Utility Fog

Sunday, 17th of April, 2016

Post-classical & weird improv-folk start things off tonight, with some minimal electronics and industrial techno later on!

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Experimental musician Frank Schültge is quite renowned for his challenging, experimental productions, sometimes quite folky or jazzy, sometimes more noisy. Collaborations are a big part of his work, including Sack Und Blumm with Harald "Sack" Ziegler, an album with David Grubbs, work with Andi Otto aka Springintgut and many other duos and groups. Dag Eins Tag Zwei is his third collaboration on Sonic Pieces with the rather ultra-famous Nils Frahm, and its character seems predominantly influenced by F.S. Blumm's playful folk & improv aesthetic - but Frahm's twinkly muted piano is very present too, and there are some soft, sweet mutations of jazz classics on this latest release too.

I discovered Asheville, NC trio The Library of Babel via The Wire Magazine's Wire Tapper 40 (amazing that they're up to 40 volumes). They have a wonderful sound, the rounded but metallic sound of the acoustic guitar of Shane Parish offset by the deep double bass of Frank Meadows and often just as deep cello from Emmalee Hunnicutt, bass plucked more than bowed, cello bowed more than plucked. It's a kind of free Americana, with superb performances from all three musicians.

Western Skies Motel, despite making a kind of Americana also, hails from Denmark. René Gonzàlez Schelbeck takes as a starting point the cyclical fingerstyle guitar of John Fahey or more likely James Blackshaw, but overlays shoegazey drones and shimmery shadowing effects. It's another beautiful release from Lost Tribe Sound, coming out later this week.

Erik Schoster has been making experimental electronic music since 2002 as He Can Jog. He's featured a fair bit on this show, especially in the last half-year or so as he's started uploading a fair bit of very cool stuff to his Bandcamp. The West Allis Auto Body Co. EP features pieces recorded between 1998 and 2016, ranging from a live string quartet to glitchy choppy electronics.

Chambers is a new duo from the Pacific Northwest, made up of Vancouver artist M.Red and Portland's Gabriel Mindel Salomon (now also based in Vancouver) of the sadly departed Yellow Swans. Satellites is their take on "dub", and ambient techno, through a tape haze.

Perth's Kane Ikin found himself dropped right into international renown with the first release from his duo Solo Andata in 2006, and not hard to see why - the folktronic sounds, whether more ambient or propelled by gentle beats, are beautifully produced and musically sensitive. Kane struck out solo a few years later with a release on 12k (who had also released Solo Andata's second album), and gradually ambient gave way more to muffled or clanking techno & broken hip-hop/dub beats. Never less than lush and forward-thinking, his releases are not to be missed.

Tom Smith appeared on the scene in 2007 as Cleptoclectics with a couple of glitch-hop inspired beat CDs. He changed his moniker to Thomas William and now Thomas William Smith in the interim, collaborating with Marcus Whale, and has recently released some more ambient & blunted techno stuff as T.Morimoto. On his own Bandcamp now comes a mixtape of material from 2011-2013, which he describes as representing no particular style or contemporary movement; hence Non Times. It does bear the hallmarks of Tom's productions, from the fidgety world music cut-ups of his earlier works to the buried orchestral samples in some of T.Morimoto. It's great.

Finally, Brisbane's Pale Earth, a frequent visitor to these playlists, releases a limited lathe-cut 7" split with co-Brisvegans Golden Bats called By George, and by george if they aren't both George Harrison covers! Pale Earth's takes the already quite psychedelic "Blue Jay Way" into droney doom metal territory.

F.S. Blumm & Nils Frahm - Day Two Three [Sonic Pieces]
f.s. blumm & nils frahm - wanda marimba [Sonic Pieces]
f.s. blumm & nils frahm - ten [Sonic Pieces]
F.S. Blumm & Nils Frahm - Day One Four [Sonic Pieces]
The Library of Babel - Branching [Blue Tapes and X-Ray Records/Shane Parish Bandcamp/Emmalee Hunnicutt Bandcamp]
The Library of Babel - Blind Corners in Wild Dawn [Blue Tapes and X-Ray Records/Shane Parish Bandcamp/Emmalee Hunnicutt Bandcamp]
Western Skies Motel - Falling Leaves [Lost Tribe Sound]
Western Skies Motel - Two Worlds [Lost Tribe Sound]
He Can Jog - & Rebuilding [He Can Jog Bandcamp]
He Can Jog - Dents [He Can Jog Bandcamp]
Chambers (M.Red & GMS) - Emerald (2) feat. prOphecy sun [Beacon Sound]
Kane Ikin - Tap Tap Collapse [Type]
Solo Andata - The Echo's Left Behind [Hefty]
Kane Ikin - Titan [12k]
Kane Ikin - B.N.R [This Thing]
Kane Ikin - Bishop [This Thing]
Kane Ikin - Intro / Bloom [Blowing Up The Workshop/Kane Ikin Bandcamp]
Kane Ikin - Slowburner [Blowing Up The Workshop/Kane Ikin Bandcamp]
Kane Ikin - Auto Dialler [Type]
Kane Ikin - Pulp [Type]
Thomas William Smith - Way Back [Thomas William Smith Bandcamp]
Thomas William Smith - Don't Get Mad [Thomas William Smith Bandcamp]
Thomas William Smith - Extra Non [Thomas William Smith Bandcamp]
Pale Earth - Blue Jay Way [Pale Earth Bandcamp]

Listen again — ~189MB

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