280205 08:40

i don't usually play australian music on the fat planet radio show - the listeners in sydney hear that all the time on fbi, so i take the angle that its 'music from everywhere else but here'. obviously, judging from your comments / referrals, the vast majority of people clicking onto this site are from outside oz, so it seems only right to check in with the local scene now and again. any day now, fbi will be launching live to world via online streaming, but in the meantime you'll have to make do with some mp3s to satsify any australian cravings that you might have. bands such as wolfmother and cut copy are making a name for themselves internationally, but here's some more artists that are taking australian music out of the ac/dc age.

THE EMERGENCY [AUSTRALIA]
after dark mp3
the emergency hold the distinction of being the first band i ever saw after i arrived in australia (on a double-bill with the then solo artist, spod). over two years later and their first release arrives. i remember thinking at the time that they were simply riding that electro pop revival wave, they looked and sounded much like ladytron, harking back too to numan, or john foxx-era ultravox. it's somewhat reassuring to find their debut rammed full of remixes from a class A selection of electronic artists - electronicat (france), g.d. luxxe (austria) plus homeland mixes from spod, dscio and talkshow boy. the album is due soon, but in the meantime you can also find them on a suberb double CD of new australian music entitled 'the sbs whatever sessions - volume two' [site] featuring 23 artists across all genres and sub-territories of the underground musical map. [emergency site]

MINIMUM CHIP [AUSTRALIA]
oooo mp3
another artist from the sbs sessions is minimum chip, recently spotted in sydney supporting le tigre. originally founded in brisbane ten years ago, the band relocated to melbourne and have been making music there ever since. with seven releases under their belt thus far, they're following a blueprint laid down by the likes of stereolab and the krautrock movement in the early 70s - the above mp3, sadly only recorded at 56kbps, could well be a modern reworking of a can album track, or something from the earlier kraftwerk albums. it's taken from the 2003 release 'gardenesque' which has since by followed by 2004's 'sounds asleep'. [site]

SPOD vs DECODER RING [AUSTRALIA]
born 2 luv mp3
two australian bands who couldn't be more different come together for this fucked up remix / collaboration. the movie 'sommersault' recently sent the australian film industry into a spin, seemingly scooping more AFi awards then there were categories. if you've ever seen scottish director's lynn ramsay's 'ratcatcher' or 'morvern callar', then you've got an idea of aesthetic style. the movie was helped in no small part by the gorgeous soundtrack from decoder ring - a swathe of ethereal post-rock that perfectly matched the misty-eyed coming-of-age story. and then there's spod - an electro-rock lovin' machine, who injects the scene with a huge bag of humour, glamour and theatrics. perhaps the bastard offspring of the darkness and peaches, watched over by the guiding hand of chilli gonzales. so when the former got the latter on board for a remix, the results were unsurprisingly tipped in favour of the rad hand of spod. reprazent! [spod site] / [decoder ring site]

TALKSHOW BOY [AUSTRALIA]
fuck the pain away mp3
talkshow boy is adrian k-sahara from melbourne and when he's not performing in the (self-described) "hypercore rock band" cattle of the sun, he's recording skewed alternative pop, with the aid of a sampler, drum machine and acoustic guitar. check out the lyrics to 'i'm a motherfucking vampire' - "who's that motherfucker riding the rhythm? / oh my god, it's adrian / god, i want a piece of him". got the picture? there's an mp3 festival going on at his site, and check out the above track for his take on the peaches' classic.

DSICO [AUSTRALIA]
walking mp3
while we're trawling australia, i have to make mention of dsico's new album. the guy's made a name for himself at home and abroad with his 'bastard pop' work - audio and video bootlegs and electro / vocoder covers of contemporary classics (missy, joy division, the white stripes, public image limited etc), he's "given up" and decided to write original music instead. which is a blessing for us, as the mini album 'you fight like a girl' is full of electro & post-punk delights and well worthy of fbi's 'album of the week' slot last week. onya, ya no talent hack. [shop @ spasticated records] / [dsico blog]

i also recommend checking out the midnight juggernauts and underlapper for more australian tunes, neither of which have full length mp3s available online - but click on the links for mp3 excerpts or streaming audio.

so how does this australian selection shape up? let's have some comments >>



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200205 08:53

GHISLAIN POIRIER [CANADA]
cold as hell (feat. BEANS) mp3
civil disobedience mp3
my new adopted family of favourite artists (aka dj rupture, mutamassik et al) revolves around the sadly all-too rare exploration of international sounds (mostly eastern) and contemporary broken beat / hip hop / breakcore. ghislain poirier comes to the dinner table bearing forthcoming releases on the excellent shockout label, a mix in the back for rupture and this chocolate industries collaboration (from the e.p. 'beats as politics') with former anti-pop consortium member, beans. if bios are to be believed, poirier's sound shifted into this arena after a long exploration in the colder regions of minimal techno - the CI release also features diverse (recently seen breaking bread with prefuse 73) and canadian rapper seba. [site + more mp3s]

ALEXANDROID [RUSSIA]
energy mp3
legal mp3s from russia are a rare commodity. from what i've read, electronica would seem to be the dominant emerging musical artform from the former soviet union. given that i'm prone to sweeping generalisations, it would seem that there's something inspiring about cold climates that makes for beautiful electronic production. the scandanavians and the icelanders have it, makes perfect sense that moscovites would feel the same way. many thanks and kudos must go to 'the wire' magazine for posting an elexandroid track in their online mp3 archive. (go to thewire.co.uk for more treats from mf doom, anticon, autechre, coil, kid606 and more). 'energy' is taken from the russian's new album 'false starts' on the uk's lo recordings - a primer for his work to date, featuring a lush collection of sweeping electronica, downtempo, click house and dub. there's a few off-topic moments on the album that point to a far wider repertoire - 'dera' uses a traditional violin sample to great effect, 'debil' similarly confounds stereotypes with its overlay of micro key stabs, muted trumpet and almost bossa-like rhythms. enough to keep those tiring of electronica-by-numbers more than happy.

THE TINY [SWEDEN]
closer mp3
much like public transport, you wait for seemingly an age, and everything comes at once - here's the second outstanding new band from sweden in as many posts. a three piece from stockholm, the tiny digest all that is bold and beautiful about smoky, torch-song jazz and refract it through a lens that's been sitting in the pockets of bjork or kate bush. vocalist / pianist and writer, ellekari, onces more takes a seemingly familiar skewed vocal technique into new territories, and essentially proves what we always suspected - incredible though such vocals are, they are best displayed to their advantage in the jazz field. (for further proof, check out bjork's mid-90s 'jazz'n'folk' album, gling glo). the tiny's debut, 'close enough', is out now - more info at thetiny.net.

TYCHO [US: CALIFORNIA]
dictaphone's lament mp3
in the end mp3
finally today, a belated thanks to californian producer, scott hansen (aka tycho), for getting in touch with fat planet and forwarding a copy of his album. i first came across him on better propaganda, where they housed the stunning track 'dictaphone's lament' - so it was a pleasant surprise to hear from scott directly. i'm a sucker for boards of canada, and to make a favourable comparison is admittedly a little lazy (and undoubtedly overused), but it's still richly deserved. tycho's 13-track debut album 'sunrise projector' proves that there is still scope for delivering electronic production that houses warm, emotional currents. comparisons aside, the album ups the ante on a few key tracks - the dub refrains, accoustic guitar and snatches of ghost vocal in the two jianda collaborations 'send and receive' and 'a circular re-education' point to a more singular style and hansen drafts in regular collaborator, chachi jones, for a beautiful closing track. if you do one good thing today, buy this album. [site]



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110205 15:46

i just wanted to add my own personal R.I.P. to nick kilroy who passed away this week. i've never met the guy and never even spoken to him, but his blog - gabba/Pod - was an inspiration in getting fat planet off the ground. many tracks that nick published worked their way onto the radio show and earned a place in my heart. nick also founded kin records and gave us the junior boys, surely one of the defining new discoveries of 2004. i'm extremely grateful to nick for his immaculate taste and his desire to spread the word far and wide. // check out the pitchfork tribute here.

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070205 08:55

sometimes life just catches up with you - apologies for the seemingly decreasing lack of updates of the site, having gone from 2-3 per week at the 2nd half of 2004, to now less than one a week. assistant editors are welcome to apply :-) with an even busier week than usual- on top of everything else - i've had to curtail some of the editorial on the downloads in this update. suffice to say, all of these tracks are worth checking out, so take 20 minutes out of your day and have a little fat planet party in your headphones. leave some specific comments on artists if you're into them. and i'm serious about this assistant editor thing... email me a review of a favourite download if you're interested in submitting editorial for the site.

AK-MOMO [SWEDEN]
women in control mp3
if you liked last year's cocorosie project, then you'll undoubtedly love this new duo from sweden. their press references an astonioshing list of artists (some of which actually do stand up): joanna newsom, goldfrapp, bjork, kate bush, portishead and massive attack. much of the album uses vintage equipment, and they namecheck the optigan, mellotron and the orchestran. highly recommended. [more info]

DJ DELORES Y ORCHESTRA SANTA MASSA [BRAZIL]
a danca da moda mp3
great party beats from established brazilian producer

SWEET BILLY PILGRIM [ENGLAND]
experience mp3
beautiful downtempo folktronica from this new uk band - just remixed a track for the forthcoming david sylvian remix project 'the only daughter'. sylvian's album also includes mixes (all of the his solo album 'blemish') from ryoji ikeda, burnt friedman, akira rabelais and more. info + sound files at samadhisound.com. more mp3s from sweet billy pilgrim can be found at sweetbillypilgrim.com.

STEREO TOTAL [GERMANY]
the other side of you (remix) mp3
electro post-punk from the new album

HUUN HUR TU [TUVA]
kongurei amazon download page
not your average post this one - this band from tuva, the country that holds the distinction of being the most 'land-locked' in the world, i.e. furthest away from any ocean. their combination of throat-singing and traditional local instruments makes for a rare and unique slice of music. you also must check out their site to see these guys in full costume :-)

BOSTICH [MEXICO]
autobandana mp3
higly percussive piece of north american electronica

PRO FORMA [SCOTLAND]
sexual design mp3
four-piece originally co-founded by paul from franz ferdinand. take franz's jaunty post-punk-pop and now imagine something completely different. this slice of goth electronica is so moody it makes ladytron look like cartoon party animals.

DJ C [US: BOSTON]
billy jungle mp3
billy jungle (version) mp3
i intended to close last week's radio show with dj c's fantastic drum'n'bass / breakcore version of michael jackson's 'billy jean' and, instead, played the vocal-less version. that's still a great track, but the original vocal take is one that you simply have to own. [site]

LE TIGRE [US: NEW YORK]
new kicks mp3
deceptafreak mp3
not featured on the radio show, but i caught them playing live in sydney last weekend and thought you ought to have a listen to what they're up to (if you haven't already). the first mp3 is from the new album, the second is their own bastard pop mash-up of their classic ' deceptacon' and missy's 'get ur freak on'.



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