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)