Utility Fog

Sunday, 10th of May, 2009

Who knows where the time goes? Not me... but here we are.
And with that... MUSIC! We started with some great drone/minimalism from young Sydney artist Euguene Ward, with his first release under the Maitreya Kali name. Should be a sign of much goodness to come.
Some really compelling sounds from Battlesnake followed - Melbourne improv trio. Hopefully this gets a real release soon, but meanwhile it's promo-only.
Finally, Melbourne's HTRK have their Marry Me Tonight album out. Crunchy drone-rock of the highest calibre, produced by Rowland S. Howard!
aXXo are two well-known Leeds musicians who I'm pretty sure I'm not meant to tell you the identities of. Their take on dubstep is absolutely awesome - dark and dubby. Compulsory listening. In between their two tracks, we had Dutch drum'n'bass duo Black Sun Empire gone dubstep, something grimey that turned up as Various Production's latest download (head to their site and sign up for the email list!), and more awesome drone-step (hm, sorry, genreriffic) from Fieldhead.
We have Soundmurderer actually "Toned Down" on his new EP - nice melodic IDM, albeit with fun drill'n'bass beats - and more (excellent) classic IDM sounds from Wisp, now finding a very suitable home at Rephlex.
I played two new Cathode tracks from his beautiful Sparkle Plenty - one more electronica-oriented, and one featuring awesome processed piano and other instruments. Also had one older track, a lovely piece of shoegazey electronica with guitars.
And dntel's early works got another look-in.
We also had three tracks from Finnish artist Hannu, whose music also sparkles plenty. The new (CD) album follows a download-only EP, and it's in some ways typical Finnish stuff - myserious reverb, really weird sonic juxtapositions, Japanese influence, irridescent beauty. Highly recommended.
The "new" Menomena track tonight is from a 7" on Polyvinyl (complete with free download of the two tracks) - but the tunes are actually from the sessions for their first album (from 2003). Awesome all the same. Also on 7" is the gorgeous b-side from the wonderful St. Vincent's new single, and we also took a track from the new album.
Discovered today in Paint It Black (one of King St/Enmore Rd Newtown's many unique and adventurous record stores) is Minus the Bear's 2007 remix album Interpretaciones del oso, and how awesome is it... I'll be playing more next week. As well as tonight's tracks, there's remixes by Alias, Fog, and any number of artists I don't know but whose tracks are great. I love remix albums, and so should you.
More live 65daysofstatic - the album comes with a DVD to prove what a stunning live band they are, hoo boy!
Meanwhile, two excellent compilations for this week. Tiny Mix Tapes have put out a compilation called Darfur, and you can (SHOULD) get it here - 100% of the profits go to the International Rescue Committee's Sudanese campaign, and anyway it's an awesome comp. Why? can do no wrong, as proven here, and Burning Star Core, well what can I say? Beautiful track from a visionary artist.
Meanwhile, a couple of months back 2ser's Sideways Through Sound put out a double CD comp, and tonight's two tracks are just a small sampling of the amazing sounds on offer - an exclusive Heidi Elva track and an epic and possibly exclusive tune from Melbourne's The Boy Who Spoke Clouds, with chugging strings and occasional wailing vocals.
Finally, Aussie label Hidden Shoal offer up another great release from a relatively unknown (to me) artist, this time Italian post-rock band HC-B, whose widescreen sounds a replete with fantastic string arrangements and more, raising them easily above the standard guitarriffic post-rock fare.

Maitreya Kali - Kallucinations [CURT]
Battlesnake - 1.1 [advance promo]
HTRK - Fascinator [BLAST First (petite)]
HTRK - Hate Rock Trio [Fire]
aXXo - Pritti Myce [Killtone]
Black Sun Empire - Cold Crysis [Shadows of the Empire]
Friendship - Punish You [Various email list download]
Fieldhead - I'm Fond of Maps [direct from artist]
aXXo - Thugg Step Empress [Killtone]
Soundmurderer - 8th stage [WéMè Records]
Wisp - Summoner's Hollow [Rephlex]
Cathode - Piper Alpha [Expanding]
Cathode - known undersirables [555 Records of Leeds]
dntel - ender [Phtalo/Plug Research]
Cathode - Without Memory or Desire [Expanding]
Hannu - Lauttasaari [Kesh]
Hannu - worms in my piano [Osaka]
Hannu - hyyris [Kesh]
Menomena - Tung Track [Polyvinyl]
St. Vincent - Bicycle [4AD]
Minus the Bear - the pig war (O, Hunter mix) [Suicide Squeeze]
St. Vincent - The Strangers [4AD]
Minus the Bear - Fulfill the Dream (Old Italy remix by Tyondai Braxton) [Suicide Squeeze]
65daysofstatic - 65 doesn't understand you [Monotreme]
Why? - Eskimo Snow (Sock Hop version) [Tiny Mix Tapes]
Heidi Elva - Monday [Sideways Through Sound]
Burning Star Core - Incurable Beauty of the Master's Demise [Tiny Mix Tapes]
The Boy Who Spoke Clouds - Armour [Sideways Through Sound]
HC-B - Black [Hidden Shoal]

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