One month into 2025… watching a country being dismantled is quite a horror story, so let’s stay away from the news if we can, and listen to experimental music!
Infinity Broke – Abject Object [Forthcoming at Infinity Broke Bandcamp and on Love As Fiction Records]
Jamie Hutchings fronted Bluebottle Kiss from the mid-’90s till the mid-’00s, making abrasive but emotive indie rock with a substantial following. In 2014 he and BBK drummer Jared Harrison formed Infinity Broke with Jamie’s brother Scott Hutchings on second drumkit & percussion, and Reuben Wills on bass (Reuben is the husband of Jamie’s sister, ARIA-award-winning pianist Sophie Hutchings). When I played the debut album I noted the “excellent long rock jams”, with the double drums and bass holding things down while Jamie’s penchant for free jazz avantgardism only emphasises the krautrock feel for me. This first single from their forthcoming album This Masthead has all those elements present and correct, with a helluva vocal performance too.
Mogwai – God Gets You Back [Rock Action Records/Temporary Residence Ltd./Bandcamp]
Mogwai – Hi Chaos (Demo) [Rock Action Records/Temporary Residence Ltd./Bandcamp]
I don’t play so much postrock on Utility Fog anymore. Mogwai represent one strand of the genre, such as it is – one that’s the most dominant, with mostly-instrumental LOUD-soft-LOUD rock – but I used to love that “post-rock” could refer to Tortoise or Mice Parade, even if Simon Reynolds’ original coining referred to Bark Psychosis’ Talk Talk-inspired sound. In any case, Mogwai roll on, ever on, decades hence, and The Bad Fire is mostly “core Mogwai”: soaring guitar melodies, epic crescendos, all that. I’m really glad I grabbed the limited edition double CD, as the demo versions on the bonus disc are quite different from the final productions, and they sound great. Always nice to see some of the inner workings of a band’s creativity.
Building Instrument – Saunte [Hubro/Bandcamp]
Norwegian trio Building Instrument have been around for a little over a decade now, but are perhaps not very well-known outside of Norway, excepting those who follow the great, genre-crossing Hubro label. Mari Kvien Brunvoll sings and plays electronics/live sampler – she is also known for her duo with Stein Urheim. Åsmund Weltzien plays keyboards of various sorts, and Øyvind Hegg-Lunde drums. But despite the predominance of electronics, the band has a strong folk/jazz sense, and on this new single (taken from an album to be released in March), I’d go so far as to say it’s folktronica – lots of glitching keyboard lines and stuttery beats, and Mari Kvien Brunvoll’s pixie-ish vocals. Can’t wait to hear more.
General Magic – Elfer [Editions Mego/Bandcamp]
General Magic – Tyrell [Editions Mego/Bandcamp]
General Magic – Datna Éclat [Editions Mego/Bandcamp]
Andreas Pieper & Ramon Bauer were there at the very beginning of the MEGO label, which swiftly became the centre of the “glitch” movement of experimental sound coming out of Vienna and further around Europe – from which Christian Fennesz also arose. The two formed General Magic, and with Peter Rehberg aka Pita released some formative material that’s collected as Fridge Trax Plus, made out of the buzzes and throbs of an old fridge. More generally they were interested in mistakes and malfunctions – or at least things that sounded like that. Awkwardly cut (or rather, carefully cut) samples that stuttered and clicked due to sharp digital discontinuities, and a love of overdriven noise via digital clipping; this was the native experimental music of the digital era, and I played one track from their debut album Frantz, a longtime favourite of mine. It’s no surprise that these days this is both the sound of retro-kitsch and also futuristic sound-art (just with much, much more sophisticated & readily available tools).
So anyway, as you may know, the label disbanded a few years later, and Rehberg restarted it as Editions Mego, run with great enthusiasm by the man basically on his own. And tragically, decades later and just a few years ago, Rehberg passed away. So the label and its offshoots are now run by various artists connected with Mego, releasing music that was already slated to come out, along with other related material. I hope this latest batch isn’t the end: There’s a new LP – technically one 45-minute track – out now from Peter Rehberg under his own name called Liminal States, a long evolving drone work. Annnnd there’s this! Bosko follows Nein Aber Ja from 2023 as a new renaissance of Pieper & Bauer’s General Magic, and it’s an incredibly strong work. No doubt fans of Hausu Mountain releases would immediately peg it as not quite from the same era, but there’s a jump-cut everything-piled-in-together thing going on that’s in common with Hausu, who I’m sure in turn are influenced by the Mego scene. So here we have harsh noise drones, chopped riffs, what must be an AI voice attempting to sing in one or two tracks, and speedy piano samples juxtaposed with crunching hardcore beats. Joyful noise, done as it should be.
Ester – Sermon [Khnum Crew]
Ester – Dour [200+]
From Adelaide, on the stolen land of the Kaurna, comes the classical/breakcore-melding sound of Ester – previously known as Bleakcore, unleashing an updated sound under this new moniker. With Ester, he’s combining the gabber-speed breakcore madness with a mixture of high-quality string & piano samples and some live violin. It might initially seem like random splattercore, but particularly on the beautiful “Dour” (from the To Bask in the Absense of Silence release with Eora’s 200+) you can hear how the beats are in conversation with the piano melody. This is goooooood.
s8jfou – Your Silence [Satellite Era]
Chicago label Satellite Era has released the last in their Distant Arrays series, Volume 08, compiling four tracks of experimental bass music from around the world. 50% of revenue will go to California Community Foundation (CCF) to aid people affected by the LA wildfires. Tonight I played a brilliant piece of glitch-hop/jungle from French producer s8jfou, who has a full album coming out soon – if this is an outtake, the album will be pretty special.
Sophie Gordon – Gate [Sophie Gordon Bandcamp]
Here’s someone who would be familiar to FBi’s audience and friends. Sophie Gordon has broadcast in many slots on the grid, including the indescribable Robbie’s Modern Life. But here she’s producing some alluring beats that start in a hypnotic dubby trip-hop/techno vibe and about 2/3 of the way through slip into double-time jungle. It’s pretty dreamy, ambient beatz cooked to perfection.
Atoloi – Contaminazioni Riddim [Amphibian Records]
INN – Phantom Wave [Amphibian Records/Bandcamp]
Last year, Prague-based label Amphibian Records released a brilliant album by Carl Gari & Abdullah Miniawy, their third release together combining dub & bass music with Miniawy’s Arabic vocals and trumpet. They’re back now with a big compilation called Transmission for Lebanon which, while highlighting the genocide in Palestine, focuses on supporting the Lebanese people subject to Israel’s aggression. 100% of proceeds will go to organisations on the ground in Lebanon, including the Beirut Synth Center. There are artists from all around the world here, including from Czechia, but tonight I played Milanese artist Atoloi who I believe often works in noise & sound-art, but here brings an amalgam of dancehall, hard dance and jungle; and Taiwanese artist INN, who contributes a piece that’s part fast techno, part half-time drum’n’bass.
Sectra – Entry Point ft. Trisicloplox [Tectonic Recordings/Bandcamp]
Sectra – Glass Clutch [Tectonic Recordings/Bandcamp]
This week Denver producer Sectra releases his new album Through The Static on legendary Bristolian dubstep label Tectonic Recordings. He describes the album as being a metal record that follows the formula of dance music, which is a pretty good explanation. The first single featured the great Dis Fig, hot off her collaboration last year with experimental metal band the body. The album is full of crackling static and bass beats, as well as some beatless tracks. There are some dubsteppy sounds here, but also pulsating techno with shuddering bass like “Entry Point”, featuring fellow Denverian Trisicloplox.
Architectural – Eternity Land [Turbo Recordings/Bandcamp]
Better known as Reeko, Spain’s Juan Rico has made thumping minimal techno for many years, and in the last few years branched out into drum’n’bass and 170BPM beats, mainly for Samurai Music. His long-established Architectural alias turned up a couple of years back on R&S Records, and here brings four varied tracks, including this one which is unusually euphoric for a generally very dark producer.
pucemoment – Bugaku [Parenthèses Records/Bandcamp]
Nico Devos and Pénélope Michel are known in one incarnation as the “ghost opera” band Cercueil, making perhaps a kind of French electroclash. However, their forthcoming album Sans Soleil is different enough to warrant a new name, hence pucemoment (although I’m also seeing it spelled as Puce Moment). This is moody and dramatic music, based around the pair’s recordings from Tenri, of the ancient Japanese music known as Gagaku. The acoustic instrumentation is reconstructed along with electronics and Michel’s voice. This kind of music is bread & butter for the Brussels-based Parenthèses Records, a label which began life in Boorloo/Perth, and has a particular interest in traditional music coaxed into new forms. I’ll play more from this album closer to its March 21 release date.
MMMD – Soley Kouche [Antifrost/Bandcamp]
Greek band MMMD used to be known as Mohammad, making monolithic bass drones with double bass and electronics. These elements are still present, but more recently they’ve taken to something more akin to coldwave or synthwave… There’s an album coming I believe, and meanwhile I’ll keep an eye on these singles as they appear.
dogs versus shadows – Ghost Artery Part 1 (radio edit) [Flaming Pines/Bandcamp]
Nottingham artist dogs versus shadows appears on Kate Carr’s brilliant label Flaming Pines with a kind of narrative about the River Trent, that winds through Nottingham and has been subjected to various forms of degradation through human activity. This highly polluted river has dangers lurking beneath its surface, and dogs versus shadows dredges these up with the use of “field recordings, tape loops, dying vocals from broken dictaphones and snatches of shortwave radio”. The two full tracks are a little under 15 minutes each, and each is an engrossing quasi-narrative of watery field recordings and seemingly unrelated sounds – chopped up snippets of speech, electronic pulsations and almost-rhythms. It’s fascinating and you’ll probably want to go back and listen again when it’s over.
Hara Alonso – Veins (Veils) [forthcoming on her Bandcamp]
“Veins (Veils)” is the first single from touch•me•not, the forthcoming new album from Stockholm-based, Spanish-born pianist and sound-artist Hara Alonso. It doesn’t seem to be out in the world yet, so enjoy it here, and I really recommend spending some time on her Bandcamp. She knows her muted-piano post-classical technique, but happily confounds it with found sounds and studio trickery. Wonderful stuff.
Adam Coney & Richard Pike – A Corner Of Light [Trestle Records/Bandcamp]
UK guitarist Adam Coney released a gorgeous album, Ashwin & Above, on Trestle Records in 2023. Richard Pike is an Aussie living in London, well known for Pivot/PVT, now making film & TV music, as well as ambient stuff as D E E P L E A R N I N G and co-running the experimental label Salmon Universe. During lockdown, Pike began filming some contemplative pieces sitting at the piano, and when Coney discovered them, he decided to overdub his own pensive guitar on one piece. That’s actually here as the first track on their album Driftingland – and these pieces do drift, very pleasingly. The rest of the material was recorded together in regular duo sessions, and the works here show the artists’ simpatico sensibilities. Although it’s mostly acoustic, there are sections where Coney gently adds electric guitar, allowing for some subtle effects – phasing or slow pulsing volume modulation.
Lawrence English – ETHKIBVIII [Room40/Bandcamp]
Brisbane’s Lawrence English is a key figure in Australian experimental music, known as much for his curation of big international events for the likes of Dark Mofo and Carriageworks as he is for his gently influential label Room40, and his keen ears when mastering other artists’ work. But of course he makes his own music, often based around field recordings, and frequently in collaboration. Even The Horizon Knows Its Bounds handily combines some of these threads, as it’s made out of carefully selected extracts from sound-works commissioned by Jonathan Wilson for the Art Gallery of NSW – during the two VOLUME festivals and perhaps at other times. So Lawrence has gathered a tremendous list of artist who’ve contributed here – check the Bandcamp page for the full list, but including claire rousay as well as Jim O’Rourke, Amby Downs and JW Paton, and quite prominently, the piano of Chris Abrahams. Although it’s split into 8 parts, a work like this is really one continuous exercise in slow evolution, so it felt right to join in right near the end, and let English, Abrahams and co play us out.