Delve Into Brisbane's EDM History With 'BNE'

Big news for any fan of Australian music lore today, as Dennis Remmer, the co-owner of Brisbane-based record label Transmission Communications (aka Trans:Com) has revealed details regarding BNE, a coffee table-style book and USB music archive detailing the history of the city's rich independent electronic music scene.

BNE has been an all-consuming project over the past two years for Remmer, who originally conceived it as part of Trans:Com's 20th anniversary last year. Between the finished book and the accompanying music archive, BNE features 140 bands and more than 260 tracks, from 1979-present, all birthed in Brissy.

“This has been a massive undertaking, but an incredible journey of discovery,” Remmer said.

“Brisbane has always been a unique and sometimes challenging place for artistic endeavour, particularly with respect to our city's social, political and geographic context, and BNE captures the spirit of true innovation in the modern art form that is electronic music. There are some wonderful stories in BNE, but most importantly there is a lot of amazing music.”

Make no mistake: BNE is a comprehensive exercise. Replete with band histories, photos, cover art, event flyers and scene insights, the book is billed as “the most definitive archive of a city's independent electronic music scene ever produced”.

It promises to be an enlightening read, as the richness of Brisbane's electronic scene has often been obscured by the long shadow cast by its punk/alt rock/indie scenes. Regardless, among the more notable names in the featured artist list are former Brisbane-based (now Melburnian) trance DJ BeXta, Sydney-based synth-pop act Boxcar, the eternally evolving, indescribable force of avant-garde that is Lawrence English, and the late Mister Morrow (Edwin) and his former band Sexing The Cherry, to name but a few.

The BNE package is currently scheduled for release this August, with a “deluxe edition” that includes the 113-page book and 260-track USB archive as well as an “electronic edition” – featuring eBook and iTunes equivalent of the archive – both being available for purchase. The deluxe addition will be available from the BNE Project website; pre-orders open on Monday, May 19.

BNE will be launched in conjunction with an exhibition and showcase event. Full details are due to be announced soon. 

All profits from the package release are being donated to the Brisbane Lord Mayor's Charitable Trust, which aims to improve the wellbeing of the most marginalised, vulnerable members of the Brisbane community.

Watch a 2011 clip of beXTA's Make It Phunkee below:

Full List Of Contributing Artists:

8E38, AapogeE, Aeroplastic Voice, Airborne Toxic Event, alanrock, Alieonix, Alphanaut, Alternate Parallel Reality, Ande Foster, Andrew Tuttle, Anonymeye, Arundel, Ash In October, Atomic Beat Squad, Atomic Disease, Base-X, Benedict Roff-Marsh, BeXta, Bfffth, Biffplex, The Bind, Blood Party, Blunt Instrument, Boxcar, Brainbeau, Browning Mummery, Carl Heaton, Ching, CLOUT, Column 3-57, Crash Machine, Crib Sex, D-Ko, Dan Hack, Dance Theatre, Dataparty, David Corazza, Deepvivid, Dharma Buffer, Diaspora, Discount Adult Zone, Dizzygotheca, Dobie Gillis Experience, Dogmachine, Dot.AY, Dream Circle, Dust Storm Jogger, Eggo & Hot Pocket, Electropulse, Elroy 4.0, Eugene Carchesio, Face Invada, FiShHeaD, Genshen, Get the Girl, Glitch, Gridlock, Hans Freymadl, He Dark Age, Helium 3, Hot2Go, House Guests, Hunz, Hydatid, illuminati inc, In-Sync, Integer, Irena Xero, Ironing Music, The Isle, ismISM, Jandy Rainbow, Jen-E, John Watermann, John-e Xero, Kettle, The Kilgore Trout Combustion, Kunt, Lawrence English, Leighton Craig, Loveless, low key operations, lowkey+nude, Matt Mawson, Mega Drive Cartridge, The Megamen, Mekanoid, Michelle Xen, Mirko, Mister Morrow (Edwin), Molliger, Monster Zoku Onsomb, My Ninja Lover, nAM-sHUB oF eNKI, Now:Zero, Odd Harmonic, Operon, Ostia, Parade, Paramour, Pepe Lara, Peter Macpherson, Pinkenba, Ponyloaf, Poota, Pork, Pure Bunk, Re:Enactment, Reality Pixie, replikant, Retarded Mouse, Rose Carrousel, Ryddum Animal, Scozbor, Sek-Shun 426, Sexing The Cherry, Silent Shadow, Soma Rasa, Soundhive, Sphere, Spook, Squelch, Statler and Waldorf, Stormboy, Superfluid, T-Rage, Tainted Violets, Taiyo, Team Plastique, Tim Gruchy, Terry Murphy, Tycho Brahe, Vario Air, Velleity, Vertigo, Victor Xray, The Village Elephant, V.I.S.I, Vision Four 5, X in O, Xero, Zephyr Timbre, ZIP project, Zippy