If you ever treasured Herbs' What's Be Happen, the Swingers' 'One Good Reason', Sneaky Feelings' Send You or Dave Dobbyn's 'Slice of Heaven'; if you were at that huge David Bowie concert at Western Springs in 1983, or the disastrous Aotea Square show of 1984 or any of dozens of other tours in the 1980s; if you value the renaissance of modern waiata and the phenomenon of 'Poi E'; then you have some connection with Hugh Lynn, who is the subject of a wonderful new Audioculture profile by Murray Cammick.
I used to see Hugh reasonably regularly when I worked for Murray in the mid-80s, usually at Mascot Studios, where the above records were made. He was not an unfriendly man, but always seemed a little mysterious maybe even a bit dangerous. I knew he had a history as a dancer, but not the half of what's in Murray's profile. And I didn't know about the way Hugh continued his commitment to the Māoritanga he discovered in the 80s. He'd make a great biopic, he really would.
Also new on Audiocuture and in a wholly different vein, Robyn Gallagher's pick of 11 Iconic Music Videos of the 1990s. I know a little about one of them -- the 3Ds 'Hey Seuss' -- because I was there in Dunedin when Andrew Moore directed it. It was originally set to look even more Seuss-like than it does, before an anxious call came through from Flying Nun's paul McKessar, who had been made aware of the brutal reputation of the Seuss's estate's lawyers.
Also: Michael Brown's story of the Wellington folk scene of the 1960s, which has some great photographs. Who knew?
---
Not on Audioculture, but a really good work of history: Peter Mclennan's tribute to Johnny Cooper, "The Maori Cowboy", who cut New Zealand's first rock 'n' roll record (a cover of 'Rock Around the Clock') in 1955 and died this week.
Update: Chris Bourke has now written a Johnny Cooper entry for Audioculture.
And the Christchurch 70s glam rockers Odyssey, who never actually broke up, recently played a show to launch their new single, 'Tell Me'. It's not a bad tune at all:
---
Turning now to the present and future ...
If you're reading this at work, you're persumably not at the Going Global Music Summit being staged by Independent Music NZ and the New Zeaand Music Commission, but you can still register to go to tonight's live showcase at Galatos. It's a remarkable opportunity to catch 14 contemporary local artists across three stages -- from Race Banyon and Little Bark to Arthur Ahbez, She's So Rad and Chelsea Jade (formerly Watercolours). And you won't have to stay up late -- the first band is on at 7pm.
Tickets are $20 plus booking fee here at NZTix. See you there.
---
On TheAudience, this haunting track from Wellington's Groeni:
And this one from from "Auckland-based witch-house artist"᠍, which is a free download:
More info here.
Courtney Barnett covering the Breeders' 'Cannonball' for the AV Club! There's an MP3 of the performance here. Her September 17 show at the King's Arms is already sold out.
I mentioned RocknRolla Soundsystem last week. Well, here's some good news. Having been asked about it a bajillion times, they're now going to put each new edit they do up for sale on Bandcamp, starting with their take on Marvin gaye's 'Inner City Blues':
And that mixtape I mentioned last week? It's now a download:
@Peace have had their issues in the news lately, but perceptions might be moderated by this great new track:
It's released as a free download in support of their tour for the vinyl version of their Plutonian Noise Symphony album and it falls somewhere between that record and their first album. You can pre-order the vinyl here. Tour tickets from Under the Radar.
Some dirty business with the awesome Betty Davis:
And, finally, The Golden Pony take on Outkast. It's a straight-up free download without their usual somewhat vexing Facebook/Hypem run-around. And it's the business:
---
The Hard News Music Post is sponsored by:
