Sad news that Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse took his own life this week. Played a track to see him off, in collaboration with Christian Fennesz. Fennesz’s laptop power trio FennO’Berg are back with a new album, on which the jury’s still out – but I haven’t had a chance to listen properly yet. This track stood out enough to get the thumbs up tonight!

Montreal’s The Besnard Lakes’ new album sounds remarkably like The Besnard Lakes — and that’s a great thing! If you’re familiar with their last two albums you’ll know what to expect – and it’s as rapturous and epic as ever.
Fellow Canadians The Arcade Fire slipped in next – for some reason this song was on my mind for a few days this week, and it is a very fine one I must say.
And we had a little reminder of The Besnard Lakes’ first album.

First off in our little “classical” music-influenced theme tonight is The Knife’s opera based on the life and works of Charles Darwin, written “in collaboration” with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock. It’s pretty crazy cool stuff, with scene-setting experimental sounds, enormous analog synth lines, operatic (and non-operatic) vocals and some percussion… A definite winner.
Speaking of classical influence, also another track from that amazing These New Puritans album, with wind ensemble in amongst the percussion and almost new wave attitude…

More classicism with Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason, whose “Bow To String” is the first work on his new album for Bedroom Community. Countless multi-tracked celli make for a rich and richly-rhythmic sound, with a little help from label boss Valgeir Sigurðsson. From Valgeir we also heard a wonderful track from his new album, featuring many other Bedroom Community artists as guests, plus an older glitchy electronic piece which ushered in a bit of an electronic segment. However, in between we had a reprise of the one track as yet available from Sam Amidon’s new album — blissful rhythmic ostinati and an authentic folk voice.

The electronica begins with Sydney’s Vorad Fils, who happens to be one of the members of the beloved Seekae, and has an album coming out via Feral Media soon! Classic electronica.
It’s the first in a number of tracks tonight from New Weird Australia Volume Five, which you are hereby instructed to go and download now. Get the others too if you haven’t yet!
There. Good.

Next, Scottish glitch-hop artist Loops Haunt. Nicely twisted, syncopated and chopped stuff. And while it’s definitely more on the dancefloor tip, it’s still very much listening music too, and strangely appropriate as a segue into a new Autechre track, from their stellar Oversteps. Raved about it last week, and I think we’ll be back for more for a good few weeks yet (at least until the album comes out on CD!) This track starts off a bit oddly but swiftly becomes something fascinating, and the last minute or two as it tails off are pretty amazing.
And then a rarity – an artist about whom I know pretty much nothing! Racoon is on the Italian label Disasters by Choice and makes very Mém-influenced electronic/folktronic sounds. It’s very pretty and I’d love to know more…

We had a brief tag-team tonight between two excellent remix albums, from Aarktica and dakota suite. The former takes the drone-pop of Jon DeRosa’s Aarktica and either takes it more in the droney-guitar direction or adds some nice crunched beats etc… But UFog-favourites The Declining Winter add some extra vocals and Sarah Kemp’s multi-tracked violin for something very special.
The dakota suite remix album actually came out last year but has just been re-released by German label Karaoke Kalk for greater coverage, and it’s brilliant. Tonight, Peter Broderick is at his usual heights with a very soft and reflective piece worthy of multiple re-listens, and Deaf Center contribute something layered and evocative. More of these to come…

Aaron Martin’s latest album isn’t on Sydney’s Preservation, but Experimedia are well-known for their beautiful packaging too. Aaron here seems to be taking things in an even more abstract sound-related direction, but the second track I played is one of his best cello-related works yet, a multi-tracked delight.

Further New Weird Australia offerings include the wonderful Sydney-based sound artist Gail Priest, whose vocal processing is a wonder, the ever-fab Crab Smasher with a bit of almost Sonic Youth-like rock jamming, and Red Plum & Snow — new project for Kris Keogh of Blastcorp, taking vocal-swapping acoustic guitar folk-pop in very interesting directions :)

Also in there, the improv guitar, sax, drums and other stuff from Sydney’s Espadrille, and a b-side from Collarbones, more glitched-up electronic pop.

sparklehorse + fennesz – Goodnight Sweetheart [Konkurrent]
Fenn O’Berg – Part IV [Editions Mego]
The Besnard Lakes – Like the Ocean Like the Innocent Pt I: The Ocean / Pt II: The Innocent [Jagjaguwar]
Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) [Rough Trade]
The Besnard Lakes – This Thing [Jagjaguwar]
The Knife in collaboration with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock – Epochs [Rabid/etcetc]
These New Puritans – Hologram [Angular/Domino]
The Knife in collaboration with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock – Tumult/Colouring of Pigeons [Rabid/etcetc]
Daníel Bjarnason – Bow To String Mvt I: “sorrow conquers happiness” [Bedroom Community]
Valgeir Sigurðsson – Grýlukvæði (feat. Sam Amidon, Nico Muhly & Ben Frost [Bedroom Community]
Sam Amidon – How Come That Blood [Bedroom Community] {free download via Pitchfork!}
Valgeir Sigurðsson – Focal Point [Bedroom Community]
Vorad Fils – Temple Leak [New Weird Australia] {download the latest free comp now!}
Loops Haunt – Huarache [Fortified Audio]
Loops Haunt – Joplin [Black Acre]
Autechre – d-sho qub [Warp]
Racoon – the anonymous brother of Lili Chou Chou [Disasters by Choice] {one wonders if the titular person is Racoon, since I can find practically no information about them on the interwebs!}
Aarktica – In Sea (remixed by Mason Jones) [Silber]
dakota suite – very early one morning on old road (deaf center remix) [karaoke kalk]
Aarktica – Am I Demon? (remix by The Declining Winter) [Silber]
dakota suite – this failing sea (peter broderick remix) [karaoke kalk]
Aaron Martin – Ice Melts Onto Fingers [Experimedia]
Gail Priest – Etchings [New Weird Australia] {download the latest free comp now!}
Aaron Martin – Water Tongue [Experimedia]
Espadrille – out of space part 3 [self-released]
Crab Smasher – Skin Destruction [New Weird Australia] {download the latest free comp now!}
Red Plum & Snow – I Would Die 4 U [New Weird Australia] {download the latest free comp now!}
Collarbones – late nights [Collarbones Bandcamp] {download free – follow the link!}

Listen again — ~ 180MB

We started with one of Son Lux’s own reworkings of “Weapons”, and then the opening track from the Joanna Newsom. The latter was so strikingly reminiscent of the lovely Kate Bush that I had to play a couple of her tunes, and a track from Pikelet’s new album segued so nicely from the latter that, well, it just had to be done. Back to Joanna for one of the absolute highlights, the gorgeous “In California”, with wonderful orchestration and a curious way of changing key and then slipping back down a tone for the refrain.

I couldn’t resist playing Clouds’ dubstep anthem from a few years ago, sampling from “The Book of Right On”, and that took us into one of Son Lux’s reworkings of My Brightest Diamond from her fabulous four-artist remix EP collection released a month or so ago. And then brilliant young composer/arranger Nico Muhly got his hands on the Son Lux tune, with a great arrangement and chunky beats.

Speaking of chunky beats, I’m still obsessing a little over These New Puritans’s new album. Sad to have missed out on the limited edition featuring the full score, gimmick though that was. Another great track tonight.

Following that, we had the first track from the new Autechre, which will no doubt be featured over the next good few shows. “known(1)” is one of the beatless (albeit not rhythm-less) tracks, with an incredible freaked-out melody. It was followed by the utterly classic “Flutter” from the Anti EP, its non-repetitive beats still thrilling, and the gorgeously long fade-out still something else. Couple of other long-fade-out tracks from Ae later on, but we took the tip from the frenetic beats to pull out some early drum’n'bass (1993) from Acro, which turns out to be a collaboration between Decoder & Technical Itch, and is the sort of stuff that must’ve been influencing the IDM/drill’n'bass folks around the mid-’90s.

Back with Son Lux, and anticon labelmate Alias gets behind the mic for the first time in ages, as well as remixing the track. Following this, a brilliant track from ex-labelmate Sole with his current collaborater The Skyrider Band, aka William Ryan Fritch (see later in the playlist…)
The latter and the next track are currently available as part of a promotional compilation put together for South By Southwest by Ernest Gonzales’ Exponential Records. The remix of Heliocentrics’s Sirius B features some brilliant rapping from Vast Aire, and comes courtesy of the very fine Stones Throw.

From there, Sydney/Adelaide duo Collarbones give us a piece of glitch-pop, and it’s strongly recommended you go to their Bandcamp and download it FOR FREE.

And thence to New Zealand, where we join the wonderful Chris Knox, along with Alec Bathgate for the seminal and hugely-influential lo-fi experimental wonder-group the Tall Dwarfs. As you may know, Chris suffered a stroke last year that has (as often they do) devastated his language centers, although he is able to move around and even play music again now. We heard a tune from the Tall Dwarfs, Chris’s solo indie hit “Not Given Lightly”, and a couple of really marvellous reworkings from a marvellous double CD compilation that you should go and buy right now, called Stroke, in which artists from all around the world gathered together to help this importand and well-loved musician/artist/writer get by.
Bill Callahan’s cover of “Lapse” is one a few tracks on this album I’ve had on repeat for the last two weeks. It’s just amazing. Also delightful is the contribution from veteran NZ artist Don McGlashan, best known probably for his indie band the Mutton Birds in the ’90s. He pulls out the drum machine and channels Chris Knox’s recording techniques while sounding as angelic as ever. We also had a gorgeous little number from one of the lost masterpieces of NZ music, 1989’s debut album from his duo The Front Lawn.

Next up, our man in Melbourne, John McCaffrey aka Part Timer has sent in another UFog exlusive (for now), his remix of Vieo Abiungo, which turns out to be another project of the disturbingly-talented William Ryan Fritch. This is one of the best Part Timer remixes in ages too, a bit of an idm thing nicely complementing the African-influenced original track.

Japanese artist Miko contributes vocals and lovely glitches to Ian Hawgood’s remix album, and we then move back to Joanna Newsom for “Does Not Suffice”, the last track from Have One On Me. It’s a wonderful and fitting closer, wrapping up the tale with solo piano and voice, all the way up to the final lines, where the strings enter to underscore the final sentiment: “…and everywhere I tried to love you / is yours again, / and only yours.” Gets you right between the eyes, and from there the song opens up crescendoing into a reverb-laden ending.

I took the opportunity of the reverb to cross to the closing track from Autechre’s Oversteps, which managed to be in just the right key. It may not have the advantage of moving lyrics, but it’s a beauty too, and has a lovely long fade out. Two more Ae-related tracks take us out – side project Gescom with “Key Nell 2”, with two great beats and long ambient outro and then “Nuane”, which ends their greatest album, Chiastic Slide, with chattering, burbling synths from another planet.

Son Lux – Weapons II [anticon]
Joanna Newsom – Easy [Drag City/Spunk]
Kate Bush – The Man With The Child In His Eyes [EMI]
Kate Bush – Army Dreamers [EMI]
Pikelet – Pillow Castle [Chapter Music]
Joanna Newsom – In California [Drag City/Spunk]
Clouds – Shallow [Noppa] {samples liberally from Joanna’s “The Book of Right On”}
My Brightest Diamond vs Son Lux – To Pluto’s Moon [Asthmatic Kitty]
Son Lux – Weapons IV (Nico Muhly Remix) [anticon]
These New Puritans – Orion [Angular/Domino]
Autechre – known(1) [Warp]
Autechre – Flutter [Warp]
Acro – Superpod [Force Ten Recordings/Breakdown Records]
Son Lux – Weapons VI (Alias Remix) [anticon]
Sole & The Skyrider Band – Mr Insurgent [Sole One/Fake Four] {available (for now) for free download as part of Exponential Records‘ SXSW promo album Kadohadacho here}
Heliocentrics – Sirius B (remix) feat. Vast Aire [Stones Throw] {available (for now) as above}
Collarbones – Kill Off The Vowels [Collarbones Bandcamp] {download free – follow the link!}
Tall Dwarfs – thought disorder [Flying Nun]
Bill Callahan – Lapse [Chris Knox/Spunk]
Chris Knox – Not Given Lightly [Flying Nun]
Don McGlashan – Inside Story [Chris Knox/Spunk]
The Front Lawn – Theme From The Lounge Bar [The Front Lawn] {see a hilarious YouTube transferred from video here}
Vieo Abiungo – Furious (Part Timer’s Upbeat Mix) [forthcoming on Lost Tribe Sound] {This is William Ryan Fritch of the Skyrider Band – see above. Exclusive remix from Part Timer, direct from the man as usual…}
Ian Hawgood – A Film by Miko [Home Normal]
Joanna Newsom – Does Not Suffice [Drag City/Spunk]
Autechre – Yuop [Warp]
Gescom – Key Nell 2 [SKAM]
Autechre – Nuane [Warp]

Listen again — ~ 180MB

And yes, as usual, you can LISTEN AGAIN. See below…

Underworld – mmm skyscraper i love you [Junior Recordings]
Nick Cave – Faraway, So Close [Electrola]
NoMeansNo – The Land of the Living [Alternative Tentacles]
John Oswald – Mad Mod [Disk Union]
Björk – Human Behaviour [One Little Indian]
Belly – Low Red Moon [4AD]
Clouds – Bower of Bliss [Red Eye]
Future Sound of London – Cascade Part 1 [Virgin/FSOL Digital]
Boogie Times Tribe – The Dark Stranger [Suburban Base]
Aphex Twin – on [Warp]
Autechre – Kalpol Introl [Warp]

Listen again — ~ 58.5MB

Starting tonight with a lovely bit of field recording-meets-drone courtesy of BJ Nilsen. It’s the title track to his new album and features the amplified sound of a chair being dragged across the floor. Yum.
Then we had the closing track from the ever-wondrous Pikelet’s new album – folky guitar and heavenly harmonies.

James Blackshaw was a bit of a focus for tonight. I had a bit of difficulty getting through due to a misunderstanding about area codes, but once I sorted that out we had a fantastic chat about his music. You can download it separately here.
The first track I played showcases his beautiful cyclical fingerpicking guitar style. Later we had works featuring strings and voice (from his latest album and first on the Young God label), more fingerstyle guitar, and lastly one piece featuring Blackshaw on piano.
You can catch James Blackshaw in two Sundays’ time, 7:30pm on the 7th of March at Raval in Surry Hills. Tix here.

We heard a track from Axxonn’s excellent new cassette release last week. Tonight, another piece of shuddering drone. Follow the link to buy the cassette with a free download, or purchase it digitally here.

As you may have heard, Michael Gira has announced that he is reforming his legendary gothic rock group Swans, with a new album in the works. Hugely exciting news. In the lead-up, he released a third album of home recordings, including a number of awesome new tunes he played last year on his Australian tour. Tonight’s was one of the highlights.

Ah, Keith Mason, another artist going by his first initial! This track is a trial run for his shambolic EP of last year. You can download it for free, whaddaya waiting for! Grungey keyboard bassline, electric guitar that sounds like a pirate coming to cut your throat.

Shearwater have another album out – third in the trilogy that started with the glorious Palo Santo and continued with Rook… unashamed romantic melodicism, owing much to late-period Talk Talk. Wonderful stuff.

These New Puritans, on the other hand, how to characterise this group? With classical arrangements for woodwinds and choir, plus a highly rhythmic core that points at dancehall and perhaps grime, along with a punkish attitude, and… heck, just check out the video for “We Want War”!
The album was produced by Mr Graham Sutton, giving me an excuse to play one of my favourite songs ever, Bark Psychosis’s Bloodrush.

Next up, Low’s Alan Sparhawk returns with a second album for his ROCK side-project Retribution Gospel Choir. It’s heavy and it’s got Sparhawk’s songs and vocals – what more could we want? That Low song I played could possibly be one of the greatest songs ever too.

Squat Club is one of many Sydney acts based around the crew called QWERTY whose drill’n'bass/idm tunes I used to play a lot when they dropped them into the station a few years back. Squat Club is fabulous epic prog stuff, and goes down a treat. Meanwhile Josh Head’s Calmon H Salmon continues the QWERTY tradition of crazed beats and synths. Yes please.

As well as another lovely soundscape from BJ Nilsen, we had something a little different, from the excellent 10×7” set Recovery from Fractured back in 2008. Nilsen covers Joy Division, although you probably wouldn’t notice :) Still, beats and stuff!

Meanwhile, first hint of the debut album from Sydney’s Actual Russian Brides, electronic pop experimentalism, followed by some more electronica from Sydney: Loopsnake’s dubsteppy debut EP and Monk Fly’s wonky swung beats (released on the Bay Area’s Daly City Records).

And finally, a couple of tunes in tribute to the wonderful Chris Knox. Next week, we’ll have more Knox, Tall Dwarfs, and covers from the fabulous Stroke comp that’s out to raise money to help him recover from last year’s, yes, stroke. Tonight, the lo-fi masterpiece “the slide” is followed by fellow NZ legends The Chills covering a very early Tall Dwarfs tune…

BJ Nilsen – The Invisible City [Touch]
Pikelet – Elbow Equals Bend [Chapter Music]
James Blackshaw – Spiralling Skeleton Memorial [Important Records]
Axxonn – Drone Study1 [Bedroom Suck]
James Blackshaw – Cross [Young God]
James Blackshaw – Sunshrine [Kning Disk]
M Gira – Promise of Water [Young God]
K Mason – Untitled Demo November 2004 [Download from K Mason]
…interview with James Blackshaw…
James Blackshaw – The Cloud of Unknowing [Tompkins Square] {in background under interview!}
James Blackshaw – Gate of Horn [Tompkins Square]
Shearwater – Landscape at Speed [Matador]
These New Puritans – We Want War [Angular/Domino]
Bark Psychosis – Bloodrush [3rd Stone]
Retribution Gospel Choir – Electric Guitar [Sub Pop]
Low – Belarus [Sub Pop]
Retribution Gospel Choir – Destroyer [Sub Pop]
Squat Club – Corvus [self-released]
Calmon H Salmon – karnageminitinkles [self-released, available through addictech]
BJ Nilsen – Heart and Soul [Fractured] {Joy Division cover!}
BJ Nilsen – Finisterre [Touch]
Actual Russian Brides – Puppet [demo/unreleased]
Loopsnake – Is It The Devil In You? [self-released]
Monk Fly – Bumpin Joints [Daly City Records]
Tall Dwarfs – the slide [Flying Nun]
The Chills – Luck or Loveliness [Merge]

Listen again — ~ 179MB

When Pikelet played a couple of Sydney shows in Sydney in 2008, she was already road testing some new material, and the wonderful “Toby Light” turned up in a few live sets. It’s been quite a wait, but finally that song opens her fabulous new album Stem, which you should run out and purchase right now! Charming songs based around loop pedals and a plethora of different instruments, perfectly constructed little wonders.

Ascension Records have just released a 4CD box set of all (or most?) of the material released by legendary Sydney label, studio and collective M² during the early 1980s. It’s quite appropriate to start with The Makers of the Dead Travel Fast and their “hit” song “Tael Of A Saeghors”. Even though they weren’t the originators of MSquared, they came on board very early in the piece and this song got quite a bit of radio airplay at the time.
The folks at Vinyl on Demand put out a big vinyl boxset of MSquared stuff last year, but unlike this CD set, that was all unreleased material. Height/Dismay teams up the ubiquitous Patrick Gibson with Dru Johnson (also of Scattered Order and others). This untitled track loops a crying baby under a plaintive tune. It’s quite beautiful, if rather disturbing too…

Next up, Newcastle’s The Atlas Room (I think it’s a solo project) handed in a demo at FBi recently with a pretty impressive range over its 4 tracks. First up we took the almost post-punk “Iris”, and then there’s the more ambient “Dendrite”.
In between, first track from the stunningly-produced Black Noise album by German artist Pantha du Prince. It’s described as minimal house or minimal techno, but it seems to me that only covers part of what he’s doing – with krautrocky elements, a bit of an African influence, almost folktronic hints and a really lush sound.

Sydney (or central coast) artist Edwin Montgomery is on a roll, and has released two albums for free download at his website. Topography just uses a Roland SH2 monophonic analog synthesiser – yes, just a monophonic synth, with loop and delay pedals. It’s quite a lovely ambient and nostalgic sound.
Continuing the synth nostalgia, we have a couple more tracks from Brooklyn’s Oneohtrix Point Never, and then Edwin gives us one of the pieces from his other recent album, 4 Violins – beautiful layered violin drones.

Keeping it stringy, cellist Danny Norbury contributes the first of tonight’s tracks from Ian Hawgood’s Home Normal label, and it’s a remix (or reworking) of Ian Hawgood’s own work. From the same CD, we also had a fabulous folktronic feast from Color Cassette.

Next up, one-time folktronic poster-boy Minotaur Shock teams up with one of the members of the Iskra String Quarte for the second entry in the L-O-A-F Explorers’ Club. Something a bit different for Minotaur Shock and one of the best things I’ve heard of his in ages.

BJ Nilsen’s productions are still new to me, and pretty friggin’ awesome. Source material can be field recordings, strange objects or musical instruments, and everything has a generous helping of computer processing. It’s not unlike what Machinefabriek is doing, but the results, in terms of track structures and probably sonic intentions, are quite unique. The first track we heard tonight starts with digitally distorted birds, abruptly chops off, and then grows into this almost electric organ thing.

Next up, Justin Broadrick & Andrew Broder aren’t really a pair you’d expect to see together on vinyl, but the latest 7″ in Hidden Hive’s Kissing Kin series doesn’t just split sides between them – they’re two collaborations, with Broadrick’s familiar Jesu onslaught of guitars and drum machines, and Broder’s familiar Fog drawl. Strangely, it works. More please!

After more Pikelet, we skipped back to 1990 and the second Necks album. I still remember buying this album, with its original artwork (so sad that they changed it for the reissue). Shorter tracks, unlike most live Necks gigs, and some interesting instrumentation and studio experimentation. Their gig this Friday night at the Metro in Sydney can’t come highly enough recommended from me.
From 1990 Sydney back to the early ’80s, Patrick Gibson gives us a little bit of ambient electronica. I never cease to be amazed at how nonchalantly forward-looking people like these, Severed Heads and others were around this time.
Perhaps also forward-looking, albeit released on cassette, are Brisbane’s Axxonn. At least the cassette releases come with a free download, and Bandcamp very sensibly allow you to choose pretty much any format you like for downloading purposes. Axxonn’s music is powerful stuff, and the beautiful chord progressions and saturated noise are all-enveloping here.

Rejoining the lovely Home Normal, we have one track of glitchy acoustic guitar from offthesky, the processed vocals and drone of L / M / R / W, and the very chilly ambience of Konntinent.

No other new artists in the rest of the playlist, but the last Pikelet selection from her new album has a sweet little bit off the original piano-and-vocal demo version (“Take Off The Face Paint”) which she was selling at gigs in 2008; so I thought we should hear another of those tracks. “My Piano” features some very nimble piano playing and multi-tracked vocals.

Pikelet – Toby Light [Chapter Music]
The Makers of the Dead Travel Fast – Tael Of A Saeghors [M²/Ascension Records]
Height/Dismay – Untitled [M²/Vinyl on Demand]
The Atlas Room – Iris [demo]
Pantha du Prince – lay in a shimmer [Rough Trade]
The Atlas Room – Dendrite [demo]
Edwin Montgomery – Waves of Trilithium [self-released] {free download from his website!}
Oneohtrix Point Never – Behind the Bank [No Fun Productions]
Oneohtrix Point Never – Betrayed in the Octagon [No Fun Productions]
Edwin Montgomery – 4 Violins – I [self-released] {free download from his website!}
Ian Hawgood – A Film By Danny Norbury [Home Normal]
Ian Hawgood – A Film By Color Cassette [Home Normal]
Minotaur Shock and J Underwood – Monodon Monoceros [L-O-A-F]
BJ Nilsen – Scientia [Touch]
Justin Broadrick & Andrew Broder – Nowhere [Hidden Hive]
Pikelet – Swooping Buzzards [Chapter Music]
The Necks – Garl’s/Nice Policeman Nasty Policeman [Spiral Scratch, reissued on Fish of Milk]
Patrick Gibson – Bland A [M²/Ascension Records]
Axxonn – Urine Mote [Bedroom Suck] (cassette+download – or digital from Bandcamp)
offthesky – Light Like [Home Normal]
L / M / R / W – Clay [Home Normal]
Konntinent – Frost Fair [Home Normal]
BJ Nilsen – Into Its Coloured Rays [Touch]
Pikelet – Face Paint [Chapter Music]
Pikelet – My Piano [self-released]
Scattered Order – Personal Safety [M²/Ascension Records]
Pantha du Prince – es schneit [Rough Trade]

Listen again — ~ 175MB

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

Starting with a pretty amazing collaboration between the legendary Tony Conrad, C. Spencer Yeh (see next track!) and Norwegian bassist Michael F. Duch. Harpsichord and piano scintillations give way to dual-violin drones and scrapes, while Duch holds a bass pedal. Wondrous stuff…
Spencer’s new Burning Star Core album is in fact an old album, from a number of years ago, but originally released in a very small tour run on his own label. Hospital Productions give it their beautiful glossy treatment for this release, and it’s pretty stunning acoustic drone stuff. It may be half a decade down the line, but it still could be game-changing in its way!

More strings follow, courtesy of Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra, still going strong. Maybe I should do a little retrospective on them in a coming show. They’ve dropped the Tra-La-La Band probably because of a change of line-up, but they still have the incredible propulsive bass of Theirry Amar, and violins from Sophie Trudeau and Jessica Moss, along with Efrim Menuck’s guitar and vocals. A pretty rockin’ number was my choice!

I can’t tell you how excited I was to get the CD edition of My Brightest Diamond’s four Shark Remixes EPs this week! Four quite different artists, with backgrounds in classical music (like Shara Worden herself) as well as electronic and your usual Ashmatic Kitty-style indie – really interesting filters for Worden’s work. First comes from the relatively little-known Alfred Brown, with a wonderful bass rumble in the middle.

Melbourne postrockers Radiant City have a new album on its way, but meanwhile you can grab the single “Two Against Eight” from their website. We heard an excellent slow-growing remix that’s exclusive to the CD single.
To follow them up, Sydney improv Forenzics bring us their singular sound. With electric bass central to the mix, along with guitar, percussion and electronic elements, it’s fascinating listening.

Apropos of nothing much, a little spray from the amazing anarcho-punks Crass. It’s a stone-cold classic and mixes raucous punk with off-key post-punk keyboards and bass, plus right-on political lyrics.

Then some wonderful noise from, in this case, Deterioration Yellow Swans – a nice “D” word to preface them with for a 2008 album of the same name. Call it drone, noise, or whatever you like, it’s beautiful as well as harsh. Fabulous stuff.
We follow it with a track from Carlos Giffoni’s new album, in which he explores analogue synths in his own special way…
And then, on Carlos’ No Fun Productions, Emeralds take us on a synthesised journey into the sea of information… while Oneohtrix Point Never’s Daniel Lopatin takes us in the hyperdawn with his sequenced synths & melodies.
And yes, that’s him on guitar in the next track too! Plus nice lo-fi production and noises going on.

The wonderful Leeds band The Boats then take us in more of an IDM/techno direction with a track from one of their very limited CDR editions. Sounding very mid-’90s I guess.
London wunderkind Bullion is doing wonderful things in the wonky arena and related. This features some cute samples and creates a nicely psychedelic pop feel.
And in a similar vein, Eskmo’s sampled vocals are the icing on the cake of this incredible cross-rhythmic wonky tune. What do I mean by “cross-rhythmic”? You’ll have to listen to the interplay between the beats, the bass and the vocal samples to hear how he swaps between swung rhythms and duples (2s and 4s), often pitting one against the other – it’s a typical wonky/dubstep technique which the lesser producers don’t always understand.

We follow with the other artists remixing My Brightest Diamond. Amazing anticon artist Son Lux combines classical and electronic in the most dance-oriented remix, with quite a dazzling arrangement — after which Ecuadorian ex-pat Roberto C. Lange adds South American percussion to loops and minimalist classicisim.
Finally we have two sort-of untitled tracks from fellow Asthmatic Kitty artist and long-time friend of Worden’s DM Stith. I chose these as the most sideways approaches to her work — one with Stith’s own lovely vocals brought to the fore.

And yes, there’s a new Four Tet album out. His angel echoes to us that There’s love in you, and I’m sure there is…
Israeli soprano Hila Baggio brings us a famous madrigal by William Holborne from the 16th century, with very subtle treatments from the Dub Mentor, as part of a series of singles called Allergy To Consciousness. I’m not sure if they’d heard the ambient/dub/techno remixes of Miranda Sex Garden, but I sure remember them – and I still have the CD single, so here you go — enjoy some early ’90s ambient why don’tcha!

After confessing to me last week that he doesn’t really get all this drone music, Melbourne’s part timer decided he’d try his hand at it, and emailed me the results. I keep falling for this – somehow it made it on air! Maybe it’s because it’s really great.
And we close with a very beautiful and bass-heavy drone work from ex-Northern Territorian Robert Curgenven, whose work melds field recordings and musical elements in a way that few have done as successfully. Hopefully you’ll hear an interview when Rob is in Sydney in March.

Tony Conrad/C. Spencer Yeh/Michael F. Duch – Musculus Trapezius (excerpt) [Pica Disk]
Burning Star Core – inside the shadow (w. metals) [Hospital Productions]
Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra – I Built Myself A Metal Bird [Constellation]
My Brightest Diamond vs Alfred Brown – You Are Now Untouchable (Esto Perpetue) [Asthmatic Kitty]
Radiant City – Urban Drilled (Urban Drill remix by Marcus Newman [Wireless Records]
Forenzics – womb 1.0 [4N6]
Crass – You’re Already Dead [Crass Records]
Deterioration Yellow Swans – Reintegration [Modern Radio]
Carlos Giffoni – The Hermit [Hospital Productions]
Emeralds – Alive in the Sea of Information [No Fun Productions]
Oneohtrix Point Never – Hyperdawn [No Fun Productions]
Oneohtrix Point Never – I Know It’s Taking Pictures From Another Plane (Inside Your Sun) [No Fun Productions]
The Boats – cars, bikes, boats, babes (version) [Our Small Ideas]
Bullion – Say Goodbye To What [Bullion Bandcamp]
Eskmo – Let Them Sing [Planet µ]
My Brightest Diamond vs Son Lux – Inside A Boy [Asthmatic Kitty]
My Brightest Diamond vs Roberto C. Lange – Queen [Asthmatic Kitty]
My Brightest Diamond vs DM Stith – ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ / ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Asthmatic Kitty]
Four Tet – Angel echoes [Domino]
Hila Baggio – Gush Forth, My Tears (ATC version, treated by Dub Mentor) [EnT-T]
Miranda Sex Garden – Gush Forth My Tears (The First Steppes Mix by Thrash, Fortran 5 & PK) [Mute]
part timer – 5 pillars [direct from artist]
Robert Curgenven – Gran Coda Andante [LINE]

Listen again — ~ 183MB

Tonight’s big feature was the wonderful new compilation Music & Migration on Second Language.
We started, though, with a couple of tracks from Sydney post-rock band The Dead Sea, whose album was out in a limited fashion last year, but is available (again?) now. Excellent atmospheric stuff.

We then hopped across to the west for a couple of Perth bands: the cello-heavy shoegaze of My Majestic Star and the beautiful drone of The Ghost of 29 Megacycles (love that track/album title too!)

Speaking of drone, for a cassette on sound&fury, Jasper TX takes inspiration from a poem by Penelope Joy and creates a 15 minute ode to “Waverly Cemetery (Sydney)” (misspelled, sadly, in the original poem, but you can’t have everything). The track ranges, in typical superlative Jasper TX fashion, from drone to field recordings (lovely wind-on-microphone noise), to piano and post-rock…

Then we had the first of a number of tracks from the excellent Music & Migration compilation. Utility Fog favourite Fieldhead has contributed a mostly ambient piece. brave timbers’ piece is piano and layered violins; it’s Sarah Kemp, who plays with both Fieldhead and The Declinig Winter, whose track I’ll probably play next week!
We had a brief detour via Machinefabriek’s gorgeous remix of post-classical/folk/rock band Balmorhea, and then back to the first track on the compilation, from the reliably delightful Hauschka, with prepared piano and, I think, drum machine. Finally, Lene Charlotte Holm’s track was another highlight, and with a bit of digging (thanks Discogs!) I discovered that she’s one half of Iris to Hypnos, whose 7″ on Static Caravan was a mini-highlight of 2008.

The now-Melbourne-based Heidi Elva’s new album, lo-fi musings, should be out soon. She sent me a preview in the form of “Simple Pleasures”, a lovely dubby number that’s been in her live sets for a while. Meanwhile, John Part Timer was unable to resist a remix opportunity, and did some very juicy things to it under his kinda-dubstep alias Dark Mahoney & the Midnight Bitch. More please!

Next, we had a little mini-special on the work of Mr Owen Pallett, aka Final Fantasy. The new album is apparently set in a made-up world called Spectrum, first introduced by Owen in an EP from late 2008 called Spectrum, 14th Century. As well as a new track and one from this EP, we popped back to his debut album in 2005, and also heard an awesome number from a 7″ in Tomlab’s Alphabet series.

It seemed suitable, after the strings and melodies of Owen Pallett, to delve into the rapturous romanticism of Sebastian Krueger’s Inlets, whose debut album is out in April. Plenty of woodwind along with the band and vocals…
Melbourne’s The Boy Who Spoke Clouds played in Sydney this week, but sadly didn’t really get the word out in time. Adam Casey and cohorts bring something really unusual to the dark folk sound. His debut album is out now; we also heard an unreleased (I believe) track from 2008 with Alex Taylor on violin and Emily Williams on cello.

From Austimer in the northern suburbs of Wollongong, Russell W produces a lovely blend of hip-hop beats, electronics and acoustic sounds. Among others, he does recall Four Tet’s sound, so I took the opportunity to play a number from There Is Love In You, which I’ve found to be the least compelling Four Tet album yet — but for all that, it has its moments. I’m sure I’ll play something else from it next week, and we’ll definitely be hearing more from Russell W too.

Jaga Jazzist used to be a firm favourite of this show; their first two albums, along with solo efforts from the Horntveth brothers and remixes by original labelmate Kim Hiorthøy, were the epitomy of the post-jazz thrill; complex and nimble jazz playing with all the jump-cuts and glitches you could ask for. Their previous album was released as just “Jaga”, and dropped the jazzist tendencies for more of a prog/post-rock vibe, and didn’t really do it for me, so I’m glad they’re back with the Jazzist, if not so much with the glitchy tendencies.
When the album is released I’ll do a bit of an overview with some favourite tracks.

The Dead Sea – Bandicoot [self-released]
The Dead Sea – respire [self-released]
My Majestic Star – Hi [Hidden Shoal]
The Ghost of 29 Megacycles – Love Via Paper Planes [sound&fury]
Penelope Joy & Jasper TX – Waverly Cemetery (Sydney) [sound&fury]
Fieldhead – Open Show [Second Language]
brave timbers – Let’s Never Go Back [Second Language]
Balmorhea – Remembrance (Machinefabriek remix) [Western Vinyl/Longtime Listener]
Hauschka – Lipstick Race [Second Language]
Iris to Hypnos – Hypodermic [Static Caravan]
Lene Charlotte Holm – Tracing Echoes [Second Language]
Heidi Elva – Simple Pleasures [self-released]
Heidi Elva – Simple Pleasures (unauthorized remix by Dark Mahoney & the Midnight Bitch) [unreleased, via Part Timer]
Owen Pallett – Midnight Directives [Domino]
Final Fantasy – Blue Imelda [Blocks Recording Club]
Final Fantasy – Please Please Please [Tomlab]
Final Fantasy – Hey, Dad! [Tomlab]
Inlets – Bright Orange Air [Two Syllables] {free download from Stereogum!}
Inlets – Roots on Sidewalks [Luv Sound] {free download EP! It’s awesome, go get it.}
The Boy Who Spoke Clouds – Fill This Room [Sun Sea Sky Productions]
The Boy Who Spoke Clouds – Misgiving [unreleased]
The Boy Who Spoke Clouds – Happening [Sun Sea Sky Productions]
Russell W – Confetti [Soviet Records]
Four Tet – Sing [Domino]
Russell W – Pastel for Alum [Soviet Records]
Jaga Jazzist – Toccata [Ninja Tune]

Listen again — ~ 168MB

Owen Pallett is no longer Final Fantasy. Fair enough. His new album is wonderful, and still wonderfully geeky. Augmented with orchestra, dabbling in electronics, this album might be his best yet.
William Ryan Fritch is another amazing multi-instrumentalist. He is “The Skyrider Band” in the next track’s Sole & The Skyrider Band, producing amazing layered hip-hop, but the free EP under his own name showcases his cello and heaps of other instruments, as well as vocals (although not on the tracks I played tonight).
Sole’s work with Fritch has been uniformly superb. I picked up their Plastique (mini-)album in the US in November, but didn’t hear about this precursor EP until afterwards. You can grab it for free, like quite a lot of stuff I played tonight (see links in playlist!)
We had a bunch of stuff tonight from, and related to The Elysian Quartet. Their self-released EP features improvisations stitched together on computer by their viola player Vincent.
Back in 2004 they recorded the first string quartet by Gabriel Prokofiev — yes, related to the famous Sergei, whose Romeo & Juliet has been unknowingly sampled by many a hip-hop artist. We heard Prokofiev’s own “Hip-Hop” mix of movement 1.
The quartet’s cellist Laura Moody has a solo EP out, in which she sings, beat-boxes (well… sortof) and plays cello. Pretty amazing stuff. And two of the others are Geese, who have done a number of awesome remixes lately, including one released early this year of Hot Chip.

From England we moved back to Australia, for a collaboration between Part Timer and Heidi Elva (who has recently moved to Part Timer’s adopted home of Melbourne). These two fit together hand-in-glove, and we can only hope there are more of these collaborations and they get released soon.
Late last year John Part Timer released an EP as scissors and sellotape on the boutique cotton goods label. It sold out in about 10 seconds, but he kindly sent me a copy, complete with the stunning packaging. And on the day I received his parcel from Melbourne, an email turned up with another as-yet-unreleased track, this time a lovely remix of Czech band gurun gurun, to come out later this year.
From Melbourne to Perth, with a couple of shoegazey tracks. First off with luscious cello, My Majestic Star. I’ll certainly be playing more from them next week – it’s a varied album, albeit mainly in the shoegaze area.
The Ghost of 29 Megacycles used to be Greg Thaw solo, but for their debut album, it’s a trio. Lovely vocals and drones on sound&fury.

Next up, the first track to be taken from LOAF’s Explorers’ Club series. Check out the link — it’s gonna be awesome, and the first one lives up to all expectations. Peter Broderick’s track is a superb concoction of piano, guitar, drums & cello.
Zelienople give us some of their minimalist dreampop/postrock. I need to explore this band a lot more!
And then Sweet Billy Pilgrim’s contribution to the aforementioned Explorers’ Club – banjo-led postrockfolk, since you were asking for a genre.
Keeping it folky, we have a sneak preview of Sam Amidon’s new album – clearly it’s going to be amazing. A re-tooled folk song not unlike the incredible folk adaptation he sang on Nico Muhly’s latest album.
I was reminded a little of the Appalachian folk adaptations by Brian Harnetty, and thence to The Books, whose delightful live show I witnessed earlier tonight.

We then headed back to William Ryan Fritch (OMG the cello playing) and then a remix of him with Sole by none other than b.fleischmann. Then we had to hop back to Sydney for an excellent percussion-and-spoken-samples jam from Dane Frankcom, after which Mr Fleischmann serenaded us with an extract from 2003’s “Take your time” — the glitchy pianos and Christof Kurzmann’s vocals in the last 10 minutes or so. Still a wonderful track (45 minutes long in total).

The new track from Sydney’s Alpen bodes extremely well for his new album. It’s actually Danny Jumpertz, one of the two people behind New Weird Australia, not to mention Feral Media… Alpen’s guitar riffs reminded me that I wanted to play Retribution Gospel Choir, the rockier side project of Alan Sparhawk from Low. His usual beautiful songwriting in a different context.
Then we’re back with Owen Pallett for two more cuts from his album. In between, another New Weird Australia track, this one from Melbourne’s Automating, whose processed field recording is engaging and just a little scary :)

Owen Pallett – Keep The Dog Quiet [Domino]
William Ryan Fritch – the snow rusted the earth [Asthmatic Kitty] {free Christmas EP! Download here]
Sole & The Skyrider Band – cutoffmoon [Sole One/Fake Four] {free download EP from here!}
the elysian quartet – untitled track 3 from self-released EP [self-released]
Gabriel Prokofiev – String Quartet No. 1, performed by the Elysian Quartet (Gabriel Prokofiev “Hip-Hop mix” of First Movement) [Nonclassical]
Laura Moody – They’re Saying It’s Over [self-released]
Hot Chip – One Pure Thought (remixed by Geese) [EMI]
part timer w/ heidi elva – as-yet untitled track [direct from part timer]
scissors and sellotape – untitled track 7 [cotton goods]
gurun gurun – ano uta (part timer remix) [unreleased, courtesy part timer]
My Majestic Star – Stranger [Hidden Shoal]
The Ghost of 29 Megacycles – The Cold Light of Silence [sound&fury]
Peter Broderick – Robbie’s Song [Lo Alternative Frequencies]
Zelienople – All I Want Is Calm [Type]
Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Amina [Lo Alternative Frequencies]
Sam Amidon – How Come That Blood [Bedroom Community] {free download via Pitchfork!}
Brian Harnetty – i’ll cross the briny ocean, i’ll cross the deep blue sea [Atavistic]
The Books – the future, wouldn’t that be nice? [Tomlab]
William Ryan Fritch – cotton wamth on sore, chafed hands [Asthmatic Kitty] {free Christmas EP! Download here]
Sole & The Skyrider Band – black (b.fleischmann remix) [Sole One/Fake Four] {free download EP from here!}
Dane Frankcom – Word Tone [self-released/demo?]
b.fleischmann – Take your time (extract – last 9-10 minutes) [Morr Music]
Alpen – A Meditation on Flight [New Weird Australia] {of course it’s another free download, follow the NWA link}
Retribution Gospel Choir – Hide It Away [Sub Pop] {free download from Stereogum}
Owen Pallett – Flare Gun [Domino]
Automating – When Use Becomes Abuse [New Weird Australia] {free download, follow the NWA link}
Owen Pallett – What Do You Think Will Happen Now? [Domino]

Then the bulk of the show: our Sydney Festival specials. Severed Heads’ importance to Australian and international music can’t be overstressed. We heard material going back pretty early, with tape loop experiments, early amazingly-prescient techno (like, ultra-early: 1982), and some of Tom Ellard’s exquisitely understated and brilliant pop songs.

Next up: John Cale, whose importance doesn’t even need to be stressed by the likes of me. My selections were, I guess, nothing more than a little essay in John Cale’s importance to me, and why not?

That said, The Books are probably one of the most important bands for me in the last decade, at least. Featuring my instrument, the cello, and a wonderfully gregarious approach to music-making, with digital cut-ups commingling with Appalachian folk and more… They’re the perfect Utility Fog band…

SydFest are doing well, because Grizzly Bear are undoubtedly another of the most important recent bands for me, along with Dan Rossen’s other project, Department of Eagles. I tried to play a number of unusual and different related tracks tonight (and we had a couple of rare Books tunes as well earlier).

And finally (for the Festival), Patrick Watson’s début album Close to Paradise was a revelation when it came out in 2006; it won Canada’s Polaris Music Prize, a surprising accolade for a quite experimental (or at least non-mainstream) release. His 2009 album Wooden Arms was an equally beautiful blend of songwriting, post-classical and jazz, along with bits of electronica and experimental touches.
Our Allnighter fell through at the last minute tonight, so I had to hold the fort till about 1:45am. We got a bit of a bonus, therefore, and I played a few more Aussie tracks.

Sydney musician Eve Klein’s Textile Audio project has been a long time coming. Operatically trained, Klein has been working on this mix of classical music (including her operatic vocals) and electronica for well over 5 years if I’m right. The results here are very impressive.
From Melbourne, Tantrums give us a great fun piece of electronica – their album this year will be another to look out for.
Both these tracks are downloadable for free from New Weird Australia.

From Sydney’s Frequency Lab comes another download comp (not free), and we heard Sydney artist Edseven doing a nice wonky number.

And finally, the new single from Pikelet, in anticipation of her new album Stem, out in February. I cannot wait – Evelyn is one of Australia’s musical gems.

Oneohtrix Point Never – Grief and Repetition [No Fun Productions]
Oneohtrix Point Never – Russian Mind [No Fun Productions]
Emeralds – Geode [Wagon/Gneiss Things]
Severed Heads – Anthem 82 [Vinyl on Demand]
Severed Heads – Somehow Pain/Always Randy [Vinyl on Demand]
Severed Heads – 4.W.D. [Ink Records, now available direct thru Sevcom]
Severed Heads – Sydney Quads & the Megascope Space Probe [Ink Records, now available direct thru Sevcom]
Severed Heads – Big Car Intro/Big Car [Volition, now available direct thru Sevcom]
Severed Heads – First Steps [Volition, now available direct thru Sevcom]
Severed Heads – Golden Height/I’m Your Antidote [Volition, now available direct thru Sevcom]
HEY FOLKS! Utility Fog cross-FBi information blirt! Download a 51-minute Severed Heads special from New Weird Australia with Tom Ellard interviewed and more of this awesome music to listen to!
The Velvet Underground – Heroin [Verve]
John Cale – Paris 1919 [Reprise]
John Cale – Fear Is A Man’s Best Friend [Island Records]
John Cale – Heartbreak Hotel [Island Records]
John Cale – Heartbreak Hotel (solo live) [Hannibal]
John Cale – The Soul of Carmen Miranda [Hannibal]
Brian Eno/John Cale – Lay My Love [Hannibal]
The Books – motherless bastard [Tomlab]
The Books – the lemon of pink [Tomlab]
The Books – the lemon of pink [Tomlab] {yes, track 1 and then track 2!}
The Books – there is no there [Tomlab]
The Books – vogt dig for kloppervok [Tomlab]
The Books – Three Day Night [self-released]
The Books – 8 Frame [self-released]
Department of Eagles – Sailing By Night [Melodic]
Grizzly Bear – Deep Sea Diver [Kanine Records]
Grizzly Bear – Don’t Ask (Final Fantasy remix) [Kanine Records]
Grizzly Bear – Owner of a Lonely Heart [audraglint] {Cover, of course, of Yes}
Dan Rossen – Graceland [from some mp3 blog somewhere, I'm sure...] {Cover, you’ll have noticed, of Paul Simon}
Dan Rossen – Too Little Too Late [download from La Blogoteque or the Grizzly Bear blog] {cover, you will probably have no idea, of JoJo…}
Grizzly Bear – Little Brother [Warp]
Department of Eagles – Deadly Disclosure/Balmy Night [taken from their http://www.myspace.com/deptofeagles a couple of years ago...]
Patrick Watson – Down at the beach [Secret City Records]
Patrick Watson – Daydreamer [Secret City Records]
Patrick Watson – Where the wild things are [Secret City Records]
Textile Audio – Some Kind of Mininova [New Weird Australia]
Tantrums – Beat The Happy Pavement [New Weird Australia]
Edseven – Pigeon Clap [Frequency Lab]
Pikelet – Weakest Link [Chapter Music]

Listen again — ~ 198MB