Various

RESTOCKED! Ascension Records presents terrace industry, an extraordinary array of sonic material – 81 tracks over 4 CDs – originally released on vinyl or cassette by Sydney independent record label M Squared between 1980 and 1983 with the majority now appearing on CD for the first time. Originally released on vinyl or cassette by the M Squared label between 1980 and 1983 the majority of these tracks now appear on CD for the very first time. This completely remastered 30-year anniversary set includes tracks from Systematics, The Makers of The Dead Travel Fast, Scattered Order, Ya Ya Choral, A Cloakroom Assembly, Patrick Gibson, Prod, Pel Mel, Wild West, SoliPsiK, The Limp, Tame O’Mearas, Severed Heads, Height/Dismay, Belle du Soir, The Slugfuckers, The Same, Splendid Mess, Pleasant Peasants and The Barons.

 

 

 

 

The Dru Jones designed box also contains a 36 page booklet with label history, recollections from the bands involved and previously unpublished photos, plus a set of commemorative drink coasters.
The M Squared label operated in Sydney, Australia from 1980 to 1983. Founded by Mitch Jones and Michael Tee of seminal noisemakers Scattered Order, and quickly joined by Systematics' Patrick Gibson, the label produced 24 vinyl and seven cassette releases over three hectic years. It all took place in a modest recording studio in an inner city terrace house.
The M Squared catalogue, then and now, is resistant to classification. Contemporary journalists tagged it experimental, electronic and avant-garde – shorthand for 'not what the rest of us are listening to'. In hindsight it's been described as post punk, minimalist, synth wave, no wave, synth pop, ambient, noise, pop electronica, art rock... whatever. Genres were never the point, and many M Squared artists took more than one approach to their music. During the label's brief lifespan, Sydney's inner city was home to a great variety of sounds that existed almost completely outside the mainstream. M Squared, its artists and supporters had, over the intervening 30 years or so, been largely unacknowledged as a small but vibrant episode in the story of Australian music.