Utility Fog

Sunday, 26th of April, 2009

Heaps of goodness tonight, dare I say! Starting with the lovely droney experimental Sydney duo Moonmilk, who played at the Static Age II festy on Friday night at Dirty Shirlows (one of a number of excellent warehouse spaces that have popped up in Marrickville in the last year or two).
Montréal's Bell Orchestre popped up in my view this week and I'll definitely be playing more next week - just what you'd expect of postrock from that city, with violins and horns and interesting production.
Then a couple of tunes from Melbourne's Sabbatical label, including (for shame!) Naked on the Vague's first appearance on this show. Leith, whose label Sbbtcl is, popped in to have a chat along with René and Dan from improv/noise outfit Aktion Unit, with whom Leith has been touring (also appearing at Static Age).
Then we had a brief detour to Fridge's early days (a track not collected on their just-released Early Output comp), followed by two tracks from Brisbane band Mr. Maps' debut double-EP. You can see them launching it at the Bald Faced Stag along with a bunch of great Sydney bands this coming Saturday.
More Sydney music from Ryzla (hot off the press I think!), and the least synth-poppy track from vitaminsforyou's latest album.
Following that, we had three (count 'em!) tracks from dntel's new 3CD (count them too!) set, Early Works For Me If It Works For You II, which collects his two early albums for the Phtalo label plus another CD of slightly later outtakes, from the period of his astounding Life Is Full Of Possibilities - for three CDs it's a bargain, and absolutely essential listening.
We've got probably the least abrasive track from the new Venetian Snares, and one of the more upbeat tracks from Jon Hopkins' new album (amazing stuff - string arrangements, acoustic piano, big bass & crunchy programming along with the ambient electronica he's known for...)
Then we had two wonky tracks from Monk Fly's latest EP and a brilliant Eskmo EP (digital only I believe), as well as a slice of bass madness from Mochipet's new (also digital-only) album.
Two tracks from Sydney's 4-4-2 music bring us into the home strait: Telafonica's new album starts with a track whose beat is built up from "Tape Noise"; Telafonica member Lessons in Time uses snipping scissors as the rhythm behind his banjo, effects and vocals on a track from his very lovely new EP.
Finally, a fairly Neil Young-style countryish number from Fire on Fire, whose amazing album The Orchard covers Americana/folk of all stripes. Michael Gira is admittedly always hella-enthusiastic about Young God Records releases, and fair enough, but he's found gold here with this reincarnation(?) of Cerberus Shoal... More next week, guaranteed!

Moonmilk - Hills [self-released]
Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows [Arts & Crafts]
Naked on the Vague - Sad Sun [Sabbatical]
Pikelet - Renzo [Sabbatical]
Aktion Unit - 060409 [self-released tour EP]
...Interview with Aktion Unit and Leith from Sabbatical...
Aktion Unit - 200209 [self-released tour EP]
Fridge - Sequoia [Output]
Mr. Maps - Your Heels in Sand, Soul in Pursuit (Lines version) [lofly]
Mr. Maps - Life Like Little Soldiers (Lights version) [lofly]
Ryzla - Old Eyes [self-released]
vitaminsforyou - it's over [Raw Youth]
dntel - smile break [Phtalo/Plug Research]
dntel - in which our hero begins his long and arduous quest [Phtalo/Plug Research]
dntel - danny loves experimental electronics [Phtalo/Plug Research]
Venetian Snares - Pussy Skull [Planet µ]
Jon Hopkins - Colour Eye [Domino]
Monk Fly - World Blues [Frequency Lab]
Eskmo - Harmony [Ancestor Media]
Mochipet - Turbo Thizz Petnation [Daly City Records]
Telafonica - Tape Noise [4-4-2 music]
Lessons in Time - How very good this feeling is [4-4-2 music]
Fire on Fire - Assanine Race [Young God Records] {I intended to play "Toknight", but listening back it clearly wasn't, so tune in for it on the 3rd of May! OK, cleared that up: tracks 3 & 7 are swapped on the CD!}

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