310504 20:05

damn that missy elliott - sadly her show largely sucked. the ratio of music to (mostly) inane crowd participation was about 30% music / 70% 'yo sydney, make some noize!'. you know, 'that shit might fly in the sticks' (as they say), but we expect better. songs lasted no longer than about 90 seconds ('lickshots' lasted all of 30 seconds...), interrupted with 'wait a minute - i ain't hearing you making any noise!'. yawn. don't get me wrong, missy is one of the most interesting + talented artists in hip hop, absolutely no doubt. but when you've got five albums under your belt, why fly half way around the world to play half an hour of music, most of which was just you miming over backing tracks? (did i mention there was no band - just some 'whack' dj who loved his inane banter just as much as missy?). ah well, i was duped. i'll know better next time. pass the rabbit hutch, baby!

--

300504 18:11

contain yourself, stuart (that's me talking to myself) - you'll be seeing missy elliot on stage in ajust over three hours. hmmm, yes. how could i possibly concentrate on doing a radio show today? well, somehow, by the grace of buffy, i got there. playlist is now live - and here's some tunes from today's fetured artists that you can take home and call your very own -

LANGUIS bridge closer to a view mp3 [ARGENTINA]
originally from argentina, now living it up [maybe] in california, languis' new album is called the 'the four walls' (on plug research). i opened today's show with the track 'never now'. the above mp3 is taken from their 2000 release 'unithematic' and features a non-dissimialr blend of laid-back live instrumentation mixed with some sweet electronica

RONIN ronin theme (storm reprise) mp3 [ITALY]
if david lynch was going to set his next film in italy, then you might expect ronin to crop up on the soundtrack. marrying the infamous american filmic twang with more traditional european sounds - i played the opening track from their self-titled e.p., above you can download an alternative version that closes proceedings on the release

SMOKEY & MIHO blue glasses mp3 [JAPAN]
see posting dated 250504 for more info

LARS HORNTVETH tics mp3 [NORWAY]
lars is one part of the ten piece experience that is norway's jaga jazzist. fortunately, their sound defies regular description, although if my life depended on it i'd go for someone between free jazz, downbeat breaks and electronica. lar's solo album 'pooka' is much the same, albeit even more gorgeous than some of jaga's output. surely not? download the above and see for yourself

MISSY ELLIOTT folks like you (missy vs the dandy warhols) mp3 [US : VIRGINIA]
i closed the show with a missy bootleg from the xerox crew - unfortunately, the mix i played is now offline, but this one is arguably better. missy versus the dandy warhols 'bohemian like you'. yup, it sounds exactly as you think it will...

--

250504 09:03

SMOKEY & MIHO [JAPAN]
blue glasses mp3
::: it's weird - some people are superstars are we don't even know it. take miho hatori - one half of the phenomenally successful japanese duo, cibo matto (alas no longer with us). you might remember them from their 1996 single 'sugar water' which had a great split screen video featuring both backwards and forwards versions of the same clip (an early piece of work from 'eternal sunshine of the spotless mind' director, michael gondry). miho has also provided vocals for the beastie boys, handsome boy modelling school (aka dan the automator + prince paul) and also for damon albarn's gorillaz project (but don't hold that against her). you can also check her solo work on the excellent chocolate industries/ ninja tune compilation 'urabn renewal rpoject'. here, she teams up with guitarist smokey hormel who's worked with tom waits, beck and david lynch (how's that for a cv?). together they've dropped a very laid-back collection of accoustic samba, covering the works of brazilian artist baden powell. the results are beautiful - miho has one of the best japenese voices around and hearing it dropped onto bossa-nova is a revealation. get to it!

on a very different tip, two lone swordsmen (aka andrew weatherwall and keith tenniswood - mr radioactive man) are about to release their new album on warp. they've relaunched their web site and you can stream most of the tracks in the audio section. somewhat of a depature from 'tiny reminders', with weatherall evidently reconnecting with his punk roots. yup, in the words of the lcd soundsystem, they've sold their turntables and bought guitars.

--

230504 18:23

today's fat planet playlist is now wrapped and ready to be delivered to your very good self. check it right about here. and here's some links to a few artists featured on today's show :::

JUANA MOLINA quien? mp3 : el desconfiado mp3 [ARGENTINA]
an amazing discovery this week - this songer / songwriter from argentina. her new album, seguendo, is her second, but the first to be released outside of her home country. my first frame of reference was the beuatiful japanese electronica vocal artist, tujiko noriko - however, juana's album reveals a more balanced approach between vocal, acoustic guitar and electro atmospherics. if you download any music today, make sure it's these links. then try and reconcile the music with the fact that juana is also a comedian with one of the most popular TV comedy's show in the spanish speaking world. go figure that one...

MC VANEESINHA dance de peteca mp3 [BRAZIL]
the web site from whence this came describes its collection of brazilian hip-hop as being sourced from independent sellers - it's music from garages, apparently. so whilst the legalities of this post are dubious, if anyone can find this music available commercially outside brazil then do let me know!

THE TELEPHONE JIM JESUS little boy one eye mp3 [US : ILLINOIS]
see post dated 170504 for info

--

190504 22:03

HOOD
they removed all trace that anything had ever happened here mp3
::: difficult to know where to place uk band hood. first off, i read that they had worked with dose and why? from clouddead, so instantly i'm thinking more of the same school of downbeat alt.hip hop. and, sure enough, this track starts off by giving you an inkling that this might happen. then the vocals kick in and everything changes. this is where the mush brand of hip hop crosses over with more 'traditional' songwriting, adding shades of post-rock, folktronica. all these descriptions seem largely superfluous though - having heard other tracks by hood, they don't seem to concerned about occupying any particular territory. in saying that, this track (taken from their 2001 domino album 'cold house') is not particularly representative of their whole output, which actually seems to be a little more rock - rather than hip hop - focussed. there's more mp3s on their official site and an exhaustive collection of 90s back catalogue here.

--

170504 20:06

PASSAGE
reagan's chest mp3
+
THE TELEPHONE JIM JESUS
little boy one eye mp3

::: a couple of mp3s from the re$tiform bodies crew. passage is another piece of the anticon jigsaw. he's the re$stiform's vocalist, the rest of the band being made up of a couple of his buddies who go by the names of the telephone jim jesus and the bomarr monk (i just give you the info, i make no comment). 'reagan's chest' is a taster from passage's forthcoming self-produced album 'the forcefield kids'. the 2nd track is from the telephone jim jesus' tour-only e.p. 'a point too far to astronaut'. it's a beautiful slice of melancholic, downbeat alt.hip hop. more pointers for tunes of this ilk would be appreciated :-)

--

160504 17:49

feeling a little worse for wear today. played out at two very different parties last night, playing two very different sets. the second (at a sweaty house party with a selection of oddly-dressed individuals) consisted mostly of bhangra / mash-up / dancehall - ty + roots manuva's bollywood refix of 'oh u want more' going down particularly well. the single hasn't been off my iPod all week - it's out now on big dada, well worth hunting down. [click here to listen to a stream].

here's some download links for some of the tunes from today's fat planet. playlist is here.

DATAROCK maybelline mp3 [NORWAY]
norwegian four piece with an excellent side-swipe at alt.rock, coming off sounding somewhere close to mute-era wire. with no international releases under their belt, they'e still found time to play barcelona's sonar festival and have appeared on a couple of compilations. more tunes available at their website, including 'i used to dance with my daddy' which previously featured on fat planet too.

MARK ONE ft MC NIKA D contagious rhymin [ENGLAND]
for info + mp3 link, see post dated 120504

DE PORTABLES [BELGIUM]
i played the track 'flash (foreplay)' from the wire's domino 04 compilation. i was about to type the words'post-rock', only to find their web site has beat me to it - "this is more or less accurate but seeing their wide palet of styles, this is a bit tunnelvision". alternative downloads from this excellent band can be found on kraak.net

STRUMM at your feet mp3 [DENMARK]
a replay from last week's show in honour of this week royal wedding in denmark :-) i'm not a royalist, i just liked the dude's hat. and to think, they met at the slip inn, only a short hop away from where i'm typing right now...

--

150504 14:10

LADYTRON
evil (pop levi's xmas mix) mp3
::: here's something completley unseasonal, an official 'xmas-mix' of the recent ladytron single which is everything you expect it to be - glammy, trashy, mash-up and heaps of fun. i posted this mainly because it brought to mind the high-speed turnover of official music online - many bands + labels are obviously now posting legal mp3s (otherwise this site wouldn't exist), however some of them obviously exist as a 'here today, gone tomorrow' deal, which instantly increases their curiousity value. but for releases such as this (and the k foundation's k-cera cera that i recently posted), what value - if any - can be placed on rare mp3s? will such things be commodities in the future? ok, so this is a two-minute off-the-top-of-the-head thought, but my keyboard suddenly went all bladerunner on me as if i had squeezed open my third eye and glimpsed into the future for a second. chocolate watches are next, just you wait.

if u haven't marvelled at it already, check out the radio babylon blog - great stuff, very zero-g in sensibility! cheers for the link too. i've also been hammering music for robots recently too - get over there and check it out.

--

140504 08:53

MUM
nightly cares mp3
::: 'summer make good' is mum's third 'proper' album and, although now stripped to a three-piece, it's by no means a departure from their signature downbeat, abstract electronica. as for the above track, if you're not moved at all by the random soarings of certain icelandic vocalists, then stay away from this beautiful folktronic lullaby. factheads take note - the album features a 'chinese harp' performance from mice parade's adam pierce. (download should start automatically by clicking the mp3 link, no need for 'save as')

--

120504 09:13

for today's downloads, go to virussyndicate.moonfruit.com, click on 'virus riddims'. there are 3 coloured strips on the bottom left of the page - the colours represent the following mp3s:

MARK ONE ft MC NIKA D
contaigous rhymin (yellow)

MARK ONE
ready for it (red)

VIRUS SYNDICATE
stand up (blue)

after a whisper of garage / grim the other day, time for the real thing. 'contaigous rhymin' is a beautifully minimal track with some excellent freestyle dropped over the top, kicking off by having a swipe at the haters who don't get the virus' self-described "different" style. and anyone who drops both catherine of aragon and oprah into a rhyme has to be appluaded. 'ready for it' sounds a little more familiar, featuring what's fast-becoming signature low-end stabs / samples (but what do I know?!) - it's an angry rhyme, 'fuck the world', 'hit em with the sickness', good shit :-) 'stand up' starts with a phone conversation 'i've got a tune here you can spit some lyrics over', 'yeah, i'm feeling that, i'm feeeeeling that'... and is a lot more downtempo, the rhyme dealing with those of us who are out of cash, running into a rallying call in the chorus - 'if you think you can't cope, stand up'. yeah, i'm feeeeling this...

--

100504 23:35

TIM WRIGHT
going down mp3
searcher mp3
::: i've been meaning to post these for a while, as a result of hearing tim wright's excellent new single on novamute - 'the ride' featuring toastie taylor. the explosion of garage / grime in the uk has led to a thousand editorials, and i'm not about to start another one here. suffice to say that dizzee, wiley et al are the very public end of what seems like a vibrant underground scene. and with tim wright (aka sand, new flesh on ninja tune & tube jerk) it's already diversifying - these mp3s are very much on the techno / electronic fringe of garage, and (for da purists) arguably not even garage at all. go on, argue - tell me wot u call it.

SCHNEIDER TM
the light 3000 zipped mp3
frogtoise zipped mp3
reality check mp3
masters mp3
::: schneider TM first came to my attention (as i'm sure is true with many people) with 'the light 3000', one of the earliest vocoder-electro-pop covers to surface (and so often repeated) back in 2000 - a cover of 'there is a light that never goes out' by the smiths. city slang describe schneider as "directly and indirectly inspired by the velvet underground, tv's magum, cheap champagne, drumming in a rock band for several years and living in the countryside". once more, we see the inadequacy of the written word, primarily as this gives the impression that the guy is an alt.rock purist. dear, dear... the above mp3s offer a quick intro to this quirky chirpy german electronic artist - if you want even more, check out the videos available for download on the cityslang site or the "virtual flyer" for his new collection of remixes, featuring two streams.

and a quick thanks to zia for the chromeo file - check zia's blog here, especially the triple bill of dancehall from last thursday's post. riddim!

--

090504 17:54

today's fat planet playlist is live. some weeks, the show just bounces along merrily but there's an occasional week where - for no particular reason - the show just falls together in such a beautiful way, much like today :-) some great tunes in the mix (shena ringo, matt harding, state of bengal vs paban das paul, solbakken & black heart procession, 5678s...). hopefully before too long we'll be streaming and y'all can hear what i'm talking about...

conscience-free downloads of some of today's rekkids >>

AESOP ROCK feat. CAMP LO limelighters (stacs of stamina remix) mp3
more info in previous post

CHROMEO destination overdrive (dfa remix) mp3
no idea what this canadian band actually sounds like as the dfa signature stamp is all over this. tried to stream some of the music from their label (vice recordings, spin-off from the magazine of the same name) - but the page didn't seem to like my safari browser. this is by no means murphy & goldsworthy's finest mix, but then an average dfa mix is still reasonably far ahead of the competition.

SKATEBAARD grell ekspertise mp3
an edit of the full-length track from this norwegian artist - some staccato breaks mixed with a xylophone & double bass. makes u pine for the full track! from tyhe excellent site tiktak.no

STRUMM at your feet mp3
short sharp burst of quality indie from denmark. check out the remixes on their site too for a more radical spin.

PILOT BALLOON vampire tonic mp3
more info in previous post

--

060504 18:01

AESOP ROCK feat. CAMP LO
limelighters (stacs of stamina remix) mp3
::: stacs of stamina are a swedish hip-hop trio, signed to sideshow recordings, and adding some interesting flourishes to the ever-growing family of alt.hip-hop. i've not heard the aesop rock original of 'limelighters' (if i looked hard, i could find it on last year's 'bazooka joe' album apparently...), so i can't make any kind of comparison - but this remix features a looping downbeat piano riff mixed with scattered hi-end beats, and drops some quality sequencer tweaks towards the end. very tasty indeed.

PILOT BALLOON
vampire tonic mp3
::: and by way of a wonderful schronicity, stacs of stamina appeared on a split 10" with these guys, pilot balloon - who share a label (2nd rec) with the excellent italian post-rockers giardini di miro and nitrada (u can find some tunes from both of them in the mp3 archive). this mp3 is taken from their new album 'ghastly good cheer' which, according to the label web site, has been described as "the product of a smoke session between dj shadow, tortoise and kid a-era radiohead". obviously these are quality reference points, and not too far wide of the mark. as much as i thought i was going to fall in love with this track, it left me wanting more - which might actually be a good thing...

SIXTOO feat DAMO SUZUKI
storm clouds & silver linings (album version) mp3
::: and while we're on this downbeat tip (and due to the fact that i've been tardy with the posts in the last couple of days), here's a preview from ninja tune of the new sixtoo album and without doubt the pick of today's bunch! this features damo suzuki on vocals, a founding member of krautrock legends, can - and seems far removed from sixtoo's previous productions. one writer has already said that his could have easily been taken from an early can recording session, and they're not wrong. it's a hefty download (over 12MB), but worth every byte.

--

060504 13:08

flu again, so apologies for lack of posts. more soon.

after being down for a while, i've republished the primer section with links to people that have inspired me at some point throughout the rollercoaster ride o' life. click here to have yr third eye opened.

--

040504 08:49

NEULANDER
flying mp3
::: neulander are adam peters (NYC) and korinna knoll (austria) and their debut album is just out on disko b entitled 'sex, god + money'. what raised the interest initially was that peters has worked as 'musician, arranger or producer' for bands such as echo & the bunnymen, siouxise & the banshees, beth orton and lloyd cole and now he's wound up making some rather savoury electro-pop in a vain that seems initially familiar (almost overused?), but sticks with you after it's long finished. i'm also a fan of the closing line: 'my mother is dead, my father is dead, and all my brothers and sisters are dead, but my heart goers boom, boom boom'.

DOKAKA
smells like teen spirit mp3
::: i freely admit to making good use of the 'genre' facility on my iPod, but it's rare that i'll have to resort to 'unclassifiable'. surely all music is classifiable in some way, even william hung for god's sake? well, today i used 'unclassifiable' for this guy... meet dokaka - a japanese beatbox artist who takes great pleasure in creating acapella / beatbox versions of classic (mostly rock) tracks. remember when you used to go 'da-nar-nar-nar' when playing air-guitar? well, dokaka's made a career out of it. there's heaps of tracks on his web site, including the niravana cover above ... but the main reason that dokaka is here on zero-g is that he's just finished a recording session with bjork for her new album. lord knows what that's going to sound like, although i do fondly remember the spitting image sketch from many years ago - 'bjork duets with a fax machine'. now, that's genius.

thanks to bjarke from danish band jab micha och el for getting in touch, i posted some of their music recently - well worth a re-visit for fans of four tet and the like. check out the mp3 archive for the link. you can find more info + more music on bjarke's web site at championrobot.dk, which also features a rather excellent online pacman game too...

while you're out and about online check out these other mp3 blogs that have just been added to my favourites: music for robots , new(ish) , tyrone shoelaces and never came home.

--

020504 17:47

another sunday arvo, another fat planet licked. check out today's playlist here and below you can download your conscience-free, legal mp3 from today's show :-)

EX-GIRL pretty you ugly [JAPAN] mp3
check out their blurb from the alternative tentacles site: "from their distant homeworld of planet KeroKero- via tokyo- eX-Girl returns to earth for another too-close-for-comfort encounter! their latest musical missive is a concept album that ponders the conflicts between civilizations and the road that may lead to our extinction. it also rocks!"

BEIGE GT f.a.q. [GERMANY] mp3
as for their site blurb, erm... lost in translation? "The band wants to be like advertising pillars, we are told. Yes, why not? Good attitude."

ERIK LEVANDER bermond (bauri remix) [SWEDEN] mp3
check out the post dated 290404 for more info

DEERHOOF milk man [US / CALIFORNIA + JAPAN] mp3
not the track played on the show (that was 'c'), but taken from the same album - (this is the title track). three san franciscans and a japanese vocalist, creating some extremely off-kilter alt.rock.

non fat planet shit ::: been enjoying themilkfactory.co.uk - a great site for alt.hip-hip / elctronica / eclectic weird shit. there's a new interview with schneiderTM (some mp3 from him coming to zero-g this week), plus reviews of the new albums from blockhead, cocorosie, funkstorung, rjd2, avril and a review of the two new retrospective releases from throbbing gristle - 'mutant tg' (the remix album) and 'the taste of tg - a beginner's guide to the music of throbbing gristle'. the opening line gives you an indication of tg's place in the world: "before techno was a gleam in juan atkins’ eye, before fad gadget cut himself onstage, before nine inch nails and swans, throbbing gristle were formed in 1975 as the musical arm of COUM transmissions...". if you have a great deal of time to kill, read andrew weatherall's recent in-depth interview with the band.

--

<< newer | older >>

back to top