stuart buchanan

Soundtrack For An Imaginary Australia

Mix for FBi Radio’s ‘Sunday Night At The Movies’, 12th December 2010.

Growing up in Scotland, I spent the first 30 years of my life in ignorance of what truthfully represented Australian culture. However, some of the most cherished music that I listened to in my late teens and early 20s was, in fact, born of this country - and this mix compiles music from that time. Listening from a distance, halfway around the world, these artists (and particularly the tracks represented here) became a soundtrack for an imaginary Australia.

What surprises me most, sadly, is that many of these artists are rarely discussed or referenced here in Australia - indeed, their personal impact would seem inversely proportional to their local legacy.

Features extracts from:

Alan Lamb - Night Passage 
Dead Can Dance - The Host Of Seraphim 
The Foetus All-Nude Revue - Diabolus In Musica 
SPK - The Doctrine Of Eternal Ice 
Single Gun Theory - Words Written Backwards (Radio Baghdad Edit) 
This Mortal Coil - Dreams Made Flesh * 
Future Sound Of London - Papua New Guinea (Dumb Child Of Q Mix) ** 
Severed Heads - Big Car Crash 
Dead Can Dance - Chant Of The Paladin 
The Foetus All-Nude Revue - Shut 
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Watching Alice 
Alan Lamb - Last Anzac 
Single Gun Theory - Wild Blue Seas 
Harold Baigent - Opening Narration from ‘The Road Warrior’ 
Dead Can Dance - Orbis De Ignis 
Single Gun Theory - Closest To My Heart

* interpreted by Lisa Gerrard 
** featuring Lisa Gerrard vocal sample from ‘Dawn Of The Iconoclast’ by Dead Can Dance