New Zealand Music – Page 3

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Listen To These

On Wednesday, 9 December, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O has teamed up with an all-star cast of indie rock noteworthies to score (probably) the most anticipated children’s movie ever. Where the wild things are : motion picture soundtrack, is the result. And what a result it is! For fans of shouting, stomping and making a wild rumpus.

Another all-star cast teaming up this week are Them Crooked Vultures with their self-titled effort. With Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters and Nirvana), Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age, Eagles Of Death Metal, Kyuss) and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) on board you can probably hazard a guess at what this sounds like. You’re right by the way.

Cascada is a Euro-dance trio with an impressive string of hits to their name. Evacuate The Dancefloor is their latest effort, I don’t think the point is to evacuate the dancefloor though, rather to rush onto it. At least I would imagine so. Basshunter fans might enjoy, it’s very popular anyway, evidenced by its long reserve queue.

New Zealand drum and bassers Shapeshifter have a new one called The System Is A Vampire. There are drums, there are basses, there are even bits with singing – all of which adds up to some very popular local drum and bass. Expect to hear this blasting out of boy racers’ cars all summer long.

Ministry Of Sound’s Annual series continues with The Annual 2010. The new installment is mixed by John Course, The Aston Shuffle & Goodwill and includes music from the likes of Mika, Bob Sinclair, Wolfmother, Dizzee Rascal and others. Sure to be a hit over summer.

New Zealand dub pioneers Salmonella Dub return with Freak Controller. It’s a generous two-disc affair packed full of dubby-dubness from the scene veterans. The second CD includes a song called Bungle Fun, which raises a smile at Teen Blog HQ.

The Vans Warped Tour has been in existence for a long time now, and has helped break many, many nu-metal acts over its run. Who will be the next big shouty band to take over airwaves? Two CDs of contenders and other, longer tenured bands await on Warped tour : 2009 tour compilation.

Speaking of bands making it on the Warped Tour, The Used rose to popularity after a strong showing while on it in the early part of the decade. Before that they were homeless, so hey, large collections of shouty men with drop-tuned guitars travelling around are beneficial to society. Sort of. A tighter more polished screamo sound from The Used on Artwork.

These are some new CDs we have

By admin

On Tuesday, 6 October, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

Maximo Park are a guitar driven angular pop quintet from the UK. They’ve gained quite a following in the wake of the post-punk revival of the mid decade and look to continue this form with Quicken The Heart, their third effort.

Head Like A Hole, or HLAH, were one of the most popular and hard-rockin’ NZ bands of the 90s. They might not fit into those leather pants as easily as they did back then, but they’ve been touring of late and reports have been overwhelmingly positive. The Devil Makes Work For Idle Hands documents these shows.

Along with Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors are the crossover indie-darling success story of 2009. Bitte Orca marries sweet harmonies and bursts of atonal noise in the most beautiful way imaginable, highly recommended.

MGMT were last years crossove indie-darling success story and to tide everyone over until a new full-length arrives their 2005 ep, Time To Pretend has been re-released. It includes the original versions of Kids and Time To Pretend, along with 4 songs that didn’t make Oracular Spectacular. Managementbros rejoice.

Hip Hop Anthology is a four disc, well, anthology of hip hop. It’s a pretty in depth collection that turns the focus on quality – not necessarily sales – and is to be praised for this, unlike so many other compilations out there. Features tracks from the 80’s to today.

PNC is a local rapper who loves his home town of Palmerston North City so much he named himself after it. His last album Rookie Card won best Urban/Hip Hop album at the 2007 Vodafone Music Awards and his newest, Bazooka Kid, just might repeat the effort.

Lastly, Eskimo Joe return with Inshalla. Fans of commercial rock groups like Nickelback might find something to enjoy on this one.

6102009

This week in new CDs

By admin

On Tuesday, 22 September, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

Doom is a masked rapper famous for being mysterious prolific and really, really good. He used to be known as MF Doom (and various other aliases), but dropped the MF, much like Diddy dropped the P from P. Diddy. Anyway, Born Like This is his latest. If you enjoy your hip hop old school and clever give this a listen, then delve deeper into his catalogue.

Gin Wigmore is a local singer in the Amy Winehouse / Macy Gray mold of funny voiced songstresses. Her EP Gin: Extended Play went gold here this June and now arrives on our shelves. You’ve probably seen her videos and heard her on the radio, but if not pick this up if you like folksy pop.

Sticking with the local content, Ulcerate are New Zealand’s premier death metal oufit and they bring Everything is Fire to the table. It’s been lauded in the international growly vocals and pounding double kick pedalled drums community for being cerebral and forward thinking, though fans of loud noises will enjoy also.

Liam Finn pops back with Champagne in seashells, a wee five tracker recorded with Eliza Jane. It’s a nice follow up to I’ll be lightning and makes me look forward to his next full-length. More tasty pop-rock treats from our beardy pal.

German emo kids Tokio Hotel’s English language debut Scream serves up the sort of melodramatic rock now expected by the genre, the twist being that they (at the time of recording anyway) were all eligible for YA library cards. If your boat is floated by MCR etc. pick this up, as you’ll likely enjoy greatly.

New music is what we have

By admin

On Friday, 28 August, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

La Roux means “red-haired one” in French – this is a good name for them since singer Elly Jackson has red hair. They’ve been topping the UK charts for a few months now with an impressive run of 80’s synth-pop inspired singles and have now released La Roux, their self-titled debut.

French electro-rockers Phoenix have been around for a while now, but recent release Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix sees them mastering their craft and conjuring up some of the catchiest pop of the year. If you dig MGMT and Empire Of The Sun, pick this record up.

Fantasy Ride, Ciara’s third is the type of album that will get plenty of play in the clubs this upcoming summer. Guests include Justin Timberlake and MIssy Elliott, the production is supremely glossy and the grooves danceable. Also included is a DVD where you can watch Ciara in the studio and at rehearsals and things.

Blindspott broke up in 2007 to focus on solo commitments playing a final set to a sold out Powerstation, this show has now been released on a handy dandy CD + DVD combo as Sold out: live @ Powerstation, for everyone who wasn’t there, or wants to relive the night. As expected from Blindspott, it’s a largely shouty, noisy affair. It also works as a sort of greatest hits package if you want it to do that to.

28-08-2k9

Smells Like New CDs

By admin

On Tuesday, 11 August, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

Paisley, Scotland’s Paolo Nutini was all set to follow his father into the family fish and chip shop business before getting signed two weeks before his 18th birthday. Sunny Side Up is his second album and will be enjoyed by people who normally enjoy folksy pop-rock, also perfect for this nice weather we seem to be having of late.

Just in case you were worried another week was going to go by without some new metal, fret not, for Sevendust’s Animosity is here. Originally released in 2001, it’s been all remastered and stuff for new fans to pick up and enjoy. Expect heavy riffs and downtrodden lyrics.

Speaking of heavy riffs, Sepultura’s Arise has been remastered too. This was the album that turned the Brazilian death metallers into international stars. Your parents won’t like it, and as always, that’s the whole point of metal isn’t it?

Do you like Minuit? If so you’ll be pleased to have seen all the posters about for Find me before I die a lonely death.com, their new one. As far as I can tell it’s not too much of a departure and fans will enjoy. They’ll be touring soon too, so go have a look.

Sticking with the local content, Cut Off Your Hands followed up the excellent Blue On Blue ep with You & I last year. Pick it up, it’s the sort of poptastic treat that gets quite happily stuck in the head for days at a time.

South Auckland born J. Williams has a record out called Young Love. A quick google search revealed he is also a champion break-dancer and should appeal to fans of Chris Brown, T-Pain etc. Fun fact: Older sister Emily Williams placed 2nd in the 2006 edition of Australian Idol.

Also some compilations: Onelove : smash your stereo 2009 is a summer dance collection, as is Summer sessions from those Ministry of Sound chappies and Fly girls! celebrates 30 years of women in rap over 2 cds.

Even More Metal

By admin

On Saturday, 25 July, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

Metalheads rejoice! A whopping two-thirds of the new CDs this week feature loud guitars and shouty vocals. Beatles fans and Tiki Taane fans can also rejoice, but not quite as much.

Master of Puppetsis considered by many as Metallica’s masterpiece and one of the, if not the greatest metal album of all time. Your parents may not consider it a masterpiece if you play it loud enough, and really, isn’t that the point?

Metallica’s next album …And Justice For All, realeased in 1988 (so too old to have a YA card anymore) saw them break-through on MTV with the video for One. My first memory of Metallica was seeing One on Beavis and Butthead, which means I’m far too old to have a YA card anymore.

Metallica, or the Black Album as it is is commonly referred to due to the black cover, was the one that made Metallica into proper mainstream stars. It includes quite a few big hits like Enter Sandman and slow-dance favourite (at least if you go to bogan schools) Nothing Else Matters.

Before he was a tragic figure on a reality show Ozzy Osbourne cranked out a few top-notch metal albums, the fantastically titled Blizzard Of Ozz being the first of his solo efforts. A cornerstone of 80’s metal.

Diary Of A Madman came next for Ozzy Osbourne in 1981. Building on his previous success, this classic album turned Ozzy into a star. Biting the heads off bats and other craziness would follow…

AC/DC are another classic metal band who operated in the 80s. Highway To Hell was their best record to date and also their most well recieved to date. Includes the classic single Highway To Hell.

A couple of Beatles compilations have turned up, 1962-1966 and 1967-1970, also known as the Red and Blue albums respectively. These are pretty much the definitive Beatles compilations to seek out if you don’t feel like picking up the million or so albums they made.

Flux / Tiki by Tiki Taane has turned up. It’s a remix job for the Past, present, future album and includes a song called David Lange You Da Bomb!, which confused me initially until I realised that David Lange probably was our most rockin’ PM.

Even More Metal

Metal, Soundtracks, Local

By admin

On Friday, 17 July, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

Metallica are one of the biggest and longest tenured bands in metal and it all started here on Kill ‘Em All, their 1983 debut record. It’s also probably their fastest and rawest album, if you enjoyed the more recent Death Magnetic then this is right up your alley.

Sticking with metal for a while longer, there is a new Iron Maiden compilation out. Somewhere back in time : the best of 1980-1989 arguably finds the band at their peak. Includes Run to the Hills, Number of the Beast and other headbanging classics.

The Datsuns recently released album number four, Headstunts, and now it’s joined the YA collection. If you’ve ever enjoyed The Datsuns in the past, or are a fan of The White Stripes, The Libertines etc. then pick this one up.

Sate Of Mind are a local drum and bass group who’ve been making waves recently with Faster Than Light. It also comes with a bonus disc of remixes, so, bonus.

Transformers : revenge of the fallen : the album is the soundtrack to the newly released Transformers movie. Green Day, Nickleback, Linkin Park and other similar bands are featured.

Lastly, Hannah Montana : the movie also has a soundtrack that’s been added to the collection. If you’re a fan of Miley’s go out and pick this one up post haste.

metal, soundtracks, local

So Many CDs

By admin

On Tuesday, 23 June, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

12 new CDs this week, so here is a marathon post and a marathon playlist. Phew.

If you’re a fan of MGMT and their work, have a listen to Empire Of The Sun’s really ace Walking On A Dream. Also they wear really silly costumes, which is always a nice bonus.

The Rakes’ third album Klang is here. If you enjoy Interpol, The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand and all that sort of thing, then The Rakes are right up your alley.

Punk Popsters Plain White T’s Big Bad World has arrived. I think they have a new one coming shortly, so get caught up with this beforehand… If you want to that is.

Released in 1973 Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon is one of those albums that always pops up in top 100 all time lists. Come get it from here if you can’t find it amongst your parents collection.

More CDs and playlist after the jump…

Three New CDs

By admin

On Thursday, 4 June, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

I had never heard of the Silversun Pickups before they appeared on the table in front of me this morning. I listened and was pleasantly surprised to have found an homage to the Smashing Pumpkins. Disc in question is second album Swoon, me likey.

Local hip hoppers Smashproof broke a 23 year old record by having a single atop the NZ charts for 10 straight weeks. Impressive, could debut album The Weekend repeat the trick?

Wellington’s Harbour City Electric have an EP out called EP. They have created a style they say can only be described as Acid-funk and heavy break-beat soul. In lieu of a playlist this week pop over to their myspace and have a listen.

More Tunes Y’all

By admin

On Friday, 29 May, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

Three new CDs this week. You know where to go if you want to hear them; the library! And as always they are free to issue on your YA cards. Aren’t we kind?

3OH!3 deal in jokey electro-crunk chock full of tongue-in-cheek gangsterisms. Their album is titled Want and if you want (my tired attempt at punnery) some silliness in your ears, they will provide.

Return Of The Mack II serves up more classic R&B jams, in fact it says so right on the cover. Included on the 18 track comp are folks like Aaliyah, Coolio and The Fugees.

New Zealand Music Month may be drawing to a close, but there’s still time to slip a new compilation in isn’t there? There is? Oh good. Check out Ultimate Weekend Sessions, spread generously over its two discs are a whole bunch of local dub/R&B/hip hop tunes by Trinity Roots, Rhombus, Katchafire and all the other usual suspects.

New YA CDs

By admin

On Wednesday, 20 May, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

The new music is coming in thick and fast these days. I’ve seldom seen it thicker or faster.

Keri Hilson is described by allmusic.com as a dynamic singer songwriter. These dynamic skills have been used to write songs for the likes of Usher, Ludacris and Kelly Rowland, and now on her own album In A Perfect World.

Destroy all lines : dance floor anthems is a compilation for all you cats out there who like dancing to anthemic hits on floors. If that’s you then you’re in luck, because it’s a whopping two-disc affair.

Remember Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad? Yes, of course you do. Well, now I’d like to introduce you to Good Girl Gone Bad: The Remixes. A good stop-gap between Rihanna albums proper.

Platinum emo-poppers Paramore have a new live album entitled The Final Riot. All your favorite Paramore tunes being sung along to by an arena full of kids. Close your eyes and pretend you’re there.

Local Hip-Hopper Savage is back in time for New Zealand Music Month with Savage Island. I can only assume that this is a concept album based on some sort of Survivor type show hosted by Savage. At least I hope so …

21st Century Breakdown is the new, soon-to-be inescapably huge album from Green Day. It’s divided into three acts because they’re so big and important they transcend the regular album format. Golly!

may09

New music, and playlists return!

By admin

On Tuesday, 12 May, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

We have 6 new CDs, but more exciting than that (for me anyway) is the return of embedded playlists! This time we’re using deezer.com; it’s cool, stylish and most importantly it works with our firewalls. Anyway, on with the new music…

Evermore return with album number two, Truth of the world : welcome to the show. It’s a very grandiose title, perhaps befitting the ambitious sounds within.

Another New Zealand CD is Optimus Gryme’s Eclipse LP. Do you think Optimus Gryme is a rival of The Decepticonz? Do we have a local rap war on our hands ala West Coast vs East Coast circa mid-nineties US? Stay tuned, kids.

J. Dilla was a much beloved hip hop producer before his untimely passing in 2006. Dillanthology is a greatest hits of sorts featuring Common, Erykah Badu, Busta Rhymes and more.

The-Dream is one of those big, multi-platinum R&B types from the US. His album Love VS Money features other big, multi-platinum R&B types, such as Kanye West and Mariah Carey. If you are a fan of big, multi-platinum R&B types you know what to do.

Alter Ego is a new mixtape from Kanye West. On it are remixes, live versions and other little goodies not seen on albums prev. A Kanye completist’s dream.

Hip Hop: the 2009 collection has a rather self-explanatory title. Hip Hop from 1992-2009 spread across 2 discs. Includes Akon, LL Cool J, Rihanna and a whole lot more.

Discover De La Soul!

Music. New Music.

By admin

On Tuesday, 10 March, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

Miley Cyrus, the wildly popular daughter of Billy-Ray Cyrus (remember him? possibly not, but he was responsible for the world going line-dance crazy for a brief period in the 90’s) and star of Hannah Montana has gone platinum. So here is Breakout: Platinum Edition.

Tha 411 3 bills itself as “18 monster new tracks from the global urban directory”. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then good, because we have a cup of tea for you. Includes Nelly, Usher, Alicia Keys, Bow Wow and other similar Top 40 bothering songsters.

And finally, local hip-hoppers The Fast Crew return with Truth, Lies and Red Tape. You might remember them from 2004, when they released Set The Record Straight.

10/3/2k9

More New Music Y’all

By admin

On Thursday, 12 February, 2009

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

A whopping eight new CDs this week. Here they are …

Fleet Foxes are here with their self-titled debut album, Fleet Foxes. Pitchfork loved it so much it was their album of 2008. Delightful indie-pop for fans of The Shins and their ilk.

Lady Gaga is making a splash with The Fame. She says she is influenced by Madonna and Michael Jackson, it shows because she makes dance-pop in a similar vein.

One of my favorites, Ladyhawke, has made it into the YA collection with her debut Ladyhawke. She’s from New Zealand and has generated quite a lot of buzz overseas with her Blondie-esque pop. Highly recommended.

We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things by Jason Mraz is also in. Mraz is one of those singer-songwriter types with an acoustic guitar, this, his third album is considered my many his best work to date.

Jennifer Hudson was a contestant on the third season of American Idol and also had a role in the 2006 film Dreamgirls. Quite the star. Another self-titled debut called (duh) Jennifer Hudson.

Bic Runga has released a rarities collection called Try To Remember Everything: Rare And Unreleased. Fans of this local lass will surely be pleased with this compilation of her harder to find work.

Art-Rockers Franz Ferdinand are back with Tonight… Franz Ferdinand. Another effortlessly cool collection of songs from the Glaswegian quartet.

Duffy’s Rockferry has gotten a deluxe re-release. It now comes with seven extra bonus tracks housed on a second CD. <3 bonuses <3

11/02/2009

Here is some new music.

By admin

On Thursday, 18 December, 2008

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

Some new CDs have appeared on our ‘new music that needs to be blogged about shelf’, so I will blog about them for your enjoyment.

First up is Ne-Yo with Year of the Gentleman. He is wearing some very sharp suits on the cover and the tunes inside are the sort of cutting edge R&B you would expect from him. Great job Ne-Yo.

Next on the pile is another sharp-suited R&B man; Lloyd with Lessons in Love and he wears an impressive studded jacket on his cover. Lil’ Wayne drops by for a guest appearance too.

Estelle’s The 18th Day brings us more R&B, but this time from a female perspective. This one actually came out in 2004, but it’s new to the library and quite good.

Christina Aguilera has a greatest hits out called Keeps Gettin’ Better, A Decade Of Hits. I would like to respectfully disagree with her on the title, in my opinion at least ‘Genie in a Bottle’ cannot be bettered. All the faves are included here.

Local lads The Tutts’ new one Get in the Club is here for some Rock if all the R&B listed above isn’t your thing. They were the ones who did that song on the C4 ads.

Oh look! What’s this? It’s a playlist made so you can listen to songs off the albums I just wrote about. How handy. Check out our imeem page for all our playlists.

17.12.2008

Our first playlist!

By admin

On Thursday, 11 December, 2008

In music and other nice noises

This is the first in what will be a weekly feature on the Teen Blog. Every week I will find some cool songs to add to our new imeem.com account and you can listen to them. Sometimes there will be a theme (like this week which is based on our best albums of 2008 list) other times it will just be stuff I like. Think of it as a try-before-you-issue type thing. Or just some background noise. Anyway, enjoy …

New CDs

By Edna Welthorpe

On Friday, 5 September, 2008

In music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

Not many new CDs and no new DVDs doesn’t allow for a very long post. Sorry!

Solid Ground – The Black Seeds. Perfect summer music (weather permitting). This is the Wellington group’s fourth album, and would have been #1 if the Mama Mia soundtrack hadn’t been so popular with people who normally don’t listen to music. Don’t get me started!

Clubbers’ Yearbook – Various. “30 dance remixes of this year’s biggest tracks on 2 CDs,” states the cover. It features Rihanna, The Killers, Mika, Klaxons, and many others.

5 Years Get Physical – Various. Get Physical has become one of the world’s top dance labels, and this 2-CD album collects new tracks and remixes of their top artists.

Review of the Week 2

By Grimm

On Friday, 8 August, 2008

In music and other nice noises

Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!
The Mint Chicks

I liked the fact that the Mint Chicks are a New Zealand band. The titles of their songs were original e.g. ‘ She’s back on crack’. I liked their use of guitars. I think that you should listen to this CD in its entirety because then you really get the feel of the music. My favourite track was no. 10 – ‘Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!’ The message that the CD gives to me is that you’re unique & just because you’re crazy doesn’t mean you’re dumb. The cover artwork was unique because they had a guy on a green bull with red horns. The guy on the bull says the last word of the CD title, it’s in his speech bubble. They used all the colours of the rainbow, so the CD is really colourful. I’d recommend this CD because it’s a pretty good CD & you should support NZ music.

~ Anneke, 15

New CDs and DVDs

By Edna Welthorpe

On Wednesday, 16 July, 2008

In movies (they're like books that move!), music and other nice noises, new stuff (ooh, shiny!)

Usually, there can be few things more enjoyable than holding a nice, new CD or DVD in your hand. The perfectly mass-manufactured case can contain your new favourite music or film, carefully pressed into the disc’s polycarbonic plastic from a glass master that has been cut with lasers. Yes – lasers.

Here are the latest CDs.

» Simple Plan – Simple Plan. Canadian pop punk band’s latest album. This is the limited edition copy, and comes with a DVD.
» Randy Jackson’s Music Club : Volume One – Various. All the songs on this album were produced by Randy Jackson, who is perhaps best known as one of the judges on that Pop Idol programme. As a compilation it covers a range of musical genres.
» The Age of the Understatement – The Last Shadow Puppets. Arctic Monkeys lead singer Alex Turner is one half of The Last Shadow Puppets. This album shot to number one in the UK, and it’s very, very good.
» The Radical Bad Attack – Coco Solid. A grand-concept album from Auckland artist, Coco Solid.
» Punk Goes Crunk – Various. Punk bands cover popular hip hop songs.

Latest DVDs!

» Balls of Fury – this ‘hilarious, action-packed comedy’ (about extreme table tennis) gets an appalling 23% on Rotten Tomatoes.
» Aqua Teen Hunger Force : Colon Movie Film For Theatres – If you’re a fan of Aqua Teen Hunger Force you may like this film, according to critics.
» 27 Dresses – After being a bridesmaid for 27 brides, will Jane’s 28th dress be a wedding dress? Most likely.

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Tag: New Zealand Music Page 3 of 4

Listen To These

These are some new CDs we have

This week in new CDs

New music is what we have

Smells Like New CDs

Even More Metal

Metal, Soundtracks, Local

So Many CDs

Three New CDs

More Tunes Y’all

New YA CDs

New music, and playlists return!

Top 5 NZ Music Videos

Music. New Music.

More New Music Y’all

Here is some new music.

Our first playlist!

New CDs

Review of the Week 2

New CDs and DVDs

Useful Things

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