Utility Fog

Sunday, 2nd of May, 2010

Quite a journey tonight, from late-'60s French freak folk (can I call it that? please?) to noise, to postrock/drill'n'bass... and more!
Wanna LISTEN AGAIN? See end of playlist as per usual.

I have only just discovered, via an internet friend, the amazing music that Brigitte Fontaine made with collaborator Areski Belkacem, and particularly on an incredible album working with avant-garde jazz pioneers the Art Ensemble of Chicago. I played the title track of the album Comme à la radio, and later another gorgeous folk song. Incredible music from 1969 still having repercussions today.

Next up, a few things reminded me of this wonderful track from Spartak’s recent album. I was talking to Shoeb from the band last week on the show, and then this week John Part Timer sent me his remix of singer Lucrecia Perez’ solo project The Sound of Lucrecia.
Her vocals over the improvised Spartak track are a wonder, and her own music a revelation. I'm thinking it'll be available in Australia later this year via Shoeb's hellosQuare Recordings. And Part Timer’s remix is one of the best thing's he's done lately.

One of a few artists being featured on tonight's show is Serafina Steer, who I've been playing since her first 7" on Static Caravan. We heard that tonight, as well as a couple of tracks from her new album. Still plenty of her signature harp and vocals, with some different collaborators: on the Peach Heart 7" she worked with Mike Lindsay from Tunng; the new album is co-produced very sensitively by Benge and Capitol K, and although not altogether folktronic, it's a very modern take on folk songs.

Sydney's Gail Priest, who we heard on last week's show as well, gives us a few tracks tonight. Two come from her new EP which you can grab from her Bandcamp right now - an amazing piece of vocal manipulation and a gorgeous piece of hi-fidelity guitar and effects. The other track is almost techno - the one track from her previous album imaginary conversations in reverberent rooms which edges towards dance music.

We went from Gail Priest's technoid sounds to some other rhythmic explorations, starting with Daniel Lopatin's Oneohtrix Point Never, with a track which can only be found in Wire Magazine’s third subscriber-only Behind The Radar compilation. His familiar blissful but edgy analog synth patterns make us even more excited for the new album(s! - I believe) on their way from him this year...
And then the man whose noise label brought Lopatin to our attention, Carlos Giffoni. Inspired no doubt by the analog synthesiser nostalgia of a number of noise exponents of late, Giffoni has formed No Fun Acid, and I chose to play a track from This Is No Fun Acid 2, a 12" which features a rather incredible remix by Gavin Russom. It's quite an epic number and worth every minute.

Back to The Wire's BTR comp with Jacques Beloeil, who seems to have very little info about him on the internets. Digital and analogue noise that's so extreme we had a listener wondering if there was something wrong with the transmitter; and yet even the modulated digital feedback seems to me to exhibit the hand of a real human intelligence. It's a fascinating listen.

Also tonight, I finally got to play the collaboration between two of my favourite noise artists, Yellow Swans & Burning Star Core. C Spencer Yeh of BxC scrapes and howls on his violin over dense drones from Yellow Swans. After Beloeil this is beautiful chamber music :)

And the last hour of tonight's show features a few more artists who deserve a few tracks in a row. First off, multi-instrumentalist prodigy William Ryan Fritch has a new album out as Vieo Abiungo, showcasing his musical prowess on a huge array of instruments, in something of a world music vein. He's probably best known as the backing for Sole as The Skyrider Band, where he can be anything from sample-based hip-hop to rock band.
And our Part Timer pops up with another forthcoming remix, quite ambient and taking full advantage of the strings and vocals of Fritch.

Next are 65daysofstatic, long beloved of this show. I've been playing them since their first EP, from which we heard a wonderfully raw track tonight. Also the explicitly drum'n'bass-meets-postrock of "await rescue", and then... The Cure! The boys toured the USA with Robert Smith's band in 2008, and as well as being asked to remix the band, they managed to get him in for a vocal appearance on their new album. They're still in fine form, and the new album can actually be found locally in Australia - so, no excuse!

Finally, it's no secret (er, why would it be? weird expression!) that I'm a huge fan of Newcastle/Sydney noisesters Crab Smasher, and I recently discovered a blog post on Grant Hunter's Monstera Deliciosa with a really old cassette of theirs which was a fun listen. I also jumped back to 2007 for what's still one of their best releases, the Impossible Monsters EP, and finished with something from their latest EP, the doctor is in... over his head, which is undoubtedly some of their best work yet - nuanced free improv that you need in your earholes.

Brigitte Fontaine et Areski avec the Art Ensemble of Chicago - Comme à la radio [Saravah]
Spartak - Second-Half Clouded (feat. Lucrecia Perez) [Low Point]
The Sound of Lucrecia - Ara [Pruna]
The Sound of Lucrecia - Ceniza (Part Timer's "Bless You" remix) [forthcoming on hellosQuare]
Serafina Steer - Day Glo [Static Caravan]
Serafina Steer - Peach Heart [Static Caravan]
Serafina Steer - Drinking While Driving [Static Caravan]
Gail Priest - Etchings [get via Bandcamp!]
Gail Priest - body in birmingham [self-released]
Oneohtrix Point Never - Fourier Ocean Scenes [unreleased, via Wire Mag]
No Fun Acid - No Fun Acid 2 (Gavin Russom remix) [No Fun Productions]
Jacques Beloeil - Bidule 9 (Guillotine edit) [Entr'acte via Wire Mag]
Gail Priest - Phantoms [get via Bandcamp!]
Yellow Swans & Burning Star Core - Skylab, Columbus OH, September 2006 [Blossoming Noise]
Brigitte Fontaine et Areski avec the Art Ensemble of Chicago - Le Noir c'est Mieux Choisi [Saravah]
Vieo Abiungo - In A Wash or Haze [Lost Tribe Sound]
sole & the skyrider band - a sad day for investors [anticon]
Vieo Abiungo - Fugue [Lost Tribe Sound]
Vieo Abiungo - Blood Memory (Part Timer remix) [forthcoming on Lost Tribe Sound]
65daysofstatic - await rescue [Monotreme]
65daysofstatic - play.nice.kids [Dustpunk Records]
65daysofstatic vs The Cure - Freakshow [here's Robert Smith explaining why you shouldn't buy this from iTunes!]
65daysofstatic - Come to Me (feat. Robert Smith!) [Hassle Records]
Crab Smasher - skeleton fury [old stuff available at Monstera Deliciosa]
Crab Smasher - The Moon Rattled Inside Her [Squeamish Recordings]
Crab Smasher - How To Dodge Red Shells [new stuff from Bandcamp]

Listen again — ~ 175MB

One Response to “Playlist 02.05.10”

1. Ryders Says:
   May 3rd, 2010 at 12:42 am

   Mate.. beautiful sounds you're playing us tonight.