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Competition, Music, New, Synthesiser Patel
Win A Cut Off Your Hands Bag!
31.08.11 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Auckland natives, Cut Off Your Hands, released their second full-length album, Hollow, recently. It’s really good. A more fully realised version of the new wave/post punk sound they’ve been producing since 2006. But why listen to me when you can preview some of the new tracks below? They do a much better job of describing the sound, since they are the sound.

If you read the title of this post and then expected a competition to win a bag, fear not, I didn’t mislead you! Simply be the first to comment on this post (and also have a valid Wellingon Libraries YA card) to win a swell Cut Off Your Hands tote bag. It’s official. You could carry library books and the other Cut Off Your Hands CDs the library has (You & I, Blue On Blue and Cut Off Your Hands) home in it. Do it!
Music, New, Synthesiser Patel
Music/Poems
26.07.11 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Are haikus getting old? Is there another form of poetry you would like to see music reviews in? Comment away.

Live At The Aragon – Mastodon
Crack The Skye in its
entirety, plus other
concert favourites

Fomo – Liam Finn
Displaying usual
consistent quality with
added “spaciness”

Ukulele Songs – Eddie Vedder
Pearl Jam front man jumps
on bandwagon. What have you
wrought, uke orchestra?!?

The Dark Side Of The Moon – The Flaming Lips & Stardeath And White Dwarfs
Pink Floyd opus by
way of Wayne Coyne’s musical
circus plus Peaches

Smoking In Heaven – Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
As a child of the
nineties, musical siblings
recall Hanson bros

Habits – Neon Trees
American alt-
rock band from Provo, Utah.
Good ole wiki, eh?
Music, New, Synthesiser Patel
New Music: New Zealand Edition
18.06.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Man On Wire – PNC
Evidently quite
proud of Palmerston North roots,
changed name to show it.

Means - Street Chant
All girl guitar pop
trio’s debut entry in
to the indie soup.

Flags (Deluxe Edition) – Brooke Fraser
The same as before
only now there is more. (these
rarely rhyme, so yay!)

System Remix – Shapeshifter
The same as before
only not really, because
remix equals change.

Our New Life Above Ground – Avalanche City
Where were they before?
Down with the mole people? Are
they mole people? Yikes!

Jam Pac’d – Various Artists
Pasifika jams
pack this compilation. Hence
the title I guess.
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…
Music, New, Synthesiser Patel
Mo Music, Mo Poems
06.04.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Ritual - White Lies
Grandiosity
fills every second of
available songs

The Drums – The Drums
Heir apparents to
eighties indie empire start
out pleasingly strong.

No Boys Allowed – Keri Hilson
She only wants men.
I think that was the main
takeaway at least.

Aha Shake Heartbreak – Kings Of Leon
Before they cut their
hair and shaved their beards, the songs
were much, much better?

Youth & Young Manhood – Kings Of Leon
Does this make them the
music version of Samson?
Yes, actually.

Lasers – Lupe Fiasco
Light amplifica-
tion by stimulated e-
mission of photons.

Burlesque – Soundtrack
Christina Aguil-
era sings most of the songs
but Cher chips two in.

Tarot Card Rock – Barnaby Weir
Vaguely predicting
people’s futures through the rock
and roll medium.
Music, New, Synthesiser Patel
Twelve Poems About Twelve Albums
24.03.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Get ‘Em Girls – Jessica Mauboy
What is “‘em”? And why
should girls “get” it? Answers are
on track number one.

Glee: The Music, Volume Four
Three of these songs are
Britney Spears covers. Rejoice,
fake Britney lovers!

Glee: The Music, Volume Five
Similar to the
above entry, but with Biebs
instead of the Brits.

The Sing-Off: The Best Of Season Two
I think this is like
American Idol, but
acappella-y.

The Preview - Chiddy Bang
Two dudes making rap
but with “alt” samples preview
upcoming album.

Who You Are – Jessie. J
Spikily lipped Brit
does the Lady Gaga thing,
only with black hair

The Lady Killer – Cee Lo Green
Despite swearing at
them, it is still possible
to make ladies swoon.

Goodby Lullaby – Avril Lavigne
Still in and out of
love, but with sk8er men, no
longer sk8er bois.

Never Say Never: The Remixes – Justin Bieber
Biebs re-imagined.
Biebs re-upped. Biebs re-loaded.
Biebs re-volutions.

Future Is Now – Cornerstone Roots
Future is never
actually now. Now is
always the present.

Pefect Flaws – Black River Drive
Flaws are defined as
imperfections. Another
title is debunked.

EPIC - Various Artists
Iggy Pop, Pixies,
Groove Armada, Basement Jaxx,
Nick Cave, Korn, Tricky.
Music, New, Synthesiser Patel
Latest Sounds
17.02.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Clubbers Guide, Spring 2010
If you are aware
of Ministry of Sound you
know what to expect

Free Wired – Far East Movement
Does electro-hop
sound like something you would be
interested in?

The Beginning (deluxe edition) – The Black Eyed Peas
The hologram man
includes some of the end with
the beginning

There Is A Hell Believe Me I’ve Seen It, There Is A Heaven Let’s Keep It A Secret – Bring Me The Horizon
When Death Metal and
Emo collide, it seems that
long titles result

Sigh No More – Mumford & Sons
Neatly attired folk
singers nominated for
Grammy with this one

Science & Faith – The Script
Celtic soul trio
get their Maroon 5 on with
the soft rock numbers

Aotearoa Dubsteb Allstarz
Optimus Gryme has
collected New Zealand’s
finest dubsteppers
Music, Synthesiser Patel
Best Of 2010 : Music
23.12.10 | Permalink | Comment?

At the end of every year, every single website is contractually obligated by the internet to publish a list of their top ten albums released that year. Not wanting to void our contract and, let’s be honest, because it’s fun too, here’s ours.

The rules are that it must have been both released and catalogued into the YA collection in 2010.

10. BARB – BARB
Local goodness from Liam Finn, Connan Mockasin and pals. Felt like this one flew under the radar a little bit, undeservedly so.

9. Dum Dum Girls – I Will Be
The best of the lo-fi indie girl band bunch in a year that said bunch was of a ubiquitously high quality.

8. Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot, The Son Of Chico Dusty
On this album Big Boi proved that he is far from just “that other dude from Outkast”

7. Connan Mockasin – Please Turn Me Into The Snat
My favourite NZ release of the year. It’s a psychedelic pop gem.

6. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
Apparently this is the last album from Damon Albarn’s cartoon band. If so, it was a great one to go out on.

5. The White Stripes – Under Great White Northern Lights
No new material, just some great live performances of old favourites, rarities and a brilliant behind the scenes DVD

4. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles II
The noisiest and most “punk rock” electro band returned with their second and it stayed on my ipod all year long.

3. Pavement – Quanrantine The Past
Do greatest hits albums qualify for lists like this? Seeing as it’s my list, I’d say yes. More so because this is some of the best indie rock ever made. Ever.

2. The Black Keys - Brothers
This album not only features the best use og guitar and drums this year, but also the cover features the best use of Cooper Black.

1. LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
Pretty much the perfect electro album. Which is more than enough to qualify for album of the year.

So there you go. Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments section. Perhaps write your own, discussion generating list?
Music, New, Synthesiser Patel
Now That’s What I Call Haiku
09.12.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Now That’s What I Call Music 34

Erstwhile collection
doubles runtime in thirty-
fourth incarnation

Evolution - Deceptikonz

Is “evolution”
“transformation”? If so, I
expect rapping cars

Humanoid City Live - Tokio Hotel

The last emos in
town turn on the bright lights, turn
dials to eleven

City Limits/Neon Sunrise - I Am Giant

Local X-Games
enthusiasts cut album
full of skater riffs

The Runaways – O.S.T.

Cherry-bombing girls
get biopic that sounds like
a roller derby
Music, New, Synthesiser Patel
New Music And A Year-Old Joke
16.11.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Speak Now – Taylor Swift

I was going to
write about this but Kanye
interrupted me.

Camp Rock 2 : The Final Jam

Jo Bros. holiday
productively by kicking
out jams they then sell.

Doo Wops & Hooligans – Bruno Mars

Rising Hawaiian pop-
-star seemingly writes music
only whilst napping.

Wake Up! – John Legend & The Roots

Legends – self procaimed
and other – shake us gently
awake from slumber.

The Sellout – Macy Gray

Apparently to
sell out means bizarre Velvet
Revolver guest spots

The Enemy Within – Concord Dawn

Music is for drum
and bassers, cover is for
entomologists

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