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

2 Responses to “Playlist 26.09.10”

1. oscar Says:
   September 27th, 2010 at 12:55 pm

   Loved the show last night, especially The Bad Plus, whom I intend on obsessing over shortly.

2. Peter Says:
   September 27th, 2010 at 12:57 pm

   Doo eet! They are brilliant :)