Utility Fog

Sunday, 29th of November, 2009

Oh so tired, just got in from SF at the wee hours of this morning - yeah I know, you don't care :)
Anyway, tonight's show and next week's cover the cornucopia of musics I found over the last 4 weeks in the USA (some hints in this Mess+Noise thread), as well as many awesome local releases that I found awaiting me upon my return. Wahoo!
As usual, LISTEN AGAIN via the link at the bottom of the playlist.

We started with a little trip from west coast to east and back again via the dubsteppy sounds of Djunya and OSC (both from the Bay Area Dubstep Vol 2 compilation), and Brooklyn's Jahdan Blakkamoore, immaculately produced inna dubstep-stylee by DJ /rupture and Matt Shadetek...
We followed with what would've been a surprising segue a year or so ago. We now know that Bibio has a far bigger range than his first two (lovely) albums would imply, and those beat-driven tendencies are only augmented by the Bay Area's own Eskmo’s remix. Bibio himself did a beat-heavy yet sensitive remix of DM Stith recently too, and his own track "steal the lamp" features deliciously crumpled amen breaks and a dubstep growl.
Sydney artist Ryzla is back with his hip-hop-tronica, after some beautiful ambient sounds a month or two ago.
Austrian postrock/glitch/improv group have a new album out, first in a while and easily up with the best of their older material - and example of which we heard :) They were followed by a short cut from an extraordinary 2CD collabortion between Austrian electro-acoustic improv giants Martin Brandlmayr (of Radian), Werner Dafeldecker & Christian Fennesz.
We then skipped across the border to Germany, where we ran into tied + tickled trio, a jazz-tronic group featuring a number of Notwist members, with a track from their 1999 album.
One of the most exciting American finds of the trip was Brian Harnetty. I'd read a review of his latest album in The Wire, but it took me most of the trip to get hold of it - perhaps because it's a collaboration with Bonnie "Prince" Billy... His first album, American Winter, takes archival recordings of Appalachian folk music, complete with stops and starts and laconic commentary from the performers, and overdubs Harnetty's own music, which is informed both my contemporary classical techniques and post-rock/jazz. Both albums are gorgeous.
A brief detour further into contemporary classical came via an album I hadn't even heard yet! Home Normal kindly sent me a couple of promos in the mail while I was away, one of which was Le Lendemain’s debut album. Being a collaboration between cellist Danny Norbury and pianist/ambient artist David Wenngren aka Library Tapes, it had to be good, so a quick flick through and I chose a song...
Back to folk, however, for a tad longer: in one of the most excellent record stores in rainy-but-beautiful Portland, OR, I came across a compilation called: A Free Cascadia Folk Anthology, first Volume Entitled "Bedroom Resolution". Artist included Tara Jane ONeil, Au, and various names I had heard of and hadn't. But it's often worth taking a punt, and this looked like just the ticket. All artist were recorded by the anthologist on his portable recorder, complete with sounds of wind, rain and the streets outside. The man responsible is none other than GMS, one half of key noise outfit Yellow Swans.
Gordon Wilson Ashworth turns out to have just been touring Australia. His raw acoustic guitar folk is a masterful opener to the album. Then from GMS’ own acoustic guitar shredding, we move on to two beautiful and harsh tracks from Yellow Swans, who I had resolved to find more of while I was in the States.
One album I failed to find over there, as it was only just released, is the extraordinary Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek collaboration. It was always going to be extraordinary. The digital version has proved easier to find for now, but I have the CD on the way... We heard one of the longest tracks on the album, with cracked radio samples and epic dronescapes.
Jon Hopkins’s latest release is in fact digital-only, so I was particularly pleased to return home to a CDR promo :) Featuring some collaborations with UFog-favourites Tunng, it was always going to be great - you'll hear another brilliant track from it next week...
And somehow we returned thence to Australia. Curse ov Dialect’s new album was the last thing I bought locally before leaving - and it only came out overseas just before we got home. It's up to their usual standards, multi-cultural hip-hop of a somewhat Anticon bent. I couldn't resist revisiting one of Curse member Pasobionic’s solo tracks from years back, this one featuring a bassline also sampled by Future Sound of London about 10 years earlier....
Melbourne artist Richmond Lamarr continues his charming instrumental hip-hop excursions, Crab Smasher’s latest excellent noise-impro-pop EP was delivered direct by Marnie from the band, and Telafonica have another new album out - all in all, a fine return to Australia!

See you next week for much more loot from overseas.

Djunya - Tip Tap Toez [Full Melt Recordings]
Jahdan Blakkamoore - What You Know About This [Dutty ArtzGoldDust Media]
OSC - Evolution [Full Melt Recordings]
Bibio - dwrcan (eskmo remix) [Warp]
DM Stith - Abraham's Song (Bibio Remix) [Asthmatic Kitty]
Bibio - steal the lamp [Warp]
Ryzla - Strait Dirt [demo]
Radian - Jet [Thrill Jockey]
Radian - Git Cut Noise [Thrill Jockey]
brandlmayr dafeldecker fennesz - me son [mosz]
tied + tickled trio - unwohlpol [Drag City]
Brian Harnetty - i'll cross the briny ocean, i'll cross the deep blue sea [Atavistic]
Brian Harnetty & Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Night Is, And Lights Are [Atavistic]
Le Lendemain - Linden [Home Normal]
Gordon Wilson Ashworth - desperate and indebted [Red 76/Bootylegs]
GMS - Hollow and Full [Red 76/Bootylegs]
Yellow Swans - Velocity of the Yolk [Load Records]
Yellow Swans - Mass Mirage [Load Records]
Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek - Blank Grey [Fang Bomb]
Jon Hopkins - Small Memory (Tunng Remix) [Domino]
Pasobionic - Empty Beat 1 [Elefant Traks]
Curse ov Dialect - Wolf Moon [Mush Records]
Curse ov Dialect - Media Moguls [Mistletone]
Richmond Lamarr - Young, Fame and Richous [self-released]
Crab Smasher - day of the dogerpillars [Lesstalk Records]
Telafonica - I Can't Make You Love Me [4-4-2 Music]

Listen again — ~ 257MB

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