Dual Planet: Electronic Otherworlds

TIM SCOTT steps into a lost realm of early Australian electronic music with James Pianta, who’s involved in the new reissue label Dual Planet and several others specialising in obscure gems.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] “Dedicated to exploring the electronic otherworlds” is an apt descriptor for new Australian reissue label Dual Planet. Their four debut releases includes two albums by Italian electronic library maverick Teisco, the reissue of Steve Maxwell Von Braund’s 1975 Australian kosmische milestone Monster Planet and Sunday Night at the Total Theatre, a live recording from duo Cybotron that offers some rare insight into what was happening in the Australian electronic underworld in the mid-1970s.

Dual Planet’s James Pianta, who is also involved in the Roundtable and Votary (Sven Libaek’s Inner Space soundtrack) reissue labels, gives the lowdown on the label and its releases.

You are involved in other reissue labels. How does Dual Planet differ?
I co-operate both the Votary and The Roundtable reissue labels. While Votary predominately represents the soundtrack recordings of the composer Sven Libaek, The Roundtable has released a range of esoteric psychedelic, soundtrack and library music. Dual Planet is a similar concept, in which we are releasing vintage music, but the difference is that we will also be a developing a contemporary side of the label, hence the ‘Dual’ reference in the label name. The concept is vintage and contemporary electronics.

Amongst your first releases are Steven Maxwell Von Braund’s Monster Planet and a reissue of a live record from Cybotron. What was the Australian electronica scene like back then?
There were a quite a few people working with synthesizers during the ’70s. There were progressive artists such as Cybotron, Dennis Garcia, Ian MacFarlane, Steve Dunstan etc. Also, there’s a few isolated recordings that fit into the electronic genre from the avant garde and academic fields, various composers experimenting with electronics and tape manipulation such as the composers from the Clifton Hill Music Centre.

Then of course there is Bruce Clarke, who owned the Melbourne Library company The Jingle Workshop. It’s suggested that he owned the first Moog in Australia, [which] he used for advertising and production music purposes. Also, there was the development of the Fairlight synthesiser in Sydney that Michael Carlos from Tully was associated with. In fact, a Fairlight prototype synth called the qaser was actually used on several of the Sven Libaek soundtracks and library albums such as Inner Space and Solar Flares.

Regarding a scene, I don’t think that really developed until the late ’70s/early ’80s, with the minimal synth and post-punk bands.

“It’s always a joy when the tapes still exist.”

The words ‘private press’ evokes geeky collectors tracking down obscure and long forgotten records. They are called private for a reason. How do you go about tracking the masters?
Private press means that the artist originally released the album themselves. Which was usually self-financed and distributed at gigs or in person, as opposed to be issued on a label. They were issued in small print runs, which is why they are so hard to track down. For our reissue of the Cybotron album, only 100 copies were originally pressed.

It’s always going into the unknown when tracking down an artist and their recordings. You never know if people are going to be interested in talking about their old music and that particular time in their life, and whether or not the masters still exist. It’s quite often that the tapes are long gone and we have to work from the original vinyl for remastering, but it’s always a joy when the tapes still exist because that’s when unreleased material can become available.

Steve Maxwell Von Braun [pictured at top] was behind two of the label’s first releases. What was he like to work with?
Steve is great guy: still totally involved with his music and committed in seeing his music legacy re-documented. (Which is not always the case with some composers I speak with.)

Is he German? Is it true that he was friends with Can, Amon Duul, Ash Ra Temple and Tangerine Dream etc.?
Steve Braund is actually from Melbourne! Being from Germany and the ‘Maxwell Von Braund‘ moniker is an in-joke. I’m not sure of the origins but it was a self-propagated myth that took hold. Having said that, Steve did have a connection to some great bands, such as Hawkwind and The Graham Bond Organisation, whilst living in London in the late ’60s. He also had a connection to some of the German Krautrock bands and labels, notably Tangerine Dream, who he spent time and jammed with in Melbourne.

“On certain titles, a far greater amount of copies were sold in Australia than in Europe; hence so many original Krautrock LPs in Melbourne!”

He was also involved in the Clear Light of Jupiter label, which was also connected to Pipe Imports, an important store for electronic music back then. Did you track these guys down? Did they give you much insight into the store and label?
The Clear Light of Jupiter label was owned by Jeremy Fiebiger and Daniel Janecka; Steve worked there but as a sales rep. They also ran Pipe Records, quite an important store as they imported all the obscure European music into Australia in the ’70s. A lot of Krautrock, Italian prog, UK psych, etc. In fact, I’ve been informed that on certain titles, a far greater amount of copies were sold in Australia than in Europe; hence why there’s so many original Krautrock LPs in Melbourne!

I met Jeremy through Steve and, yes, I’ve heard loads of great stories such as them all hanging out with Tangerine Dream and jamming at Steve’s house (unfortunately they didn’t record the session!). Also driving to Rubicon, country Victoria, which Tangerine Dream named their next album, and then watching Edgar Froese’s wife Monique taking a photo in the Dandenongs, which later appeared as the cover artwork to one of their albums.

The great US label Superior Viaduct has released some great electronic stuff by Craig Leon and Heldon, and the Solaris soundtrack. Do you think there is growing interest in this music?
The interest has always been there, but I guess now there is so much music being rediscovered and re-released that there is so many options for investigating it further. Just look at great labels like Finders Keepers and Trunk Records. They’ve both re-released some fantastic electronic music.

What do you have coming up?
Besides more Cybotron coming up in 2014, we a new batch of four releases due in February, such as some phenomenal vintage electronic library music used in early Doctor Who episodes, some experimental horror electronics used in George Romero’s Dawn of Dead and some amazing musique concrete from Melbourne’s lost pioneer of electronic music, Val Stephen.

We are also starting a joint label with the UK reissue label Finders Keepers. Our first LP release is due in a few weeks to coincide with Dual Planet touring label boss Andy Votel in Australia. We have several shows lined up in January for the Sydney Festival as well as two phenomenal psychedelic audio/visual shows on two separate nights in Melbourne: Neotantrik on the January 22 at The Toff in Town and Kleksploitation on January 24 at Howler.

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Visit Dual Planet’s website for more information.