Machine Translations
A band is performing on stage with three members visible. A man is at front left, he is singing into a microphone, which is held in his left hand. He has a guitar slung over his shoulder. The drummer sits behind a kit in the centre. A bearded man is at the right but is blurred. All three artists are partly obscured by audience members. There are stage lights behind and above the artists. Musical speakers are partly visible at right.
Machine Translations, with J. Walker at front left, performing at the Cockatoo Island festival, March 2005
Background information
Birth nameGreg James Walker
Born1967 (age 55–56)
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
GenresRock, pop, alternative rock
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, musician, producer, engineer
Instrument(s)Guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals
Years active1985–present
LabelsWay Over There, Shock, Spunk!
Websitemachinetranslations.com.au

Machine Translations is the performing name of Greg James Walker (born 1967), an Australian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist; who is also a producer as J Walker. Walker started out recording all instruments himself in a home studio and later branched out to include a band.

Machine Translations' songs vary between simple guitar melodies and complex works with unusual instruments—a spectrum from pop to art. Since 1997 Walker has released several albums. In 2001 he toured the United States supporting Dirty Three. As a composer Walker has been nominated at the APRA Music Awards of 2005 for Best Music for a Documentary for Girl in a Mirror: A Portrait of Carol Jerrems; in 2008 for Best Soundtrack Album for East of Everything; and in 2012 for Best Music for a Television Series or Serial and Best Television Theme for Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

Biography

Greg James Walker, who works as J Walker or Machine Translations, was raised in Canberra.[1][2][3] His mother, Valda, is a classically trained vocalist.[4] He has an older brother and sister, and together with his mother, they encouraged him to learn piano and guitar.[5] He attended Narrabundah Secondary College, where he learned synthesiser, multi-track recording and musical composition.[5] By 1985 Walker, on keyboards, was a member of local psychedelic band, Moon, with Paul Davies on bass guitar and lead vocals; Chris Freney on guitar; and Ralph Rehak on drums.[6] Kathryn Whitfield of Pulse caught their performance in May 1986: "their lighting effects are reminiscent of the sixties oil lights with a kaleidoscope of coloured lights floating across the stage".[6] In 2003 Walker recalled "[he] played in a succession of 'funny little Canberra bands'".[7]

By July 1995 Walker was working in a home studio in his garden shed.[8] Under the name Shed Method he issued a cassette album, Machine Translations, which included the track "Jezebel".[8][9] Nick Enfield of The Canberra Times described the album as "an eclectic mix of his unique array of original sounds".[8] Walker had been recording for over ten years making his own demos and producing other local artists.[8] His lo-fi (music) approach included using traditional instruments: drums, guitars and keyboards; together with less conventional ones: broken piano (its front removed and strings played directly), oud, and electric erhu.[8] His influences were John Cale, Nico and Tom Waits while also "listening to a lot of belly-dancing music lately, as well as Chinese classical music, and Indian music".[8] One of Walker's associates on the album was Kevin White.[8]

Walker was also a member of P. Harness, which Enfield opined were "madcap ocker goons", with Geoff Hinchcliffe on guitar and lead vocals; and Mikel Simic on drums and lead vocals.[10] By August 1995 they released their second album, @ction.[10] Simic described its underlying theme: "all the songs are specifically about eating, [or] they've got food references through them".[10] In October that year Walker and White supplied the music for a stage play, The Fortress, at Studio One, Braddon.[11] Walker completed his tertiary studies in Shanghai with a degree in Linguistics and Mandarin Chinese.[3][7] He also lived in India "absorbing musical influences".[7]

Upon return to Australia Walker continued his musical career living near Wollongong.[7][12] His album, Abstract Poverty, was released in 1997 on the Way Over There label.[13] Hans Uhad of Stylus Magazine felt it showed a "juxtaposition of slow burning, moody, Codeine-like numbers with deft, mildly psychotic stabs at fusing traditional Celtic music with his own burnt version of Americana and flamenco".[14] One of the tracks, "Jezebel", was a re-recorded version of his earlier work as Shed Method.[9][13] For touring Walker expanded the band with Guy Freer on accordion and keyboards; Marianthe Loucataris on drums; and Jonathan Nix on bass and samples.[15] Machine Translations' second album, Halo, appeared in the following year on Way Over There and was distributed by Shock Records.[16] White provided clarinet for the album.[16]

His next album on Way Over There was Holiday in Spain which was released in 1999. Kelsey Munro of The Sydney Morning Herald felt the album was a "criminally ignored underground classic".[7] Comes with a Smile's Matt Dornan noted there is "no disguising the homemade feel of both music and sparse packaging, but there's certainly a twisted core to this antipodean walkabout through sonic pastures new".[17] Walker co-produced the album with Kimmo Vennon, he also used guest vocalists including Kirsty Stegwazi.[17][18] Walker had provided guitar on tracks for Stegwazi's solo album, Keep Still (1999). At times Machine Translations performed with White aboard under the name Thing of a Thousand Strings.[19]

In 2000 he worked on his next album, Bad Shapes (21 May 2001).[7] Walker was joined in the studio by Freer on saxophone and accordion; Loucataris on lead vocals, drums and percussion; Nix on double bass; White on clarinet, broken piano and percussion; and Gemma Clare on cello; Kazuaki Nakahara on banjo, electric and classical guitars; Elmo Reed on lead vocals and electric guitar; and Melissa Owl.[20][21] It was issued on Spunk! Records and achieved critical acclaim and "got everyone paying attention".[7][20] Walker described collaborating with Freer, Loucataris, and Nix: "We've known each other for at least 10 years ... I really enjoy working with them, and writing with them, because, doing what I do, I know my own tricks, but with the group there's far less chance of stagnation".[22]

Bad Shapes provided "Poor Circle", a "radio-friendly" single which was "[i]rresistibly fresh, bent and poppy" according to The Age's Jo Roberts.[23] After the album appeared Walker moved to Melbourne.[2] He toured the eastern states of Australia and then in late 2001 Machine Translations supported instrumental group, Dirty Three, on a ten‑day tour of the United States.[7][22] Walker's group then toured Europe including a gig in Paris on a boat in the Seine.[7][22]

In October 2002 the group released their next album, Happy, which Munro felt was "an advance on its predecessors with elements of acoustic pop ... warped Middle Eastern flavours, weirdly joyful and layered melodies, and robotically beautiful, Stereolab-type vocal cut-ups and loops".[7] Neil Strauss described it in The New York Times as a "precious mix of light orchestration, inward-gazing songwriting and post-rock experimentation".[24] It provided two singles, "Amnesia" and "She Wears a Mask". Tommo Eitelhuber felt the tracks had "enough unique charm to make them noticable [sic]".[25]

During the next year Walker co-produced, engineered and mixed an album, A Minor Revival (August 2003), for folk rock duo, Sodastream.[26] He also supplied electric and slide guitars, viola and keyboards.[26] Machine Translations released a seven-track extended play, Love on the Vine (late 2003).[27] The title track had backing vocals by Clare Bowditch and Karen Tua, Tua also provided keyboards on another track.[28] The EP was followed by a studio album, Venus Traps Fly, in May 2004.[29] For Eitelhuber the album was "even more disappointing" than Happy with it being "pleasantly enjoyable in the short term, but repetitive and uninspiring in the long term".[25] However Bernard Zuel of The Sydney Morning Herald noted that Walker's "language is elliptical, the emotions often very clear but their carriage wrapped up in lines that remain elusive" and that he "used more concrete images for the decidedly concrete emotions of his characters" for "another sublime pop album".[2]

By February 2004 Walker had joined Clare Bowditch & the Feeding Set on erhu, electric guitar, rhodes synthesiser and viola. The group included Bowditch on vocals and guitar; and her domestic partner Marty Brown (of Sodastream and Art of Fighting) on multiple instruments and producing; they recorded an album, Autumn Bone.[30][31] Walker also toured with the band,[31] and, as a member of the Feeding Set, he contributed to three extended plays and another album, What Was Left (October 2005).[32]

In June 2004, to promote Venus Traps Fly, Machine Translations toured with a line-up of Walker on vocals and guitar; Tua on keyboards and backing vocals; Iain Downie on bass guitar; and Kjirsten Robb on drums.[33] Michael Dwyer of The Age saw their gig at the Corner Hotel and was impressed by Walker's "considered approach to live dynamics, arrangements beautifully designed around his conversational vocal style" and he was "a pretty flash guitarist, his modal solos and big, chunky rhythm freak-outs bringing plenty of excitement".[33] Bowditch guested on lead vocals for a track, "Simple Life", with "a splash of high glamour in a too-brief cameo".[33]

In 2005 Walker composed the score for ABC TV documentary, Girl in a Mirror: A Portrait of Carol Jerrems, on the life of Australian photographer Carol Jerrems.[34] At the APRA Music Awards of 2005 Walker's work was nominated for Best Music for a Documentary.[35][36] In October that year Machine Translations issued another EP, Wolf on a String, with six tracks.[37] Zuel noted it had "an acoustic, low-profile feel" while mostly "the mood is languorous" however "there is menace in 'A Ghost Rides' and insistent percussion bringing on some disturbance in 'Extress'".[38] By that time Walker and his domestic partner Tua were living in Jumbunna.[4]

On 8 June 2005 ABC Digital Radio broadcast a cover version of Willie Dixon's "Spoonful" by Machine Translations with C. W. Stoneking as the first part of The DiG Australian Blues Project.[39][40] The program described their interpretation as "fantastically twisted" including a "brilliantly 'outside' guitar solo near the end".[40] Walker recalled that at 16 or 17 he was "listening to a lot of old blues, more country style blues ... [it] really affected me, just the rawness of it and the sincerity of it".[40] Walker produced Stoneking's albums King Hokum (2005) and Jungle Blues (October 2008).[41][42][43] The latter provided Stoneking with an ARIA Award in 2009 for Best Roots and Blues Album and four other nominations.[44]

Machine Translations' next album, Seven Seven, appeared in October 2007. Zuel finds Walker is "as unfussy a musician as you could find" and provides a "feeling of great calm" where "[t]hings happen but they happen naturally".[45] Dan Rule of The Age felt it was "stunningly organic" as Walker "weaves a shimmering layer of acoustic nuance and texture throughout".[4] Walker composed the score and Machine Translations contributed to the soundtrack for ABC-TV drama series East of Everything (March 2008 – September 2009).[46][47] Walker's "A Most Peculiar Place" was used as the show's theme: it had originally appeared on Machine Translations' album, Happy.[47] Walker has a cameo as a singer-songwriter in episode five where he performs "Don't Give Up on Me Just Yet".[47] At the APRA Music Awards of 2008 Walker was nominated for Best Soundtrack Album for East of Everything Series One Soundtrack Album.[48][49]

In 2009 Walker composed original music for ABC-TV's documentary series, Bombora – The History of Australian Surfing.[50][51] He contributed music for Mother of Rock: The Life and Times of Lillian Roxon (August 2010), a documentary film on Australian rock music journalist, Lillian Roxon.[52] The film was showcased at that year's Melbourne International Film Festival.[53] Premiering at that festival was a comedy-drama feature film, The Wedding Party, with a soundtrack which included work by Walker and by Bowditch.[54][55]

Graeme Blundell of The Australian previewed an ABC-TV documentary, Then the Wind Changed (February 2012), on the Black Saturday bushfires and noted that it is "a beautifully made film, crafted with compassion, alternating the sounds of destruction with the silence left behind, intercut with noise of rebuilding lives and structures and heightened with a compelling score from [Walker]".[56] Walker also worked for ABC-TV on Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (February 2012 – December 2013) composing the theme music and score.[51] At the APRA Music Awards of 2012 the work was nominated for both Best Music for a Television Series or Serial and for Best Television Theme.[51][57]

During July and August 2012 Walker co-produced Spring and Fall for Paul Kelly, which was recorded in a hall in Jumbunna.[58][59] Walker was also used on upright bass guitar, dobro, violin and harmonica; as well as Paul's nephew Dan Kelly on acoustic guitar and harmony vocals.[58][59] Walker had produced tracks on albums for Dan's earlier band the Alpha Males: The Tabloid Blues (March 2004) and Drowning in the Fountain of Youth (August 2006). During August 2013 and then December that year Walker joined Paul's backing band to tour in support of Spring and Fall.[60]

On 11 October 2013 Machine Translations issued the eighth studio album, The Bright Door.[61] Beat Magazine's Chris Girdler sees Walker chronicling the "complications and anxieties of growing older" with life's "highs and lows" captured by "its gentle, harmonious songs harbouring a sense of discord and foreboding".[62]

Discography

Albums

Shed Method
  • Machine Translations (1995)
Machine Translations
  • Abstract Poverty (1997)
  • Halo (1998)
  • Holiday in Spain (1999)
  • Bad Shapes (21 May 2001) Spunk! Records, Festival Mushroom Records (URA044)
  • Happy (October 2002) Spunk! Records
  • Venus Traps Fly (May 2004) Spunk! Records
  • Seven Seven (22 October 2007) Spunk! Records / EMI
  • The Bright Door (2013)
  • Oh (2017)

Extended plays

  • Love on the Vine (late 2003) Spunk! Records
  • Wolf on a String (October 2005) Spunk! Records / Inertia Records

References

  1. ↑ "'Abstract Poverty' at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Zuel, Bernard (2 July 2004). "The Shape of Things to Come". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  3. 1 2 Macgregor, Jody. "Machine Translations Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 Rule, Dan (16 November 2007). "In Seventh Heaven". Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  5. 1 2 "Machine Translations: We Chat with J Walker". Coast. Coast Media Pty Ltd (Maria Reed). Summer 2009. pp. 30–32. ISSN 1833-3648. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  6. 1 2 Whitfield, Kathryn (May 1986). "Over the Top with Moon". Pulse. Canberra Musicians. Archived from the original on 9 June 2010. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Munro, Kelsey (17 April 2003). "All in the Translation". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Enfield, Nick (13 July 1995). "Good Times: Greg's Unique Array of Sounds". The Canberra Times. National Library of Australia. p. 26. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  9. 1 2 "'Jezebel' at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  10. 1 2 3 Enfield, Nick (17 August 1995). "Good Times Music CD: @ction at Last". The Canberra Times. National Library of Australia. p. 25. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  11. ↑ "The Fortress". AusStage. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  12. ↑ Hennessy, Kate (12 November 2013). "Machine Translations: 'Follow Your Nose'". Mess+Noise. Danny Bos, Kristy Milliken. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  13. 1 2 Machine Translations (1997), Abstract Poverty, Way Over There. National Library of Australia, retrieved 25 December 2013
  14. ↑ Uhad, Hans (1 September 2003). "Machine Translations – Bad Shapes – Review". Stylus. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  15. ↑ "Machine Translations Bio". Machine Translations Official Website. Archived from the original on 25 October 2001. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  16. 1 2 Halo (album notes). Machine Translations. Way Over There. 1998. WOT034.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  17. 1 2 Dornan, Matt (Autumn 2000). "Review: Machine Translations | Holiday in Spain (Way Over There)". Comes with a Smile. No. 6. Mark Venn. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  18. ↑ Machine Translations (1999), Holiday in Spain, Way Over There Recordings: BMG Music, retrieved 25 December 2013
  19. ↑ Moore, Chris (20 April 2000). "Canberra Band at Home in Gong". Illawara Mercury. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  20. 1 2 Machine Translations (2001), Bad Shapes, Spunk! Records. National Library of Australia, retrieved 26 December 2013
  21. ↑ Bad Shapes (album notes). Machine Translations. Spunk! Records. 2001. ura 044.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  22. 1 2 3 Parkes, Geoffrey (July 2001). "It's Getting Colder – Machine Translations & Their New Album, Bad Shapes". iPrimus. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  23. ↑ Roberts, Jo (22 November 2002). "Lost in the Translation". The Age. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  24. ↑ Strauss, Neil (6 February 2006). "The Pop Life; Up-and-Comers Down Under". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  25. 1 2 Eitelhuber, Tommo. "Album Review: Machine Translations – Venus Traps Fly". Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  26. 1 2 "Minor Revival – Sodastream | Credits". Allmusic. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  27. ↑ Machine Translations (2003), Love on the Vine, Spunk! Records. National Library of Australia, retrieved 26 December 2013
  28. ↑ Love on the Vine (album notes). Machine Translations. Spunk! Records. 2003. ura 108.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  29. ↑ "Releases :: Venus Traps Fly". Australian Music Online. Archived from the original on 7 August 2008. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  30. ↑ "Clare Bowditch & The Feeding Set: Autumn Bone". Triple J. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 20 February 2004. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  31. 1 2 Mathieson, Craig (16 April 2004). "Baby Makes Trio". The Age. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  32. ↑ Alessio, Dom (30 August 2006). "Clare Bowditch". Who the Bloody Hell Are They? (Jerry Soer, Dom Alessio). Archived from the original on 22 May 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  33. 1 2 3 Dwyer, Michael (29 June 2004). "Machine Translations". The Age. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  34. ↑ "Documentaries & Specials: Girl in a Mirror: A Portrait of Carol Jerrems". Sunday Afternoon. ABC TV (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 2005. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  35. ↑ "2005 Winners – Screen Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  36. ↑ "2005 Nominations – Screen Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  37. ↑ Machine Translations (2005), Wolf on a String, Spunk! Records. National Library of Australia, retrieved 26 December 2013
  38. ↑ Zuel, Bernard (13 October 2005). "CD Reviews: Machine Translations: Wolf on a String". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 1 September 2009. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  39. ↑ "The DiG Australian Blues Project – The Songs". ABC Digital Radio (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  40. 1 2 3 "Machine Translations & CW Stoneking Twist The Blues". The DiG Australian Blues Project. ABC Digital Radio (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 8 June 2005. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  41. ↑ "C. W. Stoneking, Live Music: Blues". Spoonfed. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  42. ↑ Stoneking, C.W (2008), King Hokum, Shock Records. National Library of Australia, retrieved 27 December 2013 Note: Reissue of 2005 version.
  43. ↑ "CW Stoneking Raises Questions About Who Can Sing Blues". The Daily Telegraph. 15 November 2008. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  44. ↑ "ARIA Awards 2009 : History: Winners by Year : 2009:23rd Annual ARIA Awards". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Archived from the original on 24 November 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  45. ↑ Zuel, Bernard (26 October 2007). "Seven Seven – CD Reviews". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
  46. ↑ Machine Translations (2008), East of Everything Series One Soundtrack Album, ABC/Warner Music, retrieved 27 December 2013
  47. 1 2 3 Giuffre, Liz (2010). "Sounding East of Everything" (PDF). Screen Sound Journal. pp. 50–53. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  48. ↑ "2008 Winners – Screen Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 8 March 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  49. ↑ "2008 Nominations – Screen Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 8 March 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  50. ↑ "2012 Winners – Screen Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC). Archived from the original on 14 April 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  51. 1 2 3 "Nominations > Best Music for a Short Film". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC). Archived from the original on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  52. ↑ "Mother of Rock: The Life and Times of Lillian Roxon". Debate.org. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  53. ↑ "Films: Mother of Rock: The Life and Times of Lillian Roxon". Melbourne International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 6 January 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  54. ↑ Hawker, Phillipa (9 June 2010). "City Stars in a Marriage of Comedy, Drama and Chaos". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  55. ↑ Siemienowicz, Rochelle (February 2011). "The Year Ahead Part 2". Australian Film Institute. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  56. ↑ Blundell, Graeme (7 February 2012). "Tender Exploration of Post-Disaster Healing". The Australian. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  57. ↑ "Nominations > Best Television Theme". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC). Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  58. 1 2 "Forthcoming: Paul Kelly in News". Mess+Noise (Danny Bos, Kristy Milliken). 20 September 2012. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  59. 1 2 Valentish, Jenny (18 October 2012). "Paul Kelly: Spring and Fall". Time Out Melbourne. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  60. ↑ Weiley, Meaghan (25 August 2013). "Paul Kelly's Spring and Fall Tour". Onya Magazine. Sandi Sieger. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  61. ↑ "The Bright Door by Machine Translations". iTunes. 11 October 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  62. ↑ Girdler, Chris (5 December 2013). "Machine Translations: The Bright Door". Beat Magazine. Furst Media. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
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