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Central Lawn, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne – April 7

Walking through the park at peak picnicking time, on the main picnicking day of the week, in the middle of school holidays, is not the best idea I’ve ever had. Screaming kids, runaway balls, giant inquisitive geese, and strange tourists are everywhere. But I’m not here to inflict this torture on myself; I’m here to take part in Noise Flash, a small-scale experiment of improvised electronic music broadcasting on low-range transmitters to the headphone and portable-radio-clad listeners roaming the grassy knoll.

I arrived a bit early, so I found a shady spot and waited for the 1pm start. All sorts of characters turned up for the event; the old, the young, the bearded, the tattooed, mothers, hippies and even a few conquering the grassed hill on crutches. The growing mass of head-phoned people put those who thought Central Lawn made a nice picnic spot on edge, especially when observers mistook picnickers for performers, lingering too close for comfort from their Mersey Valley and water-thins.

Once I tuned my portable radio (borrowed from my mum) to the 108FM frequency, I was ready for 45 minutes of auditory exploration. This is what I witnessed.

1.06 I’m off to a slow start, mainly because I find approaching the lone artists uncomfortable, especially in broad daylight as opposed to when I’m used to some dingy venue with sticky carpet. I soon get over this and walk past a guy patting, shaking and jumping on a long metal rope. Once my radio caught his transmission, I see the method to his madness. A drone-like buzz was running through the rope, and by touching it in various ways he manipulates its sound by breaking the drone’s circuit. He even began using two bikes that were perched nearby as conductors in his act.

1.14 A man in a pointed hood cape sings through a PVC pipe funnel, manipulating it with three pedals to create a Darth Vader-esque sound.

1.20 A 40-something guy broadcasts screechy electronic melodies accompanied by a deep pulsating beat from his MacBook.

1.24 I move to where a crowd is accumulating. From under an oak tree floats a loud pop sound comprised of recorded domestic argument samples.

1.26 Half hidden in a bush is a guy looping short snappy phrases from his mini-electric guitar.

1.27 As I dodge the goose poo on the lawn I hear two young dudes sampling audio of people declaring reasons why they chose Christianity.

1.29 From that, I move to a man perched on a colorful Mexican rug, creating buzzy pop from a contraption that looks like a home-made version of the board game Operation.

1.30 I move back across the lawn to listen to the clearest broadcast of the afternoon, a cassette-looped, lo-fi soundscape.

1.32 A guy with a bandanna over his mouth attacks a circuit board powered by an AA battery with twists and turns of his nimble fingers.

1.33 Ethereal sounds from cassette tapes are looped, over and over, making slow, undulating, hypnotic music.

1.36 A lady with a Wii remote and a MacBook manipulates the air.

1.38 A guy under a tree makes a lush output on his iPad.

1.39 Hidden to the side of the lawn is a lady blowing on what seems like some type of whistle. It sounded like the whistle was constipated and really wanted to take a dump. I stayed for a fleeting second, but had to move on for fear of laughing in her face.

1.40 A heavily tattooed guy fiddles around with guitar pedals.

1.44 With one minute to go, I listen to a guy with the most impressive pedal board I’ve seen in a long time.

After 45 minutes, I’m left with sore and sweaty ears under heavy-duty headphones and some pesky sunburn on my forehead that will most likely turn to freckles. But on a more intellectual level, my eyes are now open a little wider to the world of experimental music.

Apparently a similar event is on the horizon. Stay in the loop and like them on Facebook if that’s your thing: www.facebook.com/NoiseFlash

Lot's Wife Editors

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