I know I've banged on quite a bit about Courtney Barnett lately, but oh my goodness she was great at the King's Arms this week. Her wordy, nerdy songs, her weird guitar-playing, her rockin' band and her lovable-munter persona, they all just came together. And although she could easily have filled a bigger venue, it kind of felt fitting that her first foray in New Zealand was to a jam-packed King's Arms.
There are echoes of the Hoodoo Gurus, the Saints and various other elements of Australian rock 'n' roll heritage in her music, but it's way more than a pastiche of its influences. I look forward to her forthcoming album and to her return her next year. Laneway, anyone?
Cheese on Toast has the pictures.
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Out this week, an amazing video by Markus Hofko for Suren Unka's 'Flee'. It's probably worth knowing that the actor in the video, Howard Cyster, is also a stuntman. This is an inspired interpretation of the track:
I think this video is going to be a tipping point for this young guy. Expect to see him go fully international in the next year. The track itself is from this year's album El Chupacabra, which you can by here on Bandcamp.
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If you haven't heard Moana Maniapoto's music lately, you may be surprised by where she's taken it with her new album Rima. Paddy Free, who is half of Pitch Black, is now a member of the Moana and the Tribe band and has produced the new album. It's waiata Maori meeting electronic dub and it's way deep. The album is out next Friday, but here's the first single. It's a political song:
I have two double passes for Moana's album launch show at Galatos on Sunday, September 28 to give away. Just click the reply button at the bottom of this post to get in on the draw.
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On Audioculture this week, Roger King recalls The Record Warehouse, from the golden days of Auckland record shops.
And Barney McDonald revisits the days of dilated pupils in an account of the heyday of Calibre.
Oh, and just a heads up: there's a new production of Jesus Christ Superstar coming -- and Julia Deans has the part of Mary Magdalene. That's really very cool.
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Just some tracks. By rights, a techno-house remix of James Brown's 'Sex Machine' should be an abomination. But this had my darling and I chair-dancing this morning. It's amiably silly and a free download via Facebook:
Another house track for download, this time from Karim:
In a wholly different vein, three voices and strings from Wellington folk trio Ida Lune on TheAudience:
And finally, one I've burgled from the discussion of Grant McDougall's excellent tribute to the late Peter Gutteridge. Earlier this year, Peter shambled up on stage to join The Clean at Chick's Hotel for a song or two, including this one that he co-wrote for The Clean way back when. The riff is his and I don't think there are many, if any, songs that mean more to me than this:
Anyway, I'm kind of knackered and I'll be working on a post-election wrap-up for the TV show on Sunday, so I'm award myself the rest of the day off. But I'll be going to a couple of election-night parties and I thought it might be fun if you guys wanted to pitch in with a few election-night party tunes.
Downloads are cool, but so are YouTube clips. Remember that in our comments section all you need to do is paste in the URL and your clip will automagically embed. Chur.
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