Utility Fog

Sunday, 7th of February, 2010

WORST
CASE
SCENARIO
(first draft)
What a great song to start off tonight’s show! Violin, post-Tom Waits dirty roots giving way to artsy indie rock. deUS’ first album has been “gently remastered” and this came from the Deluxe version with bonus CD and DVD. I haven’t even watched the latter yet, but it’s a stone-cold Belgian classic.

Meanwhile, LISTEN AGAIN if you wish – link at bottom!

We had a remarkable amount of violin-led postrock, folk and indie tonight. We started with Queenslanders Bremen Town Musician, violin in the foreground, and an angular rock backing. Next up, Slow Six, from their third album. I haven’t yet heard the others, one of which is all classical arrangements and sounds fascinating, but here the violin is mixed up in the traditional postrock dynamics, making for a very distinctive sound.
On the same label, Balmorhea have a new album coming, and if this preview is anything to go by it’ll eclipse their last effort and then some. Stunning banjo, strings and percussion… We also had a reprise (from a few weeks back) of Peter Broderick’s charming remix of the band, in which he narrates his thoughts while building up one of his gorgeous layered numbers with strings and vocals.

Newcomer Charlie Alex March follows, coincidentally turning up with a brace of string arrangements in his pocket. It’s a confusing album, mixing almost-cheesy electronics with tightly arranged emotion-imbued strings, but at its best it’s highly successful.
I feel I could keep playing tracks from Owen Pallett’s week in and week out, and I probably will. He’s a goshdarned genius and I hope he graces our shores again this year.

Speaking of goshdarned genius, how about Cerberus Shoal, eh? If you don’t know them, or much of their stuff, then I too was so afflicted until late last year. I’m catching up and gave little overview tonight. They mutated into the exquisite acoustic Americana practitioners Fire on Fire and released an album as such on Michael Gira’s Young God last year, but I hear that they’re still around as Cerberus Shoal too. In any case, a few tracks from a few different releases, and also a track from Herman Düne from the split CD between the two bands. Oh boy, I have to find more by Herman Düne! European indie-folk or something…

We edge our way back into the electronic realm via Savvas Ysatis & 12k supremo Taylor Deupree, bringing some beautiful shoegazey folk. Then we’re into the more electric shoegaze of Konntinent, whose tracks tonight garnered quite a bit of interest from listeners. He’s a bit of a hidden gem, and I hope he can get some recognition, as his two albums so far are very fine efforts. We had one track from his debut album (released by Japanese label Symbolic Interaction) and then another from the new one on sterling English label Home Normal, showcasing his glitchy beats and textures.

And then we had a pretty serious feature on new releases by Machinefabriek. Seriously, you should go and download De Jonge Jaren (2001-2004), featuring (unsurprisingly) music recorded between 2001 & 2004, and handed out to friends and acquaintances in tiny CDR editions. It’s great stuff, unlike the drone and sound-art he’s best known for in that it features beats and more “normally” structured tracks, but still with plenty of processing and a fantastic ear for sonic texture.
Meanwhile, he’s got three new 3″ CDs out, and we heard something from each – two of them constructed from processed field recordings, and one made from guitar sounds. Finally, his collaboration with Leo Fabriek, Mariska Baars (who doesn’t appear on this track) & Wouter van Veldhoven is another beautiful low-key coup for Home Normal, wrapping you up in its tinkling beauty.

Most of the rest of the show was dedicated to the music of Melbournian Philip Brophy, who’s been around for yonks, pioneering the use of synthesisers along with peeps like David Chesworth. He’s equally comfortable making melodic electronica of all sorts and more conceptual sound art. His I Am Piano from last year explores the timbres of the piano via granulated processing of a number of jazz piano greats, while other tracks were made to accompany an Andy Warhol film, another short film, and a couple of events at the Melbourne Planetarium. While Brophy’s liner notes can seem somewhat (self-?)mocking in their art-punk way, and the Sound Punch releases’ packaging is presumably deliberately kitschy to the point of being blindingly ugly, he has an incredible body of work that should be heard by more people.

Finally, my FBi colleague Andrew Maxam of Friday night’s Liquid Electric passed on his debut EP under the new Loopsnake moniker, and it’s high-quality dubstep-infused stuff. Nice clattering beats and bass on the last track track, also the last track for tonight!

deUS – w.c.s. (first draft) [Island]
Bremen Town Musician – Governor Wren [self-released]
Slow Six – These Rivers Between Us [Western Vinyl]
Balmorhea – Bowsprit [Western Vinyl] {wonderful promo for new album – find it here (for instance)}
Balmorhea – November 1, 1832 (Peter Broderick remix) [Western Vinyl/Longtime Listener]
Charlie Alex March – Melodie [L-O-A-F]
Owen Pallett – Midnight Directives [Domino]
Charlie Alex March – Mao [L-O-A-F]
Cerberus Shoal – Train Car Nursery [North East Indie]
Herman Düne – That Woman is a Murderess [North East Indie]
Cerberus Shoal – Sweetie [North East Indie]
Cerberus Shoal – The Land We All Believe In [North East Indie]
Savvas Ysatis & Taylor Deupree – live ice on a summer’s day [12k]
Konntinent – Numeral [Home Normal]
konntinent – This Searing Heat [Symbolic Interaction]
Konntinent – Surrender Number [Home Normal]
Machinefabriek – Kalite [Machinefabriek] {free download album of old stuff, De Jonge Jaren (2001-2004). Go grab it — it’s awesome!}
Machinefabriek – Slovensko 2 [Machinefabriek]
Machinefabriek – Ax [Machinefabriek]
Machinefabriek – The Breathing Water [Machinefabriek]
L / M / R / W – Tegendraads [Home Normal]
Machinefabriek – The Shopping mall [Machinefabriek] {also from De Jonge Jaren (2001-2004).}
Philip Brophy – I Am Andrew Hill [Sound Punch]
Philip Brophy – Blooming Pout [Sound Punch]
Philip Brophy – Whispering in the Dark [Sound Punch]
Philip Brophy – Deep Space / Super Nova / Blue Dwarf / Black Hole [Sound Punch]
Loopsnake – Diamond Sign VIP [self-released]

Listen again — ~ 176MB

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