Favourite 10 of 10

Rather than compiling a list of "best albums of 2010" we have together discussed what we enjoyed the most this year. Packing two against two, no voting, no disputing, just sharing our respective highlights of the year.

Cul8a2k10!

On the left: Naomi | On the right: Luke

10.

Beach House - Teen Dream | How To Dress Well - Love Remains

Naomi: This album came out early on, and found its way into a playlist I carefully crafted for listening to on the bus to Auckland- that sentimental, coming-of-age trip where I moved away from home. The album reminds me of the start of the year as well as the start of a new life.

Luke: Chillwave? Chill...core? This record leaves reviewers in an odd position. Pfork and the AVClub gush over this album in ways I can't even begin to explain. Yet I don't disagree. Whether or not it's 'influenced by ethereal contemporary R&B' this is a wonderful record for sinking into sleep with, or relaxing with after a long day. Forget the labels and listen to the record for what it is- intricately structured noise.

9.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below | The National - High Violet

Naomi: Was captivated by Home, when I finally got around to the rest of the album I wasn't disappointed. These guys are going to kill live, and in the future.

Luke: This is what we expect from Matt Berninger and co. now. It'd have been a surprise if this album wasn't wonderful, in fact. An introspective record, sure, but one that is more accessible than The Boxer, and hence, a more rewarding listening experience.

8.

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record | Wavves - King Of The Beach

Naomi: These guys did kill live. Not their best album to date, but upon its release I found All to All was a sweet jam to fake a summer to. Art House Director and Texico Bitches both scream singalong, and World Sick is a pretty genuine anthem for the modern day. It's quite a valuable album.

Luke: Wavves 2009: WEED WEED WEED write a pop song WEED WEED WEED fuck it up with distortion WEED WEED WEED wreck gigs by being a douche
Wavves 2010: WEED WEED WEED write a pop song WEED WEED WEED don't fuck with a good thing WEED WEED WEED produce a great record, sell weed grinders with a smoking cat on them, profit

7.

Secret Knives - Affection | Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (II)

Naomi: Secret Knives got some awesome publicity for this album via the worldwide blogosphere, and the songs prove why. Perhaps not the only NZ band who deserve the attention, but this album places highly due to my national pride and hope that 2011 brings more exposure for these hard-working amazing locals.

Luke:The mere fact that this is better than their debut leaves me floored, still. Yes, there are weak moments. 'Birds' messes with the CC formula by introducing random power chords. 'Vietnam' is too long. 'Violent Dreams' is like getting stuck in a groove on an LP for 5 minutes. But the rest of the album...wow. Doe Deer I Am Made Of Chalk Fainting Spells Intimacy Not In Love Empathy Pap Smear even the names of these songs make me excited, months later. Like sleeping with Alice Glass, but less bruising the morning after.

6.

Jaded Hipster Choir - Pill Weekend | Street Chant - Means

Naomi: As lols as their name is, this album defines a lot of 2010. Bit of unexpected rapping, bit of droning guitars, 2 meke hipster and 2 minute songs. And it's actually pretty genius.

Luke: FUCK THE MAINSTREAM
FUCK NEW ZEALAND MUSIC AWARDS
FUCK THE NAKED AND FAMOUS
FUCK SUBURBIA
FUCK BEING A 'NEW ZEALAND TEENAGER'
this is the music I would make if I were even remotely as talented as these three. Amazing,

5.

So So Modern - Crude Futures | Straight Arrows - It's Happening

Naomi: Good. So good. Plus it brought Luke and Eddie together via the Not So Moderns. Please, SSM, keep getting better and better, you deserve hall of fame status.

Luke: Do you remember that time you saw a film set in the '60s and the gramophone was playing the Kinks and it was like listening to a thrice-copied cassette through a walkie-talkie down the end of a hallway? This record is that sound plus the urgency to rush through side A of an LP in less than 13 minutes. 'Something Happens' is a night on the town through the fuzz of the next morning. 'Bad Temper' is the time you snuck into a relative's liquor cabinet and passed out 20 minutes later. This record is timeless, yet quintessentially 2010.

4.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs | Die! Die! Die! - Form

Naomi: I did listen to this album a lot. Above all, the video for We Used To Wait was the best of the year, and I say that knowing full well that this is up against Kanye's full-length Runaway. Pretty tight album, incredibly relatable, incredibly catchy.

Luke: Music doesn't need wonderful lyrics to be great. It doesn't need a trained 'singer'. It doesn't need hi-fi recording. It needs energy. It needs the will to beat a drum kit until it breaks, to flip off bass drums without losing your cool, to crowdsurf without shame, to be above all, in the moment. This record, therefore, is music at it's basest. An incredible record.
PS: Is it just me or is this record mixed far too quietly? TURN IT UP KIDS AND ANNOY THE SLEEPING NEIGHBOURS

3.

Johnny Flynn - Been Listening | Sleigh Bells - Treats

Naomi: The water sustains me without even trying, just the way that Johnny Flynn's unique storytelling sound calms me with a seemingly effortless new album. At first glimpse of the album cover I doubted the choice of photo, but after finding myself accidentally looking at a similar view one reflective day, I started humming a few of the tracks, and it kinda made sense.

Treetops are incredible.

Luke: This record, like Naomi's no.10, reminds me of a time in my life. However mine was a less-exciting and more-boring time, one of frantic study balanced against other commitments where I had almost no space to simply be myself. The 'almost' comes from this album- a collection of songs that are immediate and (incredibly) loud, creating a soundscape of jagged, distorted noise that, for 32 fantastic minutes, let me escape the monotony of everyday life. Though there may be better riffs than 'Kids', better beats than 'Crown on the Ground' and better hushed, frantic whispers than those on 'Rachel'. What makes this record so special is everything it signified- there could be a 'pop' in 'noise pop'. There could be sub-shattering bass in on an 'indie' record. There could be that moment in 'Infinity Guitars', where the Noise (befitting its capital letter) begins, when all that mattered was you, your headphones, and the emptiness around you.

2.

Bombay Bicycle Club - Flaws | Weezer - Pinkerton (Deluxe Edition)

Naomi: Bombay Bicycle Club can put no foot wrong. Pure beauty, acoustic yet so full of sound, the accompanying videos are shot with such good quality while keeping the intimacy intended in showing you the boys' childhood homes and favourite areas. The songs are a lot more mature than the teenage-infused lyrics from breakthrough album I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose. Seriously close call between Flaws and the number one album!

Luke: Normally I wouldn't consider a reissue worthy for a top-ten list- even Exile on Main St. wouldn't have made my (hypothetical) 'list' last year. However there's something so enduring, so inexhaustibly listenable about Pinkerton that its reissuing seems a perfect time (though you should never need an excuse) to sit down and drift into Rivers Cuomo's mind circa 1996. From the four cymbal crashes that open 'Tired of Sex' to the haunting acoustics of 'Butterfly', everything about this album is incredible. Whether it's Cuomo's longing for the mysterious '18-year old girl who live in small city of Japan' on 'Across the Sea', his frustration at his own shortcomings on 'Falling for You' ('what could you possibly see in little old three-chord me?') or apologies for his own weaknesses on 'Butterfly' ('I told you I'd return when the robin makes his nest...I ain't ever coming back'), each song is a portal into a tired, confused, sexually frustrated, not-quite-teenage-but-not-yet-adult mind. And that's something we can all relate to.
PS: Bonus tracks-wise, the B-sides are excellent, alternate versions are interesting but not essential, live tracks are easily skippable, also there's far too many versions of 'The Good Life' on this disc.

1.

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Naomi: Definitely. Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes. I listened to this album on my birthday. I listened to this album on Christmas. I have found it so hard to listen to anything else since the release of this masterpiece. Kanye West is the artist of our generationnnnnnn.

Luke: I haven't listened to anything else since November 22nd. My friends turn on Sleigh Bells. They turn on Street Chant. But all I want is some more 'Ye. Hell, I put down fucking Pinkerton for this record. This record is amazing. Hands-down album of the year, no questions asked. Should one man have all that Power? Yes.

Pressure To Be

The first time I heard this, the songs were muffled through a bedroom door where I thought some friends had gathered to vibe out to some 90s grunge. I couldn't say what band the tracklist was up to, nor is it a strict genre to define the music on Pressure To Be by, but it is a pretty good indication of what this compilation accomplishes.


The underage music scene in New Zealand is really good. The music coming from <18s tends to transcend age; that is to say, it is not only good 'for their age', but is good in any circumstance. Some of the music being written is more mature than what many of the fully grown musicians of our country are currently producing, an opinion that Underdead has mentioned before. 


After Nicole Gaffney was inspired by her discovery of an under-21 Olfactory Records compilation album sitting under a pile of sale CDs in Real Groovy one time, she teamed up with other half James Stuteley of Papaiti Records and they began working on a necessary testament to the great scene we've become stuck in. The album, Pressure To Be (apparently named from Nevernudes lyrics), is a showcase of teens who have proved their genius on the wider scale, who give us a reason to support NZ Music (+Month), who have played gigs tirelessly and incessantly to bare us their souls and provoke a response. Some bands featured are no longer teens, some have split up, some have just released albums, some still have years until any bar will let them play without parental supervision. 

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Papaiti Records' newest signing (if you could call a free-download service a 'label') is possibly its most exciting yet. Papaiti cut its teeth earlier this year, offering a series of excellent-quality bootlegs of local shows- including a particularly ferocious Bandicoot gig at Mighty and the So So Modern album release at the Bath House.

However, come September, Papaiti hit the metaphorical jackpot, 'signing' incredible young talent Eddie Johnston AKA Shipwreck. What is there to say of Eddie that hasn't been said before? Knowledgeable and talented beyond his 13 years, Johnston produces consistently-excellent tracks that echo Disasteradio at his most chilled, weave two distinct soundscapes onto one simple programmed drumline or even fuse Times New Viking-esque fuzz with 50s rockabilly spirit. He's also a genuinely nice guy whose immersion in the Wellington scene is absolutely incredible for someone so young. Where were you when you were 13? I know I definitely wasn't listening to decent music nor playing shows at Mighty with Cutting Shapes!



Honestly, Jane Yee (yes, that Jane Yee from our early-teenage C4-watching years) put it best when she said of Eddie: 'I have grown adult musician friends who make music that is far more crap than [his]'. Okay, so not the highest of direct praise but from a 30-something woman to a 13-year-old bedroom musician, it's like winning a fucking Grammy. or a Pitchfork Award or something. Does Pitchfork even give out awards? Would winning one destroy any chance a band has at either keeping underground cool or breaking the mainstream? Maybe this is like getting on thesixtyone homepage?

...Okay this is getting offtopic (though I highly recommend thesixyone) and all that needs to be said is that you absolutely must listen to Eddie's music. Download his tracks below, and hit up his bandcamp for more. He's pretty prolific too- two fantastic EPs and a single in the last couple of months leads me to believe there's many more songs rattling around in his head.


Shipwreck - Bertha Lou
Shipwreck - You're Overreacting

No Shame In Pop

So much respect.

Since finding a Playskool Singalong Cassette Player I have been on a quest to develop quite the enviable tape collection, which eventually lead me to the well-titled cassette-producing label Wonder Beard. Amongst artists such as Teen Daze and Blackbird Blackbird lay a few gems who I was eager to investigate; Mon Insomnie, Waskerley Way and Cop Magnet, all of whom I thoroughly recommend.

Although Cop Magnet was a little elusive via google search, I found a song he worked on with Ryan Hemsworth (who writes the blog A Half-Warmed Fish), James Valmont and Smoke Screen member [Street] Chemist. This was published on Hemsworth's bandcamp page which I gave a bit of a peek and discovered a free 7-track album of well-chosen pop songs covered in a lo-fi, strangely catchy manner. Perhaps that's the pop shining through the adaptations.

Natalie Imbruglia's 'Torn' is my personal favourite. Hemsworth turns the actress-turned-somewhat-successful-singer's biggest hit into something a little less embarrassing to listen to. If this version was the original I'd be throwing praise around like it was rice at a wedding, but the mere miracle performed deserves just as much respect.

The cover of Viva Forever by Spice Girls comes in a close second as the least electronic song on the album, that acoustic guitar arpeggio hitting all the emotional chords associated with that period of our lives.

The album also explores such golden classics as Papa Don't Preach, Party In The USA and a 22-second chorus of New Yorrrrk.

The aesthetic design also deserves many props due to an image of Cameron Frye gracing the cover; blissful art from a beautiful memory. Oh internet, how you have brought us more homemade EPs with badly photoshopped covers that encompass so much warmth and so many pop fiction references.

Hemsworth's talents don't seem limited to blogging and covers, however. I've yet to decide what I think about the aforementioned colab with Cop Magnet, but his youtube channel displays some pretty fine originals teamed with wonderfully edited videos. Check them out, see what you think, and visit his bandcamp to download 'Cover Yr Shame' for free.

Looking Sharp, Matt

On the eve of the rerelease of Weezer's wonderful Pinkerton, I thought we should all take a step back in time to 1995 and look at another musical project that occurred simultaneously to that album.



Anyone even vaguely schooled in Weezer history knows that post-Blue, Rivers Cuomo locked himself up in an effort to write a space-themed, synth-filled rock opera, Songs From the Black Hole. (Massive paraphrasing, forgive me!) That album never eventuated, but some of its' demos were reworked into Pinkerton songs ('Tired of Sex' and 'Getchoo' among them).
'Hold on', I can hear you say, 'Why did Black Hole never come about?' The answer, straight from Cuomo's mouth: 'RotR'. Return of the Rentals, that is.

Bassist Matt Sharp had become restless pre-Pinkerton and, together with Weezer drummer Patrick Wilson and various members of that dog., put together a Moog-drenched side-project, the Rentals, whose debut, RotR, came to epitomise all that Rivers sought to do on Black Hole. Cuomo was surely dejected at the time, but given that this album led to Pinkerton, one assumes it's a good thing Sharp did what he did!



The rentals never broke into the mainstream in the way that Weezer did, but that's okay. Their debut (and to a lesser extent, their two more recent releases) is a tight nugget of synth-y glory, wrapped in deadpan humour and wonderful male-female vocal harmonies that might not drag you to the Black Hole, but are certainly spaced-out in their own way. 'Friends of P.', the album's only single (and a minor MTV hit) is the high point of the record, and is worth a listen anyday. 'I only get two loves in my life' sings Sharp, '...tell me what's going to be.' Sharp may have released two more Rentals since 'Friends', but he could never top it. Hell, who could?

The Rentals - Friends of P.

Download 'Friends of P.' and sink into a Moog-fueled heaven. Then pick up the album from Real Groovy or, more likely, your local secondhand shop. Thank me later.

Monikers Of Horses

Oh hey look. Another band name of horses / horses the band name / an horse name / I am pulled apart by the horse band name.

Sometimes I really don't know what to do with myself when a band has good music but unfortunate naming. Give them a pet name in my iTunes library? Send a well-worded constructive email? Sit passively and hope it gets better? It's not that Horses is a particularly bad name but that it's probably smarter to do your indie 101 before releasing a few EPs. In this scenario, Horses, why not rethink your classification and go by 'Shetlands' or a somewhat less manipulatable-for-swearing breed? I mean, you are a solo artist making crazy bedroom music and I'm happy you're not using your own name for the project. But band names can get a lot more creative.

Underadio's Debut

A series of mouse dilemmas, 4.30am alarms, hey it's the sun. These are a few things which I wish would excuse me from being a little more active on the posting front. Underdead has, however, found itself a new segment and a new medium on which to bring you great new music - a timeslot on bfm somewhere in the midst of the graveyard shift on monday mornings.

The debut, like this week's show, was themed around Video Games. Despite a few learning curves (nervous slurs of words, Kermath's inability to sign out of skype while playing songs and a song order slip) it turned out rather listenable: download the 21-and-a-half minute long mp3 file here.

Songs featured are as follows:

Disasteradio - Computer Whiz

Grooms - Wicked Game

Shipwreck - You're Overreacting

Dignan Porch - On A Ride

The Broken West - Perfect Games

You can tune in to the show from 1-4am on a sunday night/monday morning by tuning your Auckland radio to 95fm or streaming live anywhere in the world on 95bfm.com!

I think it's pretty cool, let me know what you think.

Because I For One Love The Lineup

Each new ambitious youthful summer plan leads to more intensive counting down of the days, and today's announcement for the Laneway lineup confirmed what I had hoped: it's going to be good enough to redeem my poor effort from last year (in the ambulance by Cut Off Your Hands' set). This time I will see all of the bands. Coming shortly will be a detailed guide/opinion to how you should spend your summer, complete with money-saving tips.

Foals - Tron

(Open in new tab, does not automatically download)

P.S. Bring on Tron 2 yo.

Click on the title of this post if you've not yet heard the Laneway lineup.

"Someone hype us up on a blog"

Hype hype hype hype hype hype hype hype hype.

But fortunately for us, the hype is deserved.

Nearly a year since their well-acclaimed first EP (still free here if you haven't downloaded it yet), Nevernudes are now counting down the days until their long player is officially ready to fly into your hands. The four charming Auckland boys are a staple to the underground scene, playing many a show in St. Barnabas Scout Hall as well as bars and house parties both local and nationwide, and this dedication to their music has earned them a lot of fans and a great reputation which is in no way undeserved. As each new song has been trialled and added to setlists, my opinion of them has grown from a band you like because the general opinion is pretty good, to a band you genuinely expect to do great things. Anthony Sheehan-Drent's lovable songwriting combines influences from favourite bands such as Fugazi, Queens of the Stone Age, East Brunswick All Girls Choir and local Flying Nun/Mole Music/Muzai bands, while the all-around great musicianship and brotherhood of Tom Nicholls (drums), Sam Harper (guitar) and Chris Smart (bass) give Nevernudes the reputation of a kick-ass, musically tight group of bros who promise much fun to be had if they're not being kicked out of the venue for bringing in their own Scrumpy. Hopefully this continues to reflect in the new tracks, the first of which will be released as a single sometime next week.

Nevernudes - White Teethed Teens (Rough Mix)

(Open in new tab, does not automatically download)

If you're in Auckland, make sure to check out the album release party October 30th at Galatos, full Halloween attire expected. More information on the facebook event page.

Hello Newborn Shoots Of Grass

Now that I have a newfound faith in Spring to really turn days warmer, I have found that even the most wintery of anthems are full of this optimism for sunny days. This cutesy chanson by My First Tooth titled "Sleet and Snow" summarizes this idea with the contrast between the lyric adopted in the blog's title above, and its name, clearly a hangover from seasons past. The catchy rhythm guitar line which used to shelter me from raindrops has morphed into the new shape of bonfire singalongs, the major-to-minor chord progression which previously defined sadness takes one step further, when placed in direct sunlight, to resolve and end on a note of joyous occasion. And through this, a harmonica breakdown decides to pop in and encourage your feet to dance a silly jig. It's magical. One day you're celebrating the sun, the next you're wondering where the rain reappeared from.

Still we sing, sing through the storm - if you're sleet, I'm snow.

My First Tooth - Sleet And Snow

(Please open the song's link in a new page and click download)

Crossing Roads

Underplayedlist #2

The weather is changing,

We've lost an hour,

My essay is awful,

I need to sleep.

We could all go for a wall of new music right now.

Here's your link, bitchez.

Click on the cover to see the back cover with track listings but warning, I got bored halfway through and it's difficult to read.

Sneaky Sneaky Dogfriend

2007 was a great year for New Zealand music, hell, music in general. Everyone's favourite 'schizo-poppers The Mint Chicks proved that credibilty and VNZMA success weren't mutually exclusive, Radiohead fucked record companies with their 'In Rainbows' release and Klaxons got wasted after the Mercury Prize ceremony with Alex Kapranos and spent a lot good chunk of their £20000 prize on booze. Inamongst all the fantastic releases both at home and overseas, however, a great album got lost and seemingly ignored.

That album is, of course, The Sneaks' self-titled debut.


To be honest, after 'Pep Sounds', I lost track of The Sneaks somewhat. Surely their 15 minutes of fame had passed after betting their NZOA funding money on a horse? (which subsequently won, the result of which is the 'I'm Lame' video, worth a look for the last 50 seconds of pyrotechnics alone). How surprised was I, then, to discover in the Real Groovy sale bin, a copy of an album neither I nor the general public, apparently, knew existed.

I haven't seen it anywhere since, but if you manage to spot it (maybe Auckland Real Groovy might be a good starting point), it's definitely worth picking up. Even though the album is 14 tracks long, it barely breaks 30 minutes and most of the songs are wonderful poppy nuggets that deserve to be not just discovered but celebrated. 'I'm Lame' is that rare beast, a song that's both catchy and also about awkward sex ('If you can't give someone a blowjob properly, come on brothers, let's go out and do it for ourselves' never fails to raise a smile), 'Bus Bitch' and 'No Sex!' breeze past in a fury of synth feedback, and 'El Scaredy Cat' fuses a wonderful bassline with all the jangle and off-kilter vocals the band have seemily perfected. Oh, and it's also the 7 Days
theme song OH MAN THEY SOLD OUT TO TV3-whatever.
If I had to single out one moment on the album, though, it'd be 'Scenester'. Arrogant hipsterism ('The fella in the mirror looks good ... can I be more like him?') collides with James Dansey's yelps and a synth line unlike anything else on the disc. It really is an absolutely excellent song, the highpoint on an already-fantastic album.

Anyway, I bet you feel bad about ignoring this wonderful band forever slash since you last heard 'I'm Lame' in 2006. If so, then get out there, buy the album and devour it. For those who're thinking "hell I love the Sneaks and I listen to this record every day" then good news is coming your way too! The band have returned to NZ, and are releasing new EP in November called 'Today!'. Rumour is they're going to play a nationwide tour in November too, so get along and get dancing. (thanks cheeseontoast for the news, you're good bros)
Here's some Sneaks. First up is Cocaine Mouth off their new EP. Here's a link to bandcamp where you can grab the song free of charge wooohoooo! Thanks interwebz.

The Sneaks - Cocaine Mouth (Bandcamp)

Next up, the song I was hyping above, Scenester. Get into it.
The Sneaks - Scenester (Download)

Keep living life, kids.


(oh and if you are slash represent the Sneaks and don't like that mp3 sitting there, let me know. love you xoxo)

Chrome and Convenient Transportation

I've been sitting on this track for a while, throwing it into recommendations every now and then, not wanting to publish something which gives the impression of being homesick (again) or let you in on a badly kept secret, but despite being blogged about by I Guess I'm Floating and having released 7 EPs, Chromatic Flights could be making more airwaves.

I am a great sucker for badly-exposed, intentionally sun-ruined basic film photography, and the use of this technique on top of beachy landscapes and hot babez is a great reflection of the breezy beats escaping from Kyle's brain.

You can get some old EPs from Monotonik but for now, listen to a sweet sweet heartwarming anthem while you dodge the sunshowers.

Chromatic Flights - Home Is More

I Just Want To Change Your Mind

I'll be severely disappointed if you have not yet let this EP carry your abstract conciousness into a continent where waves are made of clouds and situation comedies are watching branches break off from trees.

While the opening track brings worry that this EP can serve no purpose aside from lying in bed feeling experimental, it quickly arrives at hiding-behind-the-curtain pop music, releasing endorphins of a craving to sing along.
The EP flows smoothly, each track exploring a new field while tracking its path with breadcrumbs. You're hit with memories, but of what? Summer? Adolescence? The credited Richard P. Alexander's solo set at Campus A Low Hum on the morning of day 1? Something that's of yet undiscovered as a token good-sound metaphor? And with each repeat the nostalgia begins to paradoxically become a memory of itself.
They're only two guys from Wellington, but they can evoke some damn good feelings from their tunes.

Free download --> Glass Vaults - Glass EP

Underplays #1 - Heart Theme

Since my laptop's having a bit of trouble at the momet I STILL haven't resized the images of Strange News Fundraiser #2 for uploading, but to compensate I have made a new section of the blog called UNDERPLAYS (it's a clever mix of "Underdead", "Playlist" and a word that describes music you haven't listened to enough); clearly it's where I cbf writing things about the music and just want you to freakin download it for free and listen to it and love it (see: the point of my having a music blog. I'm a sharer not a critic).

This first playlist is themed around hearts because the two songs I first decided to put in the playlist had 'heart' in the title. When you've got a good theme going you should run with it. If you want to do something weird like burning the playlist onto a CD then putting it in a case the above image is for the front cover and the below image has the tracklisting for the back. Go to this link for the songs srry ads are not loltimes.

Underplays - #1 (Hearts)

Track list:

heagw347qna08gadw4ecawfgg553fdafes5gh731

NOT WORKING

I'll do it later, which could be in like a month because I'm going home tomorrow and at home we have no internet so I'd have to go especially out of my way

WHATEVER, you'll see the photos eventually.

Have some random rap

Some Mux Mool

Some K-OS

Hollaaa

(Update: they are now up.)

I Am A Golden God

My favourite* member of my favourite* band quotes my favourite* movie in one of his solo works:

Jack Steadman - Drugs

And he also has about 30 songs for free download here**, including this nice one: Give Up

*Favourite is used liberally

**You have to member to download but from my experience, it's worth it.

Pretty soon I will post the photos from last Thursday's Strange News Fundraiser gig. Hold tight.

(Update: they are now up.)

Like Bernard, Willis, Jimmy, Stan or Stu

You will probably fail to believe this, but they put out three EPs and two albums; Bruce was only the halfway point for these crazy Auckland guys.

My first LOLNZMUZIK of the month (and hopefully a few more to come in the remaining days, as an apology for not having my life sorted 20 days in), is the cult fave song by Rubicon; gifted to me at a party that featured Close Up cameras.

Rubicon - Bruce
(Click into the new page before downloading)

Crank it, homies. Host a singalong at your place.

Artisan Guns

Artisan Guns are one of those bands whose name seems to have always been familiar because I know people who know people who know people and hey! it's New Zealand.
But being somewhat of a pessimist towards the standard of popular New Zealand music (an admittedly stink start to NZMM on my part, apologies), I hadn't gone out of my way to find/purchase/sample-steal Bird & Bone and Allah knows they never played any publicized all-ages gigs in Wellington on that EP. Maybe they did and I was too cool to go. With all the Ivy Lies and Junipah out there you've got to approach any underage gig with skepticism.
Well fate and the general indie hub of Auckland guided me to Hearts. After picking up a copy of the recent Presence magazine, of which Artisan Guns were the cover story, I decided to give them a chance. This amounted to nothing until my Psych lecture a week back when a group of cool kids two rows in front of me started passing around a freshly bought copy of Hearts, so in the next brief talking interlude I decided to pass the laptop-yielder my flash drive.
Joy! He had Bird & Bone too!

Sure, that story's fine and dandy, but what of the music review?
Sordid analogy-folkspeak-jargon time. Ugh.
ARTISAN GUNS' HEARTS EP TRULY BRINGS OUT THE POP THAT CURRENT SECULAR MUSIC SO STUPIDLY IGNORES IT'S LIKE WHEN YOU'RE LYING IN A HAMMOCK WITH THE WRONG LOVER IN YOUR ARMS BUT ALSO A CAT SO IT'S ALRIGHT AND THE SOUND OF THE OCEAN DEFINITELY MAKES UP FOR THE TORN YOUTHFUL EMOTION INSIDE YOU PLUS THE GROUP TRULY SHOWS THAT THEY HAVE MATURED AS A COLLECTIVE CREW SINCE THEIR EARLY FORMED DAYS.
Suck it.
I don't review the way the music sounds.
You come hear for stories and free downloads.
If this wasn't a good album I wouldn't write a post about it.

Artisan Guns - Going Back In Time
(Open new page and click download)

Seeing Viewing Watching Observing

Really though, who would've predicted that a radical change in my life would keep me from writing frequent posts?
I've seen a lot in the past month, and by "seen" I don't just mean the live music aspect but visually taking in many new scenes and people. For example, feast your own eyes on Kelly St Park, a small art hub abandoned lot turned community park that exists down the road from my flat.

Speaking of gigs however, I'm not going to even start on the Mint Chicks' farewell show (just saying, everyone's overreacting and destroying a whole set is money better spent than shipping equipment to the US), but one beautifully exerted concert that I was happy to have attended was one particular Ruby Suns show, featuring Signer.
Yes I had my camera and yes it was too much fun to take many photos.
Some solid photography of Signer has been posted on Wonderpics for your viewing pleasure.
Why is the new album not in my hands right now?
I hope you've sought after it and given it a listen even though I've been too much of an under-rock dweller lately to discover anything new.
If you haven't heard much of Ruby Suns (or Signer), these mp3s may take your fancy.

The Ruby Suns - Give Advice
The Ruby Suns - Morning Sun
Signer - Languidly Toot
(Open link in a new tab and download from there, I can't do my fancy quicklink on these university computers nor can I center them without centering the whole post)

Might see you by May.

Sup 'Home'

I don't know anything about this band or this guy

Maybe heard about them one time

But how did this get on my computer

Who had the insight to like them and link them?

This song is just SO FREAKIN in tune with my ears.

And lack of home

And overall nomadic tendencies.

A big part of every band I stumble upon is the vocal quality.

Weemos singing through their nose can never be justified (Plushgun LOL)

Super reverb on a mic to cover missed pitch is always obvious,

But these guys sing to have fun and tell a story.

It's everything.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Home

Play count fast reaching up to Tiny Dancer's top spot.

I'm Fading Out Again, Oh No. There I Go.

Score one for The Sixty One.

I'm not sure how many people put this site in their bookmarks and leave it open while they abuse the face but as I was particularly eager tonight to complete some quests requiring the home page, I abandoned my little 'Open Mic on 100' comfort zone and kept packing my life into a suitcase while the hottest songs right now exerted life back into my room.

After listening to this band The Kickdrums, I was surprised to read in the pop-up text about their history of rap production, which I admit wasn't overly obvious from the song Animal.

Curiosity taking over, I seat to weaving a complex pattern that resulted in their EP being on my iTunes being given a good old fashioned 5am "hmm".

Cool gif bro.

Their approach to each song does seem a little familiar, and when the vocals on Animal first surfaced I could've sworn it was Brian Molko, but I suppose there's nothing wrong with a little familiarity if you can execute it well.

Each song on the EP adopts a different style, and by no means do I think the following free download is their best, but it is the most chill and after Homegrown + packing I am selfishly gunna make you chill with me.

The Kickdrums - When I Come Down

If you wanna find me on thesixtyone I am younomee

(And I make some cool playlists.)

I Never Really Had You

Every so often a band who deserve real critical acclamation slip under the surface and never really find solid affirmation that they are as original and worthwhile as they really are, and with the Swedish-made band David & the Citizens the answer to this conundrum can only really be guessed at.

Perhaps their marketing plan wasn't strategic enough, maybe Sweden is so foreign to the hub countries of indie (Britain, America, Australia.. Japan?), or possibly they're not really good and I only like them now because they got me through 4th form.

This band found its way into my life four or five years ago now, via some forgotten means, but their myspace page view count

(if that's any indication to go by) is still below 10,000.

The inner shrew of mine secretly loves this band's obscurity, but in the long run it means an overall lack of support; that this music may never be played on a stage at some New Zealand festival or land on the desk of the music director for a Zooey Deschanel film.

Although the band is on an indefinite break,

David Fridlund absolutely deserves this respect.

The poetry of each song and overall emotional delivery breaks through all the terribly processed image-focused music that is becoming increasingly impossible to escape,

The fresh structure of each song puts to shame the bands that stick to typical methods or hide behind reverb,

The philosophy of David's words reflect thought that is not trying to be pretentious, deep, funny, apathetic, ironic, self-pitying or nonsensical.

They are authentic.

If Fridlund and the guy who invented porridge got together they would become the cure for winter.

David & the Citizens:

- The End (for emotion)

- Let's Not Fall Apart (for energy)

Please click on their band name to visit the myspace page, and as always, take these downloads to stumble upon next time you shuffle your iTunes.

A personal recommendation to leave with you: listen to Song Against Life. If you like it please comment and I may post a download for you, but for now just hear it with an empathetic ear and see if it fits in your puzzle.