Utility Fog

Sunday, 28th of February, 2016

Big thanks to Heli Newton for first-class work sitting in for me last week on the show!
TONIGHT we have awesome Sydney music from quirky indie experimentalism to deep electronica, and we have some heavy expansive electronics from overseas.

LISTEN AGAIN via streaming on demand at FBi or podcast right here.

It seems like the font of new & old music from Aussie underground indie/experimental musician Benjow (as haddock's eyes) isn't going to end anytime soon. This week we can play you tracks from two more phenomenal collections of odd & lovely music. cut sick (1994-2001) is evidently archival material, including the very affecting and beloved "fell in love"; listen with all your ears listen showcases more experimental, less song-oriented material, with noisy loops, mysterious sampled vocals and longform lo-fi psychedelic pieces. Stream, purchase, download!

Hence Therefore's dubby techno featured on the show a month or so ago, but the fantastic cassette just came out, so I'm giving it another spin. Motorik electronic music that could have been made 25 years ago but sounds totally contemporary. Boomkat would go apeshit for this surely.

I was bowled over by the debut album from Sydney's Eli Murray aka Gentleforce in 2010. I was pleased to interview him for Cyclic Defrost that year, for an issue where he was also the cover artist. He's an accomplished visual artist & designer and an equally accomplished sonic artist. He cut his teeth putting on shows in the north of Sydney, bringing dubstep & bass music to suburbs that aren't always so well catered for, but when it came to releasing his own music, it had a much more ambient and techno bent. Impeccably produced sounds in touch with both internal spaces and the environment. The new album is out soon and you can pre-order it now from his Bandcamp.

Roly Porter continues his obsession with physics, space travel and science fiction on Third Law, now on Tri-Angle Records. As one half of Vex'd, he brought a heavy, industrial, experimental edge to dubstep before dubstep had hit anything like the mainstream. Despite this, Vex'd was certainly dancefloor music, and while the heaviness continues through Porter's solo music, there are rarely rhythms repetitive enough to be called beats. The production is widescreen, detailed and frequently incredibly bass heavy, but also draws from contemporary classical influences like other artists on his previous label Subtext (including fellow dubstep defector Paul Jebanasam, from whom we'll be hearing next week). I wanted to play evert track from the new album tonight, so just three shows some restraint. Then I also wanted to play everything from the previous two... but given how long most of it is, we ended up with a few older selections, only a couple from Vex'd, and I'll let you explore or revisit the rest yourself!

Venetian Snares' latest album isn't exactly Traditional Synthesizer Music - in fact, it's pretty much traditional VSnares music, in odd time signatures (tonight's tune is in 11/8, so I guess he's moved on from 7/8), with drum'n'bass/breakcore-derived rhythms and simple melodies. But it's all created in one-off fashion on modular synths, recorded in one take. That's pretty cool.

John Frusciante is best known as the former guitarist from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but has made very idiosyncratic music as a solo artist for ages. A lot of it is now up on his Bandcamp, and thus we get to hear a bunch of insane drill'n'bass tracks made with the Renoise software between 2009 & 2011. Post-Squarepusher beats collide with Frusciante's funk-rock pop songs and occasional cheesy guitar solos. It's pretty bizarre but also pretty cool I think? Apparently there's a footwork/jungle-inspired EP coming soon, so watch this space!

And finally, in keeping with these sounds we have a fun bit of drill'n'bass from French breakcore/electronic producer Ruby My Dear.

haddock's eyes - fell in love [haddock's eyes Bandcamp]
haddock's eyes - zeke [haddock's eyes Bandcamp]
haddock's eyes - maumikelly [haddock's eyes Bandcamp]
haddock's eyes - and even if you're wearing gloves [haddock's eyes Bandcamp]
Hence Therefore - North Pacific Gyre [3BS Records]
Gentleforce - Singing over Shibuya [Gentleforce Bandcamp]
Gentleforce - Lift Up Your Weary Head [Feral Media]
Gentleforce - Our Last Day Together [Feral Media]
Bushranger - The Billabong Speaks [Built Environment]
Bushranger - Dry Creek Bed [Built Environment]
Gentleforce - Naoshima (God is in the water) [Gentleforce Bandcamp]
Roly Porter - Mass [Tri-Angle Records]
Roly Porter - In Flight [Tri-Angle Records]
Vex'd - Slime [Planet µ]
Vex'd - Nails [Planet µ]
Roly Porter - Tleilax [Subtext]
Roly Porter - Gravity [Subtext]
Roly Porter - Known Space [Tri-Angle Records]
Venetian Snares - Everything About You Is Special [Planet µ]
John Frusciante - Genex 44 [John Frusciante Bandcamp]
Ruby My Dear - Peanuts on Train [Kaometry]

Listen again — ~198MB

Comments are closed.