394 Groove Guide

Gigs | Music | Film | Reviews | News | Gadgets | Games | Gear

14 - 20 DEC 2011 . NZ’S original FREE WEEKLY STREET PRESS . ISSUE 394 . GROOVEGUIDE.CO.NZ

Happiness is a Daily Choice Featuring

2CD SET OUT NOW www.liberationmusic.co.nz

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE MGMT PASSION PIT SLEIGH BELLS THE TEMPER TRAP SIX 60 THE NAKED AND FAMOUS BULLETPROOF TIKI TAANE DIZZEE RASCAL BENNY BENASSI MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD JOHN BUTLER TRIO BON IVER THE XX LIAM FINN AVALANCHE CITY

& many more

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

© 2011 CATCH44 AP LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

from the director of die hard 2 renny harlin

BAsed on ActuAl events

“An amazing war film… hurls you head-on into the warzone.”

Zoo magaZine UK

Rent or Buy on Blu-ray & dvd december 15 © 2011 IRon LIon FILm PRoDuCTIon InC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Available at all leading retailers

Shit worth announcing

Breaking news  New Order have been announced to play one show in Auckland on Mon 27 Feb at Vector Arena.

Announcements Coddin On

 The Cranberries will play one New Zealand show next year at Auckland’s Trusts Stadium on Thu 15 Mar.

Enchanting songstress and local lass of all things pretty-sounding Anna Coddington has announced an eight-stop tour around the country over January and February. The Little Islands tour will also feature Mike Hall (Nightchoir, Pluto) and Riki Gooch (Eru Dangerspiel, Trinity Roots) in the touring band as well as support from Amiria Grenell, Ryan Prebble and She’s So Rad with more acts to be announced.

Tickets are on sale now from Under The Radar.

 Due to popular demand, Beirut’s Wellington show has moved to The Opera House.  The Northern Lights Festival at Pakiri Beach has been cancelled.

26/01

 The first Two Piece Fest will hit Wellington in February.

Roll on Rollins

Before he was the buffest interviewer in the world, Henry Rollins actually used to make music in a little band called Black Flag. While he’s not as much of a musician nowadays, the industrial star still travels around the world speaking his mind and popping some serious veins. The stage sensation will be performing four shows around the country in April, hitting Hamilton, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketek and Ticketmaster.

 Crosby, Stills & Nash will play one Auckland show next year on Sat 24 Mar at the Trusts Stadium.  The Chronophonium Festival has been announced to take place at Besson Farm in mid-January.  Auckland has a brand new record store. The Southbound Record Store has officially opened its doors at 69 Mt Eden Rd.

11/04

23/03

Our pick

Everyone’s favourite hick trash will be heading our way next year. Ricky, Julian and Bubbles from the nonstop hilariously outrageous Trailer Park Boys will perform two live shows in March. The Drunk, High and Unemployed Tour will undoubtedly be an absolute riot as the boys perform in New Zealand for the first time. Auckland’s Town Hall and Wellington’s Opera House will host the performances. Tickets go on sale this Monday.

Editor Grant Hislop editor@grooveguide.co.nz

Halfway House

CONTRIBUTING Editor Matt Monk matt@grooveguide.co.nz

Editorial assistant Tyler Hislop tyler@grooveguide.co.nz

SUB Editor Elise Brinkman

Designer Greta Gotlieb greta@grooveguide.co.nz

It’s been a while since it’s been the sound of the moment, but for all those ska-heads that just can’t let go, some good news is in store for you.

Bad Manners have been announced to play one show at Auckland’s Kings Arms on Saturday 07 January. The UK band found their share of fans back in the 1980s, but are perhaps best known for mooning the Pope. It’s a long story.

Trailer Trash Is Neat

 Auckland’s K Rd Christmas Carnival has been announced for Fri 23 Dec at St. Kevin’s Arcade.

Groove Guide is New Zealand’s leading weekly music and entertainment publication. 10,000 free copies are available every week at music stores, cafes, fast food outlets, nightclubs, bars, restaurants, cinemas and retail stores throughout New Zealand. If you would like to stock Groove Guide please contact tyler@ grooveguide.co.nz or call (09) 3664616.

07/01 Specially Brewed

20/01

The Rose Quartz gang is continuing to bring some of the lesser known but much hyped alt and underground artists to the country. January will see San Francisco alt-houser Ital play one show in Auckland at Whammy Bar. Following the full marks received from the recent TV Colours, Danger Beach, Assassins 88 shows put on by the RQ collective as well as the upcoming Sun Araw gigs, you’d be wise to take an interest in what shows they’re putting on.

05/04 Jazzing Off

Grammy award winner Patti Austin has been added to the 50th National Jazz Festival happening over Easter weekend next year in Tauranga. The jazz-stress joins the likes of rhythm and blues legends Earth, Wind & Fire and Keb Mo, with more acts to be announced. This staple festival keeps running for a reason. Tickets for the five-day festivities are available now through Ticketek.

Advertising sales@grooveguide.co.nz

Dresden Dolls Add Show

Accounts Gail Hislop gailhslp@yahoo.co.nz

Contributors Jan Maree, Justin Fowler, John Brinkman, Justin Fowler, Teuila Fuatai, Ricardo Kerr, Alexander Hallag, Sam Wieck, Rebecca Barry Hill, Steve Newall

print Image Print ltd.

Publisher

25/01

Hark Entertainment LTD PO Box 37584 Parnell, Auckland

Can you describe this Ruckus?

due to space and content requirements, not all gigs may be listed. listings are user generated. groove guide assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies, errors or omissions. groove guide is provided ‘as is’, for your information only, without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringment. the guide’s publisher assumes no responsibility for and disclaims all liability for any inaccuracies, errors or omissions in this guide and do not share the opinions expressed within. reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. copyright 2011

ISSN 1172-675X

The Dresden Dolls have added one more gig to their New Zealand tour next year. As well as the Auckland and Wellington dates scheduled for late January, one Christchurch gig has been added for Wednesday 25 January at the Aurora Centre. Earlier this year the Dollies vocalist and pianist Amanda Palmer had to cancel her solo show following the Christchurch earthquakes, but those who still have their tickets can use that pass to get into the Aurora Centre gig.

10/04

After faring pretty darn well overseas, hip hop/rock four-piece Rapture Ruckus have announced they’ll be playing shows in Auckland and Wellington next year.

Joining them will be American Grammy-nominated metallers P.O.D. for the ALIVE 2012 events. The bands will play at Wellington’s Town Hall on Tuesday 10 April and Auckland’s Logan Campbell Centre on Wednesday 11 April.

16/02 Bigs & smalls

Three-piece experimentalists Aa (pronounced ‘big A little a’) have announced three shows in midFebruary. The Brooklynites are percussion heavy instrumentalists that sound a little bit like a marching band marching on top of another marching band, resulting in a marching band battle in a Nintendo world. Aa will play at Space Monster in Wanganui, Mighty Mighty in the capital and Auckland’s Whammy Bar.

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Shit Worth Knowing

PLAYING Reach for FAVourites the Stars MATT BOWDEN STARBOY

Favourite drink?

Natural yoghurt fruit and honey smoothie, but on rare occaisions when I drink it is Casa Noble Reposado (tequila).

Favourite restaurant/café?

The Olive Grove.

Favourite takeaway?

Subway cookies.

Favourite colour?

Gold and Burgundy.

Favourite childhood memory?

Jumping the Western Springs Fence into Pink Floyd at age 15, ripping my hands on glass at the top of the fence, landing on a guard, sprinting down the bank with a twisted ankle, completely wasted and bleeding and getting down front in front of the speakers, awesome!

Favourite party food?

Various items from the A and B menu.

Favorite vice?

Ultimate Ears custom moulded in ear monitors.

6 little speakers inside your skull.

Favourite meal?

Dessert.

Favourite cause?

Freedom, or equality.

Favourite word?

Groovy.

Favourite candy bar?

Pineapple Express.

Favourite TV shows?

I only watch Tom and Jerry, Dr Who and Juice TV. Favourite song?

As long as Chris Cornell sings it I don’t care which song.

Favourite album?

My fingers are saying Steve Vai Passion and Warfare, but I don’t leave home without the Bowie albums with Mike Garson on keys.

See Him Live: ETERnity Live FRI 16 DEC VIADUCT EVENTS CENTRE 7pm, $50-150, ticketmaster.co.nz

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Whether you know him as Starboy or Matt Bowden, the man certainly has a distinct notoriety about him. This week he’s throwing the theatrical stage show/rock party open to the public.

This follows his ridiculously huge sci-fi party earlier this year, Starboy: Visitation, which you could be forgiven for thinking was as legitimate as something done by Spinal Tap. Starboy will take to Auckland’s Viaduct Events Centre this Friday with JGeek, DJ Justin Shane and Wesley Dowd (of Outrageous Fortune fame) for Starboy: Eternity Live as he celebrates his mini movie Eternity. Extravagant costumes will be provided and aliens will crawl out of the woodwork while ballet kicks and circus tricks will fuck with your mind, blindsiding you from the pyrotechnics and lasers you won’t be able to take your eyes off.

Tickets are available from Ticketmaster, and

word is there’s a special 3-for-2 ticket deal.

It’s not often this country has its very own outrageous personality who puts his money where his mouth is, but it seems like the sky’s the limit for Starboy.

2011 Grammy Nominees The 54th annual Grammy Award nominees have been announced, and we’re seeing the likes of Kanye, Adele and Bon Iver as the top nominated artists. There are 78 Grammy Awards up for grabs in total, but here’s a small list of who’s up for what: Record of the year: Rolling In The Deep by Adele; Holocene by Bon Iver; Grenade by Bruno Mars; The Cave by Mumford & Sons and Firework by Katy Perry.

Album of the year: 21 by Adele; Wasting Light by Foo Fighters; Born This Way by Lady Gaga; Doo-Wops & Hooligans by Bruno Mars and Loud by Rihanna.

Song of the year: ‘All of the Lights’ by Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi and Fergie; ‘The Cave’ by Mumford & Sons; ‘Grenade’ by Bruno Mars; ‘Holocene’ by Bon Iver and ‘Rolling In The Deep’ by Adele.

Best new artist: The Band Perry; Bon Iver; J. Cole; Nicki Minaj and Skrillex.

Best pop vocal album: 21 by Adele; The Lady Killer by Cee Lo Green; Born This Way by Lady Gaga; Doo-Wops & Hooligans by Bruno Mars and Loud by Rihanna.

Best rock album: Rock ‘N’ Roll Party Honoring Les Paul

by Jeff Beck; Wasting Light by Foo Fighters; Come Around Sundown by Kings Of Leon; I’m With You by Red Hot Chilli Peppers and The Whole Love by Wilco.

Best Dance/Electronica Album: Zonoscope by Cut/ Copy; 4x4=12 by Deadmau5; Nothing But The Beat by David Guetta; Body Talk, Pt. 3 by Robyn and Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites by Skrillex.

Best Alternative Music Album: Bon Iver by Bon Iver; Codes And Keys by Death Cab For Cutie; Torches by Foster The People; Circuital by My Morning Jacket and The King Of Limbs by Radiohead.

Best Rap Album: Watch The Throne by Jay-Z & Kanye West; Tha Carter IV by Lil Wayne; Lasers by Lupe Fiasco; Pink Friday by Nicki Minaj and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West.

Best R&B Album: F.A.M.E. by Chris Brown; Second Chance

by El DeBarge; Love Letter by R. Kelly; Pieces Of Me by Ledisi and Kelly by Kelly Price.

Shit Worth Knowing

Releases this week Albums: Smashing Pumpkins’ Gish and Siamese Dream remastered; Flo Rida’s Only One Rida Pt. 2; Take That’s Progress Live; Rick Ross’ God Forgives, I Don’t; Professor Green’s At Your Inconvenience; Motorhead’s The World Is Ours Vol. 1 Everywhere Further Than Everyplace Else; Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik Limited Edition LP; Charlotte Gainsbourg’s Stage Whisper; Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1. Original Score; New Order’s The Lost Sirens; Common’s The Dreamer, The Believer; Joy Division’s + - (Plus Minus); Various artists on Dub Step: Dubterranean; Various artists on Strictly Chill; Various artists on MAI Summer James 2011.

Live/Concerts: Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon DVD; Glee - The Concert DVD and Bluray; Rhys Darby - It’s Rhys Darby Night! DVD. Films: Mr Bean - Merry Christmas DVD; The Doors - Mr. Mojo Risin’: The Story of L.A. Woman Blu-ray; The Orator DVD; Mr Poppers Penguins DVD and Blu-ray; Priest DVD and Blu-

ray; Dennou Coil - Part 2 DVD; Redline DVD and Blu-ray; Horrible Bosses DVD; Cowboys and Aliens DVD and Blu-ray; Conan the Barbarian DVD and Blu-ray; Catch .44 DVD; Metropia DVD; Incendies DVD; TV Series: Deadliest Catch - Season 7 DVD; Sanctuary - Seasons 1-3 DVD; Invader Zim - The Complete Collection DVD; Underbelly: Razor DVD and Blu-ray; The Kennedys DVD; Darker than Black Collection - Season 2 DVD and Blu-ray.

shit worth

winning Go to grooveguide.co.nz and enter the draw to win these prizes

SELECTIVE SOUNDS

TUE 27 DEC 420 SETTLEMENT ROAD, MANGAWHAI 15 X DOUBLE PASSES

Tickets and more GIVEAWAYS

Film News The competition films for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival have been announced, and it’s worth noting that there seem to be a shitload of damn goodlooking comedies. While the offspring of the wider Apatow crew (Seth Rogen, James Franco, Paul Rudd, Jason Segal, etc) seem to have vanished into the mainstream or turned their attention to writing and direction, we’re now getting to see the next wave of new age sitcoms getting their Sundance chops all nice and wet. Some standouts look to be The Comedy, starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!), Safety Not Guaranteed starring Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation, Scott Pilgrim VS The World), Save the Date starring Lizzy Caplan (Party Down) and Smashed starring our favourite married funny folk Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally. These comedians have all worked with the wider Human Giant/Childrens Hospital crew, which is easily our favourite mob on the scene. There are some damn fine comedies with excellent comedians making that Sundance list, and we’re not complaining.

You can never look past a sequel. The main difficulty any given part-two-er will face is topping the original. In the case of action films, how could a follow-up to The Expendables be packed with any more action? And since we’re not going to see Michael Bay be directing it, who else could possibly handle the 360 degree low-angle shots and the giant explosions you would expect to see in a team-up of the biggest names in action films today (and yesterday)? Well here’s an idea – MORE CAMEOS! The Expendables 2 has announced the addition of an interesting cast member. Joining the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Liam Hemsworth, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger will be none other than the golden boy of international tennis Novak Djokovic. The Serbian star breathes a welcome breath of fun into the sport, but are his acting chops up to scratch? Will we get to see him fire ball after ball through anonymous henchmen, followed by a racket beheading? Hope so.

MELANCHOLIA

MUPPETS

5 X DOUBLE PASSES

5 X PRIZE PACKS INCLUDING- DOUBLE PASS TO THE FILM, HAT, T-SHIRT, BOOKMARKS, STICKERS AND A PENCIL CASE

GAMING GIVEAWAys

TEKKEN HYBRID 2 X PS3 GAMES

UNCHARTED 3 SPECIAL EDITION 2 X packs including GAME AND Diary

CD & DVD giveaways

SPLORE 5 X SPLORE COMPILATION ALBUM

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES 3 X DVDS

THE VENTURE BROs.

COWBOYS AND ALIENS

3X SEASONS 1,2 AND 3

5 X DVDS

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Shit worth doing

Thursday 15 Mission: Impossible 4

Alvin and The Chipmunks 3

General Release

General Release

While director Brad Bird usually sticks his animation endeavours (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles), the latest Mission: Impossible flick sees him take on a different kind of giant – a film starring Tom Cruise.

Do you love him? Do you hate him? Does it matter when Simon Pegg is in the film as well?

Holy chip! Those annoying little chipmunks are back.

While your kids/younger siblings/niece and nephew/ stoner pals will dig it, you’ll just reassure yourself that Christina Applegate, Anna Faris, Amy Poehler and David Cross have to pay the bills somehow, while you realise that Jason Lee, Justin Long and Alyssa Milano were never that great anyway.

Explosions In The Sky

Guitar Wolf

San Fran Bath House

Static

8pm, $20, undertheradar.co.nz

8pm, $45, undertheradar.co.nz

The much-hyped post-rock shows kick off this week in Wellington on Thursday and move up to Auckland’s Kings Arms on Friday. When you say they’re from Texas, you just know they’re from Austin. And if you don’t get what that means, then you’ve never heard of a little festival called SXSW.

If you don’t get why we’re so excited about Guitar Wolf then you’ve never seen Wild Zero. Imagine zombies attacking everyone and the only way to stop them is by being the baddest of badass bands. Expect to get sweaty, wild and smacked in the face while wondering how the whole bar became a mosh pit.

K-Ci & JoJo

Stink Fest

Logan Campbell Centre

The Darkroom 7pm, $40, ticketek.co.nz

9pm, FREE

Cedric “K-Ci” Hailey and Joel “JoJo” Hailey make up one the swooniest r’n’b duos to grace the stage in recent times. Sure, they had some ups and downs followed by plenty of well documented footage of them trying to get clean and sober, but now they’re off the hooch.

So, no falls on the stage this time.

Thursday and Friday sees Stink Fest hit Christchurch at the Archive’s Darkroom. See Delaney Davidson, Double Ya D and Commander Robot on Thursday, followed by Golden Axe, Ritchie Venus, Planet of the Tapes and I Drink Your Blood on Friday. And all for free. Free garage festival? Plz and thx.

Dub Me Crazy Soundsystem

Eternity Live

Studio

Viaduct Events Centre

Friday 16

9pm, $30-60, 1-night.co.nz

7pm, $50-150, ticketmaster.co.nz

This could very well be the country’s biggest, craziest most extravagant rock opera ever conceived. The theatrical steampunk 360 degree performance has circus, ballet, lasers and pyrotechnics. There’s no telling exactly what Starboy has planned for everyone, but you’ll definitely want to see it.

After stuffing his last two albums with New Zealand talent, Bulletproof is bringing together the names he’s worked with so far. David Dallas, PNC, Hollie Smith, Kidz In Space, Annabel Fay, Jessie G, Mt Eden, Jason Howson and Rugged Tekniques all come together for one night of dubstep mayhem at Auckland’s Studio.

A Cold Year In Hell

Midnight Youth

Christmas Cabaret

Upper Hutt Posse

Whammy Bar

Bodega

CPIT

Space Monster, Wanganui

8.30pm, $10, Door sales only

The Drab Doo-Riffs, The Vietnam War, Delaney Davidson, Heart Attack Alley, Evil Twins, Las Tetas, and Cutss ge together for Country Club’s Cold Year In Hell fiesta in the St Kevin’s dungeon. Dirty rock for your dirty Friday.

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gig OF THE WEEK

grooveguide.co.nz

8pm, $35, ticketmaster.co.nz

With summer on its way, the Midnight Youth lads are cranking out their World Comes Calling tour. Following some heavy gigging in Australia and America, the band will hit the hometown spots they’ve so sorely neglected up until now.

8pm, $20, eventfinder.co.nz

When you were a kid you probably saw naughty pictures of women dressed up in Christmas lingerie on a calendar that your uncle or older brother had, and you were too young to know what that tingling feeling was but now you do.

9pm, $20, eventfinder.co.nz

Upper Hutt Posse’s seventh album Declaration of Resistance has been out for some time now and the sevenpiece still aren’t done touring. After some 25 years of music, the septet is joined by Choirboy, Evil Mule and Majic at Space Monster.

Shit worth doing

Saturday 17 Unknown Mortal Orchestra

The Golden Awesome

The Kings Arms

Whammy Bar

9pm, $9, undertheradar.co.nz

8pm, $20, undertheradar.co.nz

Hot damn, if Auckland hasn’t been waiting for this one. The country’s runaway band has found notoriety with critics around the world, and after some relentless gigging and touring they’re home to play. The Kings Arms hosts UMO following their Friday show at Wellington’s San Fran Bath House. .

In their first show since arriving back from a string of shows on the East Coast in the big old US of A, The Golden Awesome play with Autumn Splendour and Wilberforces. Limited advance copies of The Golden Awesome’s debut album (officially being released in January) will be available at the show.

Giant Snow Globe

BDO Cracker Pull

Hagley Park North

Western Park 10am, FREE

12pm, FREE

See, sometimes Christmas isn’t about presents or avoiding family reunions. Sometimes it’s about walking into a giant snow globe and convincing children that the snowmen come alive at night. The only bummer is that despite it being the Cadbury Dairy Milk Snow Globe, it’s not made out of chocolate.

ZM’s annual Big Day Out Christmas Cracker Pull goes down at Ponsonby’s Western Park this Saturday at midday. The first 500 to show up for a cracker will win one of 50 Big Day Out tickets, V Energy drinks, CDs, Posters, Converse shoes or Cornetto ice creams. Get in there early to grab one of the 500 crackers.

Quay St Social Club

NZSO

Darren Watson

Stink Fest

Northern Steamship

Te Papa

The Lido Cafe

Dux Live

10.30am, FREE

9pm, FREE

The Quay Street Social Club heads back to where it all started. Take a nostalgic look back when the indie scene used to be more Eden’s Bar’s side of town than Whammy up on K Road with DJs Bex-In-Effect and Andrew Tidball.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is doing Wellington families a solid this weekend and putting on free concert at Te Papa.

From 10:30am through to 3pm three performances will get Christmas started for you and the fam.

SUNDAY 18

8.30pm, FREE

Bluesman Darren Watson performs his last Lido show of the year with support from The Real Deal Blues Band. Who knew that New Zealand had internationally recognised award-winning blues folk? See the pros live this weekend.

$10 Door sales

The Stink Magnetic festival continues celebrating 13 years of doing shit right. Following two nights at the Darkroom, the final night goes down at Dux Live with The Bloody Souls, Boss Christ, The Grand Chancellors, T.A. Maracas and Mono Sonic.

MONDAY 19 Kraftbomb

Decortica + guests

Grey Lynn Community Centre

The Kings Arms 6.30pm, $10, Door sales only

11am, FREE

Jagermeister and Jester Underground are putting together a show to wipe those Monday blues away, provided you’re still not suffering from weekend poisoning. Decoritca, Here Come the Zombies, New Way Home and Villainy will take to the stage and make you late for work on Tuesday.

This is the weekend you should go Christmas shopping. You won’t, because you’re slack and lazy and your mother was right about you. But if you make it along to Kraftbomb this weekend you can actually buy really cool shit that’s not just some stupid generic tie for your dad or soap for your mum.

Lazy Sunday Sessions

Carolina Moon

Puhoi Valley Cafe

Carey’s Bay Hotel

Sunday is made for Jazz. That’s probably because adults like jazz and they didn’t get shit-faced on Saturday night since they have kids. Also, grown-ups like cheese, fine wine and playgrounds where said children can play. Puhoi’s got you lot covered.

Auckland’s Carolina Moon and band play their last show of their Mother Tongue tour down in Dunedin this Sunday. See the mix of Spanish, Hebrew and Arabic inspired jazz at the final show of the ensemble’s journey.

Key

12pm, FREE

4pm, $20, careysbayhotel.co.nz

auckland

art and culture

hamilton

daytime event

wellington

live music

dunedin

all ages

christchurch

film/tv

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9

bret McKenzie takes his musical comedy to the next level in the new muppets movie and ends up flying higher than a conchord ever could.

A PIG, A FROG and a bear walk into a theatre. They meet up there with (amongst other characters) an American eagle, some more pigs, a dog, a band called Dr Teeth And The Electric Mayhem, a whole lot of chickens, a mad scientist named Dr Bunsen Honeydew, his assistant Beaker and a Swedish Chef. Partner this mob with Hollywood heavyweights Jason Segel, Chris Cooper and Amy Adams. Hook them up with comic legends Jack Black, Mickey Rooney and Whoopi Goldberg. Add cameos from a raft of talented comedians and actors and then throw in a storyline about a group of odd-bods who have to come out of retirement to save their old stomping ground from being turned into oil fields.

What have you got?

A madcap musical comedy, very much the makings of an exceptional Muppet movie.

The voices might be slightly different that the original Muppets but after two minutes, even a hardcore Muppet Show fan will get lost in the story and slip into the fantastic world of this, the newest Muppet movie.

You might well ask, Who are the Muppets? Well… the Muppets… are just that. Muppets. Not puppets. Muppets.

Let me explain. The Muppet Show is a treasured memory for people my age (autumnal thirties) who were watching it in their pyjamas on Saturday nights in the late ‘70s and on into the ‘80s. We were the little people who were in the cinema 26 years ago for the very first Muppet movie, howling with laughter as Miss Piggy karate chopped (“HI-YA!”) her way across the screen, flinging her green boyfriend akimbo, and still feel a little lump in the throat at the soulful strains of Kermit’s song ‘The Rainbow Connection’. Kids today don’t have the relationship with the Muppets that my generation does, so who is this movie really for?

This is one of the first questions I put to our very own Bret McKenzie, one half of dynamic duo Flight of the Conchords who went and got himself the job of Musical Supervisor on this very film.

“Oh, the film is very much for adults who remember the Muppets; the adults loved it,” he says. “But there were kids there too, and they loved it.

I hope it will be a film for everyone.”

I am talking to Bret at home in his native Wellington, and although he is just finishing up a long day of interviews, he’s as perky and personality packed as ever. When I ask him how he got the job he chuckles a little: “Well, you know James Bobin (co-creator of the Conchord’s TV show and director of The Muppets) was working on the film, and he asked me to write a (demo) song for the opening number of the film,” McKenzie recalls, “so I did. And then he asked me to write two more. And then… well, then they asked me to be the musical supervisor for the whole film!” He laughs. “So you know. I did it in quite a Kiwi way; I sang my way in the door to the big job, so it wasn’t so daunting for me. But it was kind of intimidating working with a pig and a frog!”

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Dark days though?

“Oh yeah, like with The Conchords we (Bobin, McKenzie and Jemaine Clement) had 99.9% of the control over every aspect of the show. Not so when you are working in Hollywood. This was my first real Hollywood experience. On big money productions like this there is an endless stream of executives, and I had to meet with them all. And one exec might like something but then the next lot doesn’t. And they talk in real movie jargon. Actually it was like being in a film about making a film. But then, once I learned to navigate that movie executive world, well, then it was ok.”

Speaking of navigating worlds, the Muppets are a world unto themselves. Any Muppet fan will know that there are rules to the Muppet world. Rules that Bret says took him a while to grasp hold of.

“There was pressure to respect the integrity of (Muppet creator) Jim Henson’s original world,” McKenzie says. “So it was really important that we remember that everything had to fit into it. That meant I used a LOT of banjo and baritone sax (in the music) which are instruments very true to the original TV show. I had to be careful, you know? I wrote this song with the lyric ‘I remember when I was just a piece of felt…’ and immediately was told to change it because the Muppets have always just existed. There is no back story of their creation, they just arrived. I had to remember that in the world of the Muppets all animals can talk, except for the chickens, they can only cluck.”

As an old-school fan of the Muppets, I have to break in here and ask if Gonzo is still in a relationship with Camilla the chicken. Laughing, Bret says, “Oh yeah. She’s in there alright, Gonzo and his odd fascination with chickens.”

That’s just one of the things about the Muppets, which, if they weren’t so fantastically entertaining and funny and raw and Muppet-y, maybe would bother your average fan. But it just doesn’t because they are so lovely and loveable. They aren’t too perfect, and for the fans it is impossible to believe that the wonderfully human character you are watching on the screen is, in fact, a sock.

Bret is a great talker, and we natter for almost an hour (despite the publicist reminding me that we have only 20 minutes at the start of the interview). His favourite Muppet is Animal, he prefers Marmite to Vegemite and if he saw a ghost, then he would believe in them. His highlights of making the film include teaching Chris Cooper how to rap over a Skype call; “I’d rap to him and he’d rap back. He is a real method actor, he picked it up well,” he laughs. (I ask Bret the secret to successful rapping, he says it is all about flow, so now you know, direct from a pro!)

Another treasured experience was a recording session in Hollywood with 90 year old screen legend Mickey Rooney (worth noting that he is the only cast member to have actually met the Walt Disney, the namesake of the studio which is producing this film). I can almost hear Bret blush down the phone as he says, “He didn’t like my direction. At one point I asked him to put more character into his voice. He gave me a long look and said, ‘I do it like I feel.’”

But probably the best memory all: “Writing a song on the piano at my place here in Aro Valley, then I’m in a studio with a full orchestra recording it in Hollywood, then they close down Hollywood Boulevard to film the song sequence for the movie.” Pretty cool for a fella from our own little capital city.

He tells me his two-year-old is watching original episodes of The Muppet Show and loves them. He says when he grows up, he wants to be Jemaine (that is a joke; we do a lot of laughing here.) He tells me that he is really grateful that Sir Peter Jackson bought BATS Theatre in Wellington (the very theatre where Bret got his start in the arts), and he tells me that working on The Hobbit ten years after the Lord of the Rings trilogy has meant spending more time talking about children, less time talking about partying at the weekends. He tells me his next big project is working out how he can do this job and remain living in NZ. “Hollywood is no place for kids,” he muses. Which reminds him that it’s about time he went and spent time with his daughter.

Of this film I get the feeling he is right: everyone will love it. So, when it comes out here on Thursday 29 December, you’ll find me at my local cinema with nephew and some close vintage Muppets fans (ahem, that is code for older folks like me), disappearing for ninety minutes into the not so perfect, but perfectly magical world of The Muppets.

WRITTEN BY JAN MAREE

IN CINEMAS THU 29 DEC: THE MUPPETS Starring Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones, Zach Galifianakis, Emily Blunt, Ed Helms, John Krasinski, Selena Gomez, Neil Patrick Harris, Jack Black, Ricky Gervais, Katy Perry, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Alan Arkin, Liza Minnelli, Mickey Rooney Directed by James Bobin Music by Bret McKenzie

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after playing glastonbury, being nominated for a silver scroll and winning two vnzma’s this year, Ladi6 talks rounding off 2011.

Trinity Roots, The Black Seeds and Kora are some of New Zealand’s own to be gracing stages this New Year season; fantastic musicians in their own right, but what makes their upcoming shows even more lucrative is the addition of soulicious femme fatale Ladi6.

Ladi6, aka Karoline Tamati, is in her third consecutive year of backto-back summers and is right now freshly home from an exhaustive season of European touring. Making appearances at huge festivals like Glastonbury and supporting Erykah Badu are just some of the impressive feats of the season just gone. And then there’s that NZ goldselling album The Liberation Of… which alongside positive international attention has picked up coveted awards including the Taite Music Prize, two VNZMAs including Best Female Vocalist, and her grown-up get together with Jon Toogood’s The Adults called for a Silver Scroll nomination.

Tamati gracefully glides through her own and other New Zealand musicians’ credits. Starting out in the ‘90s with Sheelahroc, she grooved her way through Verse Two to eventually form today’s mainstay Ladi6 with partner Parks (Brent Park) and Julien Dyne. Tamati’s approach to music sees her continually evolving; she refuses to be pigeonholed by genre. She describes her own music as “just at the beginning,” a reassurance that comes as no surprise to anyone who knows her work ethic and drive.

The studio is currently being set up for Ladi6 to start recording a new album. When asked what would be different this album round, Tamati says, “We’ll spend extra time in post-production.” Her one regret with The Liberation Of… was that it was rushed. It was made and created in just six weeks. “We had a lot to prove to ourselves,” Tamati says, “[but] the process was liberating.”

Collaboration might be something to look forward to in this next release. As an artist, Tamati is instantly recognisable for her efforts with other acts, including Fat Freddy’s Drop, Shapeshifter, Scribe and most recently Jon Toogood with The Adults. Admitting she didn’t know too much about Shihad before being asked to join him, Tamati really enjoyed working on ‘Nothing To Lose’ – you could her the excitement as she talked about the enthusiasm Toogood showed in her songwriting with The Adults. “Collaboration is the key. It opens you up to more new ideas.

It improves everything,” she says.

Tamati described how there are musical communities of people who work together. For her the most important thing is hanging out. “It’s all about the relationship,” she says. “If you don’t click you end up with contrived bullshit songs.” Tamati doesn’t just restrict herself to musical collaboration – she enthuses about the interesting and unique experience that was working with artists Cut Collective, who did the album art for The Liberation Of… and art in the video for ‘Like Water’.

While she enjoys being home, Tamati really likes Europe. “Performers, no matter their art form know what to expect wherever they go,” she muses, acknowledging the standard that Europe’s infrastructure allows for. “I didn’t want to leave.”

The show that Tamati is most looking forward to this Kiwi summer is Coro Gold. Ladi6 don’t have any special secrets to their live act. Tamati laughs, “We’re too lazy to practise. We just gig shitloads. Practise is touring!” What fans can expect from Ladi6 live is a lot of live drums, a stage presence to get the party started and the ability to start a vibe in the audience. And, of course, that distinctive voice that’s quickly becoming a classic Kiwi sound.

WRITTEN BY JUSTIN FOWLER

SEE HER LIVE: LADI6 MON 26 DEC The Station Village Complex, Lower Hutt WED 28 DEC 28 Butlers Reef, New Plymouth w/ Trinity Roots THU 29 DEC 29 Mangawhai Tavern, Mangawhai FRI 30 DEC - SAT 31 DEC COROMANDEL GOLD- OHUKA FARM, COROMANDEL MON 02 JAN Waihi Beach Hotel, Waihi TUE 03 JAN Brewers Field, Mt Maunganui

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events

WELLINGTON gig guide Wed 14 BATS Theatre

Mighty Mighty

Good Times comedy show: 6:30pm: Koha / Solo Ono & Cookie Brooklyn: 10pm: Free

TOYS: 9pm: $14-$20

Good Luck bar

Rice & Shine Wednesdays w/ Rucky: Free

Happy

BB Marshall w/ Jessica’s Cats Pyjamas & High Class Hobo Society: 8:30pm: $5

Matterhorn

The Session: 10pm: Free

Mighty Mighty

Sean Kirkwood, Louis Baker & Miles Calder: 9:30pm: $5

Thu 15 BATS Theatre

TOYS: 9pm: $14-$20

Happy

Gold Medal Famous Christmas Party w/ Cliche Guevara & Heat Like Me: 9pm: $10

Sat 17 BATS Theatre

TOYS: 9pm: $14-$20

Fri 16

Good Luck bar

BATS Theatre

Mighty Mighty

TOYS: 9pm: $14-$20

Bodega

Good Luck Saturdays w/ Samu: 4pm: Free

Southern Cross

Good Luck bar

The Garden Club

Meow

Amy Grace Mara Simpson Two Tui North Island Tour: 5pm: Koha

The Mantarays: 9pm: Free Porcelaintoy & New Moon Lizard: 9pm: $12

The Lido Cafe

Darren Watson & The Real Deal Blues Band: 8:30pm: Free

Mighty Mighty

Bad Girls Club ft.

Manthyng: 9:30pm: $5

Southern Cross Kem & Nica Fuimaona: 9:30pm: Free

Thanks to

The Legendary Hellbilly Circus: 9:30pm: $5

Midnight Youth Summer Tour: 8pm Stir Fridays w/ Dilby & El Pasko: 4pm: Free

s sting i l t n eve s sting i l t n eve

Sun 18 Evil Genius

Amy Grace Mara Simpson Two Tui North Island Tour: 3pm: Koha

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The Lido Cafe

The Boptet: 7pm: Free

CANTerBURY gig guide Wed 14

One Bar

Becks Southern Ale House

Pierside Cafe

Jam Session: 8pm: Free

Riccarton House & Bush

DJ Mike T: 9pm: Free Karaoke w/ DJ Chick: 8pm

Oamaru Opera House Carolina Moon: 8pm: $30

Christchurch Farmers’ Market Mid Week Market: 4pm

Salsa Latina Studio

Rutland Street Church Carolina Moon: 7:30pm: $15

Thu 15 Becks Southern Alehouse

Riccarton Park Events Centre

Pierside Cafe

The Pistons: 8:30pm: Free

Woodend Hotel

Speights Ale House

Winnie Bagoes

Mon 19

Midnight Youth Summer Tour: 8pm

Mi casa ft. DJ Mike T & guests: 10pm: Free

Woodend Hotel Karaoke: 8pm: Free

Angels Burlesque Academy

Circus Skills & Fire Spinning Classes: 6pm: Free

Christchurch Casino Smashbox: 11pm: Free

Dux Live

CPIT

Ferrymead Speights Ale House

Darkroom @ Archive

Merchants of Flow EP release: 9pm: Free

Beach Breaks w/ DJ Dmand: 9pm: Free

The Last Minute Chrissy Market: 10:30am

The Atarmies: 8pm: Free

Canterbury Bowling Club

Stink Fest 13: 9pm: Free

Pierside Cafe

North Hagley Park Events Village

Salsa on Thursdays

The Black Velvet Band: 8pm: Free

Darkroom @ Archive

Beastwars: 8pm: Free

Riccarton Christmas at the Races: 4pm: Free

Fri 16

Dr Sketchy’s Anti-Art School: Bohemian Summer: 7:30pm: $13

Dux de Lux

Ayla’s Angels Burlesque Christmas Cabaret: 8pm: $20 Stink Fest 13: 9pm: Free

Sat 17 Alvarado’s

TAOS, Alvarado’s Sessions: 8pm: Free

Angels Burlesque Academy Core Fitness Class for Aerials/Circus: 2pm: $18

Becks Southern Alehouse Retrosonic: 9pm: Free

Ferrymead Speights Ale House Quiz Night: 7pm

Pierside Cafe

Nuttin’ Trivial Quiz Night: 7pm

Tue 20 Becks Southern Ale House Quiz Night: 7pm

Pierside CafE

Texas Holdem Poker Night: 7pm

CPIT

Ayla’s Angels Burlesque Christmas Cabaret: 8pm: $20

Midnight Youth: 8pm: $35

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events

auckland gig guide Wed 14

Racket Bar

Nyntee & Isaac Aesili: 6pm: Free

106 Ponsonby

Sale St

Live on the Deck w/ Emma G: 5:30pm: Free

Jason Eli: 6:30pm: Free

Snapdragon

Mexican Cafe

DJ Sweet Mix Kids: 8pm

Live Latin & Brazilian Music: 8:30pm: Free

The Crib

Off the Wall: 9pm: Free

Neighbourhood Brew Bar

The Wine Cellar

Acoustic Wednesday w/ Waylon: 7:30pm:

Bleeding View, Outrun The Buffalo & The Mad Crept: 8pm: $5

Ponsonby Social Club

The Circling Sun Band: 10pm: Free

Racket Bar

T-Rice: 6pm: Free

Fri 16 106 Ponsonby

Live on the Deck w/ The Ben Sinclair Trio: 6:30pm: Free / Girl Tiger: 9:30pm: Free

Sale St

Grant Marshall: 7pm: Free

The Kings Arms

Beatnik Asia Vol 2: 7:30pm: $5

Thu 15 106 Ponsonby

Basalt

Mal McCallum: 9pm

1885 Britomart T-Rice: 9pm: Free

The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band w/ Swampytonk: 8pm: $20

Malones Irish Pub, Waiheke Island

Nuffield Street Trading Co. Brewbar DJ Pauly Who: 6:30pm

Ponsonby Social Club Quay St Clubrooms

Kings Arms

Accoustic session w/ Eli Guttenbiel: 8pm

Unknown Mortal Orchestra w/ guests: 8pm: $30

Racket Bar

La Zeppa

Tido & Arash: 6pm: Free

DJ Normski: 8pm

Red Bar

Malones Irish Pub, Waiheke Island

Northern Steamship Trading Co

De Post

DJ Tony Tunes: 8pm Friday Night: 6pm

Studio

The Dub Me Crazy Soundsystem ft. Bulletproof & guests: $30 + BF

The Britomart Country Club

Manuel Bundy & Lokey: 5pm: Free

The Crib

Honey Bar JAM: 8pm: Free

Franko/James: 9:30pm

Sound lounge ft. Jade Pritchard: 6:30pm

Julep

The Powerstation

Nuffield Street Trading Co. Brewbar

Khuja

SoulMates: 8pm: Free

Acoustic Thursday w/ Waylon: 7:30pm

Electronicaholic: 10pm: $10

Ponsonby Social Club

Explosions In The Sky w/ guests: 8pm: $45 + BF

Kings Arms La Zeppa

DJ Selecta Sam: 8pm

Leigh Sawmill Cafe

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Bannerman Album Release Show: 8:30pm: $15

Mexican Cafe Auckland

Salsa Party w/ DJ King Salsa: 11pm: Free

Mortons Bar & Restaurant Riqi Harawera: 8pm

| | grooveguide.co.nz grooveguide.co.nz

DISCO:DOPE: 11pm: $5

Snapdragon

Habana Noches (Havana Nights) w/ Cuban Accent: 8pm: Free

Page3, Selecta Sam, Mixtape Kidz, Dean Campbell: 5pm: Free

The Merchant Bar & Kitchen

groov

Riqi Harawera: 9:30pm

Khuja

The Tall Poppies: 10pm: Free

our add y tings is own l

Florrie McGreals

New Brew

Dean Te Paa: 8:30pm

Very Tall Stories & Very Short DJ (Bobby Brazuka): 8pm: Free

Mitch: 8:30pm

DJs Cian & Frank Booker: 9pm: Free

GBS Bar

Northern Steamship Trading Co

De Post

smith.

Take Note: 8:30pm

Chris Cope: 5:30pm

Sick Disco meets DC Club: 10pm: $10

Neighbourhood Brew Bar

Flying Moa

New Brew

16 16

DJ Normski: 8pm

Cassette Nine

Sale St

Brett Polley: 9:30pm

DJ Jason Kyle: 7:30pm

Northern Steamship Trading Co

Pat 4 President: 9:30pm

Cassette Nine

Florrie McGreals

Neighbourhood Brew Bar

One One One: 8:30pm

Brew On Quay

Phil Stoodley: 8:30pm

David S: 8:30pm

Open Mic: 9pm

New Brew

AM Duo: 8pm

Brew On Quay

CrossRoads Bar

Kings Arms

DJ T-Rice & DJ Junior: 5:30pm

Black Salt

MURMUR. Xmas Party ft.

Anthony Muirhead(Beef Records): 9pm: Free

The 95bFM Christmas Party at MUM Club Night w/ Guitar Wolf, Transistors & Trash Can Duo: 10pm: $11 (bCard entry)

Rich Carey: 9:30pm: Free

Neighbourhood Brew Bar

Adrian Sherwood w/ Stinky Jim & MC Slave’s Logg Cabin: 8pm: $40

The Supper Club Acapella Xmas ft. Herc NT (BR): 9pm: Free

UFO

This Flight Tonight & guests: 8pm: $10

Western Lights Next Minute: 8pm

Sat 17 106 Ponsonby

Reuben RIvers-Smith: 9:30pm: Free

1885 Britomart Back II Life: 8pm: $10

Mitch French: 9pm

DJ Toni Cooper & DJ Chris Cox: 3pm The Q4: 8:30pm

DJ Toni Cooper: 8pm

Ponsonby Social Club DJs Gene Rivers & Dylan C: 9pm: Free

Quay St Clubrooms Accoustic session w/ Jade Pritchard: 8pm

Racket Bar

Nyntee & Jerm: 8pm: Free

t events

auckland gig guide Rickshaw Eddies David Shanhun: 9pm

Sale St

Grant Marshall, Dean Campbell: 7pm: Free

Shooters Saloon Bar Lunar Pupil Christmas Party: 5pm: $10

Snapdragon

Saturday Night: 6pm

The Albany Pub

The Feelers Hope Nature Forgives Summer Tour: 7:30pm: $40

The Britomart Country Club

Ben Wah, Lewis Tennant & Chip Matthews: 2pm: Free

The Crib

Split Second: 10pm: Free

The Merchant Bar & Kitchen

Goody 2 Shoes: 9:30pm

The Snake Pit

Luck/House Market: 11am: Free

The Thirsty Dog

Cobra Khan, Viking Weed & Shitripper: 9pm: $10

Western Lights Lazy Boys: 8pm

The Marina

Tue 20

The Merchant Bar & Kitchen

Cassette Nine

Sun 18

Granduo

Pop Panic ft. Ricky Rile: 9pm: Free

Western Lights

Cock & Bull Botany

106 Ponsonby

Chris Lake: 5pm

Whammy Bar

The Golden Awesome, Autumn Splendour & Wilberforces: 9pm

Live on the Deck w/ Phil Stoodley: 5pm: Free

Goode Brothers Blend: 4pm

Kings Arms

Fire Dragons Chillies, NZ Chilli Eating National Champs: 2pm / The Kings Arms Xmas Party ft. The Waltons: 5pm

LEIGH SAWMILL CAFE Social Sundaze: 3pm: Free

Ponsonby Social Club Conch Sunday Grill: 6pm

Puhoi Valley Cafe Lazy Sunday Jazz Sessions: 12pm: Free

Sale St

Cubbyhole (Hamilton) Cubbyoke Night: 8:30pm: Free

Cambridge Municipal Band Rooms Cambridge & Districts Pipe Band: 7:30pm: Free

Cubbyhole (Hamilton) Muso Jam Night: 8:30pm: Free

Taupo Public Library

Carols in the Library: 5pm: Free

Cock & Bull Lynfield Wii with the Cock: 7pm: Free

Grand Central

Open Mic Night: 8pm: Free

Ivory Lounge

Open Mic Night: 8pm: Free

Kings Arms

Decortica, Villainy, New Way Home, & Here Come The Zombies: 6:30pm: $10

The Thirsty Dog Acoustic Song & Music Session: 8pm: Free

The Britomart Country Club

Windsor Castle

Open Mic Night: 8pm VIVA Jazz Quartet: 6pm: Free

Static (Hamilton)

Hollywoodfun Downstairs, Tied on Teeth + The Elements: 9pm: $5

Tuesday Trivia: 8pm

Cock & Bull Newmarket

Tuesday Trivia: 8pm

CrossRoads Bar

A Top Secret Gig Mk3: 8pm: $5

Ponsonby Social Club Beats, Eats & Co: 6pm: Free

Racket Bar

Huffey Street Sound System: 6pm: Free

The Lumsden

2011 Singer/Songwriter competition: 7pm: Free

The Windsor Castle Open Mic Night w/ Kiwi FM: 9pm: Free

Waipa Workingmen’s Club (Te Awamutu)

Sat 17 Brewers Bar (Mt Maunganui)

god bows to math album release show: 9:30pm: $5

Cock & Bull (Hamilton) Squeeze: 6pm: Free

Pioneer (Te Awamutu)

Sat 17

The Mayfair (Taranaki)

The Royal Hotel (Palmerston North)

Amy Grace Mara Simpson Two Tui North Island Tour: 5pm: Koha

White Swan (Greytown)

THU 15 Waihi Beach Hotel Battle of the Bands - Heat Five: 7:30pm: $5

Cock & Bull (Hamilton)

Te Rapa Racecourse (Hamilton)

Jesse O’Brien: 9pm: Free

Christmas at the Races: 12pm: $5

Tillermans (Invercargill)

Hamilton Cosmopolitan Club

Tokoroa Cosmopolitan Club Unknown Peace: 9pm: Free

Midnight Youth Summer Tour: 8pm:

Raybon Kan’s Clear & Present Manger: 7pm: $20

Fri 16

Marilyn Kingi & friends: 7:30pm: Free

Cock & Bull Lynfield

Wed 14

Raybon Kan’s Clear & Present Manger: 7Pm: $20

Fri 16

Tuesday Trivia: 8pm

REGIONAL gig guide

Crossroads Duo: 7:30pm: Free

Thu 15

Mon 19

Volume Bar

Dylan C: 2pm: Free / Dave & Dan Present: The Notebook: 6pm: Free

Tuesday Trivia: 8pm

Cock & Bull Ellerslie

Taye Williams, Selecta Sam, Awkward Orchid: 12pm: Free

WAIKATO gig guide Wed 14

Jason Skelton: 1pm

Left Or Right Summer Mish Tour: 9pm: $10-$15

The Royal Hotel (Palmerston North)

The Slave Collective presents more Heavy Metal: 9pm: $5

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events

OTAGO gig guide Wed 14 Subculture (Queenstown)

Dread Bass Wednesdays Ping Pong Comp: 9pm: $5

The Church (DUNEDIN) Open Mic Night: 9pm

Fri 16 Stuart St Potters Cooperative (Dunedin)

Dub Me Crazy Soundsystem ft.

Bulletproof & guests: 10pm: $30

Subculture (Queenstown)

The SubStation: 9pm: Free

Thomas L. Brown Gallery (Queenstown) Romancing the Violin: A Musical Gift: 12:30pm: $19

XII Below (Dunedin)

Black Boy Peaches: 10pm: $10

Thu 15 Central Stories Museum & Art Gallery (Alexandra) Romancing the Violin: A Musical Gift: 12:30pm: $5

Oamaru Opera House (Oamaru)

Carolina Moon: 8pm: $30

Subculture (Queenstown)

DJ Downtown Brown & Turbohag: 9pm: Free

Sun 18 Carey’s Bay Hotel (Dunedin) Carolina Moon: 4pm: $20

Dunedin Public Art Gallery (Dunedin)

The Melrose Singers: 1pm: Free

Knox Church (Dunedin) Nine Lessons & Carols: 7pm: Free

Sat 17 Sammys (Dunedin) Sammy’s Christmas Gig: 9pm: $5-$10

Subculture (Queenstown)

The Upbeats: 9pm: $20

The River House (Wanaka) Carolina Moon: 8pm

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tours & events

Upcoming tours & events Aa (US)

Sat 04 Feb San Fran Bath House, Wellington Sun 05 Feb Playhouse, Nelson Mon 06 Feb Dux Live, Christchurch Tue 07 Feb Chicks Hotel, Dunedin

Amy Grace and Mara Simpson

The Datsuns

Thu 16 Feb Arc Theatre, Whanganui Fri 17 Feb Mighty Mighty, Wellington Sat 18 Feb Whammy Bar, Auckland

Wed 14 Dec The Mayfair, Taranaki Fri 16 Dec Meow, Wellington Sun 18 Dec Evil Genius, Wellington

Bon Iver (US)

Mon 27 Feb Town Hall, Wellington Tue 28 Feb Town Hall, Wellington

Camp A Low Hum

Thu 09 Feb - Mon 13 Feb 203 Coast Road, RD 1, Wainuiomata

Classic Hits Winery Tour Andrew Keoghan & Guests Wed 21 Dec Q Theatre, Auckland

Anna Coddington

Thu 26 Jan The Kings Arms Tavern, Auckland Fri 27 Jan The Yot Club, Raglan Sat 28 Jan Festival Of Lights, Taranaki Wed 01 Feb Dux Live, Christchurch Thu 02 Feb Chick’s Hotel, Dunedin Fri 03 Feb River House, Wanaka Fri 10 Feb Free House, Nelson Sun 12 Feb San Fran Bath House, Wellington

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti (US)

Tue 13 Mar The Kings Arms, Auckland Wed 14 Mar Bodega, Wellington

Bad Manners (UK)

Sat 07 Jan The Kings Arms, Auckland

Beirut (US)

Sat 14 Jan San Fran Bath House, Wellington Mon 16 Jan Powerstation, Auckland

Beyond The Black NYE Sat 31 Dec Trentham Racecourse, Upper Hutt

Big Day Out 2012

Fri 20 Jan Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland

Big Night In

Thu 19 Jan Powerstation, Auckland

Black Lips (US)

Tue 28 Feb Powerstation, Auckland

Bloom Festival

Fri 20 Jan - Sun 22 Jan Matakana Country Park, Matakana

Fri 03 Feb Ascension Wine Estate, Matakana Sat 04 Feb Ascension Wine Estate, Matakana Sun 05 Feb Marina Reserve, Tutukaka Fri 10 Feb Wharepai Domain, Tauranga Sat 11 Feb Brunton Road, Gisborne Sun 12 Feb Black Barn Vineyards, Havelock North Thu 16 Feb Neudorf Vineyards, Upper Moutere Fri 17 Feb Neudorf Vineyards, Upper Moutere Sat 18 Feb The Mud House Winery & Café, Waipara Sun 19 Feb Logan Park, Dunedin Tue 21 Feb Olssen’s Vineyard, Cromwell Thu 23 Feb Villa Maria Estate, Blenheim Sat 25 Feb Alana Estate, Martinborough Sun 26 Feb Sentry Hill Estate, New Plymouth Fri 02 Mar Vilagrad Winery, Hamilton Sat 03 Mar Villa Maria Estate, Auckland

Coromandel Gold

Fri 30 Dec - Sat 31 Dec Ohuka Farm, Coromandel

Creedence Clearwater Revisited (US)

Sat 28 Jan Mills Reef Winery, Tauranga Sun 29 Jan Mills Reef Winery, Tauranga Mon 30 Jan Ellerslie Racecourse, Auckland Wed 01 Feb Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth Fri 03 Feb Trentham Racecourse, Wellington Sun 05 Feb Queenstown Events Centre, Queenstown

Wed 18 Jan Waihi Beach Hotel, Waihi Thu 19 Jan Bacco Room, Auckland Fri 27 Jan Mangawhai Tavern, Mangawhai Thu 02 Feb San Fran Bath House, Wellington

Davin McCoy (US) Sun 29 Jan Deep Creek Brewery Co., Auckland

Dearly Departed

Fri 16 Dec Leigh Sawmill Cafe, Leigh

Decortica

Mon 19 Dec The Kings Arms, Auckland

Deerhoof (US)

Sat 07 Jan Whammy Bar, Auckland Sun 08 Jan Bodega, Wellington

Dirty Three (US)

Wed 14 Mar Powerstation, Auckland

DJ Yoda (UK)

Fri 20 Jan InkCoherent, Auckland

The Dresden Dolls (US) Wed 25 Jan Aurora Centre, Christchurch Fri 27 Jan Powerstation, Auckland Sat 28 Jan The Opera House, Wellington

The Damned (UK)

Wed 25 Jan Powerstation, Auckland

Dan Deacon (US)

Fri 09 Mar Theatre Royal, Timaru Sat 10 Mar Regent Theatre, Dunedin Sun 11 Mar St James, Gore Mon 12 Mar Civic, Invercargill Tue 13 Mar Municipal Theatre, Queenstown Thu 15 Mar Opera House, Oamaru Fri 16 Mar CBS Canterbury Arena, Christchurch Sat 17 Mar Trafalgar Centre, Nelson Tue 20 Mar Opera House, Wellington Wed 21 Mar Opera House, Wanganui Thu 22 Mar TSB Showplace, New Plymouth Fri 23 Mar Regent on Broadway, Palmerston North Sat 24 Mar Station Village Complex, Lower Hutt Sun 25 Mar Bodega, Wellington Tue 27 Mar Bruce Mason Theatre, Takapuna Wed 28 Mar Founders Theatre, Hamilton Thu 29 Mar Baycourt Theatre, Tauranga Fri 30 Mar Civic, Rotorua Sat 31 Mar Municipal Theatre, Napier Sun 01 Apr Hawke’s Bay Opera House, Hastings Mon 02 Apr Memorial Hall, Gisborne Tue 03 Apr De Luxe Theatre, Opotoki Wed 04 Apr Whakatane Hotel, Whakatane Thu 05 Apr Papamoa Tavern, Papamoa Sat 07 Apr Coroglen Tavern, Whitianga Sun 08 Apr Mangawhai Tavern, Mangawhai Mon 09 Apr Brownzy, Browns Bay Tue 10 Apr Forum North, Whangarei

Farmageddon

Sat 03 Dec Waipu Cove, Waipu

The Feelers

Sat 17 Dec Albany Pub, Auckland Sat 31 Dec Papamoa Tavern, Papamoa Sat 14 Jan Waihi Beach Hotel, Waihi Sat 28 Jan Mangawhai Tavern, Mangawhai Sun 29 Jan Coroglen Tavern, Whitianga Sat 04 Feb Butlers Reef, New Plymouth

Dum Dum Girls (US)

Fri 06 Jan The Kings Arms, Auckland

EarthTonz NYE

Sat 31 Dec Gibbston Valley Station, Queenstown

Dave Dobbyn

Thu 29 Dec Coroglen Tavern, Whitianga Fri 30 Dec Brewers’ Field, Mt Maunganui Sat 31 Dec Waihi Beach Hotel, Waihi Mon 02 Jan Butlers Reef Hotel, Oakura Tue 03 Jan Station Village Complex, Lower Hutt Wed 04 Jan Riwaka Hotel, Motueka Fri 06 Jan Mangawhai Tavern, Mangawhai Sat 07 Jan Opononi Hotel, Opononi

The Exponents

First Aid Kit (SW) Thu 08 Mar TelstraClear Festival Club, Wellington

Exodus Festival

Sat 31 Dec Te Tumu Kaituna Reserve, Mt Maunganui

Explosions In The Sky (US) Thu 15 Dec San Fran Bath House, Wellington Fri 16 Dec The Kings Arms, Auckland

Fri 03 Feb Whammy Bar, Auckland

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tours & events

Upcoming tours & events Fleet Foxes (US)

Fri 13 Jan The Hunter Lounge, Wellington Sat 14 Jan Town Hall, Auckland

Joe Satriani, Steve Vai & Steve Luthaker (US) Sat 24 Mar Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington Sun 25 Mar Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland

Mangawhai NYE Party Sat 31 Dec Mangawhai Tavern, Mangawhai

Kaikoura Roots Festival Sat 14 Jan - Sun 15 Jan Old Beach Road, Kaikoura

Real Estate (US)

Thu 15 Mar The Kings Arms, Auckland Fri 16 Mar San Fran Bath House, Wellington

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis (UK)

Tue 31 Jan Powerstation, Auckland Wed 01 Feb Bodega, Wellington

Florence + The Machine

Mon 28 May Vector Arena, Auckland

The Freestylers (UK)

Fri 30 Dec InkCoherent, Auckland

Game (US)

Sat 25 Feb Vector Arena, Auckland

god bows to math

Sat 17 Dec Brewers Bar, Mt Maunganui Wed 21 Dec Mighty Mighty, Wellington

The Golden Awesome

Sat 17 Dec Whammy Bar, Auckland

Golden Axe

La De Da Festival

Fri 30 Dec - Sat 31 Dec Dry River Road, Martinborough

Ladi6

Mon 26 Dec The Station Village Complex, Lower Hutt Wed 28 Dec Butlers Reef, Mangawhai Mon 02 Jan Waihi Beach Hotel, Waihi Tue 03 Jan Brewers Field, Mt Maunganui

Laneway Festival 2012 Mon 30 Jan Silo Park, Auckland

Lamb Of God (US)

Wed 07 Mar Studio, Auckland

Fri 16 Dec The Darkroom, Christchurch

Goodshirt & Stereobus

Thu 22 Dec The Kings Arms, Auckland

Guitar Wolf (JP)

Wed 14 Dec Bodega, Wellington Thu 15 Dec Static, Hamilton Fri 16 Dec Cassette Nine, Auckland

Hall & Oates (US)

Sat 28 Jan Church Road Winery, Napier Sun 29 Jan Villa Maria Estate, Auckland

LATINAOTEAROA

Thu 22 Dec Ponsonby Social Club, Auckland Mon 26 Dec Armazem, Mt Maunganui Wed 28 Dec BW Camping Ground, Gisborne Thu 29 Dec Tuatua Bar, Whitianga Sat 31 Dec Sawmill CafĂŠ, Leigh Sun 01 Jan Northern Lights Festival, Pakiri Fri 06 Jan Diva Bar, Havlock North Sat 07 Jan Yot Club, Raglan

Henry Rollins (US)

Wed 11 Apr Clarence St Theatre, Hamilton Thu 12 Apr Dux Live, Christchurch Fri 13 Apr The Opera House, Wellington Sat 14 Apr SKYCITY Theatre, Auckland

Lloyd (US)

Fri 03 Feb Civic Theatre, Auckland

Madeleine Peyroux (US)

Incubus (US)

Managers Summer Tour

Tue 31 Jan Vector Arena, Auckland Wed 01 Feb TSB Bank Arena, Wellington

Ital (US)

Fri 20 Jan Whammy Bar, Auckland

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Fri 06 Jan Coherent, Auckland

Ian Pooley (GE)

Fri 13 Jan InkCoherent, Auckland

20

Liquid Recreation

grooveguide.co.nz

Tue 06 Mar Town Hall, Auckland

Wed 28 Dec Managawhai Tavern, Auckland Mon 02 Jan Coromandel Area School, Coromandel Tue 03 Jan Colville Hall, The Coromandel Sat 07 Jan The Tairua School, The Coromandel

Mayer Hawthorne (US)

Wed 22 Feb San Fran Bath House, Wellington Thu 23 Feb Powerstation, Auckland

Midnight Youth

Thu 15 Dec Speights Ale House, Christchurch Fri 16 Dec Bodega, Wellington Sat 17 Dec The Royal Hotel, Palmerston North Wed 21 Dec Sideline Bar, Napier Thu 22 Dec Brewers Bar, Mt Maunganui Fri 23 Dec Altitude, Hamilton Sat 24 Dec The Brownzy, Auckland

MoreFM Summer Vineyard Tour

Fri 03 Feb Sileni Estates, Hawkes Bay Sat 04 Feb Brooklands Lawn, New Plymouth Sun 05 Feb Daisy Bank Farm, Martinborough Mon 06 Feb Claudelands Green, Hamilton Wed 08 Feb Trafalgar Park, Nelson Thu 09 Feb Peregrine Winery, Queenstown Fri 10 Feb Pegasus Town, Christchurch Sat 11 Feb Turanga Creek, Auckland

P.O.D. (US) W/ Rapture Ruckus

Tue 10 Apr Town Hall, Wellington Wed 11 Apr Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland

Regurgitator (AU) Wed 18 Jan San Fran Bath House, Wellington

Retrofest

Fri 09 Mar - Sun 11 Mar Mystery Creek, Hamilton

Rhythm & Alps

Wed 28 Dec - Thu 29 Dec Terrance Downs, Mt Hutt

Rhythm & Vines 2011-2012 Thu 29 Dec - Sat 31 Dec Waiohika Estate, Gisborne

Rippon Festival

Sat 04 Feb Rippon Vineyard, Lake Wanaka

Roger Waters (US)

Sat 18 Feb Vector Arena, Auckland Mon 20 Feb Vector Arena, Auckland Wed 22 Feb Vector Arena, Auckland Thu 23 Feb Vector Arena, Auckland

Roky Erickson (US)

Wed 07 Mar Powerstation, Auckland

Roots Manuva (UK)

Wed 29 Feb The Front Room, Wellington Thu 01 Mar Powerstation, Auckland Fri 02 Mar The Colombo, Christchurch

Roxette (SE)

Sat 11 Feb Vector Arena, Auckland

Ryan Adams (US)

Tue 06 Mar Regent Theatre, Dunedin Thu 08 Mar Civic Theatre, Auckland

The Scratch Perverts (UK) Fri 06 Jan Ink, Auckland

Pairs (CH)

Wed 25 Jan Static, Hamilton Thu 26 Jan The ARC Theatre, Whanganui Fri 27 Jan Mighty Mighty, Wellington Sat 28 Jan The Lucha Lounge, Auckland

Seether (US)

Fri 10 Feb Studio, Auckland

Parachute 2012

Fri 27 Jan - Mon 30 Jan Mystery Creek, Hamilton

Phoenix Foundation

Sat 31 Dec Queens Wharf, Wellington

Raggamuffin 2012

Sat 28 Jan Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua

Selective Sounds Tue 27 Dec Worsfold Farms, Mangawhai

tours & events

Upcoming tours & events Shapeshifter

Thu 29 Dec Ascension Vineyard, Matakana Mon 02 Jan Riwaka Hotel, Motueka Fri 06 Jan Brewers Field, Tauranga Sat 07 Jan Waihi Beach Hotel, Coromandel

Splore 2012

Fri 17 Feb - Sun 19 Feb Tapapakanga Regional Park, Auckland

State Of Mind

Fri 23 Dec InkCoherent, Auckland

Stink Fest 13

Thu 15 Dec The Darkroom, Christchurch Fri 16 Dec The Darkroom, Christchurch Sat 17 Dec Dux Live, Christchurch

The Sisters Of Mercy (UK) Wed 22 Feb Powerstation, Auckland

Stoneleigh Summer Arts Series

Taylor Swift (US)

tUnE-yArDs (US)

Thee Oh Sees (US)

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Fri 27 Jan Whammy Bar, Auckland Sat 28 Jan Mighty Mighty, Wellington Sun 29 Jan ARC Theatre, Wanganui

Fri 16 Dec San Fran Bath House, Wellington Sat 17 Dec The Kings Arms, Auckland

TOYS

Urge Overkill (US)

Fri 16 Mar Vector Arena, Auckland Sat 17 Mar Vector Arena, Auckland Sun 18 Mar Vector Arena, Auckland

Tue 06 Mar Powerstation, Auckland

Wed 07 Dec - Sat 17 Dec BATS Theatre, Wellington

WOMAD

Fri 16 Mar - Sun 18 Mar TSB Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth

Wed 07 Dec - Sun 18 Dec Wynyard Quarter, Auckland

YES (US)

Sun 01 Apr Vector Arena, Auckland

Six60

Mon 26 Dec Outdoor Marquee, Mangawhai Tavern Tue 27 Dec Outdoor Marquee, Waihi Beach Hotel Wed 28 Dec Outdoor Marquee, Coroglen Tavern Mon 02 Jan Opononi Hotel, Opononi Wed 04 Jan Brewers Field, Mt Maunganui Thu 05 Jan Outdoor Marquee, Butlers Reef Fri 06 Jan Station Village Complex, Lower Hutt Sat 07 Jan Outdoor Marquee, Riwaka Tavern

Thu 12 Jan The Kings Arms, Auckland

Sun Araw (US)

Trailer Park Boys (US)

TAOS Soulfire Sessions

Tuborg Summer Sunday

Fri 03 Feb Mighty Mighty, Wellington Sat 04 Feb Whammy Bar, Auckland

Fri 23 Mar The Roots Bar, Nelson

Fri 23 Mar Town Hall, Auckland Sat 24 Mar The Opera House, Wellington

Sun 29 Jan Matakana Music SIX60-GGQTR-14_12_11_SIX60-GGQTR-14_12_11 07/12/2011 10:28 Page 1 Mountain, Matakana

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shit worth playing with

groove gADGETS Groove GADGETS is where we cast our eye over Cool new shit.

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Got some cool shit you want to see on this page? send us an email at gear@grooveguide.co.nz

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Lime

By Hexxeh Lime was created by a 17-year-old hacker. You install software onto a 2GB memory stick and voila – you can use Chromium OS software on any computer. This will delete your files and software off your computer – you have been warned – a cool idea though, and tempting to play with.

Instant smiles

Free

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chromeos.hexxeh.net

Fujifilm Instax mini 7s camera with built-in flash 4 mode settings includes 10 prints. Ten print refills cost $18 each.

Camera costs $127 With 10 Prints jbhifi.co.nz AND INSTORE

Thing-O-Matic

Welcome Honey Home

They’re calling it a revolution in 3D printing. An extremely reliable and easy-to-use tool for hobbyists and schools alike, the thing-o-matic stands about knee high and they are giving one away off their website.

Now you can print personal welcome home banners in an airport – just type in the text and select a background and the banner will be printed on canvas. This machine is a fun way to surprise friends and family.

$1,600

€3.95 to €14.95

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On a Roll?

This portable charger provides a little more luxurious feel than the standard bundle of tangled cables.

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Galaxy Tablet 10.1

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Your home screen will contain a live panel which shows what’s up real time, a social hub which brings all of your communication into one and an entire suite of Google services. $784 jbhifi.co.nz AND INSTORE

Mario Kart This mini radio control kart is the funniest Christmas day entertainment gift! Pass the day by fighting over whose turn it is next. $34.95 dicksmith.co.nz AND INSTORE

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grooveguide.co.nz

shit worth playing with

GAMING Choice XBOX Stuff Bro Noo Zuhlund gets technological

We might not quite be at that stage in “the future” where our shoes can self lace or we can ride around on hoverboards, but voice recognition seems like it’s just one step away from such luxuries. The Xbox 360 Kinect isn’t the first piece of hardware nor software to utilise voice activation controls, but it’s certainly breaking the mould

with the recognition of a New Zealand accent.

“Noo Zuhlund”. The amount of times we heard our lazy, ugly accent over the election period was a bit disgraceful. But hey, that’s all done with now so we can get back to ignoring reality and playing some sweet games.

Last week a free Xbox LIVE dashboard update was released

in which Xbox 360 consoles were enabled to recognise that fush-n-chups twinge we so often forget we have.

While it’s not exactly for use in every game, the voice control can be utilised in tandem with games that include physical gestures. The developers are calling the technology “say as you see” commands for use in play. For example, if you’re cranking some Kinect Sports 2, tell your caddy to “change club” during a round of golf. If you think a cheap imitation of Tiger Woods is a bit crass and all you want to do is kill some aliens, throw in a “grenade” during Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. As well as commanding in-game actions, you can pause, play, fast-forward, stop and navigate through menu items across most Xbox LIVE services.

It certainly adds something new to gaming. It all seems fun and exciting, but much like when motion control was developed, there are probably still some kinks to work out.

More games will have to find interesting and not just gimmickey ways to use the technology.

It’s taken the movie industry over 20 years to utilise 3D in an efficient way, and that’s not even right yet. Taking that into account, I present you with this convoluted theory: we don’t want gimmicks, but we do want new and exciting. Time will tell which category this new software falls into.

us the longest storyline so far.

You’re looking at an average 12 hours to finish it. The fanfavourite Horde mode from GoW2 returns in which you’re stuck in a firefight and forced to last as long as you can against the invading Locust Horde. New and commendable additions are the strategic elements where you can earn cash and spend it on barricade upgrades, as well as Beast mode where you can fight as the Locust against the humans and currency earned allows you to choose what type of Locust you spawn back as.

This is an extremely satisfying end to what’s been a great

trilogy, and rounds up the storyline with a firm conclusion.

It’ll keep you coming back with its multiplayer options to test your skills against those around the world. The campaign is where it shines though and even has a re-cap at the start in case you missed the first two installments. No Kinect added elements exist here, so kick back, strap on your chainsaw to your bayonet and enjoy a good oldfashioned third person romp.

Written by Adam East

Gears of War 3 Game Review

The Gears of War franchise started off as the little platform-cum-shoot-em-up that could. Now that the story is over, it’s time to look at how we finish up our war in sixth gear.

I previewed this game a couple of months back, and the conclusion of the trilogy certainly has lived up to the hype. For the uninitiated, you take control of Delta squad, who are fighting for the survival of the human race. It’s a familiar storyline, but the banter, storyline, cut-scenes and camaraderie between the squad do more than enough to make it somehow seem fresh.

The best part about this

series for me is how much conscious thought has been put into the multiplayer aspect.

Play as two members of the squad or up to four online.

You can also drop into other people’s squads online, but it’s a bit restricted in that you have to match what act you want to drop into and at what difficulty.

The AI of your squad is pretty good though, even if you’re just playing single player.

We’ve been told by Gears of War developers EPIC that while the third installation isn’t necessarily the end of the franchise, it is the end of this storyline. As such they’ve pulled out all of the stops and given

Written by Jon Snow

Grooveguide.co.nz

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23

Shit worth listening to

album reviews King Lollipop Woodland Whoopee lllll

It’s pretty clear that there’s still enough rockabilly revival around to keep people into Buddy Holly. There’s always a lot of praise and love for the dude – he accomplished a shitload of stuff in an insanely short amount of time, and quickly became the prince of 1950s pop.

So when Cody Blanchard (of Shannon and The Clams fame) releases an album that sounds exactly like a tape-recorded garage mix of trashed up covers of Buddy Holly songs, the response could go one of two ways. Fortunately, this album is swingin’.

There’s a real simplicity to each

Kate Bush

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of the 13 songs on the album.

The chord structure is basic.

Every song sounds the same. You could easily forget which track is which. But as is the case with so many pop songs back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, simplicity doesn’t mean complacent. There’s still been a lot of effort put into each of these tracks. Any fan of the trash revival scene should check this out and have it blasting all throughout summer.

Written by Kevin Kartun

Spartacus R

Tegan & Sara

50 Words For Snow

Way Of The Dub

Get Along

The View

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Listen again to Wuthering Heights and the unworldly helium pop voice of the thenteenage Kate Bush shocks with its intensity and range. Thirtythree years and nine highly individual albums later, she returns with 50 Words For Snow, an album of disparate musical ideas loosely held together by the snow theme.

Her multi-layered music creates sparse but evocative sonic landscapes often with the use of just piano and minimal embellishment, and has long moved away from any association with “popular music”. Four of the album’s seven long tracks are collaborations with male singers such as ‘Snowflake’ in which the high, clear boy soprano of her son Albert flows in and out of her looping chorus part. Title track ‘50 Words for Snow’, voiced by Stephen Fry, turns out to be a witty lyrical interplay with a very contemporary beat set against a faded, fuzzed out background.

Highly recommended.

Getting critical over chill-vibes doesn’t seem all that legit. Meh, let’s do it anyway. New Zealand is a dub incubator fostering some incredible talent, which sets a pretty high standard to rise to. Hamilton band Knights Of The Dub Table have an audible strength, and their selfprescribed fusion style takes this ball game to a new level.

The new LP Way Of The Dub is a must-have for dub enthusiasts. It demonstrates a disciplined mood control with each track acoustically unified to the rest of the album. KOTDT reflect an understanding of what their audience expect.

The album soulfully grooves along, talents of the likes of Salmonella Dub and Barnaby Weir. Introspective track ‘We Are The Knights’ stands out, strongly incorporating all of their unique fusion mix. It falls short only because while it’s new and demonstrates aptitude, it doesn’t fully show off that element of unique.

Get Along is Canadian duo Tegan and Sara’s first live album. Drawing heavily on material from the sisters’ Sainthood and The Con albums, Get Along is sure to be a hit with hard-core Tegan and Sara fans. The live recordings, based mainly around acoustic guitar and piano arrangements, showcase their impressive folkinspired vocal talents.

Moving away from their firmly established indie-punk roots, the simpler acoustic arrangements present a more grown-up sound for the duo. The overall effect creates a cosy, intimate feel to the album which is complemented nicely by DVD footage of the sisters touring and hanging out with friends and family.

Whilst this may be fitting for a seventh album, the intense guitar-strumming throughout some of the tracks invariably shows why the Quinn sisters made their name in punk-indie pop rather than melodic folk.

Look out for track 9 ‘Relief Next To Me’.

Spartacus R, the Wellington based psychedelic jam sextet, has been fairly quiet since the release of their debut album When The Fever Takes Hold back in 2009. On their new album The View they come roaring out of the gate like no time’s passed at all.

Their tripped-out space rock is thicker, dirtier, and more potent than ever. Each song is filled with rhythmic bass lines, expressive drum patterns, and the ramblings of singer Ryan Prebble (also of The Nudge).

There is a sweet desperation in his breathy howl that makes tracks like ‘Mutant Musings’ and the contemplative Pink Floydish ‘Streams Run Dry’ positively contagious. The View is a rollercoaster ride of infectious grooves and joyous madcap mayhem that will be unmatched in New Zealand this year. Lose your mind a little with these peculiar folk and enjoy the ride.

Written by John Brinkman

24

Knights Of The DUB Table

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

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WRITTEN BY JUSTIN FOWLER

WRITTEN BY TEUILA FUATAI

WRITTEN BY RICARDO KERR

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Shit worth watching

on screen Downton Abbey DVD Review

What the hell is with Downton Abbey? It’s crack for old people.

It’s a soap opera cleverly disguised as a period drama.

You can fancy up the storyline with nice suits and “charming” Englishmen, but at the end of the day it’s just another mustwatch for anyone over 50.

See, the TV series is out on

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Written by Kevin Kartun

Further info CREATED by Julian Fellowes Starring Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter and Maggie Smith

Further info directed by TARSEM SINGH

Starring RACHAEL TAYLOR, JOSH LUCAS AND KEISHA CASTLE-HUGHES

Starring henry cavill, MICKEY ROURKE AND JOHN HURT

IMMORTALS

film

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grooveguide.co.nz

drama produced by HBO, AMC or those good USA channels isn’t a good drama.

So if you’re old enough that you know what kinds of wine goes well with what kind of fish, you might really get into Downton Abbey. But if you’re young and you’re just stoked that you’re drinking wine and eating fish – then odds are you’ll think this is just plain dull.

Further info directed by KRIV STENDERS

RED DOG

The mantra that you shouldn’t work with animals or children holds true in Red Dog, a film with as much iconic outback imagery and substance as a very long beer ad.

Loosely based on a true story, this family film follows a township of lonely miners in the 1970s and the dog who brought them joy. It’s a warm fuzzies film that takes many storytelling risks, few of which pay off.

Occasionally it captures the spirit of the times and the charm of a good old fashioned yarn, but too little rings true to leave a lasting impression.

For starters, there’s the romance between Josh Lucas’ John and Rachael Taylor’s Nancy, who are both so good looking you can’t help but wonder why 26

DVD and Blu-ray this week. I remember years ago someone asking quite seriously (although rhetorically), “Can we just ignore what comes after DVDs? I don’t want to restart my collection.”

That was a good point. So, nameless friend, you can ignore getting this for your collection.

If you haven’t seen the

geriatric phenomenon that seems to have replaced Coro as the mustsee show for anyone with crow’s feet, it goes like this: It’s set after the great war. Rich old people are stuffy and don’t accept that rich young people just want love and don’t care about moneys. These old rich people are hypocritical as they have affairs.

That’s the gist of it – at least, it is to someone who doesn’t have to watch what types of meat they eat after 5pm or get concerned about getting gout. Maybe I’m just stuck in that weird age-bracket where I refuse to accept Twilight is anything other than utter shit (very unreasonably – I’ve never seen or read anything Twi) and anything that isn’t an American

they didn’t end up in Sydney. An underutilised Keisha CastleHughes also features in a romance that falls more on the comedy side of the coin.

Thanks to a cartoonishly expressive performance from the clever Koko, the film manages to capture the arid beauty of the Australian outback and the tightknit community of Dampier. But things soon descend into silliness, with umpteen montages of tough living and a plot with as many lurches as a jeep negotiating potholes. Red Dog strives for a similar levity as Aussie workingclass classic The Castle but comes off as, well, a bit of a dog.

WRITTEN BY REBECCA BARRY HILL Written, Flicks.co.nz

Tarsem Singh’s previous films have been triumphs of style over substance. I mean that in the best possible way, especially in the case of the astonishingly over-the-top The Fall. The idea of Singh’s visual sensibility colliding head on with a fantasy blockbuster was therefore exhilarating. You can feel the “but” coming though, can’t you? Immortals could have fused Singh’s earlier works with post-300 Hollywood, but it doesn’t.

Much of his familiar imagery is intact in the form of great costumes, surreal use of CGI and dudes wearing masks and body paint. But the visual craziness has been diluted. A more mainstream audience is clearly in mind, hence the

need for serious storytelling ability, especially given that the narrative is (very) loosely based on Greek mythology. That’s where the problem lies. The sets may look great, extravagantly built one moment, resembling a ‘70s matte painting painted in 3D the next, but the acting on them? Jeez…

The dialogue doesn’t do the cast any favours, a hodge-podge of nonsense that is just there to stitch together cool fight scenes and sets. The delivery is like rehearsals for a second-rate theatre production – pompous, lifeless, and a bit awkward.

WRITTEN BY STEVE NEWALL, Flicks.co.nz

Shit Worth WATCHING

ON Screen The Larry Sanders Show Thoughts on the screen It is difficult to sell the idea of a television show that ended 13 years ago. Some people consider a month old YouTube hit as retro.

This mindset means that The Larry Sanders Show could end up being criminally overlooked by my generation and those that follow, despite the fact it’s baked into the DNA of many loved and lauded contemporary sitcoms.

Now that the entire series is available in a box set, it’s time to get acquainted.

At its core The Larry Sanders Show was Freud’s concept of the tripartite mind brought to life, then broadcast once a week on HBO. The id, manifesting impulses and instincts, took the form of sidekick ‘Hey Now’ Hank Kingsley (Jeffery Tambor), a lumbering oaf with horse-shoe baldness. The superego inhabited show producer Artie (Rip Torn), a socially-conscious puppeteer with slicked back hair and an avuncular manner. Larry Sanders

(Garry Shandling) became pure ego, a trembling fortress of self-esteem, with big teeth and a constant concern for the size of its ass. The damage inflicted by this three-pronged attack was amplified by a supporting cast receptive to their jabs. The handful of characters in constant orbit around the three leads are played by the likes of Janeane Garofalo, Bob Odenkirk, Scott Thompson and Wallace Langham.

Sanders is both workplace comedy and late-night talk show. The backstage set pieces are intertwined with the common elements of latenight: monologues, sketches, unscripted celebrity interviews and musical performances, all of which were filmed in front of a live studio audience, which lends the whole show a degree of authenticity. The snippets of the talk show are funny in their own right, but their real function is as a launch point for the mania

behind the blue velvet curtain.

Off the set is where Larry, Artie and Hank let loose on each other and the rest of the office. The friction between Larry’s neurotic behaviour, Artie’s manipulations and Hank’s illusions of grandeur is the set-up for the best lines in the show. But the laughs aren’t the sole responsibility of these three stooges; there’s plenty of opportunity for the supporting cast to land punches.

The Larry Sanders Show was an aberrant branch in the sitcom family tree. Its most easily recognised legacy is the selfparodying cameo so essential

to Curb Your Enthusiasm, Extras and Entourage. It’s also the touchstone of the show-within-ashow premise that fuels 30 Rock.

It tightens the screws that bind the characters to their livelihood.

Larry Sanders’ life is The Larry Sanders Show, Artie and Hank’s lives are Larry Sanders’.

It’s not only scientists that stand on the shoulders of giants, but sitcom creators too.

Yet those giants aren’t always heroic. Sometimes they’re a megalomaniacal sidekick, a Machiavellian producer and a high-strung talk show host.

Written by Sam Wieck

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Featuring 22 figures in total, the 4 element –earth, wind, fire and air –never looked so good.

$137

$234

MYCATWALK.COM.AU

THELITTLEBOUTIQUE.COM.AU

By Alice Mccall

28

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Elements - Alpha Series

EVERY NIGHT I WANDER AROUND (POLLEN)

grooveguide.co.nz

$25.00 conch.co.nz and instore 115A Ponsonby Road, Auckland

shit we went to

live Photos Cornerstone Roots SFBH, Wellington Fri 09 Dec Photography courtesy of Alexander Hallag facebook.com/themusicistalking

SECRETS AF HQ, Auckland Fri 09 Dec Photography courtesy of Sam Wieck

Golden Axe AF HQ, Auckland Fri 09 Dec Photography courtesy of Sam Wieck

Grooveguide.co.nz

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29

Shit worth counting

Listophile Juice TV’s Alternative Broadcast.

1. Horse Song Bernie Griffen & The Grifters

2. Cola Elixir OPOSSOM

3. Staple Guard Rackets

4. Listen To Us Home Brew (Ft. Tourettes)

5. What Else Could They Do Popstrangers

6. Natasha Autumn Splendour

1. Mein Land RAMMSTEIN

2. Lucky Now RYAN ADAMS

3. The Walk MAYER HAWTHORNE

4. Trouble I’m In THE UNFAITHFUL WAYS

5. Black Sheep GIN WIGMORE

6. Audio Video Disco JUSTICE

7. Shake It Out FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE

7. Wired I Break Horses

8. 3rd Eye Badd Energy

9. 212 Azealia Banks

10. Philosophers

8. Monsters

3. Red Dog 4. Immortals 5. Arthur Christmas 6. Fastest 7. The Whistleblower 8. In Time 9. Drive 10. Red State

9. No Way THE NAKED & FAMOUS

10. Smash It ZOWIE

us send op t your s t s: ten li er r T w itt To Ou ebook c a F or

10 Summer Annoyances

Xmas Gift Ideas

You’re guaranteed to hear over the New Year’s break

1. Sunburns – you were sure

For mum: a pedicure, manicure, massage or variation of a pampering gift.

For dad: whisky, bourbon, a tie or a quirky cowboy/sailor hat.

For little sis: a necklace. She thinks you’re fashionable anyway, she’ll dig it.

For big sis: same as for mum.

You could treat yourself as well, or you could be selfless.

Either way, you win.

For little bro: Ben 10 things.

Boys still go apeshit over that cartoon.

For big bro: three different albums that he wouldn’t have heard of – you’re young and hip, he’s not anymore and needs to feel like he is.

For the GF: a romantic dinner at a restaurant with a view of the water and boats in the harbour. Don’t cheap out on the champagne either. You have been warned.

For the BF: give him a get out of jail free card, eligible for one use when he: is a drunken embarrassment/ forgets an important date / ogles your sister / is busted watching porn.

2. “Do you have a dustpan

and shovel?”

3. “I just don’t see

why we bother with the commercialisation of Christmas.”

4. “Let’s go skinny-dipping!”

5. “No, it’s my New Year’s

resolution.”

you covered up this time. You were POSITIVE.

2. Sunstroke – but I’m not done

partying yet!

3. Television – why do you get

so shit this time of year?

4. Tanning errors – who

drew a penis on my back with sunscreen? How did I not realise this?

5. Overpopulation – suddenly

there are 40,000 people at this getaway location? Huh?

6. “Isn’t it buzzy how we’re the

6. Board shorts – seriously,

7. “Can you believe how quick

7. Money – how did you spend

first in the world to get to 2012?” this year has gone?”

8. “OHMYGODDIDYOUSEEWHO

JUSTGAVEMEANEWYEARS PASH”

9. “I don’t want to go back

to work.”

10. “I need to go back to work.”

grooveguide.co.nz

2. Puss In Boots

10 Things

1. “2012 is gonna be my year.”

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1. New Year’s Eve

PORCELAINTOY

Tied on Teeth

30

Independent Top 10 Movie Chart

there is not one good looking pair out there. $500 in one week?

8. Mosquitoes – FUCK OFF. 9. Litter – don’t be a dick. Take

your shit off the beach. It’s not difficult.

10. Ice-creams – yeah, that $6

or whatever is totally justifiable. Now excuse me while I take out a second mortgage so I can get two scoops.

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