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NZ Music Month

Happenings, Movies, Music, NZ Music Month, Wellington
Winging Your Way Through The Weekend, 11-12 May
09.05.13 | Permalink | Comment?

Brr! What a week. Floods, a (very tiny) earthquake and although the great day star showered us in splendour the mercury hasn’t climbed very high. It’s probably safer indoors with weekend warmers. We’re going for a blog in two halves today Wellington’s what’s on closely followed by a continuation of last weeks NZ music scrape over.

The New Zealand International Comedy Festival is in its final weeks and the hilarious “The Boy With Tape On His Face” performs in Downstage Theatre Friday night.

Our friendly neighbours Lower Hutt have some sweet badge making going down for Youth Week at The Dowse Gallery if you’d like to pimp your bag, hat or jacket for free. Here’s a full run down of Youth Week events in the region.

Want to get inside a navy ship and see what goes down? HMNZS Wellington will be open up for your viewing pleasure on Queens Wharf this Saturday. Don’t forget the sea legs.

There’s also a fascinating film festival in town this weekend. Documentary Edge Festival 2013 has all sorts of interesting offerings including Only The Young a study in youth and coming of age.

This week we’ll take a look at the “naughties” (2000-2009) for the weekend playlist. At times you could’ve been forgiven for thinking that music had taken a turn for the worst this decade. International offerings like Axel F’s totem to annoyance Crazy Frog weasled themselves to number one. Reality superstar competitions started to change the face of how musicians are made (you web-savvy folk may’ve already encountered Dave Grohl’s thoughts about these competitions via meme). Here in New Zealand we had a go. Yes we did. New Zealand Idol delivered us (briefly) Ben Lummis and Michael Murphy, we also got Stan ‘yous’ Walker through Aussie Idol. The decade had gems, don’t get me wrong. The star of the decade was a (then) young rapper from Christchurch, Scribe. He dominated 2003’s charts with his debut single Stand Up. Hip Hop/R&B were the champion genres across the airwaves with acts like Savage (with Swing), Dei Hamo (We Gon’ Ride), swaggy Dane Rumble in his past life act Misfits Of Science, Nesian Mystik, P-Money (who has some new stuff too!) and Smashproof. Our other genres did well with Fur Patrol, Goodshirt, Atlas, Tiki Taane & company keeping the singles chart kiwi. Some other favourites include Stellar*, Zed, Salmonella Dub, Che Fu, The Datsuns, Fat Freddy’s Drop and Anika Moa. Many of these artists albums are still lingering in our CD collection, if any take your fancy have a dig through their discographies.

Here’s a kiwi music video treasure from the decade to take us out, cue Kora and their EPIC anime video for Skankenstein.
Music, NZ Music Month, New Zealand, Rachel and Rebecca
On a high note…
07.05.13 | Permalink | Comment?

High note… Geddit? Music puns are such fun. Since you’ve all been reading about music after last week’s list in honour of New Zealand Music Month, this week we thought we’d let you know what’s happening!

Unfortunately for us, Auckland seems to be getting most of the action HOWEVER, based on this list of Wellington events, at least lots of the events here are free

NZ Music Month is a promotion run by the NZ Music Commission that takes place each May, in association with other organisations including NZ On Air, RIANZ, APRA, Independent Music NZ, and the Radio Broadcasters Association. You can find out more about the organisers here. NZ Music Month is a 31 day celebration of our homegrown talent across the length and breadth of the country. So get involved! Go to a gig, buy some merchandise, or just rent some New Zealand music from the library this month! Here are our personal favourites:

Flight of the Conchords because, if nothing else, we love a good laugh. And because Bret McKenzie was in the library the other day. But mostly because no one combines comedy and music quite like they do. Don’t believe us? Check out our exstensive collection in the library or check out this rather amusing charity song written for Cure Kids last year.

Essentially that video plays like a who’s who of New Zealand music, including the wonderful Brooke Fraser. We love her, not only for her incredible talents as a singer and songwriter, but also for her willingness to use her fame to get behind a cause. As well as Cure Kids, there’s World Vision (which inspired the song “Albertine”) and in 2010 while on tour in the States, she raised over $54,000 for charity: water to build clean water wells in Ethiopia.

The favourite that you may not have heard of: Ivy Lies. I fell in love with these ladies after hearing “Never Enough” and it’s safe to say the rest of their album, Little Mind Games, is just as good. The girls of Ivy Lies have perfected pop-rock with high energy, aggressive drums and assertive rock guitar, making music that makes you pound your invisible drum sticks.

Not your thing? Come check out the New Zealand music selection here at the library. In case you didn’t know, the YA CDs are FREE on your YA card so really, what’s to lose?

We’ll leave you with some photos of NZ Music Months gone by…

R n R
Music, NZ Music Month, New Zealand, Rachel and Rebecca
Synesthesia
02.05.13 | Permalink | Comment?

is when one of your senses is triggered but it causes an involuntary response by one or more of your other senses. In this case, we hope you’ll be reading words but hearing music! Or something. It’s a serious disease though.

In a roundabout way, this is a welcome to New Zealand Music Month, and we’re kicking it off with novels about music, musicians and playlists! It’s a challenging thing to write about musicians or bands in a way that is engaging for readers, since the author has to somehow describe the feeling, tone, content and emotion of something which is expressed purely through sound. Here we’ve selected ten who we think have done this pretty well.

Fat Kid Rules the World, K.L. Going

Troy Billings is seventeen, 296 pounds, friendless, utterly miserable, and about to step off a New York subway platform in front of an oncoming train. Until he meets Curt MacCrae, an emaciated, semi-homeless, high school dropout guitar genius, the stuff of which Lower East Side punk rock legends are made. Never mind that Troy’s dad thinks Curt’s a drug addict and Troy’s brother thinks Troy’s the biggest (literally) loser in Manhattan. Soon, Curt has recruited Troy as his new drummer, even though Troy can’t play the drums. Together, Curt and Troy will change the world of punk, and Troy’s own life, forever.

Lemonade Mouth, Mark Peter Hughes

Be warned, this is not the same book as the Disney movie. As is often the case, the character’s in the book are much more complex although the gist remains. This is the story of how five outcasts in Opoquonsett High School’s freshman class found each other, found the music, and went on to change both rock and roll and high school as we know it. Wen, Stella, Charlie, Olivia, and Mo take us back to that fateful detention where a dentist’s jingle, a teacher’s coughing fit, and a beat-up ukulele gave birth to Rhode Island’s most influential band. This is a book that utilizes multiple points of view really, really well. Especially during the concert chapters, where the point of view changes between about 10 different people.

6X: The Uncensored Confessions, Nina Malkin

Four teens suddenly rise to stardom in their band 6X, taking the world by storm and learning the truth first-hand about the real backstabbing world of show biz. The band is made up of 4 members, contradictory to what the book title suggests. There’s Kendall (The Voice), Rich (The Body), Stella (The Boss) and A/B (The Boy) and together they’re on the fast track to pop-rock superstardom. Along the way though, they’ll have to do some serious soul searching, face some hard truths and learn to survive in the glamorous, backstabbing world of pop music.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

This high-energy romance follows two high-school seniors through a single, music-fueled night in Manhattan. Nick, the nonqueer bassist in a queercore band, is playing with The Fuck Offs, when he spots his ex-girlfriend, Tris. Once offstage, he propositions a girl he has never met, hoping to make Tris jealous: Would you mind being my girlfriend for five minutes? Norah, also heartbroken (and hoping Nick will drive her home), agrees. What begins as a spontaneous ploy turns into something surprising and real in the course of one night as Nick and Norah roam Manhattan, listen to bands, confront past hurts, and hurtle toward romance. What we loved about this one is the characters’ wild yearning for love, and music, which feels powerful and true.

The Disenchantments, Nina LaCour

Colby and Bev have a long-standing pact: graduate, hit the road with Bev’s band, and then spend the year wandering around Europe. But moments after the tour kicks off, Bev makes a shocking announcement: she’s abandoning their plans – and Colby – to start college in the fall. But the show must go on and The Disenchantments weave through the Pacific Northwest, playing in small towns and dingy venues, while roadie- Colby struggles to deal with Bev’s already-growing distance and the most important question of all: what’s next?

Naked, Kevin Brooks

Britain in the 1970s sounds like an incredible place to be. Chaos and punk culture went hand in hand and this book is set right in the middle of it: summer of 1976. It was the summer of so many things. Heat and violence, love and hate, heaven and hell. It was the time I met William Bonney – the boy from Belfast known as Billy the Kid. William’s secrets have been kept for a long time, but now things have changed and the truth is coming out. The story begins with Curtis Ray; hip, cool, rebellious Curtis Ray. Without Curtis, there wouldn’t be a story to tell. It’s the story of a band, of life and death . . . and everything in between.

This Lullaby, Sarah Dessen

Raised by a mother who has had five husbands, eighteen-year-old Remy believes in short-term, no-commitment relationships until she meets Dexter, a rock band musician. Remy goes on a whirlwind ride, avoiding, circling and finally surrendering to Cupid’s arrows. More than the summer romance of this novel, we loved the cast of idiosyncratic characters who watch from the sidelines. There’s the trio of Remy’s faithful girlfriends, all addicted to “Xtra Large Zip” Diet Cokes practical-minded Jess, weepy Lissa, and Chloe, who shares Remy’s dark sense of humor as well as Dexter’s entourage of fellow band members, as incompetent at managing money as they are at keeping their rental house clean. Potential spoiler: it’s far from the fairytale happily-ever-after ending.

Audrey, Wait!, Robin Benway

California high school student Audrey Cuttler dumps self-involved Evan, the lead singer of a little band called The Do-Gooders. Evan writes, “Audrey, Wait!” a break-up song that’s so good it rockets up the billboard charts. And Audrey is suddenly famous! Now rabid fans are invading her school. People (magazine) is running articles about her arm-warmers. The lead singer of the Lolitas wants her as his muse. (And the Internet is documenting her every move!) Audrey can’t hang out with her best friend or get with her new crush without being mobbed by fans and paparazzi. Take a wild ride with Audrey as she makes headlines, has outrageous amounts of fun, confronts her ex on MTV, and gets the chance to show the world who she really is.

Five Flavors of Dumb, Antony John

High school senior Piper, who began to lose her hearing at age six, has mixed feelings about her parents dipping into her college fund to pay for cochlear implants for her hearing-impaired baby sister. But one thing is clear: Piper has to replenish the funds. Opportunity knocks when a disorganized rock band named Dumb invites her to be their manager. However, it soon becomes apparent that the members’ egos are more substantial than their talent. Although Piper’s hearing is a characterizing detail that could have been used solely as a gimmick, her abilities are seen as assets: while lip reading allows her access to public conversation, she is not above using sign language to obscure her intentions. The parallel attention to Piper’s hearing family and the strain her parents’ decision to treat her sister with cochlear implants adds to the greater story and informs the novel’s direction and ending in a satisfying way.

Rock Star Superstar, Blake Nelson

Music is Pete’s life. He’s happiest when he’s playing his Fender Precision bass, whether he’s jamming with his dad at 2 a.m. or covering Top 40 hits. Pete doesn’t care about playing the hottest club or getting the cutest girl. For him, it’s all about the quality of the music. Until he meets the Carlisle brothers. Pete could play circles around Nick and Billy Carlisle-the guys are amateurs. But there’s a power in their sound that’s exciting, and they need a new bass player. Pete joins their band, not quite sure what to expect. Before he knows it, he’s on a wild ride that transforms him from jazz band geek to potential rock god. Is Pete ready for superstardom? More importantly, is it even what he wants?

Hopefully that’s enough to kick of 2013 New Zealand Music Month for y’all! Stay tuned for updates and our favourite homegrown acts.

R n R
General Monty, Music, NZ Music Month
New Zealand Music We Like: Monty again!
10.05.12 | Permalink | Comment?

Great news for the modern man: live at the Auckland Town Hall by Eru Dangerspiel.

Eru Dangerspiel is Trinity Roots band member Ricky Gooch’s side project, though it’s seriously major in concept.

22 piece group (plus choir!) including Whirimako Black, Anna Coddington, Nathan Haines and members of Fat Freddy’s, The Black Seeds, Fly My Pretties, Dimmer, The Phoenix Foundation – whew! It’s funky, it’s futuristic, it’s Great news for the modern man!

~ Monty
Music, NZ Music Month, Raewyn
New Zealand Music we like: Raewyn
07.05.12 | Permalink | Comment?

Little stranger, by Annah Mac

“We saw Annah in Taupo opening for The Little River Band and The Doobie Brothers. She and her band were great and really got people in the mood for the rest of the day. I particularly like ‘Girl in stilettos (Pohutukawa trees)’. This has a fun beat and when you see the guy live, playing it on the keyboard, he is really funny. They are all so young and he looks about 15!”

~ Raewyn

Annah Mac’s Facebook page is here.
Music, NZ Music Month, Simon
New Zealand Music I Like: The Wild
06.05.12 | Permalink | Comment?

The Wild are an Auckland alternative hip-hop group. They have not released an album yet! But they have released an incredibly awesome single, Revolution, which may be purchased on iTunes for like, $2 or something? Small change, whatever it is. It came out last year, believe it or not, but because I am old and out-of-touch I have only just discovered it. Anyway, I have embedded the video (for there is a video) below. In fact, their Youtube channel has a lot of decent content. So subscribe to it! Okay!
General Monty, Music, NZ Music Month
New Zealand Music We Like: Monty
03.05.12 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Seth Haapu by Seth Haapu

Seth didn’t get a lot of fanfare when his self-named title was released in 2011 and it’s kind of a shame because he’s very talented.

Natural voice, melody to spare, multi-instrumentalist – don’t take my word for it though – watch keyboard and vocal skills here:

~ Monty
Jack, Music, NZ Music Month
New Zealand Music We Like: Jack
01.05.12 | Permalink | Comment?

Happy New Zealand Music Month, you guys! All this month there’ll be posts on the New Zealand music that we like. Comment with some of your favourites if you want to!

There are a couple of Mint Chicks albums in the YA area (Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! and Screens) and then some more in the adult area that you will have to pay $1 for, but it’s ok because they’re really good too (if I had to recommend just one it would be the EP Anti-Tiger). If you are unfamiliar with what the Mint Chicks sound like, then this will give you a good idea:

Energetic and punky.

Sadly they’ve moved on to other projects, but happily one of them is the excellent Unknown Mortal Orchestra (also in the adult colection, but so good)
Axe L. Waddington, Events, NZ Music Month, Pencil it in your diaries
New Zealand Music Month at Wellington City Libraries
11.05.11 | Permalink | Comment?

It’s May! So once again it’s New Zealand Music Month. What’s the Library doing this year to celebrate & profile Wellington musicians? Well…

This May, Wellington libraries will turn into temporary concert venues – showcasing young local talent. Up-and-coming young artists will perform afternoon gigs at Wellington Central Library and at the Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie), Newtown, Johnsonville and Karori branch libraries. These free events will take place Monday 16 to Friday 20 May.

- Kilbirnie on Monday 16 from 4 to 5pm
- Newtown on Tuesday 17 from 4 to 5pm
- Johnsonville on Wednesday 18 from 4 to 5pm
- Karori on Thursday 19 from 4 to 5pm
- Central on Friday 20 from 4 to 5pm

There will also be evening performances at ZEAL and The Jimmy Bar at the St James Theatre.

Wellington City Council is organising these live performances in partnership with Play It Strange, a trust established in 2003 to encourage young New Zealanders to develop interests and skills in songwriting and musical performance.

Other Music Month events include a series of Music Workshops.

On Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 May Toi Poneke Arts Centre will hold free workshops for independent musicians. The workshop on Monday is for musicians who want to break into the Australian market and will be full of hits and tips for people who have already crossed the Tasman.

This is followed on Tuesday with the launch of the Instrumental’s Musician’s Publicity Toolkit – with a live performance from Mara TK. The toolkit is a musician’s essential guide to self-publicity and online marketing.

A full list of events, times and venues in Wellington for New Zealand Music Month can be found on the Toi Poneke Arts Centre’s Facebook page

Further facebook details with a full list of performers after the jump

Read more…
Adrienne, Events, NZ Music Month, Pencil it in your diaries, zombies
Zombies Vs. Gleeks
03.05.11 | Permalink | Comment?

You, your mates and zombies, Glee, prizes, gloating rights, free food, brains! Wait, what…?

Okay, there might not be brains, but eveything else will be there. Pull a team of Glee and Zombie experts together and get ready for the Zombies Vs. Gleeks Trivia Night.

Open for teams of 13 to 18 year olds (min 2 - max 4), the Zombies Vs. Gleeks Teen Trivia Night will be at the Wellington Central Library on 27th May at 6.30pm. Registrations open soon and places will be limited so get your team ready to go and start planning your costumes.