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.
With the independent music world mourning the death of alt-country heartbreaker Jason Molina, Magnolia Electric Company is streaming his very extensive catalog on their bandcamp.
His record label Secretly Canadian had this to say:
"We are deeply saddened to announce that Jason Andrew Molina passed away in his home in Indianapolis this past Saturday, March 16th of natural causes at age 39. Jason was a world class musician, songwriter & recording artist. He was also a beloved friend. He first caught international attention in 1996 when he began releasing albums under the name Songs: Ohia. In 2003 he started the band Magnolia Electric Co. Between those two bands he released over a dozen critically-acclaimed albums and — starting in 1997 — he toured the world every year until he had to stop in 2009 to deal with severe alcoholism. Jason was incredibly humbled by his fans’ support through the years and said that the two most important words he could ever say are 'Thank you.'
This is especially hard for us to share. Jason is the cornerstone of Secretly Canadian. Without him there would be no us — plain and simple. His singular, stirring body of work is the foundation upon which all else has been constructed. After hearing and falling in love with the mysterious voice on his debut single "Soul" in early 1996, we approached him about releasing a single on our newly formed label. For some reason he said yes. We drove from Indiana to New York to meet him in person and he handed us what would become the first of many JMo master tapes. And with the Songs: Ohia One Pronunciation of Glory 7" we were given a voice as a label. The subsequent self-titled debut was often referred to by fans as The Black Album. Each Songs: Ohia album to follow proved a new, haunting thesis statement from a prodigal songwriter whose voice and soul burned far beyond that of the average twenty-something. There was organ-laced, sepia-toned econimica (1998’s Impala) and charred-hearted, free form balladry (1999’s Axxess and Ace). There were the dark glacial make-out epics of 2000’s The Lioness and the jungle incantations of 2000’s Ghost Tropic. There was the career-defining agnostic’s gospel of 2002’s Didn’t It Rain, an album about setting roots that also seemed to offer solace to a world that had recently seen its bar on terror raised. It was followed in 2003 by a thrilling about-face, the instant classic Magnolia Electric Co., which took Jason’s songwriting to ’70s classic rock heights. The move was such a powerful moment for Molina that Magnolia Electric Co. became the new moniker under which would perform until 2009. With Magnolia Electric Co., Jason found a brotherhood in his bandmates, with whom he built an incredible live experience and made a truly classic album in Josephine (2009).
We’re going to miss Jason. He was generous. He was a one of a kind. And he had a voice unlike any other."
Fans can contribute to Jason’s medical fund as a memorial gift by sending money via PayPal
Carrying on the great tradition of Real Groove's (RIP) yearly compilation of the best and most exciting new acts in New Zealand - one of our favourite blogs The Corner has announced plans for the latest installment of Awesome Feeling. Over the years Awesome Feeling has introduced new artists to the wider consciousness. It first started dispensing its awesomeness on the cover of Real Groove in 2007, and its early volumes collected tracks from such artists as Cut Off Your Hands, So So Modern, Collapsing Cities, The Naked and Famous, Princess Chelsea and Street Chant (then called Mean Street). Here's the guff straight from The Corner:
Similar to how we’ve done things for the previous two years, we want you to submit your song for consideration – you can do that via our dropbox on Soundcloud or by emailing us at editor@thecorner.co.nz. It’ll help if you have some bio information, a press shot, links to Facebook/Twitter/Soundcloud/Bandcamp etc, but it’s not essential either – we’ll still listen to everything that comes our way. Tracks should be submitted as an mp3 at 320kbps. We’ll be revealing one new artist/track every weekday throughout May, and posting the entire compilation for download at the end of the month. Submissions close on Friday April 5 2013.
It’s a mystery why DLT only has a handfull of remixes in his resume. He's clearly a man with great taste and knows how to get the best out of what's in front of him.
Those skills are obvious on Great Mixes, DLT’s radical reinterpretation of Supergroove’s Traction. The mini-album was produced in the aftermath of a Supergroove/Joint Force national tour, with DLT chosen by Supergroove to execute the project, (and thank the good lord you were spared the Strawpeople remix with that special underwater trumpet courtesy of Greg Johnson). The tracks on Great Mixes are often just made up of a skeleton of beats and vocals but still manage to be refined, beautiful and weird, opening up whole new dimensions within the originals. Check out Depth bomb, a demented paring back of You freak me. Gone are the guitar shenanigans of Ben Sciascia and left in it’s place is the bombastic charisma of the beat (and Karl Steven’s screeching harmonica licks).
But Greatest Mixes is not just a refocousing of exisiting material, take Bloody shame, his evisceration of chart topper Can’t get enough. About half-way through, DLT hijacks proceedings. Suddenly Supergroove are ousted and the DJ becomes centre stage with a virtuo performance of scratching and track manipulation.
You can hear that those turntable skills to optimum effect on the Deepgrooves compilation track DLT meets the Projector-Freestyle Dub. Three and a half minutes in he throws down and starts gouging away at Mike Hodgsons sinister dub. Turned up way loud it sounds like DLT’s ripping jagged tracts into time not moving a piece of vinyl back and forth across a turntable. Epic.
At times DLT's treatment will highlight an aspect which is almost hidden in the normal mix of the song. Take the vocals, stripped back, without the funky Supergroove cacophony, the voices are a touching reminder that these are a bunch of teenage boys. Horny eighteen year olds who might just have the world at their feet, still a couple of years away from it all falling to pieces.
Has it really been that long? The much-loved celebration of all things Pacific culture is back for its 21st year since its 1992 inception. In great news for those of us that happen to be stuck at work on Saturdays, this year the festival has expanded to run over two days. Looking forward to wandering Western Springs drinking out of a coconut in the sun this weekend!
Saturday, 9th March 10am to 5pm Pasifika Festival
Sunday, 10th March 9am to 10am Pasifika Festival Church Service
Russell Brown has chimed in on the proposed move to axe Freegal from library services, penning a few thoughts on the plan via his Hard News blog.
"This is the first I'd heard of Freegal -- as I said, I'm not its market. But it seems to me that this service needs to be considered as more than just a line item to be crossed out -- especially if there is no plan for anything to replace it."
Freegal is a legal mp3 downloading service which Auckland Libraries has been paying to subscribe to. It contains songs from the Sony catalogue from which members of the library are able to download up to three DRM-free mp3s a week.
Freegal has had its champions and detractors since its launch as a library service, with Sarah Houghton's Librarian In Blackblog an interesting read for its objections and the array of views in its comments section.
What do you think? Should libraries provide some sort of legal music download service? What would you hope to see crop up in Freegal's place one day? How do you get your music? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
As part of the Year of the Snake celebrations, the Central Library is hosting Tamashii Taiko drummers for a performance on February 2, 3-4pm.
The drums form a unique sound that's pretty exciting to hear live, so for a preview of Tamashii Taiko check out the video below.
Taiko drumming is an ancient Japanese form of percussion. The word Taiko means "big drum" in Japanese, though the sizes can vary from snare drum sized to drums as large as a car. Widely thought to have been brought into Japan by Buddhist monks, they were later used for military signalling. The 1900s saw the style become ensemble music that incorporated tightly choreographed movements. For a more indepth look at Taiko history check out the history of Taiko drumming.
We'll send you out with a more recent example of Taiko drumming, check out 0.55 to hear Kanye West using Taiko on his 2008 single Love Lockdown.
With Laneway Festival almost upon us, hopefully you're well prepared for Monday at Silo Park. Having listened to everything on the lineup, you've decided on a course of action for the worst of the timetable clashes, stocked up on sunscreen and you're now contemplating buying a watermelon. But if you're anything like me then you may be yet to purchase a ticket, you haven't spent any quality time with anyone's albums and you're too broke to buy a watermelon.
So whether you're going and want to get more fully acquainted with the music before or after the festival, or you're missing out and just want the next best thing, Auckland Libraries has much of the lineup on CD available for members to borrow for just $2.20 for a fortnight. Click through the links below to see which of these albums are presently available for loan, and if you're not yet a member, just head here to sign up.
Dave Brubeck was considered to be one of the foremost exponents of progressive jazz and tributes to this much loved jazz icon have been flowing in since the announcement of his death earlier this month.
His musical background is fascinating because he was classically trained. He studied composition under French composer Darius Milhaud who was instrumental in convincing Brubeck to persist with his natural inclination towards jazz. Milhaud was convinced that every true composer expressed the culture from which he came, and that jazz was the folk idiom of America. There happened to be several jazz musicians among Milhaud’s students who, together with Brubeck, formed a band to play their own compositions.
Best known for famous piece "Take 5", Brubeck wrote a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". It wasn't until the disbanding of his own quartet in 1967 that he had time to broaden his output and compose longer, extended orchestral and choral works and also went on to write some sound tracks for television.
Brubeck did not give up playing jazz, and even led a series of bands in later years. The first of these featured the famous baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan. Between 1987 and 2005 he led another very successful quartet including the virtuoso saxophonist and flautist Bobby Militello and, for a while, the British bassist Alec Dankworth. At other times, his groups have included some or all of his sons – Darius, Chris, Danny and Matthew Brubeck.
Dave Brubeck received many honours, medals and honorary degrees. He performed at the White House on numerous occasions and, with his wife, endowed the Brubeck Institute at the College (now University) of the Pacific
He will be sadly missed but his music will live on ....
Check out some of Auckland libraries holdings of Dave Brubeck CDs and sheet music and also the Naxos Jazz database through the Digital Library
“Can Twelve Great Christmas Songs be treated with the same excitement as is the original pop material of today; sung by four of the greatest pop artists in the country; produced with the same feeling and sound that is found on the hit singles of these artists, without losing for a moment the feeling of Christmas, and without destroying or evading the sensitivity and the beauty that surrounds all of the great Christmas music? Until now, perhaps not!”
You said it all, Phil, you crazy dude. It’s the season to be jolly and merry, I know. But what about after you’ve heard the same 20 Christmas songs ad nauseum in every shop, and you’ve just got home and mum’s got the same playlist. Fire up the old youtube and sing a few of these Christmas standards.
Phil Spector’s Christmas album
Since Phil wrote the manifesto, what better way to listen to sleigh bells than drowned in Gold Star Studios reverb? Darlene Love sings White Christmas first up on side one.
Little Monster Studios - A Very Little Christmas
Sort of in the spirit of Phil Spector but with a bit less reverb and a lot less gun brandishing is Auckland producer Dave Parker’s Christmas album of local bands. The cat-herding-like feat of successfully encouraging sixteen Auckland bands to write original Christmas songs in time to actually record them before December is a bit of a Christmas miracle. They’re good too, songs with enough varied and considered approaches to the Christmas spirit that it doesn’t even hurt to start dusting this thing off in November, or keep listening to a few cuts over summer holidays. Best of all, it’s FREE to download here.
Ella Fitzgerald – Jingle Bells
With a song as inescapable as this, you might as well wash out your brain with a good version. Ella Fitzgerald does it as good as anybody, upping the tempo and the swagger so this sleigh ride is a fun jaunt.
Sufjan Stevens and Vito Aiuto – I Saw Three Ships
Renowned tinselphile Sufjan Stevens is a bit of a maximalist. Now legendary within the independent music world, he recorded an album of tender folk and chamber pop about the state of Michigan, which is impressive enough, but followed it up with one about Illinois. All the while he’s been recording yearly Christmas albums of traditionals and originals, which range from Silent Night to a composition titled Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance! I’m not going to post the latter, as it activates my humbug reflex, but here he is with the Welcome Wagon’s Vito Aiuto on I Saw Three Ships.
Damien Jurado - Kalla Hus
From the consistently excellent label Secretly Canadian, Damien Jurado’s brand new track Kalla Hus paints a bleak picture of someone tired of more than just Christmas. It’s not going to be to everyone’s tastes this holiday season, but it’s real to the touch and paints a picture that sadly rings true.
OkkervilRiver – Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas
If Damien Jurado got you feeling a little melancholy, then you’re in the right mood for OkkervilRiver’s regretful introspection over the (romantic) ghosts of Christmas past.
Otis Redding – Merry Christmas Baby
After that last track, it’s really appropriate that we all actually listen to Otis Redding at home during Christmas. Take it home Otis.
Welcome to our new and improved All things Musical blog. We hope that this will be an informative and entertaining blog site that you will feel free to engage with. We would love to hear your thoughts, views and opinions about All things musical.
This time of the year can be rather hectic can't it, especially for us musicians! So why not take the time to chill out over the holidays and explore some new music or listen to some of the old favs.
Here is one Christmas track from the jazz band Yellow Jackets that I really love. Merry Christmas everyone!
I once sat next to a friend as he looked through a recently published history of the local rock scene. From time to time he shook his head. Eventually he sighed deeply and muttered, "The amount of times I could insert the word heroin into this thing." He had a point. There is a tendency in local publications to sanitize the reality of the local music scene.
It is not just the recreational habits of musicians that this applies to. Band politics and creative differences also receive a back seat. Too little attention is paid to personality and circumstance, the character traits that make for great performances and fantastic music, are sidelined.
Stanley Booth’s True Adventures of the Rolling Stones is a masterpiece of extended reportage. A dispatch from the front lines of a genuine they-sure-don’t-make-‘em-like-they-used-to-anymore rock and roll tour.
Here are some links to a number of great music lectures from universities in the USA. All free and comprehensive. Links & summaries provided by About.Com Music Education:
Did you know that the library has quite a few kiw music dvds? Music videos are easy enough to find if you really want them on Youtube. Sometimes though being able to watch specifically grouped videos can provide context and remind us what a rich and varied musical history we have in Aotearoa. Local hip-hop and R'n'B hit makers Dawn Raid entertainment have been around since the early 2000s. Music Anthology: The first 10 Years collects hits from their massive back catalogue. Here's one of my favourites from Savage's 2005 album Moon Shine...
Aotearoa has an abundance of exceptionally talented Hip Hop artists, but
very few ever venture into Gospel territory. Emani Suaesi, AKA E.Man is
leading ...
Fijian-born Pradodh Kumar Mishra's memories are like a trip through
history: During his first career in Fiji's Foreign Affairs he met the
Queen and was t...
What a year it has been for EP releases.
Following the semi-regular EP review columns that have been posted on
Elsewhere throughout the year, here are f...
