Stuart Buchanan.
Broadcaster & Curator.
© Stuart Buchanan 2018.
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New Weird Australia

New Weird Australia – Real Time Arts Interview

In this new video from Real Time Arts, I talk to Gail Priest about the past, present and future of New Weird Australia. RealTime is Australia’s critical guide to international contemporary arts. Our focus is on innovation in performance (live art, experimental theatre, dance, music, sound), photomedia, film, video, interactive media and hybrid arts. The realtimearts.net website offers a comprehensive view of Australian contemporary art with an international perspective, combining the ...

New Weird Australia – VAGRANT dates & line-ups announced

(cross posted from newweirdaustralia.com) VAGRANT is New Weird Australia’s travelling gig series – a pop-up club-night with no fixed abode and an open-source platform for eclectic and experimental Australian music.  Following its Sydney launch with GUERRE, SCISSOR LOCK and MAJOR NAPIER, VAGRANT travels the country during July 2012, calling at Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcastle, Perth & Adelaide. MELBOURNE – SUNDAY 8TH JULY (TODAY!) VAGRANT #2 NAPS, WOOSHIE, KANE IKIN, BABA ...

Three new projects marking three years of New Weird Australia

Pictured: Emily Grantham – releasing her debut EP on the new Wood & Wire label. (cross posted from newweirdaustralia.com) Since its launch in June 2009, New Weird Australia has supported and promoted hundreds of artists at home and overseas through its compilation series, live events and other initiatives. To celebrate its third birthday, New Weird Australia is launching three new projects: an open-source, pop-up gig series titled ‘Vagrant‘; a new digital record label, ...

New on New Editions – Thomas William, Scissor Lock & Strange Forces

(cross posted from newweirdaustralia.com) New Editions, the label imprint for New Weird Australia, winds up its first series of releases with two new albums on January 4th 2012 – from Thomas William vs Scissor Lock and Strange Forces. Since launching in 2010, the series has released albums and EPs from Caught Ship, Blake Freele, Paneye, TANTRUMS, No Zu, Kris Keogh, Forenzics and Spartak.  Each release has been available in both physical and digital formats.  The final two releases in ...

New Weird Australia – Axxonn National Tour

In January & February 2011, former Brisbane-based artist AXXONN (Tom Hall) gathered up his keyboards and subsonic fuzz for a trip around the country to support his album ‘Let’s Get It Straight’. The tour was presented by NEW WEIRD AUSTRALIA, and as director of the project, I acted (somewhat sporadically) as the tour manager. The tour marked New Weird Australia’s inaugural national Australian excursion after a string of Sydney events and nearly two years of compilation ...

New Weird Australia – Scattered Order at The Excelsior

Scattered Order are one of the most unique bands in the history of Sydney’s experimental and electronic music scene – founders of the M Squared record label in the 1970s, a home for artists such as Systematics and Makers of the Dead Travel Fast, and a beacon for emerging underground artists around the country. Reforming their original line-up in 2009, I shot this video when Scattered Order played a set for New Weird Australia in January 2011 at the Excelsior in Sydney, in support of their ...

Kusum Normoyle & Horse MacGyver at Refraction versus New Weird Australia

Here’s two videos I shot at the recent Refraction versus New Weird Australia event at Serial Space, which featured Tom Hall, Kusum Normoyle, Horse MacGyver and Jordan Dorjee. Refraction is dedicated to the support, mentorship and development of student projects as they take their practice from the classroom to the community. Special thanks to Emily McDaniel. Above: Kusum Normoyle / Below: Horse MacGyver

New Weird Australia Interview in The Brag

A full page feature on New Weird Australia in The Brag magazine, previewing the Sydney gig featuring Paint Your Golden Face (pictured), Alps, Caught Ship and Karoshi.  If nothing else, the article proves once and for all that swearing is cool.  ‘Fart’, however, is borderline. Full article: Stu Buchanan’s name is unfamiliar to most, but he could be one of Australia’s most important champions of innovative music. After a three year stint as the general manager of FBi Radio he ...

From Pulpit To Pew – Mess & Noise on New Weird Australia at Sound Summit

Mess and Noise today published an in-depth review of the New Weird Australia live show at Sound Summit by Kate Hennessey, reprinted below. A picture of the Pope is propped on a ledge behind the stage at Newcastle‘s Renew Church. People drift in from the rain outside and sidle quietly into chairs. Trapped within the cheap frame, bathed in mellow red stage lights, the Pope watches on, fading even further into weary benevolence. It’s Sunday afternoon and the church is home to the second ...

Mess & Noise Interview

New Weird Australia was featured in Mess & Noise, ahead of the inaugural Sound Summit Showcase in October 2009, in a Q&A article by Kate Hennessy.  Interview reprinted below. New Weird Australia (NWA) slipped onto the scene in July 2009, releasing Volume One in a compilation series featuring new, eclectic and experimental Australian-only music. Available for free from the NWAwebsite, it has so far racked up 3000 downloads, withVolume Two released this month. There’s no specific ...

Introducing New Weird Australia

For a while, I’ve been looking for an outlet to best explore, promote and galvanise the weird / experimental music scene in my current home of Australia. This country has a long and vital history of experimental music, however until the birth of the internet age, this rich seam of avant-garde audio remained largely confined to its geographic borders. Over the last ten years, emerging Australian artists have found new avenues and new audiences thanks to international digital ...