Utility Fog

Sunday, 8th of January, 2017

2017 babeyyyyy. Well, today’s show is all pretty new music, but basically all still released last year – a lot of it December. Next week you can expect a surprising amount of 2017 music, courtesy of a few heavy-duty compilations already. But for now…

LISTEN AGAIN to the newest & best sounds around – stream on demand from FBi, podcast here.

In December, just as I was putting together my best of 2016 playlists, Adult Swim‘s music division released a big compilation entitled N O I S E. It features some definite big names in “noise” music, including Prurient who we hear tonight in less-abrasive form, Wolf Eyes, Noveller and others. But there are also artists from further afield, such as the industrial techno of Vessel and the astonishing throat singing (and straight singing) of Canadian-based Inuit singer Tanya Tagaq. And opening the compilation is the amazing clipping., who could well be the people most responsible for bringing the sounds of noise, industrial, power electronics to new ears, through their catchy (yet uncompromising) hip-hop. Here they team up with Boston noisemeister Sickness for a track about violence and guns…

It’s great having Jasmine Guffond around Sydney again at the moment. She will be playing at the NOW now festival in a few weeks along with a whole slew of interesting experimental artists (check the link for the program). A split CDR just released from Beartown Records gives us four live tracks of beautiful layered & processed sounds, along with along with a 22-minute drone track from UK duo Plurals.

Next up is another release, from the very reliable Indonesian cassette label Tandem Tapes. Run by an Aussie based in Jakarta, it often releases split cassettes with Australian and Indonesian artists, although it’s also teamed up artists from Europe and elsewhere. The latest release, featured tonight, has Melbourne duo FAD on one side, with percussion and electronics, and Jakarta-based experimental artist Mahesa Almeida with some fantastic crunchy electronics and also some scattered percussion.

Back in November last year I played a couple of tracks from a brilliant new discovery, Icelandic singer & producer Sigrún. She’s worked with Sigur Rós, and remixed a couple of tracks as well, and we can maybe hear that in the crunching heavy bass that’s appeared in their more recent work. Of course comparisons to Björk are easily found, not just in the vocals but also in her attraction to experimental electronic production. I particularly love the outbursts of amen breaks in “Haltu Fast”, settling into a full-on jungle/breakcore segment before being overwhelmed by thick synths and multi-layered vocals.

Also bringing in a jungle influence with chopped up amen breaks, but situating it more in a muted/mutant techno space is Portuguese artist MUTUAL. I really enjoyed his first EP on Hush Hush in 2015, but it looks like it never made it on to my playlists, so we heard a track in the middle tonight – but the new EP is really exciting with its melding of jungle, techno and later on some lovely orchestral samples.

On his new EP Chambers as WSR for Samuel Kerridge’s Contort label, Manchester producer Emanuele Porcinai brings the sounds of cello, double bass and custom-made string instruments into very dark & murky territory. Along with low-pitched, moaning string drones and scratches, there are plenty of clattering industrial beats. It’s like ’80s industrial and contemporary industrial techno mixed with the double bass drones of Mohammad… In the middle there’s track from his previous Contort EP Stainless.

I was very sad when Anthony Harrison abandoned his Konntinent project, which produced a large amount of amazing drone and detailed minimal folktronica. But he’s still making music, now with his electronic pop duo Paco Sala, who have just signed to Denovali and released a spooky new single. Expect more this coming year.

aYia are a slightly mysterious electronic/ambient pop act from Iceland, who have released a single track in digital format from the formidable Bedroom Community. It’s a beautiful piece which justifies its presence on a label known for combining classical composition and cutting-edge electronics. Hopefully there will be more than this one track available from them soon!

And finally, Sydney duo Disruptive Dumpling feature guitar/bass and synth/flute, with a jazzy, head-nodding piece of instrumental hip-hop and some kind of guru expounding upon some important matters of mind and philosophy. Nice.

clipping. feat. Sickness – Body for the Pile [Adult Swim]
Prurient – Everything You Know Is Wrong [Adult Swim]
Tanya Tagaq – Erie Changys [Adult Swim]
Jasmine Guffond – GPS Dreaming (live in Istanbul, 2015) [Beartown Records/Plurals Bandcamp
Jasmine Guffond – RR Variation (live in Berlin, 2015) [Beartown Records/Plurals Bandcamp]
FAD – DDDDD [Tandem Tapes]
Mahesa Almeida – 727.16 [Tandem Tapes]
Mahesa Almeida – krom [Tandem Tapes]
Sigrún – Teygir [Sigrún Bandcamp]
Sigrún – yyUyy [Sigrún Bandcamp]
Sigrún – Haltu Fast [Sigrún Bandcamp]
MUTUAL – Arché [Hush Hush]
MUTUAL – Surface Effects [Hush Hush]
MUTUAL – Contingency pt. II [Hush Hush]
WSR – Carved Out [Contort Records]
WSR – No Horizon [Contort Records]
WSR – Exclave (Unlearned) [Contort Records]
Paco Sala – Ko Yo [Denovali]
aYia – Water Plant [Bedroom Community]
Disruptive Dumpling – So on [Disruptive Dumpling Bandcamp]

Listen again — ~187MB

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