Utility Fog

Sunday, 31st of March, 2013

Pretty big show tonight, with some mutant drum'n'bass descendents from Demdike Stare and associates, some amazing drones, and experimental indie sounds.

LISTEN (AGAIN or for the first time) via the link at the bottom, subscribe to the podcast, or stream on demand from FBi (best if you're connected)!

Father Murphy is an Italian trio mixing everything from contemporary classical to black metal, which makes it no surprise that our favourite Marseillais, Philippe Petit, is into them. His remix here comes from a connected 7" and CD set of reworkings on the ever-adventurous Aagoo label.

In the incredibly fecund Italian experimental scene, Giuseppe Ielasi's name is one that stands out. Among a disturbing number of new releases this year already, he's started a series of beautifully-packaged CD miniatures, with semi-randomly-generated not-quite-found-sounds. I love the not-rhythms of the slapping micro-percussion sounds here.

In more accessible territory we have a beautiful extended piece from offthesky, dreamy washes and subtle beats. I hear there's a new release from his less droney Juxta Phona alter ego coming on Nomadic Kids Republic - can't wait.

In more gritty drone, we have a stunning EP out from Sun Hammer. He loves his bass, and even connects it with "Bass" music, albeit without beats and barlines... His signature waves of distorted bottom end are here, along with textured spectral drones and muffled spoken samples. It's quite short and quite immersive.

Next up, a big special on a couple of artists on the Boomkat-affiliated Modern Love label. Andy Stott lives in a more 4/4 world than I usually visit, but despite the regimented kick drums of his normal, house/techno-derived, fare, the production is so stunning that I was totally sucked in to his album and EPs of the last couple of years. It turns out that he actually makes more upbeat breaks/post-drum'n'bass style beats under his female alter ego Andrea, and has released a few 12"s with Millie, the alter ego of Miles Whittaker, one half of Demdike Stare (and also MLZ and one half of Pendle Coven).
Whittaker too comes from more of a techno background, and Demdike have tended to be a little too oppressive and repetitve for my ears, but there's a strain of hardcore/drum'n'bass/dub/dubstep through their work which surfaces now and then, along with the dark and thrilling production, which I've tried to draw out tonight.
Most excitingly there's a distinct love of classic jungle and distorted breakbeats which can be heard in the mysterious releases under the Hate / Unknown Artist guise (another Modern Love affiliated label, along with the Daphne label which released the Millie & Andrea collaborations). There's tightly swung post-dubstep beats on the one hand, and also slowed-down jungle of an early '90s flavour. Then again, the first Demdike 12" of 2013 features a long track with crazily distorted amen breaks, and now we have Whittaker's debut album as Miles, which takes the more beat-oriented Demdike sound, mixed with the viciously-EQ'd Andy Stott-style production, and then on a couple of tracks again references jungle's breakbeat science (albeit from a weird angle). Pretty thrilling stuff...

And so we get to some "real" jungle, from Finland's amen king Fanu, who keeps the d'n'b faith like no other right now. If you're into drum'n'bass at all, you should be following his podcast.

A few weeks ago I played a couple of tracks from the excellent EP from Vacant Lake, which is the solo project of Beres Jackson from the now not-solo Karoshi. You should really check out the EP - lovely lsuh ambient electronica with clicky beats.

Sample Minds is a project from Sydney luminary Mashy P, taking in his love of world music and dub, not quite dubstep but somewhere near there, with some pretty epic vibes to it.

And finally, Kell Derrig-Hall has most recently been doing the singer/songwriter indie/country thing with The Singing Skies, but before that he and his partner Lia Tsamoglou (also singer-songwriting as Melodie Nelson) were a much-loved experimental synth duo Moonmilk. On Kell's new SoundCloud under his own name, a couple of tracks have just appeared which are in the vein of wandery simple synth stuff, like sitting on the porch with your Casio in the afternoon. Very pretty. And I finished with Seaworthy's stunning rework of The Singing Skies from last year. Yes.

Father Murphy - Diggin' the bottom of the hollow by Philippe Petit [Aagoo]
giuseppe ielasi - (or a set of models) track 11 [self-released]
offthesky - Through The Lines [SEM label]
Sun Hammer - Incantations IV [Sun Hammer Bandcamp]
Sun Hammer - Incantations I [Sun Hammer Bandcamp]
Andy Stott - North To South [Modern Love]
Millie & Andrea - Temper Tantrum [Daphne]
Hate / Unknown Artist - Human Resources [Hate]
Hate / Unknown Artist - Pretty Boy (GFTUA Mix) [Hate]
Demdike Stare - Collision [Modern Love]
Miles - Lebensform [Modern Love]
Miles - Archaic Thought Pattern 1 [Modern Love]
Demdike Stare - Mnemosyne [Modern Love]
Fanu - Daggers (feat. Emily Bowlan) [Fanu Bandcamp]
Vacant Lake - Release [available from SoundCloud]
Sample Minds - River of Lights [unreleased/SoundCloud]
Kell Derrig-Hall - Roof of Trees [unreleased/SoundCloud]
The Singing Skies - A Message From The Cliffs (Seaworthy remix) [Preservation] {free download from SoundCloud}

Listen again — ~ 106MB

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