Our full catalogue is available for sale via Bandcamp. You can purchase LPs, CDs, and DLs there.
As Weather Volume 3: Budawang Mountains
Splitrec 33 – LP, CD and DL. Released April 19 2024
Jim Denley (gum-nut and flute) and the eternally orchestrating sonoverse
Now available is the third volume of Jim Denley’s as-weather musicking. This is the final part of the trilogy, In/With/As Weather Volumes 1-3 (splitrec 31, 32, and 33). This project has been emerging over the last four years musicking/recording with Budawang Mountains (Yuin Country) and Sydney Harbour (Gadigal Country). Splitrec believe this is a significant new addition to improvised music, ecological art, and to Country.
With Weather Volume 2: Gadigal Country
Splitrec 32 – double LP, double CD and DL. Released Sept 8 2023
Jim Denley – flute, gumnut, voice + avian, mammalian, arboreal, amphibian, industrial, and elemental musickin.
This is the second volume of Jim Denley’s With Weather series. Recorded 2021/22 at various places around the harbour east of the City of Sydney – Gadigal Country of the Eora Nation. This Country was never ceded and this music is a way of paying respects to Eora Elders past, present and emerging, and this Country‘s amazing soundscapes. Sydney’s sandstone basin is a highly charged liminal environment, full of resonances; material, historic, spiritual, political. It has bountiful presences (physical and nonphysical) where one can gain understandings of the world‘s sonic relations.
With Weather Volumes 1-3 show improvised music can express anti-anthropocentric and truly ecologizing orchestrations that treat the environment not as a resource for extraction but rather as an ongoing co-creation with non-human intimates.
Buy Lps AU $45, Cds $25, DL $15.
In Weather Volume 1: The Hidden Valley
splitrec 31 LP, CD and DL. Released December 2022
Aviva Endean – clarinets, plastic tubes, pocket amplifier and stones, Adam Gottlieb – stones and trees, Jim Denley – flute, gumnut, vocals and stones
Massimo Ricci wrote of Volume 1 in Touching Extremes:
“The Hidden Valley, recorded in the Budawang Mountains… is a classic example of improvisational ecology built on respect for the land and those who protect it… The genuine pleasure this writer experienced while deepening his knowledge of the quartet is equal to his ignorance of the geopolitical implications of the location in question. But none of this diminishes the enjoyment of the album. The performers appear wholly absorbed in the local environment, surrounded by organic, animal, and just faintly “modern” sounds… as they play – or beat – various types of wind instruments, objects, stones, trees… One must be open to noticing minutiae that, more than those of a musical statement, relate to priceless slivers of existence.”
Since the late 1980s Jim Denley has been musicking with the Hidden Valley, Budawang Mountains, regularly hanging out there to play/record. This volume, (the first of three eco-musical offerrings), presents audio recordings and drawings co-created over a few wonderful days there, with a band of human artists, critters, stones, trees and energies. Recorded in the Hidden Valley, Budawang Mountains, Yuin Nation, between November 22-24, 2021. The Hidden Valley is unceded Aboriginal land. We would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians, the Yuin people, on whose land these recordings are made. We pay respects to elders past, present and future.
Buy LP AU $25, CD $15, DL $10.
back, before – Great waitress
splitrec 30 CD and DL. Released Sept 16, 2022.
Back before the pandemic, on a Sydney night in June 2018, when Berlin based Magda Mayas (piano) was in Australia, with locals Laura Altman (clarinet and feedback) and Monica Brooks (accordion), Great Waitress came together again. When this trio play there is a magic world created that previously didn’t exist. One can try and analyse their music but it defies any reduction into parts, or individual actors, one can really only speak to the whole, Great Waitress become one, not just with each other, but with the spacetime. The beautiful recording that was made that night makes this wholeness manifest in the audio; back, before is a stunning phenomenon from this truly great improvised music group.
Buy CD AU$20 DL $10
submental – 180º
splitrec 29 CD and DL. Released July 1, 2019
180º formed in August 2018 – Nick Ashwood acoustic guitar, Jim Denley bass flute, and Amanda Stewart voice and text. Amanda and Jim first met in the late 1980s, founding Machine for Making Sense in 1989, as well as performing numerous duos over the years — a long and fruitful association. They’ve always been interested in what their music instinct can learn from language and vice versa. Nick is from the southern tip of Tasmania. Jim and Nick have been developing a strong association together the last 3 years, despite the distance from Hobart to Sydney, mainly listening, playing and recording in outdoor spaces. 180º has been working on a set of studio recordings, that have become this release, Submental. The word refers to anatomy beneath the chin, mentum – Latin for chin. There are a number of triangular spaces and muscles in the human neck.
Buy CD AU $20, DL $10
parasite – Rhys Mottley
splitrec 28 CD and DL
Rhys Mottley crouches above his acoustic guitar bowing, scraping and plucking with numerous and disparate objects to mute, distort, activate and stop. The body of the instrument is riddled with parasitic attachments such as street sweeper needles, bottle caps, blu tack, drill bits, chopsticks and brackets collected by the artist’s creative eye in day to day life. There are no electrical devices, just gesture exciting objects and strings.
While these gestural techniques are innovative, it’s his unique focus on the three pieces Gut Feeling, Throat Feeling and Ear Feeling that we at Splitrec find so compelling. With mics close on either side, every detail of the resonating guitar and distant traffic, trucks, cars and planes of Tempe Jets and surrounds are revealed and listened to with forensic patience.
Buy CD AU$20 DL $10
Mungo – Splinter Orchestra
splitrec 27 3 x CD and DL
“There are periods of overwhelming beauty here, but more often I feel like this music accompanies you. You can be in it, be with it. It’s not demanding but it is as engaging as you let it be.” Joseph Cummings in Loudmouth
The 3 CD set, ‘
MUNGO’, their first release in 10 years, (since splitrec 17) presents an argument for a creative collective, sensitive to time/space — one that treats all the participants, be they performers, other species, or the wind, as equal players.
Over the previous two years, they’d honed specific strategies involving motion that manifest differently wherever and whenever they are played out. These procedures were taken to the dry lakebed in far west NSW.
Buy CDs AU$30, DL $15
Avocado – Peter Farrar
splitrec 26 LP, CD and DL
As listeners to the experimental, improvised, Jazz, Ethiopian and style-free music communities in Sydney will testify, Peter Farrar has been doing astonishing solos the last few years.
He’s been honing techniques that use various extensions on his alto sax, (mainly plastic bags and bottles as mutes). Instead of an instrumental line, he produces startling layers of distorted tones and overtones with pervasive, insistent, generative rhythms. This is pioneering research — he has re-imagined the instrument.
More info Buy LP AU$25, CD $20, DL $10
Switches and Hose – Dale Gorfinkel
splitrec 25 LP, CD and DL
Dale Gorfinkel is a multi-instrumentalist, improviser, instrument creator and installation artist. Dale’s work aims to reflect an awareness of the dynamic nature of culture & the value of listening as a mode of knowing people & places. He is interested in finding fresh ways of presenting and making music, bringing creative communities together & shifting perceived boundaries of scenes, styles & artforms. His first solo release reflects this diversity of interests and approaches. He has chosen 4 pieces, each radically different.
More info Buy LP AU$25, CD $20, DL $10
Truancy – Jim Denley, Cor Fuhler
splitrec 24 LP, CD and DL
Jim Denley and Dutch musician Cor Fuhler, (who tragically died in 2020) first met at the Taklos Festival in Switzerland in the early 1990s and Cor’s frequent visits to Australia over the years gave them the opportunity to occasionally play. In 2012 Cor moved to Sydney, allowing them to ramp up the duo — this was their first release together. Over 7 weeks at the end of 2013 they recorded weekly in Cor’s backyard studio, eventually choosing take 9 and 12, titling them Skive and Wag.
Their imaginative preparations and inventions mean that listeners will find it hard to believe they are playing saxophone and piano, and at times, be unable to distinguish between the two players. They don’t accept clichés about instrumental notions and fashionable schools (new and old). But Truancy isn’t just about opting out, rather, time away from institutions has been devoted to generating new sounds and structures.
More info Buy LP AU$25, CD AU$20, DL $10
Tokyo 1972 – TELETOPA
splitrec CD23 and LP23
Geoffrey Collins – flute, percussion and electronics
Roger Frampton – sax, percussion and electronics
Peter Evans – percussion and electronics
David Ahern – violin, percussion and electronics.
In the early 1970’s, Sydney had a group at the forefront of musical experimentation with a unique take on free improvisation.
The discovery of a box of lost tapes hidden away in a garage for over four decades has led to the first ever release of substantial recordings from Teletopa – Tokyo 1972. The release includes an original Manifesto by Ahern about the group and a potted history of the group by Geoffrey Barnard.
Buy LP (x3) AU$50, CD (x2) $35, DL $15
lucid – Great Waitress
splitrec CD22
Magda Mayas – piano, Laura Altman – clarinet, Monica Brooks – accordion
“…blurring of instrumental identities in a collective exploration of timbral and textural possibilities…”
“…music – or rather, I’d argue, sound-art – that results from careful, minute attention to production of individual sounds…” The Wire, October 2011 – Andy Hamilton
“If spiders have musical dreams while spinning webs, they might sound like the fragile wisps of sound created by Great Waitress.”
Sydney Morning Herald, December 9, 2011 – John Shand
Buy CD AU$20, DL $10
a closely woven fabrik – West Head Project
splitrec CD21
Dale Gorfinkel – prepared trumpet, tree roots + automated sonic contraptions, Jim Denley – bamboo + czech school flutes, balloons, alto sax, Monica Brooks – accordion, Anthony Magen – recording.
For a number of years as West Head Project, we’ve been making site specific sound events and recordings at outdoor locations – initially these were held at West Head in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. This disc documents our work on Maria Island, off the east coast of Tasmania, where we created performances for ’10 Days on the Island Festival’ and Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania.
“Careful listening confirms the musicians’ sympathetic interaction with the captured natural sound. This also substantiates why the overall session works as well ecologically as musically.” Ken Waxman – Jazz Word
Buy CD AU$20, DL $10
c a l i b r a t e d – b l i p
splitrec CD20
Jim Denley – wind instruments and Mike Majkowski – double bass pitch pipes and objects.
Mike Majkowski and Jim Denley formed b l i p in 2008. They’ve been members of the Splinter Orchestra (splitrec 17) since 2002. c a l i b r a t e d was recorded one afternoon in Narrabeen, Sydney, 24th August 2010 from 2pm – 4pm.
“calibrated, while exploring sound material richly and profoundly, is nevertheless musical, sensitive, intense, strong and compelling. Recommended!” – Improv Sphere
“It is impossible not to appreciate that the music-making undertaken on calibrated is part of a rich and ongoing conversation between two of Australia’s most engaging improv artists.”
Gail Priest – RealTime
Buy CD AU$20, DL $10
GERM STUDIES for Guzheng and DX7 – Chris Abrahams, DX7, Clare Cooper, Guzheng –
splitrec CD19 double CD + poster
From the 1st track on disc 1, Acid Shower – 0.16, to the last track on disc 2, Angry Climax – 0.36, small scale is rigorously adhered to, but the end result is a major statement over the 198 tracks. It’s as if each of the microorganisms has all the information to develop into bigger organisms – there are some fecund moments, but the players keep moving on. In the end though, the resulting macrostructure of the 2 CDs, is formally unique.
“…the analogy with germs is entirely appropriate – pieces flit to life like mating cells, making skewed, surprise lurches and appearing generally feverish throughout. The interplay between artists is never less than enthralling, their actions raw, revealing, and lovingly recorded, a ceaseless procession of sounds veering off in all directions. Instrumentally its an odd pairing, sure, but seen as an updated form of the violin sonata, in Webern-esque miniature, drawn by post-onkyo minimalists, it begins to make sense.” Joshua Meggitt – Cyclic Defrost
To Buy write to splitrec@worldpacific.com.au CD (x2) AU$35
Sonic Systems Laboratory
splitrec CD18
Dale Gorfinkel and Robbie Avenaim with radical approaches to the vibraphone. Interview
Their instruments are microtonally prepared and activated by machines instead of the usual mallets, resulting in a variety of unusual textures. Their music is like waking up to an alarm clock, only in reverse; the hypnotic quality of the sound pulling the listener into a dream world. Alarm bells give way to scenes of old children’s toys, followed by distant propellers and, finally, cats purring. By the end, Avenaim and Gorfinkel are literally shaking the sound from their instruments.
“Whatever preconceptions you may have about what a vibraphone should sound like, cast them aside now…a beautifully crafted 32 minute improvisation.” Brian Marley – Wire
Buy CD AU$20.00, DL $10
The Splinter Orchestra
splitrec CD17
In late 2006 a 24 piece Splinter recorded at studio 301 in Sydney a new set of improvisations and procedural compositions, brilliantly recorded by Richard Belkner.
“The result is eerie and weirdly beautiful; more diaphanous then dense, which is a tribute to both the subtlety of the interaction and the sophistication of the recording. Remarkable.” John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald
“A CD whose subtle progression rewards careful listening“– Ken Waxman, In MusicWorks
Buy CD AU$20.00, DL $10
Through Fire, Crevice + the Hidden Valley – Jim Denley
splitrec CD16
From the 18th of May 2006, I spent 15 days armed with sax, camera, audio recorders, food and a solar recharger in the Budawang Mountains, a wilderness area in the Morton National Park, South West of Nowra on the east coast of Australia. These mountains are full of dramatic and rugged rock formations, caves, crevices and a hidden valley – it’s a wonderland of natural acoustics. Presumably people have been making music in these spaces for thousands of years, but it’s almost certain sax hasn’t been heard there before. JD.
“This is music at it’s most primal, enhancing the beauty of creation.”
John Shand – Sydney Morning Herald
This CD won an Honorary Mention in the Digital Music catagory of the Prix Ars Electronica, 2007.
Buy CD AU$20.00, DL $10
Gleanings – Scott Sinclair: guitar, objects Jim Denley: altosax. voice
splitrec CD15
Recorded at the UTS studios in Sydney May 2005 by Inge Olmheim, this duo finds Sinclair (Botborg) and Denley in a sprawling noisy, and much picked over area of activity – the guitar sax duo – but managing to sustain themselves with some overlooked discoveries.
“I could sit and listen to Denley’s slow intake of air for hours on end. The sound is that exciting. Don’t mistake this duo for a noise fest. It’s as far from that as night is from day. Rather, these two corral the tiniest sounds from the most common of instruments imaginable.” Tom Sekowski – Gazeta
Buy CD AU$15.00, DL $10
Findings – Peter Blamey + Jim Denley
splitrec CD14
“Together they produce four pieces of music, which are simply great. Beyond pure improvisation, this incorporates musique concrete, electronic music and electro-acoustics.” Frans de Ward – Vital Weekly Recorded March 2006 Sydney
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/set/7.htm
Buy CD AU$15.00, DL $10
hydration – Jim Denley
splitrec CDR5
A series of explorations using altosax to journey to the centre of the body.
“As an introduction to a remarkable talent, this is spot on.” Brian Morton – Wire
Recorded Sydney June 2005.
Buy CD AU$15.00, DL $7
Creoles – Clayton Thomas: double bass Jim Denley: alto
splitrec CDR7
“Encompassing mini reed squeaks and heavy sul ponticello and sul tasto string pulses, the concentrated rumble of buzzed bass lines is interrupted time and again by concussive tongue-fluttering, key percussion, and lip and tongue osculation. These split tones almost seem to vibrate from the gooseneck itself rather than the mouthpiece or reed and eventually, Thomas’ barrage of shuffled spiccato lines turn to cavern-deep-pitched tremolo vibrations spiced occasionally with Denley’s distant wah-wahs.” ken waxman
Recorded Sydney June 2005.
Buy CD AU$15.00. DL $7
Distinctions – Axel Doerner: trumpet, Jim Denley: wind instruments
splitrec CDR6
“Distinctions has a moody involvement that pulls you ever inward towards the speakers to catch every slight inflection and every moment of not-quite silence. I switched to headphones for a second listen, and bugger me, there’s a whole other spectrum of sound buried away in there. It’s an astonishing record, one that deserves the widest possible distribution.” Brian Morton – The Wire. “Music reconceived, still generating surprises and still exciting.” Julian Crowley – The Wire
Recorded Sydney Feb 2004.
Buy CD AU$15.00, DL $7
A walk in the palm forest with my sax – Jim Denley
splitrec CDR8 (mini cdr)
‘Tape and Paint Game’ is one of a terrific batch of recent releases by Denley on Split. My favourite is ‘A Walk in the Palm Forest With My Saxophone’- absolutely fascinating”. Brian Marley, Bagatellen
Binaural mikes were attached to my knees and I then walked and played in a Palm forest on the Queensland coast, near Kepple Sands. We were in the middle of a drought, so the fallen fronds were brittle and dry. My mother had recently died and this became my elegy to her. JD. Recorded Nov 2004 Kepple Sands. “…wonderful…” Wire
Buy DL $5
Tape and Paint Game – Joel Stern: laptop + field recordings, Jim Denley: alto + field recordings
splitrec CDR9
“The whole things sounds surprisingly electronic, with the saxophone playing usually a sustained note, rather than free-form melodies. The whole encounter of eight tracks breaths a very vibrant and lively atmosphere. All together a most enjoyable release, a well-done mixture of improvisation and composition.” Frans de Ward – Vital
Recorded Melbourne and Brisbane 2003/04.
Buy CD AU$15.00, DL $7
Tibooburra – Jim Denley: flutes + recordings, Stevie Wishart: hurdy gurdy, violin + recordings
splitrec CD8
The tiny town of Tibooburra (place amongst the stones) in far west N.S.W, was the settings for collaboration between myself, Stevie Wishart and Heidrun Loehr (photography). The desert is alive with sounds, both “natural” and man made. Jim Denley
Buy CD AU$15.00, DL $7
consciousness – Machine for Making Sense + guests: Tony Buck, Greg Kingston, Carolyn Connors
splitrec CD7
“Though mfms sounds like a single complex organism, it is not synchronised like a shoal of darting fish. Within the group the degrees of independence, dependence and interdependence are hard to fathom – much like human consciousness itself.” Brian Marley – Avant
In 1996 mfms took over the ABC radio studios in Sydney for a 4 hr multi-stage event that no one person could have seen or heard in its entirety. The audience was free to wander between the studios, control rooms and the massive Atrium where machinations were continuous for the 4 hrs. From this raw ‘fester’ comes the ‘Consciousness’ edit. The second piece on the CD, Collective is another live recording from the Performance Space, Sydney with the group paired back to its essential quartet.
Featuring: Chris Mann, Amanda Stewart, Jim Denley, Rik Rue, Stevie Wishart with Greg Kingston, Carolyn Connors and Tony Buck.
Buy CD AU$15.00, DL $7
dissect the body – Machine for Making Sense + guests: Trey Spruance Jamie Ludbrook, Satsuki Odamura
splitrec CD6
“Where does music come from? What does it mean? In a time of overrated technological parading here comes a group of Australians set up in a Machine for Making Sense who bring us some startling answers and plunge us into the heart of the creative collective act. Rarely has improvised music been able to offer such a high degree of renewal.” Jacques Oger, France Jazz 98
Buy CD AU$15.00, DL $7
I / T – Amanda Stewart – voice and text
here and there books + splitrec CD5
“This one has been years in the making. It’s an elegant CD and Book set of Amanda Stewart‘s solo work in sound, visual, concrete, political, and text-based poetry, covering a period of 16 years from 1981 – 1997. Those who don’t know her work will be amazed to discover a major voice in Australian composition. This CD/Book is clearly in the must-have category, both from the musical and literary points of view.” Warren Burt -Experimental Musical Instruments
CD & Book available for AU$50.00 – write to splitrec@worldpacific.com.au
talk is cheap – Machine for Making Sense
splitrec CD4 1997
“this Machine spits out beautiful noise first and foremost, mimicking the world, but distilling its languages.” – Keith Gallasch Real Time
Buy DL AU$7.00
sonic hieroglyphs from the night continent – Jim Denley: alto sax, flute + mini disks
splitrec CD3 1997
“..traversing as complete and encyclopaedic a range of extended wind techniques as one could wish for, here the techniques are used in the service of a poetic vision of landscape that both refers to the ongoing engagement with landscape that has been a constant feature of Australian art for about 20,000 years, and also deals with contemporary ideas of structure in refreshing and original way.” Warren Burt – Experimental Musical Instruments
Buy CD AU$15.00, DL $7
If it’s not on it’s not on – Mind Body Split
splitrec LP01
Splitrec was set up in 1989 to release this LP.
“A supergroup of local experimental musicians, Mind/Body/Split sounded like nothing else I’ve heard before or since. The lineup gives some indication of what they were doing: Sherre Delys on vocals and text, Jim Denley on wind instruments, the late Jamie Fielding on electronic keyboards, Rik Rue on tape manipulations and Kimmo Vennonen on electronic manipulations.
Each track is a brilliant conceptual piece, whether dealing with gender politics (Mr Man, In a Certain Position), religion (Save You’ll Save), language (Poetry Full of Holes) or the paranoid politics of the day (The Walls Have Ears, Particles). For experimental music, it’s also very accessible, with a playful sense of adventure and fun, such as on the track Intermission, which features a cheesy organ playing while glasses are smashed. This album is a great introduction to the local experimental music scene of the time.” Shannon O’Neill writing in Cyclic Defrost
Available as DL on Bandcamp.
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