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Antony Milton is a New Zealand-born prolific experimental musician.
Sirens And Where The Coloured Planes Are Rafts (Last Visible Dog, 2004), recorded in 1997/98, was stuck in old stereotypes of lo-fi pop,
but
Near/ Far (Celebrate Psi Phenomena, 2001), notably the 21-minute Envelop, showed a maturing intelligence,
intent in finding a common denominator to
industrial music, psychedelic music and droning music.
Seen Through's Extant (Pseudoarcana, 2003)
and
Street's School Of Religious Studies (Pink Skulls, 2004) revisited
Throbbing Gristle's noise-core.
Siren Performance (Pseudo Arcana, 2003) documents an installation with
Campbell Kneale on electronics.
Mccleod-ganj (Pseudo Arcana, 2003) used the computer to produce
melodic soundscapes inspired by glitch music.
Yet Marvellous Stasis (2003) and Stasis (2003), both credited to
A.M., were abstract collages.
The Stumps, featuring drummer James Kirk (Sandoz Lab Technicians) and bassist Stephen Clover (Seht), recorded Split Fleet Dodge (Palindrone, 2006) in the vein of space-rock, and they stand as the only "rock" band that Milton played in.
Nether Dawn was the name invented for
Whiskey Mute-Down (Last Visible Dog, 2005), a collection of various
kinds of noisescapes.
Guitar Has Strings (2006), released under his own name, was a dadaistic
exercise in guitar noise.
Mrtyu (the Sanskrit word for "death") instead focused on
hyper-distorted droning doom ambience on
Durga (Audiobot, 2005), with the eight-minute Monks Eat Children,
a percussive and droning piece with unrecognizable chanting that
evokes a religious ceremony,
and especially
The Burning Ground (Battlecruiser, 2004 - Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, 2005), with the wildly
distorted and flute-tinged demonic invocation The Burning Ground
and the 16-minute Rites Of Death In Body Temple,
a thick mayhem of gothic-industrial guitar noise, a manic reenaction of
Throbbing Gristle's "death factory".
The
double-disc compilation Blood Tantra (20 Buck Spin, 2006)
contains both recordings and adds
the 17-minute Ash On Ash, a tumult of harsh spinning drones mixed with
foghorn-like howls and galactic metallic dissonances that ends with a coda
of cryptic sub-bass rumble.
Ritual Terra Continuii (Tipped Bowler Tapes, 2007) contains
two lengthy pieces:
the disorienting exoteric collage of
Ritual Terra Continuii, with a coda of bombastic cacophony,
and the gruesome epileptic radioactive freak-out
Marriage Of Birth And Death,
that sounds like a glitchy remix of
Chrome's Zombie Wardance.
Ornate Shroud (Tipped Bowler Tapes, 2009) and
Witchfucker (Aurora Borealis, 2012) opted for shorter compositions.
The ethereal ambient droning music, recorded outdoors, of With Throats As Fine As Needles (Digitalis, 2006) was the result of a supergroup with Campbell Kneale (Birchville Cat Motel), James Kirk (Sandoz Lab Technicians) and Richard Francis (Eso Steel).
This more humane phase continued with other delicate works of droning music:
Nether Dawn's Outer Dark (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, 2006)
and
the solo-organ Orla (Ikuisuus, 2007), again credited to A.M..
He even returned to the song format with
The End Of This Short Road (Deserted Village, 2007), a collection
of bedroom music (from 2000) that
would have been more appropriate twenty years earlier at the time of
New Zealand's lo-fi boom.
Glory Frckn Sun was a collaboration among Antony Milton, Ben Spiers (from Empty Mirror) and jazz percussionist Simon O'Rorke that released
Vision Scorched (Pseudo Aracana, 2007) and Spectra (2008).
Mrtyu's
Ornate Shroud (Tipped Bowler Tapes / Faunasabbatha, 2009) veered
towards a more gentle and serene sound.
The duo of Antony Milton and James Kirk of
Sandoz Lab Technicians
recorded AKU (Heart & Crossbone, 2012)
under the moniker Superbugger.
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