Saturday 11 May 2013

Favourite Albums Of All Time!...The Chills - Soft Bomb

Finally got a copy of Soft Bomb by seminal Dunedin band The Chills, an album I love dearly but for some reason never owned a hard version of until now. I'd passed up on buying a vinyl copy from Tony at Tootone Records in North East Valley a few years ago, something I regret, especially as because on the day I was strongly considering purchasing it Martin Phillipps walked in, trading in some of his massive vinyl collection to Tony. Would have been the perfect opportunity to get the vinyl signed. Never the less, I didn't want to appear the over zealous fan. If i was in that situation a second time around, I would most definitely not care at all about showing my appreciation to the man who created the music.



Soft Bomb is The Chills' follow up to probably their most highly regarded studio album, 1990's Submarine Bells. Submarine Bells is a classic of Indie Pop, featuring thoughtful and elloquent lyrics, catchy and inventive melodies and classic tracks such as the aptly titled, Heavenly Pop Hit. It's a strong album, but not my favourite Chills album; that honour would go to it's follow up, the slightly more sprawling Soft Bomb. Either that or Kaleidascope World, you can't really go past the early singles for evidence of the magic of the peak of the 'Dunedin Sound', if I am permitted to use that controversial label.  

Soft Bomb was the big album that would break The Chills internationally. The Chills were now signed to States label, Slash Records, a subsidiary of Warner and the extra cash of a major label can be heard in the albums slicker production values, compared to earlier Chills albums and to other Flying Nun acts. Many Flying Nun purists possibly don't feel the big studio production benefits the sound of The Chills and Martin Phillipps has told me he himself prefered the demo versions of these tracks to the final versions. I on the other hand love the huge drum sound and crisp, energetic guitars. It's certainly removed from the raw, reverb-smothered vibe of Pink Frost, but Martin Phillipps also wrote great mainstream pop as well as atmospheric, rough post-punk. This is his great, slick pop album.


The songwriting is varied and of an extremely high calibre. Over the course of 17 tracks Phillipps explores many styles; piano ballads (Song For Randy Newman Etc.), brooding blues (Entertainer), dark thumping rock (Background Affair), hooky clever pop (Male Monster From The Id, Double Summer). Male Monster From The Id (check the video out here) is the album opener and also album and career highlight for me. It's simple pop, but the lyrics are great, and the melodies incredibly infectious. Sleeping Giants is a two part epic, with an intro of accordian, piano and a reverby marching band bass drum leading into the energetic, punky second section. In the song he calls on giants to rise up and save people and their culture, influencing them and giving them direction to move forward. Here's a section of the lyrics:

"For it seems all cultures dream
They have a giant who is sleeping
Or a king who will return in times of need
To fight for setting his people free

They teach the kids which fads to follow
So they're unaware tomorrow
When another crippled culture
Dies in the shadow 'neath the corporate vulture"
An inspired lyrical theme, with brilliant melodies to accompany it. I wonder if the corporate vulture line was inspired at all by his experiences being a cog in the big business machine in the States. Sadly I can't link the song to you as it isn't on YouTube, or Spotify. I will upload the song or provide a link when I can. It's a shame that a song as good as this is as difficult to find as it is.

The album also contains several entertaining interludes, Soft Bomb I, II and III and there is no harm in trying and there is no point in trying. These interludes give the album some kind of arch and tie the seperate stories and styles together. A sprawling album in the vein of The White Album or Sandinista! yet held together in a much tighter and more thoughtful way than both those albums. To me, the album is in the same league as those classics.

Third track, Ocean Ocean


A high point of the The Chills career and of New Zealand music in general, it's a real shame that Flying Nun have not done more to get these classics back out there in record stores. The album has not been re-released, is out of production and quite possibly caught up in some copywrite hell due to The Chills being dropped from US label Slash records soon after the release of Soft Bomb. It was by chance I found the second hand CD sitting in the NZ section of Real Groovy in Auckland. If you do find a copy of this album, and it will most likely be on Trademe or Ebay, I assure you that you won't regret the purchase. Martin Phillipps and the pop gift and for a time he was on top of the world. This album is the soundtrack to that time.

Of course what goes up must come down, and although Martin Phillips and The Chills career after Soft Bomb continued, he would not have that level of international influence behind him to realise his visions again. Perhaps he prefers it that way, he can have total control, and doesn't have to be a part of the corperate music world. He still plays excellent gigs occasionally around New Zealand, including a packed one just recently at the Botanical Gardens in Dunedin. I guess all that is another story however, for another blog.

The Chills documentary from 1992

*Here's an interview with Phillipps from 1992, which gives insight into the break up of The Chills as well as the many stresses and difficulties throughout their career. It is a refreshingly frank piece of journalism and includes interviews with previous Chills, who give some of the reasons for why Martin struggled to keep line-ups together. It's a shame the drama following The Chills often overshadowed the brilliant music.

Friday 22 March 2013

[Concert Review] Rodriguez (Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland, 17/03/13)

Images taken from http://13thfloor.co.nz

Most people know the story of Sixto Rodriguez by now; a Detroit folk singer who released two critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful albums in the early 70s, who disappeared from the music industry for thirty years to work as a labourer and pursue a University education, only to be contacted in the late 90s with the news that he was huge in South Africa. Those South African fans had thought him dead, and when he travelled to the Africaan country to perform some shows soon after, he had know idea the huge crowds and the star treatment that would await him. The documentary however left out the fact that he had a fanbase in Australia and New Zealand and had already toured down under in the late 70s. Never-mind, the documentary tells a good story and is largely responsible for the worldwide resurgance of interest in this once obscure singer-songwriter.

Some of his old fans and many of his new ones turned up last Sunday night to see the man, the enigma, the street boy in person. Rodriguez himself didn't disapoint, offering versions of his classic songs delivered with a voice that sounds like it has not aged at all in the last forty years. Accompanying him were a group of New Zealand session musicians who provided authentic reproductions of the arrangements found on the original albums. Yet perhaps due to the musicians not being completely comfortable with the material, probably having learnt it only days or hours before, or perhaps due to Rodriguez' increasingly frail demeanour, the concert did not explode with a terrible amount of urgency. This could have also been due to a fairly passive crowd, who largely remained seated for all 90 mins of Rodriguez' performance, in spite of yells from many hecklers pleading with the crowd to stand up.

I myself wondered why they didn't stand. As Rodriguez performed classic after classic off his first two albums, such as I WonderOnly Good for Conversation and Sugarman I could not help but rise and find a position in the aisle where I could dance and sing along. This could be a problem with seated gigs in general; or with concerts that attract a largely middle aged and over demographic. Rodriguez communicated with the crowd between songs by telling jokes, offering humourous wisdom and looked dapper in a black outfit and shades. Age may have taken away much of Rodriguez' sight but none of his style.

While the audience gave a tepid response during songs, they redeemed themselves by expressing their enthusiasm as Rodriguez limped off the stage, helped by his guitarist and some of the road crew. After an extended standing applause, Rodriguez found his way back to the microphone to deliver two more songs. First a cover of Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone, sung probably closer to the album version than Dylan himself will ever peform live and finally I Think Of You off the singer's second studio album. It was a tender finale, and as Rodriguez cautiously made his way off the stage, I was left to wonder how the man's career could have been different if he'd only have the chance to tour like this forty years earlier.


Monday 11 March 2013

Back in the Daze music video shoot

Ended up shooting a video for a recent rap track made with my friends Harley Neville and Guy Pigden of Pigville Productions this Saturday just been. The video features much goofing off, with all three of us using the inspiration  of looking back at our youth to come up with visual gags and comedy skits. One of the skits included dressing up as future elderly versions of ourselves and attempting to engage in youthful pursuits such as skateboarding and basketball (influenced by the Beastie Boys video for Ricky's Theme). Another involved Guy Pigden dressed as a nerd getting gangster up in a children's playground.

We also found some pretty cool locations to rap in front of, both parodying rap clichés at the same time as paying homage to others. One particularly serendipitous film-making moment happened after pulling up to a graffiti covered dairy. I'd had the idea of leaning against the dairy playing the part of 'street rat' type youths and having a group of girls walk passed that we would check out in a suitably dodgy fashion. By luck there happened to be three South American girls sitting on a bench next to the dairy and with a bit of encouragement we managed to convince them to join out shoot, playing the part of the girls to be checked out. They seemed to enjoy the experience and with hope it'll make an interesting part of the video.

The end of the shoot also featured me shaving my hair off for the Shave for a Cure Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand fundraiser. We decided to include this as part of the shoot as the opportunity to bust some rhymes while shaving my own head proved too perfect to pass up on. Whether or not it makes the final cut remains to be seen.

Below are some photos from the shoot. The video should be out in the coming weeks, but in the meantime check out the song on soundcloud - Back in the Daze.










Tuesday 5 March 2013

Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012)

That Emmanuelle Riva was not given the Best Actress award for her performance in this film is criminal. The 85 year old plays Anne, a once highly skilled pianist and wife of devoted husband Georges who is faced with dwindling physical and mental health after suffering a series of strokes. Georges, payed by Jean-Louis Trintignant takes it on himself to care for Anne as he obliges her wishes of not to return to a hospital during her last days.

It is a theme that all of us can relate to in some way, either though watching loved ones fade away in a similar way, or through imagining our own challenges that are to face us in old age. For this reason as well as the film's expert execution it is not surprising that the film has picked up such acclaim, with Michael Haneke recieving his 3rd Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes as well as the Best Foreign Film award at the 70th Golden Globes and at the 85th Academy Awards. Haneke directs his elderly actors through one demanding scene after another, particularly from Riva, who gives a powerfully dedicated performance as a paralysed stroke victim. I had become so immersed by the performance that it was not until I left the theatre I was reminded that I was viewing the work of an actress and not the actual fading of health of a person on screen. It seemed to me it must have been very demanding for an 85 year old to play a role like this with such conviction. Jean-Louis Trintignant should also not be overlooked, having returned to the screen after a 14 year absence to bring to life this performance of a man struggling to cope with the pressures of watching his life companion fade in front of his eyes while using much of his strength and sanity trying to do justice to her last wishes.

The film focuses on a more specific and tender subject matter than Haneke's previous films, although is not absent from the dark and bleak. The film is still a tale, and in spite of the believability of the actors and the situation, the films finale (and somewhat it's beginning) do fall into more melodramatic territory than what another director playing the subject matter straight perhaps would. Not to say that these events could not happen in real life, but they are at times taken to their most depressing and anguished extremes. Illness and death in old age that I have witnessed have never been as bleak as this, but then this is a film, not real life and a tale taken to such dramatic extremes as this does make one ponder mortality, old age, the treatment of our elderly and the nature of love. For a film to make one reflect on topics such as this, while being a gripping and expertly executed example of cinema, must deserve all the acclaim given to it.

Thursday 28 February 2013

Favourite Albums of All Time! - London Calling

I've been sitting here for a while now trying to think of a topic for a blog. After all it'd be a bit slack not to have written a blog for the entire month of February. I thought about talking about the Oscars but that's already covered, thought about talking about my cat but I'm not entirely sure anyone really wants to read about another person’s pets. That might have to come in a different blog. I may as well make a dagnabbit list of the albums that have most inspired me over the years. It's a list that many an OCD music listener creates in their head over the years and argues with fellow music listeners at parties, work places and other social occasions about. It's a list that's probably irrelevant as music is subjective and who really gives a fuck about what some other dude rates as his favourites. I'm probably also not going to be able to offer you any surprises because my favourite albums are mostly other peoples classics as well (which probably testifies to the strength of them, or my own mainstream tastes). Well anyhow, here's the first of these blogs, focussing on...

The Clash - London Calling


I first got the album summer of 2005, at the time not yet fully a Clash fan. I had previously only had The Essential compilation of Clash singles, album tracks and b-sides and upon receiving some music vouchers for Christmas, headed down to The Warehouse to pick up a stack of CDs. One of these I chose was the deluxe edition of London Calling, an album which had recently had been the subject of retrospective documentaries screened on local music station C4. I guess they were looking for cheap content to fill their schedules, and their screening decision would create at least one new Clash fan.

It didn't take long for me to love London Calling. The week following that Christmas I would listen to the album while reading a book I received on tyrants throughout the ages. For some reason the album seemed the perfect soundtrack, with songs such as "Spanish Bombs" discussing the same exotic locations and violent histories as the book. I still associate the album with that book and that summer, it's interesting how our mind creates such associations. About a week later I would be driving up to Central Otago with my Dad, London Calling blasting in the car. It suddenly clicked and I realised I loved every song on the album. I think I asked my Dad something such as this; "These songs are all so good, but I can't figure out why?" to which he replied; "They're catchy". It was a simple answer but one that continues to resonate with me. It is indeed a freaking catchy album, so perhaps that, combined with the large variation of styles (reggae, rockabilly, jazz, pop etc), the inspired lyrical content and the great musicianship on display is what makes it such a good album.


The stories of the recording of the album are well documented, with Guy Stevens causing havoc, being a drunken bastard and probably creating the atmosphere that allowed The Clash to really let rip, something they were denied with the recording of Give 'Em Enough Rope.  The recording of the album also coincided with the emergence of the full potential of the bands talents. Mick Jones' composition and arrangement skills are suddenly head and shoulders above what had previously been pressed to vinyl, just listen to "The Card Cheat" for evidence of this. Joe Strummers lyrics have gone global, hinting at what would come on Sandinista!, with politics ("Spanish Bombs"), the Armageddon ("London Calling"), drug dealers ("Hateful"), Montgomery Clift ("The Right Profile"), factory work ("Clampdown") and more being the subject of his witty punk lyricism. Jones also provides varying lyrical content on the tracks he sings, discussing the break-up of his then girlfriend Viv Albertine in "Train In Vain" (Mick Jones would catch the train to visit his girlfriend yet would often leave disappointed and unsatisfied, hence 'Train In Vain') and also "I'm Not Down" as well as the anthem for alienation in our capitalist culture "Lost in the Supermarket". Paul Simonon's bass playing is getting stronger and catchier and the album holds his first song writing credit and the first track with Simonon on vocals, the classic "Guns Of Brixton". Finally Topper Headon, the best drummer The Clash ever had and possibly one of the greatest rock drummers of all time is allowed to fully let rip, showing off all the r&b, jazz, blues, reggae and rock chops that the man is capable of.


It's a double album yet doesn't have a single weak track on it, which one cannot say for many other double albums (although for today’s standards it’s about the length of one full 80 min CD). The Clash would follow this album up just a year later with the triple album Sandinista! which on the other hand does have a fair amount of filler within its sleeves, yet is an album that I hold just as dare to me, perhaps even more so than London Calling, due to the share 'who-gives-a-fuck' experimentation of it all and the continued ability of the band to write really catchy songs. Combat Rock in 1982 would be the bands last studio album with this line-up, and then that's just about it for the history of the best band to come out of the 70s UK punk scene. Better to burn out than to fade away I guess.


Probably the greatest Rock n Roll album of all time, recorded by 'the only band that matters'. Joe Strummer, Topper Headon, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon created in 1979 an album that many continue to bash 34 years later. I've been bashing it now for 8 years and I predict many more will follow.

Wednesday 30 January 2013

Laneway New Zealand 2013! Review! (Silo Park, 28th January, Auckland)

So it has taken me a few days of recovery and reflection to put pen to paper and write my thoughts up on Laneway 2013 and I will start by posting the Japandroids setlist:


Brian King (guitarist/vocalist) handed the setlist down to me at the end of the Japandroids set. It's a cool peice of memorabilia and one of many great moments of an awesome day, one that was for me a big improvement on Laneway 2012 (probably because the bands were better).

The day started off with Kings of Convenience on the main stage, the Norwegian indie pop folk-duo beginning softly with several acoustic numbers before bringing out a band and bringing the funk. I'd not listened to much of these guys before the concert so wasn't prepared for just how funky it would get and certainly wasn't expecting the dance-off that emerged during I'd Rather Dance With You. Prompted by lead singer Erlend Øye, the crowd formed a circle at which enthusiastic audience members jumped in to display their dancing chops. Sadly there's no videos of this yet uploaded to YouTube, but here's a live rendition from the Singapore Laneway.

Kings Of Convenience bring the funk

Later on at the Laneway after party at Cassette 9, I would find myself dancing with Erlend Øye and a bunch of Australian girls, practically and unknowingly acting out the lyrics to the above song, in a strange life-imitating-art kind of moment. I'll definitely be listening to more Kings of Convenience in the future, as their energy, humour and melodic songwriting won me over.

Street Chant
After Kings of Convenience I stayed at the main stage to watch Auckland group Street Chant who brought the punk and the angst, with front woman Emily seeming in a particularly sardonic mood. They handed out self-brewed 'Sink' beers to the crowd during the performance of that song and also Street Chant badges so points for the merchandise. There were a few technical difficulties however, such as Emily's effects pedal cutting out during Salad Days although she managed to get it up and running with minimal damage to the performance. I think their set was cut short due to Kings of Convenience playing over time and Emily seemed visibly irritated, at one stage throwing the F-bomb at that band and the Laneway organisers. I guess that kind of attitude is part of Street Chant's style, although it seemed at odds with the spirit of the rest of the day.
 

Polica was up next on the main stage, the band from Minneapolis bringing bass heavy electronic sounds and delicate melodies sung by from woman Channy Leaneagh aided by a powerful rhythm section featuring two drummers, one also triggering electronic samples. It sounded huge though I took the time to go for a wander and explore the rest of the Laneway environment, checking out a bit of Auckland indie-group The Eversons on the smaller Cactus Cat stage. I would next stand in front of Cloud Nothings who delivered a set of loud, aggressive but skillful tracks off their third album, Attack On Memory. The set peaked during a version of Wasted Years which showed off the drummers skill of being able to hold a fill for about 6 minutes.

The afternoon sped by as I rushed between stages catching The Men (from Brooklyn), some of Of Monsters and Men and A Place to Bury Strangers. The Men were my personal favourite of the bunch, playing many tracks of their awesome album from last year Open Your Heart as well as new single Electric. Their new songs sound really good and I'm looking forward to hearing what comes next from these uber-cool New York rockers. They ended their set with a surprise cover of Dunedin band The Chills' Pink Frost:

 The Men cover The Chills
Of Monsters and Men drew one of the biggest crowds of the day, and played a tight and entertaining set, with lead singer Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir looking particularly cute. Although I was enjoying the set I didn't stick around to hear the big single Little Talks as A Place to Bury Strangers were playing on the other stage and I wanted to check out whether this band would be as loud live as the buzz suggested. They indeed were, with the finale of the set seeing lead singer/songwriter Oliver Ackermann turn the monitor speakers around to face the audience, taking the vocal mic and placing it up against his guitar amp (both of which had separate effects running through each of them) and then generating feedback from his guitar creating a noise so loud that I felt sorry for anyone not wearing earplugs. Ackermann and bassist Dion Lunadon formerly of The D4 then proceeded to smash their instruments in true reckless rock n roll style. I later asked Ackermann after running into him at the merch tent how they can afford to smash their instruments every gig. He told me: "Glue and tape". (Watch the video below)

A Place To Bury Strangers set finale destruction
Back on the main stage Alt-J had accumulated a huge and increasingly intoxicated crowd for their intricate and groovy art-rock. With label money behind them they were the first band on the main stage to bring a giant backdrop with them (the only other artist to bring a backdrop and have any kind of stage design being Bat For Lashes), and had a bit more lighting then several of the other bands including some strobing. They had a very enthusiastic crowd response as I expected with much of the audience knowing the lyrics to all their songs. Their sole album has had a lot of hype behind it so this isn't surprising, and the band sounded great live, nailing all the vocal harmonies and trick rhythms. The drummer in particular stood out to me, showing a flair for different percussion than the usual cymbals and toms combination. The music sounded pretty much exactly as the album, which was a good thing but they didn't particularly bring anything more to live performance and therefore wasn't the most exciting act of the day.

Crowd surf during Japandroids
Japandroids on the Cactus Cat stage provided everything that Alt-J didn't. They brought excitement, looseness and the most energy yet seen during a Laneway set that day, inspiring the audience to mosh, crowd surf and sing along to their upbeat anthems about holding on to your youthful dreams in spite and because of the inevitable responsibilities that come with aging. Or in other words, their music makes it cool for a bunch of twenty and thirty year olds to rock out as if they're still seventeen. Their set was full of classics from the Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock albums, with the highlights for me being Younger Us, The House That Heaven Built and Young Hearts Spark Fire. Although there were a few technical difficulties with Bring King's guitar cutting out during Fire's Highway and drummer David Prowse missing some queues, it didn't matter, the energy was there and it if anything hyped the crowd up even more.

Brian King mid-air
 Although the moshpit was energetic, it was never agressive as-per a metal concert, for Japandroids inspire some sort of comradery between us concert goers, where we can thrash about and loose ourselves within the fight of a moshpit while at the same time looking out for one another. Anyone that fell over or tumbled during a crowd-surf was immediately helped back up to their feet, ready to join the mosh again. I managed to get my crowd surf on and it may have looked something like the guy in the photo to the left (who I later met at the Cassette 9 after party) and this for sure provided a highlight of my day. As mentioned earlier I got the setlist of Brian King after the show and thanked him for an awesome performance.

Things get a little blurrier and I spend a little more time in the drinks lines over the next few hours but that is by no means the end of the festivities. I check out a little bit of Bailterspace on the main stage, which is cool but Jessie Ware is playing back over on the stage near the Silo's so I quickly mission over to check her out. One of the only problems with Laneway (apart from the congestion in the drinks lines which was probably worse this year than last year) is that the second stage over by the Silo where Japandroids, The Men and Jessie Ware played is not really big enough and this was particularly evident during Ware's set. She is a charismatic performer with a great voice and obviously had a lot of fans because her audience was crowded. She would have been much better suited on the main stage, or on a slightly bigger second stage as it didn't really allow her much space to perform. Never the less her set was great, filled with classic tracks off her debut album such as Sweet Talk, No To Love and If You're Never Gonna Move. Wildest Moments and Running provided great singalong moments and hopefully she'll be back on a bigger stage, with more recognition in a few years time.

Natasha Khan
Yeasayer took the main stage next and although I spent most of their set in the drinks line (the infernal drinks line), they sounded good, in particular singles off their second album O.N.E. and Ambling Amp. With drinks now in hand I made my way into the crowd for Bat For Lashes, and got up front just in time for her to start her first New Zealand and somewhat awe-inspiring set. Flanked with a really talented band, a giant backdrop image of a grey scale beach and a stage decorated with lanterns, Natasha Khan launched into a set featuring tracks from all three of her albums and hypnotically dominated the stage for 45 minutes. It's a shame she didn't have more time because her voice sounded amazing and proved her self a truely great live performer. I was particularly a fan of the tracks off the new album The Haunted Man which included All Your Gold, Laura and Oh Yeah. The favourite tracks of the set for me were Lillies (because damn that has a heavy beat) and Marilyn which felt even more touching and dramatic live than on album. The drummer was particularly impressive, bouncing between electronic pads and his acoustic set playing many beats simultaneously that would usually be left for samples. It's a set like this that makes me appreciate Laneway because I probably never would have seen Bat For Lashes live or even listened to the new album if she hadn't toured to New Zealand through this festival and I definitely would have missed out on something great. I suggest you check out the new album if you haven't, it deserves more attention than it has recieved.

Bat For Lashes ended too soon with final track and crowd favourite Daniel. I then made my way over to the next stage for headliner Tame Impala, who I and many more people in the crowd had been looking forward to all summer. Totally destroying last year's headliners Gotye, Kevin Parker and company proved rock not to be dead in 2013 opening with Solitude is Bliss off Innerspeaker and then jamming their way through tracks off last years Lonerism with such ease as to make all that skill look rediculously easy. Most songs were extended in true late 60s/early 70s style and at one point during Elephant the band completely abandoned the song for a drum solo, then some barely musical fucking around, then a brief reggae jam, just to return to Elephant for roughly 10 seconds before ending the song. Apart from being hilarious it was also one of the most memorable moments of the day and was so awesome to see a band not giving a fuck and JUST HAVING FUN. The crowd was a bit shit, and only a few of us were jumping around as much as I would have liked but perhaps most people were by this stage exausted from the heat or the alcohol. Regardless I feel that Tame Impala is going to be a band I see live many times and hopefully so, because they're doing something with rock that feels both fresh, familiar and really unique. I have a feeling that their live shows will get even more jammy as the years progess.

Elephant, from Singapore again, but an awesome live version

Laneway 2013 ends, and I head off into the unknown of the night, finding my way to the after party at Cassette 9 where I meet Kevin Parker from Tame Impala, who turns out is also a really nice guy! I also watch Rackets play, who are always good and listen to a DJ set from A Place To Bury Strangers. By three in morning, I'm about ready to pack it in, after have a chaotic and action packed day and seeing some really really great bands live. I have to therefore say that Laneway out did themselves this year and I will most definitely be making my way to 2014 provided I'm in Auckland. I could gripe at this stage about the things Laneway could improve on; the long drinks lines, the fact that standing on concrete all day is a bit of a bitch and that there isn't much shade the protect you from the glaring rays of the sun, but I will have to save that for another blog because all and all it was a fantastic day.

Sunday 20 January 2013

Laneway Timetable + Songs I'm looking forward to seeing

The Laneway timetable is out, what do you think, many clashes or not too bad? I've got a few decisions to make between Japandroids or Divine Fits (most likely Japandroids), The Men or Real Estate (depends on if I want an agressive or a chilled out vibe) and Nicholas Jaar or Tame Impala though seeing as I've been thrashing Lonerism and Innerspeaker this summer that decision will most likely go with the latter. Here's the timetable for those who haven't seen it.

Also can be found here. Tickets are still available, pick them up from Real Groovy, Ticketmaster or http://auckland.lanewayfestival.com.au/. The new stage also looks promising, with Auckland electro-duo Golden Axe added to the line-up. I recently saw them open for Unknown Mortal Orchestra at Cassette 9 which was great, and although I'm most likely going to be seeing either Jessie Ware or Bailterspace at that time I'll try check them out for 20 mins before Yeasayer begin.

There's also an after party at Cassette 9 featuring another awesome local band Rackets, that you can check out here as well as The Eversons and a DJ set from New York-noise rock group A Place To Bury Strangers. Check the after party details out here. What an action packed day it shall be.

I will most likely be spending a lot of my time over the next week listening to Laneway artists gearing up for the day, so in the meantime, here's a few songs I'm looking forward to hearing (assuming the band's decide to play them) on the day.

Jessie Ware - If You're Never Gonna Move


Tame Impala - Elephant 


The Men - Open Your Heart


Japandroids - Young Hearts Spark Fire


 Bat For Lashes - A Wall



Real Estate - It's Real



Alt-J - Breezeblocks


Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built


Tame Impala - Desire Be Desire Go


As well as loads more, for Laneway is just as much a day to get introduced to bands that could becoming future favourites, as well as seeing current favourite emerging or recent artists. See you all there!

Friday 18 January 2013

[Review] To Rome With Love (Woody Allen, 2012)


Screw the critics. Woody Allen's 2012 effort To Rome With Love is a frequently amusing and satisfying entry into the neurotic auteur's catalogue. I enjoyed it far more than many of Allen's other recent releases such as Scoop (2006) or even the comparatively well praised Vicki Christina Barcelona (2008). While not quite as strong as 2011's Midnight In Paris, it still delivers some very entertaining stories and genuine laughs and proves that moving into his 77th year, Allen has great cinema left in him yet.

The film contains four different stories, as the title suggests all set in Rome and focusing on many of Allen's favourite topics including love, affairs, celebrity and art. All four stories intersect throughout the film although are mostly separate other than the setting. Opening on a busy Italian intersection, we are greeted by a traffic warden, or breaks the fourth wall in order to introduce himself and the stories we are about to see. We are introduced to Jerry (Woody Allen), a retired music producer who becomes obsessed with a mortician who has a great singing voice, but only when he sings in the shower; two newly weds Antonio and Milly (Alessandro Tiberi and Alessandra Mastronardi) whose relationship is tested by some serendipitous occurrences on the streets of Rome; regular family man Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni) awakes one day to find he is a celebrity, for no understandable reason and lastly architect John (Alec Baldwin) who while exploring his old haunts in Rome runs into Jack (Jesse Eisenberg),a student architect living in Rome who seems to be living a very similar youth to John and who falls in love with his girlfriend Sally's (Greta Gerwig) visiting friend, out of work actor Monika (Ellen Page).

Woody Allen remained brilliant as music producer Jerry, a man probably not to dissimilar to himself, as he cracked characteristic one-liners and obsessively tried to keep busy, as in the words of his wife (played by Judy Davis) "You equate retirement with death.” It was great to see him back on screen and in a much strong role than the magician of Scoop. The story of the man who can only sing in the shower was classic Allen farce and led itself to some hilarious set-pieces. As the did the story of truly overnight celebrity Leopoldo, played brilliantly from academy award winner Roberto Benigni. The story allows Allen to share with the audience some more of his always entertaining insights on life and in particular the lives of the famous as opposed to the lives of the mundane. The star of the story of the newly weds is Penelope Cruz, who plays  prostitute Anna forced to take on the role of Antonio's wife Milly for one afternoon (you'll have to watch to find out why). Allen always writes a good prostitute (Mira Sorvino as Linda Ash in Mighty Aphrodite for one example) and this is up there with the best of them, as Anna teaches Antonio a thing or two about not being a prude. Alessandra Mastronardi is also great as Milly, the supposedly innocent wife of Antonio who finds more than she's looking for after getting lost in Rome.

The film was nicely shot by Darius Khondji, the man who also provided cinematography for Midnight In Paris, presenting an appealing view of the streets and buildings of Rome in all their historic glory. There was a dynamic range of shot types from the static, to the handheld and also dolly-esque tracking shots which kept things interesting from a visual point of view. Each story contained varied settings, ranging from offices, restaurants and houses to the monuments such as the Colosseum and other ruins of ancient Rome. Italian critics claimed the film showed Rome from an outsider perspective, which it probably does and not being from Rome I had no problem with this, the place looked beautiful and gave Allen all the locations he needed to write interesting stories.

Not all was perfect however. The story featuring Alec Baldwin as architect John felt clunky, with him appearing as more of a narrator or the inner-voice of Jesse Eisenburg's character Jack than a tangible character. It was almost as if John was just looking back over his past and that the story of Jack doesn't take place except inside John's mind. This is never really explained or executed as well as it could have been and while I appreciate Allen trying interesting and original ideas, he's certainly executed his stories better in the past. Jesse Eisenburg was great in spite of the muddled story telling, as was his object-of-obession played by Ellen Page. One lesser tale out of three doesn't make it a bad film in my opinion.

All in all, well worth a watch and don't let the critic reviews or the films low score on cinema aggregate websites such as Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB put you off. It's funny, heartfelt and offers interesting things to think about afterwards, which you can usually count on an Allen film to do. Being set in Rome doesn't hurt the film either and allows Allen to use some great actors such as Roberto Benigni. Thankfully Allen is keeping up his film-a-year policy and we won't have to wait long for his new film, Blue Jasmine (unless you live in New Zealand) which Alec Baldwin returns in and is set back in the USA.

Allen is a workaholic and will probably never stop making films until he cannot possibly make them anymore, and then he has stated he will probably write books or something such as that. I will leave you with this quote, perhaps another reason why Allen is still in the film business;

"Real life is generally much duller and inevitably sadder, most of the time. In film, you control everything that’s going on, so you can indulge the most fantastic, romantic, escapist feelings and fantasies. You can do anything you want. That’s why it’s very seductive and pleasurable to earn your living making movies. You’re not living in the real world. You wake up in the morning and you go to work surrounded by [beautiful women] and scintillating guys that are handsome, witty and gifted, and you make up stories and everyone has costumes and the music is beautiful. You live your life not in the real world, and you create something that’s completely escapist. It’s great, but it’s not real. It is fun to do. The only place you can do it is in fiction." cinemablend

Tuesday 15 January 2013

[Review] Crystal Castles @ The Studio, Auckland 15/01/13



Crystal Castles came to The Studio in Auckland last night, bringing their unique brand of electro/goth/punk and managed to make the night feel simultaneously like a party and the end of the world (probably an end brought on by man's self-destructive ways). Or to be not so abstract, it was an intense and intimate show, with Alice Glass and Ethan Hall putting in their all for the modest Auckland crowd.

Tensions mounted before the band took the stage as an eclectic crowd quickly filled up the small space in front of The Studio's stage. The entirety of  Joy Division's album closer was played through the P.A. speakers leading up to the band's arrival, which I personally felt was a perfect album to accompany what was to come. I love this album and Crystal Castles' dark goth rave fits perfectly with the depressing but hypnotic art-rock of Joy Division. I'm not sure everyone around me felt quite the same way, as there were restless yells after each song, with one group even starting a chant out "We've got work". Apparently an Auckland crowd's not to animated on a Tuesday night.

That was until of course, Crystal Castles took the stage.

Opening with 'Plague', the crowd immediately erupted into a surge of activity with Ethan's synths set to 11, accompanied by Alice's violent, piercing, unmistakable screams. I personally love this track and let the surge of the crowd take me into the thick of the mosh, where I stayed for the rest of the set. The wall of sound was accompanied by a live drummer, adding an human feel to the processed drums and rows of lights which filled the stage. Initially the lights were used minimally, with only flashes of blue being used at times as Ethan, Alice and their live drummer stood nearly in darkness on the club stage. Gradually more lights were introduced until the stage became cloaked in strobing white light.



The intensity did not let up as they launched into 'Baptism' and 'Suffocation' off the 2nd album. 'Wrath of God' provided a moment to cool down before the band launched into what was unsurprisingly a highlight of the set, 'Crimewave'. 'Crimewave' saw the crowd engage in the most prolonged period of pogo-ing, and also in the most enthusiastic sing along of the night. Alice disappeared onto the floor of the stage during this section and didn't reappear until what I think was 'Alice Practice', another highlight, with it's particularly aggressive beat spurring the crowd on to mosh some more.

Photo taken from http://13thfloor.co.nz. Hope that's ok dudes!
The moments that Alice threw herself into the crowd were highlights, with fans scrambling to get a touch of Alice in the flesh. On one occasion she caused the entire crowd to collapse, the entire pit swaying to the right side of the stage where she stood precariously on top of a multitude of hands. This did not stop her from returning into the crowd a few songs later, which at thing point I was very near the front of the stage so had the pleasure of helping to hold her up on top on the crowd. Her energy as a frontwoman and efforts at interacting with the audience in moments like this rivals other great front people I've seen live, such as Peaches and Iggy Pop.

Their cover of 'Not In Love' ended the initial set and at this stage I was sweaty, exhausted but satisfied. After a brief break the band returned for their encore, three more songs beginning with 'Intimate' from II and 'Sad Eyes' from III. I hung in there till the end, although the jumping around on my end had stopped a few songs back. Last song of the night, the epic 'Yes No' from the first album gave us one last aggressive blast to savour and I managed to muster the energy to thrash around for another few minutes. Alice descended upon the crowd one last time, the crowd managing to keep her stable this time. She swung her microphone into the crowd upon finishing the songs vocals, and although I'm not entirely sure but something very hard hit me in the side of the head just after that moment, which I'm guessing was the microphone. I have a jagged red bruise in that spot to prove it.
Photo taken from http://13thfloor.co.nz. Hope that's ok dudes!

The band left the stage over a wall of feedback and noise. The crowd was still amped and crowd surfing continued after the music was gone and the stage was bare. Which probably means it was a really good gig.

It seemed a big generous set as more than often bands seem to give in New Zealand, even in the small club venues. Perhaps they were putting in their all after their last show here at the Big Day Out 2011, which was hampered by sound issues and Alice's leg in a cast limiting here performance. Or perhaps they were just riffing off the crowds intensity (or at least it felt intense from where I was). Probably though, they're just a really great live band.

Even though Auckland has a huge gap in it's festival calender now that the Big Day Out has left us, sideshows such as this from BDO artists do more than a little to fill the space until that festival or something equivalent returns.

Now bring on Laneway.

Setlist:

Plague
Baptism
Suffocation
Wrath Of God
Doe Deer
Crimewave
Pale Flesh
Alice Practice
Reckless
Celestica
Empathy
Vanished
Black Panther
Not In Love

Intimate
Sad Eyes
Yes No

Thursday 10 January 2013

[Review] Unknown Mortal Orchestra (w/ Golden Axe, La Tetas) Cassette 9, Auckland

Photos from Georgia S Photography


Kiwi ex-pat Ruban Neilson, previously of The Mint Chicks brought his latest Portland-based project to Auckland last night, playing Cassette 9 ahead of their opening slot for Weezer tonight. The band has been accumulating a large and dedicated fanbase, winning over the indie press with Pitchfork giving them a hype worthy 8.1 review for the debut self-titled album. They've been selling out shows all around the world and playing festivals from CMJ in NY to the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago. In my opinion the hype and success is worth it, as Neilson and company demonstrated last night, with their set of psychedelic grooves and melodies, tight and impressive musicianship and above all, great songwriting.



The queue
The night began with a 40 minute wait in the Cassette 9 line, as the venue was nearing capacity as early as 10pm. After waiting for the many guest list attendees to arrive the staff finally let in some of the regular punters waiting in line into the venue, and I managed to be one of those lucky few. Many of those in the sprawling line went home disappointed, as the modest-sized bar was not able to accommodate all those interested in the band. I managed to make it inside in time to see Auckland duo Golden Axe tear through a brief set of distorted, analogue, punky dance tunes. With the nimble keyboard fingers and characteristic wigs and gas mask microphones, Axe proved a highly entertaining beginning to the night. The tightness gained from the hours of international touring they've been racking up lately was apparent, although in all fairness this was the first time I'd seen them live so perhaps they've always been that tight. Next up was all female three-peice Las Tetas. They're agressive, minor-key indie rock was a change in tone from Golden Axe but they won over the audience, ending with a thrashy cover of The Stooges 'I Wanna Be Your Dog'. I approved.

Golden Axe

Unknown Mortal Orchestra finally took the stage at around 12.30, giving one last soundcheck before opening with an extended period of noise; strumming chords, rumbling bass and the drummer going nuts on double struck rolls all over the kit building tension, which would then release as the groove to 'Little Blu House' is introduced. The noise intro gave an opportunity to appreciate just what skilled musicians Ruban has gathered, especially the drummer whose skilled chops were immediately apparent. First song Little Blu House, a favourite of mine off the debut sounded great, although it took the sound guy a verse or two to get the vocal mix right. These are obviously three very skilled musicians, as they control the audience with ease, not by applying any forced live theatrics but rather by playing the songs with confidence and obvious enthusiasm. Ruban plays his guitar initially with the strap slung over one shoulder, and the body held high up to his chest like a gun. The melodies are ripped out from his fingers with so little effort he makes it look easy, betraying the years and years of touring and recording that have got him to this stage.

The beginning of the set is dominated by tracks from the debut, peaking with 'How Can U Luv Me' (which is also probably the debut's centrepiece). The crowd at this stage is going nuts and a mosh pit breaks out, of which I happen to be caught on the peripheral of, and the aggression of a drunk few seems slightly out of place given the chilled out vibe. Perhaps that handful thought they were at a Mint Chicks gig. After 'How Can U Luv Me' the band begin Pink Floyd/Barrett cover 'Lucifer Sam', of which I'm highly pleased to hear although sadly the band cut it off after only a few bars. Ruban tells the crowd "And it was going so well.." I'm unsure why they stopped the song, perhaps Ruban's guitar was out of tune. Only having a tease of Lucifer Sam was a slight disappointment but they coped with the technical stuff up in a professional way, by launching into an entirely new song. It's always a little awkward when bands have to restart a number.

UMO
The next two songs are off the new album, 'Monki' and 'So Good At Being In Trouble' both of which contained strong grooves and melodies, a hint that the new album was to be just as strong as the debut. After this crowd favourite 'Ffunny Ffriends' is launched, with Ruban encouraging everyone in the crowd to clap, including "the cool people in the back". The clapping dies off after the first chorus after which Ruban states he didn't ask anyone to stop and the clapping starts up again. My attempt at clapping for the entire song is interrupted by another moshpit and I decide joining is the better option than getting stoically shoved around so I pogo'd my way to the front of the stage. New single 'Swim Like A Shark' is then played, before the show ends with a thrashy and epic rendition of 'Boy Witch'. I hang around hoping for an encore though this was not to be, perhaps due to the fact that it was past 2am, or maybe this is the practice at Cassette 9.


Never-the-less it was a great set, even with the abandonment of 'Lucifer Sam' and the at times overly excitable crowd. I felt privileged to see the band before they embark on sold out European shows in such an intimate setting and all for only $10! It's good to see The Mint Chicks boys have success in their current projects, as both are extremely gifted musicians and songwriters and Ruban Neilson certainly deserves all the success that is now coming to him. With the new album released for download to those who pre-ordered it today, it is sure to be another big year for UMO and hopefully we will see them on our shores again soon.

Set list:
  1. Little Blu House
  2. Thought Ballune
  3. Strangers Are Strange
  4. How Can U Luv Me
  5. Bicycle
  6. Jello And Juggernauts
  7. Monki
  8. So Good At Being In Trouble
  9. Ffunny Ffriends
  10. Swim And Sleep Like A Shark
  11. Boy Witch


Tuesday 8 January 2013

Looking back on 2012: Media related things

Continuing from the last blog here's a few more notable things that occurred during 2012 which characterised my year.

Seeing bands live

I saw the following artists live in 2012;

(Big Day Out) Soundgarden, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Kimbra, Cavalera Conspiracy, Mariachi El Bronx, Girl Talk, Kasabian, (Laneway) M83, SBTRKT, Opossum, Gotye, (Gigs) Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Em' All, The Dresdan Dolls, Roger Waters (Twice), Roots Manuva, Die Antwoord, Skrillex, Porter Robinson, Enter Shikari, Robyn, Flight Of The Conchords, Earth, John Baizley, Scott Kelly, Morrissey

I moved from Dunedin to Auckland this year and being in New Zealand's only 'supercity' gave me the opportunity to see much more bands than I have previously had the opportunity to see. Of the bands Morrissey was a definite highlight, as his performance coincided with the peak of my interest in The Smiths and Morrisey's solo catalogue. Roger Waters was also particularly epic, and I wrote a blog earlier on my experiences regarding The Wall as seeing it live, check it out here: http://hamish-and-film.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/reminiscing-about-wall.html.

Morrissey (though from the Wellington show)
Last years Big Day Out was the smallest of the five I attended yet still managed to have a couple of pretty memorable sets, Noel Gallagher, Cavalera Conspiracy and Kimbra in particular. M83 stole Laneway 2012 for me, although SBTRKT had a surprisingly energetic live act as well. Seeing Odd Future live at the height of their Internet fuelled hype was definitely a lucky occasion and although I didn't really know their music bar a few tracks, it was particularly entertaining just for being smack bang in the sweatiest rap moshpit I've ever witnessed. Enter Shikari also had an incredibly sweaty and energetic audience, being an all ages gig it was filled with teens and young Uni students, and although I felt my age the band I had a good time never the less. The sweat from the audience caused the band's gear to malfunction and at one stage the barrier separating the audience and the band collapsed, yet the band played through these technical difficulties and  proved themselves worthy of their loyal fanbase.

2013 proves to be equally promising gig-wise, with a great Laneway lineup (Tame Impala, Bat For Lashes, Japandroids), plus Black Sabbath and rumours Blur will tour down here. Already promising and the year hasn't even began!

Listened to some Films, Watched some Albums

Typically, I spent a lot of the year watching films and listening to albums. These films stood out to me as the most enjoyable cinematic experiences of 2012:

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Looper
Moonrise Kingdom
Safety Not Gauranteed
The Dark Knight Rises 
The Most Fun You Can Have Dying 

Honourable mention must go to West of Memphis, the documentary on the West Memphis Three, which was aided by a Q & A featuring Peter Jackson and Damien Echols (my blog on this here: west-of-memphis). A good moment from Pete considering what a travesty of blockbuster filmmaking The Hobbit turned out to be.

I didn't seem to spend much time listening to new music in 2012 but here's a few albums that I particularly enjoyed in 2012:

Baroness - Yellow & Green
Tame Impala - Lonerism
Kanye West present G.O.O.D. Music - Cruel Summer
Japandroids - Celebration Rock
 
Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music compilation copped a bit of flack but the beats were great, and there was enough variation and experimentation for it to hold up to repeat listens. Plus it had some of the best anthems of year, in the form of Clique and Mercy in particular. I spent most of the year however listening to albums that weren't released in 2012 so if I was to list favourite albums by what I actually listened to, I'd have to include albums such as The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs which got a lot of plays and also Blur - Parklife. Probably older favourites such as Sandinsta! as well which I fell further in love with earlier in the year. It's the album that keeps on giving!

Thursday 3 January 2013

Looking back on 2012: Adam Yauch

2012 is now officially over and 2013 has begun. To bring in the new year I will think back on several notable things that categorised the year for me.

Yauch and company during the recording of Paul's Boutique
One of the three Beastie Boys - punk, rapper, activist, filmmaker, all around good-guy, MCA or Adam Yauch passed away in May 4th of last year. The group that he lead with Adam Horivitz and Mike Diamond had a huge effect on me during my early teen years and my passion for the group endures up until this day. Adam Yauch was diagnosed with cancer mid-2009, just as the band was about to release their eighth studio album and his death at the way too young age of 47 has robbed culture of a true hero.

Yauch formed the Beastie Boys at age 17 with John Berry, Kate Schellenbach and Michael Diamond. They found their start playing hardcore punk in the clubs of NYC but would soon adopt the emerging sounds of hiphop. Adam Horovitz joined and Kate Schellenbach would leave, and the core three of MCA, Ad-Rock and MCA gradually built a back catalogue of classic albums (Licensed to Ill, Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication, Hello Nasty), proving that three white boys from NYC can rap just as well as their fellow black artists. In the 90s they re-incorporated live instrumentation back into their sound with MCA's phat basslines providing some of the most memorable hooks (Gratitude, Sabotage etc).

Yauch became passionate about the plight of the Tibetan in the 90s and organised several charity concerts (Tibetan Freedom Concert 1996 - 1999, 2001, 2003) raising money and generating much awareness for the problems facing the Tibetan people. After directing the bands' music videos through-out their career he moved into feature film making in the 00s with the live concert film Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! (2006) and the basketball documentary Gunnin' for That No. 1 Spot (2008).

It was through Yauch and his subsequent creative projects that I found a great deal of inspiration during my formative years. From the very first time I was introduced to the Beastie Boys video the Intergalactic video directed by Yauch, which debuted on Top Of The Pops mid-1998, I was hooked. Their humour, heart, fat fucking beats and mean rhymes (from middle age white dudes!) won me over, a large amount of all these elements contributed by Yauch, and they subsequently became my favourite band through my young adult years to today.

As I delved further into their back catalogue, from the age of 11 onwards, I discovered true musical and artistic heroes, through the uncompromising way in which they tore genre conventions apart, the no bullshit approach they had to getting their vision out there and the way they weren't afraid to change, to move from frat boy party rap antics to politically aware concious rap. And of course, they created albums which remain my favourites to this day, Paul's Boutique, Hello Nasty, Licensed to Ill, Check Your Head, To The Five Buroughs, Hot Sauce Committe Part 2. For a band that was around thirty years, to have so little dud albums in their back catalogue and so many classics is something rare indeed.

I learnt to rap because of Yauch and his crew, found a musical role model and was constantly inspired by his humour and creativity. Loosing one of my main heroes is certainly a mixed thing and I have no doubt in my mind that MCA had many years ahead of him. What creative projects he would have embarked on we'll never know. Never the less, this is the journey that life had in store for him and it certainly wasn't a life wasted.