Friday, February 2, 2007

ROOM40



In the history of cryptography, Room 40 (formally NID25) was the room in the Admiralty which was the first location of the British cryptography effort during World War I.

This case, ROOM40 is Australian Lawrence English's music project and label.

An interview from Australian Music Online:

In between writing about and making music, Lawrence English also runs his indie electronic label, ::ROOM40::.
Who are your 3-5 favourite Australian artists and why?

Oren Ambarchi, Pimmon, Biftek, Frost, The Necks. Five artists/groups each exploring interesting approaches to their chosen form of music.

Tell us about your label...

::ROOM40:: is an imprint and multiarts organisation. The imprint is primarily focused on releasing material such as improvisations, installation soundtracks and themed recorded works. ::ROOM40:: has released material by artists such as John Chantler, Scanner, David Toop, DJ Olive, I/O3, Frost and we have also curated several compilation releases including EMIT one for QUT.

What do you think is the most influential Australian album of all time?

An impossible question to answer – so many high points from so many genres and movements. I like to think I have a wide-ranging taste, so answering something like this is always difficult, if not simply impossible.

Who/where/when was the first local gig you ever attended?

I seriously can’t recall. I remember seeing bands like Regurgitator and a lot of the Valve related acts when I first started reviewing for magazines in Brisbane such as Time Off. I do know I’ve seen somewhere in the vicinity of 1000 bands/artists since first heading out at the tender age of 17. So many impressive groups too!

Describe your most memorable Australian music moment?

There’s been so many - probably too many to make sense of really... too many late nights.

What are your three favourite music websites?

http://www.emit.qut.com
http://www.synrecords.com
http://www.timeoff.com.au

What is the most crucial advice you could give a local artist seeking success?

John Zorn once said something like ‘respect the work, otherwise no one else will’ – that’s a sound idea and one I can recommend to other people. Other than that just be willing to work hard and face up to the creative and logistically challenges that will inevitably get in your way.

If you could have signed any act in Australia (part or present), who would it be?

Again an impossible scenario to access…there are just so many creative people making music in this country.

What do you think is the most important issue facing Australian music today?

The redefinition of the fringe/independent music scene verses the shifting role of major record labels/distributors – a global issue to be sure.

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