greatdividing - 2011 annual report
No greatdividing releases in 2011
Although there were many highlights...
3 toed sloth dbl 7" on Unwucht
+ Jukebox single on Negative Guest List records.
Against all odds 3 toed sloth played for the first time in 17 yrs
Sydney x 2 + Brisbane and...San francisco(!)
We got to play with our friends feedtime twice
and Exiles from Clowntown played a couple of times too!!
3 toed sloth
SS10 Day three Hemlock Tavern San Francisco Photo-Mark Murrmann
scott soriano wrote: 3 Toed Sloth were a great treat. I really didnt know what to expect, even though I've heard them on record. Shambling one part punk rock in the vein of Wire, Flipper, Fall, without sounding like any of them...
3 toed sloth @clovelly bowlo Photo-Brendan Boucher
Video by-Paul Fallon
Exiles from Clowntown @ clovelly Photo-Kris Morriss
click pics to enlarge
greatdividing 2012 kicks off with Exiles from Clowntown playing
at 'What isn't Music' Cockatoo Island 28th Jan.
Planning to have some new greatdividing releases out this year.
exiles from clowntown 7" #2
second 7" by 'exiles from clowntown' two tracks both recorded live & spontaneous in one take using four microphones, one chord & half an idea. ok enough numbers. no counting was used in the making of this record.terminal boredom review >
Exiles From Clowntown "#2" 7"
Second (duh) single from this post-Three Toed Sloth outfit who have been hanging around but largely unheard for a longish spell, keeping the torch aloft for those who love the thuggish times when Aberrant and Red/Black Eye ruled the land and feedtime were still together. "Around The Corner" is chiseled out of limestone with a big bottomed bass/drum throb with some minimal guitar wheezing blowing the dust off. I think I hear some vocals being shouted from the next territory over. "Whistling Assassin" is murky and shady in a mid-Eighties post-punk style but not in a trite Cave-ian goth way, but in a sturdily driven and and strongly and slowly paced style reminiscent of feedtime or a Venom P. instrumental or hornless Fungus Brains. Tribally hypnotic drum/bass with the guitar reverb shimmering like a desert mirage throughout. If you listen very closely you can actually hear the assassin. A superb little record that could only have come from Australia. I assume some people will listen to this and expect to have their hair blown back, buut it's not about the bombast. For me, it's about the tradition and simplicity of style this thing upholds and brings into the new century. It gives me hope that there are still true believers carrying the torch out there. Scum stats: 200 copies only, with sleeves that prove you can do a lot with a hole punch and some rubber stamps when you put your mind to it. The aesthetic further enforces the no-nonsense primitivity of the tunes as well. Exceptional.(RK)
tracklisting for dd013-UN01
click side
1/ shoptoprockers - let it slide 1991
2/ exiles from clowntown - mania 2009
3/ 3 toed sloth - flipcar [instr] 1989 (previously unreleased)
4/ rock boycott - simple 2007
clack side
1/ rock boycott - life like 1998
2/ deep brain thrombosis - glam fail 2008
3/ shoptoprockers - cash in fly out 1991
4/ 3 toed sloth - falling to pieces 1990 (previously unreleased)
5/rock boycott & the yellow steed - rock out recorded various times in various places
1/ shoptoprockers - let it slide 1991
2/ exiles from clowntown - mania 2009
3/ 3 toed sloth - flipcar [instr] 1989 (previously unreleased)
4/ rock boycott - simple 2007
clack side
1/ rock boycott - life like 1998
2/ deep brain thrombosis - glam fail 2008
3/ shoptoprockers - cash in fly out 1991
4/ 3 toed sloth - falling to pieces 1990 (previously unreleased)
5/rock boycott & the yellow steed - rock out recorded various times in various places
dd012 exiles from clowntown 7" 33 rpm
TERMINAL BOREDOM said:
Exiles from Clowntown "Fast One" 7"
Mysterious 7" from the wilds of Australia, Exiles are a loose trio who get together and play once in a while and these recordings are culled from a mammoth two hour jam/improv session while they all happened to be in the same town together earlier in the year. If I'm deciphering the tracks/sides properly from the limited info on the record, "Fast One" is exceptional for this type of free-roaming stuff. Running on an ominous bassline, the guitar jangles its way around the rhythm section and takes off an a couple adventures of its own. Sort of tough sounding in a burly and wordless Aussie way, this is no mere free jazz skronk improv shite. The flip is more drone, reminiscent of a Sonic Youth sound check with someone ad-libbing lyrics over it. Not something that's my cup very often, but as always, the Aussies do it right. The A-Side is really something special. I imagine a lot of people following the F.Nun/Xpressway/Siltbreeze trail would get a chubby from hearing this, and maybe even Aberrant/Black Eye fans like myself as well. And upon further investigation, this label seems ready to release the lost 100 copies of the post-feedtime Three Toed Sloth LP, an unheralded piece of early-Nineties Aussie rock that almost ended up on Aberrant but was self-released by the band instead. I imagine that got your attention...Scum stats: 100 copies with hand hole-punched sleeves and stamped labels.(RK) home
dd011 arob/soottyb b/w arob split 7"
edition of 100 hand printed black on white paper sleeves & rubber stamped labels
5 years in the making ! The basic track 'downer march' was recorded by arob in 2004 he added another track sometime in 2005 . 2006 he gave it to Soottyb on cd . In 2007 he handed it back to arob as 'they sent men into space today' . It was 're-mixed' in 2008 ... & finally in 2009 after a particularly fraught space mission here is 'they sent me into space today'.
cicadas birds + gtr
This is a field recording done at a fellow exiles house in the country combined with a home recording done in a bedroom in the city . Simple as that ... plays well on either 45 or 33 rpm ...
div01 Soottyb cd
This is a 3 track cd of bedroom / lounge room / laundry collaborative & solo recordings by soottyb . This was the first release for greatdividing in 2003 then known as the great dividing company . Recorded on 4-track cassette this minim-album is 34 minutes & 22 seconds in duration. The first track sees the full 'soottyb ensemble' all grooving on the same mania & laying down a multi-layered, multi- instrumental, obliquely tribal suburban sprawl. Track two is a 24 minute & 3 second strings and percussion two- piece suite [sic]. circular, sparse & oblong. The closing track is a modest 56 seconds.
3 toed sloth
a brief history of 3 toed sloth
Sharon & andrew were friends from queensland who had moved to sydney at different times in the 80's. Around 1987 they started going to rehearsal rooms mucking around drinking beer & playing music together. After a while they wondered how their racket would sound with a drummer ... one night in early '89 they rang tom a favourite drummer who's previous band had broken up a few months earlier & asked if he would come along & have a play with them, he said yes & they all went to along to a rehearsal room a few weeks later. They had fun & the racket now sounded better. After that they kept going along every few weeks making their racket & drinking beer until somehow 3 toed sloth was ... born. The band then played about 20 shows over the next 3 years & self released an lp in 1991. Nobody much cared & it was mutual. Sometime in '93 they stopped playing mainly because of busy lives & their work commitments.
Sharon & andrew were friends from queensland who had moved to sydney at different times in the 80's. Around 1987 they started going to rehearsal rooms mucking around drinking beer & playing music together. After a while they wondered how their racket would sound with a drummer ... one night in early '89 they rang tom a favourite drummer who's previous band had broken up a few months earlier & asked if he would come along & have a play with them, he said yes & they all went to along to a rehearsal room a few weeks later. They had fun & the racket now sounded better. After that they kept going along every few weeks making their racket & drinking beer until somehow 3 toed sloth was ... born. The band then played about 20 shows over the next 3 years & self released an lp in 1991. Nobody much cared & it was mutual. Sometime in '93 they stopped playing mainly because of busy lives & their work commitments.
The story behind the last 100 lp's
These are original pressing of the record . There were 500 pressed , but there were only ever 400 covers done . They were all printed in one night but we ran outta puff sometime around midnight & just never got around to doing those last 100 covers ... completely forgot about them in fact . Until this box of 100 lp's were found under a friends house a couple of years ago .
After asking around to see if there was any interest we decided to get 100 new covers screen printed as per the original . So it's an 18yr old record in new cover , which i guess makes this a kind of limited edition of some sort . If anyone cares about that kind of thing ...
