201204 08:13

yesterday was the last fat planet radio show for 2004, so i rounded off the year playing back some of my favourite tunes from the last 12 months [check out the playlist here]. links to some of the tracks are safely tucked away in the blog archive for you to revisit (hit the archive button at the foot of this page and keep heading back through time for some choice tunes) - so for today's mp3 smorgasbord, i'm rounding up some of the links that have been sitting brodding, quietly at the back, and have yet to make it onto the blog. before that though, a heads up to irmin schmidt from can who i interviewed on today's show...

CAN [GERMANY]
oh yeah (from 'tago mago') mp3
pinch (from 'ege bamyasi') mp3
when introducing the irmin schmidt interview today, i went so far as to say that anyone making music other than traditional blues rock owes some kind of debt to can. the band formed in the 1968 from the nucleus of irmin schmidt and holger czukay, both of whom studied under the man who some regard as the grandfather of electronica, karlheinz stockhausen [more on stockhausen here]. after a visit to new york and being in the presence of a live performance of the velvet underground, the idea for can was formed. the band were incredibly prolific - not including compilations, there were 13 albums (11 of which fell in a 10 year period) and the first four have just been re-issued through mute records. it's true to say that genres such as post-rock would not be what they are today without can. their mastery of multiple forms of music, from rock to jazz to classical, may well be something that's expected of many musicians today, but back in the late 60s, it was almost a sacrilege. links worth visting: official can site - spoon records, holger czukay's personal history of can and mixmaster morris on can. a transcript from today's interview may well be posted soon.

AIRBORN AUDIO [US: NEW YORK]
bright lights mp3
formerly of anti-pop consortium (from whence beans also sprang), airborn audio is hip hop artists high priest and m. sayyid. their debut album 'good fortune' has been gestating for a couple of years and, given the added pressure of beans' remarkable 'shock city maverick' album, expectation is justifyably high. check out the mindzero site to download another track from the album (wma format).

MING [BELGIUM]
sentir et analyser (barbara morgenstern rmx) mp3
fredrique vs superpitcher mp3
following in the wake of the excellent styorfoam album, some more great music from belgium for you, albeit remixed by some of the smartest talent in germany today. ming (pic.left) are a m/f duo frédérique franke and nicolas deschuytenee, perpetuating the ever-growing canon of middle european electronic pop. their recent album 'intérieur/extérieur' was given over to a squad of artists, whose own label loyalties read like a whos-who of the cutting edge of european music - diskoB, kompakt, monika, playhouse, kitty-yo to name but a few. the 2nd mp3 is described by ming's label as " is one of many mixed and vocally reworked tracks by frederique, put on her overdubbed dj set". make of that what you will. more info at doxa records.

BOOM BIP [US: OHIO]
the matter (of our discussion) (feat. nina nastasia) goto:scissorkick
the move goto:better propaganda
taken from his forthcoming album 'blue eyed in the red room', there's two new boom bip tracks now available at the above sites. he's been getting a great deal of press in 2004, mostly off the back of his remix collection 'corymb' which saw artists such as boards of canada, clouddead, lali puna and four tet getting on board to mix tracks from the 'seed to sun' album. according to his label, lex records, the new ten-track album is due to drop in a matter of weeks (february '05) and features no samples and very few vocals. scissorkick has posted one of the only two vocal tracks, featuring nina nastasia (the other will feature gruff from super furry animals) and you can download a 2nd track from the good folks at better propaganda.

TIEFSCHWARZ [GERMANY]
acid soul mp3
something a little more four-to-the-floor for you now - if you haven't come across any of the extensive tiefschwarz remix catalogue, you might have been hiding under the wrong rock lately. the three-piece have recently put together a 2 disc set 'misch masch' - the first cd featuring a mix set from the trio, the second is a compilation of their remix work with artists such as phonique, lopazz, dj hell, mocky and truby trio all being represented. the above track is taken from their self-titled 2002 album.

COPPE [JAPAN]
i lick my brain in silence mp3 edit
i can't find any full-length mp3s for this artist, but i did want to nonetheless draw your attention to coppe - a female japanese solo artist whose voice is compared here on the milk factory to beth gibbons, bjork and billie holliday. she's worked with pre-eminent electronc artists such as russian dj vadim, plaid and the orb. you can find heaps of edited mp3s at her web site - any pointers to full-length legal downloads appreciated!

AUTECHRE [ENGLAND]
while you're out and about on the galactic interweb today, also check out xltronic's 2003 autechre remix competition - 180 (count 'em) remixes of autechre tracks as part of their remix competition. if you don't have the time to trawl through around 15 hours of remixes (why not?), autechre's personal favourites were 'amnesie drane2 (remix)' mp3 and 'naftwa4 (handled by goodhands team)' [mp3]. also have a listen to this odd bootleg from mindovermidi.no - autechre vs david sylvian.

finally, heads up to emptyfree - a blog with a refreshingly eclectic selection, not for the faint-hearted. recent posts include rarely published links for polish and french hip-hop, plus articles on laibach, pan sonic, boyd rice and shitmat. also click over to radio free polygon for more electronic downloads - check out posts from calamalka, venetian snares, iso brown and the rip-off artist. go get yer lobes rattled.

and with that, the fat planet radio show bows out for 2004. there might be an occasional update during the xmas break if i'm feeling productive, otherwise we'll back on 3rd january 2005. have a freaking good holiday.

so it goes.



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131204 09:00

monday morning (yawn) ... up with the worm-catchers to bring you some mp3s from yesterday's show. next sunday, if you're a sydney-sider, then get close to yr li'l radio box as i'll be ending the year with a special treat - fat planet meets IRMIN SCHMIDT, founding member of the legendary german krautrock pioneers CAN. tune in from 3pm on sunday 19th for this rare interview and tracks from newly re-issued CAN albums.

KONONO NO.1 [CONGO]
ditshe tshiekutala mp3
on the fat planet radio show, i try to play as much contemporary african music that i can get my hands on, without straying too far down the path of traditional world music. hence the recent posts on senegalese hip hop. however, electronic music from africa is practically non-existent - understandable given the reliance of electronic music on PCs and suchlike. so, it's great to see belgian label crammed discs giving us what they're billed as 'congotronics'. konono no.1 (who've been around for 25 years apparently) use an electro version of the thumb piano, wired to an almighty soundystem and marry it with all manner of pots'n'pans metallic percussion. as you can imagine, the results are breathtaking. you really have to see the photographs over at crammed to get an indication of how rare this project is. crammed have promised us not only a full studio album from konono no.1, but also a compilation entitled 'buzz n rumble' featuring five similar acts (due early 2005). when searching for the some konono no.1 files, the above mp3 duly turned up on the excellent mp3blog 'the suburbs are killing us' and is taken from a live album entitled 'lubuaku'. more info on this release can be found over at subterranean distribution.

DJ RUPTURE [SPAIN]
lonesome (feat.lily) mp3
i can't seem to leave this guy alone, but when you've got an artist of such high quality around, what are you gonna do? today i played the track 'little more oil' from dj rupture's new album, 'special gunpowde'r. the track is a collaboration with old skool dancehall artist sister nancy. there's not a great deal of info on nancy around on the web, but you can find some introductory bio info here. the above mp3 is taken from rupture's better propaganda page, where you'll also find a 2nd mp3 from the new album. (i'm listing rupture as coming from spain, and although he's a resident of barcelona, he's actually from the u.s.. so now you know.)

MAGNETA LANE [CANADA]
the constant lover mp3
a three-piece girl band from canada who are probably sick to death of finding people refer to them in the same breath as the strokes. of course, i wouldn't dare do such a thing. thanks to leila from paper bag records in toronto for getting in touch and pointing fat planet in the direction of lexi, french and nadia. this is a killer track, a great slice of alt.pop that has been ringing around inside my skull for the last few days - fast, to the point and smacking you in the nose with a fistful of attitude. all the great attributes of rock'n'roll, surely? check out paper bag records for a diverse roster rammed with quality tunes.

PITCH BLACK [NEW ZEALAND]
lost in translation mp3
this NZ duo have a new album out called 'ape to angel' and i played the track 'freefall' today. they've been playing together for nearly eight years and 'ape to angel' is their third full-length. i found a website that described them as 'the hexstatic of new zealand' - and the sounds definitely fall into the long embrace of the ninja tune style zone. it's a smart blend of warm, dub-infused electronica - which would undoubtedly translate incredibly well to the live arena and festival circuit where pitch black spend a great deal of their time. check out the band's web site for a further batch of free mp3 downloads.

SITJN [BELGIUM]
ochtendbericht mp3
stijn would appear to be the one-man powerhouse behind the mijn label - have a look at the site at mijnlabel.com. the track played today 'wrong' has stijn coming off like tiga in a three-in-the-bed romp with metro area. alas, there's no such similar mp3s on the mijn site, merely some soundtrack mp3s from stijn's work on a project called 'nine to five' - and the tunes are simple, looped minimal electronica, pleasant enough but i'm feeling the ground swell beneath my feet. you might have more joy over at this mini site for stijn 'euphoria' album, where you can stream all the tracks from the album (including 'wrong').



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071204 08:32

mp3s from artists (or their associates...) who featured on this week's show >>

SHANK [GERMANY]
oust mp3
my guest today was germany's burnt friedman - an artist whose experiments in genres range from dub, jazz and latin to techno, ambient and more. two of his projects stand out - burnt friedman and the nu dub players and his collaboration with uwe schmidt (aka atom heart / senor coconut) on flanger, released through ninja tune. unfortunatly for burnt and myself, and all the show's listeners, we had a classic culture clash - neither of us seemed to really understand each other (glaswegian meets reticent german), so the interview wasn't exactly full of fireworks. that aside, burnt's selection of tracks was impressive and allowed the music to speak for itself (as there wasn't any other choice...). my search for free'n'legal burn downloads wasn't very fruitful, but i've included a track here from shank, a team of six imporvisers from berlin, which opens the compilation 'difficult easy listening' on burnt's label nonplace.

SINGAPORE SLING [ICELAND]
life is killing my rock n roll mp3
a new album from this band, who featured earlier this year on fat planet. this time around, their trademark 'fuzz rock' sound has been more perfectly honed, coming up with dark, brittle guitar pop, the like of which has been rarely spotted since the jesus and mary chain. finland's dead combo had a crack at it recently, but singapore sling play down any electronic influence and instead head for straight-up rock n roll purity! you can find a whole heap of influences in here, and - yes - singapore sling don't win points for innovation, but you're better off letting that slide and just getting off on the joy of it all.

MISS KITTIN & THE HACKER [FRANCE]
1982 mp3
the hacker has a new album out, distributed through play it again sam, and its his first solo album since the runaway success of his collaboration with miss kittin, 'the first album'. the new release, 'reves mechanique' ditches the 'pop' and heads straight for 'electro', although his old collaborator pops up on the track 'masterplan' which i played on this week's show. the above mp3 is a classic example of clean, lean electropop from their 2001 album on international deejay gigolos. hear samples from 'reves mechanique' here.

COBRA KILLER [GERMANY]
let's have a problem mp3
a return visit for this mp3 - the female german duo are gracing sydney with their presence next weekend, so in honour of that smart decision, here's another crack at their track (produced by mr t.raumschmiere) on monika if you missed it the first time.



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061204 09:39

yesterday's playlist is now online here - mp3s from the show coming soon. thanks to my guest, burnt freidman - more on 'burnt' and his label at nonplace.de.

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