TODAY, I AM.

a) Working in a retail Christmas (again).
b) Going out to dinner.
c) Receiving presents.
d) A Daisy
e) Independant
f) A Sunflower
g) The birthday girl.

Merry Christmas to all three of you.
Happy music, from me.

Cold War Kids

Clearly this is more of a "Great tasting song!" blog than a "Great tasting band!" blog, because Cold War Kids have been STORMING EVERYBODY UP for a few years now.

I used to go into CD stores and pick up CDs and loudly express excitement to gain street cred from the cool guys working there.
In Year 10 I used this trick with Robbers & Cowards.

I've subscribed to a daily free mp3 from the website RCRD LBL which has given me a few gems amongst the endless remixes of Miike Snow and when I was going through the emails after returning home from holiday, this jolly chanson was hardly misplaced amongst the other downloads.
I've not really sat down and had a good old spaced-out listen to it yet but I can tell Cold War Kids are getting up to some crazy new mischief and I'm full-throttle excited. Listen.

Cold War Kids - Audience

Mycophile Song

Here's a track of Mycophile's for you to check,
Tristan quite likes it.

Mycophile - Rain

Psuedo Nomadic Aucklanders Party In Wellington

Play some Death Cab, Joe!
Fall Out Boy!
Gaga!
Smoke on the Water!

Jimmy amuses the crowd between songs.
The flat hallway is filled with a boozed array of audience;
YOU CAN FINISHED MY BOURBON IF I CAN HAVE YOUR CAMERA FOR TEN MINUTES, Jimmy bargains.

Bourbon is not cheap red wine, but when you're not really doing your job alcohol is a pretty win move.

Play Elemeno P!
Taylor Swift!

After introducing myself to half the party I figured I'd go check this (was it ambient? It felt ambient.) live music out. That was what I came for, after all.

It wasn't ambient, now that I try to recall the night of December 5th in greater detail. Nice Birds were actually really kickin', if a colloquial term like kickin' can describe a genre, and I'm not just saying that because they might read this post.

I really don't know the other band that performed before them. Crap journalism on my part. Crap-loads of reverb on the microphone's part.
It honestly didn't help that during the initial sound check I strongly recommended the lead singer find an 11 on the reverb dial and go there.
Sarcastically.
Too subtle, perhaps, in my humour.

I'll also say that I enjoyed jumping and breaking a wardrobe during Nevernudes' set,
That Sidewalk Meeeeeese were delightful especially for a band that I had no prior opinion of until Alex Grant basically commanded that I'd like them,
And Bully Bones' spontaneous decision to get up and gig very much put me in a nice place for the rest of the evening. 
This house gig proved the good quality of Auckland's underage scene. How are these bands so young and so good? It's amazing.

TOP GIG AWARD TO ALL PARTICIPANTS.

Nevernudes - Socialite
Or download the EP for your sweet self, of course.


End-note: Now that I'm back from my holiday (though still lacking in time), I've set up a sister blog with all photos from events that my camera will be attending. You can find it over at http://wonderpho.blogspot.com/ and I'm going to find a way to link it on the main page.

She Wants To Make Glitter In My Coffee Grinder

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Hailing from the Wellingtonest of Wellington and having proven his worth as a Radiohead-obsessed busker in the nooks and crannies of New Zealand, Tristan Stibbards has finally started to make waves on the facebook and the myspace with a collection of tracks that work together to leave an accurate impression of the Kiwi Summer. Mycophile gives all the dub, all the Ben Harper and all the low-fi home-electronic goodness that you'd hope to expect from someone with such a variety of influence.

"Keeping it real" with home-recordings and frequent guest band members, this music reflects the diy music scene of Wellington, giving me a serious homely feel as the style of each track pours through my speakers. It's representing of rainy days and sunny days. It's constantly changing yet gives a sense of direction. Visit the myspace and give a listen for ye'selvez while I work on getting a song that you can keep.

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Sum Big Pink Plz

I couldn't tell you exactly why I'm so obsessed with these guys at the moment.

I mean, yeah, distortion is kick-ass and their alternative crack-smokin' rhythms are nothing short of catchy, but I actually went to the local huge record store who said they were getting A Brief History Of Love in soon and then, get this, I went back in a week and bought it.
This is a big deal for me.
I hardly ever buy CDs.

I was enticed one day when fell asleep blasting the local indie radio station and woke up to 'Dominoes'. There's something so magical about whatever you first notice when waking up from a nap, like little naptime-fairies decided to sprinkle happy-enticement-endorsement-dust on one particular smell or image or, in this case, sound.

I did what any web-sourced diy lover does and downloaded a few tracks. Shuffling these tracks around on the old iTunes a bit, I fell even further in love with the song Velvet.

These arms of mine
Don't mind who they hold
So should I maybe just leave love alone?
You call out my name for the love you need
Which you won't find in me

It's so raw, such a cynical take on love while also self-criticising, it's how we all feel when our relationships don't run as well as we expect them to.

So after a few more keen tracks I decided to go out and buy the album. And with my iPod being broken, this CD has been getting a lot of shuffle in my DISCMAN.

Here's a track not from the album but definitely worth mentioning.

The Big Pink - Stop The World

In blog-making news, I'm waiting for a sunny/free day to take the photos that I imagine for the background.
I'm currently using one from my photography portfolio, which doesn't exactly sum up the themes of this blog.
I love this Underdead baby.

Smell ya later

Faites : To Make.

As the world spins around and humanity spirals in circles making pseudo advancements in psychology, philosophy and technology, I am constantly re-acknowledging that this world is lacking no one in my fields of interest. We have an unbearable number of budding musicians, photographers and writers, each of those careers viewed as childhood fantasies that are only realistically achievable to a small percentage of people who choose to follow these paths.

I used to want to be an actor. I didn't care that there wasn't much money in real acting, or that my private life would always be compromised -- I knew I was a natural and that it was all I ever wanted to do with my life. But when I was about thirteen, I was discouraged. Being young and fresh to the idea of cynicism, I let this statistic of 'impossibility' get to me, and my hope for an ideal life faded.

But as I am now in a position of my life where it's becoming
kind of important to choose where my life will lead, this predicament haunts me again.
All I am really interested in is music and photography (plus the odd webcomic).
The only talents I (think I) have are photography and an ability to form interesting sentences.
The only recognisable achievement that I have made this year is becoming my school's "Token Photojournalist", shooting a number of different live gigs and being published on the front page of my LOCAL NEWSPAPER for my photos from our school talent quest.

I know that there are a lot of music blogs in existence. I follow about 0.8% of them.
But I've decided that I don't care if anyone reads this, or whether it escalates into a phenomenon that I can ACTUALLY make money off.
I need a place to recommend my favourite music and post photos from gigs that I am inevitably going to be shooting next year.

Perhaps you, out there, are actually reading this.
That would be nice.

Enjoy this photo of Chris Martin that I took when they played in Auckland in March.



Enjoy this download of Memory Cassette (it is currently summer where I live, after all).

Memory Cassette - Ghost In The Boombox

I look forward to enjoying each others' company on a frequent basis.