Utility Fog

Sunday, 20th of November, 2016

Evening all. Eclectic selection for you tonight...

LISTEN AGAIN because art is our solace. Stream on demand from FBi, or podcast here.

Starting with the new mixtape from BV (the boys formerly known as Black Vanilla), Sydney trio of producer (and talented photographer/artist) Jarred Beeler and vocalists Marcus Whale and Lavurn Lee (both brilliant producers in their own right). It's r'n'b with production influences from uk garage, trap, and other bass heavy genres. Brilliant as ever.

Also from Sydney, Elsen Price makes extraordinary soundscapes and quirky compositions on double bass. His jazz background comes through frequently, but the track I chose only nods at jazz through some of the melodic phrasing heard in and around the beautiful shimmery layers of bowed double bass. Elsen is playing in Katoomba at Hotel Blue this Saturday if you're in the area.

Moving one level up the string instrument ladder, we join Hatian-American cellist (and singer and banjo player) Leyla McCalla for a couple of gorgeous mostly-acoustic pieces. Her music is derived from the folk & roots music of the American South and from Haiti, with the unusual touch of her cello along with violin and more typical instruments in the arrangements. She has a beautiful straightforward vocal delivery and sings settings of the black American poet Langston Hughes on her first album, and her own songs along with Haitian folk songs in the Haitian French dialect on her new one.

From Belgium, Oathbreaker are sometimes referred to as hardcore punk, which is probably where they began, and we did hear some screamed vocals in the third track I played from their new album tonight. But they're a band with great breadth as well as depth, and prior to this I played two tracks from a triptych on the new album: "I'm Sorry, This Is", "Where I Live" and "Where I Leave". The first is mostly instrumental, a spacey dirge which, by track 3, gradually ascends into heavy riffing and straight vocals from Caro Tanghe. They're a really exciting new musical discovery for me this year.

the body are not such a new discovery, but are very much working at the forefront of what metal, noise and industrial music can do. After releasing one of the most stunning albums of the year, they're back with a new single for the 2016 Adult Swim Singles Program, and while it doesn't have the beautiful vocal contributions of Maralie Armstrong, Chrissy Wolpert et al, it's simultaneously beautiful & brutal, one of their more electronic tracks.

Somehow moving in the other direction - from electronic towards rock & noise music - are Snow Ghosts, the first Houndstooth artist we're hearing tonight, albeit not from the #savefabric compilation, about which more later. Snow Ghosts have just collected their two recent EPs into one mini-album which comes blessed with this incredible 12 minute Prurient remix of "Lied", with expansive techno elements and pretty disturbing elements in there too.

Dominick Fernow as Prurient also crops up on the new 12" from Nathan Fake, due soon from Ninja Tune. Here we have Fernow's trademark low-pitched muttered vocals sitting sinisterly in the background as his is wont, but accompanied here not by his own intense techno or extreme noise, but Nathan Fake's melodic, albeit dark work.

And finally, Fernow also shows up on the compilation that the Houndstooth label has put together to help #savefabric. Fabric, of course, is one of the most important nightclubs in London and had its licence revoked recently, to a chorus of uproar from the electronic music community. Houndstooth is a label run in-house from Fabric, and is home to an immense amount of pretty ground-breaking music, so it's appropriate that Rob Booth and Houndstooth have compiled a massive 111 track compilation as part of the efforts to save the club - or at least as a way to raise awareness and some funds for the legal & promotional battle. There are signs that they may have come to an agreement with the Islington council, but in the meantime we're fortunate to have a huge number of otherwise-unreleased tracks from some excellent artists.
So, Dominick Fernow is here in his Vatican Shadow alias, collaborating with Telefon Tel Aviv (the connection may be via their connections with Nine Inch Nails). We've got Akkord doing some premium jungle-meets-techno hybrid magic, Lakker with chopped vocals and tech pressure, and London-based Portuguese producer IVVVO working with vocalist/producer Aïsha Devi.

Silkie's last album took him at times far from the 140bpm range with purple synth-funk, so it's nice to have him back on Deep Medi making his take on core dubstep: extremely jazzy, heavy beats, perfect basslines and on this track, horns a'plenty. It's infectious and, yes, deep. Welcome home, Silkie!

And finally, Sydney producer Scatterbrain is once again joined by Kiri Cantle on vocals for the new EP on his Milke Thistle Records. It's r'n'b but informed by his love of footwork, jungle and early hip-hop.

BV - Huh [BV Bandcamp]
BV - Up In The Flesh [BV Bandcamp]
Elsen Price - collapsing atmosphere [Elsen Price Bandcamp]
Leyla McCalla - A Day for the Hunter, A Day for the Prey [Jazz Village]
Leyla McCalla - Heart Of Gold [Music Maker Relief/Leyla McCalla Bandcamp]
Oathbreaker - I'm Sorry, This Is [Deathwish]
Oathbreaker - Where I Leave [Deathwish]
Oathbreaker - Second Son of R. [Deathwish]
the body - The Know and To Hide [Adult Swim Singles 2016]
Snow Ghosts - Lied (Prurient Remix) [Houndstooth]
Nathan Fake - DEGREELESSNESS feat. Prurient [Ninja Tune]
Vatican Shadow & Telefon Tel Aviv - Rejoice [Houndstooth]
Akkord - Scalar Wave [Houndstooth]
Lakker - Tuc Tuc [Houndstooth]
IVVVO & Aïsha Devi - Eros Plexus [Houndstooth]
Silkie - It Wasn't You [Deep Medi]
Scatterbrain - Quatre Bras (feat. Kiri Cantle) [Milke Thistle Records]

Listen again — ~182MB

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