Playlist 09.07.23

A quite international Utility Fog tonight also covers ground from purely acoustic folk to purely electronic, generative music, managing to shift into jazz, doom, and jungle from surprising quarters, with sound-art and a dash of contemporary composition rounding things out. LISTEN AGAIN to the widest sounds around. Podcast here, stream on demand from FBi. Mike Lindsay feat. Guy Garvey - Saturday Sun [Chrysalis Records]<br /> Camille - Hazey Jane II [Chrysalis Records]<br /> Last month I played the concertedly unfaithful cover of Nick Drake's "Parasite" by English folk revivalists & reimaginers Stick In The Wheel. It was one of a number of tracks released on a series of 7" editions ahead of the 2CD compilation The Endless Coloured Ways: The Songs of Nick Drake, released this week from Chrysalis Records. Apparently the artists were instructed to ignore the original and do their own take, which help explain Stick In The Wheel's approach, as well as for instance the punky version of "'Cello Song" by Fontaines D.C. Of course there are some (perhaps too many) rather faithful versions that add little of interest to Drake's songs which, it could be convincingly argued, are perfect in his original versions. I could be particularly scathing about Craig Armstrong & Self Esteem's "Black Eyed Dog", which sounds like the artists are blissfully unaware that this is an anguished song about depression; or Ben Harper (*sigh*) who apparently thought "What if 'Time Has Told Me' but country?", and it's, you know, fine I guess. Fine for Ben Harper. Oh well. Anyway, YMMV and there are some beautifully reimagined versions as well. Mike Lindsay is the producer behind folktronica band (as I still like to call them) Tunng, whose first incarnation with Sam Genders helped shape Utility Fog's character in the first few years. Here he enlists Elbow singer Guy Garvey for a version that's Drake-like folk, glitchy "folktronica" and... more. And it's a shame that there isn't really any fingerpicking guitar playing, a characteristic feature of Nick Drake's sound, but we do get French singer Camille's version of "Hazey Jane II", which repurposes the broken chords on plucked cello. Camille of course has form with reimagined cover versions, via her earlier gig as singer in Nouvelle Vague. I've yet to discover who the cellist is (maybe I'll update this when I get the CD?), but it's gorgeous, and Camille's singing is agile enough for the flittery melody at this slightly higher tempo, yet emotive enough for, well, Nick Drake. Anne Bakker - Sailor [Anne Bakker Bandcamp]<br /> Anne Bakker - Summer in my Hands [Anne Bakker Bandcamp]<br /> Like Marisa Baars aka soccer Committee last week, I discovered Dutch viola/violin player & singer Anne Bakker via her many collaborations with