Performer Notes

Dirty Three: Mick Turner (guitar); Warren Ellis (violin); Jim White (drums).
Personnel: Venom P. Stiner (vocals); Mick Turner (guitar); Warren Ellis (violin, kalimba); Tony Wyzenbeek (harmonica); Jim White (drums, percussion).
Recording information: Studio 325 Melbourne.
Photographers: Karen H.; Annie Horner.
Unknown Contributor Role: Warren Ellis.
There have been many attempts to integrate instrumentation, other than the guitar, bass, and drums format, into so-called rock music. Many bands have gone through an Eastern or psychedelic phase, adding strings, tabla, or some other seemingly eccentric instrument to their sound. For the most part, bands like the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and others make these new instruments sound out of place in a rock setting. But the Dirty Three -- an aptly-named Australian drum, guitar, and violin trio -- create an hour of music on this self-titled album that takes the experiments of their predecessors and coalesces them into a beautiful whole. Violinist Warren Ellis is a magician -- the sounds he coaxes out of the instrument range from conventional melody to washed-out feedback noise. On "Indian Love Song" Ellis starts off with a gentle plucking of the strings, but midway though this ten minute drone he's on another planet, wailing away in a Pete Townshend meets Thurston Moore vein. This album does not follow a strict melody-cacophony structure though. Mick Turner plays along perfectly with Ellis, crafting subtle guitar lines that complement his counterpart. All the while drummer Jim White uses a keen selection of shells, tambourines, and God knows what else to keep a beat. The band seems equally assured in playing quiet pastoral passages ("Kim's Dirt") and ferocious rock ("Everything's Fucked"). Their music is cinematic -- moving at varying paces through different emotions. Where most bands have come up short in both creativity and execution, the Dirty Three have it right. ~ Marc Gilman

Professional Reviews

Spin (10/95, p.121) - 8 - Very Good - "...the collision of Ellis' screeching strings with the buzzing feedback of Mick Turner's guitar...sounds more like a meltdown than a hoedown..."

Melody Maker (12/23-30/95, pp.66-67) - Ranked #44 on Melody Maker's list of 1995's `Albums Of The Year' - "...instrumental thrills...sour and savage....A demented dance through heaven..."

NME (Magazine) (8/19/95, p.47) - 7 (out of 10) - "...Whack out a throbbing almost Fall-like rhythm, toss in chunks of spiralling violin and dreamy guitar, perhaps the odd spot of accordion, throw it at the wall and see if it sticks....an album of immeasurable beauty, and it hasn't even got any songs on it..."

Album: Dirty Three
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Indian Love Song
2)	Better Go Home Now
3)	Odd Couple
4)	Kim's Dirt
5)	Everything's Fucked
6)	Last Night, The
7)	Dirty Equation

Album: Dirty Three
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Indian Love Song
2)	Better Go Home Now
3)	Odd Couple
4)	Kim's Dirt
5)	Everything's Fucked
6)	Last Night, The
7)	Dirty Equation