Utility Fog

Sunday, 4th of November, 2012

OMG it's November! How did that happen?
Lots of great sound-art tonight, and some very fine beats as well.
LISTEN AGAIN via the usual links, stream on demand at FBi.

Started with a lovely number from Brooklyn's Padna released by Sydney's own Preservation. It's a surprising mix of acoustic instruments and sounds with subtle, almost unnoticeable electronics. I'll be interviewing him in a couple of weeks, so listen up!

Oren Ambarchi has had an amazing year of releases, and I'm not surprised that this collaboration with Robin Fox is excellent, as I saw the mind-boggling Chunky Move production it's derived from.

He got a big feature last week on the show, but this Inch-time track is too good to not get a spin tonight. Corker of an album.

The Declining Winter aka Richard Adams from Hood and friends has had a quiet year, but decided to put out a free Bandcamp EP a couple of weeks ago. It appears in the intervening time they've taken it down, so this might be the only place you can hear it for now!

If you've listened much to this show you'll know I'm a bit obsessed with the work of both the people behind Rabbit Rabbit Radio, partners Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi. There's a reason for that. They're awesome. This is sorotf Bossi doing Bowie. Nice.

And then BAM! I had to play a whole stack of Italian sound-artist Nicola Ratti, because I've just rediscovered how very talented and versatile he is. There are shoegazey guitar tracks (of a sort), minimal tracks with beats (of a sort), wonderful scratchy vinyl loops (in collaboration with Giuseppi Ielasi), and, on his latest album, the deconstructed insides of a piano. Often surprisingly rhythmic, and never less than engrossing.

I played some of Richard Chartier's pinkcourtesyphone material on ROOM40 a couple of weeks back; dark ambient music harkening back to the '90s to my ears, albeit informed by contemporary drone. I've now gotten hold of the sister release on his own Line [Segments] imprint, and it's got a similar feel. Slightly spooky but great late-night listening.

Having recently felt like Funckarma were slipping too easily into the parping, aggressive dubstep bass and hip-hop beats, it's awesome to find that Roel Funcken's new solo album limits that sound to a few tracks, veering out into more lightweight beats, complex audio sculpting and even some rather pretty ambient at the end. Best thing from either or both brothers in a while, recommended!

Mr Funcken turns up remixing The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble on their latest EP, but I've been spruiking Finnish drum'n'bass/breaks expert Fanu on the show a bit, so we heard his take plus the excellent original – foreboding soundscapes and beats drop in and out along with trombone, violin and more. A great introduction to a fascinating group, and not one remix out of place either.

Finally, what can I say about my favourite noise artist Burning Star Core going, er, "pop", under his own name? Well, I found the quasi-naïve songwriting and quasi-'80s postpunk electronic production somewhat off-putting, or mainly the songwriting I guess; the one instrumental track (there are vocals, but not lyrics), though, is actually very good.

Padna - Green Plastic Prism (G.P.P.) [Preservation]
Oren Ambarchi & Robin Fox - Standing Mandala [Kranky]
Inch-time - Time of the Fire [Mystery Plays Records]
The Declining Winter - The Year of Forty [The Declining Winter Bandcamp] {seems no longer available...}
Rabbit Rabbit Radio - Hero and a Saint [Rabbit Rabbit Radio]
Nicola Ratti - Track Four from Streengs [senufo editions]
Nicola Ratti - Tropical Malady [Preservation]
Nicola Ratti - Untitled #2 from 220 Tones [Die Schachtel]
Nicola Ratti - Nordich [Audio Gourmet]
Bellows - handcut 04 [senufo editions]
Nicola Ratti - Track Two from Streengs [senufo editions]
pinkcourtesyphone - all made up [Line [Segments]]
pinkcourtesyphone - afternoon theme (excerpt) / evening theme (excerpt) [Line [Segments]]
pinkcourtesyphone - sans motif [ROOM40]
Roel Funcken - Textures [Schematic]
Roel Funcken - Mercury Retrograde [Schematic]
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Xtabay (Fanu Remix) [tkde Bandcamp]
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Xtabay [tkde Bandcamp]
CS Yeh - Don't Make Me Chase You [De Stijl]

Listen again — ~ 106MB

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