Utility Fog

Sunday, 17th of October, 2010

Back from the amazing Sage Francis, whose set I had to leave early, but huge thanks to Brooke Olsen for doing an extra hour of Sunday Night At The Movies, or rather doing the first hour of Utility Fog for me!
LISTEN AGAIN to the shorter, smaller download via the link at the bottom!

If you follow me on Twitter, then my apologies you may have heard me proclaiming that anbb’s album mimikry as a potential album of the year. And it is pretty incredible. The surprising combination of two really important Berlins — Alva Noto’s minimal electronic wonders (he runs the iconoclastic raster-noton label, famous for its minimalism in packaging as well as music), and Blixa Bargeld’s impeccable heritage in industrial and post-punk music — creates something utterly logical and somehow totally unsurprising, but totally inspiring.
The first track I played is a pretty bizarre cover of a traditional tune, and then we have a nice mix of digital bleeps, strings and then Blixa's voice...
Blixa's was the striking voice of the iconoclastic Einstürzende Neubauten, whose live shows back in the day were legendary for their destructive power. The first track I played is perhaps not as old and noisy as all that (it harks from 1985), and shows their place in the sound that influenced the second wave of industrial — NIN etc. And then from 2004 an utterly classic track that exemplifies their "quieter" period :) And isn't a million miles from the anbb stuff, perhaps.

On to another brilliant release from this week, although this one is a promo and isn't actually out till next month. Inch-time’s new album appeared on last week's playlist and is a beautiful and warm piece of electronica. This week I received the remix album, which is an excellent indication of how good the label that Stefan Inch-time has setup to release this is going to be. A very well-chosen selection of artists have turned in some brilliant work, as we hear over the three tracks here.
First off, Canberran heroes of postjazzrocktronica Spartak give us an indication of their new electro-pop leanings with an incredible remix featuring vocals from both the boys and some great keyboard programming and beats. Then after a beautiful and appropriately-titled dubby track from Inch-time himself, we have a downtempo offering from UFog favourites Icarus — organic programming and lovely sounds, one of the best things Icarus has done lately dare I say!
Finally, apparently a completely new artist. I can't find anything about Tristan Coleman on the net, or his Old Growth In Asia, but his track is top-notch. Need Moar!

Next up we have a reminder of the classical-inspired dubstep-tinged beats of Nosaj Thing, in order to lead into Busdriver’s vocal-based cover of the same track. It's from a fun and FREE collection of his called Computer Cooties that you can get by giving him your email address. Do it, not just for the Nosaj cover — plenty of goodness there, including the unhinged "Deer God', which successfully homages and parodies the Monsters of Folk and the Roots' "Dear God", and the unrelated and far superior XTC classic of the same name.

With an intimate relationship with said deity, Sufjan Stevens follows, from another download release. "Arnika" is typically beautiful and inventive. Sufjan's on a real roll at the moment.

This brings us to another special of the week, which I wasn't able to include in last week's show. Best compilation of the year, maybe — from Boomkat’s 14tracks, a focus on the Digitalis label, and specificaly with a whole lot of out-of-print, very limited cassette releases. First off is angels in america, about whom there exists essentially no information on the net (love it!), but this is sludgey noise of the highest order.
And before a brief break from Digitalis, we have Adelaide's sanso-xtro. Melissa Agate used to play in '90s rock band Sin Dog Jellyroll. Her solo stuff couldn't be further from that; cute synth lines, with vocals entering later. So great to have an Aussie artist as part of this brilliant unearthing of Digitalis gems.

Best known to us for playing violin in The Declining Winter, Sarah Kemp here lights out on her own as brave timbers. Mainly acoustic violin and guitar, with some field recordings, it could end up being little more than very pretty, but beautiful harmonies and some very adept multi-tracking turn make this album highly recommended. The first very-small-number also came with the Woodwork EP of remixes, including our friend fieldhead, who works his crosschained-2step/drone magic on the opening track.

Two more tracks from Digitalis follow — first off, the not-at-all-little-known Peter Broderick, whose Duets release is one of the few I actually have. The banjo and piano here is typical Peter B, simple yet arresting.
alphabets, meanwhile, is another almost complete unknown, but at least he has a website so I can delve into some more of his stuff. This manic bit of acid mayhem is strangely reminiscent of early AFX.

Finally, I'm still loving the postrock of Sydney's Grün, and this week gave an airing to the longest track from their Greenland album, at almost 9½ minutes. It's jumped out at me on every listen, and here at UFog Towers we pride ourselves at not worrying about track lengths. If it's good it deserves to be played!

anbb - i wish i was a mole in the ground (extended) [raster noton]
anbb - bernsteinzimmer (long version) [raster noton]
Einstürzende Neubauten - Yü-Gung (Fütter Mein Ego) [Some Bizzare]
Einstürzende Neubauten - Dead Friends (Around The Corner) [Mute]
anbb - berghain [raster noton]
Inch-time - X-Ray Eyes (Spartak’s Sly Eye Version) [Mystery Plays Records]
Inch-time - Suspensions [Mystery Plays Records]
Inch-time - Of Times Past (Icarus Wow and Flutter Mix) [Mystery Plays Records]
Inch-time - Two Courtesans (Old Growth In Asia Mix) [Mystery Plays Records]
Nosaj Thing - Coat of Arms [Alpha Pup]
Busdriver - Coat of Arms [self-released] {from Computer Cooties mixtape - download free for an email!}
Busdriver - Deer God feat. Open Mike Eagle [self-released] {from Computer Cooties mixtape - download free for an email!}
Sufjan Stevens - Arnika [direct from Bandcamp!]
angels in america - bite & fight and poppa spawn [Digitalis] {via 14tracks}
sanso-xtro - fountain fountain [Digitalis] {via 14tracks}
brave timbers - more like the oak than the willow [Second Language]
brave timbers - more like the oak than the willow (fieldhead remix) [Second Language]
brave timbers - out with the tide [Second Language]
Peter Broderick - Duet 3: Banjo/Piano [Digitalis] {via 14tracks}
alphabets - moan roar squawk yelp, how'm i gonna sway you? [Digitalis] {via 14tracks}
Grün - beyond consideration of style and taste [Laughing Outlaw Records]

Listen again — ~ 114MB

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