Over the next few weeks, Slow Release will be releasing a new album of works from graduating students of the WAAPA Composition and Music Technology. We’re starting the slow release with Michael Terren and his immersive work ‘Haitch’.

From the composer:
“This piece is an improvised piece using a new interesting score, where revolving circles around a pulsating core inform the trajectory of the piece. I control the score in real-time, while also performing electronics and mixing. The other players are Tim Cluett on bass guitar and Jack Moriarty on electronics. The result of each recording varies dramatically, but this recording is particularly nice.”

Ouroboros is a recording of Aletheia’s live performance at Spectrum Gallery as part of the Sound Spectrum Festival. The performance takes place with performers from University of Central Lancashire, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and University of Technology of Sydney in a live streaming concert.

The title, Ouroboros, is the Greek symbol of the serpent who swallows its own tail.
In performance, the concert creates a dynamic internet feedback loop, with performers in four separate locations improvising and feeding off the streaming sound. Acoustic and electronic sounds from Aletheia’s performance are sent via internet feed to the other ensembles who react and contribute to the sound which streams back to Aletheia’s performance.

The result, is an improvised, electroacoustic performance taking place in four different locations simultaneously.

Following the rousing success of Aletheia’s Sound Spectrum Performance, Slow Release will be releasing a download album of the live performance featuring performers from RMIT, UTS and University of Central Lancashire. The album drops on June 1st at 4.30pm. Download will be a free, Creative Commons License.

There will be a launch gig party to celebrate at Alf’s Cuddle Cauldron, featuring an open improvised performance by Aletheia and others. More details to follow.

Aletheia: noun. the state of not being hidden; the state of being evident.

Aletheia is an evolving internet-music ensemble. Their performances blend electronic and acoustic sound from ensembles around the world – structured improvisations in cyber space. Floating, electronic voices, smatterings of free-jazz, stabs of noise, snatches of melody and texture. In their 2012 performance at ECU’s Spectrum Project Space on Wednesday May 16, Aletheia will join with ensembles from UTS, RMIT and the Sydney Conservatory – pulling in simultaneous sounds from across the country into a semi-improvised performance.
Aletheia is made up of 3rd year students from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). They perform at Spectrum amongst a collection of audio / visual installations by WAAPA’s sound art students – a maximalist blend of performance and installation, electronic and acoustic, composition and improvisation.

Graduating WAAPA Composition & Music Technology students launch their combined album at ECU’s Spectrum Gallery on Thursday 10 November. Listeners can expect to hear a diverse mix of sounds from the cohort – there’s something for everyone!

Fans of Aletheia should be sure to check out UTS’s Ethernet Orchestra, who feature the live stream of their recent performance with Aletheia from the 9th of May on their website

Aletheia are set to launch their concoction of sound mass goodness at their album launch on Thursday 16th of June @ Manhattans Vic Park. Entry is free so be sure to keep your diary clear for some delectable electroacoustic treats.

The Slow Release Staff has some exciting events coming up in the next couple of weeks. The music technology students have their  recitals coming up on the 15th and 16th of November.

The recitals will be a mixture of max/msp processing, live instrumentation, electro-acoustic sounds, soundscapes, as well as a hip-hop symphony. The staff will also be releasing an album based on these styles to sell on the recital nights, called Collateral Parallels.

Collateral Parallels is a graduate compilation CD of artists Mark Bradstreet, Ellie Cumming, Mikaela Davies, Jarryd Bird and Jake Steele. Mark Bradstreet’s work Raw, is an electronic tribal orientated piece, based on a contemporary dance collaboration. Run was composed with electro-acoustic sounds, including electric guitar and live drum samples, generating an immersive electronic soundscape. Ellie Cumming’s works consist of a mixture of cultures, exploited using a saxophone quartet. Mikaela Davies’ pieces “In The Darkness We Shall Fall” and “Chordal Sinewaves” utilise the emotions that we go through in life circumstances. They are a blend of using Max/MSP processing and using live instrumentation to harp on emotions such as; hope, despair, sadness, depression and manic states. Jarryd Theodore Bird has created two pieces based around the manipulation of guitar tracks through time. The works are intended to create a melancholic and gloomy affect. Jake Steele has composed a ‘hip hop symphony’ utilising live instruments that merge the classical style with modern grooves of hip hop. These tracks are remixes of elements from the symphony.

If you like the sound of this, we invite you to join us at WAAPA in the Music Auditorium, starting at 5pm on Monday the 15th, and Tuesday the 16th. Hope to see you there.