Larceny of Love (2008) is the debut album of The Jilted Brides.  In late 2007, I had a number of tracks lying around in varying forms of development, diverse in style but united in that they all explored themes of heartache, spiritual yearnings and a journey through the dark night of the soul.  My filmmaker friend Tanya Andrea Stadelmann had been having similar feelings, and to cut a very long story short, by the end of January 2007, we had recorded and produced a whole album in 6 weeks flat.  Dreamy, psychedelic folk in style, Larceny uses a mixture of analogue synthesizers and live instruments, and includes a bit of country twang and breathy Brigid Bardot vocals. The second half of the album features three ‘electronic hymns’, deep, mystical meditations using electronics and choir.  Americans liked this album so much, it triggered my (and Tanya’s) journey from Australia to the USA with all the associated adventures that are still ongoing.

Recording process: 6 weeks of multitracking in my shed in the sweltering Melbourne heat

Released by: Uh Oh Music (Pittsburgh)

Dust put out a five track demo in 2005 to send off to radio and venues.  Some of these tracks did not make it to our first (and only album) ‘Songs’ recorded 2 years later.  I have included those tracks here for nostalgia’s sake, they have a reverb drenched, shoe-gazer/ soulful quality. A newer version of Indrawn Breath did make it to the Dust album, and The Jilted Brides also do a live version of this track.  The version here has a fragile, mesmerizing quality.  One 3RRR radio announcer enthused that our demo was the best record (he didn’t know it wasn’t released) he had heard in a long time, and described our sound as “psychedelic pagan gospel”.

Recording process: five people in my shed jamming into Pro-Tools

Released by: Not released.

Songs (2007) was Dusts’ first and only album.  It is a very deliberate attempt to capture the feel of a ‘classic album’ from the early ’70s. As one reviewer put it: “This mature and sophisticated album brings the best aspects of progressive folk, psychedelic pop and alternative country together in a way that is fresh yet nolstalgic. There are shades of artists who came to prominence in the ’70s such as Jefferson Starship, Pink Floyd, Neil Young and Fairport Convention. But this band uses these influences to create something exciting.” Others have noticed the high production values, remarkable given the band recorded everything ourselves with the most basic of equipment.  It was a very sad day in late 2007 when life circumstances forced the band apart after 4 wonderful years – Dust bit the dust.  But I continue to play many of our songs with The Jilted Brides.

Recording process: sneaking into school recording studios after hours. Doing endless takes in my shed and Mark’s home studio. Post-production by Byron Scullin.

Released by: Independent/ Psy-Harmonics

Electro-Lollipop-Explosion was my first solo album, released in 1998. I described the music as “funky-acid-electro-lounge”, which is pretty accurate.  ’70s vibe throughout: one reviewer said “If you’ve ever wondered what velour sounds like, then listen to this record”.  Got tons of great reviews, and was even hailed by some as the best electronic release of the year.  Highly idiosyncratic.

Recording process: 100% analogue ‘live’ recording, no multitracking or digital editing.

Released by: Melbourne Underground Konsortium/Shock.

Libraries Are Fun (2002) was my second solo album.  It was my ultimate coming out as a book nerd, and a bit of a reaction to  the increasing dumbing down and commercialization of the rave/ techno scene. I received a grant from the Yarra City Council libraries network to promote this album.  I even got a profile in Australia’s national librarian journal, posters for my album went up in municipal libraries around the country, and I got fan emails from librarians for a while. Continues with the lo-fi funky ’70s vibe of Electro-Lollipop-Explosion, and includes some tracks from my compilation vinyl series Stoner Classix.

Recording process: 100% analogue ‘live’ recording, no multitracking or digital editing.

Released by: Creative Vibes

Stoner Classix Volume 1 was the first in my Stoner Classix vinyl series, which I had intended to reach Volume 6, but only got as far as Volume 3 before my money ran out.  This volume features all my own tunes, but Volumes 2 and 3 were compilations, featuring my favorite local artists (such as Dark Network and Disco Stu) and international artists (such as Khan).  I described the sound of Stoner 1 as “lo-fi hillbilly funk” and as the (tongue in cheek) name suggests, the atmosphere is very trippy and eccentric.

Treats include samples of rare recordings from Captain Beefheart, and the first edition of my comic  called Pigeon Coup.  Each Stoner release originally featured a new edition of Pigeon Coup, lovingly stuffed by hand into its psychedelic sleeves.   Myself and Aaron Doty (who does the incredible Crumb-esque artwork) continued to produce Pigeon Coup episodes long after the Stoner series ended.  Episodes can be found on-line here: www.vollutin.com

There is still a diminishing stash of Stoner Classix vinyl available from Psy-Harmonics distributors in Australia. And in late 2007, Aaron and I finally published a nice glossy compilation of all the Pigeon Coup episodes to date, including an endorsement by Jim Woodring, one of the most revered alternative comic book writers in the world.

Recording process: 100% analogue ‘live’ recording, no multitracking or digital editing.  Beanbags and headphones.

Released by: Melbourne Underground Konsortium.

Purchasing info:

Contact Andrew Till for Stoner Classix orders: andrew@psy-harmonics.com.au

Click here to buy the Pigeon Coup comix collection: http://www.vollutin.com/

2020 was B(if)tek’s second album, released by Sony in 2000 as we started to climb to the peak of our popularity. Its a very upbeat album, and features all the tracks that ever received any major airplay on TV and radio in Australia.  Highlights include ‘We Think You’re Dishy’, our Giorgio Moroder-esque electro-disco hit. Also included, our version of Cliff Richard’s brilliant 1982 pop hit ‘Wired for Sound’,  sung with a sinister sweet knowingness by cult diva Julee Cruise (of Twin Peaks/ David Lynch fame).  While it was great to have the resources of a major label behind us for a while, we did not have Top 40 aspirations, which is all major labels really care about, and we left Sony by mutual agreement 18 months later.

Recording process: Mostly analogue ‘live’ recording: “Wired for Sound” multitracked.

Released by: Sony

Purchasing info: You can still buy remaining stock of this album (including a beautiful double vinyl release) by contacting Andrew Till: andrew@psy-harmonics.com.au