Quite a journey today, through genres, countries & continents, emotions and BPMs. This is how we do it in the house of Utility Fog.
Snakeskin – Lost Today [Tunefork Studios/Bandcamp]
The Bunny Tylers – Let There Be Light [Tunefork Studios/Bandcamp]
Akram Hajj – Day 2 [Tunefork Studios/Bandcamp]
SANAM – Aykathani Malakon (SAFA remix) [Tunefork Studios/Bandcamp]
While the US & Israel’s misdirected, pointless, intensely damaging war on Iran continues, Israel has taken the opportunity to advance into southern Lebanon – very much not for the first time, but driven by the far right’s power in government and the impunity of the IDF & settlers’ accelerating ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, this is now becoming a territorial takeover. “Greater Israel” was once just a gross fantasy of the worst elements of the Zionist right, but now they’re grabbing their chance to enact it in reality. Under the pretext of disarming Hezbollah, Israel is flattening areas of Lebanon including neighbourhoods in Beirut, and as a result there are more than 1 million displaced people in Lebanon. Over. One. Million. Beirut, as you may have noted from these playlists over the last few years, has an unreasonably rich experimental music scene, and Tunefork Studios has been a hub for musicians ranging from postpunk & shoegaze bands to noise, chaotic industrial rock and electronica. The studio was founded by the ever-present producer Fadi Tabbal, who’s also one half of Snakeskin with Julia Sabra and one half of The Bunny Tylers with Charbel Haber, and associated musicians manage (Sabra) & work there. In December 2024, Tunefork released a big compilation of amazing Lebanese music called Land 01 – A Compilation for the Displaced in Lebanon, materially supporting people with living spaces & more. The current situation has severely deepened this humanitarian crisis, and fortunately Tunefork had not one but TWO compilations of music by Lebanese musicians ready to go. Like 01, all tracks are exclusive to the compilations, totalling 58 new tracks. If you don’t already have the first, you can purchase all three at once for a discount, but however you choose, you’ll know that you’re helping raise money for Beit Aam, a community space in Beirut that’s providing housing and food for displaced people. The tracklists are extremely varied, from a touching piece by Snakeskin to the post-industrial lurch of The Bunny Tylers, the swirling noise of Akram Hajj and an unreleased remix of Beirut supergroup SANAM (now signed to Constellation) by London-based sound-artist and researcher Mhamad SAFA, and so much more.
dälek – By the Time We Arrive in El Salvador [Ipecac Recordings/Bandcamp]
Last year, Will Brooks, also known as MC Dälek of the eponymous noise-hop outfit dälek, collaborated with the legendary postpunk/art-rock drummer/composer/singer Charles Hayward, a project dubbed HAYWARDxDÄLEK. It was one of those things which seems completely out of leftfield, but works surprisingly well. It was also charmingly odd that it was released on renowned metal label Relapse Records, but Relapse has of late also supported Kevin Martin & JK Broadrick’s Techno Animal remasters and their newer project Zonal… And more to the point, dälek in their first incarnation (with producer Alap Momin aka The Oktopus) and their 2016 reformation (now with longtime fellow traveller Mike Mare aka Destructo Swarmbots) have always been metal-adjacent, their boom-baps and Brooks’ conscious, politically-informed raps generally supported with shoegaze-noise-drone that references the Bomb Squad’s innovations with Public Enemy but also the washed-out intensity of My Bloody Valentine. New album Brilliance of a Fallen Moon follows their other recent albums on Mike Patton’s Ipecac Recordings with claustrophobic environments, noise textures and social commentary. “By the Time We Arrive in El Salvador” flips Public Enemy’s masterpiece “By The Time I Get To Arizona“, itself a riff on Jimmy Webb’s “By The Time I Get Phoenix“, to reference the appalling deportation by the Trump regime of mostly Venezuelans – many American citizens – to the notorious high-security CECOT prison in El Salvador. Brooks’ lyrics poetically circle his subject matter, often buried in the mix, part of the cyberpunkish malaise.
james K – N’Balmed (JASSS Purple Remix) [AD93/Bandcamp]
Following her vaporwave-trip-hop album Friend from last year, james K now reaches out for some heavy-duty Friends to remix the album. Spanish producer JASSS, whose Eager Buyers album last year featured james K on one of its best tracks, takes “N’Balmed” into something equally ’90s-influenced but on a more head-noddin’ electro-pop tip. There’s a plethora of interesting artists involved here, and I look forward to further offerings.
Antoine Ferris – shame’s coming ft. natacha kanga [Carton Records/Bandcamp]
I have the honour of having “discovered” French bassist Antoine Ferris before he was cool – where cool = released by the might Carton Records (that’s really cool!) A friend alerted me to the soundtrack to this beautiful black & white video which, as I described it 3 years ago, captures something of the joy of early Fennesz & Mego glitch-works for me, but it’s entirely made from electric bass – stuttery edits and pitch-shifts, and occasional outbursts of skronky distortion. That track, “Hount Orbe”, has been included on Ferris’ debut solo album [KAAARST], fitting in very well with the even noisier processed sounds, industrial-seeming beats and shocks of occasional beauty here. I’m looking forward to playing you more from this album, but the first single somehow drags the abstract bass destruction into hip-hop territory, made only more sinister by the guest rapping from Natacha Kanga.
ŽIVA – Hesitation [ŽIVA Bandcamp]
Croatian singer/producer Lucija Ivsic moved to Naarm/Melbourne a couple of years ago, leaving her postpunk band Punčke and started her solo project ŽIVA, an outlet for industrial-tinged experimental electronic pop, to which she brings a Slavic darkness and lots of energy. Her second album ŽIIVA (which is easy to misread if you forget it’s album “II”) exorcises mental health demons on underground dancefloors. There’s nothing quite like it around at the moment.
Esther – Critical [YUKU/Bandcamp]
On the Leese and Chewlie Invite 002 EP, Prague label YUKU brings us another selection of experimental bass productions by women, selected by Belgium’s Leslie Deboeur (Leese) and Swiss producer Julie Häller (Chewlie). Toulouse DJ Esther brings a techno thump with deep subs and jittery rhythms around the edges.
Ruby My Dear – Iterations [Analogical Force]
Named for a Thelonious Monk tune, Julien Chastagnol’s Ruby My Dear has always brought classical compositions and jazz melodies to his super-intricate breakcore & idm productions. While you may not find specific instances of jazz or classical here, there’s a melodic nature to whatever the producer does, as well as blasts of intense break-choppery. Like Antoine Ferris and Esther, Chastagnol hails from the Toulouse region, and when not DJing or beatmaking, since 2000 he’s run the family winery, Mas Levigné.
ZULI – Half Empty [irsh/Bandcamp]
ZULI – 44 [irsh/Bandcamp]
Cairo master ZULI is back on the irsh label that he founded with Rama in pandemic times. Naming the release The Screaming Abdabs gives more than a hint at the nervous energy found within, which takes another sharp turn into industrial strength saturation while bringing back something of the high-tech beats that made ZULI stand out when he debuted 10 years ago. Basslines boom, drums crunch and screetch, and even the domestic samples that make up “44” clatter in fury, punctuated by stomach-rattling subs. Unconventional dancefloors rejoice!
Marco Simioni – Dot With Illumination (Delta Division Remix) [Detroit Underground/Bandcamp]
London-based Italian producer Marco Simioni returns to Detroit Underground with JOMO, an extended remix album (23 tracks!) of reworks of his 2023 album FOMO. “Joy Of Missing Out”? Here Simionio steps back from the production booth, handing his acid & breakbeat-fuelled IDM tunes to a bunch of friends from around the world. The rave deconstructions and ambient electronics here mirror the album’s range, with blurting acid and melodic post-trance rubbing up against drum’n’bass and jungle mutations like Delta Division‘s remix.
Dro Carey & Pinz – Hellish Plasma [Braincamp rec./Bandcamp]
Eora/Sydney electro/experimental mastermind Dro Carey returned after 4 years with the VT2 EP last year, and has now droppped a big album, Denim Iron, via his Braincamp rec., which releases his productions in various incarnations, including the disco-house and techno of Tuff Sherm, the twisted avant-gardism of PMM and the dance compositions he’s made under his own name. But Dro Carey is what Eugene Ward is best known as, and the album starts off with tuff drum machines and dense synths, and mostly stays there except a few more spacious tracks. The collab with Eora DJ Andy Lowe aka Pinz – heralding a full collaborative release later this year – is apocalyptic basslines, syncopated beats and sinister vocal snippets.
Korsain – +55 [Infernal Sounds/Bandcamp]
On the +55 EP Brazillian beatmaker Korsain drops three tracks on Stoke-on-Trent dubstep/140bpm label Infernal Sounds. +55 is Brazil’s calling code, emphasising the influence of Korsain’s home on these tunes, and while guest MC Rakjay is based in the UK, he slips invisibly between Spanish and English. Only the third track approximates dubstep, but the standout title track takes the tempo and sparse-not-sparse attitude of early dubstep with percussion reduced to pounding kicks and rimshots, occasional toms and slices of voice, while the bassline drives ever-forward.
Paperclip Minimiser – II A1 [Peak Oil/Bandcamp]
A programmer of sophisticated music software as Cong Burn (also the name of his longstanding experimental record label), John Howes has for years made organic-feeling techno & electronica under his surname, but Paperclip Minimiser is his home for minimalist dub techno and dub-tinged IDM. Frankly all stunning stuff, as should be expected from Brian Foote’s Peak Oil.
Commodo – Deep Harbour ft. Alfa Mist [Black Acre/Bandcamp]
A few years ago, dubstep don Commodo hit upon a combo of postpunk guitar+bass with the spare beats and head-noddin’ vibe of dubstep & grime (see Deft 1s & the releases following it), following the equally subtle & vibey TV crime soundtrack-meets-dubstep of 2020’s Loan Shark and Stakeout. So it’s nice to see him back on Black Acre with more jazz-fusion vibes, here assisted by the brilliant Alfa Mist on super slinky electric piano. You can catch the keyboardist (without Commodo) at Sydney Opera House for Vivid Live in May! Meanwhile Anz provides two excellent breakbeat remixes – it’s been a few years since we’ve heard from her, and hopefully this heralds very good things on the way!
Nicolas Remondino – boku ga (feat. Adele Altro) [OOH-sounds/Bandcamp]
Nicolas Remondino – hìeratico [OOH-sounds/Bandcamp]
Italian percussionist Nicolas Remondino has featured on these playlists many times, whether solo as LAMIEE. or part of the duo ŌTONN with Andrea Silvia Giordano, with the new music group Dròlo Ensemble, the postrock/jazz of McCorman – or indeed under his own name. For a while it seemed like every release sounded different – drones, leftfield songwriting, extreme electronics or free jazz; but that previous solo album Ocra Rossa established a practice around prepared drums, on that release the sole sound source. On his extraordinary new album Hìeratico the scrapes and scatters and sussurations of those percussion instruments become one instrument among many, but remain at the centre of the work. Around them, Remondino weaves his own keyboards and processed samples along with many guests, including the inimitable percussionist, pianist & vocalist Limpe Fuchs, instrument-maker, mad scientist & trumpeter Pierre Bastien, sound-artist, guitarist & maker of beautiful scratchy noises Giuseppe Ielasi and more – including the lovely vocals of Adele Altro on one of the tracks tonight.
KINACT – Cercle de Tambour Kinact [Nyege Nyege Tapes/Bandcamp]
KINACT – Cercle de Tambour Kinact avec Manza et Ikembe [Nyege Nyege Tapes/Bandcamp]
Nyege Nyege Tapes has long supported weird electronic music from the African continent, not just Uganda where they’re based, and here we’re presented with the wild, entirely sui generis sound of KINACT, which is really a conglomerate of street artists from the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo: KINACT = Kinshasa in Action. The members dress up in colourful, outlandish costumes, often made from artfully-repurposed rubbish, but they also make music from percussion instruments and lots of distortion – much like Konono No.1 did a generation earlier. Founding member Eddy Ekete brought a group of KINACT members to Nyege’s studios in Kampala where they spent a two-month residency creating the incredible sounds you can here now. Congolese drumming patterns mix with synths, pummelled sheet metal, power drills, motorcycle engines and more – it’s Einstürzende Neubauten remade from the ground up in DRC, realised in Uganda… But it’s just as magical when the percussion itself gets to shine – especially when the wooden xylophone called Manza and the thumb piano known as Ikembe. Unmissable.
FRANTX – BARBIECUE [Carton Records/Bandcamp]
Andrea Giordano, Kalle Moberg, Jo David Meyer Lysne – D’antorn a lor [Black Truffle Records/Bandcamp]
Two releases here show the breadth of the work of Oslo-based Italian musician & singer Andrea Giordano, mentioned above as an early collaborator with Nicolas Remondino in their electro-acoustic duo ŌTONN and the contemporary classical/jazz Dròlo Ensemble. And while I say she is Oslo-based, Giordano is also leader of the Paris-based “glit-noise” band FRANTX. As far as I know, in FRANTX she is lead singer, also playing melodica and all sorts of electronics (in other groups she plays winds and various keyboard-based instruments including accordion). I intrepret “glit” as “glitch”, but it could also refer to glitter, and the group has a glittery queer punk attitude, tackling the politics of making music in the current context, expressing themselves through electro-acoustic experimentalism, punk noise (or noisy punk) and a weird instrumental lineup (guitar & drums added to Giordano’s melodica and Fanny Meteier‘s tuba). The album’s out on May 22, titled IDUTYU (“I Didn’t Understand That You Didn’t Understand”).
Meanwhile, at the far opposite end of Giordano’s practice is her album Radis, released on Oren Ambarchi‘s Black Truffle Records. The album takes Giordano back to her hometown of Cuneo in Piedmont, setting 20th century poetry written in Piedmontese, a language at the edge of disappearing (in fact, some of her lyrics with FRANTX are also in Piedmontese). These are touching, beautifully vulnerable, minimalist songs on which Giordano mostly plays the organetto – an Italian miniature button accordion – and is joined by accordionist Kalle Moberg and guitarist Jo David Meyer Lysne, both of whom use extended techniques to extract emotion in a sideways manner. The detailed mix by Jim O’Rourke helps bring out every squeak and scrape.
Zela Margossian Quintet – Repentance [Ropeadope/Bandcamp]
Staying acoustic, we visit the Sydney-based Armenian pianist Zela Margossian, whose Quintet are releasing their third album Remedy on the storied American folk/roots/jazz label Ropeadope. Like her US-based compatriot Tigran Hamasyan, Margossian combines virtuosic jazz piano with the gorgeous harmonies and complex rhythms of traditional Armenian music, almost unparalleled in its ability to pull the heartstrings. There are three singles so far released, all of which demonstrate how epic and engrossing this album will be.
Caroline Davis – She Know She Is Water [Ropeadope/Bandcamp]
At the beginning of March, I was fortunate enough to be able to premiere two tracks from the incredible solo album Fallows from Brooklyn-based saxophonist Caroline Davis. A renowned jazz saxophonist and composer, Davis has played in and led ensembles with notable US jazz musicians such as Tyshawn Sorey, Dawn of Midi’s Qasim Naqvi and turntablist Val Jeanty – and in 2024 she made a gorgeous duo album with Wendy Eisenberg, avant-jazz-pop that could only come from these two distinctively talented musicians (there’s a follow-up coming sometime!) All that said, Fallows is a very different beast, made entirely solo during an artists’ residency in Ucross, Wyoming, where she was able to work on saxophone looping techniques and the sound processing and synthesis available on Critter and Guitari’s Organelle. The result is that anything can happen here, from expressive multi-tracked saxophone harmonisations to tumbling glitchy beats, loops queasily shifting speeds and field recordings populated with local fauna. On “She Know She Is Water”, Davis samples the voice of Thích Nhất Hạnh, a Buddhist monk and peace activist who she was fortunate to meet during her studies. Sampled keyboards and machine rhythms clatter and glitch, splashing around the samples of Hạnh’s voice. A unique and very special album.
Penelope Trappes – Thou Art Mortal (Julia Holter Rework) [One Little Independent/Bandcamp]
After not one but TWO albums from Brighton-based Aussie singer/sound-artist Penelope Trappes last year – A Requiem was followed by Æternum – Penelope now enlists a pretty incredible group of her peers – mostly women – for OPVS NOVUM – A Requiem Reworked. The release features the likes of Saint Etienne, Klara Lewis, Flora Yin-Wong and more. On the first single, Julia Holter leans deep into the minimalism of the original, with lone string parts and vocals echoing in darkness, embedded into reverb tails of bells and white noise.