The Field by The Fruiting Body

"As the Twentieth Century screeched to a feverish halt, Ms Buttress O'Kneel (reknowned for her politcoplunderphonic pop-glitchery) teamed up with Ms Panthera Leo (well known for her all-encompassing love of nature in all its guises), and formed The Fruiting Body, a musical troupe dedicated to reconfiguring the 'sounds of nature', into more organised musical forms. Of course, this forward-thinking pair of youthful riotgrrls were not about to ignore the sounds of 'human nature', and as well as utilising the sounds of traditionally 'natural' sounds such as whales and rain, The Fruiting Body also used the sounds of microwave ovens, talkback radio, doors, and all manner of human environments as fodder for their detourned aural works. The dynamic duo created two albums in quick succession: the first was called 'The Field', and the second was called 'Nudibranch and the Moondew'. Other than a handful of friends and colleagues, both albums have sadly remained largely unheard and unreleased - until now, more than a decade and a half later.

This is the hystoric first album, unremixed and unremastered, presented exactly as it was in the Year Two Thousand. The sharehouse/studio that Ms O'Kneel shared with Ms Leo (and Mr A Demon Sheen, Ms Aynat Sool, and Mr Mantis Sage) became an instrument, with door handles, microwave ovens, the renovations next door, passing cars (recorded directly through the open bedroom window), even the old couple up the road (again, recorded through the open window) being swept up into the collages. Less structured than the follow-up album "Nudibranch and the Moondew", this seminal recording still provides a strange arch-shaped window into life at this pivotal moment in hystory, and the behind-the-scenes-becoming-the-actual-scenes style of this under-appreciated Australian band.

Please note, all downloads come with scans of the original scissors-and-glue artwork. Please also note that, as the ingredients of the songs were just as important as the finished results themseves, each song's ingredients are easily accessible by clicking on the 'lyrics' section of the Bandcamp portal mechanism link for each song.

Now it's 2018, and George and Alice, the elderly couple down the road from where this was recorded, are probably dead. Sylv, the elderly talkback-radio caller, is probably dead too. Is the Fruiting Body also dead? Only time can tell... but tell it most certainly will."

Department of Archaeophonic Hystoricology
IWML
2018

“Words like "mashup" and "remix" don't really do justice to Buttress O'Kneel's method - Top 40 pop crap gets sliced, diced, and tossed into a dizzying, exciting hardcore electro stew. Compared to other djs who timidly drop a Vanilla Ice acapella over a Chemical Bros intro just to move a dance floor, O'Kneel shreds copyrights with a blood-curdling vehemence. Smash the state!”
- Music 4 Maniacs