Utility Fog

Sunday, 21st of March, 2010

Evening!
LISTEN AGAIN link down below the playlist kidz.
Just to let you know, next week the wonderful Shannon O'Neill will be filling as I'm on tour with FourPlay...
Following Sunday I'm back in action, and that arvo I'm playing a rare Raven gig at 1/475 King St Newtown. Facebook event here - it's for the launch of a 3” of mine, plus one for the brilliant Crab Smasher, also playing. Both 3”s on Marcus Whale's CURT label.

To start, RIP Alex Chilton. Two of his beautiful songs started tonight's show. This Mortal Coil were responsible in a way for Big Star’s cult status from the 1980s on, so we heard their version of "Holocaust", but the original of the devastating "Kangaroo".

Also incredibly sad news now confirmed is that Sean Stewart from Melbourne indie-noise-goth trio HTRK has passed away. Absolutely tragic for all concerned, I have no words — played two tracks as some kind of memorial.

Sydney's Howling Bells get the Ulrich Schnauss epic electronic-shoegaze treatment, from a compilation of 14 of Ulrich's remixes from the last while. A few well-loved ones are missing (where's Sia?) but it's a fabulous journey, and essential plays like a new Ulrich Schnauss album, which is a nice thing in itself.

And the first hint of a huge feature in the middle of the show on Icarus, one of my favourite bands, who are playing in Sydney this Friday.
Details at this Facebook event. Part of Emily McDaniel's Refraction series, the gig starts at 6:30pm on Friday the 26th, with Shoeb Ahmad (see below), Jon Hunter of The Holy Soul (etc), and UTS student Jordan Bryon.
It's at Bon Marche Studio at UTS, and it's gonna be awesome folks!
This first track is from their new live self-released album all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds, nice Voltaire reference there guys!

Shoeb Ahmad’s playing at that gig too, yeah. His newest release is called Blossoms, and features 8 tracks in which he bends the music of his North Indian heritage into doom-drone. Lovely.
And next up, the legendary Four Tet remix by Icarus, folktronic drum'n'bass as only they can do it.

Did someone say drum'n'bass? Breakage appears next with some very dubstep-tinged d'n'b from 2007, one of my favourite tracks from that year. He's got a new album out where he explores dubstep, drum'n'bass, dancehall and probably other genres starting with "d". Awesome stuff, that leads us directly into the wonderful world of Icarus.

Icarus’ first two albums were pure drum'n'bass heaven - intensely complex drum programming, bass drops and atmospherics. Plenty of experimentalism already there, especially in the second album, and then as we progress forwards through their catalogue we hear the drum sounds get muffled and tampered with, and all sorts of other sonic adventurism added into the mix. Hopefully the music speaks for itself. They're very well worth investigating further.
I interviewed the two of them for the forthcoming issue of Cyclic Defrost, so check it out shortly for heaps more.

My mates & colleagues in New Weird Australia are having a showcase on Saturday (damn them! I'll be away) and we heard two artists who will be playing there (note the link in the playlist where you can download both tracks!)
Karoshi’s been working hard for the last few years at his high-quality electronica/folktronica, and has a new album in the works. Hobart's Paint Your Golden Face have a very Aussie take on something like freak-folk, and I'm sad to be missing them live this time round. Check out the gig at St Petersburg, 21 May St, St Peters, this Saturday night (March 27th).

Another Ulrich Schnauss remix, and this one's a favourite from the last couple of years, from Katharina Franck. Just a beautiful song made all shimmery and golden by our Ulrich. What a lovely chappie.
And more from a couple of other recent new releases. Autechre’s best album in ages, Oversteps, is now available in the physical record stores, and Spartak’s fabulous Verona is available direct from Shoeb (see link below) for a very decent price (including postage).

My Icarus special meant I had less room than I wanted for a few excellent new releases, a couple of which were shunted over to two weeks' time. But I couldn't let the night go without a couple of tracks from Jasper TX’s absolute stunner of a new album, the 2CD set A Voice From Dead Radio. There'll definitely be more of this coming next time I'm around, but tonight we had one highlight plus the remix from the ever-reliable Peter Broderick, whose meticulous reworking is as good as you'd expect considering his first-class work over the last year plus...

And finally, finishing up with another release I couldn't allow to slip back another two weeks: the latest disc on Sydney's Preservation, a lovely bit of folktronica (etc) from Ben Swire. More of this coming too, minimal electronics and some guitar & double bass.

This Mortal Coil - Holocaust [4AD]
Big Star - Kangaroo [Rykodisc]
HTRK - Look What's Been Done [Fire]
HTRK - Fascinator [BLAST First (petite)]
Howling Bells - Setting Sun (Ulrich Schnauss remix) [Rocket Girl]
Icarus - Uke ’Em [self-released, through Not Applicable]
Shoeb Ahmad - Blossoms part 4 & 5 [hellosQuare]
Four Tet - My Angel Rocks Back and Forth (Four Teas on English Time mix by Icarus) [Domino]
Breakage - Clarendon [Digital Soundboy]
Breakage - Open Up [Digital Soundboy]
Breakage - Temper feat. Kemo [Digital Soundboy]
Icarus - Moon Palace [Hydrogen Dukebox]
Icarus - Jemo [Hydrogen Dukebox]
Icarus - Oott [Output]
Isambard Khroustaliov - Mou Iranai [Not Applicable]
Icarus - Dolphin Lylic [Temporary Residence]
Icarus - Gnog [Leaf]
Icarus - keet [Rump Recordings]
Icarus - Husky Offset [self-released, through Not Applicable]
Karoshi - Re-Animate Me [New Weird Australia showcase] {free download from here!}
Paint Your Golden Face - Television Is About Pictures [New Weird Australia showcase] {free download from here!}
Katharina Franck - Faithful Friend (Ulrich Schnauss remix) [Rocket Girl]
Autechre - d-sho qub [Warp]
Spartak - Tweezer [Low Point] {available locally through hellosQuare. Cheap! Awesome!}
Jasper TX - A Beacon to Lead Us There [Under The Spire]
Jasper TX - A Beacon to Lead Us There (Peter Broderick remix) [Under The Spire]
Ben Swire - Passing Through [Preservation]

Listen again — ~ 179MB

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