I sorta swore off going to any music festivals this year. The reasons for that went: too expensive (everything), the beer lines are too long (Laneway), no beer lines/very little interesting bands (Parachute), asking myself 'do I even really like live music/do I really like being in the midst of 20,000 people?' (Big Day Out), intense social anxiety (Camp A Low Hum). I know that most of these reasons can be overcome by the right combination of bands and good company, but I'm generally OK with my summer of (not) music watching. Whenever someone would ask me about what music things I was going to this summer, I'd just say I was too broke and vaguely speculate about trying to find a spare comp ticket floating around without any real plan to do that.

Funnily, while a lot of festivals these days increasingly feature folk revival artists, I'd completely forgotten about the Auckland Folk Festival itself. I'd never been before and wasn't familiar with more than a few names on the lineup, but I had an opportunity to go for free. I was curious, but had no idea what to really expect.

Read more » |

Read more » |

Yumi Zouma are a New Zealand trio with former Bang! Bang! Eche! guitarist Charlie Ryder in their ranks. 'The Brae' is their second single and they're set to release a self titled debut EP next month via Cascine. The song's a dreamy bed of synthesiser and angelic vocals, and if it takes your fancy, you can preorder the EP via the link on their Soundcloud widget below.

It's been a six year hiatus for the notoriously prolific Nick Harte of the Shocking Pinks, but the former Flying Nun and DFA artist is set to release a forthcoming triple (!) LP titled Guilt Mirrors.

Featuring Gemma Syme (Holiday With Friends, 47 Diamantes) on guest vocals, hear 'St Louis' from the forthcoming record via the Soundcloud widget below. The album comes out on February 18 on the Brooklyn based record label Stars & Letters.

Auckland rockers Clap Clap Riot have been working away on a new record set to come out in February. Produced by Kody Nielson of the Mint Chicks, the early returns on Nobody/Everybody show a different sonic palette and a welcome 1960s flavour. Check out Sweet Patricia via the Soundcloud widget.

Read more » |

This is ostensibly a music blog, but truth be told a couple of us here are big comic book fans too. So any chance to combine those two loves, we'll jump for it.

Wagner's Flying Dutchman anyone? South Island comic book artist has been commissioned to create a comic based on the famous work, and to celebrate 200 years of Richard Wagner. Check it out here.

Elsewhere, Kieron Gillon's Phonogram series is a favourite of mine. Mixing music-scene lore and fantasy in a very modern way, he tells a surreal and personal story about the music he loves and the Mod-Godess of Brit-Pop in this one. And if you're like me and mostly hate Brit-Pop but like girl bands, his second volume is over here and it rules.

And of course, who could forget the story of a part-time musician who lives in Toronto and plays in a band called Sex-Bob-Omb.

If you like the sound of a nasty (but fun) mash-up of fictional characters of the 1900s and Brecht's Three Penny Opera with surprisingly effective musical numbers on the page, check out some of Alan Moore's typically amazing work here.

We're all very excited about the Laneway 2014 festival lineup, even with Lorde ruled out due to Grammy commitments. As always, Auckland Libraries has a number of the artists on CD. So if you feel like spending some of your summer getting better acquainted with the lineup, here's a list of direct links to all the Laneway artist albums in our catalog after the jump. 

Read more » |

The Gramophone Classical Music Awards are always something to look forward to and this year’s awards presents another stunning line up of recordings for music lovers to celebrate. From an initial pool of 700 recordings, just 15 were chosen as winners of the various categories.

Auckland Libraries has all of these award winning recordings available on CD and they are well worth listening to! Some will be new discoveries for you, others are old favourites reinvented. Check out the full list after the jump and enjoy!

Read more » |

Read more » |

Last night's NZ Music Awards were predictably dominated by our favourite teenaged, world beating pop star Lorde. Although her album was released too late to qualify for this year's awards, she took away Single of the Year for Royals, Breakthrough Artist of the Year, the International Achievement Award and the fan-voted People's Choice Award, not to mention her video for Royals won famed designer/director Joel Kefali another Best Video award. Being a library blog, special mention goes to one of her acceptance speeches, where she said:

"Thank you to my management, without whom I probably would have become a librarian, or something equally nerdy," 

Awesome. It's not a diss, she's spoken in interviews about the crucial role of books in her life, but lucky for us all she's found her true calling. Other highlights included the charming Lawrence Arabia winning Best Male Solo Artist, Aaradhna winning the Album of the Year (as well as Best Urban/Hip Hop Album and Female Solo Artist of the Year) for her soulful Treble & Reverb.

Read more » |

Before USB keyboards and Ableton, before MPCs and synthesisers, there was the mellotron, and it was awesome. Using sounds recorded onto strips of tape, all rigged up inside a keyboard, it was a portable way that a keyboard player could call on the sound of strings, trumpets, or whatever had been sampled on the tape. In a similar (albeit analogue) way to a sampler, you'd push a key and get a sound. Unlike a synthesiser, the appeal was in the fact that the sound was a reproduction of the original, rather than an attempted recreation. It was the "must have" instrument of the 1960s and you'll hear it on stuff like the Genesis track Dancing With the Moonlit Knight.



Of course these days there's a ton of music software enabling bands to have the same functionality through a computer. But can you really beat the real thing? Nah. Mike Walters of Mystery Circuits makes unusual custom electronic instruments, many from modified toys or other items, and one of his creations was the glorious "Melloman", constructed from 14 Walkmen.

His work caught the eye of new folk maestro Bon Iver, who commissioned a custom version for himself. Check out the video below to see what he's in for. It uses a combination of sampled human voice and a synth sample to achieve an interesting blend. Look forward to hearing this ghostly tone show up a record down the track.

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.

Read more » |