Playlist 14.01.18 (8:07 pm)
Second show of 2018, with more new music for the new year plus some catch-ups, of which a few would easily have made my best-of lists if I'd got to them in time! Good music.
Stream on demand seems broken, so I'll hopefully update this post tomorrow with the link!
Sven Laux - Interference [Dronarivm]
Giulio Aldinucci - Sereno [Dronarivm]
For a second year running, Russian label Dronarivm has started the year with a hefty download compilation - this time raising money for a charity that trains service dogs for the disabled. It features heaps of great neo/post-classical and ambient artists - tonight we start with some beautiful slow-breathing orchestral-sounding pulses from German producer Sven Laux, and some detailed, layered drones from the wonderful Giulio Aldinucci.
Machinefabriek - Hide Inside [Champion Version]
There's always a lot of music I miss and catch up on in the following year, but it's unusual for me to miss something from Machinefabriek, completist that I am. This is a splendid piece of postrocky electronics, tailor-made for a split 7" with Minor Pilot on Champion Version.
Bleurgh! - Nothing You Say Matters Anyway [unreleased demo/rehearsal]
Sydney collective Bleurgh! like to fly under the radar - no Facebook, a website that's locked down unless you're given special access... This track features Melanie Louise Eden, who's singing with them now, and it's a beautifully affecting song, seemingly created improvisatorily. You'll be able to catch that line-up at The NOW now on Saturday the 27th of Jan if you're in Sydney - highly recommended.
Midget! - Sur le premier matin [Objet Disque]
Midget! - Eve [Objet Disque]
This French duo are now up to their third album, this one conceived as a kind of orchestral pop concept album thingy. It has a delightful punny name in French - and to some extent in English: Ferme tes jolis cieux = Close your pretty skies, where "eyes" would be "yeux". Made up of producer/composer/multi-instrumentalist Mocke and singer/multi-instrumentalist Claire Vailler, on this album their lovely indiefolk songs are augmented with sumptuous classical arrangements (the opening track is 10 minutes long). The album is gorgeous.
Mariam the Believer - Treasures [Moshi Moshi]
Mariam the Believer - Total [Moshi Moshi]
Catching up on the beautiful, and mostly very classic pop-sounding debut solo album from Mariam Wallentin under the name Mariam the Believer. Best known as the singer in Wildbirds & Peacedrums with her husband Andreas Werlin, Wallentin also appears memorably on the Fire! Orchestra albums with Werlin and other Norwegian free jazz luminaries, all of whom appear on this album, and was heard recently on the album of Ben Frost's Wasp Factory opera. Mostly the songs here are bright & accessible, impeccably arranged, and played by some of the top Norwegian experimental & jazz musicians and some guests including our own Oren Ambarchi.
Nadah El Shazly - Barzakh (Limen) [Nawa Recordings]
Nadah El Shazly - Palmyra [Nawa Recordings]
Extraordinary album from Cairo musician Nadah El Shazly, who's been making electronic music in her hometown for a while, after starting off as a punk musician. Here she's teamed up with some top Montréal musicians including Sam Shalabi and The Dwarfs of East Agouza's Maurice Louca. The result is stunning, mixing traditional Arabic music with psychedelic rock and experimental electronics, grounded in El Shazly's fantastic songs and singing.
Mirco Magnani + Ernesto Tomasini - Plaisir (Ken Karter remix) [Undogmatisch]
Here's something nicely strange - originally electronic/classical compositions by Mirco Magnani with operatic falsetto vocals from Ernesto Tomasini made up a concept opera adapting Georges Bataille’s “Madame Edwarda”. Here we have the first in a series of remixes/reinterpretations from that album, this one a lovely cavernous piece by Berlin techno producer Ken Karter.
African Ghost Valley - OTH (memotone Rework) [Tandem Tapes]
William "memotone" Yates is an old favourite of this show but has only had scattered releases of late. Nice to see him popping up on Tandem Tapes, one of our favourite cassette labels, for a split with ambient/techno producer African Ghost Valley - here more of a collaborative affair with the artists remixing each other and outright collaborating on the b-side. It's low-key, mysterious mood music with some squished beats.
тпсб - Matted Feathers [Blackest Ever Black]
тпсб - Pacifier Habits [Blackest Ever Black]
The mysterious тпсб is named in Cyrillic (call it TPSB, although on Facebook he also accepts "tnc6" lol), but may actually be German. He claims to have found the music he releases on a refurbished Russian hard drive... Haha, anyway, I think not, but this new album is his best work yet by a long shot, released by Blackest Ever Black. Lots of rave and idm nostalgia, rainy and dark...
Gantz - (jungle warz) send to ipman etch epoch facta [Found on SoundCloud in 2014]
Gantz - Fugazi (feat. Elif Dikeç) [Deep Medi]
Istanbul dubstep innovator Gantz has some excellent work on the first 12" for the year from Deep Medi, with some local collaborators and some from the UK. But here fellow Istanbul singer Elif Dikeç appears on a track that's a hybrid of hip-hop, dubstep and sci-fi... while before it we had a fun little jungle track he put together for the "jungle warz" that popped up on SoundCloud in 2014 as many artists from the dubstep scene & beyond challenged each other with insane junglist bass & beat-juggling... Ah, those were the days...
Truth - Messages [Deep Medi]
New Zealand dubstep mainstays Truth are still out there making excellent tracks, often for Deep Medi. Nice to hear the rolling jungle beats in this head-nodding track.
Show Me The Body - Spit (feat. Princess Nokia) [self-released]
Show Me The Body - In A Grave (feat. Denzel Curry, Moor Mother & Eartheater) [self-released]
Show Me The Body - Halogen (feat. Mal DeVisa) [self-released]
I loved the debut album from NYC's Show Me The Body in 2016, but that was pure hardcore punk, short, sharp & beautifully done. So it's a bit of a shock to hear their second release, a mixtape called Corpus I, which is another 2017 catch-up for me (I considered dropping something into a best of show but it was too late by the time I got hold of it). For my eclectic, genre-mashing taste it's fantastic - hardcore still making an appearance, but with a backbone of hip-hop and heaps of great guests, as we heard tonight, putting in political, personal, hard-hitting performances on their verses. I love this kind of thing, and I love the way these guys have gone about it and what they've built.
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