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.

It's hard to say exactly what hindsight will shine favourably on. One of the reasons I wanted to do some posts around local compilations of the last decade is because that time seemed like an explosion in local music. I'm not saying they're on the same level, but as the Gluepot scene or various Flying Nun bands were canonised, maybe time will look fondly on Eden's Bar and some of its luminaries.

Go With The Movers represents some figures from the Auckland/Hamilton/Wellington axis of that time. It's not exhaustive by any means - as Sam Walsh explains, it's a compilation built around degrees of separation. Pick three bands from the tracklist and it looks like a typical show that you might have seen Mole Music put on at Auckland's Eden's, Wellington's Bodega or Hamilton's Ward Lane in the mid 2000s. Also, many of the acts shared members, which goes to reinforce the idea that there's very few degrees of separation in New Zealand bands. Even if it seems really short at 12 tracks, the brevity helps maintain the cohesiveness and unity (despite the difference in sounds) the tracklist holds.

It's hard/impossible for me to be objective about this. Go With The Movers came out around a formative time in my musical life when I was young and idealistic and very excited about watching skinny dudes yell into microphones. But I think it holds up well. Probably better than any other compilation of the time it captures the sorta post-hardcore current that existed in the music scene at the time (I remember a Joe Nunweek article half-joking that perhaps so many Auckland bands were shouters/screamers due to the sorry state of the Eden's PA), and the sound of that blending with rock and roll bands as they shared bills.


The Vacants

There's The Blunts and The Popes of Del Ray playing Hamilton rock and roll straight and true, Amy Racecar and Connan and the Mockasins dialling down their energy for some warped ballads, The Vacants doing their grunge via Fugazi meets Joy Division kinda thing, Nova Echo's (most of who went on to form Cut Off Your Hands) post-punk blur of a track Cvision, This Night Creeps' daunting musical ability and The Batstorm channelling Blood Brothers styled hardcore.

At the time some of these bands seemed like the best in the world - which I guess they weren't, but the point was that they were here and you could see them. Watching shows as an idealistic young man I swear most of these bands were destined for really big things. Some have done some big things and others have have broken up or disappeared from view, and this snapshot is just a small piece of the picture of what was happening, but maybe we'll look back on what was happening and realise that there was a turning point taking place.


This Night Creeps as seen on the great Cheese On Toast TV show Something On TV

Here's Mole Music's Sam Walsh talking about putting together Go With The Movers.
Listening back to this compilation, what do you like about it?
I like how weird it is and because it was the first release I ever did it kind of holds this strange sort of sentimental value to me. I also like that my dad still plays it sometimes and knows most of the songs off by heart, its super cute. 

"We started meeting all these super rad people who were just as hyper as us about what they were trying to do and so there was this really lovely connectedness and kinship."

Compilations document a certain musical moment. Can you paint a picture for me - what was happening in music at that time? And what did you want to preserve from that time?
It was made over a time when the bands I was playing in and the bands my friends were playing in were touring and putting on crazy amounts of shows. From that I/we started meeting all these super rad people who were just as hyper as us about what they were trying to do and so there was this really lovely connectedness and kinship. It was a really fun time in my life and I think for a lot of the other people involved too. Its pretty old now but I'm still friends with most of the people on the compilation and I think that kinda sums it up in a way.

Can you tell us about the moment when you decided this was something worth doing, and what was your initial concept for the compilation?
When we started working on Go With The Movers I guess we were trying to capture some fragments of that hyperness and energy. I wanted to start a label and thought that a compilation would be a good first step. Me and Adam (McKay - My Business Bro at the time) talked about it on a tour once and I think and he came up with the name way before we even figured out how we'd do it.

What did these artists have in common that made them belong on a compilation together?
I've always liked doing projects that mix genre and audience and have always tried to do that with shows so it was basically the same sort of thinking. A mix of bands from different cities playing different styles of music but who had played shows together or were friends and stuff. I hadn't toured down South then so it's all North Island bands which is a shame but at the time that was really all I knew. The kinda concept for it was four bands from Auckland, Wellington and Hamilton, each representing a different sort of "genre" (i don't like that word but I can't think of a better one) of music from their city. It was based around the idea of "degrees of separation" and trying to showcase the "connectedness" of what was going on. I guess part of the mixed genre thing was to appeal to a larger audience and also to make it a bit more interesting as a "collection" if that makes any sense.

Did it seem to springboard anything for any of the artists involved?
I'm not sure about springboard and I didn't have a clue about how to promote or sell a record so it kinda just got made then floated around but I like looking back at it and seeing that most of the bands are still making music in some form or another and many of them have gone on to do some pretty rad things.

Tell us about your favourite track on the compilation.
Without sounding like a total butt-head I honestly really like all the songs on it.

Not counting this one - what's your favourite compilation?
I haven't listened to them in awhile but I was pretty obsessed with all the Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph compilations that came out in the early 2000's. Like the Punk O Rama's and Fat Music For Fat People and stuff.

Is there anything else interesting that you can tell me about the compilation and its creation?
I wrote this super dorky manifesto-esque piece about music and the compilation inside the sleeve which is probably really silly sounding now. I also spelt "Moccasins" wrong which has bummed me out for ages. 

Who did the artwork and where can we find their stuff?
[This Night Creeps vocalist/graphic designer] Luke McPake did the artwork. It was one of our first ever collaborations together and he got super conceptual on it which was really rad. He made all the bands take a photo of themselves in a bathroom, in front of a mirror holding a flower in one hand, closing their eyes and there was some soap or something and I think it had a door in it and then he morphed all the pictures together. You can find his video stuff on Vimeo here.

Tell me about the FIRST compilation you ever owned? I think mine was Rhythm Volume 16 and I wish I still had it. 
The first compilation I ever owned was a chunky double disk of 50's and 60's hits that my uncle gave me for no real reason. I was only like six or seven so I can't remember the name of it but it was this mental bright pink colour and every now and then I try and find it again if I got to a record store but know I never will. My favourite song on it was Leader Of The Pack by The Shangri La's which I still think is one of the greatest songs ever written. I would play it over and over again and dance around to it and it got super scratched and worn out but never skipped or died. I have this really vivid memory of the girl who used to babysit us putting it on and laughing at me and my brother as we sang the lyrics and jumped around the lounge to Great Balls of Fire. I don't know what happened to it, I guess my mum threw it away to save herself from the mayhem it caused.

If your interest is piqued it's well worth tracking down a second hand copy of Go With The Movers at Real Groovy or borrowing the Auckland Libraries copy from here.

The explosion of local music that happened in the 2000s is something we probably won't fully appreciate until we look back at it with a bit more retrospect. Bands stew over releases until they hate them, re-record, break up or fade out and sometimes a short run of compilations is all that's left. While the medium gets a bad rap from major label curated, vaguely themed showcases for their artists and whatever number Now That's What I Call Music is up to, a really great compilation can be as good as any single album. At its best, a compilation can act as a snapshot of a moment, locale or musical scene.

At All Things Musical we thought it was worth revisiting some relatively recent local compilations. One of these is Underground Resistance. Compiled by Joel Pinkham and Matt Barnes (he of the local punk site and messageboard Punkas.com), it's a great cross section of local punk bands circa 2003. As Matt explains, it captures a variety of loosely 'punk' related bands: there's the old school punk vibes of the legendary Missing Teeth, the melodic sound of Dunedin stalwarts Ritalin, an early Bleeders track, The Rabble before they become hilarious and the spazzy post-hardcore of This Night Creeps.

Here's Matt answering a few questions about Underground Resistance, and if your interest is piqued, it's well worth scouring the second hand bin at Real Groovy for it, or borrowing Auckland Libraries' copy of it here.


Listening back to this compilation, what do you like about it?
I like the consistency of the compilation. A lot of tracks were hand-picked, but there were a few where it was the band that was chosen and they submitted a track of their choice. And yet, I think it holds up pretty well. It feels like a good cross-section of stuff that was going on at the time.

Compilations document a certain musical moment. Can you paint a picture for me - what was happening in music at that time? And what did you want to preserve from that time?New Zealand music has always been influenced by overseas movements and I don't think punk is any different. So, while the US saw a boom in the mid- to late-90s in the genre, it was more like the late-90s and early-00s here. More by accident than by design, Underground Resistance came out pretty much at the peak of that, before the likes of post-hardcore and metalcore and the like replaced punk and pop-punk in popularity in this country.

Can you tell us about the moment when you decided this was something worth doing, and what was your initial concept for the compilation?
Actually, it was Joel Pinkham's idea. He was a young guy in a band who liked also booking shows for other bands and just really wanted to help the scene out. He'd never put out a CD before and so came to me and I was also able to get to a lot more bands through my web site at PunkAs.com. It came together really very quickly - but even then, punk being punk, a couple of bands still managed to break up before the CD actually got out there!

What did these artists have in common that made them belong on a compilation together?
They were loosely 'punk' related bands that I or Joel liked. There really was no more thinking behind it than that. I did want to try to cover a bit of geographic ground, I didn't want it to be just say an Auckland/Wellington compilation. But that was really the only deliberate choice in there.

Did it seem to springboard anything for any of the artists involved?
I have no idea, but I doubt it. It sold pretty well, though, so maybe the bands had an extra few people at shows? I wouldn't know.

Tell us about your favourite track on the compilation...
Ah, that's tough. I love Missing Teeth, and their shout-along Brydon Utd was always one of their best. Same with Wellington band Dirk Drent and their wah-heavy Tailbone Terror. But possibly my favourite was My Two Cents' track Memories. They were unusual in that they had broken up while we were putting the compilation together, but we made an exception to put them on there - in fact, there is also a track (find the mp3 here courtesy of 1157 Records) on there by the band they formed subsequently, This Night Creeps.

Not counting this one - what's your favourite compilation?
I liked the two Puppykiller Records compilations - Pick of the Litter 1 & 2. They were very much Auckland-oriented, but there was lots of great stuff on those and they were much more focused in terms of sound.

Is there anything else interesting that you can tell me about the compilation and its creation?
It was really simple to get together. We had a couple of release shows and that was about it for promotion, but it sold out within a couple of months - possibly because we sold it pretty much at cost. I think it was nominated for a couple of awards, too? (Underground Resistance was nominated for Compilation of the Year at the 2004 bNet Awards)

Who did the artwork?
The artwork was by me, riffing on the logo from the Japanese movie Battle Royale, which has as its central conceit a Government initiative to repress youth rebellion by having the kill each other. There's something in that metaphor and punk rock that appealed to me. The liner notes were then loaded with a million in-jokes from the PunkAs web site forums.

Tell me about the first compilation you ever owned? Mine was The Rhythm Volume 16 (I think?) and I wish I still had it.  
I never really bought compilations growing up. I do remember getting one called Faster & Louder: Hardcore Punk Volume 1 and I'm pretty sure there was never a Volume 2. It had so many great bands on there like Mission of Burma and Bad Brains, plus one of my all-time favourite songs in Dead Kennedys' Holiday in Cambodia. I thrashed it to death and got so used to that version that I was thrown when I finally got the Dead Kennedys album it's off (Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables) and found it was a slightly different arrangement.

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

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.

Check out the last two installments, free to download at the following links.
Download: Awesome Feeling 5
Download: Awesome Feeling 6



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

Sunday, 10th March 10am to 4pm Pasifika Festival

http://www.aucklandnz.com/pasifika

"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 Black blog 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.

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.

A Place to Bury Strangers – Worship 
Alt-J – An Awesome Wave
Bailterspace – various albums
Bat for Lashes – Fur and Gold 
Cloud Nothings – S/T 
Divine Fits – a Thing Called Divine Fits 
Flume – self-titled
Japandroids – Celebration Rock
Jessie Ware - Devotion 
Lawrence Arabia - The Sparrow
Of Monsters and Men - My Head is an Animal
Phelps and Munro - Slowpoke
Polica - Give You the Ghost
Real Estate - Days 
Street Chant - Means 
Tame Impala - Lonerism
The Eversons - Summer Feeling
Phoenix Foundation - Buffalo
Yeasayer - Fragrant World

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