dirty Deeds, High Voltage/TNT amongst others.

Vanda and Young also had major international success with their own studio only project Flash and the Pan, by 1979, the project had turned out a novelty hit with the single "Hey St. Peter.". A second single, "Down Among the Dead," also became a hit throughout Australia and Europe, inspiring the release of the album Flash and the Pan. The album would soon reach the Top 100 in the U.S. despite the lack of a supporting tour. They released five more albums scoring hits round the world over a 15 year run, particularly in Europe where they had several chart topping records. "Waiting for a Train" , "Midnight Man" and in 1983 the duo gained further exposure through the track from their debut album, "Walking In The Rain", which was covered by Grace Jones.



01 - Hey, St. Peter (4:24)
02 - Yesterday's Gone (5:04)
03 - Waiting For A Train (Single Mix) (3:45)
04 - Walking In The Rain (3:29)
05 - Something About You (3:28)
06 - Media Man (Single Mix) (3:37)
07 - Hey Jimmy (3:17)
08 - Money Don't Lie (Single Mix) (4:06)
09 - Down Among The Dead Man (4:49)
10 - Early Morning Wake Up Call (4:10)
11 - Restless (3:47)
12 - Ayla (Single Mix) (4:29)
13 - Where Were You (3:24)
14 - Midnight Man (4:47)
15 - Welcome To The Universe (Single Mix) (8:43)

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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

10 comments:

A Dashing Blade said...

Ty for the David Hudson, a genra I'm sadly defficient in atm

vathek said...

hi! yours continues to be one of the most interesting ones around. thx for the effort.
regarding BIG PIG: Mediafire messes up the dl-link - at least the last few times i tried dl-ing; basically, "click to start dl"-button generates a truncated link with the server address missing (y'know, "downloadXYZ.mediafire.com/&cpp/"). obviously their fault, but still: would you mind re-upping Big Pig?

Anonymous said...

Hi Rho, the file the Flash & the Pan, Shaolin Wooden Men - Shaolin Wooden Men, Yothu Yindi - Tribal Voice ...NOT FOUND, please Re-upload..the server UPLOADED.TO is in problems!!!.
Please re-ups the files.
Hugs and Thanks,
Jose from Lima

kriyata said...

Hi Rho,
Excellent posts,
Please re-up Flash & The Pan, the link is dead..
Merry Christmas!!!
Jose.

Anonymous said...

god byrjun

Anonymous said...

pls reup The Collection of Flash & ThePan, a non-compressed one if poss.

Anonymous said...

Hi Rho,
is possible to re-up Shaolin Wooden Men?
Thank you!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you!!
Σε ευχαριστώ!!

Anonymous said...

Many thanks for the Big Pig reup. I first heard this album the year it was released and a track or two has appeared on every playlist I've ever made for my Walkman, my iPod, my MacBook or my iPhone!

-Brian

Anonymous said...

Hi Rho - could you reup the Shaolin and Icehouse please?

keep well in these weird times



Felicity