Utility Fog

Sunday, 2nd of December, 2012

It's scary that it's December and there's still amazing new music being released. Some of it I guess I'm catching up on, but seriously – new releases all over the place! Most notable, no doubt, is Scott Walker's new one, and we had a special on the man to start.
LISTEN AGAIN for your usual podcasting, download link below, or on demand streaming from FBi.

So what can you say about Scott Walker? Probably you should just read the insanely in-depth interview in this month's Wire. For years I've avoided getting a proper understanding of Scott, and it's all down to "THAT VOICE", as almost every review ever will refer to it as. I am allergic to opera, a problem (all mine, I freely admit) which extends into gospel and a lot of its soul/r'n'b progeny as well, and Scott Walker's vocal style (for many it's an attraction, not a hurdle to overcome) certainly draws a lot from the operatic tradition, with its wide vibrato and full timbre. Getting past the voice, though, we have brilliant, progressive arrangements drawing on postpunk, 20th century classical and free jazz, teamed up with performances (and lyrics) ranging from unsettling to downright scary. His influence can be felt far and wide... so while (like David Sylvian, it has to be said) I still can't really warm to the voice, I'm still totally sold.

Canberran Reuben Ingall is playing this Friday at AV Union along with Melburnians Paul Heslin and Transmissions, and Hobartian Drive West Today. Should be quite an event. Reuben's latest EP, which I've raved about before on the 'Fog, is a fantastic slice of electronic-processed indie, quite unlike anything else you'll hear this year.

Kane Ikin's duo Solo Andata first came to notice on the legendary Chicago label Hefty Records, an impressive achievement for the first release from a Perth duo. Ikin's appeared in solo form with a few remixes and short releases lately, and it's great to have his new album in hand, this time on the also-legendary 12k. It's got a sort of droney texture to it, but with a lot of instrumental detail, and a rhythmic underpinning that's not quite techno or electronica but nods in the right direction. Worth multiple listens.

Scissor Lock, the solo vehicle for Collarbones' Marcus Whale, hasn't had much of a truly solo outing for a while, so it's great to hear a new track (culled from a live set) on Feral Media's new compilation 10 (A Decade of Feral Media).
Also on the compilation, not a new track but newly available to the public is one of the earliest demos from one of Feral's best-loved bands, ii. They've been dormant for some years now, but produced some loveliest, most contemplative instrumental rock/electronic sounds in their time.

Another Australian-based online compilation came out this week, the first in a series from Fields. Put together by Hexakai Decagon, it features a number of Australian experimental artists plus a few from overseas (Sun Hammer and Radere in particular, known from Futuresequence). Brisbane's Ektoise were new to me (surprisingly), with a lovely dark ambient track. Their catalogue contains industrial rock, electronica and droney stuff, well worth fishing through.

Hauschka's Salon des Amateurs album from last year was described as him turnining his hand to techno, and while it was still made up of his prepared piano and strings, it drew strongly from the rhythms and tempos of techno. So it's no surprise that it's this album that's spawned a remix album, and mainly they're minimal 4/4 artists on hand. The alva noto Remodel of "Radar" is dark and very electronic, with only a few plucked strings from the original present. Michael Mayer (aka Kompakt's Supermayer) keeps a lot more of the light feel of the original, underpinning it with a head-nodding 4/4 beat and some beautiful dubby delays.

Speaking of dub, it's great to hear ambient techno pioneers The Orb getting their dub heads on with Lee 'Scratch' Perry. Here we hear them re-tooling their classic "Little Fluffy Clouds", complete with the Steve Reich sample, and Lee Perry being asked "What were the skies like when you were young?" Awesome.

French sound artist Max Paskine is one of the artists that the latest Futuresequence compilation, SEQUENCE5, has introduced me to. Excellent rhythmic ambient electronica.

And finally, I was shocked to discover I never played anything from the Neneh Cherry & The Thing album from earlier this year, with its amazing free-jazz-meets-pop renditions of Ornette Coleman, Suicide, Madvillain and others. So now the remix album is out, we heard Jim O'Rourke's slow-building remake of their incredible Madvillain cover "Accordion".

Scott Walker - Epizootics! [4AD]
Scott Walker - Tilt [Fontana]
Scott Walker - Buzzers [4AD]
Scott Walker - A Lover Loves [4AD]
Scott Walker - 'See You Don't Bump His Head' [4AD]
Reuben Ingall - fog [Reuben Ingall Bandcamp] {pay what you like}
Kane Ikin - Oberon [12k]
Scissor Lock - Alaska [Feral Media]
Kane Ikin - Black Sands [12k]
ii - Gentle Hum of Well Mannered Conversation [Feral Media]
Ektoise - Refractions [Fields]
Hauschka - Radar (alva noto Remodel) [Fat Cat]
Hauschka - Radar (Michael Mayer Remix) [Fat Cat]
The Orb featuring Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Golden Clouds [Cooking Vinyl]
Paskine - Dropped Memories [Futuresequence]
Neneh Cherry & The Thing - Accordion (Jim O'Rourke remix) [Smalltown Supersound]

Listen again — ~ 102MB

One Response to “Playlist 02.12.12”

1. V Says:
   December 2nd, 2012 at 10:38 pm

   Yo!