121209 ep. 31 in return

Six months of digging makes for a pretty sweet bag of dreams. Thankfully the world didn't go kaputt or else we'd have missed out on another opus from the Flying Lotus of Coltrane Blood, new cuts from electro-acoustic upstart Holly Herndon, plus the broken techno of Bxl's Sagat and Brooklyn's Madteo of Workshop fame.



Oh, and somehow Peaking Lights managed to record Lucifer, and a versions dual, Lucifer in Dub, while I was still rinsing the old platters. What what?
▶ Hear here




OBBA SUPA Channelist (ft. FLOATING POINTS)
FLYING LOTUS me Yesterday//Corded
FLYING LOTUS Backpack Caviar
PEAKING LIGHTS My Heart Dubs 4 U
SAGAT ESC
MADTEO Rugrats Don't Techno For An Answer
LEE GAMBLE M25 Echo
HOLLY HERNDON Movement
VLADISLAV DELAY Hetkonen
LEYLAND KIRBY They are all dead, there are no skip at all
THE CARETAKER Libet's delay



Singing in choirs from a young age, Holly Herndon is currently doing a PhD in Music Composition at Stanford, in the CCRMA (Centre for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics), where she is using modern synthesis techniques to transform her voice. Aside from the spastic acid excursions of her latest EP on RVNGintl, she also produces electro-acoustic music in something of an alien vein. Her gig at Cafe Oto on February 2nd is selling out fast so get in!

PS: Apologies for the pesky distortion throughout the first half...
if you noticed you'll be happy to hear it was analogue clipping from Alice, our mixing desk, and not something nasty by way of DSP.
Enjoy the fuzz!

You Don't Have To Call It Music

What happened in half a year of silence? I've been getting my fix in ink instead of air, writing a weekly column on XX C experimental music in Felix, the newspaper of Imperial College London.

Pt. 0 caveat auditor

Pt. 1 contemporary classical
or: what the atom bomb and the death of God
have to do with birds and brutalism

Pt. 2 a new ear for classical
or: when British breakcore met the Polish post-war

Pt. 3 musique concrète
or: how the Berlin Wall made it to Broadway

Pt. 4 elektronische Musik
or: drums are from Africa, synths are from Germany

Pt. 5 the American avant-garde
or: ears make music too, you know?
& a happy birthday to you, Mr. Cage!

Pt. 6 punk
or: I ain't thick, it's just a trick

Pt. 7 noise
or: RRRRrrrrxxxqtqttqtxxckkkkhhhhzzzzzzzz...blip

Pt. 8 free jazz
or: it don't have to mean a thing

120617 ep. 30 with Gábor Kerekes, visual artist from Budapest

A chance encounter with Hungarian artist Gábor Kerekes led to a collaboration at last night's Felix Music Night at Imperial College London. To the sounds of student bands and DJs, Gábor concocted liquid projections based on glycerin and food colouring, reminiscent of the heady experiments of the late 1960s.

Gábor is a graphic artist from Budapest, passing through London, destination Den Haag. His work explores the organic aspects of the mind and the forms of nature through photography, digital collages and liquid interactions on overhead projections (photo above). You can see his artwork on flickr or follow him on fb.

Tonight we talked about his methods and recent graphic experiments, which he hopes to one day connect with music in analogue synergy. It turns out our musical tastes a sizeable common ground, from psychedelics to post-punk, experimental electronics and hip-hop. Conversation also turned to the wonders of but does it float and the visionary CRT TV feedback experiments of Korean artist Nam June Paik.
▶ Skip to 1:47

AL QUETZ Kalakuta
AL QUETZ Herb from the Kingdom of Saba
WOODEN SHJIPS Lights Out (PEAKING LIGHTS rmx)
TORO Y MOI Talamak
ARTHUR RUSSELL Calling Out of Context
LUKID Wonder Years
MUX MOOL Wax Rose Saturday (Remux Edit)

Talking with G.K.

SHOGUN KUNITOKI Vinonaamakasio
SHOGUN KUNITOKI Mulberg
FLYING LOTUS Raw Cartoons #5 aka Melbourne Marvels #7
TEEBS Cook, Clean, Pay the Rent (New House Version)
J DILLA Reckless Driving
ANIKA Yang Yang
ALOG Objects Began to Appear from the Future

120610 ep. 29 summer songs again

Someone should tell me term ain't over yet. Still celebrating the summer time with a dollop of lovely tunes to procrastinate to. From Vietnamese hip-hop to hispanic psychotropicalia, musical genius from the land of Chocolate and forgotten radio broadcasts from the City of Angels. All in all, a wonderful welcome for the sunny season. Nevermind the rain.
▶ Replay



EXILE Stay Tuned (here)
DIMLITE Firevomit (O.D.N.)
EL GUINCHO Bombay
PRINCE FATTY That Very Night in Dub ft. HOLLIE COOK
ONRA Relax in Mui Ne
CAN Vitamin C
GONJASUFI Sheep
FENNESZ Endless Summer
ALGO RITMICO Diamante Mandarin
FLYING LOTUS Raw Cartoons #8
EXILE Your Summer Song
MONO/POLY Glow
JONWAYNE Alice in Wonderland
MR. OIZO Bad Start


By the way, the 5th Felix Music Night is happening at Imperial College this Saturday.
It's going to be way cool.
You should totally join the party.
I learned to sing just for the occasion. My band is called Nipples.

20120527 ep. 28 Hallo Sommerzeit!

Back from exam limbo, on summer air. After spending a week in the park and sunshine this is all I have to play for myself. Songs for lie-ins and disappearing daylight. Some new, some unreleased, all pretty fine. Opening with a tune from the Liars' much anticipated WIXIW set to escape next month. Perhaps my highlights, a 13-minute psychotropic epic, Ice Cream On Concrete, and the criminally underrated Swiss multi-instrumentalist Dimlite. Also exhibiting cuts from the likes of Young Echo, Honest Jons, Brainfeeder and Stones Throw.
Just in time for the summertime.
▶ Replay



LIARS Nº1 Against the Rush
MOHAWK PARK Gasoline
HEATSICK Ice Cream on Concrete
EL KID Mud
VESSEL Images of Bodies
ACTRESS Ivy May Gilpin
DIMLITE Can't Get Used To Those
THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS Ideal Home
JONTI Flesh of Morning
MONO/POLY Forest Dark

121025 ep. 27 an unusual blend

An unusual blend to see off the Spring term. Things set off in a prismatic motley spanning the sounds of Calexico, Germany via Japanese crooner Damo Suzuki and deep into the South of Africa via London, Berlin or Moscow (?) – the latter, namely Hype Williams's contribution to Honest Jon's Records Shangaan Electro document, not to be confused with the director of the same name. Brief technical ghostings silenced John Cage (pun?) for a moment before the second, somewhat more tangible half of the evening took hold.
Hear it here.



OMAR RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ If Gravity Lulls, I Can Hear the World Pant
CAN Mushroom
SHANGAAN ELECTRO x HYPE WILLIAMS Love You (& Dub)
THE GOSLINGS Brindle
CICADA CREEK Degobah Sound System
JOHN CAGE Imitations, pt. 1
JOHN CAGE Double Music
KONA TRIANGLE Mango Rubicon
OVAL Ah!

120212 ep. 26 Channeling the Spirit of Jazz, vol. 4

Reviving an old scheme devised in the early days of the show, just over 2 years ago, with gypsy guitarist Jérémie Coullon. From the deepest vibes of backward lounges to the fringes of electronic artistry, Channeling the Spirit of Jazz aims to trace the far reaching hand of jazz and all the corners it has grooved.

The evening was coloured by slick ivory licks and rambling bass lines. Most notably, East of Underground, a band of US servicemen based in Western Germany during the Vietnam War, whose covers of unorthodox jazz and funk rhythms will get even the most hardened dancing boots shuffling.


The seminal Art Ensemble of Chicago finally make an appearance of the show as well as the nomadic surrealist Ghédalia Tazartès. A surprising number of Cafe Oto luminaries came up tonight. In fact, AEC (and AACM) founder, saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, will be taking up a two-day residency there in March. Click the flattering photograph for more information.

Groove again >>

JIMMY EDGAR Heartbeat Sexual
EAST OF UNDERGROUND (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below, We're All Going To Go
ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO Theme de Yoyo
MATTHEW SHIPP Vamp to Vibe
MOODYMANN I'd Rather Be Lonely
GHÉDALIA TAZARTÈS Casimodo Tango
MISEL QUITNO A Fancy Friendship
SHLOHMO Blankets, Outbound
BONDAGE FRUIT Prayer
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS Words of Advice for Young People

120129 ep. 25 with Pote

Return to the airs after a quiet three months. Joined by Pote aka Potegan for a disconcerting return to form. This is the show I always wanted to broadcast. Loud, abrasive, difficult, fast & harsh or slow & heavy. Very little to sing along to but when there is, it will feel like medicine.



After a sullen beginning, we inadvertently slipped into the "loud, fast and abrasive" part of the show with some proto-post-punk, before returning to the electronics in a more collected manner. Dropping off with some jazz and sing-a-long songs, until Pote's choice cut of This Heat's This Heat tore through the speakers. The night ended in a delirious cacophony of cyclic drumming and electroacoustic meanderings.

>> retune

ÉTAT BRÛT J. Michaux
ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER Nassau
KNXWLEDGE Beech
JEREMIAH JAE Vertical Pupils
SERVICES Element of Danger
KOSMONAUTENTRAUM Juri Gagarin
SECOND LAYER State of Emergency
MONKS I Hate You
ANSTAM Statical
BNJM One Sea (LUKID remix)
TIM HECKER No Drums
MOUNT KIMBIE Vertical
KLAUS Tusk
AIRHEAD Paper Street
PORTICO QUARTET Steepless
VENETIAN SNARES Ever Apparent All Being Shoulder
MOMUS Hypnoprism
ANIKA I Go To Sleep
BEAK> Backwell
THIS HEAT Horizontal Hold
T++ Voices No Bodies
COLIN STETSON Fear of the Unknown and the Blazing Sun
STEN HANSON How Are You
DENEIR My Chair, the Trumpet
ESPLENDOR GEOMÉTRICO Introspección
BASS COMMUNION v MUSLIMGAUZE Three