Warped All Day Take a ride on Cartoon's magic carpet through an interstellar world of warped synths, squeals and relentless barrelling drums. Listening to the album 69er On A Magic Carpet is like being stuck in a remixed computer game, upside down. Dizzying sounds whir past at breakneck speed in an ever-upbeat utopia. In the spirit of Dan Deacon, Ryan Bennett's energy levels remain high in a constant state of psychotic bliss. With chewy synths splitting the crisp cuts of seamless melodies it [...]
Slug Guts Flying Through Space New(ish) Wellington trio Sunken Seas step out with a post-rock/pop number, combining the noisier moments of Secret Knives (think 'Black Hole') with the ricocheting guitar sound of Spacemen 3. It's a little bit Flying Nun too, with HDU and Bailter Space having an obvious influence on the band, and there's a hint of British indie rockers The Horrors in the bass lines. The band was formed after the trio's previous project (Tiddabades) ended. Leaving behind their angular guitar days for a more structured [...]
Across the Ocean Glass Vaults has been getting airtime on KEXP 90.3FM in Seattle with their new single 'Gold Star', largely thanks to their US label Jukboxr . The song is the first to be released from the band's forthcoming EP Into Clear, out on vinyl and CD in the US and released digitally here in New Zealand on October 31. But while the EP title Into Clear suggests a bright pristine sound, without mystique or unusual curiosities, 'Gold [...]
I recently finished this interview with Zac Anthony, lead singer-songwriter for the Australian power pop band The Wellingtons. The latest album is "In Transit" - go to the interviews section or check it out over here . BTW: I have also archived my exclusive interview with Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles in the interview section. To hear that one go here .
Melbourne Australia's hardest working power pop band recorded and mixed In Transit in London and had it mastered at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. And the Wellington's latest is once again a wonderful power pop creation. The band's sound has gotten tighter and more consistent with time, and lead vocal Zac Anthony's approach has more of a pop (as opposed to rock) sound than previous releases, with less emphasis on the lead guitar driving the melody and more reliance on vocals and harmonies to do the heavy lifting. Opening with the fast-paced chords of "Keep Me Holding On" [...]
An Artist's Impression Of Music 'Buildings', the first single off Fuyuko's Fables' debut EP, is an absolute delight. Driven by a wonderfully archaic sounding drum beat with a dash of reverb encasing the vocals, the song sounds like the younger sibling to Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago . There's something very special about this group - their sound is crisp, gentle and sincere, achieving the perfect balance between reflection and observation. Their songs build upon winding vocal melodies, tensile guitar rhythms and [...]
Matthew Sage, of the Patient Sounds label, lays down some wonderfully ramshackle noise-pop under his solo moniker Wellington Downs . His latest release, entitled Bruises Apples, is packed with crackling tracks that sound as if they were recorded in a room with no gravity. "King Blacker Lungs" is a standout that displays what I mean quite well. Sharp-edged guitar and cymbal crashes slice through the mix and let Sage's long-drawn vocal drones escape into the air and out into space. The rest of the song follows suit and takes listeners on a loud and static-filled [...]
Smoggy Nights Head Underground Brooke Singer and John Fitzgerald are a relatively new duo who crept onto the Wellington folk music scene in February. They first caught my attention a few months ago via Twitter and now again with the first single ('The Cats') from their debut EP, which they're hoping to release in October. The band structure is simple - Singer, a former member of Christchurch folk duo Ragamuffin Children and an original member of the shoegaze band O'Lovely, plays keyboard, guitar and [...]
Tales of the Riverbank Finally available to be fully digested after several tracks slowly trickled on to the internet over the past month, is Wet Wings' strikingly beautiful debut album Glory Glory. Both 'Stockholm' and 'Feeeel It' introduced the album in June, as a work centred more around Lucy Botting's voice and a retro blend of atmospheric electronics and rustic guitar playing. The full album, released yesterday, reveals a more characterised personality, full of soft focus sounds and cascading instrumental arrangements. 'Stockholm', [...]
The Eversons // The Eversons EP There is no shortage of attitude on Wellington band The Eversons most recent self-titled EP. It's not a bad attitude, but rather it's an almost brazen confidence in what they're doing. They cite The Beach Boys , The Clean , and Pavemen t as influences but I'm definitely hearing alot more in there than just that (plus don't forget the hefty New Zealand accents). There is a pretty strong 1960's British invasion vibe that (yes, I know) has been [...]
Goldilocks and the Three Beers The dynamic team that comprises Wellington rapper Tommy Ill and his oh-so-clever music video-making buddy Brian Hainsworth released this awesome music video for 'Secondhand Concorde' on Monday. True to their creative form, it's a cartoonish, funny take on everyday problems, set to a visual theme of goldilocks and the three beers. My favourite? "This beer is too baked beansy!" Tommy's lyrics in this single – his third off his latest album – are remarkably honest [...]
I Hope Nothing Happens Wellington songwriter, Tobias Brockie has been releasing music under various rhinoceros related pseudonyms for like five years or something - maybe longer than that. It's hard to tell with fiercely 'in bedroom' musicians like this, who you hear traces of on and off for as long as you can remember 'local music' being a thing that exists. Currently working under the Rhinoceros Brave moniker, Brockie's efforts make for [...]
Quick, come up with 3 countries you think would be most likely to produce 20102s chillest album. Was New Zealand on your list? Didn't think so, but it's time to change that. Lord Echo is the solo moniker of New Zealander, Mike Fabulous, a veteran of the Wellington music scene and member of the reggae band The Black Seeds. Melodies is his first solo release, and damn has he nailed it. He has taken a full complement of synthesizers, keyboards, guitars, basses, and horns, provided by both himself and a variety of other Wellington musicians, and crafted [...]
Upgrade Your Chassis Olugbenga Adelekan, bass player in UK band Metronomy and part-time DJ/producer recently sent us this remix he pieced together of So So Modern's 'Give Everything' and 'Berlin'. The song was originally arranged for a remix compilation that So So Modern had planned to release in conjunction with the NZ/Aus release of their debut album Crude Futures , but unfortunately the remix compilation never happened. Olugbenga wanted you, as fans of So So Modern [...]
Einstein Music Journal has a couple of Laneway passes to give away - one double pass to the Auckland Laneway Festival on January 31 and one double pass to the Wellington Laneway event on February 1. Here's how you can enter the draw: We'd like to find out what you like most about EMJ, so to go into the draw all you need to do is email us the name of your favourite artist we've featured on EMJ. Please put either Laneway Auckland or [...]
You're gonna like this one, I guarantee it. Ok, I don't really guarantee it, but I can say you'll love it if you loved their astounding debut EP . As you'd expect from the song, the video follows suit with some trippy visuals, cold electronic synthetics, and a slightly creepy vibe with some hooded entity roaming the snow-covered New Zealand countryside (hey, I get creeped out by snow, gimme a break ok?), and ending with about a minute and a half of black screen before it switches to a white noise [...]
You're freaking me out Bringing the cover art of his recently released pay-what-you-like album Charisma to life, Disasteradio released another epic video adventure this morning. Taking you underground to his secret hang out space, Luke Rowell takes calls from his screamy wife Christina Hroch, sips suspicious looking margaritas and eats hallucinogenic pizza that gives him a freaky rash. It was evident from first hearing the single that Christina is a badass, now see what she does to people who try [...]
Chipstorm When Chris McCullough isn't studying Communications at Massey in Wellington, reading comics, or generally being the nicest guy you will ever meet, he's Old Grey Wolf. And when you put Old Grey Wolf on a stage, it all comes out in a storm of chiptune - a chipstorm, if you will. As far as inspiration goes, he draws from FuturNari, Never (Zach from Bang! Bang! Eche!), Fauxhound... the list of local chiptune influences go on long enough [...]
I'd say my ratio for PR companies sending me half-decent music is maybe one out of ten (sometimes two), and I don't get a whole lot of PR releases. That either says something about the state of music, or about PR, or about both, but those one or two times that they nail it and send me something good, holy fucking shit do they nail it. Thanks to my girl Jessi, New Zealand's Glass Vaults (Richard Larsen and Rowan Pierce) are now up there with my favourite musical discoveries of the year (because I've made a few medical and [...]
Throw Some Sludge Zach Penney and Ben Knight's crude, rough and raw sludge punk rock has been causing a scene in New Zealand in the past year. The Wellington by-way-of Auckland duo's sound is huge and aggressive, taking their hardcore punk roots and slowing it down, with Zach's psychotic, garbled howling rekindling the spirit of Nirvana's grimiest punk. Self-described as a "frantic mix of lyrically disturbing noisy garage, high-energy, chaotic jazz-influenced hardcore punk", their songs' guitar lines manage to ramble like leering drunks while retaining a sense of structure. Live [...]
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