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Sunday, 27th of June, 2010
Playlist 27.06.10 (11:08 pm)
So much musics tonight! And this is what happens when I leave it a day to write the show up - it's an essay! So, the hero of the psychedelic synth-nostalgia set, Oneohtrix Point Never, has released his first album on the legendary home of glitch & experimental mayhem, Editions Mego. And in tribute to this, the first track on the new album Returnal is a pot-pourri of chopped-up noise, samples, even breakbeats. Quite exhilirating, and it's rather lovely how it all subsides into track 2, which is more in line with his usual synth-based excursions. Somehow nostalgia beckoned, and I couldn't resist playing an old favourite by Boards of Canada. Nostalgia^2, perhaps, because by now a BoC track from 1998 brings with it its own nostalgia; but their sound has always harkened back to the 1970s (at least), mixed with 1980s hip-hop mixtapes, especially on a track like this, with a simple underlying beat, and a gorgeous phase-change in the middle. More IDMsters in the hip-hop world with a Shadow Huntaz intstrumental. The production team behind Shadow Huntaz is the brothers Funckarma, whose revamped website has a large and ever-increasing digital archive of their work on sale. The instrumental verison of the last Shadow Huntaz has only just appeared, and while on the album itself it seemed a little tamer than the previous two (which it probably is), the productions, stripped of the vocals, on the whole stack up well as great Funckarma jams. And now we arrive at the first artist mini-special of the evening (something I've been doing more on UFog - I think it's nice to get a perspective on an artist's history when something new comes out). Ital Tek, or iTAL tEK as he was when his first tracks were coming out, is a Brighton-based producer who started off making breakcore-influenced IDM productions, but settled comfortably into the dubstep/wonky world. He had a couple of 12"s on other label, but has been part of the Planet µ stable for two albums now. And from that Sydney/Adelaide duo Collarbones, their second-most-recent wonky-influenced glitch-pop song. (Go hyphens!) ...Which leads us into something pretty weird, and pretty cool. anbb is a pairing you'd never have predicted: an = alva noto, aka Carsten Nicolai, boss of the raster noton label; and bb = Blixa Bargeld, ex-Bad Seed, and veteran of the Berlin industrial/noise scene via Einstürzende Neubauten. It's an inspired collaboration, although to my ears their cover of Harry Nilsson's "One" doesn't really work. The fizzing static & beats take us onwards to Finland's legendary Pan Sonic, who after many years seem to be calling it a day. Crunching beats and and a surging, crescendoing backdrop. Bristol's emptyset (another Ø of sorts) use a similar sonic aesthetic with a more dancefloor-oriented approach. I love the dynamics of this track - simple addition and subtraction producing something spectacular. And now, finally, Keith Fullerton Whitman has some new releases out (and more on their way - follow the link to his site!) I've been a fan since the Hrvåtski days, and a short search of these playlists will see I've dug his efforts in the drone & out-rock arenas. The other release is a wickedly limited CDR collaboration with dronester Geoff Mullen, who is the sole employee of Keith's monumental Mimaroglu Music Sales, first stop for all experimental sounds and of course anything likely to be available of Keith's own music. But seriously, check out the incredible list of stuff available! This CDR is fairly droney, but there's heaps of action all the way through. The last track is a beautiful extended analog synth work which will have to appear some other night - remind me :) I keep thinking of this as a cassette release; it has that lo-fi archaic feel to it. Somehow Keith's oud playing leads us into the next artist feature of the night: the post-classical beauty of Clogs. Led by Aussie ex-pat Padma Newsome on violin, viola and various other instruments, along with fellow National member Bryce Dessner on guitar (etc), the other core members are Thomas Kozumplik on percussion and Rachael Elliott on bassoon. Take note of that last instrument - it's surely the most unlikely instrument to find in a rock/folk band, and Henry Cow as a prior example only proves the point. Perhaps from the sublime to the ridiculous is where we go next. This sounds awfully rude to The Chap, but frankly ridiculous never sounded so awesome. Having been around for most of the last decade, this band has a quintessentially English oddness to them, which I can't help finding charming. They can go from pure electronica to pure BBC Radiophonic-style electronics, and then switch to insufferably catchy jangly indie, all the while sporting amazing disco string arrangements and absurdist lyrics. It's pop music approached from some really weird tangential direction, yet it makes perfect sense. It's been a few years (2006!) since Cibelle put her last album out, so you may not remember her wonderful Brazilian folktronica. Collaborating with Mike Lindsay from Tunng among others, she brought glitches and hints at club beats and basslines to her singular approach to folk and pop. Her new album is a very strange concept album about a cabaret bar on another planet, and is absolutely in earnest while simultaneously embracing its silliness. It's even more wide-ranging stylistically than before, and has some great collaborations, as seen tonight. We also heard one track from her previous album, and the excellent "Noite de Carnaval", which I think only appeared as a single, produced by Mike Lindsay and sporting two very fine Herbert remixes. The folkiness continues for one more track, a cut from Martin Dosh’s new album featuring vocals from his frequent collaborator Andrew Bird. I haven't totally warmed to this album, but it's very Dosh, and the Andrew Bird tracks are great. I think we'll hear more next week. Sydney's Pivot are, as you may have heard, now PVT, and their new album on Warp has snuck out into at least one Sydney record store a little early. It's even more stadium-rock than before (yeah, bizarre), with more vox from Richard Pike and big drums from Laurenz. Dave Miller (probably all) brings the analog synths and the kids are gonna love it. Next week I'll play one of the bonus download tracks which I think only Aussies get to enjoy. And finally, one of Gail Priest’s gorgeous tracks from her new mini-album thing on Bandcamp, via which you get to directly support the artist. Oneohtrix Point Never - Nil Admirari [Editions Mego] Listen again — ~ 194MB
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Sunday, 20th of June, 2010
Playlist 20.06.10 (11:11 pm)
Good evening! So much good music! It must be Sunday. Playing "Pick the influence!" to start with. The wonderful Le Loup are a band I should've twigged to a while back, as I played a track from a split 7” back in April last year. Better late than never, I've picked up both their albums, and there's a definite parallel with Grizzly Bear here - first album mainly a solo effort by Sam Simkoff, with folky instrumentation and glitchy studio stuff; second album with full band and rapturous harmonies etc. UFog fave Fieldhead has a new vinyl release coming out in July from Gizeh Records. The EP features the grainy processed sounds of five different female vocalists. It's the typical Fieldehead sound, albeit without beats, but with a whole new dimension added. Definitely recommended. Thanks to The Wire (and the fact that I'm a subscriber, we get to celebrate German label Staubgold’s 100th release with a few tracks from this month's download compilation. Back to the indietronica, Foals are known for their melodic punky pop, but come out of a scene that's interested in folktronic and postrock elements as well. We heard a brief glitchy piano piece and then a nice slow-growing number, indie-dance with that popular African-style guitar stuff (a bit Vampire Weekend) that wouldn't be out of place on a Bloc Party album maybe. And then we get into a couple of retrospectives of electronic artists with new releases out. FIrst up, the amazing Benn Jordan aka The Flashbulb. His latest album is out now on his Alphabasic label, and features live strings and other instruments in amongst his electronics, piano and guitar. I gave a quick tour (well, quick relative to his large back catalogue) as a guide to just how talented this guy is at complex beat programming, unusual arrangements and, particularly on the last track, really beautiful melodies. Kattoo’s Volker Kahl is another beat-making and arranging genius, whose career stretches back to at least 1998 with his previous (now defunct) duo Beefcake. While his partner therein, Gabor Schablitzki, has gone on to some success in the electro/house realm as Robag Wruhme and part of the Wighnomy Brothers, Volker Kahl has kept the faith and continued to create complex glitchy beats and classical-influenced sounds as Kattoo. I couldn't help playing a selection from the Beefcake years (so much great stuff!) as well as a bit of older Kattoo. Go to his website and support the music direct! Following these retrospectives, we're back to the present day, with brilliant new dubstep/pop producer Emika, who again on her new single uses her own vocals with a beautifully moody dubstep production. The remix by dubstep legend Pinch takes it into even more minimal and head-nodding territory, chopping up Emika's vocals in tasty fashion, and I found it led very effectively out of Sabre’s hypnotic track from last week's drum'n'bass set, showing just how nicely these scenes are cross-pollinating right now. From Sydney/Adelaide, Collarbones give us a glitchy, bright piece of wonky. Their set on Friday at Hardware Gallery was wonk-tastic, and featured Marcus Whale’s vox, absent from this track. Finally, some Autechre acid. Their second album of the year has been available for pre-order from Bleep for some time. As is their wont, Ae/Warp released the download edition some weeks before the physical copies are available, so pre-orderers like myself found it in our inboxes earlier this week. Le Loup - Go East [Hardly Art] Listen again — ~ 174MB
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Monday, 14th of June, 2010
Paul's Playlunch 14.06.10 (1:05 pm)
Yay! 1 hour of fun fun fun! deUS - suds & soda [Island] Listen again — ~ 76MB
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Sunday, 13th of June, 2010
Playlist 13.06.10 (11:05 pm)
THREE HOURS OF POWER. Tonight we start with another track from the wondrous noisegaze ov ZOND. Hope you appreciate this public service. Speaking of free, UK online label Acroplane can always be relied upon for excellent free electronic sounds. Via Ad Noiseam, who will be releasing a full-length from him later this year, I have discovered the incredibly freaked-out French artist Igorrr. It's a kind of breakcore attitude, with swing jazz, opera, death metal and plenty of electronica in the mix. The first track I played is probably the funniest track you'll hear all week. Or at last the most ridiculous. Also Ad Noiseam-related (at least, you can buy it from their awesome online store) is Belgian artist Fractional, whose new album has some really fine dark drum'n'bass sounds, as well as some more downtempo and techno tracks. Altogether excellent. This takes us into the realms of Critical Music, who have in the last year been releasing some pretty stunning drum'n'bass music — plenty of dancefloor-pleasing tunes, but also lots of intricate programming, and lots of stuff that combines drum'n'bass tempos and programming with minimal techno and dubstep's aesthetics. We had an assortment of tunes from some brilliant artists, and while Rockwell and Sabre are represented by a couple of more substantial releases, I'd love to hear more from some of the other artists appearing on the superb Critical Sounds compilation. ...And then we're back for some more downtempo-ish sounds from Fractional and Igorrr. Also from New Weird Australia Volume Six is a new tune from the forthcoming Underlapper album, which is mighty fine work altogether. Caveat: I played cello on a number of tracks. But my input was limited to the cello playing, and I'm a longtime fan m'kay? This track is a nice combo of their postrock and electronic stylings. Mint Julep hail from one of my favourite cities, Portland, OR, and they're sounding an awful like Ulrich Schnauss on this bass & synth-heavy shoegaze number courtesy of the L-O-A-F Explorers' Club. This year-long monthly online singles club has been paying dividends all year - regular listeners will have heard many a track from it already. Keeping it song-related, Mice Parade have a new track out to precede a new album - always a welcome event round here! Caroline Lufkin, who's been touring with them a lot in the last while, contributes lovely appropriate vocals. And from sometime Mice Parade touring partner, we have the wonderful Keith Fullerton Whitman with an older krautrocky track. I note he's been getting new material out there recently on 7"s and suchlike, and I'll be tracking down new things for your delectation soon! I'm also getting around to ripping my archive of old Hrvatski/KFW material, so you might find some of this listening (it's seminal stuff for my contemporary music taste!) creeping into future shows too :) Via Keith we find ourselves in the noise world, but noise doesn't have to mean screetching feedback and sonic assault. Although it's great when it does! In the completely acoustic realm, sax/clarinet player Colin Stetson manages to produce, with one mouth and some heroic circular breathing, an astounding array of sounds. I saw him playing on Monday night with the delightful Shara Worden aka My Brightest Diamond, who will be appearing on his next album (bring it on!) — but here we have him turning a clarinet into a pretty decent facsimile of a malfunctioning computer game. And from this month's L-O-A-F Explorers' club we also have Janek Schaeffer with a particularly beautiful piece with field recordings and floating chords. And ah, The Declining Winter. Richard Adams from Hood’s side project has been making amazing strides since he first ventured out with a 7" and some remixes a few years ago. Richard's confidence with vocals and the band's development are wonderful to follow, not that it wasn't excellent from the start (fully paid-up member of the Hood fanclub here, metaphorically speaking). And finally, a new Machine Translations album is on its way, and the first (radio) single reminds us of just what a superb songwriter and arranger Greg "J" Walker is. I wanted us to have a further reminder, so I pulled out one of my favourite tracks ever, his "Out To Sea" from the long-out-of-print Holiday In Spain album. Oh wondrous. ZOND - Blind [R.I.P. Society Records] Listen again — ~ 184MB
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Sunday, 6th of June, 2010
Playlist 06.06.10 (11:22 pm)
Quick note: Sadly, FBi's broadcast of the Creative Sydney closing gig is not going ahead, so (happily!) Utility Fog will start on Sunday at the normal 10pm time! LISTEN AGAIN to the show via the link at the bottom. But first tonight we heard from a band I think Adam would've enjoyed - the wondrous noise of ZOND, who almost take it into shoegaze territory, as much as punk rock and just... noise. I wanted to play more tonight but will definitely in next week's shortened show. Next up, two from Holy Fuck, who were being featured on FBi last week, and both of whose albums are excellent dance rock with noise elements - like the similarly-titled Fuck Buttons perhaps, but less techno. And how cool to have Owen Pallett on one track! I have no idea why their latest hit is called "Latin America", but it rocks anyway. And then... I got a phone call from Finland. Ollie Aarni makes music as Ous Mal and he talked about using cassette decks and turntables, and the natural sound manipulation of old technologies that creates his beautiful nostalgia-imbued sound. My tribute to the wonderful Adam D Mills covered the whole rest of tonight. I don't like to play my own music on this show, but as this Raven track was written for Adam's Passeridae series, and has a real emotional meaning to me at least, I felt it was appropriate to start my homage with a track of mine. I played piano and cello, with a little laptop processing. Adam was absolutely central in making me finally start making solo music again, and using my own instruments in the mix. I owe a lot to him, as do so many of us — I just wish we could let him know. ZOND - Io [R.I.P. Society Records] Listen again — ~ 182MB
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email: utilityfog at frogworth dot com Mastodon ![]() Utility Fog teeters on the cusp between acoustic and electronic, organic and digital. Constantly changing and rearranging, this aural cloud of nanotech consumes genres and spits them out in new forms. Whether cataloguing the jungle resurgence, tracking the ups and downs of noise and drone, or unearthing the remnants of glitch and folktronica, all is contextualised within artist & genre histories for a fulfilling sonic journey. Since all these genre names are already pretty ridiculous, we thought we'd coin a new one. So "postfolkrocktronica" it is. Wear it. Now available: free "Live on Utility Fog" downloads! We got tasty rss2 or atom feeds - get Utility Fog playlists in your favourite RSS reader/aggregator. There's also a dedicated podcast feed. Click here to subscribe in iTunes. Archives of all previous playlists and entries are available:
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