Utility Fog

Sunday, 22nd of November, 2015

One of the noisier, rockier shows in a while... but starting with ambient & electronic sounds.

LISTEN AGAIN, engage, evaluate, eviscerate, experience... Stream on demand at FBi's cool new website, podcast here!

Starting with some gorgeous vocal drones, glitchy textures and field recording-like sounds from Voyou, aka Sarah Faraday from Ambrosia(@). Ambrosia(@) are one of the discoveries of the year for me, so it's great to have a little bonus in the form of this three-track EP.

German techno artist Anstam remixed Radiohead a few years back, and I've never known a lot about him because he inhabits the clubbier, more 4/4 end of techno that I'm not usually that sold on. But his track on a split 12" with Monolake that came out this week is very find indeed, all comfy synth textures and broken techno beats - and an ambient outro. It's from one of the very last releases on 50 Weapons - specifically number 46 out of 50. Modeselektor's label was always intended to be limited to 50 releases, but it's rather sad as it's put out some very forward-looking stuff.

2015 marks 20 years since Autechre's beloved Tri Repetae album, which began their move into crunchier, ever more experimental climes. UFog favourite Sunken Foal has just released two covers from that album as a little tribute, both of them combining electronic with live instrumentation, and drawing out the beauty of these compositions.

Agency is a new noise/punk/indie band from Canberra, featuring among others longtime UFog cohort Shoeb Ahmad of Spartak and Canberra experimental label hellosQuare Recordings. Their debut album is out now and will be launched at Black Wire Records in Sydney this coming Friday, 27th of November (Facebook event here). It comes with an excellent digital remix EP featuring some of Australia's finest as well as a couple of surprise international artists. It's such a good set that I'll be playing a couple more remixes next(ish) week, but tonight we heard a very electronic one from Sydney's Shisd, and dark & minimal one from Assad (Arabic for "Lion", thanks anonymous FBi listner!), which is the Middle Eastern drone side-project of Ben from My Disco.

So that's a segue. My Disco's new album is again released by legendary US label Temporary Residence, and it seems clearly to me to be their best. It's heavy as fuck, precision-engineered, noisy but totally controlled, hardcore punk mathrock. It's what they've always done, but somehow more clearly-defined and intense. Produced by beloved Adelaide producer Cornel Wilczek aka Qua.

UK duo L A N D released an incredibly impressive debut on Important Records a few years ago, with jittery live drums, electronic noise and squalling saxophone & guitar sounds all kept under tight control by the one & only Ben Frost in the mix. That album benefited from some heavyweight guests including the ever-adventurous David Sylvian. The new one has no such guests, although Frost is still lending it that detailed, tough sound. For me both these albums are mesmeric masterpieces of experimental postrock.

Well, L A N D are somewhat noisy, but they've got nothing on our next band, Japan's power electronics-meets-hardcore metallers Endon. From last year's Mama we had a tune that starts off ominously quiet, but then just smashes through the new 4 minutes with squalling noise and horrifying anguished vocals. But the main reason for hearing them tonight is their recent remix album. I picked both up in Tokyo at Disk Union in Shibuya, and it's Disk Union's special label Daymare that have released these CDs. There are some creative choices on the remix disc including Japanese dubstep legend Goth-Trad, and noise legend Prurient under his minimal techno Vatican Shadow guise. But tonight we heard from the king of metal remixes, Justin K Broadrick - who can do no wrong - and from Sadesper Record, a side project of Goro Watari of veteran Japanese metal/shoegaze/noise band Coaltar of the Deepers, and Oshima Watchma (ex-Melt Banana), who take a scary track into some rather dark places...

Finally, a short excerpt from the forthcoming album from Brisbane audiovisual artist Ross Manning on Room 40. A beautifully constructed set of electronic noises and electro-acoustic sounds created from home-made instruments (perhaps exclusively?), it's an album I'll return to next week for sure.

Voyou - Somewhere Found [Bomb Shop]
Anstam - Dolores [50 Weapons]
Sunken Foal - Clipper (Autechre cover) [Sunken Foal Bandcamp]
Agency - Onlooker (Persusasion Mix by Shisd) [hellosQuare Recordings]
Agency - Selling Houses Geraldine [hellosQuare Recordings]
Agency - Double Tale [hellosQuare Recordings]
Agency - (abstract) [hellosQuare Recordings]
Agency - Afwan (Assad Remix) [hellosQuare Recordings]
My Disco - Careless [Temporary Residence]
My Disco - Named[Temporary Residence
L A N D - Neutra [Important Records]
L A N D - Nothing Is Happening Everywhere (feat. David Sylvian) [Important Records]
L A N D - Stillman [Important Records]
L A N D - Anoxia / End Zone [Important Records]
Endon - Etude For Lynching By Family (Justin K Broadrick Remix) [Daymare Recordings]
Endon - Pray For Me [Daymare Recordings]
Endon - Acme Apathy Amok (Sadesper Record Remix) [Daymare Recordings]
Ross Manning - expand scatter [Room 40]

Listen again — ~108MB

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