Arthur and Corrinne Cantrill pioneered the once-thriving experimental filmmaking scene that existed here in Melbourne up until the 1980s. Through their "expanded cinema" screenings and their iconic 'Filmnotes' journal, many of our more credible film artists got their first piece of exposure thanks to the Cantrills.
Apart from pushing the possibilities of celluloid projection for over 40 years, Arthur was just as experimental with his audio work. His sound manipulations provided a perfectly unfamiliar and original audio accompaniment to their films; but no one outside these screenings ever had a chance to hear this ground-breaking work. Thankfully, the folks at Shame File Records recognized his contributions to experimental music, and they released a double-disc of his recordings last year. He has since contributed some fresh material to a compilation which is being launched this Friday night, where he will be improvising a set, straight from his Nagra! Here's a few words from the man himself:
Busy preparing for the CD launch of 'The Shape Of Sound Vol.2' this Friday,
9th December, 9pm at the Grace Darling Hotel, Smith St, Collingwood. The
mighty Revox A77 reel-to-reel has been tuned up by Mario Sabatini with
new capacitors and resistors, and the ever reliable Nagra (bought in
1964) is running well (thanks Mr. Kudelski). Now it’s up to me to
improvise the reverb and feedback and combine it with a mix I did
recently of last summer’s cicadas, me on violin, piano and xylophone.
Similar Revox effects are in the ‘Island Fuse’ track on the ‘Shape of
Sound’ CD.
If you're a fan of analogue audio, tape loops, Nagras, experimental-cinema or local art in general, rock down on Friday night and support the work of a Melbourne icon. It's moving to see an artist in their 70s who is still so enthusiastic about their craft. When I met him at his house a few months ago, he was even starting to learn digital audio software on his Mac!
