Industrial metal/hip-hop/jungle crossovers, mutant beats, lysergic dub, psychedelic electronic pop… Got you covered.
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BRACT X BAYANG (tha Bushranger) – INTRO [Bract Bandcamp]
BRACT X BAYANG (tha Bushranger) – HOMESICK [Bract Bandcamp]
BRACT X BAYANG (tha Bushranger) – BLOODYFIST (ft. ZK King) [Bract Bandcamp]
Some 5 years ago or so I discovered an Eora/Sydney band called Coward Punch, making growling, throbbing industrial metal & noise, and sending all the profits of their EPs to Grandmothers Against Removal (debut) and Black Rainbow (follow-up). Those releases sat in my collection, but somehow I missed that the band renamed themselves BRACT, so when this phenomenal collaboration with Dharug/Western Sydney-based rapper BAYANG (tha Bushranger) came out, it took me a minute to make the connection. Anyway, BAYANG has clear delivery and hella flow (check this drum’n’bass-laden track produced by Kuya Neil), and hearing him over these chugging industrial rhythms and murky textures is a strange thrill. The artists see it as a musical representation of the often-hellish melting-pot that is Sydney, a place where (thankfully) punk, noise, hip-hop and club sounds rub freely up against each other – something I’m convinced we can at least to some degree thank FBi Radio and its various music directors for. In any case, this is a no-holds-barred, vicious, scungey piece of filth – although there are moments of light, like the vocal from ZK King (aka Jamie Marina Lau).
Mutant Joe – 87 Yams ft. Apoc Krysis [Steel City Dance Discs/Bandcamp]
Mutant Joe – Collapse [Steel City Dance Discs/Bandcamp]
Originally from Meanjin/Brisbane, now based in Berlin, Mutant Joe is truly a purveyor of mutant beats, and he’ll mutate any beat as long as it’s got strong bass and syncopation, so it seems to these ears. Thus on Collapse, his new EP for Steel City Dance Discs (themselves originally from Mulubinba/Newcastle and now based in the hellscape of London), we’ve got hard drum and dancehall-influenced techno, heavy on the bass, with rappers from the US & UK – and yes, the final instrumental track is an anxious drum’n’bass banger.
Bandish Projekt – Shyam feat. Isha Nair [Bheja Fry Records]
Drum’n’bass is one of the genres that feeds into the hybrid musical spaces of Bandish Projekt. At times it’s been a trio, but now it’s back to Mayur Narvekar with collaborators. On “Shyam”, Isha Nair sings a bandish in Raag Puriya Dhanashri. This is good as any example of what Narvekar is doing with Bandish Projekt – combining beautifully performed Indian classical melodies with Western beats. There’s a long tradition of fusion of this sort by South Asian musicians, and I’m always excited to hear something new from Bandish Projekt, especially as we’re only getting one or two tracks a year these days.
Pugilist & Tamen – Synesthesia [Dext Recs/Bandcamp]
Both Pugilist & Tamen are based in Naarm/Melbourne at the moment: Alex Dickson moved there from NZ, and Luke O’Higgins spent some time as a jungle DJ and promoter in Barcelona before coming to Oz. Pugilist has been making world-class music from dubstep through bass/breaks-infused techno to jungle/drum’n’bass since his New Zealand Days. The Lithium EP is the latest junglist monster from the duo… or is it? It’s certainly junglish, all the way through, but it opens with a techno/breaks hybrid that’s like a harcore jungle tekno track from the very early ’90s updated for modern ears. And track 2, which we heard tonight, is a deep, moody 160bpm burner, that sweet spot where dubstep/dancehall bass interacts with jungle breaks. On the flip, Tim Reaper and Dwarde take the title track up a gear into jungle territory, and the EP ends with more hardcore/jungle tekno biz.
Law – All Styles [RuptureLDN/Bandcamp]
From just north of London, Repertoire boss Law (who coincidentally released Pugilist & Tamen’s first EP) joins RuptureLDN with an EP perfectly suited for their love of cutting-edge jungle. Each track slices & dices beats in different ways, whether hinting at tech-step’s one/two rhythms, or blasting full breaks – but oh, the lovely percussive intro on the opener, and that bass drop at 1:10! Gorrrrrgeous.
Antagonist – Observe [R&S Records/Bandcamp]
Manchester drum’n’bass producer Mike aka Antagonist goes deep on his debut for R&S Records, the Rites EP. No question the drum’n’bass roots are present here, but there’s a widescreen cinematic feel, and I love the cymbal-smashing live drum loop sitting at the centre of the beats on “Observe”.
The Blood Of Heroes – Salute to the Jugger [Ohm Resistance]
The Blood of Heroes – New Orleans [Ohm Resistance]
Submerged – Inexorable [Ohm Resistance]
The Blood of Heroes – Lower Atlantis [Ohm Resistance]
Kurt Gluck’s Ohm Resistance label has provided consistent fodder for Utility Fog basically since the start. In the early-to-mid 2000s, breakcore was a big part of the show’s genetics; a little later there was dubstep, and industrial influences have always been favoured too. Gluck’s own music manifests in solo form as Submerged (it was very briefly a duo at the start), with tough, heavy drum’n’bass that’s moved with the times and has room for other heavy musics like metal guitars and industrial textures, and at times some respite from the storm. Submerged re-emerged last month with FURY, an intense & angry album over 2 CDs with clever rhythm-work and sonic detail that initially masquerades as a relentless tumult of beats and distortion. The second CD holds something magic though, with a 20-minute and a 12-minute track which cast the net wide, capturing classical samples and almost-calm sorrowfulness as well as further bouts of FURY.
But this is not Gluck’s only release for 2023. Just out this coming week is the new album from the brilliant The Blood Of Heroes, a supergroup of sorts that began in 2010 with an album featuring Bill Laswell on bass (a frequent collaborator with Submerged on many of his own fusions of jazz & other genres with drum’n’bass), the ever-great UFog favourite Justin K Broadrick on guitar, Enduser providing beats & textures alongside Gluck, and Dr Israel on vocals (there are more but that’s the core). Dr Israel’s lyrics base themselves around the rich post-apocalyptic world of the Australian-American cult movie The Salute of the Jugger (released in the United States as, yes, The Blood of Heroes), which featured not only Rutger Hauer, but also Joan Chen & Vincent D’Onofrio among others – oh, and it was written & directed by David Webb Peoples, co-writer of Blade Runner and later co-creator of 12 Monkeys. If you’re choosing a film to immerse your industrial metal/breakcore/dub supergroup in, you probably couldn’t choose better – but really, the self-titled debut of this group easily transcends the “supergroup” concept as well as its Mad Max-ish setting with the evocative thrums and thrashes of Broadrick’s guitar (somewhere between Godflesh and Jesu), Laswell’s bass grounding, the dub/dubstep/drum’n’bass beats rising and falling (along with Balázs Pándi’s live drums on a few tracks)… and Dr Israel’s righteous delivery. There was a second album from the collective in 2003 and then it seemed to be over… yet here we are in 2023, gifted with Nine Cities, once again with Broadrick’s guitars, Dr Israel’s further vocal riffs on the movie’s setting, both Submerged and Enduser along with Mick Harris (Scorn), Fear Factory’s Burton C Bell, and many others. Again it’s that kind of massive collaboration that suggests overblown overreach, but thanks to Gluck & co’s good judgement, it’s just another collection of great songs merging these very sympathetic genres together. Long may they reign!
Moderat – FAST LAND (The Bug‘s Kevin Richard Martin Remix) [Monkeytown Records/Bandcamp]
Moderat – UNDO REDO (ZULI Remix) [Monkeytown Records/Bandcamp]
I slightly lost track of Moderat, the collaboration between the Modeselektor duo and Sascha Ring aka Apparat, but when any of these folks compile a remix album you’d better pay attention. EVEN MORE D4TA does the business, easily. There are TWO remixes from The Bug – one in the style of his G36 collaboration with Gorgonn, and one in more expansive “Kevin Richard Martin” style. There’s good female representation, with Sydney’s Logic 1000, yeule & Kin Leonn, Marie Davidson and SHERELLE all present. There’s something murky & ambient from Bristol’s Batu, French dancehall-mutator Sylvere, South African gqom pioneer DJ Lag, and then there’s Cairo’s brilliant ZULI, who here creates something absolutely manic, building from weirdly overlaid vocal snippets into a deconstructed footwork monster.
Kemperton – Jeopardizer Dubwav [raghoul/Bandcamp]
Archidi – Vº]V[ºV [raghoul/Bandcamp]
I said last week that the compilation Crocodile Tears in a Reptilian World from the Morocco/Netherlands label raghoul was brilliant – almost every track warrants airplay over here. So, here are two more tracks, both from Moroccan artists based in Casablanca. Both bring the bass (“raghoul”) in uncompromising fashion. Kemperton‘s sub bass throbs under a trip-hop-style beat, wobbling synth delays and processed howls, while Archidi‘s overdriven glitching drum machines grow out of distorted timestretched vocal samples.
Lårry – Angela’s Knife [BRUK/Bandcamp]
Who is Lårry? They’re a Berlin-based artist working in the interstices of techno, IDM and contempoorary jungle, with releases on various influential European labels and now landing on soundsystem-obsessed BRUK, one of a number of labels connected with Low End Activist. The bruk is strong on the four sparse & spooky tracks on Lårry’s How Was That For You, with super-tweaked amen breaks rattling in & out of techno, dancehall & dubstep hybrids, finally landing on something properly drum’n’bass-like by track 4.
Morwell – In the Dark [Morwell Bandcamp (forthcoming)]
Once again Max Morwell has graced us with a sneak peek at his next release, in this case an EP called In the Dark which will be up on his Bandcamp next week I believe. It is somewhat on the dark side, with lopsided beats and short-cut vocal samples – oh, but then the third track “Because of You” has sweet dancehall vocal samples and judicious bass drops throughout – keep your eyes out for the whole EP!
Tadleeh – The Unexpected [YOUTH]
HR FOR DRUG DEALERS – COCAINE [YOUTH]
Manchester’s iconoclastic YOUTH label is run by DJ Andrew Lyster in gregarious fashion, with bass at its heart, but everything from ambient to postpunk to weirdfolk allowed entry if Lyster favours it. Their third compilation, Sports 3 has just come out on CD & digital, and showcases this proudly leftfield range, with contributors far beyond Manchester’s sprawl. Indian-born Milan-based Hazina Francia aka Tadleeh brings bass swoops and spooky keys for her entry, while the mysterious and cheekily-named HR FOR DRUG DEALERS take jazzy keys and bury them in wub-wubbing sub-bass and a glitched-out beat.
Keplrr x Human Resources – Spring [Pressure Dome]
Bristol label Pressure Dome celebrate collaboration with their Two [Is Great Than] One compilation, teaming label mainstays up with some great external producers. You’ve got syncopated bass techno master Delay Grounds and sound-art/beatsmith Wordcolour, and throughout there are unconventional re-settings of jungle, like the collab here between London’s Keplrr and Bristol’s Human Resources, fracturing its pleasant static synth loops and dancehall-techno headnoddery with raging break-choppery.
Isolated Gate – Mankind Will Disappear [Darla/Bandcamp]
Isolated Gate – As the Great Brain Pulsates [Darla/Bandcamp]
The team-up of Adelaide’s post-IDM auteur Tim Koch and angelic-voiced shoegaze-legend Ian Masters, once of 4AD’s Pale Saints, seemed at first like a strangely unexpected phenomenon, but Koch’s sweeping granular constructions and Masters’ instinct for melody fit together like your favourite combo of things that go together, you know the one. Although there have been a couple of excellent EP/mini-album thingies already, the weird & wonderful US label Darla have now brought us the debut album proper, Universe in Reverse. Full disclosure: the first selection tonight features layers of cello constructed from recordings I made with Tim on a visit just as things were opening up last year. I take no credit, though, for the wonderful music they’re weaved into. This is psychedelic, swirling, throbbing, crunching experimental electronic pop of the highest order. There will be vinyl & CD coming soon, but grab the digital on Bandcamp now, or stream it if you fucking insist. Geez.
Listen again — ~214MB
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