CIVIL UNION

CENTRE NEGATIVE

I.E. CRAZY

Currently touring the world and winning hearts, Tiny Ruins did a performance for La Blogotheque's A Takeaway Show. Enjoy.

Auckland band Miss June have been making waves recently with their high energy live shows. If you haven't caught the punky four piece yet, then you can approximate that experience from the comfort of your laptop by watching their stunning recent In Session with 95bFM.

Courtney Barnett is a brilliantly clever Australian lyricist. Avant Gardener is a charming track about gardening during a heatwave and ending up in an ambulance. It's got great lines like "the paramedic thinks I'm clever because I play guitar/I think she's clever cause she stops people from dying" and the tennis umpire is a Bob Dylan lookalike, so that five minutes and twenty seconds just flies by.

Update: Barnett has just announced she's coming to New Zealand for one show at Auckland's Kings Arms on September 17. Tickets go on sale from 9am, Tuesday July 22 from Under The Radar and Real Groovy.

Riding a groundswell of local and international hype, Christchurch band Doprah released an eagerly anticipated self-titled EP at the start of June. Now they've released a video for the single Whatever You Want. Check it out.

With their New Order-esque backing, soulful singing and unique stage presence of their singer Sam Herring, Future Islands have been setting the internet abuzz with their beautifully unusual Letterman performance. If you've been hiding under a rock lately and have yet to see this, their performance of Seasons (Waiting On You) is really something.

Boycrush is the project of Alistair Deverick. Alistair is a very good drummer and a nice dude, which can put you in pretty high demand. Accordingly he's been in such bands as The Sami Sisters, The Hot Grits, Bannerman, Lisa Crawley, The Shades, Watercolours, Panther and The Zoo, Lawrence Arabia, Haunted Love, Lucid 3, and The Ruby Suns. Whewsh, that's quite a list. Blessed with this minimal, dreamy pulse, Secrets shows his own work is up there with the best of his musical collaborations.

Canadian indie rockers Arcade Fire have released the first single from their forthcoming album, which is also titled Reflektor. Produced by James Murphy, he of LCD Soundsystem/DFA Records, it subverts a disco beat into something that's quite low key, while remaining very anthemic. It's great stuff and bodes well for the material we'll be hearing when they grace Western Springs Stadium for the Big Day Out in New Zealand this summer.

We dusted off the blanket fort again, Great North played in the library and it was really great. The wonderful Amanda Radcliffe from amandashootsbands.com showed up to document the night and here's one of her shots of a beautiful audience enjoying the band.

Massive thanks to Hayden, Rachel and Dale from Great North for making the time to play this show. You should really consider checking out their Tui award winning record Halves at the Great North bandcamp site where it's available to download at the very modest price of $10 or $25 as a CD. It's a pretty fantastic alt-country record and if you like anything in the realm of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Okkervil River, Dr Dog or Ryan Adams it's well worth your time.

If you missed it then check out this video below of part of their library performance for the next best thing, or come along to see Panther and The Zoo performing in the library this Friday.

Amazing Auckland party band Spring Break have released a new video for their song I Am Me. Comprised for the Ruby Suns' Ryan McPhun and the Sneaks' James Dansey, the song actually borrows (or vice versa) lyrics and a melody from a recent Ruby Suns track - Desert of Pop (off their album Christopher). But where that song is a bit of a slow burner about falling in love with Swedish pop singer Robyn, I Am Me turns the lyric on its head and makes it about falling in love every time you look in the mirror. Appropriately it sees the duo trading Prince-influenced vocals over a stupidly big beat and some pretty spectacular retro footage of an American beach party.

Ryan McPhun's other band the Ruby Suns are on tour this April and you can buy tickets here from Under The Radar.

12th April: Puppies, Wellington
18th April: Kings Arms, Auckland
26th April: Darkroom, Christchurch - FREE
27th April: Chicks Hotel, Dunedin