are no newcomers to music: the Australian unit has been doing its thing Down Under since the late '70s, when they first began manipulating tape loops and welding together uncanny sound collages. (Composer and driving force is actually the only mainstay over three decades.) Through the years the iconoclastic, pioneering project has veered wildly between the poles of willful -isms and the more unchallenging, song-based realms of music. is an interesting album in that, as a live album, it chronicles a whole other life beyond the cloistered experimentation of the studio. The performances were captured in concert between 1998 and 2005, with the crowd noise sucked from the mix and complete re-workings of old tracks cropping up. (The booklet also features visual highlights from the shows, which are true multimedia experiences.) Highlights include the retro-synth-poppy drone of the beat and pastiche and the outright tuneful ( comparable) There's also more forward-thinking fare; in fact, wouldn't sound out of place on a disc. But this album serves another purpose besides presenting a live document of longtime masters -- it is also a great compilation of 's work, as well as a reminder that some of the praise heaped on such pioneers as over the years should have been diverted towards Australia. ~ Erik Hage