Utility Fog

Sunday, 6th of April, 2014

More than 3/4 Australian music this week! Pretty amazing week for new Aussie experimental music, and an epic month or so in general - I'll be catching up over the next few weeks to keep bringing you the best of the best!

We started with a mystery artist from Melbourne called Molten Wing. Their debut release (under this name at least!) is an incredibly accomplished mini-album of ambient electronics, cold soundscapes and crunchy beats. Highly recommended.

Sydney composer, viola player and producer Nick Wales has sent me a batch of unreleased music for dance, theatre and other projects, some with collaborators like Sarah Blasko and percussionist extraordinaire Bree van Reyk. It'd be crimilar if this remained unreleased, but for now here's where you get to hear it!

Speaking of collaborations, ex-Faux Pas man Tim Shiel follows his beautiful soundtrack to the highly successful iOS game Duet with a series of, well, duets loosely based on that music. We heard Melbourne pianist and composer Luke Howard, who also appeared on the original soundtrack, and Melbourne beatsmith Aoi.

Morgan McKellar first came to our attention as a member of Sydney postrock/indie genre-hoppers Underlapper. Now resident in Canberra, he plays in experimental duo Cold House, and after a stint as Morning Stalker, makes solo music as Gatherer. Skittery synth pattern madness rubs shoulders with drone and noise elements, lovely stuff.

Further south now, to Melbourne, with the contemporary jazz group Motion, who sadly broke up a year or two ago, but bring us an amazing posthumous album on Wood & Wire. I couldn't help but go back in time with them a little too, with a brilliant remix from Shoeb Ahmad (whose duo Spartak are due out with a new EP any minute now!)

And then finally we make it overseas for the last half hour or so!
We haven't heard much from US artist yyu aka Ben Straus, representing a genre called vaporware... apparently. Shifting easily between lo-fi indie (just a guitar and voice), folktronica of a sort, and juke-influenced lo-fi electronica, this music seems to be the perfect underground music for whatever generation we're up to now. It's smart and unassuming, and somehow mind-boggling even for those used to smeared genre boundaries. He's got a new 12" out on RAMP (Records Are My Pillow - yes!) and I'm hoping we hear much more from him this year.

And finally, some gorgeous dream-pop from Cloud Ensemble, which is a new internet-based collaboration between, well, a host of artists and I recommend you click the link there. Centred around Dutch producer Michel Banabila, featuring Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek somewhere in there, along with vocalists, violin and other instruments, it's a bit shoegaze, a bit drone-influenced, and totally recommended. Available on 10" vinyl as well as digital.

LISTEN AGAIN IF YOU WANT TO LIVE! Stream at FBi, download link below.

Molten Wing - no unwinding this [Molten Wing Bandcamp]
Molten Wing - come to the surface this year [Molten Wing Bandcamp]
Nick Wales & Bree van Reyk - spaaace [unreleased]
Nick Wales - fling_epic_! [unreleased]
Nick Wales - Wren_Journey [unreleased]
Tim Shiel - Exchange (feat. Luke Howard) [Tim Shiel Bandcamp]
Tim Shiel and Luke Howard - Greater [Tim Shiel Bandcamp]
Tim Shiel and Aoi - Creator [Tim Shiel Bandcamp]
Gatherer - Speed Thievery [Wood & Wire]
Morning Stalker - When all is said and done we will forgive each other under the sun [hellosQuare Recordings]
Gatherer - Talkie Hole [Gatherer Bandcamp]
Gatherer - Bass Nebula [Gatherer Bandcamp]
Motion - Two [Wood & Wire]
Motion - Pendulum (Slow Rails Mix, reworked by Shoeb Ahmad) [Listen/Hear Collective]
Motion - liberty stole my shoes [Listen/Hear Collective]
Motion - One [Wood & Wire]
yyu - Kiss As We Walk [RAMP]
yyu - car keys [yyu Bandcamp]
yyu - SHOVELKITENOW [yyu Bandcamp]
yyu - u [yyu Bandcamp]
yyu - when you said that [Beer On The Rug]
yyu - When We're Young [RAMP]
Cloud Ensemble - Hide and Seek [Michel Banabila Bandcamp]

Listen again — ~104MB

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