Artist description THE NEW SIRIUS PROJECT Contact: attack_duck@hotmail.com (put "TNSP" at the beginning of the subject header) or Kieper Records for additional contact details. The New Sirius Project was initiated by Pete Dunstan in the year 2000, coinciding with a process of radicalisation within Pete's attitudes and approach to producing music and aspects of the presently existing music industry. It is typical of the artist's bipolaresque expression: a hyperrealistic invitation to share and respond to deeply personal/self-involved communication. ---"I haven't believed that objectivity is a possible thing for a long time. Perhaps my music, the views and stories that inspire them, are 'self-involved'. I can say I don't care what people think or what music industry conventions are; but, how do I function as a musician without them? The project is just an exploration of what I like and what I know. Value judgments abound within not just the music industry, but within any person's experience of music. When I say I don't care, it's probably correct of me to say that I just don't think negatively about it. I just get on with it. If it sounds good to me, it's suitable for The New Sirius Project." ---The generic influences that can be heard with TNSP's music are quite diverse: a collage of styles and the interpretations of them from different times. Dub and reggae have always remained central motifs within Pete's music, even when he was playing bass or guitar in bands in the 80s and early 90s. Earlier work with electronic music had seen most work attempt to fit in with some of the more obvious mainstream perceptions of "electronic music" today. TNSP is a complete departure from this attitude. Anything is acceptable, even the conventions of these mainstream perceptions, referred to with remarkable accuracy as 'club music' (as satirised in the track "Techtosterone"). ---"I had felt so dissatisfied with making music for a while. Almost everything I was writing felt to me like someone else's idea of good music. I was pouring my heart and soul into it, and at the end of every track, feeling disappointed... feeling as if I'd paid attention to too many suggestions without analysing them carefully enough. It was crazy... because the whole time I was listening to people without acknowledging how obvious it was that we listened to music for completely different reasons." ---Whereas this struggle is evident in works produced under the names of The Black Captain and The Black Captains... there is a definite distinction to the music of The New Sirius Project. Containing all the sounds that have been enjoyed passionately from a lifetime, regardless of time and place... employing techniques that often lead at least one person to ask the artist if he's feeling ok... going for that dirty word, 'progressive', instead of the pill approach... at once spurning the regimented packages that will fit neatly into some attempt at marketing or being a local celebrity, whilst striving for a simpler means of doing so. ---"When I write a song, I am often thinking of a concept, an event or phenomenon. It can be something very tangible, like the Bush military complex, or something abstract, like a subconscious allegorical journey, but there is a definite setting. In doing so, I have to acknowledge what my pre-existing notions of what sounds suit that setting. As I compose, the story in my head develops more. The sounds in the production start to change; the styles begin to mish and mash together and take on forms that are, most importantly, new to me. By the end, I have different perceptions about these settings and what sounds I've put to them. And most importantly, a song that I enjoy or that I feel effectively relates what I'm truly feeling. I don't kid myself by thinking I'm doing anything new, or that revolutionises the life of others. That's not what I'm after. What's great is if I experience the change myself, and then I hear that someone enjoys the final manifestation of the process that has brought about that change within me." ---Whilst sonically TNSP may express itself in forms from 60s psychedelic rock to the latest streamlined marketing buzzword, 'glitch', the social influences come from life in Australia, the US, Peru, a critical view of the incumbent technocracy, the perversions of "The League of Gentlemen', seeing The Orb play in the middle of the woods on Mount Disappointment, or even the Ebola virus. ---The New Sirius Project currently has plans for three albums. ---"'Soundtracks from a Satellite State' was initially said to be overdue. As the invasion and conquest of Iraq is still in progress, the due date has still not passed. Also nothing can change the history that Australia participated in that deplorable act of murderous greed, of the pot calling the kettle a hot zone rife with weapons of mass destruction led by an idiotic and cruel, totalitarian regime. That will be coming out on Kieper Records. It is primarily an expression of rage, then a departure from it. The next one will be "A New System', which I view as being something more astral in sound. This will be followed by a new world, "Green", which I hope will have a strong 'organic' motif." ---There are currently no plans to play live. ---"I would prefer to do this when I am actually capable of putting on a show that is worth someone coming to see. Perhaps it's my age... but the proliferation over the years of performers is making it less appealing to me to just go and see someone 'play music', especially when in the medium of electronically produced music it often involves watching someone bathed in the eerie glow of their monitor, rarely making any kind of personal connection with the members of the audience. It isn't that I don't want to play live; it's that I want to offer a quality experience for punters should they ever come to see a performance of my music. I've written music for contemporary dance performances; and, I felt that was a much more enjoyable experience than almost any electronic/dance music performance I've ever been to. My experience is that in a live context, you usually have to offer more than just your presence. That is, unless you have been marketed to the status of demi-god by the elite. I don't really think I'm... their type."

Music Style electronically produced music. The evocation of atmosphere is reminiscent of a soundtrack both shadowy and luminous.

Musical Influences The Orb, Prefuse 73, Bitstream, Mike & Rich, Wendy Carlos (as well as when she was called Walter), Jamie Side, Jase From Outta Space, Audio Cephlon, Andre Holland, Vellocet (Aus), Speedy J, Tipper, Tchaikovsky, countless reggae and dub musicians, Pink Floyd, WHEN (Lars Pedersen is a GENIUS), Neil Oliverra, Underground Resistance, The Silencer Journals, Sacha Payne, Lex Xoufarides, Phillipa Overgaard, Rick Savino, Keira Mason-Hill (aka Blue Sonar), Mike Oldfield, Vangelis, Fluke, ILS, Roni Size, Dennis Bergkamp's goal in the 98 WC quarter final, Raison d'Etre, Dead Can Dance, Woob, Arcturus, Rush (especially latter half of the 80s), Aphex Twin (who isn't?), Squarepusher, Aphrodisiac, Ordo Equilibrio, In Slaughter Natives, Throbbing Gristle (who isn't?), Sephiroth, The Protagonist, the label Cold Meat Industries in general..., mu-ziq, Witchman, Sasha (the album

Similar Artists I have been very flatteringly described as a cross between The Orb and Massive Attack. I would say I sound like many, as my influences are so diverse. Don't know how popular they are though!

Artist History Pete Dunstan formed The New Sirius Project at the beginning of 2001 as a progression from his promising solo work done under the name The Black Captain. An evolutionary sequence of events on both the mental and hardware levels saw this as a necessity. For further details, please contact Pete at attack_duck@hotmail.com Please put TNSP at the beginning of any subject header when engaging in correspondence. Thanks, and be well.

Group Members Pete Dunstan

Instruments Pentium III GB processor w/ 256 MB RAM + Audiophile 2496, ASRX Pro fully expanded for onboard sounds and memory, various guest appearances from things like a Korg Z1, SQ 80.

Albums Aether I (Kieper Records compilation); Aether II (due Feb 2004); "Soundtrack from a Satellite State" (release date unknown)

Additional Info contact me at attack_duck@hotmail.com Initiate subject header with TNSP

Location Perth, WA - Australia

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