310505 20:48

so it's been all quiet on the fat planet front. and there's one perfectly good reason why - mira rose buchanan, my first daughter, was born into the world on thursday 26th may at 4.52am. so it goes, little star... to welcome mira into the world, here's a track from her namesake - from south african born artist mira calix:

MIRA CALIX & DISJECTA you and i (alternative mix) mp3

normal planetary service will resume shortly, however here's a couple of treats that i've been meaning to post for a while. enjoy.

BECK farewell ride (remix by subtle) mp3
THROBBING GRISTLE re:tg (scanner remix) mp3
DIPLO haiti on blast mp3
CX KIDTRONIK bubble up (feat EKG) mp3
FOG we're winning mp3
BARBARA MORGENSTERN & ROBERT LIPPOK wake me up for meals mp3

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100505 09:10

i came across the agriculture label some time ago when searching the interwebhighway for anything related to barcelona-based producer and dj par-excllence dj rupture (his nettle project surfaced on the label some time back). i promised many earth moons ago that i'd post some tunes from agriculture, so here's a sampler. for more on the label, and to hear tracks via their radio player, head over to theagriculture.com.

LADYMAN [ISRAEL]
infomercia mp3
lady killa mp3
ladyman is raz mesinai, perhaps better known to the world as badawi and as part of the israeli dub-duo, sub dub. born in jerusalem, now based in new york, raz released his first record at eighteen and has been working as a producer, composer and DJ ever since. among his back catalouge, i love the sound of 'string quartet for four turntables' which was commissioned by ny's lincoln center in 2000. much like rupture or the late muslimgauze, raz draws on a long tradition of eastern sounds and contorts them into a sound that's typically idiosyncratic. this is a galaxy away from the uninspired '4-4 meets eastern sample' that so many other producers fall for, the kind of tunes that end up littering low-quality compilations the world over. this is a genuine and considered approach, an intelligent and alternative take on eastern musical traditions. that said, his obvious love of jamaican dub also shines through on these two tracks (taken from the album 'viagra opus'). if you enjoy these, there's an album's worth of free mp3s at raz's site.

DJ OLIVE [U.S.]
crossunder mp3
round fire strut mp3
two tracks from brooklyn's dj olive, who co-indicentally was doing the dj rounds right here in sydney last weekend. his resume is impressive, littered with some of the greats of contemporary experimental music - e.g. kim gordon from sonic youth, bill laswell and john zorn to name but a few. 'bodega', from which these mp3s are taken, is his first full-length album, released through agriculture. the label likens them to 'ass shaking tracks that sound like they were scraped off old funk and dub 7"s'. 'round fire strut' is defiantly dub, however my favourite of the two is 'crossunder' which opens with some eastern percussion, before dropping into a downtempo funk-break with liberal slices of buddy rich's 'the beat goes on' thrown in for good measure.

LUNCHBOX [SWITZERLAND/ U.S.]
brown bag mp3
beats, acoustic guitar, percussion, glitch and cut-up vocal samples all come together in this smart piece of downbeat from lunchbox. the trio consists of martin baumgartner, bruno amstad and dj olive. the album 'anyways' carries the lunchbox theme to it's logical conclusion - track include 'bento box', 'peanut butter & jelly', and 'little fruit juice'.

this week's radio show - the feature album was 'night of the living dread' - a compilation of new french digital dub by the sonarcotik crew on mcp records. pop back to fat planet soon as we'll hopefully be posting some mp3 tracks from the album. [playlist]

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010505 18:43

PRINCESS ONE POINT FIVE [AUSTRALIA]
by the time i get to phoenix i'll be... mp3
inadequate response mp3
it's heartening to find a few north american blogs are finally discovering what we've known all along - australian music is undergoing an exuberant renaissance with artist after artist proving that we can clearly play the anglo-american axis at their own game. good too see wolfmother, cut copy and the presets all making waves (even if they are all on the same label) - i'd heartily encourage you all to look up other great bands too such as midnight juggernauts, wolf and cub, new buffalo, pasobionic, all of the gang from the feral media stable ... i could go on, so i'll stop now at princess one point five. the lady in question is melbourne's sarah-jane wentzki and the album - due this week - is entitled 'at long last' and has been four years in the making. in lieu of hearing the full album release, we're having to make do with the above two tracks from her site, both of which are beautiful downtempo tracks that present sarah-jane's vocals in all their sparse glory. i'm reminded of billie ray martin in places, or beth gibbons, maybe stina nordenstam. her bio (which does name-check stina as an influence) alludes to more diversity on the album itself - "80's/90's nordic and german electro-pop/glitch and the melbourne noise art community. further in, you see she detours towards fraught and strange sex/death landscapes more akin to my bloody valentine". wake up to this one, america - and go tell your friends.

JOHANN JOHANNSON [ICELAND]
odi et amo mp3
a break from the norm here - johannson is a producer / composer from iceland whose formidable resume includes production and collaboration with the likes of soft cell's marc almond (the 2001 album 'stranger things'), barry adamson, pan sonic and the hafler trio. add to that work for stage, screen and television and the not-insignficant part he played in the formation of kitchen motors band, a self-described 'art organization / think-tank / record label'. the above track is the opener from his debut 'englaborn', featuring music composed for a play of the same name, and is a beautiful mixture of contemporary classical and electronic sensibilities. this stems from the process behind 'englaborn' - it was written for string quartet, piano, organ, glockenspiel and percussion - the recordings of which were all later re-processed and mixed. exemplified wonderfully here with a computer-vocal reading a latin text. now that's progess.

THE INVISIBLE CITIES [US: CALIFORNIA]
regret mp3
last week i received the latest release from norway's flunk - known for their re-interpretation of new order's 'blue monday'. their new album picks up on the trend with a version of 'true faith'. which brings me to the invisible cities, who had the good foresight to drop their latest album 'watertown' in the post to fat planet. i mention them in the context of new order due to their re-interpretation of 'regret' - a cover version that strips back the original's lush production and cuts straight to the heart of the song. it's the 2nd breath of fresh air this week - straight-forward, unpretentious melodies abound, topped off with sadie's gorgeous vocals. they've drawn in production support from hands that have worked the desks with frank black, the pixies and tori amos - all names that point you in the direction of their sound and style. if only new order could be as interesting - warning: steer well clear of their abysmal new album 'waiting for the siren's call'. 'waiting for insiration to call' perhaps, and looks like she never arrived. [site]

this week's show - playlist is now online. the feature album was 'dualizm' by jori hulkonnen [site] on f communications. also note bjork's cover version / remix album 'army of mixes' from which we played the grisbi track - buy now, all proceeds to unicef. [site]

also a quick hello to another new member of blog army - go check out willful expose for diversity in the form of north brazilian folk, the notwist and badly drawn boy.

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