NZ MUSIC MUSIC C MON NTH HS PECIAL ISSUE! IS SSUE! NZ MONTH SPECIAL
E P O R EU E D A V N I S S H 0 T 8 E B S E THE INGI GO IM A S E K TROY EILSON TAK MATIC E N N I I C M TA ET G I C S M A R G AR! F O S BUMS L A SIC Z U N M T I S KIW S BE N ’ O 2 2 N 0 2 ETMA E W S IES N V O O M M I S SIC U M Z N UIDE 5 G P G I O T TH G N O M MUSIC
E D A J A E S L E H C “The
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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Monday, May 2, 2022
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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Monday, May 2, 2022
IN SIDE
GOT A Y A D T R I H S GOOD T SHIRT? SUPPORT A good cause, support local musicians and look good doing it? You betcha. That’s the purpose of Music Month’s most stylish day, NZ Music T-Shirt Day. It’s super easy to get involved in this fun fundraising effort for MusicHelps, the charity providing vital support to music industry folk, both in front of and behind the scenes, whose livelihoods have been compromised due to Covid-19. Just text MUSIC to 2448 to donate $3 and boom! You’ve registered and made a positive difference in the world! Go you. Really, the hardest part is picking which local band T-shirt to wear on the big day. It takes place on Friday May 27, so you’ve got a few weeks yet to find yourself a cool band tee. Check your fave record shop, the merch table at gigs or nzmusictshirtday. org.nz for a huge list of links to order a tee directly from the artists websites.
Lucy Suttor, vocalist of the Taite Award-nominated punk band Dick Move, wearing her Look Blue Go Purple band shirt on last year’s NZ Music T-Shirt Day.
Give it a watch
FEATURED
4 Troy Kingi 5 Tami Neilson 7 The Beths 9 NZ music essay by Simon Sweetman 11 Cover star Chelsea Jade
FOR A comprehensive crash course in the history of New Zealand music look no further than the landmark documentary series Give It a Whirl. Covering the first five decades of popular music in Aotearoa, it will bring you up to speed with the stories behind all of our influential musicians and break-out stars
Music
13 Favourite albums of 2022 so far 14 The picks of NZ Music Month's gigs
New wave and punk rock band Toy Love.
Movies
12 Gramsci 12 Must-See NZ Music movies
ABOUT US
EDITORIAL
Editor: Karl Puschmann Contributors: Estelle Clifford, Dominic Corry, Tom Harper, Sarah Illingworth, Cam Mansel, Martyn Pepperell, Simon Sweetman, Mikhal Norriss Magazines team leader: Isobel Marriner Design, sub-editors: Jill Stanford, Sue Baxalle, Courtney Whitaker, Maureen Marriner Cover design: Paul Slater Cover: Photography: Pictvre @_pictvre_ Hair & Make-up: Lara Daly @lara.daly. Dress: Taylor Groves @_taylorgroves Phone: Editorial (09) 379 5050 Online: nzherald.co.nz/entertainment NEWSPAPER INSERTED MAGAZINES ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: Annabel Ferguson annabel.ferguson@nzme.co.nz
from the 1950s through to the early 2000s. It features interviews with all the main players from the eras and truly remarkable archival footage. Having just launched on NZ On Screen and the AudioCulture websites it’s the first time this pivotal series has been available for free since its launch in 2003. That’s your Music Month bingewatch sorted.
Level up at the Summit FOR THOSE in the industry, hoping to be or just plain curious about how it all works, the NZ Music Month Summit is the tentpole event of Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa. Brought to you by the NZ Music Commission and Music Managers Forum
Aotearoa, it’s a full day of local artists and music industry professionals sharing their knowledge and giving incredibly useful and practical advice. This year the conversations and topics centre around the theme of Level Up and
supporting Aotearoa’s emerging talent. The summit is being held at the Tuning Fork on Saturday, May 28, but for those who can’t make it in person simply register at Moshtix. co.nz to receive a free virtual ticket to attend the event live online.
Guess Who? FOR SOME brain-scratching fun each day, head to Hauraki’s social pages where you’ll find a new cryptic illustration of an Aotearoa musical hero. These brilliantly quirky
illustrations were designed by Jonnie Ritchie and encompass everyone from . . . well, sorry. No spoilers. But we will tell you that he’s covered a variety of artists across many
different genres and eras. Some will click right away, others will leave you puzzling it out. Here’s a sampling of three of our faves. Good luck!
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I didn't know where I sat in the spectrum of sound.
Sarah Illingworth talks to the awardwinning muso about 10 10 10, Matariki and embracing 80s cheese HAVING A plan is good for getting it done, if Troy Kingi (Te Arawa, Ngāpuhi, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) is anything to go by. The Kerikeri-based artist only started pursuing music-making in earnest six or seven years ago, but has already released five albums and claimed several industry awards – most recently the 2021 APRA Silver Scroll for All Your Ships Have Sailed, from his 2020 album The Ghost Of Freddie Cesar. “I’ve been following the Silver Scrolls for many years,” says Kingi, “since before I even embarked on
Troy Kingi performs at Eden Park in Auckland. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
my own journey, so to get one’s a little bit surreal. We don’t do our music for awards, but if you’re going to win one, I feel like this is the one.” Freddie Cesar was the fourth record in Kingi’s 10 10 10 series, a challenge the artist set himself to record 10 albums in 10 years, in 10 genres. “I didn’t know where I sat in the spectrum of sound,” he says of his motivation for the project. “I really enjoyed all sorts of different styles of music, and if I was going to combine it all into one album it
would feel quite clunky and not really flow. “You could easily find your niche and just stick with it and do really well, but I think I’d get really bored. “It’s nice knowing that you’ve got something fresh coming up. It’s quite scary, you don’t know where you’re going to end up, but it’s good knowing that you’ve got work, regardless of not knowing what that work is just yet.” Black Sea Golden Ladder,
which came out amid the Covid chaos of 2021, marks the halfway point of Kingi’s endeavour. For the folk-focused record, Kingi chose to work with Lyttelton-based savant Delaney Davidson, who – already entrenched in the genre – helped keep the process both efficient and true to form. With Black Sea’s tour plans derailed several times due to changes in alert level settings, the release of Kingi’s 2022 LP has been slightly delayed. But rest assured, it’s ready to go and will be out before the year is. This album’s focus is 80s synth sounds that hark back to Kingi’s own childhood. “I’ve always thought of [that era] as the cheesy sound of the history of music, which is weird because I was born smack-bang in the middle of it. But it was good getting real deep into it. At the core, I suppose it was just finding nostalgic sounds that took me back to my childhood.” Also upcoming is a te reo Māori version of Holy Colony Burning Acres (2019), titled Pū Whenua Hautapu Eka Mumura. That release is currently pencilled for the first day of the firstever official celebration of Matariki in Aotearoa, on June 24. Kingi is enthusiastic about the new public holiday, saying: “It’s just another awesome chance to learn tikanga kawa history and ways that Māori lived in days gone by, and to learn it in a modern context as well. It can only be a good thing, I reckon. It’s always good to have another relaxing day off.”
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HOW DO you recover from meeting your hero? Country Americana powerhouse Tami Neilson is wrestling with just that. The Canadian New Zealander recently returned from a trip to Texas, where she performed at Luck Reunion, a festival held on Willie Nelson’s ranch on March 17. Not only that, but the country music legend performed one of Neilson’s songs alongside her, in the first international show she’d played since the pandemic began. “I got through the first verse and the chorus, but when he started singing his verse I was just overwhelmed,” she recalls. “I started crying and trying to keep it together. Like, be professional!” Neilson asked Nelson to duet on her forthcoming album, Kingmaker after developing a friendship with his wife, Annie, over Twitter, when the pandemic meant the 2020 Luck Reunion — which she was originally supposed to perform at — was cancelled.
The country music Queen talks to Sarah Illingworth about dueting with Willie Nelson and her plans to overthrow the Kings
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The system is poisoned — it’s not going to change quickly, or overnight.
Local country singer Tami Neilson; right, performing with country legend Willie Nelson. Photo (main) / Sophia Bayly The track, Beyond The Stars, is a heart-hitter of a tribute to both Neilson’s and co-writer Delaney Davidson’s late fathers. It also struck home for Nelson after the
passing of his sister Bobbie, who had played piano in his band for 50-odd years, just days before he and Neilson performed it live together.
Back in Aotearoa, Neilson’s looking ahead to the release of her eighth album, Kingmaker, due out on July 15. As well as personal and familial narratives, the record explores and challenges notions of patriarchy — through interrogating the role of “kingmakers”, or gatekeepers within a rigged music — more specifically country music — industry; those who hold the power to make or break an artist. “The system is poisoned — it’s not going to change quickly, or overnight,” acknowledges the performer, “but that doesn’t mean
that you can’t build your own, and exist outside of that structure. Instead of begging for a seat at the table, you build your own table.” While Covid didn’t throw the record’s timeline off per se, the lack of performance and touring opportunities over the last couple of years certainly freed up Neilson’s mental and emotional energy, to be poured into writing and recording the album “she’s always wanted to make”. “If Quentin Tarantino made a spaghetti Western and it starred Nancy Sinatra, that’s what I wanted the album to sound like. There are also songs that are very percussive and stripped back, and very much about the narrative in driving this story along.” Also in the works is a project with Maegen and Nicola Mitchell, the twin sisters of alt-country artist Jenny Mitchell. The NZ On Airfunded development partnership is an example of Neilson’s commitment to supporting and platforming other artists and their work, by paying forward the opportunities she’s had access to in her career. “One of the first acts that took me on tour in New Zealand, and gave me a chance, was the Topp Twins. I met those girls at a Country Music Awards, and they were accepting an award. Jools said, ‘When you have any success in this industry — if a door opens for you, push it wide open and hold it so that other people can come through and follow after you.’ And that’s something I’ve definitely taken to heart.”
Donations can be made at: givealittle.co.nz/cause/musichelps-and-nz-music-t-shirt-day-2022 or text MUSIC to 2448 to instantly donate $3 All donations to the MusicHelps T-Shirt Day appeal will be used to provide grants to organisations who use the power of music to heal, and emergency financial & counselling support to Aotearoa music workers. Help us keep the music alive! Are you a Aotearoa music person experiencing financial hardship or do you need professional support? Visit the MusicHelps website at musichelps.org.nz/backline for links to our financial assistance and wellbeing services. You can also contact the MusicHelps Wellbeing Service tollfree on 0508MUSICHELPS
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We’re so lucky that our audience hasn’t forgotten about us.
Liz Stokes fills in Sarah Illingworth about life on the road in Europe and drops some info on the new record AFTER TWO years of delays, Auckland indie faves The Beths have finally been able to hit the road internationally — revisiting fans everywhere from Minneapolis to Manchester. “We’ve had some of these shows booked since 2020 and rescheduled several times, so we’re stoked to finally play them,” says frontperson Liz Stokes of the 45-date tour. “I mean, it’s extremely strange too. A weird time to be touring but we’re grateful to be working again. We’re trying to make the most of our moment of touring now.” The four-piece are known and loved for their expert yet accessible
pop tunes — such as current single A Real Thing — that have won them a following around the world, and mean they can now sell out headliner shows at venues like New York City’s Webster Hall. “We’re so lucky that our audience hasn’t forgotten about us or moved on, that the world is still here for us, even though we’ve been away so long,” Stokes remarks from Europe. “We just played our first Italian show in Milan, and it was such a blast. I learned as much Italian as I could in the van on the way, which was very little, but we got by.” While aspects of the return to touring have been exhausting,
The Beths in Prague; left, soundcheck in Copenhagen. Photos / Benjamin Sinclair
particularly after the slow pace of lockdowns in Aotearoa, Stokes says the experience has also brought moments of euphoria, with performing live continuing to prove her highlight. Then, of course, there’s the pandemic: “It affects everything constantly. We managed to do the
entire US tour without any cancellations, then in the UK a month later we barely made it a couple of days before we had to postpone some shows due to Covid. Every place has a different approach and is at a different stage, and we have to be sensitive to people’s expectations, as well as true to our own idea of what is safe. It’s very much touring in hard mode.” Now they’ve finally been able to tour 2020‘s award-winning record
Jump Rope Gazers, and with a new album on the horizon later this year, Stokes promises The Beths will “certainly play some magical shows in NZ, sometime in 2022”. “We have been recording the next album at [guitarist] Jonathan Pearce’s studio on Karangahape Rd,” she continues, hinting at the release. “Jonathan produces and mixes but also is collaborating with Bevan Smith [Introverted Dancefloor, Glass Vaults] on mixing, as well as with Oliver Devlin [Hans Pucket]. But I mean, so many people have helped and lent gear and ears. We’re lucky to be a part of a great music community.” Describing the current time as a “golden age”, she recommends checking out the likes of Reb Fountain, Pickle Darling, Fable, Sure Boy, and Phoebe Rings, and shouts out Whammy Bar, Wine Cellar, and Neck of the Woods as great local venues in the band’s hometown. “The music that comes out of Aotearoa is world-class and, whatever your taste is, if you’re not exploring it you are likely missing out on something you’d really love that is right on your doorstep.” ● Keep up with The Beths on tour — and their scrummy breakfasts — at bassist Benjamin Sinclair’s fantastic tour blog, breakfastandtravelupdates.com.
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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Monday, May 2, 2022
NZMUSICMONTH.CO.NZ
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Photo / 123rf
The blessing, the curse and the craving of local music DRIVE ALONG any coast of this country and listen to Pink Frost by The Chills or Anything Could Happen by The Clean or Hanging in the Wire by Dave Dobbyn or Clockhouse Shuffle by Waves, or, well, I’m obviously just naming songs. New Zealand songs. New Zealand artists. Some well-known, some less obvious, but from the youngest age, I’ve felt this country come alive when I hear the soundtrack to the movie as it’s happening. Cows and sheep and paddocks blurring, Tip Top dairies and roadside fruit stands, with Jordan Luck or Phil Judd or Chris Knox telling me not at all how I should feel, but absolutely how they feel. The New Zealand music I crave doesn’t so much tell me anything about myself — doesn’t necessarily make me feel I belong, instead it is by outsiders reminding themselves and whoever is listening that they don’t really belong, that they’re just hanging on, and that, really, we’re all just hanging on. And through that, I’ve learned about myself. I drive into Hawke’s Bay, hills golden gleaming like one of Freeman White’s paintings and the songs of The Front Lawn could only be the soundtrack. Jan Hellriegel singing the word “quagmire”, where else in the world would you get that? Once I had the biggest lump in my throat as I drove home, tail lights nearly dragging on the ground and I had to explain myself, but what really set it all off was Paul Ubana Jones singing Lust for Life. His lines about how he had changed, about how he was so fragile, about the titular lust that drove him on, leading and misleading. I had yet to get my story straight, but no other song could ever guide me. For many years, I wrote about
Poet and music podcaster Simon Sweetman reflects on what NZ music really means and the sound of home
Photo / Getty Images music every day. It was a gruelling and thankless task. It limited my career opportunities, but people said that I was lucky because, hey, free tickets to gigs. I kissed so many frogs and, in the end, I finally got to see Prince! (Had to pay my own way.) Bands would release bland albums and publicists would trot out the same lines and be disappointed that I didn’t do so too. And, yes, yes, music is subjective — so the band I didn’t like might be the band you love, but how could I feel anything about the latest copycat when I had heard such powerful truths? The woozy swagger of Split Enz’s Late Last Night, the deep social
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I couldn’t lie. I could not say I loved any of this.
heart and desperate plea of Emma Paki’s System Virtue, the frankly, skull-melting times getting as close to whatever it is that bands like Jakob and Bailterspace conjure and twist. A reggae rewrite means nothing in comparison. The latest graduate of a music course using the same three chords in boring old ways, or a cynical cash-grab to brag that a Kiwi band made it into an American movie. I couldn’t lie. I could not say I loved any of this. It was impossible. And maybe I shouldn’t have smashed quite as many walnuts with such a giant sledgehammer. But I did. And I did it because the song in my head, driving me around this country, was The Mutton Birds’ A Thing Well Made. Or
it was French Letter by Herbs. Or it was Drive. Bic Runga, The Subliminals, The Swingers, Vorn, Tall Dwarfs, David Kilgour, Hello Sailor, Dianne Swann . . . There’s no record store anywhere else in the world, no library, no radio station that would place them together. We’re lucky we can do that. And we’re cursed by this also. Because music isn’t a competition. But the very best music I ever hear is the song — or the theme — that tells me more about the writer than it could ever tell me about myself. With the best New Zealand music, my guess is we all have some clue of what it might have taken, how it could have formed, what it is hoping to say. But if I get any sense of my identity through someone else’s work it’s an insight, but also a bonus. It’s not what drags me to the dance. Yet it might be enough to get me back home. And that’s it in the end. Home. Sharon O’Neill singing Smash Palace, Chris Knox in his jandals rewriting Velvet Underground songs, Eddie Rayner’s piano glissando — and the worlds he can slot inside each and every note — these are the doorways that lead me home. Sir Dave Dobbyn with his skeleton key. There are another 800 words to follow where I just name songs and bands. It’s the best playlist I’ll ever make. Until I create another. It’s every imaginary movie I’ve cooked up, every road trip I’ll ever take, my best and worst moments — the memories I hold deep and ones I cannot shake. And it’s the best music from New Zealand. Some of the best music I’ve heard, and got to hold, from anywhere in this world. ● Simon Sweetman is a poet, host of the music-centric Sweetman Podcast and former music critic.
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FOLLOW OUR OFFICIAL PLAYLISTS
CHECK OUT THE BIGGEST SINGLES AND ALBUMS ON THE TOP40, THE HOTTEST NEW MUSIC ON THE HOT40 AND BEST LOCAL AND TE REO MĀORI TUNES OF THE WEEK AT WWW.NZTOP40.CO.NZ
The Official NZ Music Charts are produced by Recorded Music NZ. Recorded Music NZ represents recording artists and right holders in Aotearoa through licensing, advocacy and promotion. Find out more at www.recordedmusic.co.nz
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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Monday, May 2, 2022
COVER STORY
Who: Musician Chelsea Jade What: The release of her second art-pop album Soft Spot When: Out now.
Electro-art-pop artist Chelsea Jade speaks to Karl Puschmann about her new album and reaching her point of vulnerability PERCHED ON the edge of her perfectly made bed, in the fastidiously tidy bedroom of her apartment in a trendy part of Brooklyn, New York, the immaculately presented Chelsea Jade says, “I have this impression of myself that I come across quite harshly sometimes.” It’s a surprising admission. How she comes across is something Jade puts a lot of thought, time and effort into. She may have dropped out of art school to pursue music but her presentation remains steeped in those ideals with a healthy dollop of provocation and challenge dropped on top for good measure. Whether it’s from her idiosyncratically off-kilter dance routines, the way she uses her beauty as a prop to be admired, confused or rattled by, or the beguiling art, photography and music videos that accompany her meticulously crafted electro-pop, Jade’s dedication to aesthetic is unrivalled. But, of course, that’s the view from the outside looking in. Flip that around and things can look a lot different. “The record is talking about the context — and subtext — of my own inner feelings about those experiences,” she continues. “Man, I’ve discovered so much.” That record is Soft Spot, her longawaited follow-up to 2018‘s Top 10 charting album Personal Best. By now you should have heard its lead-in singles; the deliriously glossy alt-slow-jam Optimist, the sexual bounce of Good Taste and the carefree pop of Best Behaviour, which is worth looking up on YouTube to enjoy its joyfully goofy Rose Matafeo-starring music vid. The rest of the album lives up to the promise of those singles as Jade dives in and explores the parts of her psyche that aren’t so pleasant. “The act of making anything should be time well spent on examining your own perspective,” she says. “Hopefully, this has helped me do that. But it’s not really diving in for me. I’m always writing and making work so it feels quite positive to now be here thinking about it. I’m understanding that I’m at a place where I enjoy adding context to esoteric
Photo / James K Lowe
HIGHWAY TO THE
danger zone
thought.” Then putting on a cartoonish voice she jokes, “I don’t walk into the room being like, ‘I’m gonna deal with this today!’ “I really wish it was that way,” she sighs. “I wish I could think like that.” Instead, she approached this concept with the same artistic intent as her visuals, inviting you to share the journey through her headspace in a sonically literal way. “On the record, there’s that line that’s crossed from the outer world into the inner world,” she explains. “You can hear sound design of a storm and me walking into the room, singing the song before it cuts to my inner monologue voice, which is obviously more glossy and in the pop-mentality world. That occurs a lot in the album, where it’s undulating between what’s really happening and what’s happening in the mind.” That juxtaposition between lousy reality and the perfection of escapism is universal. Whether that’s singing in the shower or cutting shapes on the d-floor, we’re all superstars in our minds. But is the imagined reality where Jade herself lives or was this more of an artistic flourish for the album? An enigmatic look crosses her face as she replies, “Who can really tell?” She laughs, then quietly adds,
“Especially in the last couple of years. God, I spent so much time alone . . . As an artist, I spend a lot of time alone.” Even though Jade still feels very local, appearing in Lorde’s music video, playing shows, turning up at events and collaborating with New
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It’s the place I’m most vulnerable, but also where my cruelty comes from.
Zealanders both in front of and behind the cameras, she actually relocated to Los Angeles six years ago to pursue music and collaboration full time. More recently, she packed up and moved to New York. “I wanted to be a pinball in a machine made of different kinds of people, where I keep grazing different incidental crossover moments with unexpected
people,” she says of her motivation to move across America to the Big Apple at the start of this year. “LA,” she says, “is very intentional.” You’d think the lead-up to an album release would be a less than ideal time to make such a major move — “It’s as brutal a transition as you might expect,” she says — but she’s had time. Soft Spot was finished a year ago. So when asked how she’s feeling now that it’s out, she replies, “It’s surprising that it’s happening. Time is a foreign topic for me. I don’t have a good relationship with time, I must say. It’s been a long lead-up for me.” Having had all this time with the album she says she understands it a lot more than she did while she was making it, especially the repeating patterns and motifs that emerged throughout its creation and how they relate to the side of herself she was exploring. In her past works, any sight of a forming pattern made her feel “affronted”, and she’d purposefully reject them. She’s since realised she was projecting. “At times I could be worried that I was being too obtuse or that people weren’t gonna put the time into understanding,” she says. “Now I believe that the audience, if they choose to spend time with it, maybe the dual meanings of things can take shape for them as they
have for me. It’s a richer text.” This brings us to the point of the album and its themes, sometimes daringly obvious (Good Taste), sometimes less so (Real Pearl), other times brutally reflective (Superfan) or worryingly escapist (Optimist) but always boundlessly inventive and teasingly intriguing. “The concept of the Soft Spot to me is a point of vulnerability,” she says. “Doesn’t it imply a groove in a regular demeanour? To me, it’s the place that I’m gonna love or the place where I’m most vulnerable, but it’s also where my cruelty comes from. It’s like the quicksand of yourself.” In that light, the album could almost be considered a warning. Addressing and highlighting the different sorts of fallout from her personal and emotional failings, her acerbic tendencies, losing experience under the watchful eye of social media and the way she sort of just floats softly away from friends. “The implication is that you reserve the soft spot for only some. When you do isolate yourself to that point, then as well as being a place of affection and love it feels like that soft spot is also a danger zone.” This is something she’s identified within herself, I ask. Without hesitation, Chelsea Jade answers. “Definitely.”
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MOVIES
Must-see Kiwi music movies LIKE OUR country, the selection of New Zealand music movies isn’t large, but it’s quality. So why not celebrate New Zealand Music Month by watching some of the best New Zealand music movies? Dawn Raid (2020) Oscar Kightley directed this fist pump-inducing celebration of the hip-hop label that brought South Auckland’s cultural force to all of New Zealand, and then the world. Co-founders Andy Murnane and Danny “Brotha D” Leaosavai’i started by selling T-shirts at the Ōtara markets, and went on to help define contemporary Kiwi hip-hop and R’n’B with artists like Deceptikonz, Adeaze and Aaradhna. This documentary explores our popular music’s relationship with America, and the complex challenges of trying to break that market. Although the sunny film perhaps could’ve been a bit more acknowledging of artist discontent, there’s no denying all the bangers that roll out. Dominic Corry Footrot Flats — The Dog’s Tale (1986) In the 1980s, a blockbuster wasn’t a blockbuster without an accompanying hit song. Think Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone from Top Gun, or Ray Parker jnr’s Ghostbusters. The only time this ever happened (properly) with a New Zealand film concerned cartoonist Murray Ball’s animated adaptation of his iconic comic strip about life
on the farm. Dave Dobbyn teamed up with Herbs for the smash hit Slice of Heaven, a ridiculously catchy number that has arguably endured in the public consciousness better than the movie. Another Dave Dobbyn pearler, You Oughta Be in Love, also features on the soundtrack. Dominic Corry Swagger of Thieves (2017) They had hit songs, stadium tours, and a moment in the 90s when it looked like they were going to drag the whole world down to their sleazy, greasy, hard-rocking level. But two pivotal members of Wellington’s Head Like a Hole also had heavy drug addictions that dissolved their global dreams like white powder on a heating spoon. Director Julian Boshier spent a decade filming the rockers and captured the band at their glitzy highs, their gutter lows and then
somewhere in the middle as they attempted to stage a comeback. Swagger of Thieves is a cautionary tale, a celebration of the power of rock, and bloody entertaining. Karl Puschmann
Santa Fe, Massachusetts — July New York City — August Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch — September
The Chills — The Triumph & Tragedy of Martin Phillipps (2019) The very storied history of one of New Zealand’s greatest-ever bands is told through the eyes of its only constant: frontman Martin Phillipps, a troubled genius if ever there was one. Introduced pottering around his cluttered Dunedin flat, Julia Parnell’s documentary is framed by some serious health issues faced by Phillipps. It’s an appropriately dour introduction to the man who played a key role in the development of the nowiconic “Dunedin sound”. With more than 25 members cycling in and out of The Chills’ line-up throughout the years, there’s plenty of ground to cover, and of course a number of magnificent tracks. Dominic Corry Flight of the Conchords: Live In London (2018) This movie-length concert special is the closest thing we have to a Flight of the Conchords movie (so far?), so we’re including it. For a long time prior to the emergence of the
internationally successful musical comedy duo, funny songs were either funny or musically accomplished, but rarely both. Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, channelling a casual Kiwi party “pick-up-a-guitar” attitude, fused humour and melody like never before across years of live shows and two seasons of a beloved TV series. Several of their greatest triumphs (Father and Son, Inner City Pressure) can be heard in this filmed performance, and they also cut a pretty nice line in onstage banter. Dominic Corry
HERE, THERE, AND . . . NOW THE BIG SCREEN Paul McLaney on the inspiration behind Gramsci’s two new short films
Bell and Mother Nature there! Quite apart from the fact that the landscape of Aotearoa is visually breathtaking, both in its grandeur and beauty, I’m drawn towards this idea of it being a shared cultural metaphor for our own emotional interiors; that vast landscape within us that is necessary for us to hold GRAMSCI HAVE made two short the world in our imaginations. indie art films as companion pieces Did you have any revelations to their brilliant album The bringing this concept to life in two Hinterlands. The conceptual films, different mediums? filmed in a lush, glorious black and You never really know what is going white, star Sara Wiseman and on in someone’s life. From the Zachary Te Maari and were exterior it may seem that they are locked in some reverie as they directed by Richard Bell, the man behind music videos for Depeche gaze across Lake Hāwea to the Mode, U2 and Nirvana. Southern Alps, lost in the The first is called Here, magnificence of it all, the second There, and when in fact they may both will premiere at instead be mourning Avondale’s Hollywood some aspect of their Theatre on Friday, May life or worrying about 27. the rent. It’s like the Why did you want to idea that the one thing make these two short you can’t leave behind Sara Wiseman films? when you go on holiday Hinterlands was released is you. You bring all of in February when the country was your thoughts, concerns, anxieties, at the red level. It’d been our hopes, regrets, etc. with you. It’s original intention to play a series of why kindness has such a vital and concerts to promote it but we important role in society; found ourselves back in that everyone’s dealing with stuff and situation of a likely series of sometimes they just need the postponements and cancellations. encouragement to focus on the It’s an exhausting process to beauty within and without them that can help to motivate and engage with as there are so many moving parts to staging a concert. recharge their personal energies. The decision was made to focus on How are you feeling about an artistic project that would be watching the films with an able to occur at any alert level and audience for the first time, do you one that would add context and think it will feel different from scope to the music. The album is when you perform music? concerned with this idea of the Yes, I would imagine that it would interior emotional landscape and feel much more external and also so really lends itself well to the illuminate the collaboration that cinematic experience goes into film-making. In the The cinematography is gorgeous absence of a formalised spirituality, and dramatic — what is it about the engagement with music has the New Zealand landscape that always been my parish. So to sit inspires you? with an audience will feel like the Thanks, hats off to director Richard most natural way to experience it.
@blackgracedanceco
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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Monday, May 2, 2022
MUSIC
Friends of TimeOut share their favourite New Zealand albums of 2022 so far. Sarah Illingworth is a music writer and artist services manager at Flying Out. Various artists: Sunreturn This is a really cool recent compilation of songs by artists from Tāmaki Makaurau’s DIY indie scene. Capturing a moment in time — much like a class photo — the release features tunes by friends and signings to Zac Arnold’s Sunreturn label, including Dateline, Dbldbl, Amamelia, and plenty more. Hard to pick a favourite, but I’m going to point to N.T. Honey’s Run Away, which you’ll also find on that act’s own record, Accidental Punk. Tooms: Fake Teeth The debut album from this long-standing Tāmaki Makaurau duo, out on local indie label 1:12 Records, has been dubbed “wine punk”. The album’s high energy tracks pelt like deftly crafted lyric bombs, designed to keep listeners awake not just woke. Tracks like Bit Part are wry anthems for anyone needing to exorcise the demons of urban life, probably even better done in a live environment on a Friday night at Whammy Bar. Die! Die! Die!: This Is Not An Island Anymore It’s no small feat being able to hold a multigenerational audience, especially when you’re a DIY punk band, but seven albums in, Die! Die! Die! continue to bring the goods that won the hearts of their diehard core fans in the first place. This Is Not An Island Anymore sees the reunion of original members Andrew Wilson and Michael Prain with bassist Lachlan Anderson, and songs like IMAGINE remind you how cathartic a wall of noise can be.
Tom Harper is the host of the NZ music podcast Locals Only. Erny Belle: Venus Is Home Venus Is Home is so good it’ll change your Spotify algorithm. It’s an alt-folk masterpiece that sits alongside the sounds of Stella Donnelly and Kiwi counterpart Aldous Harding in that it’s playful, earnest and serene. The opening lyrics to Nuclear Bombs, “I’m gonna go smoke some ‘P’ and put my baby in a washing machine” hit me, as intended, like a nuclear bomb. Instantly making it my favourite track off the album. Aldous Harding: Warm Chris Harding’s cheeky and challenging instrumentation on the album is remarkable. Yet, it’s her refusal to sound the same on any two tracks that’s cemented the kooky, calm alt-folk chameleon atop the New Zealand music landscape with her fourth studio album. You’d be right to think that the strut track Fever is a standout on the album. It’ll have you a button loose, with a wine in hand dancing in the kitchen.
Yumi Zouma: Present Tense Yumi Zouma’s fourth studio album, Present Tense, plays like a ripping night out with your mates. The band’s lead singer Christie Simpson’s vocals hold a sense of safety and nostalgia. Yet, the New Orderesque guitar lines littered through the album kindly say, “Let’s go large tonight!” which makes Present Tense the soundtrack to the coming-of-age film starring you. Check out the climactic credit song Astral Projection to find out how the film ends.
Estelle Clifford is the music reviewer for Saturday Morning with Jack Tame on ZB. Jamie McDell: Self-titled Tūı̄ Award-winning singer-songwriter Jamie McDell’s self-titled album has the sounds of an artist who is confident in what she’s doing. It’s a personal journey. Honest, sad at times, and reflective. Recorded in Nashville, it is raw in its delivery but also in its production. I love that it’s not heavy-handed or layered too much. Jamie’s voice seems stronger in these tunes, perhaps that is the nature of telling your own stories. Poor Boy, inspired by her dad, is my fave. Mousey: My Friends Mousey’s new album, My Friends, is a lively collection of tunes celebrating and reflecting on her closest peeps. Her voice is the magic, with a knack for crafting catchy melodies and lyrics on songs that transition from light and floaty to loud grungy guitars. Mousey and her band are a talented bunch with a style that’s fluid and fun. Highly recommend seeing them live. My pick is One Dollar Wednesdays, a song written for her husband that can only be described as couple goals. Te Kaahu: Te Kaahu O Rangi Te Kaahu is the reo Māori project of the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Theia and it is a beautiful listen that is, at times, nostalgic. When I asked about the inspiration behind this album, Theia told me she wanted to capture the waiata of her nannies when sitting at the base of their skirts, singing along as a child. I felt connected to that. E Taku Huia Kaimanawa is my favourite track.
Cam Mansel is the host of the ZM Night Show. Benee: Lychee Benee returned in 2022 with this new EP which is full of funky tunes to get your ears around. It’s a coming-of-age album which takes us on a journey through navigating life, heartbreak and finding yourself in a world that’s everchanging. It provides thought-provoking lyrics with dreamy melodies making it the perfect
soundtrack to contemplate life. Josie Moon: Paint Me How You Need Me Josie Moon is an artist you might not have heard of yet but you definitely need to! Wellington’s up-andcoming alt-pop princess sent me an advance copy and I promise you this is an album you need in your life. From sweeping dream-pop vocals to funk soul melodies you will find it all. Moon’s clever songwriting will transport you from your daily tribulations into her carefully crafted sonic world. This debut album is due in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for it. Broods: Space Island Join Broods on the intergalactic journey we didn’t know we needed to Space Island. While its extraterrestrial melodies are very different to anything we’ve heard from Broods before, you can always count on Georgia’s angelic vocals and Caleb’s driving beats to impeccably deliver the goods. You’ll find my favourite track halfway through the album; I Keep, featuring Tove Lo, delivers the mental turmoil you face when you’re in a relationship that you should leave but keep going back to.
Martyn Pepperell is a music journalist, broadcaster, DJ and writer. Mokotron: Tawhito In the early 80s, the machine-funk sounds of electro ruled dancefloors from New York to Pātea. Forty years on, Māori electronic music producer Mokotron keeps the funky sound alive in Tāmaki Makaurau, but with a twist. Across Tawhito (ancient), Mokotron combines taonga puoro and vocoded te reo Māori vocals with the drum machines, synthesisers and sci-fi noises that ushered in
Thur 7th July
DUNEDIN UNION HALL Fri 8th July
OAMARU
OAMARU CLUB Sat 9th July
CHRISTCHURCH
NGAIO MARSH THEATRE CHCH UNI* Sun 10th July
METHVEN BLUE PUB
Fri 15th July
BLENHEIM
CLUBS OF MARLBOROUGH
Sat 16th July
NELSON
RATTLE N HUM Fri 22nd July
MT. MAUNGANUI TOTARA ST
Sat 23rd July
HAMILTON THE FACTORY
electro’s halcyon years, in the process sharing a distinctly Māori version of ancient futurism with us. Check the album’s b-boy anthem, Māori Electro Alliance, it has enough bounce to get the whole party cutting shapes. Unsanitary Napkin: All Billionaires Are Bastards If you like your music angry, socially aware, cutting and caring, Te Whanganui-a-Tara anarcho-punk trio Unsanitary Napkin’s new album All Billionaires Are Bastards is for you. Over 12 short, sharp and screamy songs loaded with angular guitars, relentless blast beats and pummeling basslines, they take aim at Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, police violence, altright rhetoric, and disinformation. Three albums in, Unsanitary Napkin are only getting more focused and ferocious. Enjoy the ride. Album track Peter Thiel (Literal F***ing Vampire) is the soundtrack to rioting for all the right reasons. christoph el truento & brandn shiraz: No Warning Over abstract, sample-based instrumentals produced by Home Brew/Avantdale Bowling Club collaborator christoph el truento, young Tāmaki Makaurau MC brandn shiraz shows off his rap skills. Recalling the dusty grit of modern New York boom bap and the psychedelic West Coast beat loops of Madlib and his peers, No Warning takes global influences and makes them feel local. It’s the sound of an inner-city Auckland where rappers perform with jazz bands at art gallery shows. Album joint HOL’ ON is the pick with stylish introversion and bravado set against a syrupy jazz-soul strut.
Thur 28th July
Fri 12th August
WELLINGTON
AUCKLAND
Fri 29th July
Sat 13th August
SAN FRAN
PALMERSTON NORTH THE ROYAL
Sat 30th July
NAPIER
BEV RIDGES ON YORK Sat 6th August
WHANGAPARAOA
TUNING FORK**
TOKOROA
TOKOROA CLUB Sat 20th August
BROWNS BAY THE BROWNZY
Tickets onsale Thurs 28th April
PARAOA BREWING CO.
facebook.com/thefeelers
Except* from eventbrite and ** from moshtix
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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Monday, May 2, 2022
Picks of Music Month gigs Haz Beats and Miloux Live The Tui-winning duo’s fusion of jazz, soul and hip-hop is so silky smooth you’re likely to slide off your barstool. When: Thursday, May 5 Where: Ponsonby Social Club, Auckland Aotearoa Prog Alliance Tour Limber up those neck muscles for this onslaught of leading prog rock/metal bands, Whanganui’s Pull Down the Sun, Christchurch’s Elidi, Wellington’s Claemus and Auckland locals Crooked Royals, who all hit hard, fast and melodically heavy. When: Friday, May 6 Where: Ding Dong Lounge Savage Give it up for the local hip-hop legend who will be sure to get those hips swinging when the subs start shaking to his classic, partystarting rap bangers. When: Saturday, May 7 Where: Sweat Shop Brew Kitchen Niko Walters The triple-platinum certified soul and R&B artist celebrates the release of new album White Flag Waves with this all-ages show. When: Saturday, May 7 Where: The Tuning Fork The Veils, Bic Runga, Nadia Reid and Arahi Hop along to new venue Lilyworld that’s springing open with this all-ages mini-festival. Simply make a donation online to the charity
Delaney Davidson; French For Rabbits; Che Fu and DARTZ.Photos / Lily Paris West, Dean Purcell MusicHelps and register for a ticket. Easy as! When: Sunday, May 8 Where: Lilyworld, Mt Smart Stadium Swampland, Video Nasty, This Machine Means Murder Keep it spooky on Friday the 13th with a night of killer tunes conjured up by these three dark, noisy bands. When: Friday, May 13 Where: The Wine Cellar French For Rabbits Wellington’s dream-pop luminaries waft into Auckland to tour their wonderful 2022 Taite Music Award-nominated album, The Overflow. When: Friday, May 13 Where: The Tuning Fork DARTZ Their blistering reimagining of The Mutton Birds Kiwi classic Dominion Road as a tribute to the street’s famed dumpling houses is all the reason you need to pogo along to this gig by Wellington’s finest, smart-assest punk rockers.
When: Saturday, May 14 Where: Whammy Bar Anthonie Tonnon He may be supporting his brilliant recent album Leave Love Out Of This, but that’ll be an impossible ask when the sharp-suited balladeer takes to the stage. When: Saturday, May 14 Where: The Hollywood Avondale Delaney Davidson Lyttelton’s finest marks a rare Auckland appearance with a promise of new songs and the ever-present hint that a surprise cameo from one of his many proteges — say, Marlon, Tami, Aldous or Troy — is not entirely out of the question. When: Thursday, May 26 Where: The Wine Cellar
AROUND AOTEAROA
Salmonella Dub Kiwis love the ways of the mighty Salm Dub so lace up your skanking shoes and get ready
to get your groove on to their brilliant, bassheavy, boss tunes. When: May 7 and May 21 Where: Old Macdonalds Farm in Mārahau and Christchurch Town Hall respectively. The Nook & Cranny Music Festival It may be taking place on the steps of a library but there’ll be no shushing allowed as Music Month kicks off with this free daytime music festival down south. Throughout the month they’ll also be hosting workshops covering everything from guitar pedals to songwriting. When: Sunday, May 1 Where: The steps of the Dunedin Public Library in the Dunedin City Council Plaza The SOLE Speaker Series Want to know how Tiki Taane writes his anthems, how indie favourite Mousey crafts her work or how production duo LOHO smash out the bangers? Then head along to their seminar where they’ll reveal their songwriting secrets. When: Monday, May 2 Where: Christchurch’s SOLE Music Academy The #Hı̄koiTo100 Music Festival Ngāti Kuri celebrates the big success of the iwi #Hı̄koiTo100 Covid-19 vaccination drive with this concert which sees big names like Ladi6, Che Fu, Savage, Tomorrow People and more hit the stage. It’s a festival that wouldn’t have been possible if the majority of people hadn’t got vaxxed so ka pai, team. When: Saturday, May 21 Where: Awanui RFC & Sports Complex, near Kaitaia Kiwi Grooves Feeling irie? Then be sure to catch this all-star reggae tour as it travels around Aotearoa spreading good vibes with acts like House of Shem, Ardijah, Herbs, Che Fu, Swiss, Israel Starr and more. When: Every Friday and Saturday throughout May Where: They’re all over the place so check their social media pages for details.
MUSIC MANAGERS FORUM AOTEAROA HELPING GROW ARTIST MANAGER BUSINESSES THROUGH EDUCATION, NETWORKING AND ADVOCACY Mmf.co.nz l upskilling l industry
seminarS l one on one mentoring l music month summit speed networking l music managers awards l industry connections
nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Monday, May 2, 2022
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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Monday, May 2, 2022
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