Monthly Archives: December 2005

Playlist 25.12.05

Tonight is part one the 2005 retrospective UFog, so fasten your seatbelts for a ride through 3 hours of the best music (according to this show) released in the last year!
Part one because there’s so much good stuff that it’s going to overflow rather nicely into next week. I’ll no doubt play a few of the artists who’ve featured here this week plus lots more! Check the previous post for my huge list of great releases from this year…

Mara Carlyle – Piximerie [Accidental]
Mara Carlyle – Dido’s Lament (Remember Me) [Accidental Records]
Gauche – Savoir Faire [Invada]
Emiliana Torrini – Sunnyroad (Atom™‘s FutureFolk remix) [Rough Trade]
Avia Gardner – More Than Tongue Can Tell [intr_version]
Tanya Horo & Jono Ma – Spooked [“the artist formerly known as” Marvey King; excellent new indietronica (or whatever) from Sydney]
part timer – morepiano [unreleased wonderfulness from John of Clickits, based in Melbourne]
Tunng – Mother’s Daughter [Static Caravan]
The Books – Vogt Dig For Kloppervok [Tomlab]
13 & God – Soft Atlas [Alien Transistor/Anticon]
Sage Francis – Sea Lion (extended mix feat. Will Oldham, Alias & Saul Williams) [Epitaph]
Sole – every single one of us (produced by Alias) [Anticon]
Cyne – Automaton (Four Tet remix instrumental) [City Centre Offices]
Shadow Huntaz – Y [Skam]
Plat – Hverfandi (Funckarma remix) [n5md (originally released on Prospect Recordings]
Autechre – Pro Radii [Warp]
AFX – Laughable Butane Bob [Warp] {10 years after they came out on vinyl, Warp have re-issued the Hangable Auto Bulb EPs on CD…}
Deadbeat feat Athésia – Port-au-Prince [~scape]
AOKI takamasa + Tujiko Noriko – Doki Doki Last Night [Fat Cat]
QWERTY – Second2 [self-released, excellent stuff from Marrickville, Sydney!]
Pivot – Incidental Backcloth [Sensory Projects]
Qua vs Stina – Green Robin [Meupe]
howard – music in slow motion [self-released]
Boards of Canada – Dayvan Cowboy [Warp]
Beck – Broken Drum (Boards of Canada remix) [Geffen]
Fog – The Rabbit [Lex Records]
Why? – Mutant John [Anticon]
City City City – skim [Holding Pattern/Remote Control]
Four Tet – Sun Drums and Soil [Domino]
65daysofstatic – drove through ghosts to get here [Monotreme]
Venetian Snares – Hajnal [Planet µ]
Belladonnakillz – Grrly Jungle [dross:tik]

Best of 2005

OK, so the end of the year brings a special sort of woe to public figures in the creative world: you get asked to give your “top 5” or “top 10” for the year. This is of course painful for someone like me. At the end of 2005 I already had promos of two albums that I knew would be in the top of 2005’s releases: Tunng’s Mother’s Daughter and Other Songs and Hood’s Outside Closer. However, as I looked through my collection of releases from this year, 2005 has really been a brilliant year, and it was hugely difficult to give FBi my pick of top 5 releases for the year.
I started off with my top Aussie releases, and much though there’s been some really great stuff, it wasn’t too hard to come up with 5 releases. This is because it occurred to me that there’s been a few stunning things that have been passed on to me by their creators, which were either still demos, or were self-released with no distribution, so I could list them separately. Thus we had:

Utility Fog’s Top 5 unreleased/self-released discoveries of 2005, augmented to 8 because I forgot a few

Faux Pas (his nicely packaged Faux Feels EP is self-released and not a demo, but hey…)
Foley (Alon from Gauche, so not an “undiscovered talent” as such, but it’s pretty way-out solo stuff)
Little Aida (self-released a mini-album this year, lovely somewhat experimental indie which reminds me a bit of Paradise Motel)
Scissors For Sparrow (the lovely John from ii, doing brilliantly eclectic stuff, which describes ii well too!)
Tanya Horo & Jono Ma (previously “Marvey King“)
Three Month Sunset – shoegazey guitars/electronics, should have a release out in early 2006 from the lovely hellosQuare recordings
part timer (John McCaffrey from Clickits, from UK, now living in Melbourne)
QWERTY (top electronic kidz from Marrickville)

I then listed:
Utility Fog’s top 5 Australian albums of 2005
(but I won’t put segregate them here)

and started thinking about international stuff. I thought I was going fine, and then I realised the dillemma above: two of the undoubtedly most wonderful releases of the year have been around since late 2004, and there’s so much else that’s rocked my boat! So how about we split the year in two? I sent lists off to the FBi thingummy counters for:

Utility Fog’s top 5 o/s albums of the first half of 2005
and
Utility Fog’s top 5 o/s albums of the second half of 2005

But… Oh SHIT, almost immediately after I sent that off, I started noticing gaps. The most embarrassing omission of all was Venetian Snares’ masterpiece Rossz Csillag Alatt Született, but then there were a bunch of others. This resulted in:
Utility Fog’s OTHER top 5+3 o/s albums (and a couple of EPs make 10) of 2005 that I forgot the first time round because I’m a dickhead, and anyway I hate top 5s, they suck, they really do.

However, I feel that there are many other brilliant releases that didn’t fit, or got forgotten, in the lists I’ve named above, so I’m just going to jam everything into a big bunch below, including various 7″s, 12″s, EPs and the like, which I’ve enjoyed throughout the year, and which UFog listeners would have been serenaded by at one time or other… Aussie and o/s, genres galore, all in one big lump, like I did for last year over at Stumblings in the dark.

Before I get there though, special mention for:
Utility Fog’s best late-coming release for 2005 that should probably go in 2006’s best-ofs as it hasn’t really been round long enough to get a proper assessment yet

Department of Eagles – The Cold Nose [Melodic]

The List
(Note: I’m sure to add things to this list as I discover more things I’ve forgotten, so check it over now and then… things added after Sunday the 25th will be marked in red as late additions; these include things I didn’t get hold of until later)

Aarktica/Aaron Spectre – Ocean EP 12″ [Moonbunny]
Akron/Family – s/t [Young God/Spunk]
Alarm Will Sound – Acoustica [Cantaloupe Music] {contemporary classical Aphex Twin covers – I didn’t mean to miss this one when I posted this!}
Amina – Animamina [Speak n Spell]
Animal Collective – Feels [Fat Cat]
Apparat – Silizium EP [Shitkatapult]
Aronas – Aronas [Strange Records/Vitamin]
Autechre – Untilted [Warp]
Avia Gardner – More Than Tongue Can Tell [intr_version]
Bar Kokhba Sextet – John Zorn 50th birthday sets [Tzadik]
Belladonnakillz – Perverted and Proud [dross:tik]
Bitstream – One Third Standard Lux [Modern Love] {brilliant 2004 release that I only heard about in earlyish 2005}
Bitstream – Streamlining EP [Touchin’ Base] {new! But I had to mention the brilliant anthology of older 12″ tracks above}
Bloc Party – Silent Alarm [Wichita]
Boards of Canada – The Campfire Headphase [Warp]
The Boats – we made it for you [Moteer]
The Books – Lost and Safe [Tomlab]
Brahm – Built to be Brought Down [Lujo]
Vashti Bunyan – Lookaftering [Fat Cat]
Mara Carlyle – I Blame Dido single [Accidental]
Mara Carlyle – Baby Bloodheart single [Accidental]
Castings – ‘allo hickory [Spanish Magic]
City City City – The Perimeter Motor Show [Holding Pattern/Remote Control]
Clickits – express gifts [Moteer]
The Girls From The Clouds – lalalala [Candle]
The Crakow Klezmer Band/John Zorn – Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass [Tzadik]
Julian CurwinTango Saloon [I’m shocked that I missed this wonderful self-released album from Gauche guitarist Julian Curwin, ex-Monsieur Camembert, also Darth Vegas member…]
Cyne – Running Water 12″ (for the Four Tet remix) [City Centre Offices]
Daedelus – Exquisite Corpse [Ninja Tune]
Deadbeat – New World Observer [~scape]
Decoder Ring – Fractions [NO, distrib. Inertia]
désormais – dead letters to lost friends [intr_version]
DJ /Rupture – Redux [Brøklyn Beats]
Downpour – 4 More Insignificances CDR-EP, briefly available at Hood gigs]
Eddie Marcon – Shining on Graveposts [Preservation]
Matt Elliott – Drinking Songs [Ici D’Ailleurs]
Enduser – Calling The Vultures [Sublight]
Enduser – Comparing Paths [Very Friendly]
Epic 45 – England Fallen Over EP [Make Mine Music]
Exile – Pro Agonist [Planet µ]
Final Fantasy – Has A Good Home [Tomlab]
Flanger – Spirituals [Nonplace]
The Flashbulb – Kirlian Selections [Sublight]
Fog – 10th Avenue Freakout [Lex Records]
Jason Forrest – Shamelessly Exciting [Sonig]
Four Tet – Everything Ecstatic [Domino] {despite being a disappointment all in all, it had a few good tracks on it}
Four Tet – Everything Ecstatic (the DVD + extra CD version) [Domino] {“this is six minutes” is six minutes of Four Tet bliss}
Sage Francis – A Healthy Distrust [Epitaph]
Sage Francis with Will Oldham, Alias & Saul Williams – Sea Lion 12″ [Epitaph]
Frog Pocket – Gonglot [Planet µ]
Funckarma – Refurbished One [n5md] {not technically music from 2005 – all remixes by Funckarma from the last 5 or so years, collected together in a brilliant compilation}
Funckarma – Elaztiq Bourbon 5 [Sending Orbs] {also not new stuff – tracks from 3 12”s from 2002 & 2003, but lovely to have on CD!}
Gang Gang Dance – God’s Money [The Social Registry]
Gauche – Paints Lane [Invada]
Gauche – repainted [Invada]
Giardini di Mirò – North Atlantic Treaty of Love Part One [2.nd rec]
Giardini di Mirò – Boys Scarves Are A Guide To Rebellion 7″ [Earsugar] {I deplore the absence of an apostrophe after “Boys” but they’re Italian so I forgive them!}
Githead – Profile [Swim ~]
Gonzales – Solo Piano [No Format] {A 2004 release that I only got hold of in early 2005…}
Grizzly Bear – Horn of Plenty (esp the remixes disc) [Kanine Records]
Matthew Herbert – Plat Du Jour [Accidental Records]
Hood – Outside Closer [Domino]
Hood – The Hood Tapes [CDR avilable only at gigs and briefly through Norman Records]
howard – electronic music of a programmatic nature [self-released]
Hrvatski – Une Drôle de Journée [Ache Records] {his side of the Divorce Series split 7″}
Hrvatski – Irrevocably Overdriven Break Freakout Megamix [Entschuldigen]
Icarus – Carnivalesque [Not Applicable]
Isis – Oceanic Remixes/Reinterpretations double CD [Hydra Head Industries]
Jack Ladder – Not Worth Waiting For [Spunk]
Jackson & His Computer Band – Smash [Warp]
The Kallikak Family – may 23rd 2007 [tell-all records]
Kettel – Through friendly waters [Sending Orbs]
Larsen – Play [Important Records]
Marsen Jules – Herbstlaub [City Centre Offices]
Kattoo – Megrim [Hymen]
Madvillain – Four Tet remixes 12″ [Stones Throw]
Melodium – la tête qui flotte [Autres Directions in Music]
Mice Parade – Night’s Wave EP [Bubblecore/Fat Cat]
Mice Parade – Bem-Vinda Vontade [Bubblecore/Fat Cat]
Minotaur Shock – Muesli 12″ [4ad]
Murcof – Remembranza [Leaf]
µ-Ziq – Ease Up 12″ [Planet µ]
The Necks – Mosquito [Fish of Milk]
NiHao! – RED BLUE GREEN [Ten-Zen-Men]
Night is Invisible – s/t [Lujo Records]
Nine Horses – Snow Borne Sorrow [Samadhi Sound]
Nobody – and everything else… [Plug Research]
Tujiko Noriko (with Lawrence English) – Blurred in My Mirror [Room40]
Odd Nosdam – Burner [Anticon]
Pasobionic – Empty Beats For Lonely Rappers [Elefant Traks]
Pedro – Early Pedro [Melodic, mainly for the wonderful collaborations with Kathryn Williams originally released on Moshi Moshi]
Pivot – Make Me Love You [Sensory Projects]
Plankton – Insomnia [Feral Media]
Populous – Queue For Love [Morr Music]
Pulseprogramming – Tulsa For One Second Remix Project [Aesthetics]
randomNumber – ep charge [Vacuous Pop]
randomNumber – golden acre sleeps [Highpoint Lowlife]
Rashamon – Frightened By The Familiar [Passive-Aggressive]
Steve Reich – You Are (Variations) [Nonesuch]
The Remote Viewer – Let Your Heart Draw A Line [City Centre Offices]
Shadow Huntaz – Valley of the Shadow [Skam]
Sixtoo & Norsola – Homages (double 7″) [Bully]
65daysofstatic – one time for all time [Monotreme]
Sole – Live From Rome [Anticon]
Sole – new single [Anticon]
Songs of Green Pheasant – s/t [Fat Cat]
Sufjan Stevens – Come On, Feel The Illinoise! [Asthmatic Kitty/Spunk]
Subtle – The Long Vein of the Law 12″ [Lex Records]
David Sylvian – The Good Son Vs. The Only Daughter (Blemish remixes) [Samadhi Sound]
AOKI takamasa + Tujiko Noriko – 28 [Fat Cat]
13 & God – s/t [Alien Transistor/Anticon]
13 & God – Soft Atlas/Men of Station 12″ [Alien Transistor/Anticon]
Amon Tobin – Chaos Theory soundtrack [Ninja Tune]
Emiliana Torrini – Sunnyroad single [RoughTrade] {officially released 2004 but really only available 2005 and the Atom™ remix got played oh-so-much}
Emiliana Torrini – Heartstopper single [RoughTrade] {it was the Múm remix here}
Tunng – Mother’s Daughter and Other Songs [Static Caravan]
Tunng – Magpie Bites 7″ [Nowhere Fast Records]
Venetian Snares – Rossz Csillag Alatt Született [Planet µ]
Venetian Snares – Meathole [Planet µ]
Vorpal – An Incomplete Guide to VORPAL Music [Cockrockdisco]
Keith Fullerton Whitman – Multiples [Kranky]
Keith Fullerton Whitman and Greg Davis – three shows triple CD [Entschuldigen]
Why? – Elephant Eyelash [Anticon]
Why? – Sanddollars, The EP [Anticon]
Wisp – nrthndr [Sublight]
World’s End Girlfriend – The Lie Lay Land [MIDI Creative co.]
Xiu Xiu – La Forêt [Kill Rock Stars via popfrenzy]

…and compilations:
Check The Water – Selections From The Leaf Label’s First Ten Years [Leaf]
Symbiotic II – everything takes forever [Sensory Projects]
tea for two [meupe]
now 01 [Underscan]
3 years of AK Duck – Past Present Future [AK Duck]

…and while we’re at it, reissues of the year:
AFX – Hangable Auto Bulb [Warp] {finally on CD}
Can – remasters (I’m just getting through them – obviously Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi rule my world; they were released in 2004. The remastered Future Days came out this year, and I’ll be getting to others soon I hope!) [Spoon/Mute]
Enduser – Bollywood Breaks EP [Ad Noiseam] {finally on CD}
Global Communication – 76 14 [I have the Summershine 2CD version, local Aussie licence from Dedicated back in the day. It was reissued this year and is a hugely important entry into the ambient canon…]
This Heat – This Heat [ReR Megacorp] {remastered, finally on CD}

Finally, top DJ mixes of the year:
DJ /Rupture – Low Income Tomorrowland [Tax Records – CD comes with high-quality mp3s of the following too:]
DJ /Rupture – “BTTB” mix [download here]
Kid Kameleon – Absolutely Shocking [download here]
Kid Kameleon – Even More Shocking [download here]
Kid Kameleon – Mashers Without Borders [download here – and lots more at the Mashit! site]
Kid Kameleon – Raggablogga Mix [download here, and what a fucking awesome rant he has about the brilliant new ragga jungle scene too!]
Kid Kameleon – If Only I Could Dream (a tribute to Pieter K) [download here]

You can see the FBi lists here – they bypassed my stressouts and I chose to list an album each from five “different” genres… I guess it’ll do *sigh*

Playlist 18.12.05

Bit of contemporary classical music to start the show from the master, Steve Reich.

Steve Reich – You Are Wherever Your Thoughts Are (mvt 1 of “You Are (Variations)” [Nonesuch]
Murcof – Mir [Leaf]
Depeche Mode – Newbord (Foster Remix by Kettel) [Mute]
Coldcut feat. Andrew Broder aka Fog – Whistle And A Prayer [Ninja Tune]
Tunng – Jay Down [Earworm]
Jason Forrest – New Wave Folk Austerity [Sonig]
City City City – skim [Holding Pattern/Remote Control]
Department of Eagles – Romo-Goth [Melodic]
Department of Eagles – Noam Chomsky Spring Break 2002 [Melodic]
Grizzly Bear – Shift (Circlesquare remix) [Kanine Records]
The Besnard Lakes – This Thing [Earworm]
Animal Collective – Bees [Fat Cat]
Grizzly Bear – Disappearing Act (Ariel Pink remix) [Kanine Records]
The Earlies – Ride [Earworm]
Tunng – Magpie Bites [Nowhere Fast Records]
Qua vs Stina – Green Robin [Meupe]
Pulseprogramming – Salut Tulsa (Deviationists remix) [Aesthetics]
Woodcraft Folk – Blokflute [Earworm]
Jan Jelinek – Universal Band Silhouette [~scape]
Coldcut – Sound Mirrors [Ninja Tune]
Wisp – untethered [Sublight]
Zainetica – Bytesize [SubVariant]
Gregory Isaacs/DJ C – Gone A Jail (DJ C mix) [Shockout]
Coldcut – Boogieman (feat. Amiri Baraka) [Ninja Tune]
Murderbot – Amerie (remix of Amerie‘s “One Thing”) [downloadable from here, at least for the moment…]
QWERTY – Jungle tester (feat. the one & only Beanie Man) [hilarious drill’n’basscore from Marrickville, Sydney!]

Playlist 11.12.05

Starting with a rather awesome illicit remix of the Amerie track I played last week… Then an astounding remastered This Heat track, beat-mangling from 1978. Some other nice new sounds tonight, including a new compilation on SubVariant called SubVaritrax… Also wonderful to have new Tunng to play you, both a new track of theirs and remix, from two different 7″s.

Murderbot – Amerie (remix of Amerie‘s “One Thing”) [downloadable from here, at least for the moment…]
This Heat – 24 Track Loop [ReR Megacorp via Wire Mag]
Neu! – Hallogallo [Astralwerks]
Pivot – Incidental Backcloth [Sensory Projects]
City City City – Empty [Sensory Projects]
Underlapper – Little (Seaworthy remix) [Feral Media]
Jason Forrest – Nightclothes And Headphones (feat. Laura Cantrell) [Sonig]
Tunng – Magpie Bites [Nowhere Fast Records]
Grizzly Bear – Merge (Dntel remix) [Kanine Records]
Kid 606 – done with the scene (bravecaptain remix) [Wichita]
Depeche Mode – A Pain That I’m Used To (Bitstream‘s Threshold Remix) [Mute]
Viva Voce – Wrecking Ball (Tunng remix) [Fulltime Hobby]
Avia Gardner – Oceans of Almost Rushing [intr_version]
Vladislav Delay – The First Quarter [Huume]
Cathode – Chronophobia (with Caroline Thorp) [Distraction Records]
Quantazelle – Late Blazing Kinch Theme [SubVariant]
randomNumber – When 1 [High Point Lowlife] {from an mp3 release, freely downloadable from the label}
eDIT – Spare Spork [SubVariant]
Tanya Horo & Jono Ma – Dark Beauty [“the artist formerly known as” Marvey King; excellent new indietronica (or whatever) from Sydney, still in demo form but sounding great!]
Foley – ilex [From Gauche drummer Alon Ilsar’s new solo project, this track featuring Jane Sheldon, also from Gauche, on vocals]
QWERTY – Flat (zanagood) [new(er) stuff from those kidz from Marrickville, Sydney!]
Quench – Vegeta [u-cover]
Triosk – I Am A Beautiful And Unique Snowflake [Leaf]
Aronas – You Little Beauty [Strange Records/Vitamin]