Pyramid – Sunshower (1984, LP, Australia)

Tracklist:
A1 Orchestral Excerpts From The Symphony Of Life 3:52
A2 Ballroom Dancing 4:08
A3 Universal Suite 4:38
A4 See You In Five 5:27
A5 Song For Bobby 5:55
B1 Sunshower 5:17
B2 Natural Selection 6:56
B3 The Odyssey City Of Stone 8:51

Musicians:
Bass – Roger McLachlan
Drums – David Jones
Horns, Percussion – Bob Venier
Keyboards – David Hirschfelder
Liner Notes – Barry Crook
Saxophone – Don Burrow

Ben Craven – Last Chance To Hear (2016, CD, Australia)

Daevid Allen Weird Quartet ‎– Elevenses (2016, CD, Australia)

Songs:

1. TransLoopThisMessage (1:30)
2. Imagicknation (3:56)
3. The Latest Curfew Craze (3:47)
4. Kick That Habit Man (4:13)
5. Secretary Of Lore (3:35)
6. Alchemy (4:08)
7. The Cold Stuffings Of November (3:00)
8. Grasshopping (4:20)
9. God's New Deal (2:13)
10. Dim Sum / In Alphabetical Order (3:07)
11. Killer Honey (3:15)
12. Under The Yum Yum Tree Cafe (5:33)
13. Banana Construction (5:17)

Musicians:
Daevid Allen / guitar, vocals
Don Falcone / keyboards (organ, synths, piano, Farfisa, sinewave, cello, strings), bass (6), guitar (8), accordion (9), drone (10), electric percussion (4,9), drums (7), djembe & kalimba (8), samples ("sounds") & arrangements, producer
Jay Radford / electric & 12-string guitars and bouzouki (9)
Michael Clare / bass, arrangements
Trey Sabatelli (The Tubes) / drums (3,5,6,12,13)
Paul Sears (The Muffins) / drums (1,2,4,8,10,11), synth (7)

"This album represents the final album from legendary Daevid Allen, one of the most innovative music artists to emerge from this planet! Daevid Allen Weird Quartet is a recording project bringing together Daevid Allen, founder of The Soft Machine and Gong, with Don Falcone of Spirits Burning, Michael Clare of Daevid Allen's University of Errors, and drummers Trey Sabatelli (The Tubes) and Paul Sears (The Muffins). Elevenses is the second album by this band, following 2005's DJDDAY, which was released under the band name Weird Biscuit Teatime. Daevid Allen Weird Quartet Elevenses is the last band album that Daevid worked on before his death, in March of 2015.

Christopher David Allen (13 January 1938 - 13 March 2015), better known as Daevid Allen, sometimes credited as Divided Alien, was an Australian and had a brilliant career as a poet, musician, artist, and one-time cab driver that spanned over fifty years. Daevid was constantly pushing boundaries and was always the center of activity. He continually inspired those around him to be creative and to achieve their best.

The Daily Telegraph said, Allen revelled in being the court jester of hippie rock and never lost his enthusiasm for the transcendent power of the psychedelic experience. He once remarked, "Psychedelia for me is a code for that profound spiritual experience where there is a direct link to the gods." That he never attained the riches and fame of many of his contemporaries did not concern him.

Daevid Allen Weird Quartet Elevenses album is a mixture of styles of music found throughout his career, plus a few surprises: a blues song in 7/4, a catchy Irish-tinged folk song, ambient and explosive instrumentals, a post-punk rave-up with Daevid's final message on a record."

→ ↑ → ‎– Venitian Rendezvous (1979, Ep, Australia)

→ ↑ → was an Australian experimental music and multimedia group formed in Melbourne in 1977 and led by Philip Brophy, owner of the labels Innocent and Present Records. Aside from performing music the project displayed artwork, made films and plays, and wrote literature.

The band included various members such as Robert Goodge, David Chesworth, Paul Fletcher, Ian Cox, Barbara Hogarth (all members of Essendon Airport) and many others. They published different cassettes, vinyls, super 8 films. 

Killsong ‎– He Is Risen (2013, CDr, Australia)

Songs:
1. Dear Anthony
2. Pissflaps' Magic Medacine
3. Is That You Mr Roebuck?
4. Hotdogs
5. He Is Risen (Slight Return)

Musicians:
Bass – Josh Ahearn
Drums – Alon Ilsar
Guitar – Dave Sattout
Saxophone, Clarinet – Ian Pieterse
Vocals, Violin – Daniel McIvor

Killsong's debut album is one of the most twisted and enjoyable albums to come out of Australia in some time; an unhinged, avant-garde assault resembling Frank Zappa on crystal meth, a coked-up Captain Beefheart and a rambling Tom Waits in the depths of an ether binge.
Killsong cultivate a style that sporadically embraces spoken word poetry, world music, progressive rock, metal and sheer inanity. Few groups have trod the fine line between genius and madness with such reckless abandon.
If this band didn't feature veterans of Australia's experimental music scene, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a field recording by escapees of an insane asylum. Members have previously played in Squat Club, Darth Vegas, The Bakery, Mr. Bamboo, Slimey Things, The Bznzz, Jimmy Swouse and the Angry Darts, and Rica Tetus amongst others.

Instrumental (adj.) ‎– A Series Of Disagreements + Reductio ad Absurdum (2015, 2 Ep, Australia)

Tracklist
1. A Series Of Disagreements (05:13)
2. Fibonasty (04:39)
3. The Nightmare Of Adulthood (06:04)

Instrumental (adj.)'s debut EP is sure to be some of the most original progressive music you'll hear all year.

Jazz-influenced polyrhythmic prog insanity from a Sydney trio featuring members of Plini, Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt, The Helix Nebula, SEIMS and Violence In Action.

For fans of King Crimson, 12 tone rows, polyrhythms, and silly time signatures. (bandcamp)


Tracklist
1. Yours (07:10)
2. Reductio ad Absurdum (07:41)
3. Panopticon (04:04)

The trio remain one of the most innovative and engaging heavy instrumental acts in the world, combining unrivalled polyrhythmic precision and masterful melodic manipulations with a creative and heavily conceptual approach to composition.

Instrumental (adj.) draw from masters across the board – from Robert Fripp and Bill Frisell in the guitar playing, Mark Guiliana and Billy Rymer of The Dillinger Escape Plan in the approach to drums, and Thundercat in bass guitar.

The album title ‘Reductio ad Absurdum’, refers to the group’s approach to composition: a reduction to absurdity. Each song opens with a first and second movement. The first movement sets an invariably ridiculous tone, and the second movement follows suit, pushing the elements of its predecessor into absolute absurdity. They refer to this approach as “a musical argument”, which seems fitting. (artascatharsis)

Rainbow Theatre ‎– The Armada (1975, CD, Australia)

Tracks Listing

1. The darkness motive (13:37)
.. a) Flourish
.. b) Overture
.. c) Frist theme
.. d) Second theme
2. Song (1:35)
3. Petworth House (5:51)
4. Song (1:35)
5. The Armada: (14:20)
.. a) Scene at sea
.. b) Dominion
.. c) Centuries deep
.. d) Bolero
.. e) Last picture

Bonus Track: 

Icarus (from Symphony No.8)
..a) Icarus and Daedalus
..b) Ascension
..c) Labyrinth Gothica
..d) Icarian Sea

Musicians:
Pauline Ashleigh / vocals (alto)
Julian Browning / guitar, Mellotron
Graeme Carter / drums, tympani, gongs
Peter Cox / vocals (bass)
Matthew Cozens / piano, organ
Helen Grad / vocals (soprano)
Frank Graham / trumpet, cornet, French horn
Keith Hoban / lead vocals (tenor)
Ferg McKinnon / bass
Helen Modra / vocals (alto)
Steven Nash / saxophone, clarinet, flute
Don Santin / trombone
Barry Skelton / vocals (tenor)
Sue Twigg / vocals (soprano)
Evan Zachariah / vocals (bass)

2006 CD re-issue: Aztec Music AVSCD019

The Melbourne-based Rainbow Theatre had started out in early 73, but didn’t get to the full octet line-up present on their debut album until late 74. Lead by composer-guitarist-mellotronist Julian Browning, the group aligned a three-man horn section. They had performed live a great deal of the material that was to go on their debut album, but apparently it came out in a fairly different light. Most of the brilliant live soloing was not reproduced and instead many arrangements received the favor of RT. Graced with an exceptional gatefold artwork, depicting the sinking of The Armada (the Spanish fleet was sunk mostly by a storm in the late XVIth), and given the sparkling production, this must’ve been an expensive record to produce and RT did it as a private release, later opting for the German Clear Light Of Jupiter label (originally a four album deal including this one), which was also responsible for most of the Krautrock and electronic prog record importing down under.
The opening epic Darkness Motive is a heavy jazz-rock (sounding a bit like brass rock) introduction before braking into a typical prog rock with a weird mix operatic vocal of Keith Hoban and symphonic rock that resembles Crimson’s first two albums. The short Song is mostly Hoban’s baritone voice accompanied by a piano. Ending the A-side is the 6-min Petworth House, where Hoban’s voice is rambling over an organ before the brass section interrupts then allowing for the choirs section (all friends of from the Victorian Opera Company Choir, where Hoban was helping out) for some delicious cascading cannon vocals. brass, mellotrons, subdued choirs succeed (at times I can’t help but thinking of Floyd Atom Heart Mother) to great success until the track dies all too early.

Opening the flipside is the short preparatory Song (based on the same canvas than its sister) to the other epic, the title track. Starting on a sinister mellotron, paced on a military march (you just sense a future Bolero), leading on a dramatic narration and horns, choirs, trons of mellos, etc.. This tracks reeks of Crimson, from Schizoid Man to the Lizard suite, and indeed the Bolero comes over a superb soprano and its tenor counterpoint and Steve Nash’s sax.

Added as a bonus track is a non-related to the group Browning classical composition (called Icarus) that was recorded in 96, and just like the bonus track on Fantasy Of Horses, you’d never guess it wasn’t part of the original oeuvre (as it simply fits quite well its spirit), apart from the classical instrumentation-only.

An incredibly ambitious album for this octet’s debut and clearly the most stunning prog work to come out of Aussieland, only topped by their follow-up! While being somewhat cheesy (as all operas usually do), Rainbow Theatre’s two albums cannot be enough recommended to anyone wanting to discover buried gems. And these two are some of the biggest opals ever unearthed. Run for this!!! (by Sean Trane)

Quasar ‎– Nebular Trajectory (1979, LP, Australia)

Side A
A1. Force Funk (2:46)
A2. Mysteries Of Eleusis (6:09)
A3. Entropy (11:52)
Side B
B1. Images From Abyssal Plain (6:08)
B2- Nebular Trajectory (14:27)

Musicians

Trevor Tiplady / Drums
Barry Tiplady / Bass
Len Henderson / Guitar

Quasar are a cosmic fusion band with spacious avant-garde textures highlighted by Frippian sustained guitar leads and plenty of fuzz bass. Perhaps a combination of Mahavishnu Orchestra and Starless era King Crimson? And the answer to that question? SBB! Especially around the time of "Nowy Horizont". And when you hear the lengthy fuzz bass solo, that solidifies the comparison - especially when you consider the debut by SBB. "Man Coda" is a bit looser in structure, following on from the title track of "Nebular Trajectory". (Record Heaven)

Quasar ‎– Man Coda (1981, LP, Australia)

Side A
A1. Reality's Way
A2. Zeitgeist
Side B
B1. The Little Prince
B2. Man Coda

Musicians
Bass Guitar, Effects – Barry Tiplady
Electric Guitar, Effects – Len Henderson
Percussion – Trevor Tiplady

Killer Aussie LP from from 1981. This is completely off-the-hook abstract Australian psych-rock. At the time self-produced by the Quasar and never formally distributed, copies of this super-limited pressing were creeping their way across the globe, and eentually it has been reissued. Recorded direct to digital tape by just a drummer, bassist, and guitarist, the sounds run the gamut from surging, moody, textural, and nearly beatless masterpieces like “Man Coda” and “Reality’s Way” to the tense, jazzy, and angular “The Little Prince” to the stupid ill cut “Zeitgeist,” an all-out sonic rock assault that would make Les Claypool shit in his pants. This song also has an insane drum intro. Demented genius. (Soundohm)

Airlord ‎– Clockwork Revenge (1977, LP, Australia)

Songs / Tracks Listing

A1. Clockwork Revenge (6:39)
A2. Pictures In A Puddle (4:03)
A3. Ladies Of The Night (9:46)
B1. Earthborn Pilgrim (4:58)
B2. Out Of The Woods (7:18)
B3. Is It Such A Dream (5:11)
B4. You Might Even Be (4:27)

Line-up / Musicians
Steve MacKenzie / vocals, guitar
Ray Simenauer / vocals, guitar
Brad Murray / bass, vocals
Alan Blackburn / keyboards
Rick Mercer / drums

Airlord biography

Airlord was formed in Wellington in 1976, played the pubs and flew to Australia the following year, recorded an excellent albeit ignored album, "Clockwork Revenge", and disbanded in 1978. The group failed to secure a large New Zealand audience, largely because they performed original material. Airlord had to escape to Australia to earn a decent living, and although they were never a top draw card across the Tasman, their lifespan was a lot longer than had they stayed in New Zealand.

In 1979 after Airlord had disbanded, Steve MacKenzie and Alan Blackburn formed Machine with Tony Jax on drums and Steve Kulak on bass. They released one single in 1981 called "They Destroy Me".

Before Airlord, Steve MacKenzie had teamed up with Reece Kirk to form a duo called Friends. They released two singles, one in 1974 and the other in 1975. Reece had also released a single by himself in 1972. (progarchives)

Jackie Orszaczky ‎– Beramiada (1975, LP, Australia)

After Hungarian band Syrius toured and recorded an album in Melbourne in the early 70s bassist Jackie Orszaczky remained on and became an integral part of the Australian funk scene. This is the one solo album he cut in the 70s. Tight jazz prog. Hard to find.

Topology And Trichotomy - Healthy (2014, Australia)

An interesting collaboration between the progressive jazz trio Trichotomy and the chamber ensemble Topology. The source of greatest intrigue on their 2014 release Healthy is found in the transitions. This album isn’t a blend of modern jazz and contemporary classical… it’s a fusing of the two, as if with a soldering gun, and those points where jazz piano trio music becomes contemporary classical and then back again make for some pretty thrilling music. Those transitions, thankfully, aren’t clean or seamless. Sometimes things get a little messy, and influences and approaches commingle, and those brief interludes of cross-pollination are often just as intriguing as the transitions themselves.
bandcamp | cdbaby