What the hell sort of band are Kora? Rock? Funk? Aotearoa reggae? Soul? All of the above, with a big serve of electronc dance music, on the evidence of their new album, Light Years, which they showcased at a really enjoyable launch party for fans and media at Galatos last night.
If their set began a little quietly, by the time they got to the juddering funk-rock monster 'Hit the Wall' from the new album, the whole room was jumping. I got a little video of that:
It struck me watching them last night that they're genuine New Zealand originals, with the happy knack of making whatever they're playing at the time sound like exactly what they're meant to be playing.
Kora play The Bedford in Christchurch on Friday November 2, then they're back to Australia to play 1000-1500-capacity clubs in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Meanwhile, you can stream the album here -- and if you haven't already heard Kora Kora Kora, the Cabaret Voltaire Versions, well, you should.
PS: You may or may not have heard that Galatos' previous owners went broke and the venue changed hands in a mortgagee sale. I met the new owners last night. They're nice people and I hope it goes well for them.
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I asked Watercolours to play the September LATE at the Museum I curated, but I didn't know that a clip from that performance in the grand foyer had been sitting on YouTube more more than a month. Happily, it contains my two favourite Watercolours songs, 'Night Swimmer' and 'Under':
I know Chelsea wasn't happy with her performance at this show, but I thought she was way too hard on herself -- and I believe the video evidence is on my side.
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The legendary producer Giorgio Moroder has joined Soundcloud and uploaded tracks galore for streaming, including this remastered version of 'The Chase', which has hitherto only ever been available on 12" vinyl:
Happily, Mr Moroder has even provided you with a download for that.
And there's no download for this goddamn epic, but by golly I'd cheerfully pay for one:
This week's Bobby ...
And Los Angeles-based New Zealander Mark de Clive Lowe (better known these days as MdCL) gets a remix from Amsterdam's DJ Full Crate:
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Over at TheAudience, HDSPNS sound like they might have grown up listening to their dads' Gang of Four records. I like this:
There's a brief interview with them over at Under the Radar.
Here's an interesting gig for tonight: Trip to the Moon dishing up "electronica, a lot of jazz and a dash of krautrock" at their album launch show in the Backbeat bar, above the Rock Shop on K Road.
And duty calls, so that's yer lot. Post away.
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