LISTEN AGAIN to enjoy these great artists in-depth: direct link, podcast feed or, go on, on demand streaming!

I started with a couple of random minimal drum'n'bass tunes that turned up this week, and very nice too. Komonazmuk first came to my attention with some releases on the breakcore-meets-dubstep label Terminal Dusk. We'll hear something from that next week, along with some more dubsteppy tunes from his new album, but tonight I played a cut from the album which sits in that liminal land between full-throttle d'n'b and post-r'n'b bass music.
And from the Australian Enig'matik Records label, best known for glitch-hop and psychedelic techno sounds, Melbourne artist Child brought us a very nice piece of melodic, minimal d'n'b.

Finally from our intro segment, something absolutely gorgeous from Tarentel offshoot Howard Hello — Americana meets shoegaze on this track. There's some brilliant early folktronica on this mini-album/EP, and I'm ultra-keen to play some more on next week's packed show…

Then we went head-on into an interview with Cam from Seaworthy. Seaworthy has been a stalwart of Sydney's experimental, slow/minimal/drone scene for probably over a decade, Cameron often being joined by Sam Shinazzi (himself a well-known indie artist) and Greg Bird. For some time thought it's been essentially a solo act for Cam, usually with his signature looped guitar licks plus field recordings. But as we delve into their past we hear piano refrains, glitchy remixes, drones and even some rare singing. The new album, for the second year of Preservation's Circa series of limited releases, features Cam taking a new tack, mostly focusing on the breathy wheeze of the harmonium. It makes for some beautiful sounds, deceptively detailed.

After Seaworthy we dive right into another special, on the beautiful Dictaphone. Their sound is somehow very German to me, fitting right into the sound world of bands like To Rococo Rot, Tarwater, The Notwist and Tied and Tickled Trio, with the warm acoustic sounds of Roger Döring's clarinet and saxophone, plus the bass of Oliver Doering, entwining with Doering's samples and clicky beats. There's a cosmopolitan European jazz feel to their music which is particularly emphasised with the addition of Alexander Stolze's violin on the new album, while Mariechen Danz's vocal on standout track "Rattle" hints at the more trip-hoppy aspects of their sound.
Hugely recommended.

Next up, much-loved Sydney duo ollo have a new album out, centred around Alex Crowfoot's love of analogue synths and effects — aptly named Ape Delay (they do love their language games). I started, however, with the unassuming "trouble is" from their 2006 album The If If, which in its less than 2 minutes manages to be one of my favourite pieces of songwriting from the last decade or so. An evocative mix of synth, drum machine and vocals, with a touching, slightly surreal lyric.
The new album is more upbeat, and rather krautrocky with its emphasis on analogue synths and tape effects, and makes good use of Alex's ear for classic pop hooks. Oughta be a hit.
Meanwhile, from their C-Sides collection of mostly unreleased tracks from 1996-2006, we heard an incredible piece of cut-up multi-tracked vocals.

To finish up, we had yet another extended special, on the brilliant Patrick Watson. He first came to my attention with 2006's Close to Paradise (we probably got it here in 2007), and it did suit UFog's love for genre-bending. Watson's comfortable with the chamber pop of emotive vocals, piano and mini-classical arrangements, with folk and smokey jazz, but he's also happy to drop pulsing electronic effects, edited drums and other little bits of studio trickery into the mix.
His second album followed suit a few years later, with equally beguiling songwriting, and no less of the subtle experimentation. The new album might feel somewhat more straightforwardly indiepop, but once again this is only if you don't listen to the details and ignore the instrumental tracks. A fantastically talented, inspiring artist.

Komonazmuk – Time Line [Hench]
Child – Bad Timing [Enig'matik Records] {pay-what-you-like from Bandcamp}
Howard Hello – Hello [Temporary Residence]
…interview with Cam from Seaworthy…
Seaworthy – Bellows Whispered Breath [Preservation]
Seaworthy – Rattled Rushes [Preservation]
Seaworthy – Distant Hills Burn Bright Part 4 [Black Lodge Audio]
Seaworthy – catch the snowfall [demo]
Seaworthy – western song (remix 1) [demo]
Seaworthy – Broken Shores [Steady Cam]
Seaworthy – Installation 3 [12k]
Seaworthy – Scuttled Path and Stone [Preservation]
dictaphone – the conversation [sonic pieces]
dictaphone – m.= addiction [City Centre Offices]
dictaphone – tango doerell [City Centre Offices]
dictaphone – the last song [City Centre Offices]
dictaphone – the frame (1-94-1) [City Centre Offices]
dictaphone – maelbeek [sonic pieces]
dictaphone – rattle (feat. Mariechen Danz) [sonic pieces]
ollo – trouble is [Groovescooter]
ollo – transistor resistor [Metal Postcard]
ollo – idno [available from their Bandcamp]
ollo – phobegone days [Groovescooter]
ollo – running with your eyes shut [Metal Postcard]
Patrick Watson – The Things You Do [Secret City Records/Domino]
Patrick Watson – Lighthouse [Secret City Records/Domino]
Patrick Watson – The Storm [Secret City Records]
Patrick Watson – Daydreamer [Secret City Records]
Patrick Watson – Down at the beach [Secret City Records]
Patrick Watson – Where the wild things are [Secret City Records]
Patrick Watson – Step Out For A While [Secret City Records/Domino]

Listen again — ~ 160MB

This weekend brough the awful news that Adam Yauch aka MCA of the Beastie Boys passed away from the cancer he's been suffering from these last few years. I was going to play some favourite Beasties songs (there's certainly plenty) but decided to opt for the slightly more oblique path with two of dj BC's surprising and fun covers ‐ the first a nod to last week's show opener, Steve Reich, who I prefer by far to Philip Glass, but nevertheless dj BC's refits in Glassbreaks work perfectly.

As mentioned, Japan's noise maestro Merzbow is in town, and while we didn't delve into his aural nightmares themselves, we heard a couple of remixes from two big 2CD remix sets, both from 2003 (the year of FBi's and UFog's birth). Plug retains the sonic mayhem of the original but adds classic Vibertian vocal samples and amen breaks, and the Fennesz track predates his predominantly twinkly latter-day phase, so we have a nice wall of washed-out noise.

We heard a good array of Oren Ambarchi's music, not going back to his various '90s noise groups, but from his early solo guitar works, in which electric guitar was sent through an array of guitar effects the end product of which was something akin to minimal electronica. The interview is well worth listening to (within the show or separately) for some insights into how his creative process has changed over the years, as well as some great anecdotes from 2 decades of deep involvement in the noise and experimental music scene.

From Adelaide, Wolfpanther (previously known as Marxist Real Estate) picks up the four-track recorder after too long away, and gives us a slice of motorik noise-rock.

One of my albums of the week comes from the pairing of Benoît Pioulard & Rafael Anton Irissari as Orcas. Released on Morr Music, it's a kind of ambient indietronica, taking familiar elements from both artists, but somehow inspiring some truly beautiful songs and deep arrangements – grainy drones, washed-out shoegazey guitars, and a really gorgeous repeated piano motif in one track. Highly recommended.

Benoît Pioulard (aka Thomas Meluch) is no stranger to collaboration, and has worked with Praveen Sharma before. He appears on about half the tracks on a very ambient & folky new Praveen release only available via the Ghostly Music Service.
We last heard Praveen last year in his amazing post-footwork/post-r'n'b duo with Machinedrum, Sepalcure, so I slipped in a track from them too.

Onwards to our next special, and another album of the week — Filastine's £00t. For three albums now, he's explored the rough edges of the post-colonial, post-global world, with tight up-to-the-minute beats and production underpinning a real sensitivity to the cultures he borrows from (or collaborates with), while allowing the listener to just enjoy the music without being hammered with ideology (if they really want to). He's aided by the pretty extraordinary vocals of Indonesian singer Nova on a couple of tracks here, and some guerilla cello from Amélie Bouard. I can't find out anything about Jessika Skeletalia Kenny, whose very middle-eastern-sounding vocals adorn some earlier Filastine tracks.

Björk is still seeking out weird and wonderful artists to remix her, and so after last year's Exmilitary mixtape made a big impact, and their debut album proper The Money Folder has just come out, Death Grips do their manic, unhinged thing with two Biophilia tracks. The Money Folder is growing on me, but I still kind of feel it's a slight let-down after Exmilitary. But there's a second Death Grips album due out later this year — in fact they've cancelled all live gigs in order to finish it!

And from the first Biophilia remix single we had one of Current Value's typically bass-heavy drum'n'bass/dubstep reworks. We heard his work a week or two back as part of the excellent dubstep-meets-breakcore-meets-trip-hop group Underhill.

Almost finally, a hint of the sounds of Japanese electronica-loving songstress Coppe'. I picked up her remix album with UK-based collective bit-phalanx from last year, along with the insane coppe' in a bloc package which features the new album rays with Georgian producer Nikakoi, and a 2GB lego-shaped USB stick with hours and hours of remixes, collaborations, videos and DJ mixes. Crazy and mostly very very good! The bit-phalanx remixes are all of one track, "Yogurt", which is simple and catchy enough to happily stand 14 (very varied) repeat listens. And I first heard Nikakoi on his debut album in 2002, and followed him through his incarnation as Erast — we'll hear more of his melodic and complex idm next week, along with more Coppe'.

Also next week we have an interview with the lovely Cameron Webb aka Seaworthy, from whose album we took a beautiful piece of processed guitar. Hopefully he'll bring some instruments and play something live for us too.

dj BC – Einstein on the Beast [mashup you'll have to search for] {RIP MCA}
dj BC and the Beastles – Sure-Bla-Di Shot-Bla-Da [mashup you'll have to search for] {RIP MCA}
Plug vs Merzbow – Untitled [Important]
Fennesz vs Merzbow – Frog Remix [Misanthropic Agenda]
Oren Ambarchi – Girl With The Silver Eyes [Touch]
…interview with Oren Ambarchi including selected tracks…
Oren Ambarchi – murmur [Touch] {under interview}
Oren Ambarchi – The Strouhal Number [Touch] {under interview}
Ambarchi / O'Rourke / Haino – Tima Formosa 2 [Black Truffle/CCA Kitakyushu] {under interview}
Oren Ambarchi – Fractured Mirror [Touch]
Oren Ambarchi – concurrents [Touch]
Wolfpanther – Easter Analog Continuation [unreleased]
Orcas (Benoît Pioulard & Rafael Anton Irissari) – Pallor Cedes [Morr Music]
Orcas – Arrow Drawn [Morr Music]
Orcas – Until Then [Morr Music]
Praveen – King (feat. Benoît Pioulard) [Ghostly Music Service]
Sepalcure – Eternally Yrs [Hotflush]
Filastine – colony collapse (with Nova) [Post World Industries/Muti Music]
Filastine – gendjer2 (with Nova) [Post World Industries/Muti Music]
Filastine – crescent occupation [Soot/Über Lingua]
Filastine – autology (feat. Jessika Skeletalia Kenney) [Soot/Über Lingua]
Filastine – fitnah (feat. Jessika Skeletalia Kenny) [Soot/Post World Industries/Über Lingua]
Filastine – the sinking ship [Soot/Post World Industries/Über Lingua]
Filastine – sidi bouzid [Post World Industries/Muti Music]
Björk – sacrifice (Death Grips remix) [One Little Indian]
Death Grips – Guillotine [self-released]
Death Grips – Double Helix [Epic]
Björk – solstice (Current Value remix) [One Little Indian]
coppe' – yogurt (Gareth Clark remix) [mango + sweetrice/bit-phalanx]
coppe' – yogurt (t-toe's muesli and honey remix) [mango + sweetrice/bit-phalanx]
coppe' + nikakoi – forbidden: remix [mango + sweetrice]
nikakoi – climb [WMF Records]
Seaworthy – The Rustle of Weather Beaten Leaves [Preservation]

Listen again — ~ 160MB

I went to the big Steve Reich extravaganza at the Opera House tonight! I had to leave before the end of Music For 18 Musicians, so I thought it apposite to start with the Coldcut remix (from…13 years ago argh) and then a fair chunk of his amazing Sextet from a few decades back!

We had a slew of tunes from the new album and first album from Bersarin Quartett, aka Thomas Bücker, whose beautiful classical samples a la Jacaszek rub shoulders with crunchy idm beats and the occasional droney crescendo to distortion. It's absolutely beguiling stuff – both albums are compulsory listening.

Great to have some more prime Sydney tunes for you. Via Telafonica's 4-4-2 Music, St Jambience gives us guitar loops and riffs, crackly noises and a surprising pop sensibility. Check him out along with Telafonica and my new trio Haunts with two of the Underlapper boys at Dirty Shirlow's this Saturday!
Speaking of whom, we had a couple of ace Telafonica remixes, one from Underlapper they-selves.

And then into another all-consuming special, this time on the Oxford band Jonquil, whose earlier efforts were a fascinatingly hard-to-pin-down take on freak folk. They've smartened themselves up for the latest album, a rather more easily digested form of indiepop — I don't begrudge them this, but it has lost some of its mystery. While the earlier stuff may be more my cup of tea, there's certainly some top songs on the new album.

From there we dive right into AU. Hailing from Portland OR, they have their own take on freak folk and indiepop, and their new album (first on Leaf) may be taking them further in terms of popularity, it's still pretty uncompromising and uncategorizable. I love the "epic" Colin Stetson-driven b-side "Under/Epic", which takes Stetson's muscular sax ostinati from the new album's opening track and stretches them out to longer than the original track, with nothing but some other horns overdubbed on top. From their back catalogue we took a few very catchy, oddly-structured tracks, with banjo, piano, percussion, multitudes of effects and vocals all contributing.

To lead us to the finish line, two remixes from everybody's favourite indietronicists epic45, who have been floating into ever gentler climes of late. Pastoral. The Gentleman Losers drop some beats and glitches into the mix, while beloved veterans of this sort of thing The Remote Viewer show us what indietronica's meant to be. Very fine.

It's hard for me to express just how excited I am about the forthcoming album from our favourite Canberran, Shoeb Ahmad, coming soon on Inch-time's Mystery Plays Records. It's perfect indietronica a la Hood, with orchestral samples, drum machines, guitars and glitches — and you'll be hearing much more of it here. Available in mid-June.

Valance Drakes aka MusSck has been making complex glitch-hop for a few years, and features frequently on this show. He let me know recently that he's bunkered down, working on stretching his sound into new places, with longer tracks and perhaps a broader, deeper sonic focus. On this unreleased track we hear warm bass, that post-dubstep slow pulse, and heaps of processing. Bodes well!

Steve Reich – Music For 18 Musicians (Coldcut remix) [Nonesuch]
Steve Reich – Sextet [Nonesuch]
Bersarin Quartett – Niemals zurück [Denovali]
Bersarin Quartett – Oktober [Lidar]
Bersarin Quartett – Alles ist ein Wunder [Denovali]
Bersarin Quartett – St. Petersburg [Lidar]
Bersarin Quartett – Perlen, Honig oder Untergang [Denovali]
st jambience – spacechimp parts i & ii [4-4-2 Music]
Telafonica – There's Something About Your Face (Genlevel version) [4-4-2 Music]
Telafonica – To Me (Underlapper version) [4-4-2 Music]
st jambience – spokes [4-4-2 Music]
Jonquil – Point Of Go (Parts 1 & 2) [Blessing Force]
Jonquil – Sudden Sun [Try Harder]
Jonquil – Square Rigger [Try Harder]
Jonquil – Subtle Strains [Try Harder]
Jonquil – This Innocent [Blessing Force]
AU – Under/Epic (feat. Colin Stetson) [Leaf]
AU – Epic [Leaf]
AU – sum [Aagoo]
AU – Ida Walked Away [Aagoo]
AU – rr vs. d [Aagoo]
AU – Today/Tonight [Leaf]
AU – boute [Aagoo]
AU – The Veil [Leaf]
epic45 – Washed Up (reworked by The Gentleman Losers) [Wayside & Woodland]
epic45 – The Village is Asleep (reworked by The Remote Viewer) [Wayside & Woodland]
Shoeb Ahmad – Falling Fast [Mystery Plays Records]
Valance Drakes – unreleased new choon [unreleased]

Listen again — ~ 155MB

Our first track was inspired by seeing the clip for "Freedom '90" on Rage's 25th birthday special on Saturday night. I'm not (too) embarrassed to say I love the song, but I love Robert Lippok & Caroline Thorpe's cover even more so, from the amazing Recovery compilation, released a few years ago on a boxset of ten 7" records…

Last week's highlight, the new psych-folk album by Mike Wexler, featured again tonight. We also heard again the folktronic sounds of Italy's K-Conjog and France's Chapelier Fou.

The first new release this week is a corker from Sydney's Karoshi, streaming on Bandcamp at the moment. They've been doing lovely folktronic stuff for a few years now, and have perfected their sound for this latest release – punchy drums, glitchy effects and lovely melodies.

I'm sometimes a bit cynical about 14tracks, the weekly digital mixtape of tracks from Boomkat, which is after all an exercise in selling us something. But then, that's what the music business is aobut, and they do have pretty good taste, as we hear in this week's selection of footwork-influenced electronica. Russian-American Slava Balsanov's track samples what sounds like a kora, and then dives into blissful textures and shuffling beats — a great find for the Software label. And Throwing Snow takes things in a more ravey direction in that not-really-jungle way of juke.
Meanwhile in a more UK-style Bass way is the excellent new EP from Commodo on the ever-reliable Deep Medi. This track in particular recalls the melodic, jazzy sounds of labelmate Silkie.

Sydney kids MAKING have all the signs of being the next big thing in instrumental dance-rock, and their new single (free from Bandcamp) rocks that signature guitar sound. The two remixes are nicely contrasting, and local sax/computer experimentalist Ben Carey pulls their track apart, to make a glitching, building crescendo of drone.

Just in this week is the 2nd Hidden Landscapes compilation from the (mostly) netlabel Audio Gourmet. Featuring a well-selected bunch of drone/post-classical/thingy artists, as often is the case, the highlights come from artists who are unknown to me. Norway's Pjusk have a new album coming out soon on 12k, and here contribute a delicate ambient piece along the lines of the classic em:t releases of the '90s. Rudi Arapahoe is more in a post-classical vein, with wispy female vocals in the mix.

Fabio Orsi gives us one of his amazing long drones with pounding drums in the amusingly-titled "the new year is over (nope)" (there's a matching "the new year is over (yep)" track on the album).

Also from last week, we have another track from laptop power trio Fenn O'Berg's stunning latest album, and the wondrous 12-minute finale to Machinefabriek's brilliant Colour Tones, plus both sides of his Ontrafelde tonen 7" — choral samples (creating a similar effect to the voices in Jurgen Knieper's "Cathedral of Books" on the Wings of Desire soundtrack, for the trainspotters!) and then more abstract sounds on the b-side: scary creaking, submerged vocals, scraping… And also another track from his very fine collaboration with Steve Roden.

To almost finish, we jump to two new releases on the Ad Noiseam label. The fourth album from Larvae sees him moving further away from the heavy dubby beats, using guitar and electronics for a not-quite-shoegazey sound. But there are still some pretty great glitchy beats and occasional dubstep influence surfacing. It's really great stuff.
New band Underhill features Tim Eliot of Current Value, Ivan Shopov aka Cooh/Balkansky, and various others, into a fusion of dubstep, drum'n'bass/breakcore, and trip-hop. It's the heavier end of those beats, and so the nice songwriting elements may be lost on people who can't handle the massive bass and sometimes nasty beats, but for those of us who enjoy that stuff it's very good indeed. Current Value's recent (current) Bj&oul;rk remixes should point people in the right direction too!

And finally, keeping the beats in the drum'n'bass direction, we have something from the new Squarepusher. To be honest I'm finding it hard to get really enthused about this. Sure, he's come back to the electronic side of things, and the beats are a slightly nastier (dubstep-influenced) side of drill'n'bass, but it lacks much of the melodic and fun aspect of his earlier stuff. Maybe he's trying too hard to be darker here. The jury's still out on this (although compared to the crazy prog-jazz-kitchen-sink of the last few albums, it's a welcome return…)

Robert Lippok & Caroline Thorpe – Freedom! [Fractured Recordings] {Yup, George Michael cover!}
Mike Wexler – The Trace [Mexican Summer]
Mike Wexler – Liminal [Mexican Summer]
Karoshi – ELK [stream on Bandcamp] {hint: Like them on Facebook and request a free download of the EP!}
Karoshi – Blood In The Rain [stream on Bandcamp]
K-Conjog – Qwerty [Abandon Building Records]
Chapelier Fou – Shunde's Bronx [Ici D'Ailleurs]
Slava – The Swan [Software]
Commodo – So Clear [Deep Medi]
Throwing Snow – Too Polite (feat. Louis Vines) [Local Action]
MAKING – Barcelona [free from their Bandcamp]
MAKING – Barcelona (Ben Carey remix) [free from their Bandcamp]
Pjusk – Vannspeil [Audio Gourmet]
Rudi Arapahoe – Double Bind [Audio Gourmet]
Fabio Orsi – the new year is over (nope) [Silentes]
Fresh Snow – BMX Based Tactics [Sonic Boom] {download from their Soundcloud}
Fenn O'Berg – Concrete Onions (24 Nov 2010, Kyoto, Club Metro) [Editions Mego]
Machinefabriek – Mosaic [Fang Bomb]
Machinefabriek – Ontrafelde tonen 2 [Vintermusik]
Steve Roden & Machinefabriek – ice bow [Eat, Sleep, Repeat]
Machinefabriek – Ontrafelde tonen 3 [Vintermusik]
Larvae – Locked From The Inside [Ad Noiseam]
Underhill – Blind [Ad Noiseam]
Larvae – Vows & Promises [Ad Noiseam]
Larvae – N-1 [Ad Noiseam]
Underhill – Solace [Ad Noiseam]
Squarepusher – Drax 2 [Warp]

Listen again — ~ 158MB

I'm new to Mike Wexler, and his new album has left me gobsmacked all week. It's understated psych folk, songs in odd scales, harmonies changing direction halfway through melodies, unusual time signatures — but none of it screaming out at you. It features members of the free improv scene like Nate Wooley, but isn't really challenging listening. Just great.

Also on the folky, or more country, end of the spectrum is Sydney's The Singing Skies aka Kell from Moonmilk. He enlists Seaworthy here to do a remix, and it's truly spellbinding, with scratchy violin over guitar and vocals…

And from last week, Tasmania's Spheres bring a doomier, heavier track.

And then it's into an interview with Brett from Melbourne instrumental rock band Margins. They're touring to release their new album Divide — see top of post. The track from their first album has some wicked guitar tapping.

After some more from Mr Wexler, it's into the somewhat folktronic sounds of Dictaphone. Clarinet and violin drive the sound, with tuned percussion in the mix along with, I'm guessing, subtle electronics and beats — and a wonderful vocal on the last track. This is amazing stuff, beautifully packaged on Sonic Pieces.

Another amazing find this week is Sweden's Esbjörn Svensson Trio (e.s.t). Recalling The Bad Plus a tiny bit (they're a melodic jazz piano trio), and folks like 3ofmillions and Triosk (not to mention Alister Spence) in their combining of piano jazz with electronics, they make some beautiful sounds. I'll have to play more next week.

Also popping up from last week is Perth's Kynan Tan, whose album rætina is highly recommended. The minimalist glitch beats and processed Fender Rhodes are joined on one track here by vocals as well.

Next we travel to France, with an artist who only recently graced our shores (and I missed him, more's the pity) — Chapelier Fou is released on the awesome French label Ici D'Ailleurs and mixes looped and/or fully arranged violin with crunchy beats. I'd love to see how he does it live. As well as some added cello (at least) on some tracks, the album features labelmate Matt Elliott aka Mr Third Eye Foundation on the last track, sounding particularly mellifluous.

Italy's K-Conjog also mixes violin in with his folktronic beats and cut-ups. This is folktronica just how I enjoy it, and you should check it out too, on Abandon Building Records, who released the latest Origamibiro in the US, among some other great releases (see what else I've played of theirs).

It's been a great year for Machinefabriek, who's concentrating on perfectly-formed sound art/installation pieces more than longform drones. His disc with another installation artist, Steve Roden, rewards close listening, with what I think of as "foley" recordings (perhaps field recordings, perhaps meticulously-prepared sound pieces) rubbing up against musical passages on various instruments. Similarly with the new solo Machinefabriek , one of his best works I feel.

On the same label that brought us the Steve Roden collaboration come Minus Pilots. It's electric bass through various delay pedals and four-track tape recorder, and they aptly describe it thus: "all our recordings are designed for listening through headphones while gazing at the stars…" Indeed.

And finally, the mighty laptop improv trio Fenn O'Berg are back with a new live album on Editions Mego, In Hell. It feels like their best yet, or at least since the first batch, and reminds me bizarrely of a slightly more experimental Future Sound of London. Anything goes, with orchestral loops, crackly synths and even some live (I think) electric guitar. Highly, highly recommended.

Mike Wexler – Pariah [Mexican Summer]
The Singing Skies – A Message From The Cliffs (Seaworthy remix) [Preservation] {free download from SoundCloud}
Spheres – Salvation for the Wretched [Sonoptik]
Margins – Men Vs Nature [Casadeldisco Records]
…interview with Brett from Margins…
Margins – Closes In [Low Transit Industries]
Margins – Rabbit Head [Casadeldisco Records]
Mike Wexler – Lens [Mexican Summer]
Mike Wexler – Spectrum [Mexican Summer]
Dictaphone – The Conversation [Sonic Pieces]
Dictaphone – Rattle [Sonic Pieces]
Esbjörn Svensson Trio (e.s.t) – Inner City, City Lights [ACT]
Kynan Tan – skeletal (frame+axis) [Listen/Hear Collective]
Kynan Tan – woken / under streams [Listen/Hear Collective]
Chapelier Fou – L'eau qui dort [Ici D'Ailleurs] {see the lovely video here}
Chapelier Fou – Protest [Ici D'Ailleurs]
K-Conjog – Nobody Knows [Abandon Building Records]
Chapelier Fou – Moth, Flame (feat. Matt Elliott) [Ici D'Ailleurs] {see the lovely video here}
K-Conjog – Jabberwock [Abandon Building Records]
Steve Roden & Machinefabriek – Leaves [Eat, Sleep, Repeat]
Machinefabriek – Brown [Fang Bomb]
Steve Roden & Machinefabriek – Some Things Within [Eat, Sleep, Repeat]
Machinefabriek – Grey [Fang Bomb]
Minus Pilots – Into The Void [Eat, Sleep, Repeat]
Minus Pilots – Heaven Spots [Eat, Sleep, Repeat]
Fenn O'Berg – Christian Rocks (20 Nov 2010, Oita, Oitaweb.tv Beppu Tower Hall) [Editions Mego]

Listen again — ~ 156MB

Tonight we start with a fairly long and self-indulgent tribute to the amazing Nick Zammuto and his amazing duo with Paul de Jong, The Books. I first came across Nick on the idm-list, an email list for discussion of electronic and experimental music in the '90s (when such things still existed and made sense)… I strangely even had the honour of having one of my tracks remixed by him (see below) as part of a remix chain organised by members of the list — a track Nick probably wishes was left forgotten, but I think it's quite fun!
While Nick was occasionally dabbling in overdriven beat-mangling, he had also already started forays into "his" sound — found samples from his ever-growing sound library, studio accidents, highly edit-heavy construction of tracks often from sources not usually used for this sort of music. In 1999 he put together a 3CDR set called Solutiore of Stareau, featuring the sounds of his guitar chopped and edited into minimalist, rhythmic pieces on disc 1, vinyl crackles and pops treated the same way on disc 2, and a combination of the two with some more melodic and longform elements on the 3rd disc. I remember Keith-Hrvatski raving about it at the time, and later I managed to get a copy direct from Nick.

In 2002 (ten years ago!) when the first Books album came out, I remember another artist, Keith's frequent collaborator Greg Davis I believe, spruiking their record, and at first I didn't connect them with Nick. Keith had been talking about how Nick had gone off for many months walking the Appalachian trail (I hope I have this right), a mind-changing experience, and no doubt the music the Books started making was influenced by the folk sounds of the area. The combination of computer editing with ultra down-home folk playing and de Jong's cello arrangements was intoxicating, even if I didn't quite understand the use of strange, intrusive home recordings, conversations and kooky spoken word (I now think they're wonderful).
So in 2003, as FBi began the countdown for launching along with this very show, I wrote to Tom Steinle at Tomlab asking if I could have a promo of the new Books album, as it would be perfect for this show I was going, and he kindly sent me the lemon of pink shortly before it came out. It stands to this day as one of the great musical achievements of this century. Beautiful, mind-bending, thought-provoking, technically impeccable, managing to sound both ramshackle and utterly precise.
Nick's been singing on and off since the beginning, and on 2005's lost and safe a few more song-shaped tracks start to form. Up until his new solo album I would've said that the Lewis Carroll-inspired "vogt dig for kloppervok" was his greatest song, with its pulsating, processed vocal line intoning words from Jabberwocky. But on Zammuto we have his editing and arranging talents being put even more towards real songs, and I'm willing to go out on a limb and declare that we're not going to get a greater song this year than Harlequin. You'll see I played the "working" version from his SoundCloud last year and already was in raptures. The rest of the album is great, but it'd be golden simply for this one song.

Next up, we have two remixes courtesy of Melbourne's Part Timer, an artist whose past works have been heavily influenced by The Books. Not so much here, though. First up, a remix of a track from the wonderful forthcoming Cock and Swan album on Lost Tribe Sound, placing the vocal in a minimalist sound-world with drums phasing in and eventually getting nice and distorty. One of Mr McCaffrey's best efforts of late. Also lovely is the pulsing drone of this y0t0 remix. Hopefully this means something new from Queanbeyan's Charles Sage this year too!

Speaking of drone, from further south in Tasmania comes Spheres. We didn't progress into his sludgy metal riffs tonight — leave that for next week — but hopefully his dark intonings pressed the right buttons.

Then across to Perth, where Kynan Tan has returned from some time in Berlin to release an album of glitchy beats, and processed rhodes and vocals. I could easily have played anything off this album, and we'll hear more in coming weeks. All tracks are slippery in their structures and quite immersive.

Then FilFla takes us into our last chapter, the amazing 50-track Christopher Willits remix album. But first up, FilFla is Keiichi Sugimoto, whose quartet Minamo had a wonderful acoustic release on Room40 last year, and who also releases music as Fourcolor and Fonica. Not only that, he also founded Cubic Music, who released many amazing Japanese acts including many discs by the genius World's End Girlfriend. Someone Good are releasing his entry into their "10 songs in 20 minutes" series, with compact pieces folkrocktronica…

In 2010 Christopher Willits released his latest album, Tiger Flower Circle Sun, a sequel to 2006's Surf Boundaries with more sunny, hazy pop songs through a glitchy electronic filter. I vaguely recall last year a call-out for remixes, and now Overlap have released a huge 50 remix collection on their Bandcamp on a pay-way-you-like basis. I happy to be a fan of the remix album, both as a way of hearing familiar songs from a fresh perspective, and also as a way of discovering new artists and hearing new works from familiar artists. Away from the world of boring pop and club music, the remix tends to be a springboard for creativity to go in interesting directions, and so while 50 tracks seems pretty insane, it's mostly not gratuitous at all. Even the few artists who turn up multiple times are doing interesting stuff — and it's a shame I only fitted a few in tonight. If you're a bit daunted by the whole thing then have a listen to tonight's and tune in next week for a few more of my "hot tips".
Robert Lippok was a no-brainer. Whenever he turns his talents to indie/postrock crossover, his electronic production is just right. He did a remix off Surf Boundaries in 2006 as well. MimiCof is the more beat-oriented alter-ego of shoegazey drone producer Midori Hirano, and comes off very nicely; UFog regular Sun Hammer does his usual surging, distorting bass thing; and Alpharay closes the show with some very nice jittery drums, just the way I like it.

Zammuto – Yay [Temporary Residence]
Zammuto – mbast goodanswerremix [self-released/Apartment B]
Zammuto – some moss [self-released/Apartment B]
Zammuto – fairly aggressive salsa [remix of Raven track "We carpet bombed the old school" available somewherehere]
Zammuto – Full Martyr Status [No Type]
the books – enjoy your worries, you may never have them again [Tomlab]
the books – motherless bastard [Tomlab]
the books – the lemon of pink (pts 1 & 2) [Tomlab]
the books – there is no there [Tomlab]
the books – don't even sing about it [Tomlab]
the books – a true story of a story of true love [Tomlab]
the books – vogt dig for kloppervok [Tomlab]
the books – An Animated Description Of Mr. Maps [Tomlab]
The Books – IDKT / I Didn't Know That [Tomlab]
Zammuto – Weird Ceiling [Temporary Residence]
Zammuto – Harlequin [Temporary Residence]
Cock and Swan – Stash (Part Timer remix) [forthcoming? on Lost Tribe Sound]
y0t0 – glass canoe (part timer remix) [unreleased]
Spheres – Impious Internment [Sonoptik]
Spheres – Forsaken Soul [Sonoptik]
Kynan Tan – gleichzeitig [Listen/Hear Collective]
Kynan Tan – skeletal (mass) [Listen/Hear Collective]
Kynan Tan – skeletal (altitude) [Listen/Hear Collective]
FilFla – Morse Mall [Someone Good]
Christopher Willits – Light Into Branches (FilFla Remix) [Overlap] {free awesome 50-track download from Bandcamp!}
FilFla – Pack Plus Ice [Someone Good]
Christopher Willits – Yellow Spring (Robert Lippok Remix) [free download from RCRDLBL]
Christopher Willits – Light Into Branches (Robert Lippok Remix) [Overlap] {free awesome 50-track download from Bandcamp!}
Christopher Willits – Tiger Flower Circle Sun (MimiCof Remix) [Overlap] {free awesome 50-track download from Bandcamp!}
Christopher Willits – Sun Body (Sun Hammer Remix) [Overlap] {free awesome 50-track download from Bandcamp!}
Christopher Willits – Planty Body (Alpharay Remix) [Overlap] {free awesome 50-track download from Bandcamp!}

Listen again — ~ 155MB

So on the weekend, I got an email from Dirty Projectors pointing me to their website, on which there was a link to this Soundcloud page, where Domino have posted a new song, and how incredible is it. A lot of people are commenting on how Dave Longstreth has learned to sing. Maybe so, but it's still characteristically his singing style, and the (now three) girls are sounding better than ever in backing vocals. The song is relatively simple, but it's a perfect marrying of melody, harmony and lyrics.

So we'll stick with pop (for certain values of "pop") for much of the show, courtesy of a couple of other highlight releases of the week. Right at the top is undoubtedly the new album from artist of the moment Julia Holter. I was talking to another UFog artist from tonight, Part Timer, in Melbourne this weekend (as you do), and we were discussing how what we consider "pop" is probably what other people consider incredibly challenging music. Nevertheless, for all that her songs frequently change directions at odd times, her arrangements balance the off-the-wall with tributes to '80s electro-pop and her voice is exquisite. I wasn't that impressed with last year's vinyl-only (and eventually digital) Tragedy, but this is compulsively listenable.

Sydney's 4-4-2 Music remind us what a lovely album Karoshi put out last year. "Walking In Fields", with its glitched-up female vox, was a highlight, and on the single Telafonica's Eliza composes a whole new lyric for their remix. This is a band at the height of their powers — you shouldn't be ignoring what Telafonica have been doing the last few years…

As we're doing the pop thing, I thought we needed to hear another of the tracks from Clark's new album featuring the wonderful Martina Topley Bird. It's a corker of an album and her contributions are really great.

Sydney producer Dro Carey is getting hyped everywhere at the moment, and to be honest his first EPs impressed me but seemed a little overly hyperactive and lacking warmth. But his latest couple of releases seem like a big step forward, especially the free download Tussin Underwater. Post-Bass, post-r'n'b, music for the Tumblr generation.

Addison Groove (aka Headhunter when in his dubstep guise) strikes me as inhabiting a similar space – perhaps more danceable, quite hyper, with solid roots in dubstep — or at least, this is music that couldn't have happened without dubstep. And it's from one of the central labels in the history of dubstep, Pinch's Tectonic Recordings. They're up to Volume 3 in the Tectonic Plates series, with a really nice snapshot of dubstep today, from the trad sounds of Pinch and Kryptic Minds to Addison Groove, and the amazing 10-minute dub techno from 2562.

Keeping it dark, but in a fairly different direction, we have Berlin legend Christoph de Babalon, whose 1997 album If You're Into It, I'm Out Of It on Digital Hardcore Recordings remains a classic of the breakcore/dark ambient genres. It appears he has a new album coming on Tigerbeat6, and from the sounds of it, it'll be brilliantly-produced, dark and broad-ranging. In 2008 he put out a vinyl-only epic called Scilla and Charybdis, and I discovered on his Bandcamp there's an album of extra bits available as well.

Dark and dramatic, and back to the pop theme, is Austrian pianist/singer/songwriter Soap&Skin, who again on her new album dabbles with distorted electronic beats along with passionate piano & vocals numbers. Of the songs I still think "Spiracle" is her masterpiece, but from my as-yet brief listening there's some great stuff on the new album too.

Northerner was one of the first artists on the lovely northern English Home Assembly Music label. Since the beginning, the label has released folktronic artists with bonus remix albums with early editions, and Melbourne's Part Timer has always been there from the start. Hood-related acts like the wonderful Bracken and The Declining Winter are involved, and one of the best early albums was from one-time Declining Winter member Fieldhead, who also turns in a fine minimalist remix here. Northerner's new album proper, however, finds him veering away from semi-ambient folkiness into something more upbeat and funky. At first it grated a little on me, but it's undeniably pretty and melodic.

Speaking of pretty and melodic, the Kompakt label have been doing their Pop Ambient compilation series for some time, and it's always worth a listen. From the 2012 edition we hear lovely ambient beats from Marsen Jules and blissful sequenced synths from techno maestro Superpitcher.

The latest Wire Magazine has one of their regular Wire Tapper compilations accompanying it, and as usual there are some great tracks (and some gratuitous ones). The psychedelic, krautrock-inspired Medicine And Duty caught my ear, and after Teho Teardo's new Music, Film. Music disc last week it's great to hear an exclusive track from him.
The Teho Teardo disc featured Alexander Balanescu on violin, and over the week I pulled out my old CDs from The Balanescu Quartet. Back in 1992(!) they released a set of groundbreaking Kraftwerk covers that brought the sound of the string quartet to ears that wouldn't have otherwise listened, and these faithful yet creative interpretations were an inspiration for my own band if noone else! Great to revisit these — and some of Balanescu's originals were very fine too.

Finally, back with 4-4-2 Music, Telafonica member Lessons In Time has another EP of ramshackle indietronica, in which all recorded sounds are fodder for processing and shuffling, all with a great songwriting ear.

Dirty Projectors – Gun Has No Trigger [Domino] {stream from Soundcloud}
Julia Holter – Marienbad [RVNG]
Karoshi – Walking In Fields (Telafonica version) [4-4-2 Music]
Karoshi – Walking In Fields [4-4-2 Music]
Julia Holter – This Is Ekstasis [RVNG]
Clark – Open (feat. Martina Topley Bird) [Warp]
Dro Carey – Foes, Gallons n Fathoms [free download from his Tumblr]
Dro Carey – Someday [The Trilogy Tapes]
Addison Groove – Phantom [Tectonic]
Kryptic Minds – The Talisman [Tectonic]
Pinch – Blow Out The Candle [Tectonic]
Christoph de Babalon – Traumspiel [Tigerbeat6]
Christoph de Babalon – What You Call A Life [Digital Hardcore Recordings]
Christoph de Babalon – Scylla's Night Out [Cross Fade Enter Tainment]
Christoph de Babalon – Hell's Harps [Tigerbeat6]
Soap&Skin – Deathmental [SOLFO/PIAS]
Soap&Skin – Spiracle [SOLFO/PIAS]
Soap&Skin – DDMMYY [SOLFO/PIAS]
2562 – Rogue State [Tectonic]
Northerner – To Where? (Part Timer remix) [Home Assembly Music]
Northerner – Worry About The Government [Home Assembly Music]
Northerner – J C De M [Home Assembly Music]
Northerner – Fin (Bracken remix) [Home Assembly Music]
Northerner – Worry About The Government (Fieldhead remix) [Home Assembly Music]
Marsen Jules – Swans Reflecting Elephants [Kompakt]
Superpitcher – Jackson [Kompakt]
Medicine And Duty – Deep Sea Heat Haze [Foolproof Projects via Wire Magazine]
Teho Teardo – Dance The Sauris [Wire Magazine]
The Balanescu Quartet – Autobahn [Mute]
The Balanescu Quartet – Still With Me [Mute]
Lessons In Time – blunt and unreferenced [4-4-2 Music]

Listen again — ~ 154MB

We started the show with some of the beautiful music on Greg Haines' new album for Sydney's Preservation, and then I had a chat with Greg over Skype from Europe. He talked about not coming from an academic classical background, his composition process, working with (very talented) schoolkids and with various Berlin-based colleagues, playing live vs creating music for recordings, and lots more — plus we heard a goodly amount of his wonderful music, including his duo with Danny Saul, Liondialer.

From Greg we go east to another composer working with electronics and crossing genres, Italian Teho Teardo, with his new album Music, Film. Music. A few years ago I played on the show a rather brilliant collaboration with one of my favourite cellists, Erik Friedlander. Erik appears on this new album along with genre-leaping violinist Alexander Balanescu and, on one track, the voice of the one and only Blixa Bargeld. Being film music, the sounds here are somewhat tamed compared to the experimentalism of the Freidlander collaboration, but the combination of electronic elements and lush string arrangements is beautiful.

Another experimental artist "experimenting" with more approachable sounds for soundtrack work is Melbourne composer Anthony Pateras, who we recently saw in Sydney in an incendiary solo piano performance supporting Mike Patton's Mondo Cane. His piano's certainly prominent on these tracks, along with orchestral instruments and electronics. One track stands out with beats and noises, produced with Lachlan Carrick.

Sticking with Melbourne, we have the new album from postrockers (or instrumental rock band, anyway) Margins. I'll be chatting with Brett from the band in a couple of weeks, and I'm really enjoying their new album, which sticks mostly to the guitar/bass/drums template, but isn't afraid to explore sound, drop dub echoes in here and there, and even introduce some wordless female vocals on one standout track. They strike me as a bit of a Melbourne Founder, which is high praise!

In celebration of his very excellent new album, we had a bit of a feature on Warp's Chris Clark — once a young turk bringing his Aphex-influenced acid to a well-established label, and now a vanguard name on the label. He's got the wonderful Martina Topley Bird singing on a few tracks, to great effect — it's hard not to be reminded of the Bristol trip-hop of Tricky's debut album when one hears her voice, and there's something of that flavour in the folktronic numbers which feature her, but one thing Clark has achieved over the last 6 or so years since Body Riddle is an absolutely idiosyncratic sound, for all its references to Boards of Canada and Autechre.
As well as some old favourites from that time period, we heard a couple of his remixes. The Milanese remix takes him into raging ragga jungle territory (and a subsequent remix of the same artist followed similar ground), while his version of Amon Tobin's "Kitchen Sink" takes the title literally in fine Clark style.

Finally this week also saw the release of a collaboration nobody saw coming, nor asked for. I'm surprised, really, at how lacklustre the Sufjan Stevens / Son Lux / Serengeti collaboration is. I loved the touches of autotune on Sufjan's last album, but here it's cloying and gratuitous; and after his autotuned appearance on the first track, Sufjan's all but ununnoticeable on the rest of the EP. Highlight is definitely the Shara Worden-heavy "If This Is Real", jazzy and extroverted. And so we finish with the equally extroverted Son Lux remix of Ms Worden's My Brightest Diamond, and look forward to seeing her at Vivid Sydney in May.

Greg Haines – 183 Times [Preservation]
Greg Haines – Ernetti [Preservation]
…interview with Greg Haines…
Greg Haines – Azure [Preservation]
Greg Haines – Snow Airport [Miasmah]
Liondialer – Intro / Green Room 2 [White Box]
Teho Teardo – I'm Gonna Live Anyhow Until I Die [Spècula]
Teho Teardo – A Quiet Life (feat. Blixa Bargeld) [Spècula]
Erik Friedlander & Teho Teardo – to the red flag [Bip-Hop]
Erik Friedlander & Teho Teardo – warm leatherette [Bip-Hop]
Teho Teardo – Brake [Spècula]
Teho Teardo – Nemmeno Io [Spècula]
Anthony Pateras – At Least I Knew Who I Was Fucking [Editions Mego]
Anthony Pateras – XIJ [Editions Mego]
Margins – Cousteau [Casadeldisco Records]
Margins – Static Cleaner [Casadeldisco Records]
Margins – Cowboys [self-released]
Margins – Rabbit Head [Casadeldisco Records]
Founder – Cat Eat Machine [Understandation Records]
Clark – Secret (feat. Martina Topley Bird) [Warp]
Clark – Com Touch [Warp]
Clark – Herr Bar [Warp]
Milanese – Mr Bad News (Clark remix) [Planet µ]
Amon Tobin – Kitchen Sink (Clark remix) [Ninja Tune]
Clark – Truncation Horn [Warp]
Clark – Growls Garden [Warp]
Clark – The Pining Pt2 [Warp]
s / s / s – If This Is Real (feat. My Brightest Diamond) [anticon.]
My Brightest Diamond – Inside A Boy (Son Lux remix) [Asthmatic Kitty]

Listen again — ~ 158MB

After the first few tracks, I had a chat with Maddy Boud from the Australian Chamber Orchestra about their ACO Underground gig that's coming up in 2 weeks. Did I say "gig"? Yes, it's at The Standard in Surry Hills, and features a collaboration with Jim Moginie of Midnight Oil and music from Radiohead and Nick Drake in amongst the classical pieces. Ace.

Much of tonight's show was taken up with some specials on a few artists. First up, the wonderful Peter Broderick, whose new album is called http://www.itstartshear.com. Yes it is. That aside, it's a wonderful overview of all his strengths, as a multi-instrumentalist and arranger, as a songwriter and singer, and indeed as a collaborator. He plays the vast majority of the instruments on the album, but has his friend Nils Frahm producing and playing various instruments, his sister Heather Woods Broderick on a few tracks, and various others.
We start with a lovely chamber piece with piano (duh) and lilting strings, but the album has indie rock (or at least indie folk) pop songs, tracks that recall his soundtrack work, and even one track where, briefly, he raps. Sort of.
It's really a very special album.

From the archive of Peter Broderick collaborations, we heard from last year's gorgeous, underrated and under-heard debut album from Dutch singer Laura Arkana "met Peter Broderick". Peter arranges strings, piano and various other instruments under her delicate, personal songs, in perfect sympathy.
Later, we had a track from one of his amazing collaborations with Machinefabriek — his chamber arrangements meeting Rutger Zuydervelt's sound design and drone — and his self-effacing and touching remix of Balmorhea.

Regular William Ryan Fritch aka Vieo Abiungo also gets a look-in tonight, because the bonus EP that was promised with his Kickstarter campaign arrived this weekend. Released under his own name and only available to funders of the campaign, it's nevertheless his usual world folk beat mix, albeit a bit breezier than his usual (hinted at perhaps in a title like "joy in the filth"). We also heard a bonus track from last year's album plus a sneak preview of the album that was part-funded by this Kickstarter.

Our next special of the evening is the songwriting and arranging genius of Daniel Rossen. Although his music might perhaps seem a bit straight indie pop for the likes of the 'Fog, he's come out of the exploratory indietronic world that birthed both his main band nowadays, Grizzly Bear, and his original college duo Department of Eagles, who amply demonstrate why I became obsessed with him in around 2004 or 2005 with a track that showcases his beautiful songwriting in amongst chaotic found samples and drill'n'bass beats.
These days, though, it's his exquisite chord progressions, quiet-loud song structures and bittersweet vocals that set him apart, and it's great to have new material, and solo material no less. To celebrate, we heard a couple of sublime cover versions: a touching and reverent Paul Simon cover, and an unrecognizable reworking of bubble-gum popster JoJo.

Back in Oz, we have another take from the forthcoming collaboration between Adelaide's Jason Sweeney aka Panoptique Electrical and Richard Adams of Hood. I've asked Jason for some more info on this, as the preview songs so far are pretty amazing, as you'd expect from two veterans of indie experimentalism.

Last week we heard a couple of takes from a live recording of Alister Spence Trio from late last year. Tonight, a slightly longer take with his Fender Rhodes providing random jazz licks and then spooky sci-fi soundscapes over warm double bass and kitchen sink percussion.

The new album from Robert Henke aka Monolake takes a surprising turn into futuristic drum'n'bass. Some tracks are more minimalist in nature, and the whole thing has his usual impeccably-produced sound, but it's rather interesting to hear these beats, whether at d'n'b tempo or somewhat slowed down. There's some pretty heavy bass in there too. I'll be listening over his back catalogue over the next week or two in preparation for a bit of a retrospective.

Meanwhile, Scuba also harkens back to d'n'b on one track from his new album, with some big breaks over half-pace sweeps and bass pulse. Very little of his new album is dubstep, instead going for a bright and shiny club sound. It's a big shift from his earlier introspective dubstep, although 2010's Triangulation moved towards more of a techno feel, and many of his 12"s have been far housier. I couldn't resist playing some tracks from both other albums, landing with the last two tracks on his debut album, very atmospheric almost static dubstep.

Finally we have one track from the soon-to-be-released new Yppah album on Ninja Tune, featuring the dulcet tones of Anomie Belle, as with the recent single. The album as a whole has its fair share of Ninja-style instrumental hip-hop, Bibio-style folktronica, and large quantities of Ulrich Schnauss-style second-wave shoegaze. It's grown on me a lot.

Peter Broderick – I Am Piano [Bella Union]
Laura Arkana met Peter Broderick – Huilen [Hush Records]
Peter Broderick – Asleep [Bella Union]
…Interview with Maddy Boud from Australian Chamber Orchestra…
William Ryan Fritch – tooth and claw [Lost Tribe Sound]
Vieo Abiungo – a praire song [Lost Tribe Sound]
Vieo Abiungo – rejoice in the blind coincidence [Lost Tribe Sound]
William Ryan Fritch – joy in the filth [Lost Tribe Sound]
Peter Broderick – With The Notes On Fire [Bella Union]
Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek – Planes [Fang Bomb]
Balmorhea – November 1, 1832 (Peter Broderick remix) [Western Vinyl/Longtime Listener]
Peter Broderick – Colin [Bella Union]
Daniel Rossen – Golden Mile [Warp]
Department of Eagles – The Horse You Ride [Isota Records/Melodic]
Daniel Rossen – Graceland [unreleased Paul Simon cover, from the internet...]
Daniel Rossen – Too Little Too Late [unreleased JoJo cover, from the internet...]
Daniel Rossen – Saint Nothing [Warp]
Panoptique Electrical – Cold Moments Melt (feat. Richard Adams of Hood) [Panoptique Electrical SoundCloud]
Alister Spence Trio – Set 1c, live at People's Republic of Australasia [unreleased]
Monolake – The Existence Of Time [Imbalance Computer Music]
Monolake – Discontinuity [Imbalance Computer Music]
Scuba – Cognitive Dissonance [Hotflush]
Scuba – Dsy Chn [Hotflush]
Scuba – Tracers [Hotflush]
Scuba – From Within [Hotflush]
Scuba – Suck [Hotflush]
Yppah – Soon Enough feat. Anomie Belle [Ninja Tune]

Listen again — ~ 144MB

Nuojuva is the new name for Finnish artist Olli Aarni, whose grainy sounds were previously released as Ous Mal. I talked to him live tonight about working with guests like Sophie Hutchings on piano and Rachel Evans of Motion Sickness of Time Travel on vocals. He suggested that his half-focused acoustic-meets-digital music feels like "pop" music to him — perhaps in the context of the very lively experimental music scene that Helsinki enjoys. Pop or not, the sounds are beautiful and highly listenable.

Also tonight we heard some exclusive (for now) mixes of a live set performed by Sydney's Alister Spence Trio last year at the People's Republic of Australasia. Featuring Spence on Fender Rhodes and piano, Lloyd Swanton on bass and Toby Hall on drums, the trio inhabit a similar space perhaps to other Sydney acts like 3ofmillions, Triosk and The Necks, but there's a particular moodiness to Spence's Fender Rhodes playing and the interplay between the artists that is quite special.

Scott Morrison has been active and well-known in the east coast music scene for a while, but it's only recently that, as Room40 put it, his work has been documented. He's resolutely an audio-visual artist, and the sounds are highly integrated with the video work. I was concerned that I would be doing his art a disservice by splitting the audio off from the visuals, but I felt the music was strong enough as it is, and asked Scott if it was alright to play it. Sensbily enough, he was fine with this :) – so we had one shortish pulsating track and then a longer track in which (literaly, I think) field recordings are slowly augmented with synthetic sounds. It's very lovely, but you ought to go and experience the music along with the accompanying visuals if you can! Some examples can be seen at his website.

We again revisit Charles Hayward tonight, with another track from his superb new album, vocals no less incisive than in the post-punk days. Afterwards, the title track of the only album from his post-This Heat band Camberwell Now, with his clattering drums and their punkish noise, ending with gorgeous bells floating out of the chaos.

Runningonair Music is a label that likes to release music (of all genres) that specifically bases itself in some way on science/technology/mathematics. The latest release comes from academic Guy Birkin and is called Symmetry Breaking. Rigourously applying mathematical techniques to his sound sources, he nevertheless manages to bring a musicality to the results, which can sometimes be lacking in the more cerebral end of experimental music. It helps that I just tend to find the sound of granular synthesis inherently attractive!

Ecka Liena had a release on Runningonair a few months ago under his real name, Daniel Mackenzie. He appears again on the latest Futuresequence compilation, SEQUENCE3, with a piece of his usual, always-compelling drone/postrock. Remember, the huge Sequence comps are always free on Bandcamp!

The Atlas Room recently relocated from Sydney to Melbourne, and his is the first track from him in a while – a nice slab of dark techno. A young artist worth watching.

From Telafonica's latest remix EP (all free on Bandcamp!), Hinterlandt pops There's Something About Your Face into 3/4 time and somehow reconfigures it all so it sounds quite natural.

Venetian Snares is of course well-known for his time signature misuse — most of his jungle/breakcore is in 7/8, hence his little boutique label being called TIMESIG. From his latest EP we had one track of not-drum'n'bass featuring his pitched-down vocals, and another pitting 20th-century classical samples against vocal samples chopped up to sound like drum'n'bass beats, among other madness.

To the US, just down south from VSnares' native Canada, we have Chase Dobson's c.db.sn, somewhat reminiscent of last week's feature artist The Flashbulb, complete with piano-meets-drill'n'bass on the last track. It's a surprisingly core-idm release from Tympanik Audio, and I approve.

Lastly, another preview track from the forthcoming Panoptique Electrical album, with encompassing ambient production from Jason Sweeney and soaring vocals from Richard Adams.

Nuojuva – Hämärään [Preservation]
Alister Spence Trio – Set 1b, live at People's Republic of Australasia [unreleased]
Scott Morrison – Dear Stan [Room40]
Ous Mal – Marraskuu (Pimmon's Shallow Grave mix) [Preservation]
…interview with Olli Aarni…
Nuojuva – Laakso [Preservation]
Ous Mal – hämäränvietto [downloaded from here]
Alister Spence Trio – Set 2a, live at People's Republic of Australasia [unreleased]
Charles Hayward – Swivel/Choose [CONTINUITY... Records/ReR Megacorp]
Camberwell Now – The Ghost Trade [Ink Records/reissued by ReR Megacorp]
Guy Birkin – Fourier-Gabor [Runningonair Music]
Guy Birkin – Gabor-Fourier [Runningonair Music]
Guy Birkin – Bass Drone 6c (Version 031) [Runningonair Music]
Ecka Liena – We Are Drowning Flight [Futuresequence]
Scott Morrison – And Like Stars It Exploded [Room40]
The Atlas Room – Projection I [demo]
Telafonica – There's Something About Your Face (Hinterlandt remix) [4-4-2 Music]
Venetian Snares – Ego DSP [Timesig/Planet µ]
c.db.sn – …At The End Of It All [Tympanik Audio]
c.db.sn – As If December Never Happened [Tympanik Audio]
Venetian Snares – Fool The Detector [Timesig/Planet µ]
Panoptique Electrical – How The Sun Leaves (feat. Richard Adams of Hood) [Panoptique Electrical SoundCloud]

Listen again — ~ 153MB