Hard News by Russell Brown

Morales back here on Sunday Jan 17th too...

Or that might just be my 2 Degrees internet connection. God, I miss Snap.

Ah, you too?

Morales back here on Sunday Jan 17th too…

I'm there.

Ah, you too?

Very much. Problems connecting with some major CDNs – Facebook, Soundcloud, etc. Feels like a cacheing issue to me, but I'm no expert.

Paste Magazine's ''The 5o Best Songs of 2015' * is fun. Gin Wigmore "Written in the Water" at #36 and Unknown Mortal Orchestra "Can't Keep Checking My Phone" at #13.

* can't seem to link on my iPad but you can find it easily with a search,

it was a marvellous night in Auckland last night

Brilliant, wasn't it! Bikes and beer...

So much goodness here. It just keeps getting better…

(I can’t be the only who thinks that the Wkend is terribly overrated, however. The cover is a slight improvement.)

You may also care to note that Unknown Mortal Orchestra play the St James the following night

That must be a pre-tour show? I hope the St James can be saved a là our Theatre Royal. Would love to have seen UMO gracing that venue but they're at the Foundry - bit of a student barn but considering what we have just now for venues that size, better than nothing.

Here's a UMO taster with a bit of a difference - Guitar Power 2015 ep. 1 featuring Ruban Nielson … Ruban Nielson showing a bit of guitar wizardry on his Jag-Stang in conversation with Alain Johannes - maybe a hint of where Ruban is heading next with an intriguing three minute jam between the pair to close things off.

Might look better like this...

And UMO's new vid for Necessary Evil, way cool!

the last word on The Last Word…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/74735383/new-owners-save-the-last-word-whisky-bar-from-closure
big ups to the banner advertiser above!
Whisky Galore – catcher of the Rye?
- reopened last night I hear.

spontaneous free plug:
take a leap of fourth…
Dramfest 26-28 Febrewery, 2016
which will be so good they are arranging
an extra day in February just to recover!

ps: it's probably no coincidence that
DRAM = dynamic random-access memory...

Umm, I'm not sure anybody really wants this, but Psy has a new song out, Daddy (and it kinda seems to have weirdly Confucian undertones, and not just the appearance of the character 孝 (xiao4 = filial piety) in the background):

My photos of the Thurston Moore show at the Tuning Fork last Thursday are over at Elsewhere. I enjoyed it, other people not so much.

Thanks for that, great clip. If you hadn't pointed out the Confucian subtext I'd have assumed that kind of thing started back around 1970 with Giorgio Moroder :)

so many choices today for you aucklanders!
here's another one (if you are not heading to the phoenix game of course)
Age Old 2015
Lineup includes Astro Children and Opposite Sex from Dunedin, as well as LIAM FINN, MISS JUNE, NEW GUM SARN, SALAD BOYS, RACKETS, SODA BOYZ, COURTNEY HATE, JOE SAYS NO, YUKON ERA and WELLINGTON POETRY CLUB.
Kinda cool ethos they express thus - "to subvert the tenuous marriage between music and alcohol cultures, and provide a safe environment for audiences of all ages to enjoy the absolute best in alternative music this country has to offer."

Starts at 4:30.

big ups to the banner advertiser above!
Whisky Galore – catcher of the Rye?
- reopened last night I hear.

They're a fine bunch at Whisky Galore.

Hollie Fullbrook and Tiny Ruins released the Hurtling Through EP via Bella Music last week. Her collaboration with Hamish Kilgour. It's stunningly beautiful.

Was lucky enough to see Hollie and Bic Runga earlier this year play the Wintergarden. They recorded the title track of the above around that time, I guess.

On the heels of the excellent Great Australian Album series which emerged earlier this year and included Go-Between's' 16 Lovers Lane and The Saint's I'm Stranded is this one-off ABC/Screen Queensland doco, out about a month back, with another take of the Saints - the Stranded Documentary 2015:

Nicely inter-spliced with footage showing up the villainous Queensland politics of Joh Bjelke-Petersen and thuggish tactics of his constabulary. Even half the Dead Kennedys experienced the force of the latter, spending a night in a Brisbane klink.

That was an appalling review - the reviewer clearly didn't want to be there, and spent most of his words informing us of this......I thought it was a great show.

Thanks Jonathan for the Thurston Moore pics. I suspect that the 13th Floor reviewer wasn't the only one who would have preferred to be at the St James for Father John Misty.

Enjoyed the show but kept thinking about what I was missing. Some of the longer cuts have sections that sound like out-takes from mid-late period SY (100 Leaves -> Sonic Nurse), but seem to be missing the sub-editing input from his former band mates to either add complexity (Lee) or strip it away (Kim).

the reviewer clearly didn’t want to be there

It may have been more reserved back by the bar, but the reception the band got down the front was really enthusiastic. There were some young kids who had grabbed the stage front positions before the support band had even started, and they got right into it. One of them was holding the latest LP - I hope he got it signed.

this one-off ABC/Screen Queensland doco, out about a month back, with another take of the Saints – the Stranded Documentary 2015:

Good to see this on YouTube now. The political scene-setting is really interesting, parts of the diversion into the Brisbane music scene less so. It’s a good complement to the Great Australian Albums one.

UPDATE: Righto, I’ve arranged it so that I can collect names for the free doorlist for the Friday Save the St James show detailed below. Just click the email icon at the bottom of the post and send me a message with your name(s) and “St James” as the subject line. See you there!