Melbourne’s iconic Federation Bells are set for a techno reimagining as electronic producer Elisabeth DIXON premieres an exclusive commissioned work with a free outdoor bush-doof in the city alongside the Yarra. Layering meditative drones beneath dark industrial beats, Dixon’s approach to sound design is rooted in both hypnotic, trance-inducing experience and the aggressive frenzy of industrial techno. Hear Dixon steer this public sound sculpture into wild new territory with a ground-breaking original set, supported by the hard-hitting drum and bass infused electro of NERVE and bass-heavy melodic techno of DJ-RMR.
Free admission, 8pm – 11pm
This performance will be held at Middle Terrace, Birrarung Marr as part of Night Noodle Markets. Please note there will be bag checks at all entries, no alcohol in our out of the venue and IDs will be checked at the bars for anyone who looks 25 years or younger. For more information visit the Night Noodle Markets website. Visit goodfoodmonth.com/melbourne/night-noodle-markets for more information.
ELISABETH DIXON is a producer/live performer (Melbourne, Australia) specialising in experimental techno/EDM. Layering meditative drones beneath dark industrial beats, her approach to sound design is rooted in both hypnotic, trance inducing experience and the aggressive frenzy of industrial techno. Having performed steadily since her emergence in 2015, Dixon has played dance floors from the Mercat to Revolver, abandoned warehouses to Lounge, alongside respected artists like Daze, Chiara Kickdrum, Sleep D & OAKE (Berlin). Elisabeth Dixon’s debut LP, entitled ‘LP1’, is slated for release on October 5th 2016 on vinyl/digital through Trait Records (Melbourne) and Instruments of Discipline (Berlin). https://instrumentsofdiscipline.bandcamp.com/album/lp1
NERVE is the solo moniker of Melbourne electronic artist Joshua Wells. NERVE has released three EP’s of drum and bass infused electro on Moopie’s esteemed A Colourful Storm label while contributing remixes and recordings to Steeplejack, Vienna Press & Nice Music. As Nerve, Wells has frequented the Australian live circuit, performing alongside Legowelt, Samuel Kerridge, Container, Beau Wanzer, Regis, Marshstepper & My Disco. https://acolourfulstorm.com/album/sharpshooter
RMR (Rachael MacRae) is a Melbourne based techno & electronic music DJ. She grew up listening to metal, punk rock & playing the bass guitar. Her love of loud music & bass evolved into dark, bass-heavy melodic techno. She relates to music and dancing as a form of therapy through which we can reconnect with the present, body and other. Performing since 2012, she’s shared the decks with international techno artists including Blush_Response, Borusaide, Prosumer and Nastia Reigel, and played alongside local talents including DJ Kiti, Λ / Π, Chiara Kickdrum and Adrian Bell. https://soundcloud.com/dj-rmr
Set times:
8 – 9pm: DJ RMR
9 – 9.45pm: Nerve (live)
9.45 – 10.15pm: DJ RMR
10.15 – 11pm: Elisabeth Dixon (live)
Cale Sexton - "Sustain"
City of Melbourne and Heavy Machinery Records proudly present:
Cale Sexton – Sustain (world premiere)
Friday 28 June, 8pm
Free admission, no bookings required
The Federation Bells are set for a spaced-out re-imagining as cosmic electronica genius Cale Sexton premieres his new original work “Sustain” commissioned by City of Melbourne.
Hear the iconic outdoor sound sculpture like never before as Sexton combines the Bells with fresh realms of cinematic electro-synth and interstellar ambient techno in this very special free outdoor concert.
Sexton’s most recent album “Melondrama” (Butter Sessions) received rave reviews and has set him up as one of the true innovators in contemporary Australian electronica.
Don’t miss the world premiere of this new commissioned work as Sexton melds with Melbourne’s computer-controlled music robot to present a truly unique sonic experience.
Melbourne Knowledge Week and City of Melbourne present:
Undertow: A sound journey through Melbourne’s lost waterways
Installation: Monday 20 May – Sunday 26 May, 8am–10.30am, 12pm–2:30pm, 4.30pm-7pm
Feature performance: Thursday 23 May 7.30pm
Listen to the historical patterns of Melbourne’s waterways with Undertow, a data-inspired musical installation at the Federation Bells by sound artist Bridget Chappell. Stop by the Bells during Melbourne Knowledge Week for a sound journey through the city’s original network of rivers, creeks and marshland.
This captivating new work draws on the City of Melbourne’s OpenData platform, which tracks the city’s water management, to paint an aural picture of the Birrarung River (the Yarra) and Narrm Bay (Port Phillip) over the last 185 years – the duration of European colonisation of and drastic reshaping of the region’s waterways.
World-class local pianist and composer, Barney McAll, premieres Trilogy of Cycles at Birrarung Marr’s Federation Bells.
Presented by the City of Melbourne for its premiere at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, the composition will feature live interactive improvisation with the bells, an ensemble of musicians and McAll masterfully leading the interplay on keyboards and his self-made instrument “Chucky” (various music boxes, glockenspiel, kalimba and electronics), creating an unforgettably ethereal soundscape on the banks of the Yarra River.
CLING CLANG is a compilation of new original dark electronic works specially commissioned for the City of Melbourne’s extraordinary outdoor industrial sound sculpture the Federation Bells.
Ear-shearing techno, pounding EBM, experimental electronics and minimal wave atmospherics will meld with the exotic sounds of this peculiar public percussion robot: creating a world-exclusive sound art / dark dance hybrid – perfect for music nerds, electro goths and techno enthusiasts alike.
Zanias was born in Melbourne and raised in the sweltering rainforests of Southeast Asia by a tropical biologist. She found her voice in the now-defunct projects Linea Aspera and Keluar, and, as a member of the body music collective / record label Fleisch, she found her social and musical niche in Berlin. That city remains her base, although Victoria (and more specifically Anglesea) will always be her home. Her compositions are an exploration into human fears, desires and absurd imperfections – an electronically synthesized shamanic summoning and catharsis. Lyrics and melodies are crafted with strict intention, to induce an inward journey to the core of what it means to exist and to feel.
Forces
Alex Akers is a designer, music producer and creator of live electronic act Forces. His background in 3D animation, synthesis and interface design has informed various projects, often exploring modes of sound production and composition that utilize both mechanical and digital elements. A veteran of composition with the Bells (Forces were previously commissioned to compose for the instrument in 2012), here the Melbourne producer offers us a fresh new composition, reflective of his recent creative development in his adopted home of Berlin.
friendships
Melbourne audio/visual duo friendships (Nic Brown and Misha Grace) play chaotic future sounds – storming drum ‘n’ bass, post-Warp slammers and searing, ear-shearing techno. Their live show features the projection of dark and brooding visual imagery that explores primal elements of life; animals, the human body, paint, pattern and faces.
Naretha Williams
Naretha Williams is a First Nations experimental interdisciplinary artist with a primary focus on music and audio arts practice. A Wiradjuri woman of mixed lineage (born and based in Melbourne, on the Sovereign Land of the Kulin Nation, Victoria AUS), Naretha’s process-based work intersects installation and contemporary music, exploring themes around identity, place and the unseen world. Her major experimental composition project CRYPTEX – Bio Templates & Ceremonial Frameworks for Contemporary Composition utilises the source code of the body by analysing DNA sequences to create mathematical templates to work with in a musical context.
Ok Sure
Otherworldly downtempo electronic producer Ok Sure is a burgeoning force in Australian techno. Highly sought-after as a remixer and producer, she’s also renowned for her dark, moody and melodic original compositions. Her sound combines industrial, techno and deep house to produce her own unique production aesthetic.
Kangaroo Skull
Kangaroo Skull (Rohan Rebeiro of MY DISCO) has firmly established himself as a powerhouse of rhythmic experimentation in Melbourne’s electronic underground. His live sets are crafted around a masterfully manipulated TR 808 augmented with digital soundscapes pulled from his painstaking exploration of MaxMSP. The resulting sound walks the line between analogue grit and digital precision – an experience that has rightly earnt him a reputation as one of Melbourne’s most sought-after live electronic acts.
Vacuum
As Vacuum, Andrea Blake (Chrome Dome / ASPS) and Jenny Branagan (Nun) curate a collection of ‘found sounds’ from car parks and empty construction sites. Utilising the cyclical patterns found in analogue machinery as a rhythmic device, the duo aim to destroy and rebuild constantly.
Ash Wednesday
Australian electronic music pioneer Ash Wednesday has always been determined to innovate and explore. Emerging in the seventies with a mixture of so-called punk rock, tape recorder experiments and an analogue synthesiser, Ash was a founder member of seminal groups JAB, The Metronomes and models, and was a central figure in the development of Australian electro music throughout the eighties. In 1992 he travelled to Germany where he was later to work with Nina Hagen and the legendary Einsturzende Neubauten.
Bells of Peace
Thursday 21 September, 12.30 – 1.00pm – International Day of Peace
The Bells of Peace song will be performed by school children and choirs from the Yarra Ranges and played by the Federation Bells at Birrarung Marr on the International Day of Peace.
The song was commissioned in 2015 by the Dandenong Ranges Music Council (DRMC) to commemorate the Anzac Centenary and was originally composed for handbells. The inspiration for the song Bells of Peace came from Dame Nellie Melba ringing the Lilydale Fire Station bell to let the people of Lilydale know that WW1 had ended.
In 2017 the creative development of the song has involved choral arrangements by Kate Sadler, and arrangement for the bells and composition of the new piece, War Bells, by Karen Berger.
The International Day of Peace is observed around the world each year on 21 September, ‘commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples’. The 2017 U.N. Peace Day theme is ‘Together for Peace: Respect, Safety and Dignity for All’.
Presented by the Dandenong Ranges Music Council. Supported by the City of Melbourne
Participants: Kallista Primary School, Belgrave South Primary School, Tecoma Primary School, Upwey High School, Tecoma Peace Choir.
The creative development of the Bells of Peace is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.
Circle - Naretha Williams
Part of Yirramboi – First Nations Arts Festival
Installation: 5-14 May
Daily 8-10.30am, 12-2.30pm, 4.30-7pm
Performance: 11 May 11:59pm (40 mins)
Circle is a moon-drenched sound bath and live activation of the large scale sculptural instrument Federation Bells.
Set on the high ground of the Birrarung Marr, Circle is the public initiation of Naretha Williams’ current composition project CRYPTEX.
CRYPTEX – Bio Templates & Ceremonial Frameworks for Contemporary Composition; utilises the source code of the body by analysing DNA sequences to create mathematical templates to work with in a musical context. In this piece, song cycles are informed by the traditional seasons of the Kulin Nation, recognising 6 distinct phases of the year and bringing attention to our celestial knowledge systems.
This performative installation is the first outcome of a larger body of work in which the artist further unpacks her signature practice around identity, place and the unseen world.
Circle is a midnight ritual of sound environments, unusual harmonics and textural listening-scapes.
This modular artwork will also play throughout YIRRAMBOI as a stand alone installation, within the Federation Bells curated program.
Acknowledgements
Presented By YIRRAMBOI and Federation Bells. With thanks to Australia Council, M.E.S.S., Auspicious Arts Projects, Matthew Gingold and Aunty Fay Stewart Muir.
Plum Blossom: Chinese Music for Bells
Cultural Diversity Week 18-26 March
Hourly, 9am to 9pm
Renowned Chinese Australian composer Julian Yu has arranged two traditional melodies for Melbourne’s iconic Federation Bells.
Hear Julian’s arrangement of Plum Blossom, a piece written for the ancient Qin, and Ba Ban, the ‘seed melody’ to hundreds of variant Chinese folk melodies.
This melody, called Mei Hua San Nong (literally “Three Takes on Plum Blossom”), was discovered in China engraved on ancient bamboo strips dating from about fifteen hundred years ago. It was a piece written for the ancient qin, a seven-stringed zither played by Chinese intellectuals as part of their meditation. The music was written in tablature notation, meaning that it did not directly tell what notes were played; instead, the notation showed tuning, finger positions, and stroke technique, thus comprising a step by step method and description of how to play the piece. Qin music is the earliest notated music of the east. It is more authentic than Chinese folk music, which has been either lost or distorted from its original form. Its significance is demonstrated by the fact that a sample qin piece was one of the relics sent up in the Apollo spacecraft as a symbol of the culture of mankind.
Ba Ban
In traditional Chinese instrumental music, Ba Ban is considered to be a “seed melody”. Over the centuries, it has given rise to hundreds of variant folk melodies as it was passed down and embellished from one generation to another. Almost anyone who took up a Chinese folk instrument would learn to play it in some form or other.
This piece which I have written for the Federation Bells consists of three versions of Ba Ban. The first is quite simple; the second is moderately embellished; and the third adds still further ornamentation. The piece concludes with a return to the slow, simple beginning of the seed melody.
Bart Willoughby single launch - Woodskin Funk
Monday 19 Dec, 5.30 – 6.00pm, free
Pioneering indigenous performer Bart Willoughby is celebrating the release of the first single Woodskin Funk off his forthcoming album Resonance due for release early 2017 with a performance incorporating the Federation Bells.
A labour of love, the album is a progression from Bart’s earlier album We Still Live On. A combination of atmospheric recordings from the Kimberly’s Bungle Bungle Ranges and the Melbourne Town Hall grand organ. On this occasion Willoughby plays with the Federation Bells, melding the resonating sounds captured within the vastness of nature with the grandeur of the City of Melbourne’s grand organ.
Personally it was a chance for Willoughby to connect his father song-lines to the Gija people through stories told and collaboration with elder song man Uncle Gabe on two tracks.
For the single launch at the Federation Bells, Willoughby will be jamming on his woodskin along with the Bells accompanied by:
Phil Bywater on Sax
Anita Hustas on Double Bass
Soprano Shauntai Batzki.
The atmosphere of the Bungle Bungle ranges are placed at Birrurung Marr in urban Melbourne through soundscapes recorded by Nick Harrison and visual imagery by artist Frances Loriente.
Supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants Program.
Photo by Cole Bennetts
Sound Workshop and Performance with Dylan Martorell
27 – 28 September, 8 October
In this workshop series led by Dylan Martorell, you will experiment with sound techniques using Ableton and Fruity Loops to create a series of compositions and sound designs for the Federation Bells.
Investigate touch and vibration based electronics, play with robotics and work with experimental sound methods.
Your compositions will be performed at the Fed Bells on sunset to a live audience.
Dates:
Workshops: Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 September (Spring School Holidays), 10am to 4pm each day at SIGNAL.
Performance: Saturday 8 October 7pm at Federation Bells, Birrarung Marr
SIGNAL is located on Flinders Walk, Northbank behind Flinders Street Station.
Workshops are free and open to young people 13 to 25 years.
Bookings for the free workshop are essential. BOOK NOW
This project is presented in collaboration with SIGNAL.
Dylan Martorell
Transience, improvisation and collaboration form the basis of Dylan Martorell’s music-based art practice. Housed within the conceptual framework of a musical diaspora, his work is drawn to ways in which music travels through space and is affected by changes in geography, climate, culture and materials to become an agent for cross-cultural reciprocation.
Martorell’s works typically involve a highly disciplined and refined level of detail intertwined with an ad hoc improvisation and bowerbird aesthetic. Inspired by his global travels, major interests for the artist are the natural world, human ritual, ethnography and mythology. This interest manifests in his art through an almost synesthetic combination of colour, pattern, sound and line. Focusing on the use of site-specific gleaned materials and incorporating elements of upcycling, DIY culture, robotics, and alternative power sources, Martorell’s recent projects conducted in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Australia have focused on concepts of transience, portability and sustainability.
SIGNAL
SIGNAL is a creative studio for young people 13 to 25 years located on Northbank in the heart of Melbourne. The program offers young people the opportunity to work alongside professional artists in a collaborative way, through mulit-artform workshops and mentoring.
SIGNAL provides emerging and established artists with opportunities and spaces for exploration, creation and showcasing.
Barney McAll with ASIO and the Federation Bells
Transitive Cycles
Saturday 4 June, 12.00pm – free
As part of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, home-grown jazz piano luminary Barney McAll is back from New York and celebrating with two specially-commissioned new works for the Federation Bells.
McAll will play the bells along with his self-made instrument called Chucky and members of the Australian Symbiotic Improvisers Orbit:
Stephen Magnusson – Moog Guitar
Leigh FIsher – Drums
Jordan Tarento – Acoustic Bass
Adrian Sherriff - Trombone, Bata Drums and Shakuhachi Flute
Throughout the festival a specially commissioned work of McAll’s will also play on the bells every hour on the hour of the festival.
This is a free event, so come down to the Federation Bells for a very special Melbourne International Jazz Festival aural feast!
Oktoberfest is coming to Birrarung Marr on Saturday 25 October, 2pm – 10pm.
To help set the festive mood the Federation Bells will be featuring a couple of classic German drinking songs, specially arranged for the bells:
Ein Prosit – the drinking song that is heard throughout the Oktoberfest to get the Gemütlichkeit going.
Hofbräuhaus-Lied – the classic oom-pah ode to Munich’s famous beer hall.
These songs will be heard alongside a selection of other bell ‘hits’ throughout the afternoon and evening. To see a complete list of what’s playing when, visit the schedule page.
So come along, grab a Bier und Wurst, and sing along with the Oktoberfest bells!
The Long Walk is a charity inspired by Michael Long’s walk to Canberra to get the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people back on the national agenda. The Long Walk raises awareness to improve the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to make Australia a better place for all Australians.
The annual commemoration of Michael Long’s walk to Canberra is held in Melbourne in conjunction with the AFL’s Dreamtime at the ‘G clash between Essendon and Richmond.
The Federation Bells will play the theme songs from the competing clubs as well as two original works by Indigenous composers as the Long Walkers pass by the Federation Bells.
All Bells That Ends Well by James Henry and Eternal Birrarung by Deborah Cheetham will feature between 5.45pm and 6.20pm.
Composing for the Federation Bells in your classroom
Tuesday 4 March – Online Professional Learning
Arts centre melbourne – digital learning hub
A rare opportunity to discover the iconic Federation Bells. Learn how to use computer software to create original compositions for performance on the bells. A resource kit will be available for download that gives you the opportunity to compose for the bells in your classroom.
Melbourne’s iconic 39 bells will open and close White Night Melbourne 2014.
The federation bells will perform a 20-minute selection of shortlisted entries, at both 7pm and 6:40am, of works submitted for the recent composition competition. View the bell schedule to see detailed timings of pieces being played.
Opening 7:00pm
Cumbia Train by Bryan M Phillips Occupy, My Heart by Edward Gould Mantra by Chris ONeill A Festival Fanfare by Will Larsen Captain Cook by Dennis Wilkinson Fed Bells by Sam Gill Federation Celebration by Robert Ashbridge
Closing 6:40am
Curn 2 by Archer Moore Whispers by John Coutts The Birrarung Rag by John Coutts And As We Open the Musicbox by Jordan Gilmour I Climb by Karen Berger Suspended Animation by Rob Jennings
Throughout the night, visit the Federation Bells to enjoy newly installed dynamic coloured lighting.
Anyone can write music for the computer-controlled bells. See the information for composers if you are interested in submitting a piece.
Melbourne Indigenous Arts Festival
The Melbourne Indigenous Arts Festival celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and culture from across the nation.
The festival presents a diverse range of art forms and experiences for all ages, including Indigenous theatre, music, literature, film, cabaret and dance.
Friday 7 to Sunday 16 February
As part of the festival the Federation Bells will feature two works by Indigenous composers played hourly from 9am – 9pm:
A chance to refine your composition before the deadline and learn from the experts. Learn more.
Pantha Du Prince vs Federation Bells
Saturday 16 November, 7pm-8pm
Melbourne Music Week 2013 celebrates the full spectrum of Melbourne’s vibrant music scene, showcasing the best and brightest home-grown talent alongside remarkable international artists.
The Federation Bells will be a feature this year. Notably, German-techno minimalist musician/producer and Melbourne Music Week headliner Pantha Du Prince will take control of the iconic Federation Bells, ringing out his ethereal soundscapes and sending shining bell textures shimmering through the twilight air.
This mesmerising once-only performance will be supported by Melbourne art-rockers Glasfrosch, who will incorporate the Federation Bells into a live performance that crosses pop, jazz and ambient textures.
Free Event All Ages
The pop-up home of Melbourne Music Week is The Residence. The Federation Bells will ring out for full hour to salute the conclusion of The Residence programming each night.
Melbourne Music Week With Bells On
Saturday 23 November, 2pm-5pm
Think you’ve got what it takes to write a piece for the Federation Bells? The Melbourne Music Week With Bells On workshop is your first pit-stop on the road to success. Learn how to write for the bells using a digital audio workstation under the expert guidance of an experienced composer, and at the conclusion of the session hear your work played on the bells.
Whether you write sweet pop songs, classical symphonies or electronic music, this tutorial will allow you to unleash your creativity through writing for the iconic Federation Bells.
Further workshops will be held throughout December, January and February to help you refine and perfect your composition. Competition entries are due February 2014.
Held at the Arts Centre Melbourne’s, Digital Learning Hub (but meet at the Bells)
Arts Centre Melbourne and City of Melbourne present the Federation Bells Composition Project. A rare opportunity to discover the iconic Federation Bells. Use computer software to create your own compositions and hear them performed live on the Bells.
This is a full day workshop offered to school groups in 2013 and 2014.
WHERE: Arts Centre Melbourne, Digital Learning Hub, Australian Ballet Centre Level 4 WHEN: 9.30am – 2.40pm, dates subject to availability COST: $15 per student BOOKINGS:dlhenquiries@artscentremelbourne.com.au
More information:Watch a video about this project with the Arts Centre Melbourne’s Amy Bennett.
Federation Bells Ring Out For The Long Walk
On 21 November 2004 former Essendon footballer Michael Long embarked an historic trek, walking fromhis home in the suburbs of Melbourne all the way to Parliament House in Canberra – more than 650 kilometres away.
After returning home from yet another Indigenous funeral, Michael decided that something needed to be done about the plight of his people. He took it upon himself to get Indigenous issues back on the national agenda and resolved to meet with Prime Minister John Howard to discuss his concerns… even if he had to walk all the way to Canberra to do it.
Today Michael Long and his supporters continue to promote the story of The Long Walk in all communities. More than 10 000 people are expected to walk from Federation Square to the MCG for the annual “Dreamtime at the ‘G” clash between Richmond and Essendon on Friday 25 May 2013.
As the Long Walk passes the iconic Federation Bells in Birrarung Marr the unique instrument will celebrate two of Australia’s finest Indigenous musicians. Deborah Cheetham’s Eternal Birrarung and James Henry’s All Bells That Ends Wellwill ring out between 6pm and 7pm.
The Federation Bells will be a feature this year. Notably, German-techno minimalist musician/producer and Melbourne Music Week headliner Pantha Du Prince will take control of the iconic Federation Bells, ringing out his ethereal soundscapes and sending shining bell textures shimmering through the twilight air.
This mesmerising once-only performance will be supported by Melbourne art-rockers 
WHERE: Arts Centre Melbourne, Digital Learning Hub, Australian Ballet Centre Level 4
