Utility Fog

Sunday, 26th of October, 2008

Jumping all over the place tonight in true UFog fashion. Started with a fabulous mini-album from Cex called Dannibal, which seems to take miniscule fragments of Steely Dan and turn them into, well, Cex…
Then a new mini-album from The Chap, and a new 7″ pitting Various Production vs Virus Syndicate… and amid the breakcore we have something kinda prog’n'bass from the (fairly patchy) new Squarepusher album.

Anthony Buck is best known as Tony Buck from The Necks but he’s leaning more towards his hardcore/punk background with his new projectTRANSMIT. Excellent drum-and-guitar-driven stuff, more of which next week. And another experimental drummer from Sydney,Robbie Avenaim, has a new album too.

There’s a new digital-only (I believe) mini-album/EP/single from Shearwater, taking The Snow Leopard from the latest album and adding a bunch of wonderful b-sides. Among them is a cover of Talk Talk’s “The Rainbow”, and listeners tonight were subjected to a little diatribe about how, while it’s a beautiful cover for the most part, it mucks up the two most beautiful piano chords in the whole piece (they appear in the drop-out just after the chorus if you’re interested), which is a major drawback for my enjoyment of their version. So I played all 23 minutes of “The Rainbow/Eden/Desire” from Spirit of Eden, which is a iconoclastic truly bit of music anyway…

Sunken Foal is Dunk Murphy, who is/was half of Planet µ act Ambulance. The Ambulance track I played tonight is a beauty, but the new album from Dunk solo is a corker. You’ll hear more Sunken Foal next week for sure.
And you should also hear more from the d_rradio Remixed album. On tonight’s closing track, the matinee orchestra give High Places a run for their money (I vaguely feel…)

Cex - His Crimes [Wildfire Wildfire Records]
The Chap - Nice Face [Lo Recordings]
Various Production vs Virus Syndicate - Neva Argue [Planet µ]
Venetian Snares - CCTV [Planet µ]
Squarepusher - The Glass Road [Warp]
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Two Pieces [Sonig]
Anthony Buck - Transducer [Vitamin]
Anthony Buck - What You Want [Vitamin]
Githead - Darkest Star [Swim~]
Robbie Avenaim - Headbanging [Room40]
Shearwater - North Col [Matador] {digital EP, buy here}
Shearwater - I Was A Cloud (live from Radio K) [Matador] {digital EP, buy here}
Talk Talk - The Rainbow/Eden/Desire [Parlophone]
The Boats - The Arrow Home [from self-released Stenography EP]
Sunken Foal - Dutch Elm [Planet µ]
Ambulance - The Tams [Planet µ]
Sunken Foal - Folic Abandon [Planet µ]
Sunken Foal - A Bear in the Hermitage [Planet µ]
Silver Bone Tone - Games [self-released]
Silver Bone Tone - Grilled [self-released]
Juana Molina - Los Hongos De Marosa [Domino]
d_rradio - wish for more wishes (the matinee orchestra remix) [Distraction]

Sunday, 19th of October, 2008

Adam Butler aka Vert starts up procedings in his usual awesome fashion. Then a couple of Andrew Bird tracks from a live CD that seems to already be unavailable(?!)
Juana Molina has a new album out, and it seems to be her best one yet - you’ll definitely be hearing more from that one round these parts!
And we had a few tracks from the three Imaginational Anthem compilations on Tompkins Square, showcasing amazing folk/acoustic guitar playing - of all sorts.

Adam Butler - Jellyrollmortonfeldmantwo (extract) [Sonig]
Vert - All Things To All People (People Get Ready) Di Terra Trio/David S. Ware [Sonig]
Vert - Night Train Blues [STRP/Basta]
Vert - Something Else feat. Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin/Matthew Shipp & Guillermo E. Brown/World Saxophone Quartet [Sonig]
Andrew Bird - opposite day (live in montreal) [self-released, was briefly available from his online shop]
Dosh - A Ghost’s Business [Anticon]
Andrew Bird - simple x/cannonade [self-released, was briefly available from his online shop]
Juana Molina - ¿Quién? (Suite) [Domino]
Juana Molina - malherido [Domino]
Greg Davis - Sleep Architecture [Tompkins Square]
James Blackshaw - River of Heaven [Tompkins Square]
Max Ochs - Imaginational Anthem (1969) [Tompkins Square]
I Heart Lung - Interoceans IV (Greg Davis remix) [Asthmatic Kitty] {download Interoceans Remixed free here!}
Burning Star Core - a curse on the coast/deaf-mute spinning resonator [No Fun Productions]
Underlapper - Haunted Cornice (aheadphonehome remix) [forthcoming on Feral Media]
Qua - Goodmorning Sun [Love & Mercy Records]
Silver Bone Tone - Ding [self-released/demo]
Richmond Lamarr - heather & gabriel [self-released]
Silver Bone Tone - Wrinkle [self-released/demo]
Terminal Sound System - Zodiac [Extreme]
Mirrored Silver Sea - Ghost Blossom [sound&fury]
This is Your Captain Speaking - Lullaby [self-released - forthcoming]
Children of the Wave - Something good [Sensory Projects]
Scissor Lock - sky sulphur [sound&fury]
Department of Eagles - Balmy Night [4ad]

Sunday, 12th of October, 2008

Music, music, music. We’ve got some jazz remixes in here near the start, initially pretty free electronic improv, then the wonderful Vert remixing the Novara Jazz Festival(!) - highly recommended - and also the newie from the The Matthew Herbert Big Band, wowee.
Qua’s new album Q&A is out, and it’s album of the week here on FBi.
We’ve got a sneak preview of the forthcoming Underlapper remix album, and a couple of tracks from the Lymbyc Systym remix album.
One of the albums of the year came out this week - In Ear Park, from Department of Eagles. It’s been highly anticipated in these quarters, and most certainly does deliver. Among the things you can find on the net are a bunch of videos: four songs performed on a rooftop for Pitchfork.tv - Part 1 and Part 2, and a completely new track from Stereogum. Check ‘em out.
Also new this week is the new album from Restiform Bodies, a much less discombobulated affair than their debut, and as yet I’m only convinced by a couple of tracks. Interesting all the same. And Melbourne’s This is Your Captain Speaking do epic post-rock in a pretty straightforward but nonetheless accomplished manner.

Phonorama - original improvisations by musicians, re-shaped and re-composed by Valerio Tricoli and Riccardo Benassi [Wire Magazine]
Vert - Things at Speed feat. Mina Agossi and Matthew Shipp & Guillermo E. Brown [Sonig]
Richmond Lamarr - shake point one seven [self-released]
Señor Coconut - Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars) [Third Ear]
The Matthew Herbert Big Band - regina [Accidental Records/!K7]
The Matthew Herbert Big Band - Turning Pages [Accidental Records]
Hauschka - Barfuss Durch Gras [Fat Cat]
Qua - Dance of the Three Fours [Love & Mercy Records]
Mountains in the Sky - Pons [Love & Mercy Records]
Lymbyc Systym - …So We Can Sleep (Daedelus Remix) [Mush]
Lymbyc Systym - Truth Skull (Bibio Remix) [Mush]
Underlapper - Meanderthal (Cleptoclectics remix) [forthcoming on Feral Media]
Shoeb Ahmad - Headlights in my Eyes (remixed by Cleptoclectics) [hellosQuare] {from a 3″ CD of remixes from his recent album on sound&fury}
Underlapper - Fallen Face Moon (Shoeb Ahmad’s nightlight remix) [forthcoming on Feral Media]
The Mabels - Shifting Sand (Hydroplane remix) [Candle Records]
Iris to Hypnos - Stele 31 [Static Caravan]
Department of Eagles - The Horse You Ride [Melodic]
Department of Eagles - Around The Bay [4ad]
Grizzly Bear - Little Brother [Warp]
Department of Eagles - Phantom Other [4ad]
Lord Jim - Teapot Waltz [Static Caravan]
Giggle the Ozone - In Memory of Sac [Laser Seizure]
Restiform Bodies - Black Friday [Anticon]
Pimmon - Silver Needle [Static Caravan]
This is Your Captain Speaking - Part 2 [self-released - forthcoming]

Sunday, 5th of October, 2008

Tonight’s show looked backwards at a couple of awesome gigs that happened this week, and featured some CDs I picked up from the artists: Pikelet’s lovely self-released stopgap EP Dictation, featuring a number of vignettes and at least one brilliant song (in demo form), “Take Off The Face Paint”, which we were treated to on grand piano at the Paddington Uniting Church on Thursday. Also at that show were the amazing Lucky Dragons, and we took a little tour of their work from the last 6 or more years… and sampled one track from Phil Elverum as The Microphones, who played as Mt Eerie at that show.
London’s Static Caravan have just released a great compilation called teaism, curated by ex-pat Aussie Inch-time, so we had some tracks from that comp and some old stuff by him.
Later, we heard a couple of post-classical (or whatever you want) tunes from Hauschka’s new album, a lovely droney piece from Jim O’Rourke’s contribution to the Touch Seven series, and to finish, some of The Caretaker’s granulated and warped nostalgia (more of which next week, hopefully…)

Pikelet - This Much Rain In Perth [self-released]
Pikelet - Size Matters [Chapter Music]
Pikelet - Take Off The Face Paint [self-released]
Ohana - One on Four [Imperative Residence]
The Microphones - Florida Beach [K Records]
Lucky Dragons - Heartbreaker [555 Recordings]
Lucky Dragons - Be Careful What You Do (Pt. 2) [States Rights Records]
Lucky Dragons - Un Lagrima en la Discoteca [States Rights Records]
Lucky Dragons - New Alium [States Rights Records]
Lucky Dragons - oh i understand [Mistletone]
Tunng - Shove It [Static Caravan]
Inch-time - as patient as a tree [self-released]
Dollboy - One Liner [Static Caravan]
Inch-time - root drinking in the dark [self-released]
Pimmon - Silver Needle [Static Caravan]
Spartak - The National Single [sound&fury]
Terminal Sound System - Constructing Towers [Extreme]
Mirrored Silver Sea - Ghost Blossom [sound&fury]
Children of the Wave - Happy bats [Sensory Projects]
Various Production - Haven [free download via their mailing list]
Heidi Elva - there’s a spell [self-released, through Vitamin]
Hauschka - Blue Bicycle [Fat Cat]
Hauschka - Kein Wort (Assembler’s Mix by Nobukazu Takemura) [Kompakt]
Hauschka - Rode Null [Fat Cat]
Aaron Martin - The Criminalisation of Politics [sound&fury]
Jim O’Rourke - Despite The Water Supply (Part 2) [Touch]
Jim O’Rourke - Memory Lame [Drag City]
Angels of Light - Fragment/Praise Your Name [Young God]
Mirrored Silver Sea - 17 Minutes Over The Ocean [sound&fury]
The Caretaker - Poor Enunciation [Install]
The Caretaker - Haunting Me [V/VM]