Utility Fog

Sunday, 26th of September, 2010

Mixture tonight of a few awesome artist specials.
LISTEN AGAIN link is at bottom as usual!

As longtime listeners of UFog may know, World's End Girlfriend is truly one of my favourite artists. He's the perfect Utility Fog musician, combining digital edits & cuts of acoustic and live instrumentation with insane breakcore programming, postrock grandeur and classical string arrangements.
It's all there on his new album, which I got (and you can too!) direct from his new Virgin Babylon Records label. Sadly, much of his older stuff is still out of print, so at some point I might do more of a special on his older works too.
At first the new album was a bit perturbing, going breakneck with instrumental rock songs. But there's plenty of the strings and electronics and everything else there, and we heard a good array over the span of tonight.
I also played something from the classic Let's I Love You compilation on ROMZ Record from 2002, which must have been when I discovered WEG; and from his previous album from 2007, and extraordinary piece of post-classical folktronic drill'n'bass (SO THERE).

Second up tonight is the amazing attack of Melbourne duo PIVIXKI’s second album. Composer & pianist Anthony Pateras teams up with grindcore drummer Max Kohane and it's somehow all perfectly logical. Both tracks tonight were pretty much piano & drums (with a little electronics) but there are some fairly different sounds on here as well, including more electronics, viola and percussion.

It's only reasonable that PIVIXKI are followed by the energetic jazz piano trio sounds of The Bad Plus. They have an incredible talent for melodicism, gorgeous chord progressions, and plenty of energy. No covers tonight - I'll have to reprise their version of Aphex Twin's "Flim" sometime soon though!

Next up, a few items from the utterly idiosyncratic new Oval album - strangely chopped up acoustic guitar (maybe) and, on the first CD of this huge two-disc set, heaps of wildly edited drumming. Over 70 tracks it can get a bit overwhelming, but selected highlights show up many treasures.

This week's discovery come from a split CD with Machinefabriek. Ithaca Trio’s letter requesting a split release is memorialised on the packaging (well, it's probably invented) of this beautifully-presented CDR release. But while Machinefabriek's droney tracks exhibit his usual fine ear for sound design, it's the piano, guitar, double bass, crackles and hiss (and occasional vocals) of this not-really-a-trio that leave a lasting impression.

More impressive from Machinefabriek this week is the download version of a cassette release collaboration with trombonist Hilary Jeffery. Rutger is often at his best in collaborative mode, and here the sonorous tones of the trombone are stretched and treated in what sounds like a real melding of two artists.

OK, the other huuuuge discovery of the week is not exactly a discovery from this week, but finally my parcel from Finland's Fonal label arrived with the collected works of Es, and it's a wondrous, wondrous thing. While I knew the works of label-mates Paavoharju, for some reason Es remained a mystery to me until I recently unearthed a Fonal compilation from a few years ago.
His sound has developed over the years from guitar drone through vinyl sampling, almost psychedelic electronica to something a bit more "maximal" in electronic terms. We heard a fair selection, although I skipped the very first album and the very last (for now). Delicate vocals with crackly piano records, violin ostinati and stuttery guitar and keyboards are just some of the sounds you'll hear.

The Es special then took us into the main World's End Girlfriend special (described above).
Coming out of this I played Underlapper’s (eventually) rather maximalist take on an indiepop hit from Parades, quite possibly showing the band's love of WEG.

Sticking in Sydney we have the debut album from kyü, equal parts experimentalism and ecstatic pop. While one of them tends a little too much towards the Kate Bushisms in her vocals, the creativity and independence of spirit on display (er... aurally on display, OK?) is pretty stunning.

And finally, visiting this week from Perth are The Ghost of 29 Megacycles, with a new release on Canberra's hellosQuare Recordings. One long drone track (old-style Go29M) and one shoegazey number with vocals - their new-style which I'm digging a lot. They're playing at the rather sekrit b0hemian gr0ve this Thursday with hellosQuare gurus Spartak.

World's End Girlfriend - GALAXY KID 666 [Virgin Babylon Records]
PIVIXKI - Flail [Lexicon Devil]
PIVIXKI - Konx [Lexicon Devil]
The Bad Plus - Anthem For The Earnest [Sony]
The Bad Plus - Never Stop [Emarcy/Universal]
oval - Panorama [Thrill Jockey]
oval - Emocor [Thrill Jockey]
oval - Koral [Thrill Jockey]
oval - Dolo [Thrill Jockey]
Ithaca Trio - Orca Towards Ground [Coma Architects]
Ithaca Trio - For Ailing Health [Coma Architects]
Machinefabriek - The Harmed Harp [Coma Architects]
Machinefabriek with Hilary Jeffery - Jeffery [Machinefabriek]
Es - Les fleurs sont des bonnes auditrices [Fonal]
Es - Twenty-five twenty five [Fonal]
Es - Pehmeä iho [Fonal]
Es - Sadepäivät [Fonal]
Es - Sateenkaarisuudelma II [Fonal]
Es - Maailmankaari I [Fonal]
Origamibiro - Nootaikoks Demise [L-O-A-F Explorers' Club]
World's End Girlfriend - Bohemian Purgatory Pts 1-3 [Virgin Babylon Records]
World's End Girlfriend - Good Bye Merry Lou [ROMZ]
World's End Girlfriend - ghost of a horse under the chandelier [human highway records]
World's End Girlfriend - Virgin Babylon [Virgin Babylon Records] {from a bonus CD available by ordering direct from the label}
Parades - Hunters (Underlapper remix) [Direct from the 'lappies, but available on iTunes (eek!)]
kyü - foreword [Popfrenzy]
kyü - sistar [Popfrenzy]
The Ghost of 29 Megacycles - The Hummingbird Dream (Part 2) [hellosQuare Recordings]

Listen again — ~ 171MB

Sunday, 19th of September, 2010

Big show going all over the place tonight! LISTEN AGAIN via the link at the bottom why don'tcha!

Hilarious big distorto dubstep (I guess) tune to start with from Shit&Shine, flipside of the track I played last week on the show. Clearly wasn't enough just to play it on Future Face on Thursday night...

Then on to the first Ninja Tune track of the evening. It's the Ninjas' 20th birthday starting right about now, but I haven't got the birthday comps yet - hopefully for next week's show, in which case we'll have a little bit of Ninja history as well.
Meanwhile, Eskmo. He first came to my attention as a dubstep producer, and we hear that amazing track after, but first off something from his debut album, released on Ninja Tune. It's more electronic, more smooth, something along the lines of a few of the incredible west-coast wonky tracks he put out late last year. Very, very lovely, from a very versatile producer.

Chilly Gonzales, previously just Gonzales (although the "Chilly" has always been there) is a strange fit for Utility Fog, but I've always been a fan. His new album is as cheesy as he gets, and lots of fun. The track I played happens to go all full-on wobbly-bassline at the end. The album is produced by Boyz Noize so... yeah.
And his hilarious take on 50 Cent’s "Many Men", totally catchy. You need to get the Pianist Envy mixtape, link is below.

Remarkably easy mix out of that into the insane Chicago juke/footwork of DJ Nate. Breakneck basslines, chopped vocals, all craziness.
It seemed right to follow this with the hybrid sounds of Scuba, and this track is one of my faves from his latest album. The techno sounds of his new home of Berlin have snuck into the dubstep, and this has some elements of almost d'n'b as well. We also heard a similarly-paced new remix by him of Sistol, one of Vladislav Delay’s techno projects. Should still be available for download - see link below.

And this brings us to a slightly different part of the evening, via Northerner, whose remix of The Green Kingdom has a certain 2step vibe to it. All the Home Assembly Music releases come with a limited edition bonus remix disc, and there are some lovely ones on this one.
Before we get to the more droney and quiet stuff, we have a Bonobo track courtesy of this whole Ninja Tune XX thing. Very lovely folktronic sort of stuff with a nice hip-hop beat.
And then we're back with The Green Kingdom. It's great to hear a Fieldhead remix that's along the lines of his beat stuff; very very tasty if you're a fan of his album on the same label. And also a lovely track from the album proper by The Green Kingdom.

Next remix album off the rank is from Autistici, whose sound art needs to be heard more on this show methinks. But this latest release is a remix album, and we heard the musique concrète of Justin Varis followed by gorgeous cello and electronics from Ian Hawgood and Danny Norbury. Then from one of Autistici's "early works" releases from earlier this year, a fantastic piece with double bass, loping drums and other sounds.

Another album plus remixes comes this week from composer P Jørgensen, on the wonderful Under The Spire label. The album itself is a soundtrack, and uses as its materials piano, strings and some drone works. It's very beautiful, and it's quite interesting that they've chosen to pair it with a bunch of remixes, but it turns out to be an excellent decision given the calibre of the remixers.
I've heard great things about Rameses III, and this sensitive remix takes the original's piano and adds guitar, banjo (I think) and drones.
Peter Broderick contributes one of his typically touching works, adding his voice to the beautiful string cadences of the original. He's pretty much unbeatable, that man.

Serafina Steer seems now to be just Serafina, and her new EP Is just her singing with her harp. She creates a modern form of English folk that sets her apart from any other female harp-playing singer-songwriters.

On Lawrence English’s Room40 label, he teams up with Japanese band Minamo to create some minimal folk/rock/drone stuff. And I also played both sides of his stunning 7” on the Touch label, big slabs of beautiful drone. I meant to separate the two with Automating’s track but had it cued up wrong, so that came after.

Melbourne's Automating makes music from processed drones and other sounds - in this case some disquieting sampled voices. Makes for great listening.

cindytalk is a pretty different thing from what it was when Gordon Sharp was fronting them in the early '80s as a post-punk/industrial group. There couldn't be a more appropriate label for this sound than Editions Mego, with its crackles, drones and glitches. The albums from last year and this year share the same aesthetic. It's a shame the last track on the 2009 album was glitching on our studio CD player, as it's a really beautiful work, so you'll just have to go and buy it :)

Equally beautiful and more noise-fuelled is the new release from Pete Swanson of the now-defunct Yellow Swans. The more than 16-minute track I played is quite a journey, and strongly recalls that duo's sound.

After the epic Swanson piece there was only time for one more track, from the debut album by Imbogodom. Alexander Tucker’s psych-folk has featured a few times on UFog; I don't know his collaborator Daniel Beban, but together they make a sound which is not miles away from Tucker's music but goes in some pretty different directions. There's more of a "sound" focus, and it's pretty inspiring stuff that deserves a few more listens.

Shit&Shine - Fuck You Folk Singers [Badmaster]
Eskmo - We Have Imaginary Friends (Washed Mix) [Ninja Tune]
Eskmo - Agnus Dei [Ancestor Media]
Chilly Gonzales - Crying [Gentle Threat/Republic of Music]
Chilly Gonzales vs 50 Cent - Many Men [from Gonzo's incredibly "Pianist Envy" mixtape] {download this track here}
DJ Nate - Back Up Kid [Planet µ]
Scuba - Tracers [Hotflush]
Sistol - On The Bright Side (Scuba’s The Brighter Side remix) [Halo Cyan Records] {download for free here}
The Green Kingdom - The Largest Creature That Has Ever Existed (Northerner Remix) [Home Assembly Music]
Bonobo - Ghost Ship [Ninja Tune]
The Green Kingdom - Thoughts and Bells (3:07am dub) (Fieldhead Remix) [Home Assembly Music]
The Green Kingdom - Bells and Thoughts [Home Assembly Music]
Autistici - First (remix by Justin Varis) [Audiobulb]
Autistici - Remix by Ian Hawgood and Danny Norbury [Audiobulb]
Autistici - colonic people [Audiobulb]
P Jørgensen - For Hanne and Ruth (remix by Rameses III) [Under The Spire]
P Jørgensen - Palimpsest (For Strings) [Under The Spire]
P Jørgensen - Palimpsest (For Strings) (remix by Peter Broderick) [Under The Spire]
P Jørgensen - Kim [Under The Spire]
Serafina - Night Before Mutiny [Stolen Recordings]
Minamo + Lawrence English - The Path [Room40]
Lawrence English - Without Sanctuary [Touch]
Lawrence English - One Thousand Miles of White [Touch]
Automating - Double Monster [download via Bandcamp]
cindytalk - guts of london [Editions Mego]
cindytalk - debris of a smile [Editions Mego]
cindytalk - the anarchist window [Editions Mego]
Pete Swanson - The Fermata [Root Strata]
Imbogodom - Unseen Ticket [Thrill Jockey]

Listen again — ~ 169MB

Friday, 17th of September, 2010

I'm filling in for the lovely Monk Fly, who's not around, for his Future Face show, bringing the wonky & dubstep soundz...
And yes, you can now LISTEN AGAIN - see link at the bottom of the playlist!

Shit&Shine - Fuck You Folk Singers [Badmaster]
Clubroot - Solar Flares [Lo Dubs]
Scuba - Tracers [Hotflush]
Milanese - So Malleable (cold mix) [Planet µ]
Loopsnake - Good Morning Raver VIP [free download from Loopsnake!]
sabre - leveling out pt. 1 (feat. Maxwell Golden) [Critical Music]
Exillon - Moonshiner remix (Cat Power) [unreleased]
Emika - Double Edge (Pinch remix) [Ninja Tune]
Balam Acab - See Birds (Moon) [Tri Angle]
Baths - ♥ [anticon.]
Collarbones - kill off the vowels [self-released]
Collarbones - Tashkent [self-released]
Autechre - rew(1) [Warp]
Take - Crystallia [Alpha Pup]
Tranqill - Payroll (Paul White’s Clean Dub) [Planet µ]
Bullion - Say Goodbye To What [Bullion Bandcamp]
Eskmo - Let Them Sing [Planet µ]
Eskmo - Come Back (Lorn Don't Ever) [Ninja Tune]
Lorn - None An Island [Brainfeeder]
Lorn - Brainwaves (Samiyam X Lorn) [Brainfeeder]
Samiyam - July [Poobah]
Amon Tobin - 4 Ton Mantis [Ninja Tune]
48/4 - Cake$ (Monk Fly remix) [The Frequency Lab]
Starkey - Marsh [Planet µ]
Cardopusher - Gaan A Bed [Murder Channel]
Jean Jacques Perrey & Cosmic Pocket - Cheng Guy (Mochipet Remix) [In Vitro Records]
Funckarma - Tench Trown [Eat Concrete]

Listen again — ~ 120MB

Sunday, 12th of September, 2010

There is nothing that grows in your Arctic World... Good evening!
LISTEN AGAIN to this wondrous musical stew via the link at the bottom!

Tonight, I decided to start with a bit of a classic of Oz Rock, from the band of the man who was ultra-political until, um, he became a politician. The Oils’ three albums of the mid-'80s, 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, Red Sails in the Sunset and Diesel and Dust are all brilliant, and if the latter cut down somewhat on the studio experimentalism, there's still a lot of sonic goodness there, as we hear in the simple sampled backbeat and great string arrangement here.
I managed to call Ozi Batla Sean rather than Shannon on-air, but anyway thanks to Shannon for mentioning Diesel and Dust in his Cyclic Selects for the latest issue of Cyclic Defrost...

And... James Blackshaw has a new album out! His 12-string classical guitar has been replaced with a 12-string electric, but he's still playing piano more (including on the gorgeous “Part 1”), and includes more strings. I love the floor-tom and spoken numbers that arrive when “Part 6” hits. Highly recommended.

More Nils Frahm tonight, including more from his collaboration with cellist Anne Müller. Read back to my last couple of playlists for my raves about these artists.
Nils has been working with Peter Broderick producing a big new album for him recently, but then Peter went and injured his knee, meaning he wouldn't be able to tour the album. So that's been set back till 2011, and meanwhile Peter has released a stop-gap mini-album of mainly vocal, piano and guitar pieces. The lovely piano-based number I played is not only the highlight, but has an awesome title to boot.

Piano? Ah yes, piano. On Tuesday I was very fortunate to finally be able to see the amazing musicianship of The Bad Plus live at the Basement. They didn't play my favourite piece ("Prehensile Dream") but they did play their exquisite cover of Aphex Twin's "Flim" as an encore. Their new album is all originals, and it's one of their best yet. I love the way their chord changes are almost classical (or baroque) through the jazz syncopations on the title track "Never Stop", and "People Like You", like my aforementioned favourite, is a ballad with a long and patient melody, a real beauty.

From there we skip to the melody-drenched pop sounds of Brad Laner, who once made shoegaze as Medicine, then minimal and maximal glitchtronica as Electric Company, and earlier this year put out a similarly electronically-twisted pop album on Planet µ as one half of The Internal Tulips. It's probably true that none of the melodies here are memorable enough to storm up the charts, but it's always enjoyable to hear sonic experimentation along with unabashed pop.

Kurt Weisman’ brother Chris has featured on this show before. I found this album in Melbourne last week. Utterly insane psychedelia, with songs merging into long expanses of electronic burbles and general madness. Gotta love it.

Genre-crossing doesn't come any more extreme or accomplished as Nico Muhly, but his new album is almost a pure classical work. Except for the bits that sounds like adapted folk songs, and the bits of programming by label-mates Valgeir Sigurðsson and Ben Frost... I recommend ordering it from Bandcamp (see below) so you can get the two bonus tracks. I particularly like the textures in "Twitchy Organs".

In between the two Nico tracks, however, we had the rather gorgeous sounds of a new improv/sound trio who I can only hope work together more in the future. This first album from Fennesz • Daniell • Buck is a recording of a gig in Knoxville, TN, and the three consummate musicians create a swirling sound with a big range.

Nico Muhly's twitchy organs (*ahem*) segue into a little featurette on the wonderful glitchy laptop folk of Espen Sommer-Eide, aka Phonophani, and his work with Dag-Are Haugan as Alog. They have a very distinctive sound, using little snippets of audio and (usually acoustic) instruments played in a sortof faux-naïve style, and it's beautifully immersive listening. "Violence and magical danger" is one way of putting it... The vocals on "son of king" seem to be Chinese speakers, and whether they're actually saying those words in the end or being chopped up to sound like it is probably irrelevant. On the other hand, on Espen's new album there are some more literal vocals, sung lyrics to a typical Phonophani/Alog backing.

And then, finally, we make it to the heavy beats part of the night, and coming up shortly, the heaviest of them all! Surprising that SALEM’s slo-mo hip-hop/dubstep style, which they're calling witch house or drag, isn't the heaviest, but then I chose something a bit different for tonight, something almost trip-hoppy that closes their debut album.
Following that, Amon Tobin’s new track is heavier. It's more in the vein of his Two Fingers material, really, and comes tonight courtesy of the Ninja Tune XX series, in which the Ninjas are sending out free tracks (and other stuff - a brilliant video for Amon Tobin this week too!) weekly in the lead-up to celebrating their 20th anniversary!

And then... well, here it is. It probably shouldn't be a surprise that Shit&Shine’s repetitive dirge-noise templates fits dubstep so snugly, but there you go. The two long tracks on this 12” (with handy free download thrown in) are the heaviest, dirtiest, and skankiest thing you'll probably hear all year, and you'll be laughing even while you can't help nodding your head. Next week we'll hear the (if anything heavier) flipside, so stay tuned.

Back to something resembling normality, the insane chuckles of Terror Danjah’s gremlin seem strangely tame. When the beat kicks in, with the bassline on all four beats and grime's typical off-beat hits, it's got a great skank to it.

And back to witch house, Balam Acab are one of the other big names in this genre, and their debut(?) 12" should be heard by anyone who's a fan of Mount Kimbie and their ilk. Well OK, it's a whole lot queasier, but the opening track's very dubsteppy/wonky.

48/4 is one of the representative's of Sydney's wonky oneofour collective, who trade beat-making tips and have developed a sound that loves arpeggios and triplets. This track is nicely bass-driven, in keeping with the previous tracks.

And to finish? Well, this week I was listening through my old Pop Will Eat Itself archives. I was a massive fan from the start of the '90s of their samples and riffs, and the endless permutations of remixes and versions they issued with Designers Republic artwork. Recently they reformed for a few shows, but Clint Mansell is too busy being a swanky film composer these days, so Graham Crabb is continuing the reformed Poppies without him. Probably quite dated-sounding but fun. Meanwhile, I dug out this awesomely oppressive and dubby "Kill Your Terrorvision" (spot the related pop culture reference?) remix they did of Terrorvision back in about 1994 for your enjoyment.

Midnight Oil - Arctic World [Sony BMG]
James Blackshaw - All Is Falling Parts 5 & 6 [Young God Records]
James Blackshaw - All Is Falling Part 1 [Young God Records]
nils frahm & anne müller - reminds to teeth [hush records]
Nils Frahm - Corn [L-O-A-F Explorers' Club]
Peter Broderick - Human Eyeballs On Toast [Bella Union/Cooperative Music]
The Bad Plus - Never Stop [Emarcy/Universal]
The Bad Plus - People Like You [Emarcy/Universal]
Brad Laner - Eyes Close [Home Tapes]
The Internal Tulips - Bee Calmed [Planet µ]
Brad Laner - Dirty Bugs [Home Tapes]
Kurt Weisman - The Great Flood / The Young Pioneers Discover Magic / Closeup of Reflection in Insect's Shell [Important Records]
Nico Muhly - Fire Down Below [Bedroom Community/Decca Classics] {available from Bandcamp with 2 extra download tracks}
Fennesz • Daniell • Buck - Antonia / Diamond Mind [Thrill Jockey]
Nico Muhly - Twitchy Organs [Bedroom Community/Decca Classics] {and this is one of the bonus tracks you get by ordering it from Bandcamp!}
phonophani - kreken [Rune Grammofon]
alog - violence and magical danger [Rune Grammofon]
phonophani - the boiling fjords orchestra [Rune Grammofon]
alog - Catch that Totem! [Melektronikk]
alog - son of king [Rune Grammofon]
phonophani - gubijinso [Rune Grammofon]
SALEM - Traxx [Merok Records]
Amon Tobin - Shut Down [Ninja Tune]
Shit&Shine - Bass Puppy [Badmaster]
Terror Danjah - Horror Story [Planet µ]
Balam Acab - See Birds (Moon) [Tri Angle]
48/4 - Cake$ [The Frequency Lab]
Terrorvision - Alice What's The Matter? (Kill Your Terrorvision remix by Pop Will Eat Itself) [EMI]

Listen again — ~ 172MB

Monday, 6th of September, 2010

That gentleman Mr Shannon O'Neill filled in for me on this one, and this is what he played!
No links I'm afraid, just a tracklisting. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to provide you with LISTEN-AGAIN-ability, but I'll see what I can rustle up(?)

The Evolution Control Committee - IGA Giant Pineapple Party
Roger Roger - No 15
Max Tundra - Glycaemic Index Blues
Severed Heads - - Bruise Vienna, Pt. 3
The Bedroom Philosopher - New Media
Pill Wonder - What We Know
Hinterlandt - Dabeiblossgedacht
Andrew Liles - The Ether Reel / The Mind as an Engine that Hitherto Ceases to Function Correctly
Utom Alla - Kniv Och Sked
Implex Grace - Glass Castles
Muslimgauze - Zakat Zakat
Greyhound - Gefuhlskalte
Bran(…)Pos - Am-Mit's Odds
Catfingers - Sketch Rock 1
Gentleforce - Learning to Forgive / Our Last Day Together
Seaworthy - Map in Hand, Part 2
Nosaj Thing - Coat of Arms
Nuearz - Turn and Twist
Richard Devine - Partition.Refinement / Carry.Completion.Sensing
Hecq - Untitled (Bk Remix)
Clark - Outside Plume
The Gasman - Tymetix
Dak - Wego
Kryptic Minds - Chosen Few
Ikonika - Idiot
Maladroit - Secret Sights
Size - Nothing
The Makers of the Dead Travel Fast - The Dumbwaiters
Blastcorp - Crystalline
The Fall - Bury, Parts 1, 3
Spektr - The Violent Stink of Twitching Terror
Hair Police - Interruption & Invasion
Satanicpornocultshop - Anorexia Gas Balloon (Reprise)
Vodka Soap - Interpretation the Initiation
The Necks - The Royal Family