310305 21:25

APPARAT [GERMANY]
komponent mp3
been krazy in love with this track for the last few weeks and delighted to see mr. apparat has offered it as a free download on his site. i picked up apparat's last album 'duplex' on shitkatapult after hearing the superb dj mix set that's also available from his site. the album took melodic glitch to new heights, pushing the envelope in both directions - some of it was gloriously unlistenable, and all the better for it. so it's a beautiful surprise to find this track (a collaboration with danish vocalist raz ohara) - a perfect example of glitch-free electronic vocal pop in veins recently trodden by the likes of boom bip, lali puna and more. the rest of the e.p. - entitled 'silizium' - is also outstanding, complete with remixes from telefon tel aviv, rechenzentrum and bus.

PARK ATTACK [SCOTLAND]
tongue n groove MP3
i'll say one thing for franz ferdinand - scotland's under the radar once again (which as a glaswegian ex-pat makes me stupidly proud). and good to see that we're still pissing people off as well. one review for glasgow's park attack reads "this is a pile of shit designed to fuck you off and destroy your idea of a vibrant UK music scene". top notch. it's rambling no-wave junk - scattered and totally disfunctional. much like the new chicks on speed album (which comes from the same musical hinterland), you'll either love it or loathe it. [site]

MOBIUS BAND [U.S.]
starts off with a bang mp3
i've come to associate the ghostly label (and particularly their stellar signing matthew dear) with consistent high-quality melodic electronica and didn't feel that i needed to dig deeper in their catalogue for variation. so this new release from massachusetts trio mobius band, for me, reads like a departure into new regions (not dissimilar to warp's recent tangent) - populated by guitar-driven alt.pop with only the lightest hint of electronic noddle. something inside it points me in the direction of late 80s creation records melodies, or some recent releases from the swelling ranks of similar artists from denmark or scandanavia. worth a sniff.

CHRISTIAN HARDER [GERMANY]
popland (what popland?) mp3
harder is a solo producer from germany - if you believe all that media releases will tell you, his debut live performance involved nailing a half-naked britney spears to a cross whilst wearing a 'hitler uniform'. good to see the germans still have that legendary sense of humour. this mp3 from his site is a gloriously fucked up version of the original 'popland' track, forsaking its international deejay gigolo / fischerspooner sound and throwing up a harder, darker, guitar-squealing version that truly kicks. you can also find him parading under the name kid q (and scoring a german top 20 hit into the bargain) and scoring remix / production duties for the likes of swayzak and artists on mute records.

japanese mp3s: knowing how difficult it is to track down new japanese music, i'd recommend a couple of interesting options for those of you with some cash to spend. japanfiles.com hosts a diverse collection of new, independent japanese music (rock / alt.pop) all of which can be purchased as mp3s for download. on the site are two bands that have been featured here - limited express and guitar vader - but the rest are all new to me and worth some investigation. also have a look at sonic360.com who have released a couple of excellent compilations of country-specific beats from both japan and argentina. they're also releasing some artists albums, check out the gorgeous glitch folktronica from london's littl shyning man and german beats from granufunk.

this week on 'fat planet' radio show: on this sunday's show (3rd april) we'll be featuring a number of tracks from one of the best releases of the year so far - sri lanka born, london based artist M.I.A. and her super-hottt debut 'arular'. pull up the people!



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150305 12:29

fat holiday - i'm heading off on the road for a couple of weeks, exploring some of australia's backwaters, cheese factories, wine tasting sessions, $3 fish and chips at the local RSL and so much more. fat planet will be back in early april with more of the same. so it goes...



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080305 08:24

OOIOO [JAPAN]
right hand ponk mp3
ene sode mp3 @ better propaganda page
i'm off to see OOIOO tonight in sydney, so only right to herald in a quartet of japanese tracks today>> pronounced oh-oh-ey-oh-oh, OOIOO is the brainchild of the uber-talented yoshimi yokota - best known for her work with the boredoms as well as lending an occasional hand to kim gordon's free kitten. [you may also recognise the name from the flaming lips' tribute 'yoshimi battles the pink robots']. she's just released a 'best of' compilation featuring tracks from her first three (of five) albums, entitled 'cococoooioo'. yoshimi and the boredoms particular strain of music is where my love affair of japanese music began - i saw them live in london in 2002 - yoshimi and two other drummers, sitting in a circle of three kits facing each other, bashing all shades of hell from the skins, while the other main boredoms player, eye, stood on a table and played a frequency generator, extreme high pitches at extreme high volumes. i'd never seen a gig like it (and possibly never will again) and i had certainly never heard any music like it. their take on psychadelic improvisation is not only radical, it's almost thoroughly unique - and in this day and age where pop has eaten itself time and time again, that's a rare beast indeed. [thrill jockey page]

WE ACEDIASTS [JAPAN]
ibasho mp3
if you've picked up a copy of the dfa's latest compilation ('dfa records volume 2') then hurry back to the two tracks from japanese band j.o.y. - the marriage of japanese rock with the dfa's signature style is a joy to behold, although i reckon the original wins out over the dfa remix. another japanese band touched by the hand of the ubiquitous new yorkers is we acediasts. the four piece (three from japan, one from new jersey) recorded two tracks with the dfa, both of which can be found on their release 'pre acediasts', along with six other tracks recorded in tokyo. the above dfa mp3 is a rare opportunity to hear the producers stripped right back, a minimal marriage of trademark post-punk 4-4, krautrock, psych and post-rock. unfortunately, it seems like the we acediasts project was short lived, splitting not long after these sessions were recorded. [site]

ROVO [JAPAN]
horses mp3
i found this band on an import compilation called 'anima mundi', a great collection of japanese psych-rock. another offshoot from the prolific boredoms factory, this time featuring guitarist seiichi yamamoto. their mandate is to create 'man-driven-trance' which one reviewer took to mean that their music "signalled a wish to destroy the boundaries between DJs and bands, digital and analog". the track above is now stretching the concept of 'new music', released in 1999 (taken from the album 'imago'), but like a great deal of this genre, it genuinely doesn't date. the six piece also features members of other japanese bands including dub squad, demi semi quaver and bazooka joe. john zorn's tzadik label (who recently released a fat planet feature album, ex-cibo matto member yuka honda's 'eucademix') has a live double with additional bill laswell mixes here.

MARXY [JAPAN]
neoplasticism vs. de stijl mp3
marxy is david marx, originally from the u.s. now resident in tokyo. as an american in japan, influenced by all the beautiful insanity of the local culture, it's no surprise that his album 'kyoshu nostalgia' is a twisted marriage of the two countries - and two specific styles. if you've heard any pure j-pop, you'll know there's a bagful of sugar in the saccahrine sounds. it's a little too much for me most of the time, but it's so unlike western pop music that it demands attention. usually, it's the leftfield pop that makes the grade outside the homeland, e.g. pizacatto five or puffy amiyumi. marxy, however, it taking j-pop in a direction that's entirely unexpected. imagine for a moment that the beach boys were brought up in tokyo - think j-pop mixed with sixties surf melodies, vocal harmonies and lyrics chock full of sweet teen longing. it's bizarre, unique and completely unexpected. the above mp3 is an anomaly, the lone voice in the album pack that marries marxy's sound with electronic breaks - although the breakdown towards the end points directly towards the rest of the album. a curio not to be missed. [site]

last sunday's radio show:
this week's playlist is online here. the feature album this week was YUKA HONDA's 'eucademix'. more info here. thanks to DJ FRANK MADRID for dropping by with a selection of new brazilian music - more info on the URBAN BRAZIL club night here. next week's feature album is from france - M83's 'before the dawn heals us'.



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