Utility Fog

Sunday, 15th of August, 2010

Evening folks! So exitement! Such good choons for you.
You can LISTEN AGAIN - check the link at the bottom!

So, I am again very late with writing these write-ups. I do so love having them here though - hope you do too! I do recommend this show (see podacst link at bottom) for some great coverage of post-classical piano music, futuristic drum'n'bass, and, um, other stuff...

DM Stith’s double CD album of remixes and reworkings made an appearance on last week's show, but I have since gotten to give it a proper listening, and it's very good value indeed. We had a couple of great beat-driven remixes which don't lose the emotiveness and musicianship of the originals.

Baths, an LA artist on anticon, seems to mix it all up together into one package. His production isn't as shiny or bass-heavy as some of his west-coast contemporaries, but he does share a bit of their shuffle and wonkiness in his combo of hip-hop and indie. The piano in ♥ seems to recall a bit of Doug McDiarmid's playing with Why? (never a bad thing), and the guy is in fact a pianist. Very lovely stuff.

Meanwhile Antony, an artist I often can't stand because of his vocal tics, delivers a riveting and ravishing version of Oneohtrix Point Never’s processed-vocals-and-analog-synth track "Returnal" on a new 7". Despite the piano sounding totally "Antony", it is in fact played (very sensitively) by Daniel "Oneohtrix" Lopatin himself. You Must Not Miss This! The Fennesz remix, mashing up the two versions, is pretty great too (although Fennesz is getting a bit stuck on his particular shtick at this point I feel.)

A very nice vocal track from the new Kammerflimmer Kollektief — see last week's playlist for lots of these guys.

Next up, I couldn't resist dropping a couple of tracks again from the wonderul fos, a young Greek lady living in London, making that kind of music I love best - all over the place, ramshackle yet controlled, emotive yet experimental, organic and digital and lovely.

"Discovery" of this week, though, is someone I've known about for a while but only just got a couple of albums by. Nils Frahm does that lovely post-minimalist (in the classical sense) piano thing that's around a bit, recalling collaborator Peter Broderick. The Bells is nice, but wintermusik, from which we had 1½ tracks tonight, is absolutely scintillatingly gorgeous. Meanwhile, his latest release is a collaboration with cellist Anne Müller and is equally extraordinary - Frahm (or both?) on electronics, a small amount of piano, and HEAPS of strings. It's kind of indescribable. Listen in (again) for some of what it sounds like, and tune in next week for more!
Oh, and Frahm's piano playing on wintermusik reminded me a LOT of the delightfully delicate playing of Chilly Gonzales on his Solo Piano album. See what I mean?

Back in Sydney, Sophie Hutchings’s album is also based around the piano, along with some lovely cello on this track.

More Frahm and fos, and we're back with the lovely Mr DM Stith. His Randy Newman cover is rather beautiful, with multi-tracked vocals — and another really great beat-heavy remix.
And another Baths track — much more hip-hoppy track.

We approached our drum'n'bass workout via Salem’s majorly-distorted slow-hop, which they seem to like to term "Drag". Looking forward to this album!

I was listening to my Nine Inch Nails records earlier in the week, and thought it'd be nice to move into drum'n'bass-land via Trent Reznor's twisted vision. The How To Destroy Angels EP from earlier this year was a mixed bag, but there were some good songs there, especially this one. Meanwhile, the NIN album Ghosts is quite a remarkable thing, going from AFX Selected Ambient Works-style tracks to essentially instrumental NIN to something altogether different, like this banjo-led piece.

And then... futuristic drum'n'bass madness, starting with Plug’s extraordinary remix of NIN, and one of my favourite of Luke Vibert's Plug tracks as well.
I did this because of the rather brilliant new album from Macc and dgoHn on Rephlex. If you're interested in mad-chopped beats and atmospherics (with live drumming! — albeit chopped & processed), you need to check this out.
For contemporary drum'n'bass we also heard from some great Critical Music artists, Sabre & Rockwell.
And we heard from of course one of my favourite bands ever, Icarus, with a track from their stellar first album. And also going back in time, Arcon 2 put out one single album of wonderfully fucked-up dark drum'n'bass... nice!

Just discovered: Rival Consoles’ first EP (his album is apparently more techno-oriented). Nice post-classical piano stuff crossed with drill'n'bass/breakcore! And a nice way of edging back into more sedate sounds.
BUT! I've heard quite a bit of Ólafur Arnalds, including seeing him (briefly) playing live in Paris a few years ago (and only being able to speak English to them - *hehe*), and his more ambient piano & strings type stuff didn't really excite me. However, his newest release contains a couple of tracks with quite crunchy beats mixed in with his usual sounds, and it really works! Pretty thrilling stuff in fact.
These last two discovered via a free online compilation that came with the Nils Frahm album on Erased Tapes. Excellent tactic, you guys!

Finally we make it back to Australia and a couple of first-class releases from down south. White Woods are originally from Hobart, and feature my favourite Hobart artist Keith Mason. Wonderful dirty lo-fi indie; I must play more of this!
Psychic Baggage, meanwhile, are psychedelic noise rock/improv, and they make a great noise.

DM Stith - Thanksgiving Moon (Rafter remix) [Asthmatic Kitty]
Baths - ♥ [anticon.]
Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal (Antony version) [Editions Mego]
Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal [Editions Mego]
Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Move Right In [Staubgold]
fos - in harmony [near the exit music]
nils frahm & anne müller - 7fingers [hush records]
nils frahm - ambre [Erased Tapes]
Gonzales - Manifesto [No Format]
Sophie Hutchings - After Most [Preservation]
nils frahm & anne müller - journey for a traveler [hush records]
nils frahm - tristana [Erased Tapes]
fos - un courant [near the exit music]
DM Stith - Suzanne (Randy Newman cover) [Asthmatic Kitty]
DM Stith - Thanksgiving Moon (Michna remix) [Asthmatic Kitty]
Baths - Apologetic Shoulder Blades [anticon.]
Salem - Asia [Merok Records] {via Stereogum}
How To Destroy Angels - Parasite [self-released] {and still free!}
Nine Inch Nails - 28 Ghosts IV [self-released]
Nine Inch Nails - The Perfect Drug (Plug remix) [Nothing/Interscope]
Macc and dgoHn - Long Tall Sally [Rephlex]
sabre - peril (club mix) [Critical Music]
Rockwell - Bone Structure (ft. Zero Tolerance) [Critical Music]
Macc and dgoHn - Mustard Greens [Rephlex]
Plug - Snapping Fuss [Law & Auder] {also released (perhaps accidentally) as "Natural Suction" on his Musipal album on Ninja Tune (under the Wagon Christ moniker)}
Icarus - Moon Palace [Hydrogen Dukebox]
Arcon 2 - The Beckoning [Reinforced]
Rival Consoles - Helvetica [Erased Tapes]
Icarus - Husky Offset [self-released, through Not Applicable]
Ólafur Arnalds - Til Enda [Erased Tapes]
White Woods - Ballet Tea [Sensory Projects]
Psychic Baggage - Sick in Memphis [Endless Melt]

Listen again — ~ 173MB

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