New Zealand Music Month is great a reminder to discover new local music and revisit some old favourites. So with that in mind, we'll be uploading some Spotify playlists of our favourite tracks. Some of the songs are recent discoveries, while others have been around for quite some time. There's not really a theme, they're just tracks that I hold very dear! Click play on the Spotify widget below to listen, hope you enjoy.

Getting a bunch of musicians to hand in tracks for a compilation on time already seems like a bit of a nightmare. Asking them to write brand new songs for a compilation seems far, far worse. Then again, perhaps if the recording and the mixing is free and being done by the same person putting together the compilation, the chances for musician procrastination are limited. Perhaps that's what made the daunting premise of A Very Little Christmas possible.

Dave Parker runs a pretty stunningly good recording studio out of his bedroom in Oratia. It's called Little Monster, and he's recorded artists like Ruby Frost, Artisan Guns, Great North, Watercolours and a whole lot more.

As he will explain, A Very Little Christmas covers the quieter side of that spectrum without specifically making a theme of it. Probably every one of the artists has played a set at Auckland's low key bar the Wine Cellar, but it's more just a loosely affiliated group of bands befriended by Parker and former Border Music rep, now Bones and Woods/all around good guy Marty Jones. And with one guy recording 18 bands in his bedroom using largely the same microphones, preamps, room and producer's instincts, it's only natural that the album would have a pretty cohesive sound.



It's also interesting to note that some of the artists would go on to recycle their Christmas tracks for later releases. The Gladeyes re-recorded their stunning Carols and Parties for Shadows Explode.

Dear Times Waste did likewise with her track The Drink, re-recording it and putting it on her sublime record Some Kind of Eden. 

Rather than the re-recordings being a slight on the original recordings, I tend to think of it as a desire to reframe a song in the same sonic context as a new album, and it's a reflection on the quality of the writing generated by the project that artists would come to see their Christmas songs as more than mere novelties. The constraint of writing a song to a specific topic and to a deadline can be a powerful tool for focusing a piece. There's any number of quotes about art and limitations, and these words from G. K. Chesterton serve as good as any. "Art is limitation. The essence of every picture is the frame." Here's David Parker talking about the compilation after the jump.

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Auckland band Great North (or more specifically - their singer Hayden Donnell) are massive Bruce Springsteen fans. Having yet to be shoulder tapped by The Boss himself, they've taken it upon themselves to get the attention of him/his management or the tour promoter in another way. They're collecting signatures for a petition. Here's the lowdown via their petition site..

Great North frontman Hayden Donnell is a Springsteen fan. He yells the words to Thunder Road at traffic lights as fellow commuters stare, weeps on the couch to The Rising, feels unironic joy at the sound of a sax solo. Once, in a fit of madness, he bought plane tickets to see a Springsteen show in Hamilton, Canada. Please get behind Great North's bid for the second support slot for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at their Auckland show on March 1, 2014. Note: We don't want to replace Jimmy Barnes, just play before him. Or work out some harmonies to Working Class Man and play with him. Anything.

David Parker, Great North producer at Little Monster Studio, enemy: 7:17pm:
"One time I told Hayden I didn't really like Bruce Springsteen's music that much and so he put on a Springsteen album at full volume while trapping me in a corner and dancing up against me while I cowered on the floor. I am still traumatised by this event." 9:45pm: "I do not support this campaign, Hayden is a narcissist and you're all encouraging him."

Rachel, Great North band member, wife: Hayden has openly admitted that, while our relationship is fairly solid, he would likely leave me if Bruce Springsteen became available. I'm okay with this. Hayden deserves it.

Check out the petition right here and do consider signing it. They're a great band with a dream to open for their hero.

Panther and The Zoo live at the Central Library

So it's the end of May - and that means the end of our scheduled run of Friday night concerts at the Central Library. Across the month we had Space Ventura, who recently featured on the latest edition of Awesome Feeling, we had Tui Award winners Great North, we had the charming Panther and The Zoo and we had the lonesome, folksy sounds of newcomers The Bonnie C.

It's been really great to see people turning out for these magical little shows in a place where perhaps you normally wouldn't expect to hear music...

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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.

 Space Ventura playing in a blanket fort next to the music section at Central Library

Now more than ever, libraries are more than just books - they have to be. At Auckland Central Library we've been very lucky to have the support of local musicians during May now and in years past.

This year our Music Month program at Central includes a series of unique, special performances every Friday at 6pm from the rising talent of Auckland's music scene. Our first guest, this Friday just been, was the very excellent Space Ventura (you'll see them above).

Tomorrow May 10 we'll be dusting off the blanket fort at 6pm again and we're very honoured to host Tui Best Folk Album award winners Great North.


And on May 17 we'll be continuing things in a folky vein with Panther and The Zoo. Fronted by the charming Graham Panther (yes, that's actually his real name), they offer crooned, wry observations on life and memorable hooks. The performance may serve as something of a farewell for Panther as he's heading off to Australia very soon. Here's a recent video for their song Everything, Everyone.



Friday May 10, 6-7pm at the Central Library: Great North
Friday May 17, 6-7pm at the Central Library: Panther and The Zoo
All performances free and all ages.