Utility Fog

Another action-packed show, and as usual I didn’t get to play everything I intended to.
LISTEN AGAIN as per usual – see link at the bottom of the playlist.

First cab off the rank is also the first to miss out on extended play – I will definitely get to DJ Hidden and his new Semiomime guise next week, as the new album is quite brilliant, and I’ve always enjoyed his dark and hard drum’n’bass. As Semiomime he explores an electronic facsimile of classical music, with the beats toned down, although by no means gone altogether.

I had an impressive amount of new and almost-new Australian music to play tonight, starting with the first album from Kris Keogh under his own name. Previously Blastcorp, and also one half of Red Plum & Snow, Keogh here drops the vocals once again, and takes his music into a far more abstract realm, although the album title is as literal as you can get: Processed Harp Works is what these are. Very pretty. I did want to play one more track though, so roll on next week!

Another track from Jefre Cantu-Ledesma’s Colophon (see last week), again with scratchy piano samples, and then on to the extraordinary turntable+guitar duo the fun years. Ghostly International have a new compilation series entitled SMM, and from the first release under that banner we heard a new track from the duo, as beguiling as ever. I had to play something from one of their own albums afterwards.

And Perth’s Stina Thomas contributes a fragile piece for piano and other acoustic instruments, one of the closing tracks from an otherwise rather electronic album. It’s a lovely album, but I can’t help wishing the whole thing was more like this.

The piano continues with the even more sparkly and pretty collaboration between Sweden’s Tape and Scottish musician Bill Wells, with double bass, piano and guitar combining with organ and subtle electronics. The new Tape album is out now and winging its way to my place, so in a few weeks we’ll get to hear from that too.

Contrasting with the prettiness of the last few numbers is the extraordinary saxophone of Colin Stetson. The title track from his new album (and first on Constellation) demonstrates his technique to full effect — rhythmic gutteral sax figures are modulated by a melody from his voice in an all-enveloping tour de force of breath and reeds and metal and vocal chords. It’s pretty metal, actually.

Coming at repetitive figures and noise from a different perspective, Leeds’ Ashtray Navigations appear next with a typically limited release (I have #61 of a mere 100 copies), and it’s the sort of analogue synth exploration that should be getting as much attention as Emeralds & co.

Also on the analogue blissnoise tip is ex-pat Aussie John Chantler, holding the fort in the UK for Room40. There’s still a lot to digest with this vinyl and digital release, but suffice to say it’s well worth your attention and $$.

A little examination of Rhode Island’s area c follows. Preservation artist and previous interviewee on this show, Erik Carlson’s music can move from eerie cassette drone (probably my favourite) to NASA-commissioned lunar ambient to live collaborations. His second-last album comprises four half-hour performances over 2 CDs, and we heard an excerpt from the fourth, featuring Jeffrey Knoch’s harmonium along with Carlson’s guitar and electronics.

Next up, another couple of samplings from Melbourne/USA postrock outfit Beaten By Them, both featuring the cello quite prominently. They’ve recently initiated a project called BBT TV, for which they are asking the visually creative to create videos for their work (right now, the very track I played from their new album), with a cash prize as well as good publicity. Their music is indeed rather cinematic, so it should turn up some cool results.

Also with the cello and rock thing going on is Brooklyn duo Live Footage, with their second appearance on these airwaves. The cello takes from seat for a lot of this track, often pitched up with effects, and it’s not until the end that the drums let loose. These guys would no doubt be great live, and they manage to get that across in their recordings.

Back to Australia, and it’s finally possible to start to play you restream’s new (mini-)album (EP?). Completed some time ago, it’s finally mastered and on its way to the public, and anyone who loves shoegaze, electronica and noise is going to love it. All four tracks weigh in at 10 minutes or over, and all are epics. The guitar takes centre stage, but there are beats in there, and more, including occasional vocals. You’ll want to check this out, and I’ll be playing more next week.
His first album, back in 2005, explored similar territory but in shorter form.

Sydney’s Seekae start their album with a feint towards guitars — a cheeky move as a minute or so into track 2 the wonky, glitchy beats come tumbling in and it all makes sense. I actually love the whammy bar guitar and sheen of the start of the album, one of a slew of great new Sydney electronic releases for this year.

Karoshi’s long-awaited debut album is no doubt going to turn some heads too, with a couple of true pop songs, processed beats and folktronic sensibility. FBi liked it enough to make it album of the week, and deservedly so.

Previously album of the week was the debut from UFog protégés Collarbones (please note my tongue is firmly in cheek). It’s hugely impressive, and no surprise considering the talent leaking out of the pores of this diminutive young duo. Their remix of Sydney electro-punk star Simo Soo is all witch-house style cut-ups; from back in 2009 their first EP already exhibited a lot of their familiar sounds, and I couldn’t resist playing the “Closer” from their album again tonight.

Finally tonight, two tracks from the Lost Tribe Sound stable, both releases which I’ll explore in greater depth next week. Forthcoming on the label is the remix album from Vieo Abiungo, slated to be one of my albums of the year. An anyway excellent line-up of remixers are inspired by William Ryan Fritch’s worldbeat sound to turn in uniformly top-of-the-line work.
Along with our own Part Timer (aka Scissors and Sellotape), Between The Pine is represented with two remixes, and we heard the less ambient of the two tonight.

Label heads Tokyo Bloodworm have their new album Palestine coming out on the wonderful Moteer label soon. Based around mainly acoustic sounds, it’s got a world influence too, but its construction bathes the whole experience in mystery. It’s one worth listening to in the dark.
Tune in next week for more from both these releases!

Semiomime – The Exquisites [Ad Noiseam]
Kris Keogh – As we said goodbye to everything we knew [New Weird Australia]
Kris Keogh – Your eyes said we were never coming back [New Weird Australia]
Colophon – First Day Back From Brooklyn/Fingers Through Your Hair [flau]
the fun years – Cornelia Amygdaloid [Ghostly International]
the fun years – auto show day of the dead [barge recordings]
Stina – Lune [Someone Good]
Tape & Bill Wells – Fugue 3 [Immune Recordings]
Colin Stetson – Judges [Constellation]
Ashtray Navigations – Secretaries of the Future [memoirs of an aesthete]
John Chantler – The Luminous Ground (side A track 2) [Room40]
area c – Darkens The Mind Part 1 [Sloow Tapes]
area c – lake of dreams [Handmd]
area c / eyes like saucers – lesser dog, greater still (excerpt) [sedimental]
area c – Map of Circular Thought [Preservation]
Beaten By Them – Nusla Nif [Logicpole]
Beaten By Them – Pioneer 10 [available from their Bandcamp] {free download of their first album!}
Live Footage – Willow Be [self-released]
restream – Nature Archives [lofly]
restream – Herehaveatrophy [lofly]
Seekae – Go [Rice is Nice]
Seekae – 3 [Rice is Nice]
Karoshi – Reanimate Me [Other Tongues]
Simo Soo – I Smashed My Face (Collarbones rmx) [Lesstalk Records]
Collarbones – Weatherman [Internet Archive – free download!]
Collarbones – Closer [Two Bright Lakes]
Vieo Abiungo – Parading on Broken Glass (Between The Pine remix) [Lost Tribe Sound]
Tokyo Bloodworm – Mergers and Occupations [Moteer]

Listen again — ~ 168MB