Utility Fog

Sunday, 21st of April, 2013

Good evening! Tonight, a special on Danish producer Thomas Knak aka Opiate, an interview with London-based Aussie composer Leah Kardos, some new drum'n'bass, soundtrack work from Clint Mansell and more!

LISTEN again via the download link at the bottom, the podcast, or the glorious stereo of FBi's streaming on demand.

I've been a fan of Danish artist Thomas Knak aka Opiate since the late '90s, when he was making idm and early folktronica, plus making minimal dub and indietronica as part of System aka Future 3. Occasional (uniformly awesome) remixes have slipped out, but there's been precious little from Opiate of late, so it's fantastic to discover that fellow Dane, jazz composer Jakob Bro released an album late last year which not only featured luminaries such as Bill Frisell and Paul Bley, but also an entire second disc remixed by Thomas Knak. What a score! The BRO disc is a delight - melodic composed jazz (not to say the performers don't improvise of course). Knak's take is typical of his output - digital cut-ups, glitches, beats ranging from clicky hip-hop to drill'n'bass. It's a bit of a throwback, both to the '90s idm days and the early-to-mid-'00s folktronica, which is all good and proper. Highly recommended.
We also had a few highlights from the Opiate back catalogue, which has included some very fine remixes along the way. He's also responsible for two of the tracks on Björk's much-loved Vespertine album.

Following the drum'n'bass influence of Opiate, we head to a true d'n'b innovator of recent times, ASC - although he's known for releasing techno or house singles now and then too. A lot of his stuff lives in this autonomic subgenre that's sprung up in the last few years, alongside, although not necessarily influenced by, dubstep. Slower tempos, minimalist but still jittery beats... What we heard here was closer to the d'n'b end of the spectrum, even with some amen breaks, including a track from one of two EPs that came out this week (the other isn't drum'n'bass).

And end.user's always been at the heavy end of the drum'n'bass spectrum, better known for breakcore but venturing onto the heavy, dark end of the d'n'b dancefloor too. This new track was released free on his Bandcamp this week, and drops some dubstep bass wobble for good measure.

Next we head back to the lovely Leah Kardos, a London resident originally from Brisbane who's been featuring on the show recently because of her new album which extends her debut's classically-trained piano and electronics with Rhodes and the opera-trained vocals of Laura Wolk-Lewanowicz. I caught up with her while she was in Sydney earlier in the day, and we heard the resulting conversation tonight.

Piano features heavily in the film scores of Clint Mansell, an artist who I've been a fan of for more than 2 decades, since his days making intergalactic punk-rock hip-hop with Pop Will Eat Itself. In the last decade and a half he's made a major career for himself writing movie scores, combining his background in guitar riffs, beats and samples with a real talent for melody and for scoring piano and strings. His latest score is for Stoker, which I was disappointed to discover is not about Dracula author Bram Stoker. In any case, there's subtle electronics, and lots of romantic piano and strings. His Moon soundtrack is one of my favourites, with a returning piano-led postrock refrain that I could listen to all evening.

Sydney trio Making started off making (er, sorry) muscular math rock that was like a hard-edged early My Disco. Their new single is a slightly less hard and more funky affair, and like their last it comes with a pair of excellent remixes - an epic 12-minute rework from Mannheim Rocket and a more sensible length Scissor Lock one which we heard tonight. Check it - free download!

Thomas Knak - Roots Rebuild (remix of Jakob Bro) [Loveland]
Opiate - tennis at wimbledon [April Records]
Piano Magic - The Canadian Brought Us Snow (Opiate remix) [Morr Music]
Opiate - amstel [Morr Music]
Jakob Bro - Northern Blues Variation No. II [Loveland]
Thomas Knak - Northern Blues Variation No. II Rebuild No. I (remix of Jakob Bro) [Loveland]
Jakob Bro - Epilog [Loveland]
Thomas Knak - Epilog Rebuild (remix of Jakob Bro) [Loveland]
ASC - Droids [Samurai Music]
ASC - Glass Walls [Samurai Music]
ASC - Sonic Assault [Halocyan Records]
end.user - necessary bruises [end.user bandcamp]
Leah Kardos - Highly Active Girls [Bigo & Twigetti]
...interview with Leah Kardos...
Leah Kardos tracks in the background: "Core", "Closed Circuit", "Katerina"...
Leah Kardos - Sexy Monday [Bigo & Twigetti]
...further interview...
Leah Kardos - Apology [Bigo & Twigetti]
...final interview segment...
Leah Kardos - Incantation [Bigo & Twigetti]
Clint Mansell - Merry Christmas (It's The End Of The World) [Headphone Commute]
Clint Mansell - Happy Birthday (A Death in the Family) [Milan Records]
Pop Will Eat Itself - The Fuses Have Been Lit [RCA]
Clint Mansell - We're Going Home [Black Records]
Clint Mansell - Blossoming [Milan Records]
Making - Stay Stil (Scissor Lock remix) [MAKING Bandcamp]

Listen again — ~ 107MB

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