david chesworth: the unattended serge 1978/five evolutionary things 1979

The 20 years-old young David Chesworth experiments with the gigantic Serge synth that occupies half the room of the Latrobe University electronic studio. On the traces of pioneers such as Tristram Cary or Warren Burt, a new avant-garde is blooming in Sidney and Melbourne with bands like Severed Heads, The Makers, The Loop Orchestra, and the like. David Chesworth will soon play a major role by coordinating the Clifton Hill Community Music Centre in Melbourne, by co-founding the cult label Innocent Records and by playing in acts such as Essendon Airport, The Dave And Phil Duo, → ↑ →, as well as conducting a solo career. He would later become one of the leading figures in contemporary sculpture and sound installation in Australia and abroad and a recognized and awarded composer with his The David Chesworth Ensemble. His first solo LP titled 50 Synthesizer Greats! was released in 1979 and recorded in the same period as the LP presented here. While his first LP is a compilation of very short and eclectic tracks, "Five Evolutionary Things 79" and "The Unattended Serge 78" are structured as suites. Drawing skeletons for pop tunes to come, these minimal electronic pieces are at times very experimental but never brutal, reminding of the best moments of Udder Milk Decay's Take a Teat or sharing the apparent naïve melancholia of Harmonia's Musik Von Harmonia. Hints of elegant musique concrète à la François Bayle can be heard, but also out of space blip-beats, as if Pietro Grossi or Erkki Kurenniemi went groovy. This beautiful, unknown gem of ozzy underground is now available for your ears in an edition limited to 300 copies.