Some new and exclusive music tonight, from world-folk to dubstep to live drum’n’bass…
LISTEN AGAIN via the link at the bottom or the podcast.

Amazing album from Ryan Teague starts tonight’s show, on the beautifully-packaged Sonic Pieces label. After some orchestral classical music with ambient electronics on the Type label, it’s interesting to hear his approach here, which features crystalline acoustic guitar, played fingerstyle, with some very tasteful/tasty production and occasional e-bow and vocals. It’s highly effective, and if it’s strong on first listen, it’s still a grower. I’ll be coming back to this one frequently.

I’m very lucky to have to have an exclusive tonight — some tracks from the forthcoming Vieo Abiungo album and the world is still yawning, via Lost Tribe Sound. As with his previous album, William Ryan Fritch produces a sumptuous mix of instruments (all played by him) in a world-folk mélange — but I think if anything he’s more successful at pulling it together here, and there are a few melodic sections which are just breathtaking.
There’s a remix CD coming with the album (which isn’t out till later in August), and I’ll be sure to spin it when it arrives, but meanwhile I played a couple of takings from the one which came out earlier this year, featuring Melbourne’s Part Timer in his Scissors and Sellotape guise, and Manyfingers, aka Chris Cole, sounding a lot like his sometime collaborator Third Eye Foundation here. I’m told there’s new Manyfingers in the works, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

Manyfingers’ 3ef impression takes us into almost-drum’n’bass territory, so it’s time to hear from London’s Three Trapped Tigers, who’ve done a great line in live Squarepusher impressions, but also like their rock riffs. It’s math rock meets live drill’n’bass drumming, and surprisingly raucous and rocky on the whole on their new album. I had to play one track from the first of their three EPs as well. More next week, fun stuff.

From there, we head into heavy bass territory via the excellent dubstep label Deep Medi, whose three Deep Medi Releases volumes I recently picked up on CD. Japan’s Goth-Trad has insanely awesome beats and drum fills on “Law”, while Finnish duo Clouds bring in some female vocals from Tiiu along with a lighter touch. Silkie’s album on Deep Medi is one of my favourite single-artist dubstep album of all time (OF ALL TIME), and I can’t wait for City Limits Volume 2, which drops any minute. Love the extravagance of the bassline and keys on “Planet X”.
Then Mr Bill brings us back to Sydney, and adds some glitches to the dubstep groove. We’re back with Enig’matik Records, and I also played the big drill’n’bass track from Mind Tree from the same Painting Pictures on Silence V1 compilation.

We also heard from Antlerland last week, and this time round it’s a very demented bedroom drum’n’bass tune. All good fun.
The Seeds of Autumn, from Sydney, had also approached drum’n’bass sounds on one or two tracks, although this one is a bit more in a jazzy postrock vein.

Finally I’ve gotten around to playing some of the “Bleak Metal” brought to us by New Weird Australia — their latest compilation. We started with Brisbane’s Axxonn, screeching digital noise giving way to huge layers of distortion. What makes it special are the regular chord changes – it’s not just a humungous static drone by any means.
A rather different approach to distorted drone-mess came from Sydney’s Machine Death, whose suffocating aural space suddenly opens out into stereophonic synth noise halfway through.
In between, something else entirely from Kirin J Callinan, who played in The Mercy Arms and now plays with Jack Ladder. With “She” he couples a loping lo-fi drum machine beat with savage post-punk guitars and a vocal delivery that recalls Aussie post-punk singers like Simon Bonney of Crime & the City Solution. One of the best local guitar-based songs I’ve heard in ages.

And with the guitars, let’s go now to Matt Christensen, best known for his band Zelienople. Solo he keeps the lo-fi (but well-produced) vibes, with heartfelt songs and simple but unique arrangements. Zelienople deserve wider recognition than I think they’ve received, and I hope this album can also get some traction despite being on the relatively obscure (but totally awesome) UK label Under The Spire.

Somehow the feeling coming from Matt Christensen’s songs pushed me into Julianna Barwick next. Her layered vocals, I must admit, at first didn’t quite appeal to me, but by the time I was starting to keep hitting the skip button, I heard a couple of exquisite songs near the end of her LP which make me want to give the whole album a much fairer go. Admittedly the vocal harmonies here are less extravagant, and there’s room for a bit of bass guitar impetus too.

We follow with two tracks from a lost masterpiece, an early release (from 2006) by Geoff Mullen, who works at Keith Fullerton Whitman’s legendary online experimental experimental music emporium Mimaroglu Music Sales. Keith released this album, thrtysxtrllnmnfstns, on a short-lived (beautifully-packaged) label, and still seems to have a few copies left (see label link below). It’s genius — Mullen plays pristinely-recorded acoustic & electric guitar and banjo, and then sets it in dialogue with very noisy electronic machines.

Also a genius at juxtaposition is David Sylvian, whose new album I can’t get enough of. The title track concludes tonight’s show with more ravishing strings, with Sylvian’s vocals somehow pressing on in a weirdly-unrelated key, until twice an enthralling bass note and harmonies bring everything into focus. Masterful.

Ryan Teague – White Nights [Sonic Pieces]
Ryan Teague – Nephesch [Type]
Ryan Teague – Undone [Sonic Pieces]
Vieo Abiungo – and the world is still yawning [Lost Tribe Sound]
Vieo Abiungo – Rust & Bile (Scissors and Sellotape remix) [Lost Tribe Sound]
Vieo Abiungo – the barges bellow their foul air [Lost Tribe Sound]
Vieo Abiungo – Fugue (Manyfingers remix) [Lost Tribe Sound]
Three Trapped Tigers – Ulnastricter [Blood and Biscuits]
Three Trapped Tigers – 5 [Blood and Biscuits]
Three Trapped Tigers – Noise Trade [Blood and Biscuits]
Goth-Trad – Law [Deep Medi]
Clouds – Protecting Hands Part 2 [Deep Medi]
Silkie – Planet X [Deep Medi]
Mr Bill – The Bouba-Kiki Effect [Enig’matik Records]
Mind Tree – The Caravan [Enig’matik Records]
Antlerland – Muton Base Attack [available from Bandcamp]
The Seeds of Autumn – Buzz [self-released]
Axxonn – From Black’s Void [New Weird Australia]
Kirin J Callinan – She [Siberia] {available from Polaroids of Androids}
Machine Death – You Ruin Everything [New Weird Australia]
Matt Christensen – Someday I Won’t Matter [Under the Spire]
Zelienople – Stone Faced About It [fina] {from the highly worthy Benefit for the Recovery in Japan compilation}
Matt Christensen – Simple Lives Mean Nothing [Under the Spire]
Julianna Barwick – Prizewinning [Asthmatic Kitty/Mistletone]
Geoff Mullen – Untitled 02 / 03 from thrtysxtrllnmnfstns [Entschuldigen]
David Sylvian – Died in the Wool [Samadhi Sound]

Listen again — ~ 164MB
Note: as the studio recorder is in any case currently in mono, I’ve encoded the file as mono, reducing its file size. Let me know if there are any issues.

Well hello there. Nice of you to join me. Pull up a seat/bean bag/piece of mattress.
Monday’s a public holiday, and I have as usual more music than I can possibly play in 3 hours, including a new entry into the top albums of the year from David Sylvian.
LISTEN AGAIN via the link at the bottom or the podcast.

I started with the most accessible number from David Sylvian’s new album, Died in the Wool | Manafon Variations. It’s an incredible achievement from a master, with sumptuous yet adventurous string arrangements, guest spots (as previously) from luminaries of the improv and experimental electronic worlds, and Sylvian’s viscous vocals.

We followed it with the opening track from the debut solo album by Canadian folk/tronic artist Matthew Maaskant, a version of the traditional song “Katie Cruel” which manages to stay faithful to the most familiar version by Karen Dalton (still stunning, played afterwards) while rendering it with electronic instrumentation and a small nod near the end to the violin that blesses Dalton’s version.

Another of the albums of the year comes from jenny hval. Her folk-influenced songs are arranged by her with some of Norway’s top improvisers and sound artists, to create experimental songs ranging from sound poetry to gothic rock. I also played an amazing track from her previous album, under the name Rockettothesky.

Back to Sylvian, I played what I think is the standout track on the album, with quasi-classical strings in dialogue with the vocal, accompanied by bass tones and electronic textures. Wonderful.

Also, I think, a contender for the top few albums (I realise we’re not quite halfway through the year) is Jasper TX’s latest, The Black Sun Transmissions. It lives up to its title, darkly beautiful, mysterious and surprising. This ain’t your momma’s drone music anymore. There’s strings, piano and creaking, crashing field recordings — pretty thrilling listening.

Canberra’s Spartak are up in Sydney this Friday to play at the always impeccable Sound Series at Hardware Gallery in Enmore. Faced with my favourite tracks being 9 & 12 minutes from their more recent album & EP, I opted for a brilliant older track. They’re unbeatable live — definitely a gig not to be missed.

And another stellar album this week, what’s going on? Efrim Manuel Menuck is a central force behind two of Montreal’s Constellation label’s most renowned bands — Godspeed You Black Emperor and A Silver Mt. Zion. His first solo album has just been released, with some of his most personal lyrics, and his usual no-prisoners approach to arrangements. A bluesy song will get taken over by over-compressed drums; lyrics will only come in halfway through a 9-minute song; and then there’ll be a 4-minute interlude of sampled, effected strings or organ. It’s pretty awesome.
It’s fair to say that A Silver Mt Zion never bested (although often about equalled) their amazing first album, in chamber format. The track I played is no doubt an old favourite for a lot of us.

Back to Australia, and a local artist much loved by the kidz for his vocal looping skills and his tumblr full of r’n’b cut-ups and ambient snippets… Guerre, aka Lavurn Lee. I have no idea whether Salt Creek Coyotes exist, but this remix takes him into something akin to Fleet Foxes folky territory, to most excellent effect. The remix EP is a free download in the lead-up to his debut album being released.

Speaking of “free remixes” of a sort, late last year and early this year the devilish members of Akron/Family decided to leak a couple of different versions of their up-coming album to the torrent sites — turning their folk rock into mashed up noise and drone. It was pretty insane and a whole lot of fun. For Record Store Day they released a 2LP set of the best of these fake albums, including a lot of tracks I hadn’t come across (I’m not convinced that more than two of them actually found their way out into the public). I quite honestly love this much more than their latest album — a lot of the leaked versions seemed like presets from a Native Instruments effect or two slathered over the top of the tracks, but on this release you can see the thought that’s gone into these remixes, despite the witch house and internet slang and ridiculous fake “feat.” artists. Norman Records still have some copies if you’re keen, and they come with a digital download code too.

Back with Matthew Maaskant, we have a local connection via Sydney’s DJ Semper-Fi on the remix, taking him into shoegazey territory. Recommended.
And returning to Guerre, Sydney’s Albatross remix the appropriately-titled “See The Birds”, going nicely clicky and wonky halfway through.

While he’s an ex-pat for now, based in New York, Feral Media’s own Danny Jumpertz aka Alpen will always be a Sydneysider too. One of the earliest supporters of Utility Fog, he’s been responsible for releasing some of the best local acts, and it’s great to have something new from him – with electric guitar, nice basslines and great beats.

For some reason tonight I just had to play one of my favourite idm tracks of all time, from the first official release by Boards of Canada. So there you go!
Thence, into more electronic climes, with the awesome Painting Pictures on Silence V1 comp from Enig’matik Records. First artist is not in fact Australian; Billy Faithfull from London contributes a fantastic post-dubstep techno track. Then label boss Sun in Aquarius creates some crazy splish-splosh beats.

Down to Albury, we have a new release from Antlerland, who has joined the Bandcamp generation. Using ancient tracker programs (still, I suspect), he creates music with scant regard for taste or trends, which can only be a good thing. There’s an even more drum’n’bassy track in there that I’ll hopefully get to next week, but I love the harmonies as this track unfolds.

Still caning the new Jason Forrest. I played three tracks tonight, including the more drum’n’bassy/breakcore track, a beautiful piano’n’field recordings number, and “Crime of the Century”. Jason seems to need to sample Supertramp on basically every second release, and this time it’s a humdinger, from the Crime of the Century album, it’s the epic, earnest, slightly nonsensical “Rudy” (seriously, the lyric is stupendously ridiculous and occasionally grammatically unforgivable). The riffs are chopped up, and bits of piano and strings surface here and there. Listen to the original here. Guiltily.

Saul Williams continues to write his pop-edged conscious rap and poetry — as earnest as they come, but highly engaging and listenable. There are a few out-and-out highlights on Volcanic Sunlight, for sure.

Another touring artist next — Belgium’s Pascal Schumacher Quartet. It’s very approachable fully-composed jazz; sometimes it veers uncomfortably close to direct pastiche of The Bad Plus; they’re one of my favourite bands, but it’s weird hearing their schtick from another group. Still, it’s very lovely, and the vibes/glockenspiel add a different dimension.

Penultimately, we return to Jasper TX, and the first track from the new album, designed to shock and awe. Gorgeously-recorded and reproduced, this is first class sound art.
And finally, a short number from Here We Go Magic is as Grizzly Bear as they’ve gotten, with dreamy falsetto vocals. The January EP is a must-listen, kidz!

David Sylvian – If I Should Dare (for N.O.) [Samadhi Sound]
Matthew Maaskant – Katie Cruel [Draft Tattoo, available through Bandcamp]
Karen Dalton – Katie Cruel [Light in the Attic]
Rockettothesky – Song In Blood [Trust Me Records]
jenny hval – portrait of the young girl as an artist [Rune Grammofon]
David Sylvian – Snow White In Appalachia [Samadhi Sound]
Jasper TX – Weight of Days [Fang Bomb]
Spartak – Ostpolitik (draft 1) [hellosQuare]
Efrim Manuel Menuck – A 12-pt plan for keep on keepin’ on [Constellation]
a silver mt. zion – 13 angels standing guard ’round the side of your bed. [Constellation]
Efrim Manuel Menuck – I am no longer a motherless child [Constellation]
Guerre – Millenium Blues (Salt Creek Coyotes Remix) [Yes Please] {free from Bandcamp!}
Akron/Family – Tatsya (feat. Tatsya) [Dead Oceans] {from <bmbz>}
Akron/Family – Izlamabalmz (feat. Barack 2mama) [Dead Oceans] {from <bmbz>}
Matthew Maaskant – You Only Dream To Test Me ([BLK_WRK] Remix by DJ Semper-Fi) [Draft Tattoo, available through Bandcamp]
Guerre – See The Birds (Albatross Remix) [Yes Please] {free from Bandcamp!}
Alpen – Dumb Victory [Feral Media] {available from Bandcamp}
boards of canada – hi scores [SKAM]
Faithfull – We Are Waves [Enig’matik Records]
Sun in Aquarius – Wytaliba (The Girl By The River) [Enig’matik Records]
Antlerland – Your Eyes Are Two Gelatinous Sacs Embedded In Your Skull [available from Bandcamp]
Jason Forrest – Archive [Staatsakt]
Saul Williams – Fall Up [Sony Music]
Pascal Schumacher Quartet – Water Like Stone [enja]
Jason Forrest – Isolation, Too [Staatsakt]
Jason Forrest – Crime of the Century [Staatsakt]
Jasper TX – Signals Through Wood & Dust [Fang Bomb]
Here We Go Magic – Hollywood [Secretly Canadian]

Listen again — ~ 157MB
Note: as the studio recorder is in any case currently in mono, I’ve encoded the file as mono, reducing its file size. Let me know if there are any issues.

It’s come round again, that time of the week… That hallowed hour.
Hi.
LISTEN AGAIN as per usual via the link at the bottom or the podcast!

Starting with Here We Go Magic, from his/their new January EP, and one of his catchiest songs since 2005’s Fangela. “Mirror Me” is also a great song, with a nice crunchy drum machine beat.

Another hugely talented artist with a singular vision is polyfox and the union of the most ghosts, hailing from somewhere north of Sydney. Scrumptious lo-fi delights, hugely recommended.

And wow, Nick Zammuto from The Books has renewed his solo project, and he’s so excited he called his first released track “YAY”. It’s lots of fun, in his usual (by now) style of pulsating vocal treatments and percussion…

A couple of years back, sound artists Stephen Vitiello + Machinefabriek collaborated on a project called Box Music, in which they sent each other boxes of non-musical objects, to turn into a collaborative musical work. They have a new release of two live recordings, their first meeting in person — plus a rather lovely remix by Ezekiel Honig.

Also new are some EPs from those heroes of the IDM world, Funckarma. Their Automotive project sees them incorporating acoustic instrumentation (or the sounds thereof) into their production, and I think this new EP succeeds better than they have in the past. In particular “Klezmer” ain’t yo’ Yiddische mama’s Eastern European Jewish music, but it uses clarinet & violin (probably) playing discernable klezmer scales, but very much in the Funckarma musical idiom.
Scone is a collaboration between the Funcken brothers and another Dutch IDM artist, Kettel. Their previous album came out 5 years ago, so it’s nice to have a new 4-track EP. Both these releases are available from Funckarma’s new Bandcamp-powered online shop. With Kettel they can become a little more melodic along with their amazing programming and sound manipulation.
I also played a lovely melodic piece of IDM from Mr Kettel and an incredible classic from Funckarma which gradually piles on the cross-rhythms in a tour-de-force of drum programming.

Back to Australia now for a highly impressive compilation on Byron Bay-based label Enig’matik Records. Check it out at the link. From Melbourne we have Mind Tree, and then one half of same as MindBuffer — two different approaches to drill’n’bass meets glitch-hop, incredibly intricate, exciting stuff.

Then one track from Katoomba-based Elliot, wonky hip-hop on Sydney’s Frequency Lab, and back to Enig’matik with Mr Bill’s dubsteppy glitch-hop and something again a bit more drill’n’bassy from Sensient.

Another big, big 2CD comp from an important label in the English post-dubstep scene, Hessle Audio, home of early releases from James Blake and Untold. We heard a dubstep tune from stalwart D1, and then something like early ’90s pre-jungle hardcore from Ramadanman, lots of fun!

Fabulous return this week from 13&god, the collaboration between German indietronic legends The Notwist and Anticon mainstays Themselves. We’ve got vocals from both Doseone and Maruks Acher, guitars and real drums combined with Jel’s amazing MPC sampling genius. The album’s way better than the last Notwist or, I daresay, Themselves efforts.
I also played Hrvatski’s legendary remix of Soft Atlas/Men of Station from 6 years ago.

And this brings us to the incredible sounds of Geese. I’ve been waiting for this for some time, since hearing their remixes of Jon Hopkins and Hot Chip, and have known their work as half of the Elysian Quartet for even longer. They’re very adept at extended techniques and melodic beauty with violin & viola, and also willing to try whatever it takes in the studio for remixy goodness.
So it’s very nice to see they have their music up on the ubiquitous Bandcamp now, replete with remixes of their work, including Adem of Fridge fame.

And then, back to Jenny Hval, and her previous incarnation as Rockettothesky. It’s a shame I’ve had such full shows that it’s taken me a while to get back to this – I think her new album Viscera is one of the albums of the year, and I intend to play her much more. Rockettothesky already saw her moving into some quite experimental territory along with the classic gutsy folky songwriting. The new album enlists her Norwegian compatriots Deathprod and some other experimental musicians to take it to the next level – deeply thought-out musical landscapes, big gothic rock-outs in the midst of sound-art and brilliant vocal performances. You need to check it out.

Finally, the most post-rockin’ piece on the solo album from David Evans, drummer in Melbourne postrock band This Is Your Captain Speaking. It’s a really great track, which I suspect I’ll be revisiting in the next few weeks!

Here We Go Magic – Hands in the Sky [Secretly Canadian]
Here We Go Magic – Mirror Me [Secretly Canadian]
polyfox and the union of the most ghosts – hang by a thread [Monstera Deliciosa] {now available from his Bandcamp!}
polyfox and the union of the most ghosts – 50 years of pens [Unique Beautiful Flowers] {now available from his Bandcamp!}
polyfox and the union of the most ghosts – the sink [Unique Beautiful Flowers] {now available from his Bandcamp!}
Zammuto – YAY [briefly released to his Soundcloud] {almost immediately deleted, with the intention that other people share it, so go googling!}
Stephen Vitiello + Machinefabriek – Box Music In Montreal [Nuun]
Stephen Vitiello + Machinefabriek – Box Music Repacked by Ezekiel Honig [Nuun]
Automotive – Klezmer [Funckarma Bandcamp]
Scone – Latuh [Funckarma Bandcamp]
Scone – Maze [Moamoo]
Kettel – Pinch of Peer [Sending Orbs]
Funckarma – Lignite [dub] {re-released on Sending Orbs, now also out of print, but available digitall at Funckarma shop}
Mind Tree – The Caravan [Enig’matik Records]
MindBuffer – Ghost in the Shell [Enig’matik Records]
Elliot – The dreams of men part 2 [The Frequency Lab]
Mr Bill – The Bouba-Kiki Effect [Enig’matik Records]
Sensient – Focalise [Enig’matik Records]
D1 – Sub Zero [Hessle Audio]
Ramadanman – Don’t Change For Me [Hessle Audio]
13&god – Its Own Sun [Alien Transistor/Anticon]
13&god – L’Atlas Flexible, Von Gradleute (remix by Hrvatski) [Anticon]
13&god – Sure as Debt [Alien Transistor/Anticon]
Geese – Fog-Sea [self-released, see Geese Bandcamp]
Jon Hopkins – The Low Places (Geese Remix) [Domino]
Geese – Tundra Bean (Adem remix) [self-released, see Geese Bandcamp]
jenny hval – blood flight [Rune Grammofon]
Rockettothesky – Grizzly Man [Trust Me Records]
jenny hval – milk of marrow [Rune Grammofon]
David Evans – 1am to 2am [Sensory Projects]

Listen again — ~ 240MB {show ran for 3″13′}

G’day! Tonight I’m filling in for the fabulous Andrew Maxam aka Loopsnake for his Liquid Electric show on FBi.
LISTEN AGAIN is as usual available via the link at the bottom (and the podcast).

Karsten Pflum – Nemo Loon Part III [Ad Noiseam]
Dro Carey – Wack Reeboks!!? [Trilogy Tapes]
Hugo Frederick – Family Affair (Hugo Frederick remix) [Hugo Frederick Soundcloud]
Mount Kimbie – Maybes (James Blake remix) [Hotflush]
DJ 100mado – Side Life (Murder Channel Exclusive mix) [Murder Channel]
Dokkebi Q – Hardcore Cherry Bon Bon [Murder Channel]
Electric Company – Eighteen Hard Feelings [Tigerbeat6]
Karsten Pflum – jazzkroge III [Mindwaves Music]
Karsten Pflum – The hand [Hymen]
sabre – peril (club mix) [Critical Music]
Indigo – Time [Exit Records]
DJ C – In This Dub [Mashit]
Robag Wruhme – Hugendubel [Kompakt]
Robag Wruhme & Wighnomy Brothers – Spekk-Drumm [Kompakt]
Robag Wruhme – Pnom Gobal [Pampa]
Cocteau Twins – Violaine (Re-Cycled by Mark Clifford) [Mercury]
Seefeel – Faults [Warp]
Melodie Nelson – My Johnny (Collarbones remix) [available from Bandcamp]
Bon Chat, Bon Rat – Blackbird (Collarbones remix) [available from Bandcamp]
Pikelet – E.T.A [Pikelet Bandcamp]
Savages – Catch/Control [unreleased]
Comatone – Lamplit Screenprint [listen on Soundcloud]
Venetian Snares – Ever Apparent All Being Shoulder [Planet µ]

Listen again — ~ 199MB