#015 ER 2011
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TRA S E H C R O L A T R O UNKNOWN M TRIC? C E L E ’ S D N IE R F ‘F – ARE VOLUME! EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY – MORE STREET CHANT’S EMILY LITTLER MEETS KURT VILE
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IF YOU ARE GOING DOWN, TAKE EVERYONE WITH YOU.
CATCH .44 Forest Whitaker, Bruce Willis, Malin Akerman, Nikki Reed and Deborah Ann Woll star in the tough, sexy story of three hit women sent to intercept a big money dope deal.
Rent or Buy on Blu-ray & DVD December 15
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“An amazing war film… hurls you head-on into the warzone.” ZOO MAGAZINE UK
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@UMO 30 Nov: I miss good feelings that don’t come from chemicals @UMO 26 Nov: Almost got stabbed and robbed last night after getting ditched by bandmates. Dark times in Barcelona @UMO 11 Nov: The only thing you need to decide tonight is whether you wanna hit from a melon or a pomegranate @UMO 5 Nov: All I do with my life is play my guitar and get wasted #ennuitweets A KNIFEPOINT HOLD-UP in Barcelona, pipes fashioned from fruit, sleep deprivation and drug psychosis. The Unknown Mortal Orchestra Twitter account offers an hour-byhour insight into the strange life and times of Ruban Nielson and the second phase of a music career that sped into overdrive after self-recorded songs that married breakbeats, pungent funk and psychrock got the internet going nuts. Despite themselves, Ruban and Kody Nielson couldn’t seem to get away from making music after the implosion of their former outfit. As Kody told Bic Runga in the online version of last week’s Talking Heads, “Opossom” came to him as an alias to house his art, not as a band name. Now Howie Weinberg – the mastering engineer behind Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! – has been lending his ears to Electric Hawaii, Opossom’s debut due for release early next year. For those who have tracked the Nielson brothers’ adventures in sound post-Mint Chicks, we’ll get our first chance to see them play this week when they share stages in Wellington and Auckland, plus UMO will visit York Street Studio to get a Sundae Session in the can. Psyched for this one.
EDITOR: Sam Wicks sam.wicks@volumemagazine.co.nz WEB EDITOR: Hugh Sundae hugh.sundae@nzherald.co.nz DEPARTMENT OF VOLUME SALES: John Baker john.baker@volumemagazine.co.nz DESIGN: Xanthe Williams WRITERS: Day Barnes, Gavin Bertram, Marty Duda, Duncan Greive, Jessica Hansell, Emily Littler, Ruban Nielson, Joe Nunweek, Hugh Sundae, Aaron Yap ILLUSTRATION: Hej Ganias PHOTOGRAPHERS: Roger Grauwmeijer, StJohn Milgrew, Milana Radojcic AN APN PUBLICATION
GET READY Hooky might be gone, but New Order is going strong, returning to PHATS HERKES – STINK MAGNETIC How does it feel to be celebrating Stink Magnetic’s 13th anniversary? Very happy! I was so proud when we got to 10 years and moved into an office that wasn’t my bedroom. I’m really glad that we’ve stuck at it and I’m enjoying watching it evolve year after year. Stink Magnetic is now based in Christchurch. What do you miss most about your old stomping grounds of Whanganui? The people, the Twilight-Zone timeslowing-down phenomenon and the old buildings mostly. My office that I had in the old Chronicle newspaper building! Christchurch has been hit very hard but it’s in an awesome position to become even better than it was – if it wants to! Stink Fest 13 runs for three days and the tickets are a cheap-as-chips $10. How the hell do you do it? All of our artists have a deep awesome within them and this is the main reason that we are able to come together and celebrate 13 years of the label. The venues in Christchurch are in awkward positions at the moment obviously so we actually had to make this event this cheap. COME ON DOWN! Thirteen years in, isn’t it about time Stink Magnetic’s Mysterious Tape Man revealed his identity? Yeah, I agree, but he got abducted by esoteric space trash from The Planet of the Tapes and doesn’t like to talk about it much. Stink Magnetic is celebrating its 13th anniversary at Stink Fest 13 at Darkroom and Dux Live in Christchurch, with three days of shows from 15–17 December featuring Delaney Davidson, Double Ya D, Golden Axe, Boss Christ, The Bloody Souls, The Planet of the Tapes, Mono Sonic and more.
New Zealand for one-show only in the New Year. With original fourth member Gillian Gilbert back in the fold, New Order play Auckland’s Vector Arena on Monday 27 February – tickets available online at ticketmaster.co.nz from 9am Wednesday.
MORE FOLDBACK SHANE MARSH – BACKLINE SUPPLIER
We supply all the gear that bands don’t bring with them to put on a show. Their management or drums techs or guitar techs or whoever will send us a list of the gear that they want in order to do the show, and then we put together as much of it as we can to try and match their specifications and supply all the instruments. You occasionally get some random stuff – MGMT wanted a dog, but we didn’t supply it. We do our best and we normally pull it off. You see a lot of shows, meet a lot of bands, and hang
out with some pretty cool people from other crew – it’s like a little family. The downside of the job is the hours, anything from an 18hour day a 36-hour stretch.
Texan quartet Explosions in the Sky play two shows this week, bringing their wide-angle lens post-rock to Wellington’s San Francisco Bath House on Thursday and Auckland’s Kings Arms on Friday. We’ve got a double pass for their Kings Arms show – for a chance to cop the tickets, email loot@volumemagazine.co.nz with your top five instrumental outfits. The Shadows, anyone?
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Ruban Nielson returns home with Unknown Mortal Orchestra this week to play San Francisco Bath House in Wellington on Friday and Kings Arms in Auckland on Saturday.
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MAKING A LIST, CHECKING IT TWICE… I bloody love lists. Some of my favourite ones include: 1 Shopping lists (for supermarket trips of four or more items) 2 Recipes (a controversial inclusion for sure) 3 Letterman’s Top 10 skit (inconsistent but worth mentioning) 4 Dinner party guest-lists (not the ones where you include dead and/or famous people) 5 To-do lists
New Year’s Eve specials where an hour and a half of primetime television is devoted to short clips of TV you’ve already seen in their entirety. The “year in review”. Not including the two weeks between when it is filmed and the actual day the year ends. If that doesn’t sound like the sort of thing I’d be good at, never fear. The network agreed with you, and a few days later called with the news I was being replaced by Bernadine Oliver-Kerby. But still paid in full! I started this year thinking I would keep a document of my favourite albums/ shows/gigs etc, in case I ever got asked to do one of those end-of-year lists for one publication or another. Luckily I didn’t write it down and so I quickly forgot.
David Dallas
THAT LAST ONE is a real life-changer. I’m regularly quite useless and I get around this by doing nothing and living with it. On other occasions I remind myself about writing lists and, before you know it, shit rules again. Crossing that sucker off is as satisfying as deleting something off MySky when you’re running low on space. But lists have also long been the saved-up stocking-filler of the Xmas season for those in the media. A bonus column/blog/TV special without the inconvenience of having to come up with an idea. Once I was even employed to read a list. A few years back I spent a half-day in a studio at TVNZ reading them off an autocue. Best political moments, best sporting moments, best human tragedies. It was one of those
“Crossing that sucker off is as satisfying AS deleting something off MySky when you’re running low on space.” But I do think there are a few things from this year that are worth mentioning; I just don’t feel the need to put them in a particular order. Performances such as Foals at Laneway, Tim Carlsen in Silo Theatre’s I Love You Bro, Nadia Lim’s magic macaroons on the MasterChef New Zealand final, team Idiotvision’s V48 Hours entry Head Shot, the Warriors Grand Final second-half effort, and albums from Anna Calvi, Beastwars, Mulholland, Cut Off Your Hands, David Dallas, Grand Rapids, Andrew Keoghan, Fabulous/Arabia, Panther and the Zoo, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
MORE GRAVY
In the past week I’ve realised how bloody hard it can be coming up with blog names, particularly when you don’t have a made-up surname that lends itself well to puns. We had two to come up with. Change the Tune Already is our music blog by the most recent addition to the nzherald.co.nz/entertainment team, Chris Schulz. And this week we’re also pleased to announce Dominic Corry starts Adventures in Celluloid, our new movie blog. Elsewhere on the site in the coming days expect a video interview with recentlyreformed Goodshirt ahead of their Kings Arms show on 22 December (other cities on the cards too, I’m told), and if you’re reading this hot off the press you have until tomorrow morning (10am Wednesday 14 December) to enter to win a double pass to this Thursday’s Sundae Session. We’ve booked what turns out to be Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s first New Zealand show – head to nzherald.co.nz/ sundaesessions and have a nosy around The Drab DooRiffs while you’re there.
EMILY LITTLER When Street Chant’s Emily Littler shared the Kings Arms stage with Kurt Vile last month, she used it as an opportunity to debut new material under her solo moniker, Emily Edrosa, and pick the brains of her Philadelphian musical hero. Ahead of the gig, the two talked tranquilisers of choice and local sounds. Photography Milana Radojcic EMILY LITTLER: Hey, what’s up, Kurt Vile? KURT VILE: Hey – I don’t know – I just landed this morning. I just had this really nice burger and some beer; tasted like juice. I’m going to write a song about that. Okay. So, what do you do? I’m on the sickness benefit. Oh, you’ll have to explain that. I don’t think we have that in America. It’s like welfare. Oh, okay. Do you get, like, food stamps? No, but if they don’t trust you they give you a little card…. this is a good dress rehearsal [for the interview]. Yeah. Do you want another drag of this joint? Do you have any NOS? Oh yeah, I’ve got a whole bag-full. I hear it’s really expensive here. I’ve got some pre-blown-up balloons of NOS. Where did you fly from? Philadelphia, but we had two layovers. It was a 13-hour flight and I was nervous. I get freaked out about flying. I was tired anyway and I took a Xanax. I put The Beatles on my headphones, and I don’t even remember hearing any of it, and then I asked the stewardess how long we’d been in the air when I woke up, and they were, like, ‘You’ll be there in two hours’. That’s really great – I’ve had a couple of flights like that. I used to be really afraid of flying and started to do it more.
I know, because when you fly more and more, the odds after a while get scary. I used to be petrified, grabbing our bass player with every little bump. Yeah, Xanax is magic though. I think I took a Valium. That’s the same thing, right? No, not exactly. Valium, it mellows you out but Xanax is… … just a straight-up sleeping pill. Xanax is, like, an anxiety pill. It really does the trick but it makes you pass out eventually too. We did so much touring, from March until… I saw you guys in March, South by Southwest. Oh, cool. In the park with Bright Eyes. That was the day your pedals got stolen, all your pedals and your samplers and stuff. That must have been crazy. Getting my pedals stolen? Yeah, it sucked but then, you know what, think about Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth, they get their whole bus stolen – that really sucks. Oh yeah, I remember reading about that. Nothing that bad has ever happened to me on flights – once a whole massive bag of our merch got lost. Only a guitar of mine got smashed a long time ago, and that wasn’t even touring. It was in a really soft case so I was asking for it. How long are you in New Zealand for? Just for today and tomorrow. They were booking the Australian tour and I just said, ‘I’m going to go to New Zealand too’, so they put this show on.
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KURT VILE
That’s pretty great – everyone’s pretty psyched. Oh, that’s sweet. I’m psyched to play with Alastair Galbraith too.
Yeah, I’ve never seen him before either. We requested him and I was like, I have no idea if he’ll actually play, so once we found out he was playing, we all shit the bed. So you know New Zealand music then? Well, there’s a label in Philly called Siltbreeze. I know [Siltbreeze founder] Tom Lax real well. They put out The Axemen recently. Yeah, The Axemen and The Dead C, who I love, and Alastair Galbraith as well. He totally sympathises or empathises with New Zealand bands, so I guess that was my introduction. Yeah, there’s The Clean, The 3D’s – I like that band The Terminals.
“Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth, THEY get their whole bus stolen – that really sucks” Yeah, I haven’t heard much of them. Well, especially this one song that Siltbreeze put a seven-inch out and they have a comp that’s really good. It’s a kind of dramatic… I don’t how, whatevs. I love all those bands too. I saw The Clean last Thursday and we toured in February last year. The 3D’s got back together for five shows and that was pretty amazing. And we’re friends with them now – it’s pretty unreal. Dude, it’s so crazy – a long time ago when I didn’t have any records out, on MySpace they totally friendrequested me. I said some dumb comment – I’ll pretend I don’t know
exactly what it was, but I do. I just wrote a comment: I was, like, ‘groovy’ and they wrote back ‘groover!’ I didn’t know their music at the time, but my bandmate Jessie was like, ‘Oddly enough, The 3D’s commented on your page!’ They’re pretty chilled out. ’Cause you know Flying Nun has restarted? I think they’re doing a reissue of a whole bunch of stuff. Do you know any other New Zealand music? Ah, probably – let me think. I fucking love The Dead C, I know that much. But I love The Clean, I love Alastair Galbraith, I like that weird awesome shit – weirdo noisy pop.
To listen to the full audio of Emily Littler and Kurt Vile in conversation, head to nzherald.co.nz/volume – live from 2pm Tuesday. Turn to page 15 to read Emily Littler’s review of Kurt Vile’s Smoke Ring for My Halo. Littler is currently self-recording an EP which will be released for free online in January, followed by a new single from Street Chant.
h e S ky ions in t s o l p x E c k e rs to n post-ro o re t u r n t a c y i r r d e n m u N o rt h A g the la ro m d o i n f t u o e nth. t a ke t i m s this mo w o h s o w t land for N ew Z e a am i n B e rt r v a G t x e T
SPENDING MONTHS ON the road can really take a toll on a band, making them yearn for the details of home life. It’s been that way for Texan quartet Explosions in the Sky, who have been doing a lot of touring over the last few years. “When you spend a lot of time touring you can really miss the sort of bland domestic life,” guitarist/bassist Michael James says. “We all sink into that when we’re at home and spend a lot of time doing laundry.” However life on the road with the post-rockers, who formed in 1999, sounds relatively harmonious. James relates that he, fellow guitarists Munaf Rayani and Mark Smith, and drummer Chris Hrasky, are best friends and even hang out together when they’re not touring. That’s a little surprising, given they also spend long periods together when making a record. Explosions in the Sky’s sixth, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, released in April, arrived four years after 2007’s All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone.
“We just spent a lot of time experimenting with new sounds and textures and new ways to write music with each other.” While it seems like a long time, it’s not as if they were waiting around for inspiration to strike, James explains. “The first two years was just touring, and we can’t write music on tour,” he says. “So when we got home we decompressed for a while and then for a year and a half we were writing the album. It takes us a long time – we all have to love the music deeply.” Achieving that unanimity is a time-consuming process, mainly borne out of the democratic nature of the band. It’s also a consequence of a driving desire to keep pushing the sound of Explosions in the Sky further with each record. James says this meant a lot of trial and error when it came to Take Care, Take Care, Take Care Care. “We just spent a lot of time experimenting with new sounds
and textures and new ways to write music with each other,” he says. “It can be very frustrating because it doesn’t always work, but when it does and it strikes a chord within you, that’s the most rewarding thing.” The band’s expansive sonic creations often sprawl to eight or 10 minutes in length, their sense of innate dynamics gradually unfurling into something breathtaking. James says Explosions in the Sky never set out to write songs that long, they just organically end up that way. It’s in the writing that the creativity really occurs for them, as opposed to in the studio or on stage. “The writing process is where we exercise our creativity,” James says. “By the time we get to the studio we know how we want to record. But in the writing process we just spend a year trying weird stuff. On stage we don’t improvise or alter the songs very much. We’re not very good improvisers, so we tend to keep it as it is.” And that seems to be working out pretty good for the band, given the success of Take Care, Take Care, Take Care. It’s been their most popular effort so far, getting good reviews and reaching number 16 on the US Billboard charts. That’s far outweighed their expectations for the album. “Being in the Billboard Top 20 for an instrumental band, that’s just amazing,” James says. “It speaks well of the listening public that people are kind of interested in new things and music they aren’t used to. It’s very encouraging.” So much so that he’d be happy if Explosions in the Sky’s career remained on its current trajectory. They’d be happy to just keep playing for people having already far surpassed their expectations for the band. Supporting The Flaming Lips on tour in 2009 had a large hand in that. “It was at a time when we needed to take some time off to write music,” James relates. “We told our booking agent, ‘We’re not going to play any shows for a while, but if The Flaming Lips call... ’; it was a joke, but a month later The Flaming Lips called. It was really a dream come true.” Explosions in the Sky play Wellington’s San Francisco Bath House on Thursday 15 December and Auckland’s Kings Arms on Friday 16 December.
A column in which Duncan Greive scours the world’s charts in the hope of finding, if not the perfect beat, then something worth whistling at least. THE WORLD
Australia, eh? What a shithole. They have maybe the worst taste in music in the known universe. When they Guy Sebastian make something great (The Saints/The Go-Betweens/AC/ DC etc) they invariably have to get the next plane out if they want anyone to care about them. All the while stodgy blando rock is venerated beyond all credibility – I remember well the raw desperation in record company promo people’s eyes when they tried to convince me that Bernard Fanning, or Little Red, or You Am I was worth listening to. There are a few exceptions, I guess, but for the most part successful Australian recording artists either suck or are New Zealanders. Look at their current iTunes top 10 for more evidence of how horrible their ears are. Topping them is an X Factor winner named Reece Martin. He sounds like he desperately wishes he was the son of Max Martin, but comes off more like Chris Martin after a six-pack of Fosters (the People). Just a repellent slice of perky plod that has the temerity to yearn for a return to the days of good time rock’n’roll. Further in you have to suffer through Ed Sheeran’s subBlunt warbling, and Guy Sebastian’s shithouse ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ – astonishingly not a Bobby McFerrin cover, but an original inspired by his experience of road rage in LA. Cock.
The only genuinely great music is down at eight and 10 – and the lack of respect for ‘We Found Love’ is all the evidence you need of their complete immunity to hooks. NB – This segment was in no way inspired by New Zealand’s second innings at the Gabba.
THE ’NET
Last FM’s audience is sorta conservative-leaning Democrats. Not as in “they might be considering the Cain train”, more so the earnest, anti-rap, I-love-real-instruments type stuff. So they cannot avoid the current overlord of music, ‘We Found Love’, but the rest of the chart is 60 per cent English grown-up emo, with Florence, Adele and Coldplay getting two songs apiece. Impressive effort, but definitely not as weird, cheap and sexy as most singles charts right now.
THE LOCALS
To complete a triple play of Ri-Ri references, ‘We Found Love’ this week becomes Rihanna’s biggest New Zealand hit. Rihanna And given that she has ‘Umbrella’ in her canon, that’s a pretty monumental feat. Further down it’s good to see One Direction going gold – the boy band revival they and The Wanted (who chart at 13) represent is long overdue and more evidence of New Zealand’s superior sensibilities when set against those oiks across the Tasman.
iTUNES AUSTRALIA TOP 10 1 Reece Mastin – ‘Good Night’ 2 LMFAO – ‘Sexy and I Know It’ 3 Ed Sheeran – ‘The A Team’ 4 Taio Cruz ft. Flo Rida – ‘Hangover’ 5 Jason Derulo – ‘Breathing’ 6 Coldplay – ‘Paradise’ 7 Guy Sebastian – ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ 8 Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris – ‘We Found Love’ 9 Flo Rida – ‘Good Feeling’ 10 Lloyd ft. Andre 3000 & Lil Wayne – ‘Dedication to My Ex (Miss That)’
LAST.FM MOST PLAYED TRACKS 1 Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris – ‘We Found Love’ 2 Adele – ‘Rolling In the Deep’ 3 Adele – ‘Someone Like You’ 4 Foster the People – ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ 5 Coldplay – ‘Paradise’ 6 Florence + The Machine – ‘Shake It Out’ 7 Adele – ‘Set Fire to the Rain’ 8 M83 – ‘Midnight City’ 9 Coldplay – ‘Every Teardrop is a Waterfall’ 10 Florence + The Machine – ‘What the Water Gave Me’
RIANZ TOP 10 NEW ZEALAND SINGLES CHART 1 Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris – ‘We Found Love’ 2 Bruno Mars – ‘It Will Rain’ 3 Gotye ft. Kimbra – ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ 4 LMFAO – ‘Sexy and I Know It’ 5 One Direction – ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ 6 Coldplay – ‘Paradise’ 7 Six60 – ‘Only To Be’ 8 Flo Rida – ‘Good Feeling’ 9 David Guetta ft. Usher – ‘Without You’ 10 Rihanna – ‘You Da One’ 8422897AA
KIWI FM SAM COLLINS’ TOP FIVE LOCAL CRAFT BEERS
Smoke Ring for My Halo (Matador) THE REISSUE OF Kurt Vile’s phenomenal 2011 album Smoke Ring for My Halo sees the album repackaged with a bonus disc of his latest release, the So Outta Reach EP, and a beautiful booklet of black and white photographs – to be honest, I’d actually forgotten how nice CDs can look when the effort is made. Smoke Ring for My Halo itself is by far my favourite album of the year. Vile invites you into his world with his seemingly stream of consciousness lyrics, self-deprecating optimism on life and a nogimmicks-required songwriting ability. The So Outta Reach EP starts off with one of Vile’s best “ode to lover” tunes yet, ‘The Creature’. The EP is a perfect companion to the LP, a step forward and sideways, yet maintaining the same vibe – if not a sometimes little less intense than Smoke Ring. Probably worth mentioning that Steve Shelley guest FUTURE OF THE LEFT Polymers Are Forever (Xtra Mile) Future of the Left’s first two albums set a bar for extraordinary black comedy masquerading as macho noiserock. This primer EP for the next record features some magnificent lyrical double-takes (see ‘My Wife is Unhappy’: “Who is Joe Pesci/ I think I know his face from films about Italian thugs/ But did he crawl amongst us as a saint?”) Good appetiser for the next full outing. DNTEL Life is Full of Possibilities (Deluxe Edition) (Sub Pop) A reissue that’s fair on no one. Not Postal Service fans who are checking out Jimmy Tambarello’s earlier work as Dntel now and expecting it to live up to those soppy-cum-stately heights, not on the other Sub Pop bands that deserve reissues more – least of which Tambarello himself, as his 2001 output sounds particularly vanilla and dated circa now. STILL CORNERS Creatures of an Hour (Sub Pop) Shameless graverobbery of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop/girl-group sounds of
drums on ‘Life’s a Beach’, although to be honest I find his work on this song a little straightforward and miss usual drummer Mike Zanghi’s tasteful, sprawling percussion. For both discs John Agnello’s production holds the songs together and gives them plenty of ambience and room to move while also allowing for textured soundscapes to build, and take Vile’s modern-day Americana to a whole different plane. Warm, charming and beautiful – couldn’t pick a favourite if I tried. A modern-day headphone classic. Review Emily Littler
Broadcast. We’ll be able to enjoy music like this when it comes out in a decade’s time, but Trish Keenan hasn’t been dead a year. In other words, this is the Silverchair to their Nirvana. Unethical purchase; avoid. JORDIE LANE Blood Thinner (Vitamin) Australian alt-country musician’s work packs a pleasant hermetically-sealed punch. This is the sort of music that usually wanders around confused in a studio between its pedal steel sessionist and its Missy Higgins duet. Lane’s entire album, recorded to Tascam four-track and augmenting his warm burr and languorous plucks with basic drummachine, is a rare chance to catch this before that happens. SLASH Made In Stoke – 24/7/11 (Eagle Rock) In all fairness if I lived in Stoke I would be pretty happy to see my ostensible hometown hero, Slash, return to play. I would be less happy to find out that the frontman of Alter Bridge was his new de facto Axl. Thanks, Myles Kennedy – your name makes you sound like you should have been a ’70s British comedian and here you are tarnishing the last unimpeachable member of GN’R with your workmanlike yowl.
SPARTACUS R The View (Loop Recordings) More interesting and eclectic (not in the pejorative sense) than we’re used to from Loop Recordings. These guys play like music-school boffins with jazz chops taking on Pavement’s Wowee Zowee. Check out the slinky bob of ‘Mutant Musings’, which matches an insistent Dragnetstyle bass march to shortwavestatic, or the way ‘Golden Sands’ plays like Hall & Oates continually slipping in and out of tune. TYLER RAMSEY The Valley Wind (Fat Possom) Out of nowhere, into nowhere. I’m glad I got to hear this album – if it’s very trad, it’s trad the way a strange, spiny troubadour like Richard Buckner is. Alternatively, hearthy, dark and intricate songs like ‘1000 Black Birds’ or ‘All Night’ untangle and reveal themselves like what critics said that new Fleet Foxes was meant to be like. An immaculate lowkey folk secret. LINDON PUFFIN Hope Holiday (Independent) Good time for adultcontemporary in Aotearoa. We’ve already had that Victoria Girling-Butcher album, which
1: Hallertau’s Maximus Humulus Lupulus – The beer that got me into beer. Awesome. 2: Harringtons Wobbly Boot Porter – Classic bold dark beer, perfect summer or winter. 3: Epic Pale Ale – Available most places that don’t do craft beer. Tasty lifesaver. 4: Yeastie Boys’ Pot Kettle Black – Dark roasty flavours, mmm. 5: My homebrew – Technically cheating, because Hallertau does all the hard work. Gold. 13THFLOOR.CO.NZ MARTY DUDA’S TOP FIVE INDEPENDENT LABELS 1: Sun 2: Stiff 3: Stax 4: Flying Nun 5: ANTI-
plays like a ’90s Tanya Donnelly record with a sense of humour – Lindon Puffin’s album is too musically earnest and tame to be as good as that but its lyrical highs are alternately quite clever (the devious ‘Drink Like Police’) and darkly evocative (‘Down to the Sea’). LITTLE ROY Battle for Seattle (Independent) A novelty reggae tribute to Nirvana that gets Jools Holland’s patronage is still just a novelty reggae tribute to Nirvana. Reggae aficionados have a lifetime of amazing cuts to enjoy instead; 92 per cent of Nirvana fans will just listen to this to get upset and lose the remainder of their hairlines. At least the transmutability of the songs shows how timeless they really are. OPPOSITE SEX Opposite Sex (Fishrider Records) Dunedin group are a hugely frustrating mix of head-nodding, chanting strangeness – the same eerie shimmer that bands like Black Tambourine and The Raincoats achieved – and simply unendurable proggy sub-Zappa noodling. Your tolerance for the latter will allow you to at least sample the former – and the acquired taste is a little like, say, salted liquorice – some people will fall in love and defend it to the death. Reviews Joe Nunweek
His touring days behind him, Ruban Nielson set out to record a secret curator’s egg of psych oddities – but Unknown Mortal Orchestra didn’t stay that way for long. Text Joe Nunweek HE’D SET A rule not to check how the song was doing during the day, because making music was something Ruban Nielson did, sure, but Ruban Nielson the musician was something else. A past life. It was a day or two later that he heard it blaring out of a co-worker’s computer in the office where he jobbed as an illustrator. “Suddenly I hear the first few bars and I’m like, ‘Hold on, it’s the song!’” he recalls. “So I race over to this guy’s desk, and he’s got Bandcamp open on his screen.” Mere hours after its genesis, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s ‘Ffunny Ffriends’ was on Pitchfork. And Matthew Perpetua, and all of them. ‘Have you heard these guys?’ “I was like, actually, that’s me. I made that the other night.” Nielson is talking to me from Barcelona. Unknown Mortal Orchestra is a trio now, one that’s spent the better part of 2011 on tour and honing itself to a rare form. Of all the epithets you might lob at his debut under the UMO banner, “live” wouldn’t be one. Instead, its cut-and-paste drum breaks and overripe spurts of mutant funk conjure up a sort of hyper-reality. But the band is doing it, by all accounts.
“Because there was so much programming and I’d sort of stitched it together, I considered trying to take a laptop on tour and just performing that way,” he reveals. “But you have to constantly worry about tech crashing and losing stuff. It’s not like breaking a string. And I was just seeing musicians right now who might have recorded something themselves, creating it a similar way. Watching how awkward they seemed on stage just made me
think of how hard I’d find it standing behind something.” Even then, he didn’t take anything for granted. “We’ve all been excited to see bands and wonder how they’re going to replicate a record, and then just find it really disappointing.” So the group made sure they had a decent stretch of rehearsals under their belt before setting out. Parallel to this, a bidding war of label offers came thick and fast.
Goodbye’) partly points the way to UMO’s fuzzed-out psych reveries. “Yeah, I think I was moving in that direction. The kind of stuff that was always around me growing up, but was hard to factor into a punk band.” To Nielson, the break from music when he left the band and returned to Portland felt longer than it seemed. When he set down to a friend’s basement to self-record the bulk of the album, the idea was to “record something kind of like one of those weird cult artefacts. You know, the sort of album that basically never gets heard or sells and becomes this sort of funny obscurity and exists in its own little world. Like Syd Barrett, or Roky Erickson, or something. I would
“Suddenly I hear the first few bars and I’m like, ‘Hold on, it’s the song!’”
“Some were pretty sketchy; some were with big indies, like pretty significant interest. In the end, we wanted something that was a bit more 21st Century. If I decided I wanted to turn around and go back to Portland again, I wanted to only be locked down to one record. And not to end up locked down where one label had exclusive rights to put it out everywhere.” Although the eventual deal was, so the legend goes, more or less jotted
down on a napkin with Fat Possum’s Matt Johnson, it was at least sweet enough to remove the bitter taste of the Mint Chicks’ label woes. And what of his old band, the group that should have cracked the world, but didn’t? Nielson acknowledges he’s “a bit of a blank slate” when it comes to the press in the US and Europe, who never encountered the Mint Chicks. The loss is all theirs – especially since the group’s final work (‘Bad Buzz’, ‘Say
have liked to have seen how far I could have pushed it – putting the music out without any backstory, or my identity.” No such luck. For listeners though, the more UMO – on stage especially – the better. Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s selftitled debut album is out on Seeing Eye/Frequency. VOLUME presents Unknown Mortal Orchestra at San Francisco Bath House in Wellington on Friday 16 December and Kings Arms in Auckland on Saturday 17 December.
PUSS IN BOOTS 3D Director Chris Miller Voices of Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis DREAMWORKS ANIMATION ARE probably at a stage in their craft where they needn’t be written off as Pixar-wannabes anymore. Recent efforts like How to Train Your Dragon, Megamind and Kung Fu Panda 2 are as slick and sure as anything Pixar’s pumped out recently (if not quite “classic”), and though Puss in Boots 3D might be seen as a desperate attempt to extend the Shrek franchise beyond the pop-culture-riffin’ inconsequentiality it eventually became, it’s a satisfying enough
spin-off film whose spirited rejigging of various fairytale characters entertains as much as its feline-centric comedy. Reminiscent of Rango with its witty play on Western tropes, the film follows outlawed ginga swashbuckler Puss (Antonio Banderas) as he reluctantly teams up with Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and his old orphanage ex-buddy Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) to lift some legendary magic beans from lovers-on-the-lam/villains Jack and Jill (Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris). Director Chris Miller, compensating substantially for the anaemic Shrek the Third, his debut feature, crams the film with lively, sharply executed action and colourful visuals (the giant beanstalk sprouting into the sky is particularly wondrous), all augmented by some of the best, most impressive use of 3D for an animated feature yet. Pleasingly, showbizsavvy references are kept to a minimum, and the humour, while not without instances of adult innuendo, consist mostly of old-fashioned situational and sight gags. Although Puss is centre stage, Humpty steals the show, with Galifianakis’ terrific, subtle voicework creating a more developed, intriguing character than his furry co-stars. Review Aaron Yap
Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia took home the Best Film prize at the 24th European Film Awards. However Best Director went to Susanne Bier for In a Better World. M. Night Shyamalan, who recently joined Facebook and Twitter, has revealed that his upcoming sci-thriller, previously titled One Thousand A.E., will now be called After Earth. A Scarface remake is in the works from Universal Pictures, who have hired David Ayers (Training Day) to pen the script. Tom Cruise has signed up for All You Need is Kill, an adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s graphic novel, which was described as “Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers”. Doug Liman is directing.
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SAINTS ROW: THE THIRD Volition, Inc. (PS3/X360)
THIS LAST MONTH has seen some huge and excessively serious games being released, effortlessly extracting money from us in return for deliberately shocking glimpses of war bookending visceral gameplay. The latest Saints Row game is not one of those games. Bombing banks, wasting hundreds of cops and destroying a dozen helicopters: that’s just the training level! You really get the feeling that Volition aren’t really interested in testing how far societal conventions can be stretched; they just want to turn the volume to 11 and fuck shit up. Of course the most obvious comparison is GTAIV but that parallel is unfair to both games. Rockstar creates characters with almost highbrow satire, while Volition prefers the
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fun you can have with caricatures. The control is perfect, especially the vehicles which can travel at some frightful speeds without you feeling you’re out of control. They haven’t got it all right. There seem to be fewer missions than usual and sometimes the AI isn’t quirky, it’s just broken. These aren’t game-breakers though, and if you’re looking for a tonic to all those serious games then you should give The Third a chance, but not until you’ve played Minecraft Minecraft.
MINECRAFT Mojang (PC/OSX/iOS/X360/Browser)
MINECRAFT IS NOTHING new. Almost everyone has played or been exposed to the phenomenon at some point (even if they may have been unaware of it). Available as a playable demo since mid-2009, the one-man developer has been moulding and improving the game and has officially released it. For the uninitiated Minecraft
is a three-dimensional open-world adventure where you must dig, build, harvest and fight to survive. Each world is randomly generated with hills, lakes, caves, trees and animals from which to fashion your new life. Here’s the catch: some of the animals are not friendly and the really nasty ones come out at night. This means that the first day is a wonderfully tense race to get some shelter, and the materials aren’t always ready to hand. The style is wonderfully lo-tech, like a beautiful world created in Lego bricks. And each block is a material which can be mined and repurposed or mixed to make something useful. These “recipes” allow for an incredible amount of creativity, starting out with making simple food and pickaxes to creating TNT and logic gates. I urge you to spend one night in Minecraft, waiting in terror as you hear zombies and giant spiders trying to gain entrance to your makeshift shelter. It’s a great reminder that emotional investment does not correlate to bleeding-edge graphics and eight-figure development budgets. Reviews Day Barnes
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HISTORY MADE...
RUN-D.M.C. THE POWERSTATION, AUCKLAND FRIDAY 18 NOVEMBER 1988
Oscar Kightley witnessed Run-D.M.C. play The Powerstation in Auckland on 18 November 1988. AT THE TIME I was 19 and working as a junior reporter at The Auckland Star. This was back in the days when there were all these stations that used to play ads on TV that said ridiculous shit like “no rap, no crap” – bFM was the only station that was flying the flag for hip hop. That was the music we’d come up on, so it was weird to see that kind of stuff. It was kind of like a statement on what the country was like at the time. Run-D.M.C. came here in their prime and at a time when no other hip hop artists were coming to New Zealand. I was walking down Queen St before the show and I saw Jam Master Jay walking down the street. No one else around me knew who he was, but I was like, ‘Fuck – that’s Jam Master Jay!’ He caught my eye and I tentatively threw up a peace sign in greeting, ’cause that was what we did back then, and he did it back. I will never forget that moment. Being an impressionable young man, it was amazing to see Jam Master Jay onstage scratching – he was my favourite. And, the thing is, Run-D.M.C didn’t just stand there and rap – they had a show and they rocked it.
Back at that time, hip hop was in its infancy in New Zealand, and the culture wasn’t the same after that show. We had three kings of hip hop on that stage in Mt Eden, rocking it and getting the crowd involved. Back then, no one did that so it was pretty cool. It wasn’t at all what you’d expect a hip hop gig today to be, which would be a lot of baseball caps and brown people. It was packed and sweaty, and I remember being upstairs and looking down at this sea of
“No one else around me knew who he was, but I was like, ‘Fuck – that’s Jam Master Jay!’”
young New Zealanders behaving like I’d never seen young New Zealanders behave at a concert, with their hands in the air, throwing them like they just didn’t care. It really wasn’t about where you were from, it was where you were at, and that night everybody felt like they were at the same place. Oscar Kightley stars in Sione’s Wedding 2: Unfinished Business, in cinemas 19 January.
Originally booked for Logan Campbell Centre, the show was downsized to The Powerstation
...AND IN THE MAKING
BLACK JOE LEWIS W/ TYRA HAMMOND AND THE BLUEBIRDS
THE POWERSTATION, AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY 7 DECEMBER Review Marty Duda Photography Milana Radojcic LAST DECEMBER SHARON Jones and her Dap Kings kicked off the summer concert season when they brought their retro-soul act to The Powerstation and left the audience in a pool of funk, sweat and stale beers. One year later it was Austin’s Black Joe Lewis and his Honeybears’ turn to tear down the house with their brand of Texas-style rhythm’n’blues. Lewis didn’t quite have the drawing power of Jones, but the fans who did show up had plenty to cheer about. The evening began with a sturdy warm-up set from local soul-shouter Tyra Hammond and The Bluebirds. Black Joe Lewis took the stage just after 10 pm and launched into a gritty rhythm’n’blues tune. The unassuming
frontman sounded like Wilson Pickett in his prime, a cool mix of animal rawness and soulful emotion. Behind Lewis, who plays guitar, were the six Honeybears, who include rhythm guitarist and musical collaborator Zach Ernst, bass player Bill Stevenson, drummer Matthew Strmiska and a three-piece horn section. They were all decked out in white shirts and black pants. Unfortunately, Lewis’ vocals and the horn section struggled to be heard in the mix. That, combined with Lewis’ penchant for mumbling, made it particularly frustrating to understand his between-song banter and the lyrics. But that turned out to be a minor problem and Lewis and his band got their message across forcefully with their music. After noting that there are no snakes in New Zealand, Lewis and the band launched into a version of ‘Black Snake’, an incessant blues-rocker from their most recent album, Scandalous. ‘Livin’ in the Jungle’, another highlight from the album followed, and gave the opportunity for Lewis to show off his chops, playing guitar with his teeth and behind his back – not surprising given the tradition of fellow Texas guitarists like T-Bone Walker and Stevie Ray Vaughan. But Lewis didn’t depend on gimmicks. He and his band built up the intensity throughout their 90minute set on the strength of their
tight performance. Bassist Stevenson got so worked up at one point that his glasses flew off his head and landed (in one piece) on the stage floor. The band played songs from both their studio albums along with a few covers. The most surprising came in the middle of the set, when the horn section had left the stage. Lewis led the remaining band through a searing
“A cool mix of animal rawness and soulful emotion.”
version of The Dead Boys’ ‘What Love Is’ that rocked with the intensity of early Led Zeppelin. His well-deserved encore included a reading of Robert Johnson’s ‘Stop Breaking Down’. Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears may have been something of an unknown quantity at the beginning of the evening, but anyone who was at The Powerstation that night knew who they were by the end.
AUCKLAND TUESDAY 13
Foo Fighters with Tenacious D – Western Springs Stadium, Western Springs, 4pm Auckland Jazz & Blues Club presents Queen City Big Band – Pt Chevalier RSA, Pt Chevalier, 7:30pm, $5 Latino Kiwi Beats – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm, $10 Pop Panic ft. Ricky Rile – Cassette Number Nine, Auckland CBD, 9pm, Free Pink Floyd – Double Feature – Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, Royal Oak, 8pm, $35
WEDNESDAY 14
Alzarae performs Jazz, Swing & Motown – The Kentish Hotel, Waiuku, 7pm, $65 Beatnik Asia Vol 2 – Kings Arms, Newton, 7:30pm, $5 Teenage Kicks – Cassette Number Nine, Auckland CBD, 9pm, Free Auckland Blues Club’s Blues Jam – The Winchester, Newton, 8:30pm, $5 Dave Clark Revival Band – Freeman’s Bay Community Hall, Freemans Bay, 8pm, $5 Sandpaper Tango – Corellis Cafe, Devonport, 8pm, Free GC Band Night – Grand Central, Ponsonby, 9pm, Free Ben Fernandez & Maria O’Flaherty – C.A.C. Bar & Restaurant, Mt Eden, 6:30pm Chicane – Sugar Bar, Newmarket, 7pm, Free The Circling Sun Band – Ponsonby Social Club, Ponsonby, 10pm, Free Trudy Lile Jazz Trio – twentyone, Auckland CBD, 7pm, Free Live Latin and Brazilian Music – The Mexican Cafe, Auckland CBD, 8:30pm, Free Wednesday R&B Jam Night – Flo Bar & Cafe, Newmarket, 9pm, Free
THURSDAY 15
The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band w/ Swampytonk – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm, $15-$20 K-Ci & JoJo – Logan Campbell Centre, Epsom, 7pm, $39.95 Benka Bordavosky Bordello Band
with Guests – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm Cassette Allstars – Cassette Number Nine, Auckland CBD, 10pm, Free Mark Cunningham – Union Post Brewbar, Ellerslie, 9pm, Free DJ Manuel Bundy & Guitarist Dixon Nacey – The Deck, Auckland CBD, 6pm, Free Very Tall Stories & Very Short DJ (Bobby Brazuka) – Ponsonby Social Club, Ponsonby, 8pm, Free The Crimson Vendetta & Within Closed Arms – Crow Bar, Auckland CBD, 9pm, $5 Open Mic Night – Originals Gig – Shooters Saloon, Kingsland, 8pm, Free Helen Riley – Papatoetoe RSA, Papatoetoe, 6:30pm, $2 Kara Gordon & Band – Volume Bar, Eden Terrace, 9:30pm, Free
FRIDAY 16
Dearly Departed Album Release Tour – Sawmill Cafe, Leigh, 8pm Explosions In The Sky with Guests – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm, $45 The 95bFM Christmas Party at Mum Club Night with Guitar Wolf – Cassette Number Nine, Auckland CBD, 10pm This Flight Tonight & Guests – UFO Live Music Venue, New Lynn, 8pm, $5-$10 Brett Polley – Florrie McGreals Irish Pub, Takapuna, 9:30pm, Free Kavalliers – Birkenhead RSA, Birkenhead, 7pm, Free Marian Burns and The Southern Cross Band – Silverdale RSA, Whangaparaoa Peninsula, 7pm, Free Urban Country – Warkworth RSA, Warkworth, 6:30pm, Free Adrian Sherwood – Powerstation, Eden Terrace, 8pm, $40 Electronicaholic – Antix, Beats Botanical & Zayn Kemp – Khuja Lounge, Auckland CBD, 10pm, $10 DJ Murry Sweetpants & Percussionist John Ellis – The Deck, Auckland CBD, 8pm, Free Be Free Fridays – Be Club, Auckland CBD, 10pm, Free Sam Hill, Wade Marriner & Guests – Trench Bar, Auckland CBD, 9pm, Free SoulMates in Auckland – Julep,
Ponsonby, 8pm, Free Charlie Brown with Maria Paz – East Coast Bays RSA, Browns Bay, 7:30pm, Free Chico con Tumbao – Besos Latinos Restaurant, Auckland CBD, 7:30pm, Free Friday Night Salsa – Latin Dance Studios Ltd (Latinissimo), Glenfield, 8:30pm, $5-$10 Habana Noches presents Cuban Accent – CrossRoads Bar & de Ville Cajun Restaurant, Ponsonby, 8pm, Free Double Vision – GBS Bar & Restaurant @ The Prospect, Howick, 8pm, Free Eddie Gaiger – Brooklyn Bar, Auckland CBD, 9:30pm, Free Tall Poppies – The Crib, Ponsonby, 10pm, Free Creme Brulei – Glen Eden RSA, Glen Eden, 7:30pm Starboy: Eternity Live – Viaduct Events Centre, Westhaven, 7pm, $50-$150 The Kavalliers – A Rocking Great Band – Birkenhead RSA, Birkenhead, 7pm, Free The Alibis – Grey Lynn Returned Services Club, Grey Lynn, 8pm, Free
SATURDAY 17
The Golden Awesome, Autumn Splendour, Wilberforces – Whammy Bar, Newton, 9pm The Feelers Hope Nature Forgives Summer Tour – Albany Pub, Albany, 7pm, $40 Unknown Mortal Orchestra with Guests – Kings Arms, Newton, 8pm, $30 Storehouse Blues Rent Party – Wine Cellar, Newton, 9pm, $10-$15 David Curtis – Birkenhead RSA, Birkenhead, 7pm, Free Kiwi Express – Henderson RSA, Henderson, 7pm, Free Marian Burns and Southern Cross – East Coast Bays RSA, Browns Bay, 7:30pm, $5 Organikismness – Album Release ft. Safire (Aus) – 4:20, Newton, 10pm, $10-$15 Minuit – The Bacco Room, Auckland CBD, 9pm, $24.50 DJ Thane Kirby & Percussionist Joe Bax – The Deck, Auckland CBD, 8pm, Free
Nice ‘n’ Urlich Xmas Party – Toto / Montecristo, Auckland CBD, 8pm Pure Trench Bar – Trench Bar, Auckland CBD, 9pm, Free Split Second – The Crib, Ponsonby, 10:00pm, Free A Gig with Flare – Edinburgh Street, Pukekohe, 10pm, Free Cobra Khan – The Thirsty Dog, Newton, 9pm Ramon Liddell – Papatoetoe RSA, Papatoetoe, 6:30pm, $2 theSlacks and The Kick Back Krooks – Dogs Bollix, Newton, 7pm, $10
SUNDAY 18
Blues in the Boat House – Riverhead Tavern, Riverhead, 2pm, Free Lazy Sunday Jazz Sessions – Puhoi Valley Cafe and Cheese Store, Puhoi, 12pm, Free JamesRAy’s Acoustic Country Sunday – Bar Africa, North Harbour, 12pm, Free JamesRAy’s Encore Acoustic Country Sunday – Bar Africa, Highland Park, 5:30pm, Free Marian Burns and The McSweeney Brothers – The Prospect of Howick, Howick, 4pm, Free Sandpaper Tango – Corellis Cafe, Devonport, 6pm, Free Supersheep at the Thirsty Dog Folk Club Christmas Party – The Thirsty Dog, Newton, 3pm, $10 DJ Jason Kyle & Saxophonist Lewis McCallum – The Deck, Auckland CBD, 5pm, Free Auckland Vintage Jazz Society – Takapuna Boating Club, Takapuna, 7pm, $10-$15 Chicane – Bill Fish Cafe, St Marys Bay, 1pm, Free The Cruise – DNA Bar, Auckland CBD, 4:30pm, Free Sunday Jazz, Rock, Reggae Session – Shooters Saloon, Kingsland, 2pm, Free Sunday Sessions hosted by Club Groove – Flo Bar & Cafe, Newmarket, 4pm, Free John Blackburn & Guests – The Clare Inn, Mt Eden, 9:00pm, Free Tuxedo Swing – Come Dancing at Swing Junction – Ponsonby Cruising Club, Westhaven, 7pm, $10-$20
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powered by eventfinder.co.nz MONDAY 19
Decortica, Villainy, New Way Home, and Here Come The Zombies – Kings Arms, Newton, 6:30pm, $10 VIVA Jazz Quartet – The Windsor Castle, Parnell, 6pm, Free
NORTHLAND FRIDAY 16
MC Tiki Taane vs Dick Johnson – Ballroom Billiards, Whangarei, 8pm, $25 Stamp Kick – Homestead Tavern, Kerikeri, 9pm The Hewson Project – 35 Degrees South Aquarium Restaurant and Bar, Paihia, 7pm, Free Tempist Fujit – Herekino Tavern, Kaitaia, 9pm, Free
SATURDAY 17
Dennis Marsh – Horeke Tavern, Hokianga, 2pm, $25-$50 The Hewson Project – The Black Olive Restaurant, Kerikeri, 6pm, Free Tempist Fugit – Mangawhai Tavern, Mangawhai, 9pm, $5 Basin City Big Band – Turner Centre, Kerikeri, 7:30pm, $30-$35
SUNDAY 18
Lazy Sundays – Art at Wharepuke, Kerikeri, 12pm, Free
TARANAKI FRIDAY 16
Henpicked – Butlers Reef Hotel, New Plymouth, 9pm, Free
SATURDAY 17
Hawera ALT Fest – Egmont A&P Showgrounds, Hawera, 2pm, $27-$32.50
MANAWATU / WHANGANUI THURSDAY 15
Canta Conmigo & Massey Uni Latin American Dance Troupe – Square Edge, Palmerston North, 7pm, Free
FRIDAY 16
Upper Hutt Posse ‘Declaration of Resistance’ Tour – Space Monster, Whanganui, 9pm, $20 Slave presents More Heavy Metal – The Royal, Palmerston North, 9pm, $5
SATURDAY 17
Whanganui Christmas Festival – Majestic Square, Whanganui, 12pm Midnight Youth – World Comes Calling Summer Tour – The Royal, Palmerston North, 8pm, $35
WELLINGTON THE COROMANDEL REGION FRIDAY 16
House Of Shem + Special Guests – Thames War Memorial Civic Centre, Thames, 7:30pm, $25
SUNDAY 18
Soul Sax Plus – Tairua Landing, Tairua, 12pm, Free
WAIKATO
SATURDAY 17
Unknown Peace – Tokoroa Cosmopolitan Club, Tokoroa, 9pm, Free
BAY OF PLENTY WEDNESDAY 14
Swamp Thing ft. Michael Barker & Grant Haua – The Pheasant Plucker, Rotorua, 8:30pm, Free
THURSDAY 15
White Affair Paty – TEAZAR Lounge Bar & Night Club, Rotorua, 10pm, Free Bay Salsa – Buddha Lounge, Tauranga, 8pm, $2 LSG Group – The Pheasant Plucker, Rotorua, 9pm, Free Waihi Beach Pub Battle of the Bands – Heat Five – Waihi Beach Hotel, Waihi Beach, 7:30pm, $5
FRIDAY 16
After Work Friday – Live Niki and Friends – TEAZAR Lounge Bar & Night Club, Rotorua, 5pm, Free
SATURDAY 17
Woody Woodhouse Christmas – Bureta Park Motor Inn, Tauranga, 6pm, Free Christmas Party with NRG Rising – Kalah Bar, Rotorua, 8pm, Free
MONDAY 19
Jimmy & Perry – The Pheasant Plucker, Rotorua, 7pm, Free
TUESDAY 13
Live Music and Two for One Desserts – The Library, 5pm, Free Toni Childs – Wairarapa College, Masterton, 7pm, $89
WEDNESDAY 14
K-Ci & JoJo – St James Theatre, 7pm, $39.95 Sean Kirkwood, Louis Baker and Miles Calder – Mighty Mighty, 9:30pm, $5 The Session – Matterhorn, 10pm, Free Kroon for your Kai with Wallace Gollan and Conor McCabe – The Southern Cross Bar and Restaurant, 7pm, Free High Class Hobo Society, Jessica’s Cat’s Pyjamas, BB Marshal – Happy, 8:30pm, $5
THURSDAY 15
Gold Medal Famous Christmas Party – Happy, 9pm, $10 Solo Ono & Cookie Brooklyn – Mighty Mighty, 10pm, Free Shaken Not Stirred – Hotel Bristol, 8:30pm, Free FishHead After-Party – Hashigo Zake, 9:30pm, Free
FRIDAY 16
Sing Along with the Yoots – St Peters Hall, Paekakariki, 7pm, $15 Lindon Puffin & Victoria GirlingButcher – Happy, 8pm, $15 Midnight Youth – World Comes Calling Summer Tour – Bodega, 8pm, $35 Trei & Friends with MC Tali – Sandwiches, 11pm, $15 Live Music Friday – Pleasure Point – Mojo Bond St, 6pm, Free Salsadrome & Tango Milonga – Fortnightly Tango & Salsa Dance – Whitireia Performance Centre, 7:30pm, $10 Bad Girls Club ft. Manthyng
– Mighty Mighty, 9:30pm, $5
SATURDAY 17
Chow Dwn – Chow Tory, 10pm Porcelaintoy & New Moon Lizard – The Garden Club, 9pm, $12 Darren Watson & The Real Deal Blues Band – The Lido Cafe, 8:30pm, Free The Legendary Hellbilly Circus – Mighty Mighty, 9:30pm The Arvo Show featuring Amy Grace and Mara Simpson – The Southern Cross Bar and Restaurant, 4pm, Free The Mantarays – The Southern Cross Bar and Restaurant, 10pm, Free Hot Club Sandwich with Fiona Pears – Old St Paul’s, 7pm, $25 Xmas Jazz Banquet with Ed Zuccollo Trio – Mojo Bond St, 6:30pm, $42 What Happened to the Techno – Sandwiches, 11pm, Free
SUNDAY 18
The Boptet – The Lido Cafe, 7pm, Free The Sunday Jazz Club – Public Bar & Eatery, 7:30pm, Free
NELSON / TASMAN SATURDAY 17
Gypsy Pickers – AKA the Valentes – The Free House, Nelson, 8pm, $15
CANTERBURY THURSDAY 15
Midnight Youth – World Comes Calling Summer Tour – Ferrymead Speights Ale House, 8pm, $35 Stink Fest 13 – Darkroom, 9pm, Free The Black Velvet Band – Becks Southern Alehouse, 8pm, Free Merchants of Flow EP Release – Dux Live, 9pm, Free
FRIDAY 16
Stink Fest 13 – Darkroom, 9pm, Free Tealight Acoustics – The Charity Special – Phillipstown Youth Centre, 8:30pm, $5-$20 Mi Casa – DJ Mike T & Guests – Winnie Bagoes, 10pm, Free
SATURDAY 17
The Atarmies – Woodend Hotel (The Woodie), Woodend, 8pm, Free Retrosonic – Becks Southern Alehouse, 9pm, Free
OTAGO
FRIDAY 16
Black Boy Peaches – 12 Below – XIIB, Dunedin, 10pm, $10
SATURDAY 17
Sammy’s Xmas Gig – Sammy’s, Dunedin, 9pm, $5-$10
FRIDAY 16
Left Or Right Vinyl Fundraiser Show – Tillermans, Invercargill, 9pm, $10-$15 has teamed with Eventfinder for gig listings. To get your gig considered, go to eventfinder. co.nz and submit your show for publication. Due to space constraints, we can’t guarantee that every show will be listed.
Cross St skate and clothing store Arcade is getting in on the Yuletide spirit with 12 Days of Xmas, an in store promotion that runs day and night from 13–24 December. Arcade’s Mike Hall and Joel Coombs have lined up print shows, skate comps and live music from the likes of The DHDFD’s, Rackets, Home Brew and Street Chant. Check out the full details at arcadestore.co.nz…
Intersect.org.nz’s regular meetings in Wellington have been going off. Who thought you’d see young people drinking beer, writing letters and folding origami?... After a short hiatus, local youngsters The Lost Boys have found a new drummer and are back on the gigging circuit; look out for new recordings soon… Martyn Pepperell is now doing fringe music reviews every Friday on Radio Active’s breakfast show. Recent topics have included a soundtrack to an imaginary remake of The Shining set in a luxury hotel in Dubai, and a compilation of music collected off Bluetooth cellphones in the Sahara… Social activism rap fans rejoice! Immortal Technique will be performing in the capital in mid-January!... This Thursday night at Mighty Mighty, The Cool Dudes present Good Times #2 an evening of top-shelf local comedy… Fresh off the back of their lush new video clip for ‘Monsters’ on Saturday, local trip
PNC
PNC has released ‘Stranger Part 1 & 2’, the first song from his new album Under the Influence, flipping a sample from Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’– have a listen at pncmusic.co.nz… Tyra Hammond performed an upbeat set, opening for Black Joe Lewis... Rackets’ VOLUME cover created much mirth last week, and if you didn’t know already they completed their Six Sick Singles… Cassette Number Nine is calling out to artists for their live art installation – works must be inspired by the Big Day Out’s 20 th anniversary, whether by an act who played in the last 20 years, a song that means the world to you, or even that time you took acid and tried to climb the loop de loop! Forward applications or questions to art@cassettenine.com … Blink’s two-day festival for bands keen to play Camp A Low Hum at Lucha was a raging success, especially the second night… Frequency Media Group throwing a Xmas bash at Bacco Room on 16 December… Will Guitar Wolf play another secret show like they did on a previous visit?
Porcelaintoy
hop duo Porcelaintoy play their last show of the year at The Garden Club, with support from New Moon Lizard… After a year’s break from the circuit, Newtown’s DJ Sweep is back in effect and has a truckload of new music online for you to check out at soundcloud.com/sweep... David Dallas’ The Rose Tint pop up store at Rough Peel Music went off, and judging by the number of demo CDs Dallas was given over the day, a new generation of Wellington rappers is close to emerging… An interesting assortment of musicians
and creative types is gathering at San Francisco Bath House on Wednesday to fundraise towards the completion of The Mysterious Secrets of Uncle Bertie’s Botanarium Part VI – names include Lawrence Arabia, City Oh Sigh and MC Duncan Sarkies – pop past and help out!... Iconic Cuba St cafe Ernesto’s is closing down on 17 December, the end of an era it seems. Thanks for the great coffee and good times, guys!
Christchurch desperately needs some space for gigs. Dux Live is looking good, and despite the numerous delays they have what looks like a reasonable set-up – the sound system supplied by Soundpeople sounds superb. Let’s hope that this is the start of a musical renaissance in this quake-ravaged city… The Darkroom is fulfilling its purpose of providing a place to play for those lesser known acts and the new stage is definitely a step-up… The Brewery has made definite improvements to the sound in their room, but it will be future developments within their complex that will make it a more attractive place to play… Fortunately summer means lots of outdoor gigs and they are plentiful at present, so slowly things are starting to happen… Great gigs last week from Ladi6 out on home turf of Aranui… The Axemen had a large crowd at the Naval Point Yacht Club in Lyttelton and gave an awesome performance… Delaney Davidson did the business at The Brewery… Tim Finn received a standing ovation at the Rangiora Town Hall.
Dunedin Fringe booking music acts for March… Alizarin Lizard hatching more mega tour plans… Black Rock Coffin Makers making rare pre-Xmas appearance at The Crown… Chickstock II went off, but which lame-arse band didn’t bother turning up again!... Psychic Maps planning on recording soon – or are we just psychic?... Ed Gaines and certain stalwarts of the underground music scene will be celebrating birthday milestones soon in what we hear is to be a night of mayhem and hilarity… Manthyng off to play Wellington at Mighty Mighty this week – more seminudity may ensue.
Got some news for More Volume? Email us at morevolume@volumemagazine.co.nz.
GUITAR WOLF
Tuesday 13 December – None, Dunedin Wednesday 14 December – Bodega, Wellington Thursday 15 December – Static, Hamilton Friday 16 December – Cassette Number Nine, Auckland
EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY
Thursday 15 December – San Francisco Bath House, Wellington Friday 16 December – Kings Arms, Auckland
UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA Friday 16 December – San Francisco Bath House, Wellington Saturday 17 December – Kings Arms, Auckland
ADRIAN SHERWOOD Friday 16 December – The Powerstation, Auckland
HORACE ANDY & SHAPESHIFTER
Thursday 29 December – Ascension Vineyard, Matakana Monday 2 January – Riwaka Hotel, Riwaka Friday 6 January – Brewers Field, Mt Maunganui Saturday 7 January – Waihi Beach Hotel, Waihi Beach
FAT FREDDY’S DROP’S ONE DROP
Monday 2 January – Ascension Wine Estate, Matakana w/ TrinityRoots & Cornerstone Roots Saturday 7 January – Black Barn, Havelock North w/ The Nudge
THE DUM DUM GIRLS Friday 6 January – Kings Arms, Auckland
DEERHOOF
Saturday 7 January – Whammy Bar, Auckland Sunday 8 January – Bodega, Wellington
TUNEYARDS Thursday 12 January – Kings Arms, Auckland
REGURGITATOR Wednesday 18 January – San Francisco Bath House, Wellington
BIG DAY OUT 2012 Noel Gallagher’s High Flying
Birds, Das Racist, Parkway Drive, Regurgitator, Cavalero Conspiracy, The Vaccines, Nero, Soundgarden, Kasabian, Royksopp, Mariachi el Bronx, Battles, Beastwars, Best Coast, My Chemical Romance and more Friday 20 January – Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland
FLEET FOXES
SPLORE 2012 Erykah Badu, Hudson Mohawke,
DJ QBert and Reeps One, Soul II Soul, Africa Hitech, Gappy Ranks, Shortee Blitz, The Yoots, @Peace, Scratch 22, Disasteradio, Alphabethead, Earl Gateshead, The Nudge, AHoriBuzz, The SmokeEaters, Hermitude and more 17-19 February – Tapapakanga Regional Park, Auckland
THE SISTERS OF MERCY Wednesday 22 February – The Powerstation, Auckland
THE BLACK LIPS Tuesday 28 February – The Powerstation, Auckland
Friday 13 January – Town Hall, Wellington Saturday 14 January – Town Hall, Auckland
URGE OVERKILL
BEIRUT
RYAN ADAMS Tuesday 6 March –
Saturday 14 January – San Francisco Bath House, Wellington Monday 16 January – The Powerstation, Auckland
Tuesday 6 March – The Powerstation
The Regent Theatre, Dunedin Thursday 8 March – The Civic Theatre, Auckland
THE DAMNED Wednesday 25 January –
ROKY ERICKSON
THE DRESDEN DOLLS
ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFITTI
The Powerstation, Auckland
Friday 27 January – The Powerstation, Auckland Saturday 28 January – Opera House, Wellington
ST JEROME’S LANEWAY FESTIVAL
Anna Calvi, Feist, The Horrors, Gotye, Laura Marling, Pajama Club, SBTRKT Live, Shayne P. Carter, Washed Out, Twin Shadow, M83, Cults, Girls, EMA, Yuck, Toro Y Moi, Wu Lyf, Glasser, Opossom, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Austra, Transistors and more Monday 30 January – Silo Park, Wynyard Quarter, Auckland
KITTY, DAISY & LEWIS Tuesday 31 January – The Powerstation, Auckland Wednesday 1 February – Bodega, Wellington
Wednesday 7 March – The Powerstation, Auckland
Tuesday 13 March – Kings Arms, Auckland Wednesday 14 March – Bodega, Wellington
DIRTY THREE Wednesday 14 March – The Powerstation, Auckland
JOE SATRIANI, STEVE VAI AND STEVE LUKATHER – G3 Sunday 25 March – Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland Monday 26 March – Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington
NICK LOWE March 31 – The Powerstation, Auckland
THE GOLDEN AWESOME & HEKA
CHICKS HOTEL, DUNEDIN SATURDAY 10 DECEMBER Photography Roger Grauwmeijer
The Golden Awesome
Heka
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis 8484978AA
with Delaney Davidson
Powerstation Tuesday 31st January Tickets from Ticketmaster
FIRST NZ SHOW IN 25 YEARS!
PO W ER STAT IO N AN W E D 25 J TICKETS FROM TICKETMASTER
F R I D AY 2 7 T H J A N U A RY
P O W E R S TAT I O N - A U C K L A N D - T I C K E T S F R O M T I C K E T M A S T E R
S AT U R D AY 2 8 T H J A N U A RY 8484989AA
THE OPERA HOUSE - WELLINGTON - TICKETS FROM TICKETEK
BASE FM XMAS PARTY
W/ EDDIE NUMBERS, ALPHABETHEAD, DUB TERMINATOR, @PEACE, SCRATCH 22, DYLAN C & IMAGINE THIS KINGS ARMS, AUCKLAND SATURDAY 10 DECEMBER Photography StJohn Milgrew
Alphabethead
Alphabethead and Scratch 22
@Peace’s Tom Scott and Lui Tuisau