Been getting to know the Canberra based Moontown Records of late – recently through the one off Luxury Look Zine of works from artists connected to the label, and before this with a self-titled cassette from The First Baboon Civilization.
The label mostly does tapes and wax, with “a focus on great and weird Australian music”, racking up an impressive forty three physical releases since it’s inception in 2012. I’m surprised it’s taken us this long to discover, but we arrived to it in style, on the back of one the best jazz releases we’ve heard in time.
I don’t know much about The First Baboon Civilization, and the interwebs were surprisingly unhelpful in the matter. This, however, appears to be them playing live, which confirms that they are in fact a full live band.
The cassette seems to be there first release and is impossible to talk about without channeling reviews of Sun-Ra, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Miles Davis or The Heliocentrics live show for that matter. The tracks flow freely from musicians that are able to sit on the same plane and swap between giving a full orchestral sound and stripping back to the bare essentials.
Accomplished groups that aren’t afraid to experiment often leave things too sparse for the uninitiated as myself, but The First Baboon Civilization take you somewhere with positive vibes from the get go. Sounding rough as often as they sound polished they manage to play freely with loops and make them sound fresh with each pass.
There’s not a great deal of music in this vein being made this good, definitely worth checking out. Seven tracks in all and although it looks like the physical’s gone the digital is still available from the bandcamp embedded and linked below. If you’ve only got time to listen to one I’d start with ‘Through The Sun and Beyond.’