24 MAY 2014 ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY: DAVID KILGOUR AND THE HEAVY EIGHTS

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Irene Hundleby

24 MAY 2014 ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY

DAVID KILGOUR and THE HEAVY EIGHTS

LEFT BY SOFT

"David Kilgour's way with music over the years is the kind of gift of talent that maintains its own pace; without being demonstrative about it, he just seems to release one excellent album after another in group, collaborative, and solo contexts, where one listen is all it takes to remind someone of just how good he is. Such is the case with his latest album backed by the Heavy Eights, Left by Soft, where the opening instrumental title track has not one, but two brilliant solos that seem to float above the energetic, crisp chug of the main arrangement like birds skimming over a lake."

Left By Soft album review on ALL MUSIC

Well we LOVE David Kilgour and all of his endeavours...

(The Clean, Solo & with The Heavy Eights)

If you haven't heard these peoples live and you are in Dunedin...

TODAY is THE BEST DAY to go and do that...

Check these awesome peeps playing @ CHICKS tonight!

Here is a taster of some of DAVID KILGOUR & THE HEAVY EIGHTS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx3_XKFZb7o

For more info: www.davidkilgour.com

DAVID KILGOUR music available at RELICS

THE CLEAN music available at RELICS

Posted in David Kilgour, David Kilgour & The Heavy Eights, Dunedin Sound, Flying Nun, May is NZ music month, NZ music, The Clean

23 MAY 2014 ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY: WHIRIMAKO BLACK

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Irene Hundleby

23 MAY 2014 ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY

WHIRIMAKO BLACK

THE LATE NIGHT PLAYS

"The Late Night Plays sees her covering favourites from the world of jazz and further afield. Black has a timeless quality and one of those voices that is reassuring not only in its accomplishment but in its ability to interpret, emote and inspire."

NZ Herald album review by Lydia Jenkin

"Deep, dark and organic, Whirimako Black's voice seems to come from the heart of the Earth. It encompasses both the sophistication of jazz and the powerful simplicity of waiata."
Nick Bollinger on Whirimako Black's 2005 CD, Tangihaku, from his book 100 Essential New Zealand Albums

Whirimako Black has been a recording and performing artist for the last twenty years. I really love it that she is true to her roots and performs her music in te reo as well as English. Her voice has a soothing deep resonance to it that leaves you wanting more. Whirimako has won many awards including a Silver Scroll award in song writing for Best Māori Composition along with Best Māori Album and Best Jazz Album at the NZ Music Awards.

The best way for you to get a grasp of the talented Whirimako Black is to hear her beautiful voice...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG7T4ugcRI0

Whirimako at the Museum

For more info: The Arts Foundation WHIRIMAKO BLACK biography

WHIRIMAKO BLACK facebook page

WHIRIMAKO BLACK music available at RELICS

Posted in Jazz, May is NZ music month, NZ music, te reo, Whirimako Black

22 MAY 2014 ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY: BEACH PIGS

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Irene Hundleby

22 MAY 2014 ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY

BEACH PIGS

GROM WARFARE ALBUM RELEASE PARTY: 31 MAY IN AUCKLAND!

"There’s something to be said for getting straight to the point and Auckland’s Beach Pigs could hardly be accused of self-indulgence. This band produce rapid, energetic punk-infused catchy little pops songs. These are the sort of songs that are immediately likeable but the flip side of this is that ‘these-sort-of-songs’ are often the first ones you get sick of. Let’s call it polite punk."

http://www.last.fm/music/Beach+Pigs

If you are in AUCKLAND on 31 MAY 2014 you can celebrate GROM WARFARE with BEACH PIGS...

SO we don't have this album yet, but don't worry we will definitely get it as soon as it is released! These guys are super energetic and we like their 'get-out-there-and-do-it-attitude'... simply refreshing...

Here is a great taster of the new album GROM WARFARE... their new single 'Night Surfing'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTA8A5cpGyc

For a taster of past music check out their music vid for 'Catch Up In The Sun' uploaded in 2012...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAbpKR5fDBg

For more info: BEACH PIGS facebook page

http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/news/39468/5-Bands-You-Need-To-Hear-May

BEACH PIGS music will be in RELICS REAL SOON!!

We will let you know via here and the facebook!

Posted in Beach Pigs, May is NZ music month, NZ music

21 MAY ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY: KING LOSER

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Irene Hundleby

21 MAY ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY

KING LOSER

CAUL OF THE OUTLAW

"King Loser put the scuzz in scuzz-rock. Like some kind of evil take on Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood [sic], the domineering front of Chris Heazlewood and Celia Mancini (nee patel/pavlova) trade off vocal barbs (him – rugged and biting, her – sultry and fork-tongued) over a bed of surf-guitar, jungle-grooves or just good-old american lo-fi hiss-rock."

http://thebigcity.co.nz/artists/k/king-loser

King Loser's music has been described as surf rock instrumental, psychedelic rock and noise... this Flying Nun band came together in the early 90s however their connections as individual musicians to so many other bands is rather interesting... and I am sure there are many stories out there!

Want to check out some more of their history? Here is a nice little summary...

http://www.audioculture.co.nz/people/king-loser

And here's a little of them in person - an early interview and sounds from the 90s...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak1vvKPHY0g

KING LOSER music available at RELICS

Posted in Flying Nun, King Loser, May is NZ music month, NZ music

20 MAY 2014 ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY: GILLIAN WHITEHEAD

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Irene Hundleby

20 MAY 2014 ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY:

GILLIAN WHITEHEAD

ARAPATIKI

"New Zealand composer Gillian Karawe Whitehead has written two quintets for the New Zealand String Quartet and Taonga Puoro (Māori instruments) specialist Richard Nunns. These outstanding works, Puhake ki te rangi (“spouting to the skies”) andHineputehue (“the woman of the sound of the gourd”) have been performed many times in New Zealand, Europe and North America and audiences have found them fascinating, evocative and moving."

NZ STRING QUARTET: Music by Gillian Whitehead for string quartet and Taonga Puoro

NZ composer Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead, one of New Zealand's most esteemed present day composers, has been the recipient of many awards including the SOUNZ contemporary award in 1999 for her opera 'Outrageous Fortune.' In 2008 Gillian was awarded one of New Zealand's highest honours - Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, and in 2009 given the title ‘Dame’...

Her compositions number far too many to mention in a short piece such as this, however in 2010 she was part of a New Zealand composers collaboration CD with harpist Helen Webby: Pluck. I was lucky enough to have a minor job helping out on the DVD documentary project 'Harps make Fine companions' that mirrored the making of the CD Pluck. The interviews with all the composers were fascinating, where each composer explained some of their compositional styles and techniques. Gillian had a gentle yet vibrant way about her, and I particularly enjoyed the interaction she had with Helen Webby, explaining how she as the composer envisioned her piece 'Cicadas' to be played.

Her works are dynamic and include a variety of genres, instruments and performance techniques. If you would like to discover more about her work, here is a performance of her composition 'Arapatiki', a commissioned piece for Stephen De Pledge.

"Arapatiki translates (from the Maori language) as ‘the way of the flounder’, and is the ancient name of the sand flats in front of my house at Harwood, near Dunedin."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9n0soDQCzo

For more info: Composer Gillian Karawe Whitehead

GILLIAN WHITEHEAD music available at RELICS

Posted in Classical, Gillian Whitehead, May is NZ music month, NZ music, western art music

19 MAY 2014 ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY: @PEACE

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Irene Hundleby

19 MAY 2014 ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY:

@PEACE

@PEACE AND THE PLUTONIUM NOISE SYMPHONY

"On this latest effort the group transcend into outer worldly territory, with reoccurring themes of space, time, evolution and religion. ‘Lite Year’ delves into the effects of time dilation and tells the story of two people drifting from earth around the sun, ‘No Stars In The City’ talks of getting away from metropolitan life to see distant galaxies, and ‘Stranger’ talks from the point of view of an astronaut landing on an occupied planet and its host alien."

Excerpt from the Audience review of 2014 album: @Peace and the Plutonium Noise Symphony

The music of Auckland based band @PEACE makes me feel like I am stepping into a netherworld, a space time continuum; it is somehow familiar yet entices me into a chilled out-psychedelic experience. The grooves are laid back and warm. Last night I checked out an unreleased track 'Amor Fati' on The Audience and just had to listen to it again... I am really looking forward to more, and a performance experience sometime in the future!! Their latest album @PEACE AND THE PLUTONIUM NOISE SYMPHONY has been well received, and I've noticed their facebook followers steadily growing in numbers since it's release!

Excerpt from review of 2nd EP 'Girl Songs' by JAKE EBDALE - RIP IT UP

"To the uninitiated, this may sound like an extension of Tom Scott's misfit group Homebrew, which could be assigned to the two singles ‘Cake’ and ‘Flowers’, but under the surface it possesses a raw and brooding quality, with an emphasis on laid back funk grooves and straight laced rhymes contributed by both Scott and Lui Tuiasau. Nineties rap commandeers the flow, and though the boys probably wouldn’t accept the ‘conscious rap’ tag, it comes to mind – A Tribe Called Quest and Common particularly.  "

Here is the music video for 'Flowers' by @peace on the EP 'Girl Songs' released in 2013

http://vimeo.com/63974846

@Peace 'Flowers' from @ Peace on Vimeo.

Video directed by Blake Dunlop
www.blakedunlop.co.nz

www.atpeace.co.nz

For more info:

www.atpeace.co.nz

@PEACE facebook page

@PEACE music available at RELICS

Posted in @peace, hip hop, May is NZ music month, NZ music

18 MAY 2014 ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY: THE CHILLS

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Irene Hundleby

18 MAY 2014 ~ NZ ARTIST OF THE DAY

THE CHILLS

SOMEWHERE BEAUTIFUL

"The Chills were exemplars of the so-called Dunedin Sound – an often moist and melancholy, simultaneously dark and breezy amalgam of Western garage-pop roots but invested with an otherworldly aura, as if those overseas influences had indeed seeped in upside down. But only Phillipps was this quixotic, bridging folk and bubblegum, Bowie and Syd Barrett, with feverish shivers and childlike whimsy. (No one else would have dared wear pixie boots with no irony, only joy)"

Martin Aston - Flying Nun Records

The central figure of Dunedin band The CHILLS is Martin Phillips.

There have been over 20 line-ups of this band in the past 30 years, and incredible musicians in the mix.

The current line-up consists of these fantastic musicians:

Martin Phillips vocals, guitar, keyboards

Erica Stichbury keyboards, violin, rhythm guitar, backing vocals

Oli Wilson keyboards and backing vocals

James Dickson bass and backing vocals

Todd Knudson drums

They are currently rehearsing to head off on tour to AUCKLAND, CHRISTCHURCH and DUNEDIN... and for those of you in Europe... tour dates are in the works!!