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.