Artificial (Live + AV)(AUS)

Nicole Skeltys (Artificial) spent the late 90s and early 2000s rewriting the rules of Australian electronic music. As one half of electro-femme outfit B(if)tek, she toured with the Beastie Boys, recorded with Twin Peaks chanteuse Julee Cruise and landed an ARIA nomination, all while making music that sat somewhere between ambient, experimental and fiery dancefloor. Her solo project Artificial pushed further into the eccentric: hillbilly house, fizzy lo-fi electro-lounge and deep analogue bleeps, released across two albums and the now-legendary Stoner Classix vinyl series.

Two decades on, that catalogue has found new audiences, with tracks landing on European electronic labels and Skeltys still deep in the analogue world as a founding member of Melbourne Electronic Sound Studios. The intervening years have also taken in a PhD in Creative Arts, a rock opera about late capitalism, and a festival exploring SETI and space science. The range is, to put it mildly, considerable.

Artificial plays QUIVR for Open Season. For anyone who knows the best electronic music has always had a sense of humour about itself.

Open Season is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland's Strategic Partnerships Fund, and by the Australian Government through the Office for the Arts Revive Live program.