NZ Musician June July 2016 by NZ Musician

VO L . 19

HEN

NO.7

J u n e / J u l y 2016

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Aaradhna

NZ MUSICIAN magazine PO Box 99-315, Newmarket 1149 Auckland New Zealand

VO L . 19

Phone: (09) 373 2572 editorial@nzmusician.co.nz

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N O . 7 J u n e / J u l y 2016

Publisher / Editor: Richard Thorne richard@nzmusician.co.nz Assistant Editor: Silke Hartung editorial@nzmusician.co.nz Advertising: editorial@nzmusician.co.nz Designer: Silke Hartung Pre-Press & Printing: MHP Print

Contributors Chip Matthews, David McLaughlin, Estère Dalton, Thomas Goss, Karin Vincent, Maggie Tweedie, Sam Vegar, Alex Pickard, Dee Muir, Amanda Robinson, Caitlin Smith, Michael Hollywood, Edward Castelow, Abraham Kunin, Rob Burns, Adam Burns, Sammy Jay Dawson, Trevor Reekie, Amanda Mills, Dixon Nacey, Briar Lawry, Kevin Downing, Adam Burns, Matt Faiumu Salapu, Mal Smith, Jack Woodbury, Jesse Austin, Bing Turkby, Anna Loveys, Stu Edwards, Darryl Kirk, Pedro Santos, Aleisha Ward, Ania Glowacz

NZ Musician magazine is published six times a year. Available direct by subscription and free through selected outlets. For advertising or subscription enquiries please contact: editorial@nzmusician.co.nz or phone (09) 373 2572

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LESSONS

Aaradhna. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On Foreign Soil . . . . . . .

Deep Thinking. . . . . . . .

Pacific Music Awards. . .

Building Blocks . . . . . .

Guitar Cool . . . . . . . . . .

Tom Cunliffe . . . . . . . . .

Fresh Talent . . . . . . . . .

Third3ye . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Finding Your Voice . . . .

Stomping Nick . . . . . . . .

Ex-Pat Files. . . . . . . . . .

The decades turning sons to men

Ladyhawke . . . . . . . . . . .

Moments Like These. . .

Joe Blossom . . . . . . . . . .

The earth became the names it bore

X-Factory . . . . . . . . . . .

Huia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Out On The Street . . . . .

Pales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fresh Cut . . . . . . . . . . .

Pacific Heights. . . . . . . . .

The Lawful Truth. . . . . .

A township fell and the crystal hit

Get Yer Kit Off . . . . . . . .

All was grey when the money moved away

Tutors’ Tutorial . . . . . . .

On Foreign Soil . . . . . . .

COVER Aaradhna

Photograph by Marissa Findlay

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The men in turn were fed to soil Mines were closed that once were toiled One day when the money moved away All was grey when the money moved away Steel grew rust and homes were split One day when the money moved away

They Dug It All Away – Tom Cunliffe, p16

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Photo: Marissa Findley

Aaradhna

At the 2013 Pacific Music Awards Aaradhna staged the awards’ first ever clean sweep, setting a record with six awards including Best Album for ‘Treble & Reverb’ and best song for the fantastic Wake Up. No surprise then that she received a very enthusiastic welcome at this year’s PMA ceremony at which she performed Brown Girl, title track to her fourth album due in July. These days LA-based, Aaradhna has been in our part of the world to warm up Australian and Aotearoan audiences to the new album, and to break in a new local band. Regular NZM contributor and bassist Chip Matthews is part of that band and between rehearsals, performances and flights the two found a moment to discuss ‘Brown Girl’, the process, the hiccups and (of course!) her exciting new band.

t’s a wintry June night in Melbourne. Aaradhna Patel walks into the departure area, awaiting her flight back to NZ. Behind her are the first two shows of the ‘Introduction To Brown Girl Tour’, a taster of her new material due for release in July, an album that’s simply, perhaps challengingly, titled ‘Brown Girl’. As we await the call to board the flight, I grabbed the chance to sit down with the Indian/Samoan songstress and discuss that new album, many of the songs from which I’m priviledged to already be familiar with. It’s been four years since the release of ‘Treble and Reverb’, Aaradhna’s third consecutive NZ Top 20 album, but a definitive change of style from what had come before. Produced by Evan Short and P-Money, the album was an homage to ’50s doo-wop, ’60s vocal harmony and strong, emotional lyricism. Whilst it has been four years in between that and the forthcoming ‘Brown Girl’ – due to be released in July – the intervening years have been far from sedate. Basing herself in Los Angeles with long-time manager and Dawn Raid co-founder, Andy Murnane, Aaradhna embarked on an extensive programme of shows in support of the

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exceptionally good ‘Treble and Reverb’ album. There was a large North American tour with the extraordinary vocalist and Vicks connoisseur, Charles Bradley, as well as a headline appearance to a sell-out crowd at the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York at the start of 2015. She admits crying at the experience of playing on a stage so many of her own favourite artists had before her. Even with a busy schedule, Aaradhna found herself writing for a forthcoming album, early on given the title ‘Under The Blue Moon’. “I was kind’a already writing new material… while I was on tour,” she says as the airport announcement system fights for microphone attention. The process saw her committing ideas to ProTools, taking “… a melody [which] comes in, and then line that goes together with it,” and building what would become skeleton songs for future development. “If I have an idea, like I heard it in my dream or something, I’ll just record it on my phone,” she chuckles, as her surprised interviewer wonders how it is even possible. “When I just finish hearing it in my dream I have to force

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myself to wake up and get my phone, so I can record it, so I don’t forget it.” The creation of new material is of course just one step in the process of making a new album, with the next being, who to record with? Enter Jeffrey Scott of Truth & Soul Records. Based out of Brooklyn, New York, Truth and Soul itself was born out of another label, Soul Fire, which was handed over to Scott and partner Leon Michels by Phil Lehman. (He had previously left the Desco label, which he co-founded with future Dap-King and Daptone Records’ founder Gabe Roth.) Truth & Soul went on to establish themselves at the forefront of a growing movement towards soul revivalism. The list of releases from the label is impressive, as is the list of artists they have worked with; Lee Fields, Aloe Blacc, Charles Bradley, El Michels Affair and, significantly for Aaradhna, both Adele and Amy Winehouse. It was a suggestion from P-Money to Murnane for them to meet Jeffrey Scott that set the wheels in motion. “We invited them to the gig I did in New York, and afterwards we met up and it was cool. He was like, a cool guy and he appreciated

whatever vibe I was on,” she laughs as she remembers, before continuing. “And just because of his history – especially working with people that I admire. Amy Winehouse and Adele, that’s enough for me to be like, ‘Yeah, of course I wanna work with him.’” Considering that legacy of work, I can’t help wondering aloud if it is a somewhat intimidating experience working on the other side of the world with someone such as Scott. “At first it was,” Aaradhna concurs, before reflecting, “You know, I gotta be sure of myself, and I’m confident in what I do.” Work on a new album began in earnest during 2014. Aaradhna providing her skeletons of tunes to him and Scott typically flipping things around before returning them. “They came back, totally different… even better!” Whilst that was, in her words, pretty cool, it was also a process of compromise. “There were other times where like, you know, I would feel like,‘Aah maybe don’t replace that, can you just keep that in there?’”. Many times they met somewhere in the middle. What shines through at this point, is Aaradhna’s vision of keeping her music developing. There is an awareness that as well as maintaining her ideas for the tracks, this middle ground is where the vision of the tune grows. I mention that this openness for producers to reinterpret her songs adds another layer to the piece, and she agrees. “I’m always open to something new. I don’t want to keep doing the same… I don’t want all my songs to sound the same from what I’ve done before. And it’s good to have someone new come and bring in some other kind of ideas and hear this other lil’ tune that he could add to and make 10 times better.” Logistically, the album was recorded across both coasts of the States. Primarily based in LA, Aaradhna would head over to New York to record the early demo versions, with Scott travelling to her side of the country to do further vocal recordings. He brought together a stellar cast of musicians, from Truth and Soul co-founder Leon Michels, to Homer Steinweiss who played drums on the Mark Ronson-produced tracks of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back 2 Black’ record, along with Lee Fields’ guitarist Vincent John. It creates a link between the contemporary soul movement, players who were instrumental in elements of Aaradhna’s inspirations, as well as her own incredible vocals. The result of this work is ‘Brown Girl’, mixed in the UK by the Grammy-winning engineer for Adele, Dan Parry, and mastered by Tom Coyne who has Adele, Sam Smith, Amy Winehouse and D’Angelo on his CV. If ‘Treble and Reverb’ had an air of ’50s doo-wop about it, the new album takes on a more serious, deeper tone. It seems almost a case of where those doo-wop singers had grown, experienced even grittier aspects of the world, and recorded again a decade later. “It’s more moody, and definitely is darker. Everything that I started writing, rolled into that sound.” ‘Treble & Reverb’ introduced a newly

confident Aaradhna, perhaps best evidenced in the insanely catchy Lorena Bobbitt, a song which, despite its lightness of tone, leaves the listener uncomfortably aware that it could well be a sentiment which the songwriter had expressed and fully meant at some stage. As the title itself suggests, the songs on ‘Brown Girl’ have a very autobiographical nature to them. “Yeah I’m pretty personal… I try not to be too personal in my songs, but I’m not the type of person that would talk to people and express myself.” It’s the honest baring of her soul that resonates, and is clearly one of the things that make her so appealing to audiences. “When I write my music, it’s just my way of, yeah, talking”. With her stunningly emotional version of another ‘Treble & Reverb’ tune, I’m Not The Same, which she performed at both Australian shows fresh in my mind, I ask if for her songwriting is a form of keeping a diary.

“There was some music that is not on the album now. I wanted to change some stuff, and that’s when Empty Hall and stuff like that was written. I sent them a bunch of new stuff to create, and that probably took some time.” A need to have some personal down-time rode the decision, whilst also trying to balance deadlines that needed to be met and managed. “There’s people waiting on you, people that are working, and that’s a lot of pressure,” she admits, a refrain coincidentally familiar from the Amy Winehouse story. Coupled with delays from the Truth & Soul side of the equation, it all meant that the release of ‘Brown Girl’ is now scheduled for July of this year. In terms of her personal life, her partner and she have reconciled, and in turn her music has become cathartic in regards to their relationship. It again talks to the ability of Aaradhna’s music to reflect her real life, as well as reflect the lives of those around her. The importan

If ‘Treble and Reverb’ had an air of ’50s doo-wop about it, ‘Brown Girl’ takes on a more serious, deeper tone. It seems almost that those doo-wop singers had grown, experienced even grittier aspects of the world, and recorded again a decade later. “Yeah… it’s pretty much, yeah, it’s exactly that,” she agrees. “I don’t know why I let myself do that, it just… helps me. Even just sharing this personal stuff, I dunno, for me, it just keeps me sane, to just say whatever I feel.” Seen from the very advantageous position of standing stage-left of her as she sings live, it is this very openness that you see connects so strongly with the audience. Crowd members sing favourites as though she is speaking their lives, something she builds on. “I know that some people, they won’t be able to express themselves. There are people like me that probably won’t be able to sing out how they feel and stuff like that… and I’m glad that people can relate to it.” It’s similar to her approach to the production of her tunes. As much as she is open to taking on the interpretation of her music through the eyes of others, there is a symbiotic relationship with her audience. She sings for those, like herself, who find it hard to talk about how they feel, what they are going through. And this theme of openness – raw honesty – continues on the new album. Devil’s Living In My Shadow alludes to demons, almost as though they haunt you, stalking you, while Talk Sweet To Me seems to be a simple refrain on the desire to be loved, to be appreciated. But it is the tune, Empty Hall, which is significant, not just in terms of personal reflection, but speaks to one of several delays in the album release. A break up with her long time partner, by whom that tune was inspired, led her to a period of change in direction.

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ce of that diary-like nature of her music comes though again as a theme. “Every song is part of a timeline,” she says, then with conviction adding, “But I’ll never forget every single feeling I had when I wrote the songs.” From Melbourne we are heading to Auckland, where Aaradhna will perform the Brown Girl single at the Pacific Music Awards, followed by album showcases in Auckland and Wellington. Along with touring her new songs, Aaradhna is touring a new band; a stripped-back trio consisting of Jeremy Toy (She’s So Rad, Leonard Charles, producer to many), Tom Broome (Esther Stephens & the Means, Homebrew) and myself, Chip Matthews (Homebrew). “I love to do every other show differently and you know, not exactly the same,” she smiles saying she had always imagined these new songs as being stripped back. We discuss how difficult it can be between finding the balance of audience expectations of how songs will sound, with the need for musicians to keep music fresh and exciting. “It feels better, when I get to just, I dunno, just do a little different lick here and there. I’m not a robot – I just want it to be live – like, super live,” she laughs. And with our flight now being called, Aaradhna reflects the anticipation that’s building for her album release. “I’ve been waiting for this.” >"39,SSLY3SOd "_"7GP" >>J3J"M

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Pacific Music Awards 2016

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Industry

taged mid-year, the Pacific Music Awards are something of a best-kept-secret in the context of our local music industry’s annual ceremonies, surpassing bigger and lesser events in terms of entertainment, integrity and artist valuation. Okay, so keeping schedule is not a consistent strength, but with the sparkling, fun-poking wit of MC Yolande Ah Chong, and the merit of many recipients’ thank you speeches, time overruns are easily forgiven by the live audience. Part of that response stems from the use of Manukau’s modestly-sized Vodafone Events Centre, where the finalists, players and crowd almost co-mingle, and most feel very much at home in their own community environs. The 12th annual Pacific Music Awards, held on Thursday June 9, once again lived up to the event’s billing of ‘celebrating Pacific music’, this year with a focus on the people of Tonga, and a sense of expansion in the awards’ international intentions. The night’s theme stemmed from a Bob Marley quote, “Don’t forget your history, nor your destiny”, and the Onehunga Tongan Methodist Church Brass Band kicked proceedings off in some style. The first gong up was the Phil Fuemana Award for Most Promising Artist, which went to Mikey Mayz, and his recent single Reload. The Tongan urban artist had a breakthrough year in 2015 with singles Sunshine and Thunder.

Mayz may well have the necessary qualities to replicate the success of Vince Harder, who was one of the night’s two big winners, taking home to Sydney the awards for Best Pacific Male Artist and Best Pacific Urban Artist, for his album ‘Rare Vision’. That recognition of his talent as a recording and performing artist was complemented by his win in the newly-added Best Producer category, given both for his album and for single Start Again, a co-write with Stan Walker. Along with Troy Kingi, the pairing also currently hold APRA’s Maioha Award for their collab’ed te reo anthem Aotearoa. The night’s other big winners were disappointingly absent, though for very good reason. Opetaia Foa’I, the founder, lead and songwriter of Te Vaka, is still busy in the States finishing off the soundtrack for Disney’s next anticipated blockbuster film, Moana. Te Vaka have an extensive history of success at the PMA and perhaps because of that the response to their winning the Best Pacific Song award (for Papua I Sisifo) was unusually muted. Later on in the night however the band also claimed the Best Pacific Music Album award (Tui) for ‘Amataga’, its eighth collection of songs released in late 2015, and this time the audience response was much warmer. Savage was given the Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Achievement, and a

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moving musical tribute was made to much-loved, legendary Tongan musician Bill Sevesi (Wilfred Jeffs), who died in April aged 92. Another highlight came with the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Christchurch’s Pacific Underground, which was formed in 1993, and the award was graciously accepted by Pos Mavaega and Tanya Muagututi’a. The subsequent performance by various members of what is the country’s longest running Pacific arts organisation, notably including cousins Scribe and Ladi 6, alongside Anton Carter and Dallas Tamaira, crowned off another great Pacific Music Awards celebration night.

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Quite apart from being her first time on the continent, being named after her Cameroonian grandmother meant the opportunity to travel to Africa and perform at festivals in Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa was something of a dream come true for Wellington electronic producer/performer EstĂ¨re Dalton. Following the late May / early June tour she moved on to Europe for three months of touring and festival performances there. Estere very generously provide NZM with this diary of her adventures in Africa. Mozambique Azgo Festival â&#x20AC;&#x201C; May 20-21 After a long stint of flying over land and sea, it was with relief and anticipation that we (myself and boyfriend/videographer Paascalino Schaller) descended over the colourful ramshackle corrugated roofs of Maputo, Mozambiqueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very southern capital. Disembarking the plane was the first time we breathed in the raw fresh air of Africa â&#x20AC;&#x201C; my heart took a jolt, we were finally here. The first show I was set to play was the Azgo Festival in Maputo. Driving there, we passed residential areas, where poverty mixed with wealth, bright pinks and turquoises mixed with the arid yellow of street dirt. The festival was set on the city university campus and had two large main stages facing across from each other. This is the biggest music festival in Mozambique and a massive feat when considering the lack of support that arts and culture receives within the political infrastructure. As I have come to learn, Mozambican time is a flexible, somewhat elusive thing by our standards, and both my soundcheck and performance time were delayed by about three hours. This worked in my favour, because it meant I performed at prime time to an audience of around 5000. It was an incredible feeling to be standing on stage in Maputo in front of an ocean of clapping, dancing people and to viscerally realise at that very point, that I was performing in Africa. Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smiles in Maputo are large and true. One woman with a young child walked us down the street for 30 minutes to escort us to a Zambian restaurant that we had asked her the location of. There seemed to be a lot of respect and trust that people had for one another, that is why I was shocked when I arrived in South Africa.

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Photos: Paascalino Schaller

Mozambique to South Africa

Durban, Zakifo Festival (via Johannesburg) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; May 27-28 Before going to South Africa we received an abundance of warnings from people who had lived or visited there. Cautions such as, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cape Town is so unbelievably beautifulâ&#x20AC;Ś but make sure to lock your car doors at traffic lights,â&#x20AC;? or â&#x20AC;&#x153;Watch out for highjack booby traps on the motorway,â&#x20AC;? had my stomach in knots. I think thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why when we arrived in Johannesburg I initially just wanted to go to the supermarket and buy enough spaghetti so we only needed to leave our apartment for shows. So I had to ask myself, what it was exactly that I feared? Was it the stories people had told us before going to South Africa? Was it knowledge of the history that had taken place? Was it the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;high level of crimeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; constantly recounted to us as visiting tourists? Perhaps it was a mixture of all things considered, but I think what had really spurred it was something I saw on a street corner when we first arrived. It was a curled barbed wire fence, covered by what looked like razor blades. It was on the outside of a building site â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and a piece of ripped clothing material clung to one of the jutting blades. It was to keep people well away and that simple concept freaked me out. However after spending five or so hours in our neighbourhood â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the district of Maboneng, I observed that although fringed with electric fences and intense city poverty, the area was also full of eclectic fashion, restaurants, powerful street art and amazing haloumi wraps! I began stepping out from behind the triple-layered gates and finger lock alarm system that guarded our apartment complex with ascending confidence. While in Jo-burg I played a show at the Good Luck Bar, with a medley of great artists including Nonku and Cold Specâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. This offered a lovely introduction to the live music scene there. I also did a show organised by the NZ High Commission in Pretoria, which was a fun and very diplomatic occasion (bad pun intended). When we arrived in Durban for Zakifo Festival I was immediately struck by the difference in atmosphere. Where Jo-burg had that intense big city energy about it, Durban was much more relaxed and centred around beach life. This was like a balm to my heightened senses, because even though I consider myself a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;city girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, the reality that I actually live on a small island in the Pacific Ocean is always close by.

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Our accommodation for the festival had a sweeping view of the Durban coastline, so one highlight was that we bore witness to a majestic African sunset and sunrise. Zakifo Festival had an extraordinary line-up of acts from all over Africa and elsewhere. Moonchild and Songhoy Blues were among some of my favourites. Swaziland, Bushfire Festival – May 27-29 The next morning we awoke early to catch a 6am shuttle from Zakifo to Bushfire Festival in Swaziland. After seven hours of driving past rural tussock and field, I was stunned when we arrived at the gates of Bushfire. It was as if Gaudi had made a trip to Manzini and decided he wanted to set up camp. Underground amphitheatres, with dripping candle wax structures, colourful arenas of trans-continental food and clothing stalls, an even more diverse audience of old and young that capped at around 22,000 people, burning bonfires with chilled punters gathered around for warmth, all greeted us at Bushfire. Swaziland itself is much more relaxed and ‘safe’ in comparison to its neighbouring big brother South Africa. A kingdom with a ruling monarch, photos of the Swazi king and queen can be found in every hotel lobby/ restaurant around. I was exhausted from long travel and issues with accommodation (someone had forgotten to include any artist names for hotel bookings which meant waiting around for ages), so I had to muster up all my reserve energy for the last performance of the tour. It ended up being a magical show because of the energy of the venue (an underground amphitheatre) and audience. I played to a packed crowd, people wore polka dot bow headbands that glowed like the stars, and in the heat and mist of moving bodies the space transformed into another worldly realm.

location in a foreign country in the space of three days. Against even our own expectations we managed to make it happen. After days of phoning, emailing, discussing and collaborating, Paascalino and I assembled a crew and obtained a permit for an amazing location called Betty’s Bay, just off the coast of Cape Town. It was a location that we couldn’t have ever found in NZ, which made it all the more special. We were also truly honoured to have acclaimed author, actress and UN representative Sindiwe Magona play the role of my grandmother. Cape Town is unlike any city I’ve ever been to. The juxtaposition of city meets natural wonder is extreme. The three weeks I spent travelling through-out Southern Africa was also extreme in its contrasts. The people, landscapes, music and culture created stark and impressions that I will forever hold in my memory. It seemed a fitting place to end the tour of Southern Africa, where the tops

of Table Mountain dapple the African sky. I will definitely be coming back again. As for now, we are off to tour UK/ Europe. lllY9`g9_9Y3SYPp

Cape Town (music video shoot) – May 30 June 2 The next day I awoke to an email from NZ On Air, informing me that I had received funding for my song Grandmother. Elated and on our way to Cape Town I suggested to Paascalino, “Why not shoot this music video here, in South Africa?” The song is about my grandmother from Cameroon, whom I am named after, but never had the chance to meet before she died. The personal sentiment that filming the video close to where she had lived her life held, was too powerful to not attempt something drastic – like organising a professional music video shoot, with a cast, crew, concept and

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CVJMEJOH CMPDLT with Thomas Goss

Stage Trek, Episode 2:

In Search of All-Ages & School Gigs

tarting this ‘Stage Trek’ series last issue, I gave a few general pointers on how to hunt down places for your band to play. Now let’s work forward from the most basic types of venues to the most high-stakes. The first logical audience might very well be with all-ages, especially if you yourself are still in school, or have only recently left. Many breakout uni bands have mixed audiences, with followings from both fellow students and younger friends and fans from their high school days. All-ages gigs can help a band stay motivated and connected to a wider audience. However all-ages and school gigs are a different territory than pub/club gigs. There’s a definite approach that will help you find the right gigs and play them to your best advantage. Let’s go down our Building Blocks checklist and see how many of these you can tick off in your own bookings. Know Who To Approach Pub and club bookings are most often done through the venue or a booking manager. All-ages audiences don’t have the same infrastructure supporting their musical entertainment needs, there are actually three ways to approach this, each tied to a different type of gig. If you’re to perform at a dedicated youth performance venue, like Zeal, you’ll need to find out from their staff who handles the bookings. Whatever their title, they bear the responsibility of organising events that serve the organisational mission of (say) reaching out to teenagers. Whatever you’re proposing to do in their venue will have to live up to their expectations. The most successful approaches will be by those who bring something to the table – a cause that draws teens together, or a reputation, or even just being on their radar as a band worth seeing. For a teen band just starting out, this may be your home until you’re attending uni. You might actually get pretty good attendance from your classmates. But a pro or semi-pro band is actually at a disadvantage here unless they bring something along with them, like a mighty rep in the local scene, or some experience reaching out to a young audience. So don’t think this is going to be a walk in the park unless you’re really connected to that audience. What’s more, a teen venue may not even book a uni-age band. Another venue option is a place where you put on your own event, or perform in connection with a youth organisation. When I ran the Wellington School of Rock, we sponsored many such events, bringing pro bands together with our teen talent. If you’re organising this yourself, you’re responsible for

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staff, security, hall rent and so on. Things get complex when dealing with issues of underage behaviour, and the stakes are much higher with the local constabulary around issues of violence, drugs and alcohol. Some cities have been known to peremptorily shut down events like this once they start, simply because they think something awful will happen. My advice for this type of venue is to book your band only when the event manager has a good reputation for handling all the above concerns. Back to School Youth performance venues and DIY events are one thing, school gigs something else entirely. We’ll talk more about school-sponsored events like proms in a couple of issues, for this article let’s look at gigs that happen on campus during school hours. Quite often, such gigs are booked by the HOD Music, or someone in administration. If it’s the latter, the admin will be looking at any experience with, or relevance to their students. They’re usually more interested in how professional and organised you are than your musical style and quality. This is why very slick but awful-sounding bands get booked at high schools so often. Then there are the HOD’s. Don’t assume they’re just a bunch of marching band geeks or fuddy-duddies. A crusty old codger in his 60s might well have played in a heavy metal band in the 1970s for all you know, and may have decades more experience with an electric guitar than you’ve been alive. I know many of the HODs in the Wellington area and their level of hipness and musical experience is among the highest for pro musicians in the area. If you can impress the hell out of them, then you will get all their support. But be ready to live up to high expectations in that case, because their students may also be way more sophisticated than you think… Never Underestimate Your Audience If you’re looking into all-ages/school gigs for a quick ego boost while you entertain some kids, then stop now. You’re only going to bore them and embarrass yourself. But if you want to be successful, then treat your audience as equals in intelligence and passion for what sounds good. During the Wellington S.O.R. years I trained about 1,000 teen musicians and worked with around 100 bands here, and nationally through our Rock Camps. One thing I can say about these teens, now all young adults, is that they were generally sophisticated in their musical tastes and in their perception of what made a performer good or bad on stage. And so were the many thousands of their teenage friends

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who came to watch them at our gigs. It’s just as hard to win over these young women and men as it is for a club audience of complete strangers – possibly more if their school is well-known for a high volume of teen bands like Wellington High School. But if you do win them over, then you might gain followers who can bring some new life into your crowd of supporters, and spread the word about your music to their friends via social media. Keep It Professional Professionalism makes as much of a difference here as it does at the Kings Arms or Bodega. You should absolutely have every detail worked out in advance. Find out what the staging will be like, if the PA is any good, and whether you need to bring your own sound and lighting (both equipment and tech). The band should be as well-rehearsed and mentally prepared as for any other big gig. Give the audience a show that treats them exactly like any other group of treasured fanatics, with great energy and commitment. Engage them with banter between songs, and be humble (and funny) if they give you a hard time – which they will, you can count on that. There’s another side to professionalism. It’s there to protect you as well. Certain mistakes can not only close the door on future all-ages gigs, but can also land you in heaps of trouble. Never show up even a little drunk or stoned to an all-ages gig. Never mock or taunt or lose your temper with your young audience. Never give out your telephone number to minors after the gig or chat them up on Facebook (that’s so creepy). You’re not there to act out some sort of post-adolescent rock star fantasy, where the show is all about how closely you resemble the members of Spinal Tap. Instead, you have the opportunity to connect with a crowd of listeners who don’t always attend gigs, and that is a huge responsibility. Live up to it, and get them interested in being great audience members and possibly performers and future allies in your music scene. Don’t miss next issue’s article, in which Stage Trek continues with a look at street fairs and festivals, where the possibilities are just as big as the crowds.

Thomas Goss is a producer, band coach, and composer/orchestrator with an international clientele that includes Billy Ocean, Melanie C, and Canadian jazz star Nikki Yanofsky. He is Education Composer-In-Residence for Orchestra Wellington, and his online orchestration course is available from macProVideo.

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Industry

NZ On Air’s Revamped Music Grant Structure

eview-led changes to NZ On Air’s Making Tracks single/video funding scheme were flagged well before David Ridler took over the funding agency’s Head of Music role earlier this year. One of the architects of the Making Tracks scheme back when he was last employed by NZ On Air five years ago, and closely involved in radio programming since, Ridler was uniquely well-placed to jump straight into the review consultation process from February. He met with more than 50 labels, managers, artists, producers, broadcasters and other industry people in his first few months on the job, getting a handle on the wider issues and what NZ On Air might do to improve their offerings. On June 9 the results of this review were revealed with a media release spelling out that the single-purpose Making Tracks scheme is no more, replaced from July 1st by a pair of new funding schemes to be known as New Music Single and New Music Project. In a nutshell New Music Single (NMS) is a whittled down version of Making Tracks, with very similar application criteria and the same panel evaluation process. Making Tracks grants were either for Recording and Video (up to $10,000) or Video Only (a generous $6,000). With NMS up to $8,000 remains available per track, and recipients must still contribute $2,000 of their own funding in addition to the grant amount. Key changes rung with NMS are that there is no longer the video option split, and that the $2,000 artist contribution can now be applied to promo, publicity and marketing. That’s the good news for acts in general. The bad is that the number of funding rounds is halved from 10 to just five, with approx. 25 grants likely per round – 125 singles-related grants compared to the 217 made during 2015. NMP, or rather, New Music Project, looks more than a little like that old (and much criticised) NZ On Air Album Funding music scheme, wherein $50,000 was available to labels for recording and marketing an album. Rather than album- or EP-based, it is for ‘multi-single projects’ recorded by acts that have the backing of a ‘professional music company’. That doesn’t mean just the big labels, but includes NZ-registered music management businesses. Applicants will have to cough up 40% of the actual costs of the project, but in return NZ On Air is offering grants of between $7,500 and $30,000, which can be spent on pretty much any aspect of the overall project. The goal of NMP is to help a number of singles from each ‘project’ reach audiences via airplay and online. There will be four rounds of NMP funding each year with decisions not made by independent panels but instead assessed internally by NZ On Air staff.

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It was a tight squeeze between the scheduled announcement and NZM’s publishing deadline, but David Ridler, NZ On Air’s new Head of Music, found time to respond to some questions with answers that might better explain some of the whys and wherefores for grant applicants.

ever-changing music landscape. Look at things like the exponential growth in streaming in the last few years. Spotify hadn’t even launched when Making Tracks started. The music ecology continues to change rapidly, so we’re aiming to provide effective and flexible funding options that reflect what is going on. What were considered the main strengths of the Making Tracks scheme? Making Tracks had a focus on broadening the types of artists and music that were receiving funding support. Pre-2011 there was a lot of criticism that NZ On Air was funding a small pool of mainstream artists most often. Making Tracks was very much designed to improve the diversity of artists receiving support and broadening the NZ On Air music funding portfolio. The scheme succeeded in that aim. The panel system also brought a wider range of voices and opinions into the decision-making process which was quite a radical change at that time.

NZM: So, the obvious one first David – do these changes represent a reduction in NZOA’s new track spending budget overall? David Ridler: The New Music funding schemes utilise the same $2 million budget we had for new music spending under Making Tracks, so no change there. For the 2016/17 funding year we are allocating $1 million for New Music Single funding, and $1 million into New Music Project funding. There will be just over half of the singles funded under the New Music Single scheme when compared with Making Tracks, but if you add in the songs that will emerge from New Music Project funding we’re thinking the amount of supported songs will be quite similar – approximately 240 or so. Possibly more. It seems Making Tracks barely had a chance to bed itself in and now it’s gone. Is that just symptomatic of the ever-faster evolution of the music marketplace or were there always gaps in the scheme? Making Tracks began in July 2011 so it’s actually five years old now. I wouldn’t say it’s gone – more that it’s morphed and changed name. The New Music Single funding scheme retains many aspects of Making Tracks, from the eligibility criteria through to the panel making funding decisions. It’s still fundamentally about funding support to record singles and make music videos. But we’re opening up a bit of flexibility to spend some money on promoting the song so more people can discover it. It’s necessary to adapt to what is an

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Which of alternative or mainstream radio has Making Tracks enjoyed better results with? Making Tracks overall had good success with alternative radio – namely the Student Radio stations and others like Base FM, The Most, Pulzar etc. A lot of Making Tracks-funded songs found their way to the alternative radio airwaves. It was a bit tougher on mainstream radio for various reasons. One of the things we’ve identified with mainstream radio is one-off singles with no timely follow up doesn’t work so well. Mainstream radio like to break an artist and have at least one or two strong follow-up singles to back up and bed the artist in with the audience. Hence the New Music Project scheme looks to support that kind of roll out in a more robust way. Overall, what have the panels’ evaluation of submitted songs revealed? Has it proven a challenge to balance the mainstream vs alternative radio appetites for instance? The demo quality has generally been pretty good, in fact the quality of the music overall has been mostly good. Fair to say that there are a lot of alternativeleaning artists that have applied over the years, and it was always quite a debate around the funding panel table about which songs would suit which broadcast outcomes and online platforms. There have been a lot of new artists funded through Making Tracks, that was one of the objectives of the scheme and looking at any given list of funding results there are always a number of reasonably new artists receiving support. That will continue under the new schemes.

What were the main issues identified from the review process that you sought to address with these changes? Connecting with an audience always starts with a great song, but promoting great music and getting it noticed is a very important part of the process of getting the song to actually cut through to the potential audience. Under Making Tracks we were supporting the production of the music and the video, but often the resources to help get the music noticed were lacking. As a result many projects languished on digital platforms such as YouTube with little support or profile. It was expected that there would be more investment in the promotion of some of the funded work by the industry and/or artists. But the reality is the music industry was entering its second decade of declining revenues, so investment was even more scarce. So I think a lot of really good songs probably didn’t reach as wide an audience as they could have, just because there was no resource to promote the music and get it in front of people. If nobody can find it, or it’s not promoted, then that can lead to a disappointing result. Making Tracks had a large amount of back-room administration with its monthly funding rounds. In addition we saw a number of singles that just got no traction at all. The music business can be like that – some songs just don’t stick. There was also an issue around the difference between the way music consumers listen to music (cherry picking singles/playlist culture etc.) and how artists and music companies still produce music (in clusters/projects). So with the Project funding scheme we’re making some moves back into the more efficient production and presentation of music – in groups of songs. So what are the overriding market considerations with these two new schemes? One of the main adjustments is the idea that promotion of the song is likely to have a bearing on potential success. Allowing some of the applicant co-investment in either Single or Project funding to go to promotion is designed to combat that issue. The other key change is flexibility for applicants on how much they spend on music videos. The nature of the music video has changed and that was a big

consideration with the New Music funding schemes. Was it right for us to be prescribing the market rate for music videos when there are some very successful ‘visual representations’ of songs online that clearly cost a lot less? With more and more content being consumed on mobile devices we had to ask whether spending the majority of NZ On Air Music content funding on video production was right. NZ On Air has always set the market rate for music video production up until now, first with $5,000 videos and then $8,000 videos under Making Tracks. So this change is quite fundamental. It’s now a decision and a negotiation between the applicant and the music video maker, or the creator of the visuals for the song. I think we need to look broader than traditional broadcast-quality music videos as a visual way to engage audience, and adjust the investment accordingly. Now that is up to each individual applicant to decide and negotiate with their video-maker.

The way radio breaks artists and work on a multi-song strategy is also an important consideration for us. Radio play is still a huge focus for NZ On Air and there are still a huge number of New Zealanders using music radio on a weekly basis.

What kind of issues has NMP been designed to overcome? Project funding has been brought in to recognise how a large amount of music is still produced and released – in clusters across a planned campaign. Be that album, EP, or some other kind of release schedule. Artists and producers tend to work on several songs in one set time rather than individual single by single. So there’s a recognition of that. The industry music cycle still tends to work around the traditional notion of releases. And artists still ideally want to work towards a body of work. Even though albums don’t sell much anymore, there are still a lot of albums released. They remain the central focus for publicity, promotion, tours etc.

benefit most once again. What new safeguards are there to avoid that sort of challenge? We are maintaining a balanced funding principle for Project funding, with 60% of the music for mainstream audiences and 40% for alternative or niche audiences. We will be monitoring that balance constantly. For the Project funding we are partnering with experienced professional music companies who have proven they can successfully plan and manage multi-single release projects. That’s a careful use of public funding and has many precedents in the public sector. Partnering with professional music companies doesn’t just mean major record labels, there are plenty of professional independent music labels in existence too, not

Even the major labels are not keen to spend much on marketing NZ albums anymore. Does NMP seek to alter that? The theory is that a return to co-investment, not just in the production of the content but also the promotion and marketing of that content, will help music companies free up some resource to put more into promoting the songs and artists. The key thing is to get noticed amongst all the noise out there in the global music marketplace. So we will be requiring a marketing plan with applications for Project funding. NMP does smack rather of a reversion to good ol’ Album Funding and a situation where the big acts and labels will

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to mention music management companies. The impetus on recipients of Project funding will be successful outcomes. We want really good airplay and online results from these investments. Applicants for NMP funding must co-invest 40%. How will that co-investment be monitored? As we do with Making Tracks, all receipts and invoices will need to be supplied, so each project will be desk audited against the initial budget submitted. We will also further randomly audit a number of Projects (and Single grants) each year and dig deeper into evidence of what was spent. We are introducing a revised zero tolerance policy as well, which will see any company or artist involved in mis-reporting on their funding grant subject to a two-year total funding ban from NZ On Air. Details of the mis-reporting will be shared with other music funding agencies also.

Obviously I hope everyone will use public funding in the right way and respect that these are taxpayer funds, but for those who don’t the consequences are now quite career-limiting. Will there be any tightening of eligibility criteria? For instance already successful overseas-based artists applying? There will be some modifications and tweaks to all aspects of our funding process. Final details of the funding contracts for example are to be finalised in the coming weeks. But we are not means testing artists as a criteria for funding, the support offered is based around the song, or group of songs, and the potential for those to connect with NZ audiences.

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taunchly feminist, Kirsten Van Newtown, Liz Matthews and Greta Van Newtown don’t seem to be phased about how Hex is perceived. Instead the band align their music with how the trio perceive the natural world. The pagan beliefs they share are a strong force for Hex. Released mid-May, their latest EP,‘Witches of the Hex’, acknowledges the fierce sisterhood of the band,“…calling to the sisters, calling to the mother, calling to you”. Rock opera is embedded in Hex’s sound. “Our shared passion for the dramatic and epic, and three very different musical tastes, sort of makes our sound,” Liz exclaims. “We like to start with a rock opera so that everyone who hates rock operas leaves,” jokes Kirsten. She describes Hex’s sound as lo-fi metal, layered and layered with choral vocal arrangements and heavy drums. The project has been brewing on the shelf for the past four years. Between a busy time of raising children and ill health, Kirsten and Greta had to pull back, while Liz continued to play in a slew of other bands.

Now Hex is known for juggling performances in the company of children. Kirsten sometimes performs with her earmuff-wearing toddler, sleeping in a sling on her back. “The EP was recorded live. We wanted the EP to sound powerful and not perfect, like our live performances,” explains Liz. “Simon Cummings recorded the EP, on four-track and it was digitised later. I added a few guitar diddlies here and there, at the end,” Greta adds. The vocals have a Flying Nun sound, the harmonies reminding of Look Blue Go Purple. Hex’s creative process is collaborative – the songwriting intense according to Kirsten. “When the song comes to me it’s immediate, I have to sit down and let it explode out of me. Greta has a much more calculated way of doing it – she’s got a riff library!” “I’ve got a library of recorded riffs,” Greta elaborates. “I could stew over a song for years, then one day I might make up a new riff and that riff is the key to unlocking old riffs that sync.” Hex have an organic approach to making music and art with Liz’s art on the EP’s cover. The design is a pagan calendar in favour of NZ seasons, including Matariki and new ideas for celebrations. “We need something to break up our harsh winter. There is literally no public holidays after Queen’s Birthday, just cold shitty winter. So I thought I would make a calendar with something to look forward to because at the moment there’s nothing at all… Nothing!”, Liz emphasises. Kirsten and Greta run Sloth Records – literally, they say, a slow moving project. It’s an online platform for fans to discover Hex’s music, blog and merchandise. Hex are hoping to release an album later in the year, this time inspired by gardening, positivism and looking to the future.

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aving grown up as a small town boy from Utah, USA, and moving to NZ at 16, Whangamata proved to be the perfect location for Jake Preston to cook up some surfy, psychedelic sounds. Known musically by the name JuiceRoof, the now 20-year-old Preston exudes an eclectic and calming personality as he introduces how he started recording his EP ‘Drink Me’ last year in the lower Coromandel beach township. “That was my first experience. I guess I started recording little bits and pieces all throughout the summer, and eventually I would just record shit every day. Mostly a bunch of bullshit, but eventually I kind of started flushing things out, started making stuff that I thought was cool. “I would just wake up in the morning and start playing guitar. I borrowed a synthesiser and a drumkit from a friend, and if I really liked a

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sound or a riff, everything would kind of fall in around that.” With this serene image of a NZ summer spent on the beach experimenting with music, paired with the rawness of a still-foreign home, it’s little surprise Preston’s music fell nicely into a psych-beach-pop vibe. “It just kind of comes out that way,” he smiles. “When I started writing music, I didn’t really have any idea at all what it was going to be like. But then eventually I was making music that sounded cool to me, music I wanted to hear.” So JuiceRoof was born. Now living in Auckland, Preston has undergone conversion of small town boy to city man, and new frontiers are definitely on the horizon. “Coming to the city, and the crowd of people I’ve landed into, all their views have ended up totally changing my perception on music – and probably really shaped the direction I ended up going. “If I hadn’t had come to Auckland and met the certain people I did who had the certain views and tastes in music, then my music would probably be very different. Auckland definitely shaped me a lot.” Following the release of his debut EP in February Preston is now joined by bandmates Fraser Hunter on drums, Jess Fu on keys, Akim WaenglerHeinicke (Lapis) on bass. There are new works underway and they are keen to perform as much as possible. “I’m trying to spend all my free time recording, it’s eventually going to culminate into something. I wanna get a full album together, but it’s a slow process at the moment.” Although Juiceroof is not yet signed to any label, it is definitely something Preston looks toward in the future.

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onsisting of Eddie Kiesanowski (vocals and guitar), Zeke MitchellEmerson (guitars), Robert Daglish (bass) and James Rance on drums, Skelter are yet another example of a jazz school stewing pot gone right. The Christchurch rockers all went to school together, though Eddie laughs that he decided to go to jazz school pretty much with the sole purpose of finding a band. “Rob was in my class and I was telling him how I was looking for some people, and he was like, ‘What are you looking for?’ and I said, ‘Bass and drums’. He was like, ‘I play bass!’” Rob pipes up laughing, “Nah, I was like, ‘I’ll play drums!’” That tune quickly changed when he found out Eddie had his eyes on second year jazz student and former Kentucky Fried Children drummer, James Rance. “He [James] was so scary!” laughs Rob in admiration. For his part James admits to being a bit sceptical as he was plenty busy at the time. “I didn’t want to stretch myself out too much. But I’m glad I did,” he grins. It’s apparent that each member brings with them their own influences, all of which helps build Skelter’s defining rock sound.

“Old school rock,” smiles Zeke. “Led Zep, Stones, AC/DC, shit like that.” “Love the blues, man”, adds Eddie. “We [Zeke] grew up on the same kind of music, ya know. Beatles…” “Guns’n’Roses”, chime Zeke and Eddie together. “I was a real metalhead in high school, and still am,” claims Rob brightly. “It’s broadened a lot into jazz and rock, but that metal rhythm, ya know, that’s where the bass is.” “I’m kind’a the same. When I first started playing drums I loved metal because it was just so fast and blistering,” James agrees. They’ve been tweaking their sound recently for a live acoustic set recorded for RDU at Sawtooth Studios. “It was definitely a different experience sitting down and preforming quietly in front of 30 people”, says Eddie. “Stripping everything back is a hard thing to do really. It feels like you are standing naked in front of a crowd.” The band opened for Beastwars recently and have played to a packed out Churchills venue, both good preparations for a busy year ahead. “September! We’ll be on tour with Acca Dacca”, reveals Eddie. “Not the real AC/DC. Like Acca Dacca the Australian… well I suppose they are both… [everyone laughs]… the tribute band!” “Our single, Get Outa My Face is coming out…in a couple months?” Eddie appeals to the band. “We should probably put a date on that!” they all laugh. The track won them the full $10K Making Tracks funding from NZ On Air in May, and has been recorded at The Lab in Auckland. Skelter have the video shoot coming up with Rick Harvie of Belmont Productions. “Once that’s out, we’ll do some touring for that too,” James offers.

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outh Auckland heavy metallers Shepherds Reign formed in 2013 as a trio of Oliver Leupolu (guitar and production), drummer Shaymen Rameka and Filiva’a James on keys and vocals. In November 2015 after an intense few months of recording from Rameka’s house in Mt Wellington, ‘EP Part 1’ was released on Soundcloud. “We were mainly making an EP to get some stuff out there to help us complete our band,” Leupolu explains. “We did four songs and recorded them, then I mixed it while I was doing an audio course last year at MAINZ… It was a learning process with a steep learning curve. It’s tricky getting it to a point where we’re all happy with it. We haven’t released it properly yet. We plan on finishing a full album with a full band, then releasing an album properly. So it’s kind of like a pre-EP I guess.” It falls to James to explain how they came up with their band name. “I was thinking of how a shepherd has his sheep, and then I kind of put it like that with our band. We’re all shepherds and we’ve got our own fans that follow us. Shepherds Reign… just a group of shepherds I guess.” Following the release of ‘EP Part 1’, Shepherds Reign gained two new members in bass player Jesse Reeves and guitarist Gideon Voon. “I’m still at MAINZ and that’s how I met Fili,” Voon recalls. Filiva’a approached me and was like, ‘Hey, I like your guitar playing, are you keen to audition for this band?’ I was surprised because it was a metal band and he was the singer. I never imagined him singing before… [At MAINZ] he was just the amazing keys player.”

“We started smashing it from January onwards, just playing hard-out gigs and getting tight as. Trying to fit everyone’s parts in and get everyone’s niche sound going through just to create this collective band sound,” adds Reeves. With influences ranging from Gojira, Avenged Sevenfold, Dream Theater and our own Heavy Metal Ninja Richie Allen, the guys believe that it doesn’t have to be heavy to be inspiring. “I’ve always been inspired by real virtuosic musicians. Virtuosic players are what grab my attention. Doesn’t really matter about the genre to me,” says Rameka. “All of us are into a pretty wide range of music. I'll listen to anything from death metal to classical,” adds Reeves. Songwriting is a team effort. An idea is pitched and everyone chips in. However lyrics can prove a challenge. “I write the best when I’m emotionally down, so it’s always true what I sing about,” explains James. “Family suicide or just broken up with someone. That always kicks your arse, so to start writing about it is the best thing I can do… It’s not only me that can sing it. Anyone can listen to the song and be like, ‘I love this song, it’s on my buzz right now.’” Shepherds Reign are a tight unit and share many of the same goals – to release and market a full album on all platforms, tour and play music festivals here and around the world. “I reckon it’s hard to find a band that has the kind of brotherhood that we have. We all look out for each other and have a good time,” states James. “When people listen to our music they know that we’re doing it for the pure love of writing music and performing. Doing it for absolute passion instead of just trying to go for money,” emphasises Reeves.“We’ve got our whole hearts in playing and performing for others.”

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hen her band Cinco broke up mid-2015, Hamilton vocalist Rachel Kibblewhite started focusing on her own acoustic jazz-pop sound under the name Rubita. The name comes from her strong interest in Hispanic culture and music, after living in Argentina on an exchange in her last year of high school, and subsequently studying Spanish at university. “Rubita is another way of saying ‘blonde’ in Spanish, or ‘little blonde’. I was often identified as ‘the blondie’ at school and home in Argentina, so I thought it would be awesome to have that as a stage name and band name.” Though obsessed with music since childhood, Rachel didn’t start out as a singer. “In primary school I remember always wanting to learn guitar. What actually inspired me to learn guitar is the last scene in Back To The Future where he gets up on stage and just goes crazy.” As she got older she began songwriting, and only started singing as a

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way to give life to her words. “I never thought I had a very good voice until my mum was like, ‘Rachel, you’re actually a good singer.’ But I was like, ‘That’s Mum, so who knows if she’s right.’” But right she was. Rachel began to take singing seriously, working with a band made up of drummer Seth Clement, Alex Sipahioglu on bass and her saxophonist cousin Luke Kibblewhite. They worked with local Hamilton producer and sound engineer Scott Newth to record her first two songs, Black Underwear and Milky Moon, released earlier this year. “Scott Newth is amazing, I couldn’t have done it without him. I was in the process of wanting to record stuff but I didn’t really know who to go to. I went and talked to him and he kind of helped me figure out what I wanted it to sound like. In Black Underwear there’s quite a bit of drastic space, I was really keen to have that. He just made everything come alive.” Rachel recently graduated from the University of Otago with a Bachelor of Music majoring in guitar performance, as well as a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Spanish literature. She cites Leisure, Lorde, and UMO as some of her local favourites. Ella Fitzgerald is named one of her biggest influences, and she’s also a big fan of Tame Impala. “I love them so much. Random jazzy stuff. I’ve been trying to listen more to the classic jazz artists, old-school people as well. I’ve also been listening to quite a bit of Radiohead recently.” Her eyes light up when talking about her new music. “We’re working towards releasing an EP in July, it’s exciting! We’ve recorded two songs already, we’re just waiting for a few parts to go on. So we might record another one and have a five-song EP, with those three and then Black Underwear and Milky Moon.”

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50 Ways to Love Your Voice… Even More! I am overjoyed to announce that this is my 50th column for NZ Musician. To celebrate, I’m letting rip 50 top tips. 50 gold nuggets of singing wisdom I’ve extracted from 18 years fulltime teaching and a lifetime of performance, writing and musical communion. 1. Do yoga stretches with vocal warm-ups; especially those opening chest and throat. Warm-up and sing everyday. (www. caitlinsmith.com/warmups) 2. When improvising, enjoy the silence – listen out for the next notes that want to be sung. Let it be natural, don’t think. 3. Feel, don’t superimpose! Never fake emotion, deliberately roughen or affect your voice. (We want to hear you, not the effects/ effort/ breath/ strain you’re using.) 4. Let the story tell itself through you – be sung by the song. 5. Ride your emotions like surfers ride waves. Work with their nuance and open yourself up to find out where they’ll take you. Work with them rather than repressing or avoiding. 6. Before practising, writing or performing, pour imaginary cups of tea for your inner critic, censor, prude, pervert, perfectionist, conservative, scaredy-cat and neurotic. That’ll keep ’em busy while you have a good time! 7. Sing with your eyes. If you are self-conscious about opening them, look past the audience until you’re safe enough to look into people’s eyes… (Says the legally blind woman!) 8. Use ‘ng’ like your life depended on it. For forward placement, to project/focus the sound, blend registers, sing smooth phrases, pitch. 9. View pitch range as a wedding feast in front of you on a horizontal rather than vertical axis. Reach forward to get at the higher notes/ profiteroles further back on the table. 10. Expose your teeth, top and bottom. (Smile, snarl, bite.) 11. Imagine yourself as one gigantic mouth. 12. Use High Performance Psychology. Affirmations, rampant positivity – sonorize what you’re after, visualise the perfect audience/ venue. Get comfortable with being the centre of attention, pre-empt magnificence. 13. Listen for, be curious and delighted by, the effects of good technique as you sing. Note if it feels easier or freer. Turn on all eight senses to maximum sensitivity. 14. Listen to heartfelt, well-produced beautiful voices. List and focus on the qualities you want. Be optimistic and realistic by understanding your body as an acoustic instrument. 15. Use the whole body.Employ the big muscles

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of back and belly as rocket boosters to anchor, strengthen and stabilise. Feel the pulse. Deepen the groove, slow tempos and play with phrasing around ‘the one’. Use as little air as possible. See how much of a song you can sing on one breath. Be a spell-caster, a sonic sorcerer/ sorceress. Become aware of spirit; feeling it, connecting to it, drawing from it. Sing as you speak. Recite lyrics aloud to ascertain accent, pace, intonation, phrasing, dynamics. (This also helps memorising lyrics.) Be honest. Singing requires physical honesty (location, removal and replacement of tension with open-ness). Songwriting and interpretation requires emotional honesty. Harmonise with everything. The more you sing harmony, the easier it gets. Energise from your deepest well. Work natural highs and stimulants (unblocking and balancing) so that energy flows limitlessly and effortlessly. Wrangle twang. Use it and open-ness instead of breath and push for pitching, dynamics, tone. Make them your best friends. Aim for piercing not loud. Read and do The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Don’t compare yourself with others or how it used to be. Remember, ‘nothing compares 2 U’ Shape vowels with your entire face. Lift cheeks, drop jaw (waaay more than Nui Zulenders are yused to). Be a ‘one take wonder’ in the studio. Prepare with pre-production, practice and warm-ups. Make your shows ‘must see’/‘you had to be there’ occasions. Good technique allows you to express and feel more deeply. The means to an end – your goal is authentic communication. Remind yourself why you sing – list the reasons for yourself and others. Become aware of your thoughts before, during and after you sing. Reconcile them with reality. Talk to the voices of doubt, self-hatred, despair… Be your own cheerleader, nurturer and biggest fan! Get healthy. Sleep, drink 11 cups of water a day, deal with respiratory issues and allergies that inhibit breathing, strengthen your core (abdominal and lower back muscles), exercise, overcome addictions (including over-eating, Facebook, drugs and alcohol ‘for creativity’). Learn from everyone and everything, and practice to consolidate. Be objectively aware. Understand vocal qualities you desire and detest rather than just worshipping or hating.

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35. Take risks. Investigate the unknown, get out of your comfort zone, be a crazy-ass mad scientist with your practice and performance. Don’t presume you know what people want – they want ‘amazing’! 36. Prepare yourself for nerves. Focus on simple physical tools and use a slow release ‘sssss’ as long, quietly and using as little air as possible. 37. In a nutshell you’re a drum – a hollow-bodied resonator. Open all areas holding tension consciously and deliberately. 38. Sing more and often. A little goes a long way. Sing when walking, showering, doin’ chores, driving, cooking… everywhere! 39. Breathe a little deeper down inside as you inhale, release and let-go a little more as you exhale. Allow breath to be tidal (to help you sleep/relax) and/or silent and automatic when singing. Let inhales inhale themselves. 40. Lose self-consciousness. Make it about the song, not you. 41. Use singing/songwriting analogies you relate to (e.g. driving a car, having sex, prayer, playing on a jungle gym, building a house, the rainbow bridge). 42. Don’t fear singing high. Enthusiastically anticipate opportunities to bust out good technique 43. Align your posture. Scruff neck, chin down, elevate chest, heavy shoulders, centre from the hips, use arms as extensions of your heart. 44. Learn and practice rudiments. The silent giggle to open throat, vowel shaping and purification, ng, twang, lifting soft palate. 45. Create community. Collaborate, co-write, participate, visit, rehearse, get out amongst it, attend gigs, blog, be a fan. 46. Believe in yourself and your music. Organise, curate musical gathering/experiences.Invite and welcome your favourite musicians to play/record with you. 47. Write a poem every day. Make time for songwriting and practice. Use that time creatively and wisely. 48. Discover the therapeutic power of singing with failsafe almighty technique. Use music as medicine – singing as ultra-sound/ healing. Offer up problems and blockages to the sound to remove them. 49. Become best friends with your voice. Be nice, check-in, care, comfort, encourage, trust, understand, listen. 50. Lobotomise yourself with a crochet hook through the eye socket! No deal? Then stop overthinking. Don’t think – sing! And bloody well enjoy it, yah hear? www.caitlinsmith.com bravecaitlin@gmail.com Fb: caitlinsmithjazz and caitlinsmithmusic

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Tom Cunliffe

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ormer Wellingtonian Tom Cunliffe’s second album, ‘Howl and Whisper’, is an eclectic exercise in folk forms – from reserved to rollicking, country to urban, trad to modern alt. “I spend all my time writing. I’ve been kind of writing songs since I was 18, but didn’t learn to play the guitar until my early 20s. For a while I was just writing kind of poems that weren’t good and slowly I got to a point with my playing that I felt I can start to write songs.” Inspiration during his early years came from agonising over each and every word the wordsmiths of hip hop – Eminem, Tupac and Nas – poured out. “That is where my love for lyrics started,” Cunliffe reveals quietly in his steady voice. “The most pleasure I get from what I do is when the lyrics, the melody and the music come together to create some sort of flash of lightning – like the thing you feel when you hear a lyric that makes you go, ‘Wow, I always knew that but I couldn’t quite see it yet.’” He adds that writing a song has to personify “… a weird truth like you can almost grasp it,” similar

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Photo: Emily George

Tom Cunliffe has been writing songs for longer than he has been playing them. His first album, 2011’s ‘Red Leather Blues’, was a test run, a project he now refers to as “… not really an album.” In stark contrast is his newly released sophomore effort, ‘Howl and Whisper’. Almost overnight Cunliffe has grabbed national attention by writing an album that is widely admired. Karin Vincent had the pleasure of chatting to him about how it came to be.

to that millisecond of familiarity when “… something is on the tip of your tongue”. Tom Cunliffe certainly has a way with putting lyrics together, something which you discover as each groove in the freshly pressed vinyl is amplified. He says he had the drive of wanting to do a genre specific style for a couple of songs, but then some were completely not that at all. “The songs were written in their own space in my head, so they have different personalities. With some of them I was like, ‘You know what, I feel like writing a country song. I feel I want to try and do that.’ “I wasn’t after a specific sound across the whole album, I just wanted each song to be true to the story. When we set about recording it, some songs were very quick and some were just us playing it, and that’s the way it was.” He’s likely referring to the regular evenings of playing his songs at Auckland’s Wine Cellar. Having moved up from Wellington he describes how welcoming the group of musicians were to him

on arrival. “Dave Khan would ask if we could play Bob Dylan songs at New Lynn markets. How cool is that!” Super-strings-man Khan, plus a bunch of other Auckland playing mates, ventured south in June last year to capture his songs on tape. ‘Howl and Whisper’ was recorded and mixed in Lyttelton by Ben Edwards from The Sitting Room and released under his Lyttelton Records label. Produced by ‘Ben Edwards and the band’ as the sleeve notes reveal, this one sentence perhaps encapsulates the essence of this album. “We had lots of ideas and everyone who went down contributed to the sound of the album versions of the songs. I wanted people to have the chance to feel that they had ownership over their parts of the album,” says Cunliffe. “Steve Huf wrote all the bass lines, and all the horn lines. Dave Khan contributed so much across the whole album, and Tom Landon-Lane [slide guitar, piano and vocals], he wrote all his parts.” “They followed the structures of my songs and we would

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just take out if we didn’t like something, or just try it. If it didn’t work out, we’d try something else. I really feel like it was a group collaboration. Everyone had a say in the sound of the album. I hope that if I went down with five or six different people it would have been a different album.” The switch from recording in his bedroom on an USB mic to working in a professional studio, with musicians who have all done it before, proved a profound experience. Recording the foreboding mining disaster track, They Dug It All Away, they suggested he double his voice on the track. His own first impression was that his voice sounded “really, really weird”, but Edwards’ encouragement and reassurance settled any nerves., “I feel really privileged that all these musicians feel like these songs are worth their genius.” Cunliffe heads off to Europe and the UK for a solo tour at the end of June, and come Spring is hoping to have a whole new batch of songs ready for his second “proper album”.

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When Kiwi underground band crusader Blink toured the Shocking Pinks through China, Europe and the States in 2015, he was filmed in a Beijing rooftop interviewed by fellow Wellingtonian Kristen Ng. The video interview was for her own Kiwese.co.nz music, art and culture website. Maybe more a blog, it covers travel, food, arts, photos and most importantly music â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all from Kristinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own curious perspective. In May she posted â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Te China Rocumentaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; a fast-paced, fun and two-way sub-titled five- part series covering the Orchestra of Spheresâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; China tour that happened last October. She booked, promoted and tour managed OOS, and Lady Lazer Light, on their nine-date tour of the big country, video documenting the madness along the way. Jack Woodbury talked with this new Kiwi ambassadress of underground music in Chengdu, western China.

risten Ng is munching on a Whittakers bar as she recounts her story. Since starting the Kiwese blog in December 2013, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been in constant search of â&#x20AC;&#x153;cool shitâ&#x20AC;?. While declining to define exactly what this actually entails, experiencing a Skype interview with her seems definition enough. Kiwese, a combination of the words Kiwi and Chinese, is just that â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a New Zealander, living in China, blogging about the atypical life she leads, experiencing the experimental side of both cultures. A Whittakers bar being enthusiastically devoured in the middle of a Chinese city suddenly seems almost poetic. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Its about bringing over interesting New Zealand musicians and creatives to China and showing people here that, hey, NZ is more than just milk and Lord of the Rings.â&#x20AC;? The philosophy translates both ways. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think that people in NZ often think that China is just a source of international students or cheap products or Communism. But when you actually come here and see for yourself what itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s likeâ&#x20AC;Ś Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just trying to break stereotypes.â&#x20AC;? All over her Kiwese website, the slogan â&#x20AC;&#x153;He Tangata, babyâ&#x20AC;? seems to appear. Translating to â&#x20AC;&#x153;the people,

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babyâ&#x20AC;?, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s representative of what Ng aims to achieve, a multi-cultural showcase of the people from both nations. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So basically what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m trying to do with Kiwese is turn it into a cross-country touring platform for NZ acts to be able to come to China and tour in an independent and fun way.â&#x20AC;? While Chinese bands coming to NZ is still a pipe dream, her achievements so far are no small featâ&#x20AC;Ś â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Orchestra of Spheres tour happened last October, and it was a whirlwind of awesome. I bumped into Daniel Beban (the frontman) down at Raglan Roast one day when I was back in Wellington. He mentioned that the Spheres would be really keen to tour China at some point. At the time I hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even come to Chengdu yet, but I was still really keen on this idea and finding ways to make it happen. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A year later, I emailed Dan and was like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Yo, how about you play at this festival that my flatmateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s running here in Chengdu.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; One thing led to another and we just managed to book a whole tour. Nine dates, eight cities, over about two weeksâ&#x20AC;Ś and they brought the whole gang,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; she continues smiling. It evidently proved a success. Alongside documenting the tour on Kiwese, Ng shares stories and photos of music, travel, arts and food in Chengdu. The city itself, with a far larger population than her hometown of Wellington, houses a strong underground arts culture. Involved heavily in two specific venues, Ng has truly immersed herself. â&#x20AC;&#x153;First and foremost thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nu Space. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m the booking manager and promoter. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just opened, as the title may suggest, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a new space... in an old part of Chengdu. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of trees and birds and local people floating aboutâ&#x20AC;Ś itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s primarily live acts, but in the future, some DJs have interest in doing live sets.â&#x20AC;? Besides her work for Nu Space, Ng has found a home in Zaoshanghao â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the Morning Bar. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pne of the staple underground venues here in Chengdu. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had two of their previous bars demolished to make way for new development, so now theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve come out to a really beautiful space in the south of the cityâ&#x20AC;Ś I always hang out there and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m always on the dancefloor. I guess thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part of my role.â&#x20AC;? The extent of her involvement in Chengduâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s music scene doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t end there. Having recently joined the experimental electronic collective Atmen, Ng has become both observer and participator. Atmen holds two themed festivals per year, the recent Atmen-aus showcasing a natural theme. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was awesome, but it was a total washout. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never seen rain like

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that before in Chengdu. It went from about 11pm, right the way through till about Sunday. It never ended. It just rained the whole time. Because it was an outdoor festival and we had it on this big-ass lawn, which was really beautiful… it turned into quite the mudfest. “There were still people raving right to the bitter end when the cops came, but it was just a shame about the weather, ‘cause people who were planning to come for the city looked outside and went, flag! The people that came and stayed and raved on through the rain and the mud, they will never forget it. We will never forget it.” We might instinctively imagine Chinese cities as being restrictive, Ng laughs as she describes how lenient underground Chengdu can be compared to her expereiences here. “You wouldn’t get away with this in NZ. ‘What about health and safety?’ Um, there is none.” And she’s not joking. “A five metre steel structure holding up this balloon installation that our friends had done just in front of the main stage. It had

rained so much, and there was so much tension on the ropes holding this balloon thing in the middle… it just, like, shattered and collapsed. Thankfully no one was there ‘cause it was raining,” she goes on. The Atmen collective seem to share her own determination and optimism. “It’s a good start. Next year we’re gonna be able to prepare for things like weather and water-proofing. The next one won’t be outdoors, we’re thinking more like chemical, science lab, industrial-themed. Which means there won’t be rain and mud!” She has an evident fun streak but still, life is not without struggles, in spite of her Chinese heritage and being a former language student. “Language challenges were certainly a big hurdle. When you’re learning a language it’s never like, ‘Oh I’ve jumped the barrier now, I’m over, I know this language now. Tick, complete!’ My background is Mandarin. Here in Chengdu, people don’t speak Mandarin unless they have to, they all speak Sichuan.”

“Coming here and being immersed in that dialect was, at first, quite difficult, because I didn’t know what was going on. But now it’s getting a lot better.For me it’s a constant learning curve. I imagine it going on for years. People study Chinese for a really long time and I can imagine myself staying here for another few years, just until I feel like I’ve got it nailed down.” Kristen is actively looking to expand Kiwese’s touring abilities. “There’s a couple of projects for the future… like The All-Seeing Hand. They’re keen to come over and do something similar to the Spheres, and I would help them do that with Kiwese. Die! Die! Die! are gonna do another tour. I’m

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helping book the western leg. “There’s a few NZ bands turning their heads this way now,” she concludes. The Whittakers bar is out of view by this point, probably finished. Kiwese is not, however. Instead, it appears that with each achievement it grows into a larger beast, aiming further than before, in its quest to prove that China-NZ relations can be more than a discussion about Fonterra. It seems likely that in future years Kiwese will have an important hand in joining our underground cultures together.

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Third3ye

Liiight Side of The Moon As artists Third3ye challenge the boundaries of contemporary hip hop through experimentation and shared messages of philosophy, spiritual enlightenment and the pursuit of higher consciousness in their music. Auckland MCs Angelo King and Bronson Price, aka MeloDownz, are the core of a flexible conscious unit, with DJ Ill Baz adding his energy with a live band and sophomore album both currently in development. Abraham Kunin plays a dual role here as a producer and interviewer.

hird3ye, the combined musical and philosophical manifesto of MC’s MeloDownz (aka Placid Vertigo, aka Bronson Price), and Angelo King (aka The Lion and The Lotus), have been steadily percolating in earbuds and collective consciousness since the drop of their 2012 EP ‘Earth Raps’. In the years following the crew gained national profile, culminating in the release of their 2014 LP ‘On3ness’. Produced exclusively by YGB teammate Ben Jamin’, and constituting the majority of their live set, this 808-laden, indigo-tinged collection was refreshingly la mode, both beat-wise and flow-wise. It resonated with local heads, cementing a loyal following, and securing a run of festival slots. Since then however, little has been heard of Third3ye. Singles have popped up here and there, and the duo have certainly remained a force on the scene, but question marks surrounded the future of the group, especially with solo projects emerging from both parties. Knowing both through working with them as Third3ye, as solo artists and shared live bills, part of this article is derived from observations over the past few years. Circumstance dictated intriguing juxtaposed interview conditions, with MeloDownz (Bronson) replying from a beach in Vanuatu, and Angelo King on the phone, as he waited for a tow truck on Lincoln Rd. Contrary to the lazy stereotype of championing neo-hippie ideology through an

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infinite shroud of weed smoke and nag champa, both are astute and engaging conversationalists, each with their own unique idiosyncrasies. Collective world views aside, Angelo and Melo are kind of yin and yang personalities. With this in mind, you get the impression things don’t happen without the appropriate energies aligning to inspire them. Asked about the current down-cycle for the group, both immediately address the work they’ve put in touring, and their own (and each other’s) solo output. If it seems like they’ve been quiet on the Third3ye front, they’ve been far from latent, playing numerous shows around the country Angelo: “Since oneness was released, we’ve put a primary focus on gigging. Trying to get that sword sharp, as the live element is maybe the most important. We’ve really gotten into a good groove with our performances, and amongst hip hop circles, we’re kind of known as a live act. We put a lot of energy and emotion into it, and that comes from practice practice, practice, practice.” There is a clear sense of unity and intention from both around what was needed to facilitate the evolution of Third3ye, and to keep their personal creative output healthy and flowing. Angelo: “The whole idea is that we kind of break away, re-inspire ourselves with different energies. So that when we come back to this next album we’re each bringing more to the puzzle.”

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MeloDownz: “It may seem like Third3ye have gone incognito, but we intentionally chose to turn our focus inwards to nourish the seed, before branching out for the people. We’ve had a few songs marinating in the kitchen for a while now, and are currently in the studio creating.” Some fruits already borne of this re-energising include MeloDownz’‘Beginner’s Luck’ LP, Angelo’s ‘The Lion and The Lotus’ EP (with Jono Das), and his recent album ‘Kats and Doggs’. While I reckon their On3ness’ sound was on the crest of a wave, at least locally, I still wanted to play devil’s advocate and allude to the East Coast-esque psychedelic trap bandwagon, if, for nothing else, to silence naysayers. This naturally progressed into where they heard themselves going. MeloDownz: “With us it was more of an organic process and come up you could say. I mean when Angelo and I first linked up it wasn’t like, ‘Yo my G, let’s make our music conscious and indigo for the masses.’ It just so happened we had a like-minded perspective and resonated with each other’s energies. We built our foundation off of spiritual concepts our parents handed down to us, philosophies we questioned or challenged, everyday life things and an effort to encourage our listeners.” Angelo: “There is this indigoism that’s going on in the world, but we’re not trying to be like that. Not trying to be The Underachievers or representing that. We’re just representing

ourselves and speaking on the things that matter to us you know, and they come out the way they come out. And at any given time that might be different. This new Third3ye album is going to be completely different to ‘On3ness’. First and foremost, we’re working with different producers. Second, we’re older, and third, we’re just at a different place in our lives and inspired by different things.” The new album certainly branches away from a previously ubiquitous Third3ye sound. While not abandoning the 808 kick or hi-hat, those elements have been ingested into a wider palette of instrumentation, invoking surprising aspects of funk and even pop. MeloDownz: “I think hip hop itself is evolving into all types of sub-genres and vibrations. If someone was to rap over house that could be hip hop. With the internet and people being so experimental these days, there are just so many different representations and perspectives sprouting from the genre, it’s a beautiful thing in my eyes.” The content has become more urgent and more direct on the upcoming album. A series of life-changing events for each have accelerated their personal growth, and helped distill their artistic voices. MeloDownz: “You can expect a more mature, encouraging and emotional sound. I’ve been more deliberately simplistic with my songwriting on this record, to reach more than just a hip hop demographic.” Angelo: “With this project we’re more aware of what gets people going, but at the same time we give less f^%#s about people putting their arms in the air and doing the trap dance. I feel like we’ve earned the listeners’ ear now, so we trust people will come in with open minds and open hearts.” Beyond their musical offerings, both King and Price work as healers in the physical realm. King as a chiropractor, and Price as a youth mentor and massage therapist. This makes for interesting discussion with regard to Albert Ayler’s adage of music being the healing force of the universe. Not only do their other passions offer constant inspiration, they also prove the boys ‘walk the walk’ and bring multiple links to a chain of positive action and reaction. MeloDownz: “Working with troubled youth and young people, I can relate to a lot of where they are coming from, so I thought it would only be right to use music as a way to reach those in need, and introduce them to other ways of expressing themselves and inspire rather than getting in trouble.” “Massage is similar to music believe it or not. IOt is all energies, vibrations and frequencies permitting good intention, the quality of touch is very important and has been practised in mine and many cultures for centuries. I believe it’s a gift passed down from my ancestors.” Angelo: “For all intents and purposes we both feel energy whether it’s music or not. I think health in its bare essence comes down to a vibrational frequency. I’ve always felt like that’s the way music actually influences us. I think the sound of the music or the sound of the voice that’s speaking to you can enable

your cellular tissues to vibrate in a way that is beneficial. I feel like I’m a musical practitioner just like I’m a chiropractic practitioner. We want to be delivering healing messages to people and help them enhance certain feelings.” An ethos of sincere, vulnerable work, with an empowering vibration has crystallised over a year behind the scenes in the lab. This clarified approach is timely. Hip hop and its endless exponents have rarely felt as vibrant in NZ as right now. Between YGB, SWIDT,The Grow Room, One Roof, and many more burgeoning cliques, vital connections are being made nationally and internationally. Both the classic and the avant garde are thriving. A global audience has never been closer, and we have never had more to offer. In this fertile climate, Third3ye are resolute about making bold and lasting statements with their sophomore album. MeloDownz: “Since the last record, there

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have been a lot of things happening around the world, so it came naturally when we addressed these issues. It’s more of a rebellion then anything. We really want to voice what we’re thinking because I know a lot of people out there can relate, but are too scared to talk openly about it. Music is the easiest way to express these thoughts. “Angelo and I low-key knew this record would be more revolutionary than our past works. Driven by the feelings and emotions our people have been going through, it is the least we can do. In saying that, it’s not all negative, we try and spread as much light and love as possible.”

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issue’s Deep Thinking column and turn them into a country slap 12-bar pattern. Imagine you are in a bluesy-styled band that has a bit of country in the repertoire (not that unusual), and you are asked to take a solo. (A bit hard to imagine as guitarists will usually want the solos, but let’s go with the idea!) Using your picking hand thumb, you will mostly be playing a root/ fifth pattern typical to country music, but that’s where the typical country bass part stops. Using picking fingers one and two, you are picking the third and seventh of the chord throughout most on the 12-bar sequence. You start with a bar of E7, with E and B as root and fifth and G# and D as a double stop (a ‘diad’) above them. In bar 2, you move to an A major chord figure (which we used a few issues back). Put your fretting finger 4 (little finger) on the low A and use finger one to barre across E and A at fret 2 on strings 2 and 1. The tricky part is to use fretting fingers two and three to hammer from C to C# on frets 3 to 4 on string 3, so some slow practice might be necessary to get finger control. You play this figure twice in bar 2. Bar 3 is the same as bar 1, while bar 4 has the same first half of the bar followed by a rise of E, F#, G and G# before you drop back to the bar 2 ‘A’ figure. This figure is played in both bars 5 and 6. Bar 7 is the same as bar 1 and you play the first half again in bar 8 before a descending group of quavers (1/8 notes – E, D, C# and C) that lead to a B7 figure (bar 9) at frets 1 and 2 that is played in the same way as the E7 figure.

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chord in bar 10. Fretting finger 4 frets C# at fret 4 on string 3, while fretting fingers 1 and 3 fret E and B on strings 2 and 1 respectively, giving us a C# minor chord. Finger 4 then plays G#, the fifth of C# minor before the A figure is repeated in the second half of the bar. Bar 11 is the same as bar 1 and the 12-bar pattern ends with a three note E7 chord picked by the thumb and fingers 1 and 2 simultaneously before a rising quaver pattern of C#, D, D# moving to a crochet E. The piece ends on a high D at fret 7 on string 1 that is syncopated by being played on the second semiquaver (1/6 note) of beat 4. Around this kind of playing, I always recommend that bass players check out Colin Hodgkinson on YouTube. He showed Stanley Clarke how to do it, and is a lovely bloke who got me loads of gigs in the UK. For the August/September issue of NZM we will look at some Latin bass lines. These are usually quite simple in note structure but can be deceptively hard to play because of the discipline involved, as well as some of the complex rhythms. See you next time. (Dr. Rob Burns is an Associate Professor in Music at the University of Otago. As a former professional studio bassist in the UK, he performed and recorded with David Gilmour, Pete Townsend, Jerry Donahue, Isaac Hayes, Sam and Dave, James Burton, Ian Paice and Jon Lord, Eric Burdon and members of Abba. Rob is currently a member of Dunedin bands Subject2change and The Verlaines.) ashdownmusic.com/artists/252/Robert-Burns

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Stomping Nick

Shaking The Tin

Photo: Nick King

Adding further to the already ridiculously extensive list of talented musicians who call Lyttelton home is one man band Nick Jackman, aka Stomping Nick. Jackman sings and plays harmonica, guitar and drums all at the same time – without the aid of loop pedals – fusing garage punk with rhythm and blues. He talked with Sammy Jay Dawson.

eceiving a pair of bongo drums as a present aged five, Nick Jackman remembers obsessively practising along to an album of African drumming and gumboot dance music. Singing in choirs at school, he soon turned his hand to piano and in his teenage years guitar and harmonica, soaking up everything from punk to blues. He cites acts like The Stooges, The Sex Pistols, Howling Wolf, Elmore James and John Lee Hooker as early influences. “I was born and raised in Lyttelton. Back in those days there wasn’t really a lot of the artists and musicians you associate now with Lyttelton. It was more a working class port. “For a long time there I didn’t really do much with music, I couldn’t really get my act together because I had this problem with alcohol. Eventually I stopped drinking and was able to play professionally. In the early ’90s I started playing with the late Ken Nichol, an absolutely brilliant mandolin player, perhaps one of the best to ever live in NZ. I’ve never really seen anyone play like he did, he shredded it. “Everyone considered Ken the wandering minstrel sort. Often he lived homeless, slept in his car, slept on people’s floors, mostly connected to his own alcohol dependency.

He’d go around Canterbury travelling around the wops and small rural towns entertaining people and bringing music where it didn’t normally travel.” Jackman teamed up with Nichol over several years, playing everywhere around Canterbury. “We played a style we dubbed ‘Bush Thrash’, a rural mixture of blues, bluegrass, traditional folk, rock and just random things thrown in. During this time is when I mastered playing harmonica and guitar simultaneously. They say being in a band is kind of like a marriage, and just like the cliché we’d break up and get back together on and off over the years.” Around 2002 Jackman started playing with local Christchurch band The Black Velvet Band on drums, occasionally playing harmonica. Hesitating to call himself a drummer, he identifies his uneasy alliance with the drum kit as the final piece of his journey to becoming a one-man band. “One day I was sitting behind the drum kit playing guitar, then I started stomping on the bass drum and instantly I realised it was this really big sound for one person. I really thought I was onto something – though at the time I thought I was the first person to ever do it. I soon learnt that there was this huge tradition of one man bands. “In fact a lot of the artists I was listening to and was influenced by were doing it that way, people like Joe Hill Lewis and Hassel Atkins. They had this really dirty, primitive thing going on, but I always thought there were at least two or three people. So I started studying it and taking it quite seriously.” By 2009 Stomping Nick was Jackman’s sole musical focus, frequenting venues across NZ, in

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particular Lyttelton’s Wunderbar. The following year he released a debut album titled ‘Punk Blues One Man Band’. Recorded completely live in the studio by Rob Mayes, it’s a raw mixture of country, blues, folk and garage rock, referencing everyone from Sonny Boy Williamson to The Doors. “I started working on ‘Shake For Your Cake’ around the same time as the earthquakes, which had left me quite physically and mentally unsettled – which greatly hindered the recording process. I did a lot of different recordings over the years, so this album is really the result of several years, three different studios and three different engineers.” Like his first record, ‘Shake For Your Cake’ is the sound of one man live in the studio, with the exception of Somebody’s Somebody, recorded with fellow one man band and wizard’s apprentice, Ari Freeman, aka The Blues Professor. “We’ve done a lot of shows in Christchurch with the troika of Lil Chuck, Blues Professor and myself, and people really seem to love it. I guess it’s really bizarre if you’ve never seen it before. Often I’ll be playing and see people in the audience talking amongst themselves, then pat their heads and rub their bellies,” he laughs. “For the next record I want to step away from the one-man format, no limitations or constraints. Have overdubs and other musicians. It’s going to be a different sound, bigger, fuzzier, a big dirty wall of blues. I think it’s the logical step and time to shed the one-man thing, though I will continue to perform that way live. It’s just so easy. I can put my gear in a van, put my bed in and drive around NZ playing, rock into a town, play, then on to the next one.”

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NPNFOUT MJLF UIFTF Curated by Trevor Reekie At the Taite Music Prize Awards held in April, Upper Hutt Posse were announced as recipients of this year’s Classic Record award for their crucial 1988 track E Tū. Released on Wellington indie label Jayrem, the 12” single has been hailed as Aotearoa’s first rap record, and remains as culturally relevant today as it was near on 30 years ago. The strident E Tū was embraced by the burgeoning local rap community for its rhyming in both Te Reo and English, as well as for being informed by Māori history. The well-deserved award was accepted by UHP founding member Te Kupu, aka Word, aka Dean Hapeta. As he commented for the media release, “It’s great for a conscious song of resistance to be respected in this way, and although it already has a firm place in the hip hop musical history of Aotearoa, this award is somewhat unexpected and therefore a little extra pleasing.”

Te Kupu - Dean Hapeta Left to right: Acid Dread, D Word (aka Te Kupu), DLT, Time Sulusi Tuautu, Murray Cammick, Sydney Bell, Teremoana Rapley, M.C. Wiya.

What can you remember about the circumstances of this photo? I don’t remember it so well, but it’s backstage at Auckland Town Hall in 1990, at the Redhead Kingpin gig we played as a support act. Looks like it was taken following our performance. Darryl Ward took the photo and that’s Murray Cammick sitting cross-legged in the middle, with Time Sulusi Tuautu our neighbour from Mount St (and at the time doorman at Cause Celebre) sitting behind him. Over his left shoulder is Sydney Bell, a lighting and stage music man. The UHP members are from left Acid Dread, D Word, DLT, Teremoana, and M.C. Wiya – the full line up at that time. Growing up in Upper Hutt, what indicators were there to your adult passion for music and your evolving social consciousness? I’ve commented previously that being called ‘nigger’ by a white bikey when aged eight or nine awoke me to skin colour consciousness. But also around that age I’d begun viewing the world through the six o’clock evening news and was figuring out that there was a lot wrong and that racism was a major factor. I listened to the radio almost every night then, recording songs and dreaming of being a singer, on stage. I was also in Upper Hutt Boys Choir and learning violin around that time – two things I didn’t feel were cool. Aside from swimming at Māoribank River, playing sports, skateboarding and then breaking I thought a lot about worldly things and by age 10 or 11 my mother was sending me from the lounge room because of my vocal protestations of the media’s biased reporting of events. Forefront in my mind were the injustices Palestinians and Irish faced, and then Māori issues became a concern, but I didn’t see any point in non-violent protest and hence found no place for myself within Māori protest, remaining on the periphery in some kind of self-imposed exile wherein I dwelt, quite content shunning both Eurocentric brutality and Māori acquiescence. That changed in later teen years as I came to recognise myself as a Māori fighting against injustice. Music and social consciousness were passions from a young age and I pursued and realised my childhood dream of being a musician into adulthood. Upper Hutt Posse started off in 1985 as a reggae band. What was the band’s evolution in membership, musical influences and the creativity towards rap?

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Out of a wider group of 12 or 13 friends, who in smaller groupings had begun to jam intermittently at ‘The Pad’, Māoribank River and other places, it was Blue Dread (guitar, vocals), M.C. Wiya (bass), DLT (drums) and myself on keyboards and vocals who decided to get serious and form a group. We played reggae because we were able to play it on instruments, as opposed to performing and creating rap and electro music, which required drum machines and sequencers that we didn’t have. But we soon got access to drum machines and started programming beats. Shortly after that George Hubbard became our manager and beat programmer, and with him came the Roland TR808 and 909, the same drum machines utilised by the likes of Afrika Bambaataa and Schoolly D. Teremoana Rapley and M.C. Beware, and then Acid Dread had joined the group by the end of 1988, and this was the makeup of the group. The inclusion of Teremoana and Acid Dread was my vision, because I wanted singers in the group and at that time I wasn’t confident enough to sing on stage. It broadened our musical scope and made us unlike any other musical group. Since then, until today, there’s been a number of differing line ups with myself always at the helm – bringing in musicians and vocalists required for the songs, composed by primarily myself. Our first gig was a shambles, a disaster, we didn’t get through one complete song as two of us were too drunk to play – but from that moment, or perhaps because of that moment I knew that we’d go on to big things. Which came with the release of E Tū. Because there were only two television channels at that time and no world-wide-web, the likelihood of being seen was far greater than today. So when the music video screened on Radio With Pictures we became nationally recognised overnight. It was your own research of history that informed the lyrics, and in 1988 Upper Hutt Posse released E Tū through Jayrem Records. How was the creative process and recording of the song? By 1987 when beginning to formulate the lyrics I’d realised fully that Māori were denigrated by the media, and also by everyday people, despite our many valiant struggles for land and dignity against a racist and violent colonial intruder. I had to combat such widespread insulting behaviour, and also particularly the colonised braindead conditioning of a great many Māori who blamed themselves for the ills they and many Māori people suffer. I’d heard James Brown sing Say It Loud, I’m Black & I’m Proud

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and reasoned that we needed a similar type of message, and that celebrating Māori leaders who had fought violently against colonial rule would be potent. I’d read James Belich’s ‘New Zealand Wars’ and other books, and had been employed at the Justice Department working on a special project seeking Māori perspectives on the Justice Department. So I travelled to marae throughout the country and met with various Māori, as a research assistant assisting Moana Jackson, who was heading the project. It strengthened my thinking that Māori unity and resistance against white people’s bigotry was necessary. While conscious reggae groups such as Aotearoa and Dread Beat & Blood sang songs of upliftment for Māori people there was nothing like E Tū, there was no conscious rap. We knew that those two groups, and others had released records through Jayrem Records, so that was obviously the place to go now that we had secured a QEII Arts Council / Just Juice New Recording Artists Grant. Our manager and I went out to Petone and met with Jim Moss, securing a record deal for E Tū. Obviously he thought that what we were doing was worthwhile. What was it that saw UHP sign to Murray Cammick’s Southside Records, ahead of recording your debut album ‘Against The Flow’ in 1989? We wanted to advance our music careers and that of UHP. For us the way to do that was to relocate to Auckland and sign with an Auckland record company or label. Our manager had found out that Murray was starting a label so that was where we went. The line up for the album was D Word, M.C. Beware, DLT, M.C. Wiya, Teremoana and Acid Dread. We weren’t functioning as a live reggae band playing instruments at that stage because it proved too difficult with the guitarist and bass player living in Wellington. Most of the songs came into creation through myself (mainly) writing lyrics to beats that either George Hubbard or myself programmed. The other group members brought creativity through either the lyrics they wrote or their vocal and musical performances. Earlier in 1987 and aside from composing and performing as a live reggae group, George and I had formed a creative workflow consisting of him coming up with a bass line and beat on the Roland TR909 or TR808 and TR303, and myself taking the music home on a cassette tape to compose lyrics to. Then we’d arrange the song in a typical verse chorus structure. Once in Auckland I programmed music on Simon Lynch’s equipment utilising the MC500. The step up from Writhe Recording Studios in Wellington to Mandrill Studio’s 24-tracks in Auckland was welcome and we felt to be moving professionally in the right direction. UHP and Willie Jackson travelled to Detroit in October 1990 at the invitation of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. What did you take away from experience? In 1990 Rasul Muhammad, a son of the founder of the Nation of Islam Elijah Muhammad visited Aotearoa to make links with Māori people involved in struggle and liberation. His

trip followed a visit a few years earlier by Akbar Abdul Muhammad their international representative. I’d been impressed by, and a supporter of the N.O.I. ever since reading The Autobiography Of Malcolm X, despite their being implicated in his assassination. Being asked by Rasul backstage at the Gluepot following a performance if we would come to Detroit to hear Minister Louis Farrakhan speak, and share our music with the people, and that ‘the people need to hear you’ was mind-blowing! He demanded an immediate response so what could I say but ‘Yes, we’ll come’, having at that moment no idea how we would raise the necessary funds. But we did and four of us from the five-piece that UHP was at that time travelled to Detroit and then New York, and it was wonderful to be there as guests of the Nation Of Islam. My conviction that white people had indeed created a discriminatory and unfair society in both the USA and in Aotearoa was reinforced, and to experience first-hand expressions of solidarity was most heartening. I was strengthened irrevocably. There’s a creative side to you that some may be unaware of, including spoken-word performances and especially your films. Why have most of us have not seen your Ngātahi: Know The Links ‘rapumentary’ ? In 1992 myself and Rongotai Lomas as co-directors completed Solidarity, a 23-minute music-documentary of our 1990 trip to Detroit and NYC. It screened on Marae on TV One. At that time I decided to return to Detroit and NYC in 2000 to make another documentary, or actually a ‘rapumentary’. To see what had changed, what hadn’t, and to continue the dialogue established in Solidarity. By 2000 I’d become proficient at editing video, I owned a 3CCD digital camera and had built a home music studio wherein I was capable of producing also broadcast quality video. Although I also travelled to Canada and England on this first trip I wasn’t aware at all that it was the beginnings of an 11 year journey. Shooting video focused on arts and activism amongst native and marginalised people in 22 countries, with three key talking points – Racism, Police Brutality and Colonialism. It was exciting and fun, and highly importantly for my creative spirit – I was doing something that no one else had done. In 2000 video cameras weren’t in everyone’s hands so I was invigorated to be on the cutting edge globally. Many people haven’t seen it because it’s in six parts – it’s almost nine hours long, and I haven’t yet uploaded it to YouTube. But separate parts have screened on Māori Television and at film festivals including Sundance Film Festival in 2004 and Māori Land Film Festival this year, 2016. Also, there hasn’t been a big publicity push yet, because that should happen when I complete the semi-autobiographical book I’m writing that revolves around its making. I’ve been writing on and off for a few years now and the book will also contain a lot of details about Upper Hutt Posse of course. The best advice you ever got...? I can’t actually recall ever getting any good advice.

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Who are some of the most significant artists and role models that have influenced you? Syd Jackson, Malcolm X, Te Rauparaha, Hone Heke, Bob Marley, Gil Scott-Heron, Michael Jackson, Public Enemy, Louis Farrakhan, Moana Jackson, Linton Kwesi Johnson, my father Umatapu Hapeta. Original lyrics of E Tū Karanga, rangatahi, whakarongo, whakarongo We’re ngā tamatoa, so we must light te ahi Don’t get led astray by Babylon, kia mau ki to māori There’s a lot of people who think they’re tough today But chiefs like Te Rauparaha woulda blown dem away Cher, Hone Heke he expressed his disgust By cutting down the flagpole, huh Pākeha killed Māori inna Matawhero So Te Kooti exacted it in a slaughter Yes, the Māori battalion inna world war two Staunch on the battlefield dem had many clues Like Moana Ngarimu on hill 209 Victoria cross so true so strong Yes the Māori was a fierce warrior Strike fear in the hearts of the Babylon soldier Yeah it’s true, yeah it’s true, I’m talking to you Kia kaha, kia kaha two one two two E Tū / Stand Proud / Kia Kaha / Say It Loud The man who tried to kill him was Von Tempsky But he became a victim of his own folly ’Cause Tītokowaru him too smart you see Guerrilla warfare, huh, Māori The British raided a Pā they thought It’d be a victory But Kawiti fooled the enemy The British raided the Pā yeah but they got shot down ’Cause Kawiti had a plan and it was sound, break down Te Rangihaeata believes in holding land Against the foe, yo, the British man To him lands essential to the mana of the chief And in the Hutt there were some hardcore feats In 1846 in the Hutt Valley I said Fighting broke out between the British and the Māori And more than one settler on disputed land Was killed when the Māori fought the British Plan ’Cause white rule and injustice go hand in hand So against that is where we stand Don’t forget those who’ve fought before Our struggle continues more and more Yeah it’s a struggle, it’s a struggle The systems got us in a muddle So strive to get outta this puddle Well I always put my mind to the rhyme Don’t wear no gold chains ’cause we ain’t that kind Don’t neva rap and say I think I’m cool Just preach the truth with us that’s a rule Yeah, rising inflation to me is a crime And sport is politics so don’t mess with my mind They falsely own our land so they really don’t We’ve been ripped off man so shut up I won’t You gotta learn the history to know where ya truly are Learn it somehow this ignorance has gone too far Have self determination in what ya gonna do Kia kaha, kia mau ki to māori Don’t let no-one stand on you

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Extended Play For the extended version go to

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While Pip Brown has been regularly seen out and about around Auckland, and certainly came to celebrity page attention in January with her wedding to actress Madeleine Sami, it’s fair to say we really haven’t seen or heard much of her artist-self, Ladyhawke, since the media wave following her 2012 sophomore album ‘Anxiety’. Back home in NZ in March to do some advance promotion ahead of her third album, as well as to play the new Auckland City Limits festival, she found some time to talk with fan girl Amanda Mills.

ip Brown began her solo career as Ladyhawke in Australia back in 2006, releasing a highly regarded eponymous debut synth-pop album the following year. She supported the album with a two-year tour – one thing she would change if she had that time again. “I toured for too long, and it just ruined me. I was too exhausted after that to think straight… If I was in my shoes now, I would have kicked up a fuss.” Exhaustion and anxiety led to her a deeper, darker second album. 2012’s ‘Anxiety’ saw a shift in her sound, and with it her fan-base. Although the album enjoyed far less success and burnt some of her early adopters, it is something she holds no regrets about. “A lot of the pop fans were like ‘this isn’t a pop record, we can’t get behind it’, but I just got some amazing new fans as well… I always said I want every record to stand alone, and to be its own thing. “I always use Bowie as a gauge and an inspiration, because he was a different person on every album, and that’s what I’ve aspired musically to be like. You don’t have to do the same thing every time.” Brown remains fiercely proud of ‘Anxiety’, which was recorded both in Auckland and the south of France.

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“I’ve often said I’m prouder of [it] than I am of my first record, because it was harder to make. I had almost like an obsessive tunnel vision… I knew exactly how I wanted it to sound before I even started making it. I was like, ‘I have to go dark, I’m in a dark place.’ “I wanted the grungiest guitar pedal I could possibly find. I wanted all the tremolo, and delay pedal. I thought… I’m going to make it a rock record, I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks of it,” she laughs. True to her word, the latest Ladyhawke album, ‘Wild Things’, is different again, if not flat out contrary. It presents a happy, optimistic and upbeat side to Brown, one that has been encouraged to surface by improving her health and getting married last year to fellow Kiwi artist Madeleine Sami. A newly settled, happier life is clearly reflected in some of her new songs. “I was feeling very optimistic, and happy… you can’t really hide the way you are feeling when you are making music,” she smiles. “The sound, the artwork, everything – you can tell what mood I’m in by the album I’ve made.” Work on ‘Wild Things’ started in 2014 and was finished in 2015, but not before Brown recorded and discarded an album’s worth of demo material. She says that the recording’s initial tone was way too dark, reflecting a state of disillusionment and depression that she realised had to be changed. A fresh diet of walking and healthy eating, combined with swearing off alcohol, which had exacerbated her depressive spells, worked wonders. That and marriage to actress and sometime musician Sami of course. The time between completion and release of the album has been readily filled with the mundane realities of an international artist record release. “I just had a long time of that usual sort of boring stuff people don’t normally hear about, like the label stuff, negotiations, technical stuff,” she half-heartedly explains. “Halfway through

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the year, I sort of let go… of everything, and I just didn’t even care anymore. I’m just so happy, so proud of the album. The second I let go of everything, I felt so much better, and stuff started happening.” The second-time around album clearly reflects where Brown is currently at in her life, personally and professionally, including her move to reside in the City of Angels. “A lot of people don’t get L.A., and they think it’s this fake, plastic place that’s just a concrete jungle with cars everywhere – which it is. But, there’s this whole other side to it. “I moved there for the lifestyle and the sun... It’s really beautiful, a good place to get your health in order if you’re not healthy, which I wasn’t – feeling crap, and drinking too much, and tired, and just over it. L.A. was the place where I was like, ‘I can actually get my career back on track if I really care enough about my own health.’ That’s what I did.” Pascal Gabriel was credited as co-writer, engineer and producer of her eponymous 2008 debut, and similarly with ‘Anxiety’ the London-based Frenchman had a hand in the music, engineering production, keys, programming and mixing. He’s clearly been a collaborator that she relied heavily upon, as she told Jeremy Toy in NZM’s June/July 2012 issue. “Me and Pascal have musical common ground... in every aspect. The main thing with us is that we love all genres of music, basically, and Pascal’s really open to just a really well-written, cool song. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Spice Girls’ song or a Metallica song or whatever, he’s just open to a really well written pop song.” This time however Brown decided to use a different collaborator, opting to work with Chicago-born rock musician-turned producer Tommy English. Now working from his own his own studio in Glendale, central LA, English has a strong electronic pop pedigree. He worked as engineer, programmer, and mixer for the likes of 5 Seconds of Summer, and more recently produced the highly acclaimed ‘Dopamine’ album for US act BØRNS.

Photo: Jackson Perry

Hunt For The Wilder Things

Ladyhawke

Brown recalls meeting English through a friend, tattooist Kat Von D. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She was making a record. She wanted me to do vocals on her albumâ&#x20AC;Ś I turned up and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tom, and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just such a sweet guy, and we hit it off.â&#x20AC;? She road-tested Englishâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s skills by getting him to record her vocals for a 2014 Tiesto song, and from there the pair became friends. When Brown asked him to work with her on the next Ladyhawke album, he leapt at the chance, collaborating on the whole record. One song, Chills, is a co-write with Brown and Scott Hoffman (Babydaddy) from The Scissor Sisters. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Wild Thingsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is sonically in a similar vein to Brownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eponymous debut album, but takes the electronic pop sound further, eschewing guitars for samples and keys, and creating plenty of hook-filled melodies. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My classic signature funky guitar that I always used to playâ&#x20AC;Ś for this one I put it down, and relinquished control of it,â&#x20AC;? she admits. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I felt so free not having the guitar. I always use it as a crutch, something to hide behind, and I completely put it down for this. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been good for me.â&#x20AC;? Some sounds have been manipulated to create touches here and there to amplify the tone. A good example is Golden Girl where the sound of ukulele isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t quite what it seems. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an acoustic guitar played and then sampled, so played up quite high,â&#x20AC;? she explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tom sampled it, and then he cut it up, so it sounds like someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pressing a button, and going ching-ching-ching-ching.â&#x20AC;? Brownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s satisfaction with her new album is evident. â&#x20AC;&#x153;One of my favourite songs to listen to and perform when Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m rehearsing has been Let it Roll,â&#x20AC;? she enthuses. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I love that song. I love the way that sort of evolvedâ&#x20AC;Ś [starting] off with a weird funky beat, and then turned into this really fun, sort of ESG meets Tom Tom Club thing. I love Sweet Fascination as well.â&#x20AC;? That song deals with obsession, a subject she relishes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I love the idea of obsession, because Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a very obsessive personâ&#x20AC;Ś Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always been fascinated by the idea of how fans get so obsessed with the person they idolise, and they end up creating this world in their head where they think they know the person, and they think that the personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s writing about them.â&#x20AC;? The album themes have both personal and universal elements, though her lyrics are full of oblique references. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I definitely write in a lot of metaphors. A lot of itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to do with how happy I was, you know, my song Hillside Avenue, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the name of the

street I live on, and I wasâ&#x20AC;Ś living in this place where I would wake up and see sunshine,â&#x20AC;? she smiles. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For me, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always 50/50. I try and write a little bit in metaphor of what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going through, then I try and write it so that anyone can interpret it to their own experience.â&#x20AC;? While a return-of-sorts to musical form, aesthetically, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Wild Thingsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; presents a break from her earlier albums, the cover showing a photograph of Brown, rather than the sketch artwork of long time collaborator, and friend, Sarah Larnach â&#x20AC;&#x201C; though she was still involved with the design. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She did the graphic design on the cover. And the t-shirt Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m wearing she designed that, so she drew that all by hand. I knew before Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d even written this record that I wanted a photo on the cover, and I wanted bright coloursâ&#x20AC;Ś I just had a vision,â&#x20AC;? she happily laughs. UK and US tours in support of the album release were scheduled before returning to play some dates in NZ in July. Almost a decade into her solo career, Pip Brown is still coming up against the misconception that Ladyhawke is more than just her, that she

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I love the idea of obsession, because Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a very obsessive personâ&#x20AC;Ś Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always been fascinated by the idea of how fans get so obsessed with the person they idolise, and they end up creating this world in their head where they think they know the person, and they think that the personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s writing about them.â&#x20AC;? has a team of writers behind her. She puts it down to ignorance. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some peopleâ&#x20AC;Ś they just donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know! Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just so common, other female musicians get this all the time. People assume thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a huge team of writers behind them, they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t write their own music, and I know for a fact that my male musician friends donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get that line of questioningâ&#x20AC;Ś Yeah, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s different for women, and I may sound like a stuck record saying it, but it is.â&#x20AC;? As her last album revealed, despite the global enthusiasm for her debut, it hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily been an easy road for Ladyhawke since. In the end, for Pip Brown it all comes down to a love of making music. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s harder for me not to do this, than it is not to do it. As much as it stresses me out, I would be way worse off in my head if I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t doing this. Just making the musicâ&#x20AC;Ś itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the only thing thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ever made me happy and interested in life. I see things in a different way, and I can hear things differently. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know if I could survive if I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t doing music!â&#x20AC;?

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Disclosure feat. Lorde â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Magnets

5-year old Guy Lawrence is surfing a wave of popularity with his 22-year old brother Howard. The U.K. powerhouse EDM duo Disclosure has worked with some big names in pop, from Sam Smith to The Weeknd, to Mary J. Blige. One of these collabs includes our very own pop-princess, Lorde, with the song Magnets. You can find it here: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_KfnGBtVeA Released in late September 2015, Magnets has over 68 million views on YouTube and in May sat happily at #3 in the NZ Singles Top 10. In an interview regarding working with Lorde on this track, Guy remarked, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a really big collab, not just like in terms of her singing on a Disclosure tune but the whole thing is a collab, from the drum sounds to the chords. She was involved with every aspect of the song as opposed to just doing the lyrics and melodies and then leaving the rest to us.â&#x20AC;? Overview: Song Length: 3:17 seconds Meter: 4/4 Tempo: (approx) 92 BPM Feel: Heavy swung 16ths EDM pop Key: B-flat minor Harmonic nature: Diatonic (major scale derived) Form (bar count): Intro (4), Verse-1 (8), Pre-chorus-1 (8), Chorus-1 (12), Post-chorus-1 (2), Verse-2 (8), Pre-chorus-2 (8), Chorus-2 (16), Post-chorus-2 (9) The song opens with a subtle layering of three interwoven percussion figures (reverse cascara, woodblock and a soft click) which create a subdued yet driving rhythmic bed. I heard the main part as a reverse cascara pattern. Cascara is usually played forte on the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;shellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; or outside of the timbale drum, a fundamental propulsive element in Afro Cuban music. Here we see a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;reversedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; pattern (on the lower staff ): With a high woodblock on the down beats of 1+3 and a syncopated clicking sound disguising the pulse, a faded in kick drum joins at bar 3, giving us the quarter note downbeats. Against all this, a warm synth pad (on the upper staff above) is â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;openedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and quickly â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;shutâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; as

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if swelled on and then suddenly off, creating more rhythmic mystery. This pad is huge, but made to sound small. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d guess synth-layers with a warm Moog-y bass played back through a sampler that uses velocity to engage the sound. This sonic depth is further emphasised by the offbeat placement (it begins on the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;andâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of beats 1 and 3, but the sound â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;opensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on the following beat) paired with a subtle portamento effect at the beginning of each note. These kind of juicy production techniques continue throughout the track in clever and subtle ways, adding colour and contrast. From the use of layering to create dynamic depth (the last four bars of each pre-chorus emptying out so the chorus comes crashing down); the density of instruments between sections; the super heavy swung 16ths in the hi-hats at the chorus emphasising the rub between straight (verse) and swung (chorus) sections; a stark, percussion-less second verse; the heightened post-chorus 2 which has huge, lazy open hats underpinning the repeated chorus hook â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;embrace the point of no returnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x201C; almost frenzied; the subtle differences in programming between each chorus add weight and momentum at just the right points. Lots of clever... The next thing that piqued my interest was how the music video interacted with the lyrics which begin directly after our short 4 bar intro. First, the opening lines of verse 1: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Never really felt bad about it As we drank deep from a lie 'Cause I felt melting magnets, babe The second I saw you through half-shut eyesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; We could assume that the lie is a relationship that is not real, or perhaps doomed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this feeling is intensified by the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;melting magnetsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; metaphor of the following line, surely meaning â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;something between two parties that was attractive, but is becoming less soâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Yet â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;drinking deep from this lieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; means they persisted, and in fact, were wholly committed. Perhaps better the devil you know? Much is revealed by one short scene in the music video (2:07 to 2:08);

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where the female lead, in a darkened room, stares at her partner with a fraught look, from behind a bruised left cheek. The look he returns is equally fraught and even contemptuous. Examining the fourth line, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;half-shut eyesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; could now mean bruised and blackened â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and if so, a much more sinister tone is suggested. As the song progresses and the story unfolds, I felt either of these two narratives was possible; the older (actress A) and younger (Lorde) female characters are either the wife and mistress (respectively) or the same person at two opposite ends of the relationship. Perhaps the former is more likely, the lyrics consistent with the thoughts of a wife who once was a beaming girlfriend in a fresh and spunky relationship who eventually discovers her manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dark secret and now suspects he is cheating on her: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;You and that girl, she your girlfriend?, Face from heaven, bet the world she don't knowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Despite my desire to reveal my deep understanding of Lordeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inner workings to her fans, I thought better of engaging in a YouTube comments-section battle... Lorde is great in my books, for a number of reasons that are reaffirmed in this track. She knows how to write, her lyrics are clever, metaphoric, layered and open to discussion. She has an incredibly distinctive vocal timbre and phrasing style and uses vocal harmony sparingly but well. Magnets is a strong collaboration where her writing and producing style has shone through. Lorde is not just a one- (or two-, or three-) hit wonder, after all, Disclosure have built a huge fan-base (close to 200 million views across their YouTube channel video releases) by way of their many partnerships with pop-giants, and Lorde pushed them on this track: â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was like someone challenging us, someone saying, 'We can get that extra 10 percent.â&#x20AC;? Proud of that young lady from the Shore yet? Dixon Nacey is a guitarist, composer, producer and MD, who teaches music at Auckland & Massey University, CPIT in Christchurch, and online at www.jazzguitarlegend.com.

Flower Power Wellington multi-instrumentalist Sean O’Brien, aka Joe Blossom, has just released his second album. Entitled ‘All Of The Above’, it’s the sophomore to his 2011 debut ‘Nocturnes’. Though surprising, the five year gap between albums has certainly not been uneventful as he tells Olly Clifton.

n 2011 Sean O’Brien went on a DIY tour with his band in the States after the release of ‘Nocturnes’, the debut Joe Blossom album. “I think the thing about going to the States, is every gig you play you’re playing with these musicians who are all over what they do. Even if they’re rough and don’t have virtuosity when they play in terms of being able to play all the jazz chords, or shred, they can just perform amazingly.” After the band got back to NZ O’Brien spent time on his family farm, re-grounding, reflecting and refreshing. “It was like living like a monk for two or three months. It was quite an amazing antidote to post tour blues... I went through long periods of interacting with nobody apart from cows and calves. I did a lot of thinking and reviewing ideas and that sort of stuff.” When drummer and close collaborator Chris Fawdray returned they started work on a new album. First single Tyger Tyger was recorded and released in 2013, enjoying good student radio play. O’Brien says he has been tapping away at the project since. He’s also been performing a steady string of shows around the country, as well as playing the music for an arts festival show with film maker friend, and ex-flatmate, Duncan Sarkies. “This record probably took about a year and a half to write and about a year to record. And there was probably about a year overlap of the two. One of the problems of modern day recording, you have ProTools and all your own hardware and software, and that leads to what I’d call ‘chronic project creep’.” ‘All Of The Above’ was recorded mainly in Munki Studios in Wellington, before the studio was moved from its ex-SIS premises. “It used to be this pretty cool place with all these vaults and chambers and that sort of stuff. It had a particularly good drum room that was a massive old safe.” Despite comparisons drawn between Joe Blossom and British pop singers of the ’80s, O’Brien explains that this record was an attempt to capture a more modern sound. The influences he lists are wide, from Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean to Radiohead, UMO and The Dirty Projectors. In order to keep the sound progressing and evolving O’Brien and Fawdray tested out new

technology and different songwriting methods. During their tour of the States, Fawdray had begun experimenting with an electronic drum pad, layered with drum and piano samples to fill out their sound. “He really studies, he loves Radiohead and Hot Chip and all these sorts of acts that are doing interesting stuff,” O’Brien notes praisingly. He himself learnt how to properly score music so that he could arrange the string parts for the musicians he would bring in to record. His lyrics are often quite specific. “I know lyrics take me ages to write. So I really wanted to get ahead of the wave on this, so lyrics wouldn’t be the thing holding up the record. As it turns out they eventually did.” Album opener Tyger Tyger shares its name with a famous William Blake poem, the inspiration coming from reading an anthology of British poetry while staying with his collaborators at a bach in Waitarere, near Levin. “You can read a book on history, you can read about Elizabeth I or the French Revolution. You can read if from that historical perspective – someone looking back and writing it – but when you look at a poem, in some ways it’s the closest to getting a clear recording of someone’s voice, because poetry is so about emotion. It’s very distilled.” The new album’s title track is also inspired by the history of Albert Einstein. O’Brien unwittingly took a photo of So So Modern (while he was helping them out on their European tour) underneath the clock in Bern, Switzerland that Einstein watched from a tram when he first thought of the theory of relativity. It took about several years for some of Einstein’s most influential papers to achieve the recognition they deserved. “I’ve been thinking about that for a while, thinking it would be nice to write a song about what it must have been like to have been him, an unknown.” Another noteworthy track is Here And Now, a cover of a song by Wellington band Terror Of The Deep. “There’s a lot of people who know me who might not necessarily know Terror Of The Deep, or vice versa. I think it’s nice to be able to feature really good songs that are made by other people. It’s almost a bit boring to cover songs that are really well known. I reckon the NZ music community would be a little bit stronger if more people put other people’s songs on their own albums.” Working with the 2011 song was also another chance to dabble in new methods.

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Joe Blossom

“I thought, ‘Can I build a song from nothing?’ I used a drum machine in ProTools, I have a Roland XP-30 synth so I figured out a bassline that would work. The whole thing I wanted to do was not use a guitar. All the percussion and stuff is on that synth.” Much of the music came out of the time O’Brien and band spent jamming in Waitarere. Other collaborators include the likes of Will Rickets and Grayson Gilmour, who also added guitar and bvs on the considerably more rough and rocky ‘Nocturne’. O’Brien recalls first meeting him at Palmerston North’s The Stomach, when Gilmour was in his teens. “This kid was hanging around... I got introduced and when he left my friend Craig [Black] who ran it said to me, ‘That guy is gonna go places, I guarantee you.” His second album is a culmination of a wide and very unique set of experiences. “It’s been a way longer gap than I thought. But I guess in that period of time – and this is part of the reason the album got called ‘All Of The Above’ – it felt like all of the above has happened”.

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Entering A Purple Patch

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Huia

A Deliberate Viewpoint

Mother, musician, producer, promoter, vocal tutor and composer – Huia Hamon evidently likes to keep herself plenty busy, actively involving hereself in numerous aspects of the local music scene. Drawing from an interview in her west Auckland home that ended up stretching over several hours, Briar Lawry distilled this picture of her broad creative life.

ōrero with Huia Hamon is a sprawling tapestry of music, family and art. Each strand of her life is woven into another, with a story behind it that connects it to something else. Coming together to discuss ‘ĀTA’, an EP of easy-going reggae, that follows up ‘Huia’s Waiata’, her debut album, we swapped stories of musical histories, enjoying plentiful coffee and a constant view of the Waitakere Ranges. Huia is a woman of many musical talents. She and husband Chris run Kog Studio – previously of Kingsland, these days nestled in beside their Titirangi home, where they live with son Zen and three cats of varying temperament. Huia is a vocal producer, vocal tutor, producer and composer, marketer and promoter, but for this article, the focus is on Huia the musician – specifically the musician who

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performs in te reo Māori. Huia leads the Tātou Tātou E collective, performing on all five of their albums thus far, and playing an integral role in securing Te Māngai Pāho funding. Her grandfather was artist and poet Rei Hamon, whose work was not limited to medium – from kauri gum sculpture to pointillismstyle paintings gifted to the Queen from the NZ Government. Having one such a significant figure in one’s whakapapa seems like artistic influence enough, but there’s more. Her mother’ s a poet, and while neither of her parents are musicians, guitar and song are commonplace in their home. “Mum got me doing little songs for visitors when I was about two and a half. And later, I was one of those weird kids always doing the songs in assembly,” she laughs. “I never thought I was ‘that’ kid

until I grew up. And I was always writing poetry and songs, ever since I could write.” It was during a stint in Mt Maunganui that her dedication to music really took hold. Through some twists and turns of fate (and one chef’s course), Huia found herself enrolled in Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s Te Kamakama Diploma – which gave her the grounding in musical theory, songwriting and various digital tools like Logic and ProTools that have all helped lead to where she is today. Huia met Chris Chetland in 2005, when his outfit Baitercell opened for Shapeshifter in Hamilton, while she was studying publicity and communications at the University of Waikato. Another encounter at an Auckland party was really all it took. “That was us.” She started working at Chris’s company KOG when it was in Kingsland, and by now they make a formidable pair in the musical production world. While their home and studio are tucked away off the beaten track, at least in Auckland terms, their relative isolation isn’t an issue. “Everyday there are people out here, it’s a really social house.” But even when there’s recording, mixing and mastering going on in the studio, the house itself is an oasis of nature and art – from pieces by Huia’s koro Rei, to drawings by four-year-old Zen. It was here that Huia created ‘ĀTA’– literally translated as ‘with deliberation’ or ‘care’. “I wrote it really fast – I had an application due, and Te Māngai Pāho grants require the songs to be finished – not mixed and mastered, but still ready.” The album shifts through a variety of genres, without ever

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feeling stilted. The ribbon of te reo lyrics and her vocals tie things together, as it drifts through reggae, dub and drum’n’bass. “I wrote them in English, over the beats from Te Omeka.” Her te reo guidance on this record came in the form of Lois McIver, aka Whāia. “Lois has a beautiful te reo speaking voice, and her te reo is really poetic. For the translations, she’d tell me,‘This is what it literally means, and this is what it means emotionally.’” Having faced a little bit of struggle with TMP in thte past over te reo poetic sensibilities vs. rigid translations, Huia says that this time, it was much more straightforward and McIver’s involvement helped. “Lois does stuff for TV, it was really easy for them to trust her.” Emotionally, ‘ĀTA’ had an eerily similar genesis to her 2012 album ‘Huia’s Waiata’ – family tragedies juxtaposed against joy. “It’s life and death, loss and life together. I’ve been in very similar places of healing and loss for both records. It can be hard to write when everything’s good – sometimes you need some injustice or something to draw on!” She has another album up her sleeve, waiting for the right time to bring itout. This time, though, it’s an English record. “I’d love to do some kids stuff, maybe go for triple languages – te reo, English and Spanish. When I’m singing in a bilingual setting, I always go for literal melody and word translation – to make sure everyone gets that universal feel.” GjJ"PpY,MSB`USgY3SO

HVJUBS DPPM HVJUBS DPPM with Kevin Downing

Develop Your Own Style

any guitarists find developing their own style is a difficult thing to do, and I’m often asked how you do so with ease. Well the concept is simple, but it is definitely not easy to put into practice. It comes down to three components – imitate, assimilate and innovate. Those three words have been the cornerstone of success for some of the world’s top musicians, not just guitar players, and must be learnt in that order. Now let’s break them down. Imitation is when you take an idea, phrase, or something from a favourite player and learn it until you can play it really well. The content of this idea, phrase, or something must be small and easily grasped for your own playing level. Don’t make the mistake of biting off too much in the first place. That is a big mistake and the main reason many guitar players don’t do this first step very well, or never get past it. Assimilate is when you take the idea you have just imitated and begin to incorporate it into your playing. When you do this, it might not come all that easy, but you should work hard to find places in songs (or when

jamming) you already play so you can use the idea straight away. Innovating is when you have a good command of that idea, or something you have just spent time assimilating, and are now ready to take it to the next level. This next step involves you coming up with your own original play based on the ideas you have just spent time assimilating. It could be just a simple changing of the idea or using it to completely transform it into something new. With careful listening to any of your favourite players, from Charlie Christen or T-Bone Walker in the 1930s, right through to the big names of today, you can hear how each new generation has copied from the players before them, using the ‘imitate, assimilate and innovate’ formula. As a classic example listen to Joe Bonamassa. You can clearly hear him using the ideas of Clapton, Page, Hendrix, the three Kings etc. Now let’s put this idea into action by imitating a simple lick taken from a popular recording. You can see in Exercise 1, a simple lick and only one bar long. What you need to do is to get it going well and up to speed, maybe 120 bpm on your metronome. In Exercise 2 you practice putting that lick into a solo line that you are very familiar with. Here I have it in a blues progression or a static A7 or Am7 setting. The idea is once you can play this lick in one solo to then get it working in many of the solos you play. This is an example of assimilation. Once you know that you can incorporate that lick into many solos with ease, then it is time to move on to Exercise 3. In Exercise 3 you can see that I have now taken the lick and transformed it into something more challenging. It is the same lick, but played on different string sets across the fingerboard. Take your time working on this one and when you have it down try putting it into your solos as well. This and the following examples are of the innovation process. With Exercise 4 you can see I have changed the rhythm for the lick. Exercise 5 changes the contour of the lick. Exercise 6, is the lick inverted. See how you can easily innovate when you know your licks really well? You can easily use the imitate, assimilate, and innovate principle for rhythm guitar ideas, or anything else you choose. So get your guitar out and get cracking using this process. If you have any trouble with this process seek the services of a good teacher. To hear these examples played, visit my website at http://www.guitar.co.nz/ category/resources/freelessons/ Kevin Downing is a professional guitarist, teacher, and author. His contact details, along with many freebies, are on his website at www.guitar.co.nz

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TOM CUNLIFFE: Howl And Whisper Self-proclaimed ‘story singer’ Tom Cunliffe’s debut album of moonlit folk songs does not disappoint. Recorded in Lyttelton under the production of Ben Edwards, with multi-instrumental help from Dave Khan, Will Wood (percussion, piano), Tom Landon-Lane (slide guitar, piano, vocals), Steve Huf (bass, horns), plus four additional vocalists, this is more than just a singer/songwriter album. Open Moon sets the scene for the 11 tracks that follow. With its stellar folk texture Cunliffe’s deliberate, easy vocals shine. Will Wood’s solid groove in They Dug It All Away drives the low tempo song forward, helping the track stand out. Dirty Road starts with finger-picked banjo before a haunting body of sound is built as a bed for Cunliffe’s voice, while the reverb-drenched delicate guitar work in Just Kids gives his vocal lines heaps of room to be focused on. An experienced small-stage performer, Cunliffe honed his songwriting craft ahead of recording this, and along with some incredible instrumental backing has produced great folk songs that sit upon interesting timbres and textures. s *ESSE !USTIN

*/#%% 45#+ -T $ORA Jocee Tuck’s sweet, light voice is approachable and kind, reminiscent of Ingrid Michaelson or Regina Spektor. There’s a myriad of instruments on her debut. Vibraphone, xylophone, piano, acoustic guitar, ukulele, glockenspiel and percussion are all performed by Tuck herself, with everything from banjo to trombone from others. The songs are well ordered, with reflective track Black Heart breaking up the playful percussion heavily used throughout the rest of the album. Like Sufjan Stevens and others, Tuck manages to give her own distinctive take on biblical stories and religious traditions that prevents her debut from speaking only to those practising her faith. Recorded in Auckland between Little Monster and Black Orange studios the production quality is certainly worthy of mention. With the quirky cool of your favourite youth group leader ‘Mt. Dora’ plays like a bedtime story, a fairytale, or perhaps more accurately, a parable. The cover pictures Tuck playing the xylophone surrounded by a pompom wreath, an image Ì >ÌÊ«iÀviVÌ ÞÊi V>«ÃÕ >ÌiÃÊÌ iÊ> LÕ ¿ÃÊ } Ì i>ÀÌi`Êvii °ÊUÊ!MANDA 2OBINSON

In the four years since Pip Brown released her second Ladyhawke album, ‘Anxiety’, she got married, got a Los Angeles address, and got healthy – all factors that have contributed to the optimistic outlook that’s evident in her third album. ‘Wild Things’ is a very personal record of upbeat, synth pop that eschews the grungey guitars and dark moods of 2012’s ‘Anxiety’, and looks back (at least stylistically) to her eponymous debut album. It is different to that early record though – the sound may be synth-based but it reflects its time and place. The sun-kissed lifestyle Brown has adopted bursts through in the warm sounds and upbeat rhythms of Golden Girl or Hillside Avenue, the latter in particular a paean to where she now lives. It also marks a change in collaboration, this time Brown worked with LA producer/writer Tommy English rather than previous musical partner Pascal Gabriel. What hasn’t altered is Brown’s gift for melody and ear for a good pop song, and the album has plenty of these, from the dulcet opening track A Love Song to the final dance floor-filler Dangerous. A bold step into a denser electronic sound from Ladyhawke, it sounds successful in that regard, although a few wild thing guitar riffs would have been welcome too. s !MANDA -ILLS

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Sweeping cinematic soundscapes abound and with moods ranging from psychedelic dreaminess to upbeat spaghetti Western, this Carnivorous Plant Society album predominantly comes across like a rockier Ennio Morricone soundtrack. But Francoise Hardy shoots for (and scores) ’60s French chic. Finn Scholes is the driving force behind this project, doing the CD artwork, writing all the material and playing mucho intrumentos, including but not limited to stirring trumpet, organ, vibraphone and tuba. Cass Basil’s bass has just the right ’60s-style plunk for this and Alex Freer’s drums are right on the money without overpowering things. Tam Scholes’ atmospheric guitar provides a twangy wash of sound that raises goosebumps. Siobhanne Thompson’s vocal la-la-las add a whimsical yet plaintive touch, and her violin dances delicately through the middle of the song Mexico. Heck, everyone’s at the top of their game on this release and it appears that they have a great live act too, with a lucha libre look to the performance.

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4(% */2$!. ,5#+ "!.$ .OT /NLYx "UT !LSO Several years in the making, Jordan Luck’s aptly named postExponents band debut album sneers, leers and snarls with a frantic energy surprising for the 53-year old and his cohorts. Simultaneously recalling late ’70s punk, ’80s post-punk, and classic rock/pop in the style of Cheap Trick and The Cars, it was recorded live by guitarist Bryan Bell at Auckland’s Roundhead Studios, with Beaver Pooley on drums, bassist Rich Mixture and Joe Walsh also on guitar. Clocking in at 38 minutes, its 11 tracks echo the glory of Luck’s past musical endeavours whilst managing to produce some of his best work. Opener Can I Help You details a blue collar 20-something wasting their youth slaving away at a grocery store, Finesse is half-rooted in the Kiwi experience, but seems to be mostly about cutting loose, while Edens Of Suburbia recalls classic Exponents and features one of Luck’s catchiest choruses in years. Much of ‘Not Only…’ was co-written with former-Dead Flowers frontman Bell, and his stamp can be heard throughout. First single Only If You’re Lonely not only has one of Bell’s signature guitar solos but also one of Luck’s best lyrics. ‘I could get used to being lonely, only if you’re lonely too.’ Stevie, the ballad, is a tribute to the late Steve Cowan (notable for his guitar work on Exponents’ classic Victoria), helps pave the road for Luck – not only to the future LÕÌÊ> Ã Ê ÃÊ«>ÃÌ°ÊUÊ3AMMY *AY $AWSON

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Self-proclaimed “East Coast rebel” Isiah Ngawaka knows a fair bit about life's struggles. On ‘Absence In Motion’, wearing his Lucid Hiest moniker, Ngawaka gets to share a few of his stories, with a further promise that he’s really only just getting started. And when a young artist with this much talent starts out with roughly 50 tracks, whittling them down to an album-sized baker’s dozen becomes an exercise in continually raising the level on the quality control filter. The end result is a quite startling home-produced album which blends a distinctly local hip hop vibe with worldclass drum’n bass flavours. Throw in sub-rattling slabs of heavyweight bass, a sack full of sticky dub, some smooth RnB vocal harmonies, plus the occasional post-apocalyptic sci fi sample, and Lucid Hiest covers off all of the bases within the gamut of this wider thing called ‘urban’. Themes include growing up in smalltown Aotearoa, nights out, racism, and survival – within the music industry and with daily life itself. As fiercely independent as he undoubtedly is, Lucid Hiest gets some help along the way, mostly with vocals, but also from ace brass man Matt Mear, whose subtle instrumentation is one of the best features on an album rich in atmosphere. Something which is perhaps best emphasised on the outstanding Pushing Through. The explicit nature of some of the lyrics won’t appeal to all,

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but thankfully Ngawaka isn’t in this game to tread carefully on the delicate sensibilities of anyone not inhabiting his world. Lucid Hiest is all about creating four to five-minute bursts of gritty realism; these are his stories, honest and raw snapshots of his world, nobody else V> ÊÌi Ê Ê ÜÊÌ ÊvÀ> iÊÌ i °Ê À }Ê ÊV >«ÌiÀÊÌÜ °ÊUÊ-ICHAEL (OLLYWOOD

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I have to preface this review by stating that I’m a huge fan of Murray McNabb, and was ecstatic when I heard that Sarang Bang Records were releasing a tribute to his music. ‘The Way In Is The Way Out: The Music of Murray McNabb’ is a sumptuous album presented in several mediums (see the Auckland label’s Bandcamp page for options), curated by Gianmarco Liguori, a friend and collaborator. The album was beautifully mastered by Darren McShane of Earwig Studios, and excitingly features mostly previously unreleased music. What I’m reviewing is the limited edition two LP vinyl set, the cover of which features one of McNabb’s paintings and photos of him. The album avoids traditional liner notes, instead featuring a short introduction by Liguori, an interview with McNabb from just before his death in 2013 and a wealth of quotes. The selected tracks span from solo piano to the great 1980s band Space Case (these tracks also include the Auckland Neophonic Orchestra), his trios, sextet, and much more. The first LP features McNabb’s contributions to jazz in both his own and other groups. The second covers off his more experimental work on solo piano and in the realm of electronic music and it’s fascinating to hear the directions he was looking in. Many of the tracks are from the 1970s and ’80s, and they sound just as fresh and original today. This artfully «Ài«>Ài`ÊÀi i>ÃiÊ ÃÊ> Ê>LÃ ÕÌiÊ ÕÃÌÊ >ÛiÊv ÀÊ> ÞÊ <Ê >ââÊv> °ÊUÊ!LEISHA 7ARD

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Yumi Zouma’s Sam Perry presents his second full album under the lone shadow of Zen Mantra – a name that has played on the lips of many as of late, and for good reason as the 10-track wunderkind shows. Sounding more concerned with generating an overall ambience and feeling, it is all about the atmosphere the music comes to create for the listening experience. The bones of the songs themselves demonstrate quality, infectious pop writing which is taken to a new level through imaginative musical arranging. There is a dissonance and melancholia underlying the sound, inside the warped synthesised layers and dreamy reverberation and delay, creating an eerie sense of space in the tracks. Bailey comes to mind. Blissful and ambient in its own way, there are moments where the mood elevates to a lighter, more melodic level demonstrated on tracks like, Remember You At All, which sounds like it could form the foundation for a dreamy Yumi Zouma track. At times we’re transported back to the jangle rock of Flying Nun in the early 1980s, as well as the youthful energy of that time. A total embrace of the melodic deliciousness of ’80s New Wave sound and vision, moulded into a welcome revive. It’s a must hear. s !NNA ,OVEYS

*%33% 7),$% 4(% $2)6% 'HOST 4OWN 2OAD %0 An experienced country rock artist and producer, Jesse Wilde’s pilgrimage to the USA very clearly inspired and guided the creation of his 26-minute EP. Replete with influence from his musical heroes, Wilde channels artists such as Steve Earle, Bob Seger and John Cougar Mellencamp – before he condensed the name. The American twang to the vocals is soon accepted as part of the package as The Drive deliver quality accompaniments back to back, with great authenticity. The engaging narrative and inventive rhythmic accents of Ghost Town Road give the playlist an enthusiastic fresh start. Juliet’s Fallen tells a catchy tale of hopeful despair, and is laden with producer Stephen Small’s animated piano playing. Magdalyn’s relentless and effervescent groove is nothing short of engrossing and should be first stop to a new listener. Recorded and mixed by Tom Healy, the songs are crafted with class and together make up a sum greater than the individual parts. Wilde’s songwriting portrays confidence and in tandem with Small he V> ÊLiÊ«À Õ`Ê vÊÌ ÃÊÃ Ý ÌÀ>V Ê«>V >}i°ÊUÊ3TU %DWARDS

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Well, this is a lot of fun. According to the liner notes, Duffty went to A Low Hum with a mate who turned 50 at the time. He was inspired to get back in the music game by his friend’s enthusiasm and the festival. This is the result. The album is lo-fi, but this isn’t an indictment on the songs or how you might enjoy them, in fact, they have an early Stooges feel. Duffty is joined by drummer Michael Barker, of blues roots duo Swamp Thing. What surprises here is the amount of colour Duffty manages to extract from a bass guitar featuring just D and G strings. Barker’s drumming is driving and complimentary to the fuzzed up, but not overpowering bass work. Like a hybrid of guitar and bass, the result somehow spans both, you don’t notice any lack of bottom end while you riff along. Lyrically there is an irreverence and sense of fun that is sometimes missing from NZ rock. A product of Rotorua, the album is entirely self-produced > `Ê> ÊÌ iÊLiÌÌiÀÊv ÀÊ Ì°ÊUÊ$ARRYL +IRK

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Singer/songwriter Damien Binder left Auckland for Sydney before the release of his third album, 2009’s ‘While the Wind’s At Your Back’. This latest offering was recorded on both sides of the Tasman, including contributions from musical collaborators Wayne Bell, Kylie Whitney, David Hatt, and co-producers Bob Shepheard and Michael Carpenter. Binder has had an accomplished career as a musician (including supporting touring artists such as David Gray and Ani DiFranco), and crafts his music well, drawing exemplary additions from all involved. However ‘A New World’ seems rather mis-named, it feels more like ‘more-of-the-same’, aiming to be easy on the ear and safe rather than taking risks or innovating his established musical routine in any way. Binder’s oft-referenced vocal and stylistic influences of Ryan Adams and Neil Finn come through in his gentle alt-pop / alt-country tinged melodies, and reflective lyrics which wash over the listener, but in that combination don’t impact a lot. It is an album that’s well-written and considered, fine music from an accomplished artist, but ‘A New World’ is all-round too measured and controlled. A degree of getting out of his comfort zone to show a new side of his creativity would seem appropriate next time around. s !MANDA -ILLS

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On his fifth solo album Guy Wishart reveals an evident admiration for the music of US rocker Chris Isaak, he of Wicked Game fame. The pair are likely of a similar age, but it’s for a bunch of other reasons that the understated 1950s rock and roll stylings of Isaak fit Wishart’s bill, not least the experienced excellence of his fellow musicians who include Alan Brown on organ, Andrew Horst on bass, drummer Michael Te Young and Glenn Ross Campbell adding a country inflection with his pedal and lap steel. Recorded at Roundhead, with Jordan Stone engineering and Wishart selfproducing, the band it seems recorded live takes, the selected best of which make up the dozen consistently excellent tracks found on ‘West By North’. Wishart won APRA’s Silver Scroll back in 1990 and there is a sense of a songwriting and arrangement master class lesson in this collection. Quality interpretive lyrics, unhurried song tempos, confident but always restrained vocal delivery, spacious instrumental presentation with some great solos, and overall a sense of effortlessness that reflects a pedigree Isaak would, I imagine, be happy to be linked with. A fabulous album from a proven Kiwi songsmith who by now seems more than happy to be singing about everyman’s kind of love and loss, while revelling in his influences. s 0EDRO 3ANTOS

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The fifth album by soul/blues/jazz band Wellington Heads is a marvellous collaboration between core members Neil Worboys, Geoff Keith and Bill Wood, horn players Nick van Dijk (brass) and James Tait-Jamieson (reeds), and drummer Andrew Richardson. This album is bluesy and contemplative, ruminating on life, love, loathing and any number of things inbetween. The horn arrangements by van Dijk show great understanding of how Wellington Heads’ instrumentation and voices work together. The horns provide a warm contrast to the string base of the core members and a warmly supportive layer to their voices. The recording by Andrew Downes and mastering by Mike Gibson capture the essence of the band. While ‘Southern Night Sky’ is an overtly bluesbased album, there are dashes of Latin grooves and the occasional Hawaiian influenced flick of steel guitar to catch the listener’s ears. With relaxed tempos and gentle guitar lines Ì ÃÊ ÃÊ> Ê> LÕ Êv ÀÊ> Þ iÊÜ Ê iÃÊL ÕiÃÊ> `ÊÃ Õ °ÊUÊ!LEISHA 7ARD

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Aucklander Will Wood is a country/folk storyteller who has been writing about his life and loves for a few years now. This is his sophomore album, following up on the 2014 debut ‘Broken Man’. Folk music’s tradition of telling tales fills this with heart and humour, while an ode to his father in For The Old Man puts his familial heart on his sleeve. Stories of his travels are an entertaining highlight, with New York a vibrantly detailed account of a stay in the city that never sleeps, while dark reminiscences of lost love are accompanied by southern gothic guitars on Drown Drown Drown. With recording done at The Sitting Room in Lyttelton, Will Wood’s fine storytelling and multi-instrumental skills are accompanied by some exceptional performances from the ubiquitous Dave Khan, Jono Hopley on upright bass and Tom Landon-Lane playing bass, lap steel and slide guitars. Reb Fountain’s winsome voice is a perfect counterpoint to Wood’s nuanced vocal treatments. Dedicated to the late Sam Prebble, this is a charming set of tales from a writer and performer whose yarn-spinning is both sincere and compelling. s !MANDA -ILLS

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Part three of their aptly named “apocalypse trilogy” was recorded with the intention of it being Beastwars’ final record. Rather than quietly calling it a day we hear a band risking all to forge one final masterpiece. Not to suggest this record isn’t classic Beastwars however. Album opener Call To The Mountain rumbles and roars, Devils Of Last Night is a certain future live favourite, while the title track is one of contemporary metal’s greatest closing statements. ‘The Death Of All Things’ most obvious point of difference is Matt Hyde’s vocals which are clearer and cleaner, yet drenched in guttural power and emotion. Witches and Disappear for instance won’t require your

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reaching for the lyric book. One oddity is the inclusion of acoustic number The Devil Took Her. Reminiscent of Black Sabbath’s classical-inspired numbers such as Embryo and Fluff, it’s the Wellington foursome’s biggest musical departure yet, but amazingly doesn’t seem out of place. With the band sharing production duties this time with James Goldsmith, the album was recorded at The Blue Room Wellington where Hyde, drummer Nathan Hickey, guitarist Clayton Andrews and James Woods (bass) share a rehearsal space. Mixing was done by Andrew Schneider and the mastering by Brad Boatright/Audioseige. The result is spectacular, a band that knows its strengths playing at the height of its powers. Whereas 2011’s self-titled introduction was Beastwars discovering its sound, and 2013’s ‘Blood Becomes Fire’ was an exercise in applying the band’s brutal approach to bigger production value, this final album of the trilogy is not only a combination of their previous efforts, but a perfect swansong for one of the country’s very best. s 3AMMY *AY $AWSON

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Musical risk-takers Wendyhouse return with an EP/Comic, where the compositional process involved the band’s two members starting by swapping drawings, writing passages to go with the drawings, then writing songs based on all of the above. This unusual style of collaboration has produced some rather left-field lyrics, many of which appear to hint at deep truths beneath the stream of consciousness flow. Album opener Lord Denim is a mellow, delicate affair with guitar and kazoo, though the lyrics include such outré phrases as “nipple clamp bitch wicket”. The second track brings the vintage noisy Wendyhouse vibe, with a distorted guitar jus drizzled over a crunchy bed of Casiotone drums, reminiscent of their classic Suit Suit Kill Kill. Overall the album is quite reflective in tone, but delivered in a way that’s completely unconventional. The genius of Wendyhouse is that they are able to make songs out of items that most people don’t even consider to be musical instruments. As well as things like a toy accordion, they employ jam jar lids and electric toothbrushes, even a Slow Boat ,iV À`Ã½ÊL>}°Ê Ã« À>Ì > ÊÃÌÕvvtÊUÊ"ING 4URKBY

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The new album from Christchurch’s one-man raw blues act Stomping Nick, ‘Shake For Your Cake’ strips blues down to its roots and rock down to its core in a tightly packaged record that works to refresh the listener in what honest music is. Recording (playing) all of the instruments at once on most of the 10 tracks, Nick Jackman was helped by Rob Mayes at Avalanche, Jonny Pipe at the sinceclosed Angels Gate and Ari Freeman at Blue Professor HQ, with recording and mixing. We see Jackman’s musical skill throughout the tracks with a standout harmonica intro to Coopers Creek, and a searingly raw guitar solo in Pray For Me Mama (I’m A One Man Band). The stripped back Porter No More solos out Jackman’s voice, accompanied only by his kick drum and harp. The heaviness of Bee My Honey contrasts this nicely, driven by pulsing drums. Joined on bass by Ari Freeman on Somebody’s Somebody, he holds down the bottom end to round off the album. The album is short (31 minutes) and to the point, which is the exact aesthetic of Stomping Nick, presented in what you often forget is not just good musicianship, but also incredible co-ordination. s *ESSE !USTIN

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With 2014’s ‘Weary Eyes’ EP, Shana Llorando’s contemplative brand of pop/R&B chops marked a bright arrival. Her second five-track EP as Valere is a more refined bundle, channelling a minimalist musical axis that allows the essence of her voice to become the highlight. That said, the sleek production is inquisitive and hits hard enough to suggest that versatility isn’t an issue for the singer/songwriter. She even breaks up some of the cool nuances for some of Weary Eyes’ muscular guitars on Much (F For Friendship). It’s a wonderfully crafted track as her wordless coos glide the back end of the chorus, although the delivery of “are you cool to kick it tonight?” apes Robyn to the point of amusement, a rare instance where her poise is anything but distinct. Aside from a fleeting, beat-less opener, Valere pulls off the slow burn effortlessly on Skin and Bone and Know Me, as she builds both the music and her vocals to more searching quarters. The title track for me is the high point with its killer chorus, beautifully layered whilst sounding both kinetic, yet warmly intimate. s !DAM "URNS

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$/02!( 7ASTING Having released a self-titled debut EP in 2014, the first months of this year saw Doprah (now a six-piece built around the core duo of producer Stephen John Marr and vocalist Indira Force) released ‘Wasting’, their much anticipated first album, on vinyl and digital. Showcasing previously released tracks, San Pedro and Stranger Things, it fulfills the band’s promise of creating music that married hypnotic beats, ambient, ghostly instrumental layers, and pristine alt-pop melodies, often recalling the glory days of trip-hop. The unpretentious Indie Force has a voice that veers between octaves and moods, channeling (at times) Bjork, and Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins to great effect, especially on the glorious I Will Be a Figure Eight. Created (according to the album liner notes) ‘between bedrooms and The Sitting Room in Lyttelton’, it sounds like a big studio production, with fine performances and production that provides space and clarity, despite the multiple layers of sound. ‘Wasting’ inspires a lot of adjectives; woozy, gorgeous, trippy, mesmerising come to mind qickly, but also accomplished, masterful and focused are just as applicable. s !MANDA -ILLS

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Were it not for his rampant prolificacy, both solo and in collaboration, every Delaney Davidson release would warrant the ‘must have’ tag. This one is made special by its rarity, 300 vinyl-only copies in NZ, with three different coloured sleeves designed and screen printed by the quirky troubadour himself. In the grooves are six ‘live’ takes, recorded by our own Neil Baldock (presumably) in the Black Eyed Peas’ LA studio. Some doubt is inevitable as the densely annotated cover notes by The Dead C’s Bruce Russell are designed to obfuscate every bit as much as they are to elucidate. Actually more, but there is much fun to had in decoding his rhetoric. No overdubbed additions, just as DD performs them, in his own inimitable loop- and distortion-assisted one-man band manner. In The Pines and So Long are the two tracks I most readily recognise from previous recordings and/or live performances, but the others included are I’m Comin’ Home, Way Down South, Lost Highway and Windy City. A first chance to listen to DD perform live in the comfort of your own home. Priceless? s 0EDRO 3ANTOS

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Recorded live over a full moon weekend in 2014, with the aim of capturing the spirit of Cabin Fevre in its raw essence, the Hawkes Bay act’s debut album ‘Full Moon Riding High’ is pure old-time-y revival. Featuring Roddy Branagan (mandolin, fiddle, vocals), Setha Davenport (banjo, vocals), Katie Charlton-Jones (guitar, fiddle) and Marty Forrer (double bass and vocals), recording was done by Peter Charlton-Jones at Te Rang Studio. The spirit of the past is alive and well within Cabin Fevre, combining traditional folk with Appalachian, country and blues. Along with four traditionals amongst its 11 tracks, songs by Bob Marley (There She Goes) and Sam Cooke (Bring It On Home) are also included. Think Pete Seeger and The Weavers, or the Carter Family with echoes of Fairport Convention. Even on Branagan’s original Kia Kaha we hear American accents tying Cabin Fevre back to Appalachian music roots. With lush harmonies, ‘down-home’ string sections and knee-slapping pace it’s a creatively encased lesson in reinterpretation and arrangements. And a successful one at that. Traditional CC Rider is one of many highlights, as is Cooke’s Bring It On Home, but it’s album closer Potato Song that seems to capture the true spirit of this band, down home, singing about what’s closest to Ì i ÀÊ i>ÀÌÃÊqÊ Û }Ê vvÊÌ iÊ > `Ê> `Ê>Ê} `Ê iÃÌÊÜ>ÞÊ vÊ vi°ÊUÊ3AMMY *AY $AWSON

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Angelo King’s second solo album follows a clear path of selfdetermination. Recorded by Abraham Kunin and Beau Jefferies the 13 tracks on ‘Kats & Doggs’ feature an all-star line up of Esther Stephens, Junelle and Ash Broke. Jefferies also coproduced, mixed and mastered the album that follows the bracket of alternative hip hop/soul. This album is a personal ode from King, showing him off as a message-driven lyrical genius. Parihaka delivers a strong argument for both Maori and indigenous people globally. Infinity is a soft, sensual track that explores the art

of falling in love. Under the delightful and crisp production of Jono Das, Junelle’s voice melts butter. Playfully disguised by its throw away title, Pussy and Friends is a heartfelt, heavier track that speaks of King’s personal experiences. Brotherhood, broken friendships and suicide are all cryptic undertones of this track. The album paints a relevant picture of the NZ media landscape over the past year, King’s lyrics including a current exploration of the TPPA, the flag debate and many other conflicting discussions regarding governmental `iV Ã Ã°Êº ÀiÊÞ ÕÊ>Ê >ÌÊ ÀÊ>ÀiÊÞ ÕÊ>Ê }}¶»ÊUÊ-AGGIE 4WEEDIE

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First things first, the CD packaging for ‘Feather In A Fire’, the latest release for the ominously named Shady Brain Farm, is truly impressive. Not only in its cover design, which is an unusual concoction of acid-tinged pop art and freaky monster imagery, but also in a wider sense, with a double-sided band poster inlay adding an immediate connection with our subjects. The Auckland three-piece’s music is less easy to categorise, with the 12-track album throwing up a genuine hybrid of styles and influences – from ska and cod reggae, to power pop, to what can only be described as some form of arty psychedelic surf rock. And often, it feels like the flit between genres is only the clever flick of an FX pedal away for guitarist and vocalist Ben Furniss. Yet it’s likely this artistic ambiguity is a deliberate ploy, a firm if unspoken modus operandi, and if variety really is the spice of this thing called life, then here is a colourful upsized carton of tasty soul food. It’s that freedom from any stylistic prejudice, and the refusal to be easily >Li i`]ÊÜ V Ê ÃÊ«iÀ >«ÃÊÌ iÊ> LÕ ½ÃÊL }}iÃÌÊÃÌÀi }Ì °ÊUÊ-ICHAEL (OLLYWOOD

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For the last three years, Auckland’s Rebecca Melrose, aka Miloux, has been crafting her unique blend of ambient electronica on the live circuit. Her vocal prowess rarely fails to drop jaws, resulting in a lot of buzz for this young artist. Having gained visibility as a featuring vocalist on tracks by producers such as Terace, Benson and Chores, ‘EP 1’ marks her first solo outing. Think Grimes with a penchant for jazz/neo soul vocals, pop writing sensibilities and ‘90s RnB beats. With Ben Lawson donning the producer’s cap and recording taking place at Red Bull studios in Auckland, it’s a superior sounding effort than most debut releases. An ear for elaborate detail and depth helps Miloux bring these tracks to life, giving already good pop songs an extra dimension. Opener Pocket walks the tightrope between uplift and ambient suspense. These Rules provides more of a chilled out atmosphere and Beaches restores faith in the never-ending build. Care is evident in balancing virtuosity with memorable melodies, an often uneasy mix that Miloux pulls off with ease. Clocking in at just over 25 minutes, its four original compositions are joined by a remix of Beaches by Stack & Piece. By far the most beat-heavy track on ‘EP 1’, it not only hints at the seemingly limitless potential within her music, but displays an ease and flexibility in collaborations. It’s a brief introduction to Miloux’s art, but one that will no doubt excite listeners about any future full-length Ài i>Ãi°ÊUÊ3AMMY *AY $AWSON

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An epic beast of an album that’s been five years in the waiting. Mothra (Hugh Allan – guitars and samples, James Armstrong on drums and Reuben Saffer on bass) have evolved beautifully from their original 2008 chrysalis; no doubt inspired by the likes of Jakob, Kerretta and the other quality noise bands they’ve shared the stage with. 12+ tracks of exploratory, evocative heaviness – all instrumental. All we’ve had until now is their epic live shows and a limited edition 7". Rewarding our patience, with ‘Decision Process’ they’ve gone all out on the (double) vinyl edition – though of course other formats are also available. I hesitate to use the main descriptions that float around about them, Mothra do not need to try and describe themselves with trite terms. Hugh Allan’s production/mixing is huge and this album truly speaks for itself. Props also to Connor Mesa and Rob Christie who shared the engineering. UÊ!NIA 'LOWACZ To submit your album or EP for review in Fresh-Cut, please send TWO copies along with a brief bio to NZ Musician, PO Box 99-315, Newmarket, Auckland 1149. It must be available for sale and only CDs provided with completed artwork are forwarded for review.

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Pales

Nice Enough

The newly released second album by Wellington group Pales, ‘Don’t Be So Nice,’ brings more of their gently flowing, delicately fingerpicked and vocally rich sound, albeit a swifter stream flowing into a darker pool. Finding the trio no more animated in interview, NZM’s Michael Hollywood was left to wonder whether the album’s title was simple irony, or perhaps related to words of advice offered them by some rather more grizzled individuals within the industry.

ellington trio Pales – collectively Rose Blake, Mike Isaacs and Scott Maynard – have just released album number two. Ironically (it would seem given their nice-ness evident in our face-to-face interview), titled ‘Don’t Be So Nice’, it follows the band’s 2013 debut and is the second of a proposed three-album trilogy project. The trilogy idea is, if not exactly unique, no less challenging for its simplicity. The plan is for each member of the band to write an album individually, which is then recorded and performed collectively under the Pales’ guise. It began three years ago with Isaacs’ full-length effort called ‘It’s Cold Outside’. This time it’s Maynard’s turn, while Rose Blake’s offering will follow “… probably next year.” The initial Isaacs-Maynard connection was a music school one, dating back 10 years, but according to Isaacs, Pales came about as much by accident, as it did by design. “The whole thing started when I was fiddling around with recording programs and writing a bunch of songs on guitar, which I’d never really played that much before, because I’m a saxophone player originally. I found playing and recording on guitar really refreshing. I had nine or 10 songs (recorded) and I wanted to play them live. So I asked Scott to do that with me, and then Rose joined. I basically recorded ‘It’s Cold Outside’ by myself, but when we did the live set I didn’t want to just do my songs, so

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Scott and Rose wrote a couple, and that’s how the collaborative element came about.” Maynard then set about writing for ‘Don’t Be So Nice’, which explores the same dreamy folk-pop path of the debut, while offering some slight differences. Each has an inescapable intimacy, but Maynard’s work has a certain density to it, more confronting in its use of chords, and a little darker in texture and overall feel. The album was produced by Mike Gibson, primarily at Park Road, but also at Munki, with production help from Isaacs and Maynard’s brother Darren. “A lot of people had an influence on it, but Mike had the final say. We started off trying to do the whole thing ourselves, but then we got Darren involved, and Mike stepped in near the end to work his magic.” There’s a range of instrumentation on the album, with drummer Cory Champion and Emi Pogoni (synth) helping out. Maynard talks a little about how that studio work translates into a less forgiving live environment. “A bunch of the songs, maybe half of the songs on it, we had played as a trio as part of a live set. We’ve been experimenting with new ways to approach it, and just recently, Mike’s got a whole synth collection, so a lot of the woodwind parts, and some of the piano parts, and the bass parts were changed. It’s pretty hard to do all that stuff live as a trio, so we’ve been experimenting with using keyboards to help fill out the arrangements.” “The whole recording and mixing process took a long time for this album, and it was pretty painful,” Isaacs adds. “So by the time it got out, we’d been playing these songs for a couple of years really. They needed a new breath of life, so that’s why we tried the new instrumentation. But performing live hasn’t been a priority because we have a bunch of other projects we want to do.”

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With two down, it’s reasonable to wonder if Blake is starting to feel any pressure to make ‘her album’, and whether or not there is a ballpark release date in mind. “There’s no restrictions, but definitely now I feel we’re in the zone where we can start rehearsing. I’ve got all the songs there. I’m just starting to arrange them and work them out. There’s no timeline, but we’ll be working on it this year, so probably a release next year. “I studied classical singing, so I guess I’m a singer first. Often I’ll come up with a melody in my head, so I’ll start with the voice. Or it can come with a chord on the banjo, or something on the piano, and sometimes guitar, but I guess the main thing that drives it for me is the melody. That’s where it starts. “I guess my whole process is to work on the songs, get them to the level they need to be, and then to go in and play them. We’ll see how that goes.” They are involved in other projects including Fuyuko’s Fables, Ida Lune, and Groeni. Each possesses its own unique personality and stylistic point of difference, but what exactly separates Pales’ work from those other ventures? What makes the band special? “It’s the thing about having three writers,” answers Maynard. “Not so much a band that’s writing together, but three distinctive writers. I feel like we’ve all got our own sound, but they (the songs) work well enough together that we can put them in the same set and it doesn’t sound random.” Isaacs agrees. “Yeah, I can tell a Scott song, from a Rose song, from a Mike song, really quite strongly. They’re definitely different. Maybe it’s the instrumentation, but having the three voices in all the songs is the link between the three of us.”

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Compilation Agreements

ather than working through a record label, an increasing number of bands and artists these days pay for and consequently own the rights to their own recordings. As a result activities that were once the responsibility of record labels are now areas that bands and artists need to think about a lot more if they are to maximise the value and exposure of their music. A good example is in respect to compilation albums. Inclusion on a successful compilation can not only provide a good additional source of income, but can also promote an artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s music and profile well beyond their own album or single releases. If you do ever have the opportunity to include a track on a compilation then there are a number of issues you need to make sure are clearly provided for in an accompanying contract. One of the first things to be aware of is to make sure that the song being used is properly defined. If there are different mixes or versions of a particular track it needs to be very clear that the party releasing the compilation is getting the right to use only the exact version you/they want. Properly defining the territory or area of the world that the agreement will apply to is also very important. If you have licensed the rights to distribute your recordings in a particular territory to someone else then you will need to make sure that the compilation is not going to be directly released in that territory. If you are planning on releasing the recording yourself, either as a single or as part of an album, in another such territory in the near future you also obviously want to make sure that your thunder will not be stolen by the release of the compilation. A compilation agreement should only provide for the use of your track on the album for a specified period of time. There is no reason why someone would need to have the right to use your track for an unlimited period of time. In respect of any planned future uses of your recording, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also really important the agreement in no way provides for the use of your tracks on that compilation to be exclusive. Always make sure you are in no way restrained from making other use of your music as you see fit. With compilation releases you also need to think very carefully as to what formats you are happy for your track to be included on. For example you might be happy to sign up to having your track included in a limited edition vinyl package, but would you be so happy about the track also being released in other formats, including being made available via streaming for instance? Once again this all comes down to being very clear in the contract

as to precisely what your specific track is being licensed for. As with anything else you do in the music industry ensuring that there are fair payment terms is a vital part to a compilation agreement. As discussed here in the last Lawful Truth column, there are many different aspects to consider when it comes to payment terms, however with compilation agreements there are a few unique elements. For example, you need to pay even more careful attention to the royalty rate you are offered. Royalties on compilation albums are normally expressed in terms of the overall royalty rate payable to all artists. So firstly, you are of course only going to be receiving a portion of this overall royalty rate as your track is only one of many on the compilation. Secondly, exactly how much of this royalty rate you end up receiving will depend on exactly how many other tracks are on the compilation. So, for example, an okay royalty rate but a large number of tracks on the compilation will mean that the final return to you is not as wonderful as you may have first thought. In respect of payment terms another issue that you may come across if the compilation is being released overseas is payment being made to you in a foreign currency. It pays to get a very clear understanding of exactly how any royalties due to you will be paid, and if you need to take any action (such as registering with the local taxation authority) to ensure any withholding or similar tax you may be charged is kept to the bare minimum. When it comes to payment terms, other more standard terms you want to make sure are covered include exactly when payments will be made to you, and the amount of any advance payable. It also pays to make sure the agreement does not provide for any amounts to be deductable from your royalties for any costs relating to the production or marketing of the compilation. As a final issue, do make sure you are comfortable with the general use that will be made of your track in relation to the compilation. For example any advertising or marketing of the compilation that will specifically include your track should be clearly defined. David McLaughlin is a specialist music lawyer with Auckland law firm McLaughlin Law (www. mclaughlinlaw.co.nz). He can be contacted by email at david@mclaughlinlaw.co.nz or on 09 282 4599. Disclaimer: This article is intended to provide a general outline of the law on the subject matter. Further professional advice should be sought before any action is taken in relation to the matters described in the article.

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Not many local drummers will have built their own acrylic drum kit, or constructed a vintage drum machine. Stuart Harwood has done both, and further proves his versatility playing currently for several quite diverse acts. Describing him as something of a renaissance man, sometime fellow skins man Edward Castelow agreed to ask him to get his kit off for NZM.

Okay, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s start with the basicsâ&#x20AC;Ś A/S/L? I love that question! 32, male, currently residing in Mount Roskill, Auckland. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been living in Auckland for the last six years, but I still like to call Dunedin home. Which groups currently have the pleasure of calling Mr. Stuart Harwood their drummer? Please, call me Stu. I am currently â&#x20AC;&#x153;massaging the calfskinsâ&#x20AC;? (I never say that) for Paquin, Proton Beast, Herriot Row, and Anthonie Tonnonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s band, The Successors. How did you first get inspired to play the drums, was it the classic high school excuse to get out of maths class, or were you an actual nerd? A bit of both! I was a total weakling nerd at the start of high school, and didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really think much of the fact I could play the drum kit. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t until around 5th form that I worked out I had a better chance of hanging out with girls if I put down the Warhammer figurines and spent more time playing in bands.

The groups that you play in all require a different approach and skill set. What you are trying to do in each group and whyâ&#x20AC;Ś The music programme at Otago University exposed me to many different styles of music, and drilled home the importance of playing the right part for the song. I know saying stuff like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;letting the song breathâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is a naff thing to say, but there is a sense of truth to it. With that in mind, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel like there is that much difference in how I approach playing in those bands. There are technical quirks that are unique to each project. Heriot Row is the quietest, and demands more use of brushes and other percussion. Anthonie Tonnon likes keeping the kit quite contained, and Paquin

What were some of the first groups that made you want to get behind the drums and have a nudge? Back in the day we used to go to these really awesome (and probably illegal) all-ages gigs in Dunedin, and party to some really great local bands. The local heroes at the time for me were Ritalin, Mestar, Zuvuya and HDU. When you were growing up did you take lessons/study music or are you a completely self-taught pounder without a shred of technique and musicality? Yeah I was one of those kids who was forced to learn musical instruments as a youngster by my folks. I played the French horn and orchestral percussion. Have you ever tried to play the French horn? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an awful instrument. At high school I was taught the kit by some reasonably indifferent tutors. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t until I started my music degree at the University of Otago that I had my â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;A kicked into Gâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; properly by the likes of Graeme Downes, Rob Burns and Darren Stedman.

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1. 14â&#x20AC;? x 7â&#x20AC;? Custom acrylic snare 2. 24â&#x20AC;? Custom acrylic bass drum 3. 14â&#x20AC;? Zildjian K hi-hat 4. 18â&#x20AC;? Zildjian K custom session crash 5. 22â&#x20AC;? Bosphorus Hammer ride 6. 3 x Simmons SDS 9â&#x20AC;? hexagonal pads Not shown: Simmons MTX9 drum controller

requires the use of a click. Proton Beast is perhaps the most different, as the drums take on more a lead role in the band, which requires more creativity and improvisation. I’ve seen you incorporating a vintage Simmons drum brain and pads with Paquin. The set up seems quite tech heavy? In terms of the actual kit I play in Paquin it’s actually really simple! I use a normal acoustic kick and snare, but substitute the toms for these really cool electric Simmons pads that were made in 1982. The brain is called the MTX9. Most of the sounds that unit are horrible, but they have the most 80’s sounding (and looking) power toms you can imagine! You’ve built your own ‘Bonzo’-style acrylic drum kit and even a vintage 808 drum machine. Did the drums turn out to be untuneable and the drum machine a glitchy wayward metronome? Dude, building my acrylic drum kit was probably the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. Seemingly all by chance these undrilled clear RCI Starlight acrylic drum shells turned up on Trademe, around same the time I had access to a well-kitted out machine shop. I imported all the hardware from the Precision Drum Company in NYC, and put together the kit of my dreams. It sounds and looks amazing. (Readers can check out the build on my blog, www.borderline.co.nz). On paper the DIY Roland 808 build was kind of less interesting as it came together from a kit. However it was an absolute marathon of a soldering job, with a few sweaty palms moments when it wasn’t working and couldn’t work out why! Now it’s done I can’t wait to use it in anger live. It sounds super chunky.

Can you give us some insight into how you stay excited playing with others, and giving up your personal time to get in a sweaty room with mostly men. You’re right I have played music with all sorts of people all over the show, most of them I’m lucky to consider life-long friends. That for me is the greatest thing about playing in bands: hanging out with my best pals. Playing drums is one of the best ways to make new friends when moving cities. Get on the forums, find bands that need players, and meet some new people! I can guarantee the first band will probably not suit, but keep trying! To youngsters wanting to get a bit more serious about drumming: Get a good teacher, learn to play to a metronome, and work out how to tune the drums properly. Which local drummers do you like these days? Are any an influence? I don’t really get a big tingle from total chops-bandits, instead I get my jollies from players that can make their drums sound incredible, play an interesting part, and keep a rock solid feel. People like Matthew ‘Puba’ Swain and Alex Freer. Jimmy Mac plays the drums in such a violent, non-rebound-y way that should sound horrible, but in-fact sounds incredible. It’s mind boggling to watch. I see a lot of younger players just going at it hammer and tongs. What do you think the key is to not overplaying? Is it an age thing? Totally, there's nothing more awful than someone overplaying above their ability I guess that's one of the benefits of going to music

Keeping it Local with LMM

he Coromandel has a plentiful heritage of passionate folk willing to work didigently for the public good, for and on behalf of others, agitating on environmental, political and social issues. In 2014 that baton of social good seems to have somehow found its way into the musical workroom of Shirley Howe, a Thames-based AC artist who performs under the name of LA Thompson. (The Thompson in honour of her grandfather and the adopted initials being those of a very desirable place to achieve artistic success.) Having battled to progress her own career via radio play on to a wider audience the singer/songwriter is these days going to considerable effort to create a pathway to success for others. Howe started by forming Local Musicians Music, with the brave aim of somehow bridging the gap between the commercial and indie platforms available to local songwriters. As described on its website, Local Musicians Music is a platform for emerging and established songwriters of all genres. Available to any songwriter, with no limitations to age or genre, the intention is to increase Kiwi music’s presence on radio and TV promoting both artists and businesses directly involved in the local music industry. “It’s about communities throughout NZ, encouraging creativity and giving artists a platform to express the music. Many artists don’t meet the criteria for NZ On Air and some have never submitted their music to radio or TV. I bring the standard of production up to ensure they have an equal

Photo: Edward Scholten

school, you get pretty brutal honest feedback. Though I think young players could learn a lot from recording their practices and gigs a lot more, that's ultimately the best feedback.Still – you can't really beat a good scissor kick. One pet peeve of mine is seeing kids with expensive kits, still with the factory drum heads on them! Put some decent skins on, ya little bastards! I used to think the best thing for my playing would be to buy the latest double-kick pedal. Now I think you just need a decent portable recorder and a metronome. How boring is that? Why would you stop playing drums? Man I don’t know, it’s hard to conceive that happening! Maybe sustaining some kind of chronic injury?

Industry

opportunity. Low frequency FM stations are keen to play our songs if they are of high enough quality. “My hub is a network connecting people in the industry, promoting songs to radio, TV and film. Artists that may miss out on radio play are promoted in other ways to increase their ability to be working musicians. Music is sold directly from the website and their music videos reach a network extending worldwide. “I promote directly to radio producers and DJs who put together indie shows that play our tracks and interviews all around the world. In NZ there is Radio Dunedin, IMP and ICR digital radio groups, and several low frequency FM stations affiliated to these digital distributors of our music.” Starting up with a Coromandel-focused compilation disc, LMM has since produced two CDs featuring 23 tracks from artists from Dunedin through to Auckland. One part of the club’s stated mission is to form networks encouraging teamwork and sharing of knowledge and skills. The latest initiative is the Local Musicians Club, an independent artists’ music ‘club’ focused on providing live performance opportunities, including for musicians who are keen for the chance to publicly perform covers of fellow Kiwi artists’ songs. The plan is to provide a LMM backing band for solo musicians at participating venues around the country on regular LMM nights.

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Mixing In The Box An Introduction

hanks to the ‘miracle of modern technology’ it has become possible to create a complete musical project in our computer. There is no shortage of material on mixing with plenty of great engineers, producers and experts offering their opinion in magazines and on the internet. In fact, for the novice there is possibly too much. That said, this is the first of a series of articles that hopefully will help you get more out of your ‘box’. Those getting on the learning curve often feel they must follow instructions to the letter, and may end up wondering why a specific approach didn’t work for them. Just because your idol says that this is the way he / she did it doesn’t mean that it will work for you. You will have a different set of equipment, in a different studio, with different monitors feeding different ears. Of course it will sound different. Mixing is a question of taste and the analogy of cooking is very appropriate to audio mixing. You may prefer a little more of this spice and less of another. Just because it tastes different does not mean it’s wrong. We are dealing with art here and that makes it a lot more subjective. So, how can we improve our mixes? Well, most of the online experts (that I’ve read, watched tutorials by, etc.) say pretty much the same thing; it’s a craft and the only way to get good at it is to do it a lot. Don’t be afraid to mix the same material several times. You’ll probably get quite varied results and will hopefully pick up some new techniques with each attempt. Since a lot of work is done entirely in the box these days I think there is likely to be a tendency to ‘mix as you go’. While this is a totally acceptable practice it won’t deliver anything unexpected when we come to create the final product. Artists using this method may become very attached to the way it sounds. In order to get something different we require a new (or perhaps old) approach. Modern computer-based practice allows for us to do everything at once and we tend to oscillate between technical and artistic tasks. The brain doesn’t really like swapping from one to the other, and personally I find that I often lose the thread of what I was doing when I charge off to fix the latest thing I’ve noticed. While it is great to have ultimate flexibility and be able to change anything at any time, we often end up second-guessing ourselves, especially if it involves sounds that originate from the computer. “I can always change the

bass, piano, pad, brass, strings, etc.” However, whenever you do that it will affect the mix and you may have to rethink the whole project.

of the song with – ‘Mix 01’ after it. However, naming files is probably subject enough for a whole other column. Now we have a template to start from. Before diving into the mix it’s a good idea to take care of as many ‘left brain’ technical tasks as we can, so that when we come to mix (a ‘right brain’ creative task) we can just go with the flow and get on with the job. Get the session into a form that you like to work with. For example, group all similar tracks together (e.g. drums) and put them in an order that makes sense to you. The idea here is to be able to quickly identify a track so using a combination of upper and lower case letters will make the name easier to read. If your DAW has the facility attach an icon to the track.

Logic providing colouration, icons and track naming.

One possible way to avoid this is to take a leaf out of the ‘old book’. Back in the days of analogue production the mixing didn’t start until the recording had finished. So, here’s an alternative to try – commit all you tracks to audio. Record or bounce them at a good level without effects. Save this as a totally new project and file the originating session away. Name the new session so that you can easily identify it in your data. I generally use the name

In next issue’s Tutors’ Tutorials column I’ll discuss some ways to set up your session to get some of the technical issues out of the way before the fun can begin.

Mal Smith has been a lecturer at SAE Institute in Parnell for the past 15 years. He also mans the keys for Auckland band The Blue Jaffas. You can contact him at m.smith@sae.edu

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Born again

Pacific Heights

Devin Abrams is an artist who has never shied away from delving the depths of a secluded musical otherworld. For his latest expedition as Pacific Heights, the journey of production, which has been some compelling self-medication, seems just as vital as the end result. Adam Burns met with the Wellington-based electronic producer/songwriter to talk about his new album, tough times and moving on from the world of drum & bass.

efore all else, you can feel the relief in Devin Abrams’ voice. “I was ready to let it go a while ago. But sometimes you have to percolate and let things simmer.” He reflects on things with deep exhalation and thoughtfulness, and while you can’t deny the joy that comes with the release of an album that’s taken a long time to gestate, the sense is more like the weight of the world has been lifted from his shoulders. “I went into this album to make music to release some demons and deal with some pretty personal issues,” he admits. “I was also thinking, ‘Shit, maybe I have to come up with a different name, it’s so different.’ It’s kind of like a re-birthing and it’s been eight years since my last one.” That would be 2008’s ‘In a Quiet Storm’, an album about which far less fuss was made, by artist or record label. And before that was ‘Frozen Fears’ [2003] and ‘Borne Together’ released in 2004, making ‘The Stillness’ Abrams’ fourth full-length outing under his own Pacific Heights handle, a channel which initially served simply as a distinct musical passage outside of his endeavours within live drum and bass ensemble Shapeshifter. He was a founding member of the festival-favourite Christchurch band back in 1999 and has been principally associated with them for 15 years since. “It wasn’t until I sat back and listened to the content and felt that it was very Pacific Heights, it’s very me. It is my most personal album. I feel so connected to it, like I’ve captured a bit of myself in it. And Pacific Heights has always been that to me.” The fact that Abrams has emphasised the intimacy of his latest voyage goes a long way to pre-empting the listener for what’s in store. It also may serve as a timely reminder that even those who find ongoing success living the dream, or that the music they’re creating and performing is making

memorable nights and summers for thousands of people, that still everyone goes through shit. The album’s roots lie in his need to get over various personal issues, band stuff as well as family issues, that he says compounded into anxiety, depression and even, as one track suggests, contemplations of suicide. Producing the album’s broody, electronic music, he says, gave him a sense of quietly sedating peace. How much stress his 2014 departure from Shapeshifter added one can only speculate, but he identifies it as one of the hardest things he has ever done “It took a few years to come to that decision. At the age I started that band and what we set out to achieve was quite profound on me. To leave something that was pioneering, the huge amount of emotion and sweat that we put in, it was a very hard decision. Plus, financially it was very stable. But I still stand by the fact that some of the hardest decisions in life are usually the right ones.” With no hint of arrogance Abrams acknowledges Shapeshifter’s role as trailblazers in their field, especially at the time of their formation back in 1999 when the live band approach to drum & bass had only been lionised by Hospital Records’ head honcho Tony Colman’s work as London Elektricity, or Roni Size’s award-winning team up with Reprazent. If Pacific Heights’ previous album ‘In A Quiet Storm’ was anything to go by, Abrams’ was already moving on from the jungle culture that he grew up on. That release saw a radical diversion from the glacial jazzy breakbeats of his 2003 debut ‘Frozen Fears’ to explore a modern take on funk and soul. And with a revolving door of vocal collaborators on board, the music itself was both summery and futuristic. “I’m not immersed in that [drum & bass] culture anymore. I simply got older. My tastes pivoted

and my passions changed. When I was part of such an underground community for so long, it felt like it was the only avenue I needed musically. “As I’ve aged and become more aware and appreciative other genres of music, I actually don’t have time to indulge in one area. I love too much music. And you can probably hear it on the new album.” Music, especially in the making, can provide a necessary self-medication. With talk that Abrams had at least two albums’ worth of material in the vaults in the lead up to the release of ‘The Stillness’, and the rhetoric surrounding it, you’d have to say that music has been just that for the 36 year old. And with that there is a certain bleakness and vulnerability. Buried By The Burden gives Louis Baker license to tug at the heartstrings as he sings, “Oh make up your mind, I don’t know if I can do it this time.” Hana bridges loneliness via early Brian Eno and the after dark two-step hum of Burial, and Wellington vocalist Deanne Krieg delivers a haunting performance about grief and purgatory on lead single Airborne. Ironically, one of the most thrilling moments on the album is on the cut So Love which sees Abrams revisit former glories with its fractured kick drum afterburner, married with a classy vocal turn from Drax Project’s Shaan Singh. But while ‘The Stillness’ is painted with a lot of blacks, blues and greys,

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there are instances where there is an undeniable sense of release and hope in places. The way Ibanaka looks skyward mid-track and ascends into a warm troposphere, or how Airborne follows a minimalist build on the first verse by filling up the EQ levels with a bracing synthesiser lift-off. It’s liberating in a way that suggests that Abrams’, who may have just released one of the finer electronic albums to come out of this country, may have closed a chapter – that some frozen fears may be melting away. And as he alludes to, it’s a journey that for all the challenge has been worthwhile. “I’m very sensitive and absorb a lot around me. But as an artist, I think it’s an absolute positive.”

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Nearly 100 MÄ ori and Aotearoa-based Pasifika artists represented this country at the 12th Festival of Pacific Arts in GuĂĽhan (Guam) this May into June. With 26 other Pacific nations represented what began in 1972 as the South Pacific Arts Festival is considered the premier arts and culture event for the Pacific region. The festival takes place every four years, bringing together more than 2000 artists and other cultural practitioners. In 2016 the theme was; What we Own, What we Have, What we Share, United Voices of the Pacific. The MÄ ori Committee of the Arts Council of Creative NZ were responsible for Aotearoaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s representation. Auckland hip hop, Pacific and avantgarde engineer/producer Matthew Faiumu Salapu, aka Anonymouz, was on board (just) and very kindly agreed to provide NZM with this diary of his trip to the little-visited land of GuĂĽhan (as it is written in the islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s indigenous language, Chamorro).

Day 1 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; May 19 My exciting journey as one of over 100 Aotearoa NZ artist delegates to the 12th International Festival of Pacific Arts held in GuĂĽhan started off crazy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; realising at the early morning Auckland departure boarding at Whenuapai base that I had forgotten to

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Anonymouz in GuĂĽhan/Guam for the Festival of Pacific Arts

pack my passport. I had focused too much time the night before double checking the packing of my portable studio gear that I was taking over for my soundscape project â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Resample GuĂĽhanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. My wife immediately booked me onto the very next domestic Air NZ flight to Wellington in order to board with the delegates there after the Royal NZ Air Force flight had picked up the Hamilton lot. Having redeemed myself upon arrival there, little could have prepared me for the epic journey we were all about to embark upon!

Day 2 Following the five hour flight to an overnight stopover in Townsville, Australia, we found ourselves back in the air on the way to GuĂĽhan, having waiata practice on the plane in preparation for various upcoming functions. Upon arrival in GuĂĽhan and clearing customs, we were met with a traditional welcome from the local indigenous Chamorro people, to which our contingent replied with a karanga and haka. We were then shuttled off in school buses to Okkoru High School where we were to be based, along with the Mariana Islandsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; delegation. After settling in, my video artist Tuki, assistant Junior and I decided to join a bus load of kids from Saipan on a late night run to K-Mart, which proved to be an eye opener. On one side of the store

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was a packed in-house pizzeria, while another aisle featured locals mulling around in the crossbow section analysing arrow tips. After spotting Juniorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and my traditional Samoan â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;peâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; tattoos on our knees, a local Chamorro homie by the name of Ben approached us to ask if we were from either NZ or Samoa. Our reply that we represented both brought a flurry of excited selfies and conversations about the All Blacks before we hopped back on the bus, marvelling at the craziness weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d already witnessed just hours into our stay on the island. Day 3 Hafa Adai! It was quite surreal sitting at breakfast and seeing esteemed musicians like Maisey Rika, Rob Ruha, Paddy Free and Horomona Horo wander past with their cornflakes. Inspirational stuff!

Day 4 We were all bussed out at 4am to the shores of the main festival village to witness the arrival of many waka that had navigated their way from their respective islands using only traditional voyaging techniques. They included a lone aboriginal man who had rowed all the way from Australia on a three-metre wooden raft! Unbelievable. I managed to record some beautiful pukaea sounds and local chants and percussions as well. The official opening ceremony held in the local Paseo stadium in the evening featured each delegation proceeding down centre stage to offer up gifts, accompanied by traditional performances. Come our turn, we felt like All Blacks walking down and performing in the middle of thousands of screaming people led by the amazing current Matatini Kapa Haka champions Te Whānau ā Apanui. The night ended with an epic performance from the local contingent that involved a huge choreographed cast, flaming torches and fireworks. Day 5 My project on this trip was to produce a 20-minute soundscape work created entirely out of location and performance sounds recorded around the island, loosely arranged chronologically and thematically to the little known story of I’iga Pisa, a Samoan chief exiled in 1909 to Saipan. He daringly voyaged solo to Guåhan before eventually returning to Samoa years later. Today, we hired a rental and headed off to the northern most tip of the island where I’iga landed, Ritidian Point, to record the sounds of the sea there, the very same waters he would have heard upon arrival over a century ago. With this critically important sound recording completed, we offered up a prayer on the shores before heading back off out south to check out the amazing views. Day 6 Headed back out to Ritidian where we coincidentally came across a tour group of scientists and archaeologists in the jungle being shown around by an amazing kuia by the name of Emily G. Sablan. She kindly invited us to join them, and we managed to get some great sounds and footage of some ancient pre-colonial environments.

Day 7 Headed into the traditional tattoo village to record some sounds, and amazingly, we bumped into Ben again (from our K-Mart escapade), after which he declared that it was no coincidence, inviting us out crab and pig hunting sometime over the next few nights. Game on! At night, our delegation hosted and entertained Guåhan’s governor and other heads of delegations at the picturesque Jimmy Dee’s beachfront bar, ending in traditional Kiwi fashion with an open mic and singalong at the night’s conclusion. Day 8 We headed out with Ben and some of his family at night in two 4WDs deep into Marble Cave bush territory, where we caught some coconut crabs in a cave before heading further up to a cliff top, where I recorded some epic waves crashing below – as well as the crackle of a fire they lit to bring the pigs and deer out. It was a pretty quiet night however so we exchanged stories and legends before heading back to our drop off. Day 11 The morning featured a combined church service in the Sinajana district where Junior recorded the university orchestra performances before our delegation was treated to the most epic feast ever (over 40 dishes including 15 different meats!) before performances were exchanged between us and the locals. Day 12 Ben picked us up for dinner with his whanau at his place, where we returned the favour by holding an impromptu interactive demonstration of sampling and making beats with their family kids, using the sounds of his backyard. Day 13 Kickstarted the day attending an awesome music wānanga at the museum where I was so inspired by the pearls of wisdom shared by Maisey, Rob and Horomona, before hitching a ride out to the university theatre to catch a whole bunch of awesome Kiwi shows. Hugely inspired by the day’s events, we headed back to the studio to recalibrate the soundscape.

Day 15 Our premiere of the Soundscape tonight at the museum’s indoor theatre went awesome. We were blessed with a full house, the presence of the NZ and Samoan head of delegations as well as I’iga Pisa’s great grandson Siliga who gave a heartfelt testimony. We found out that tonight was also the very same night his great grandfather left Saipan for Guåhan. Mindblowing. We played the soundscape through twice, the first time in the complete dark and the second with Tuki’s accompanying visuals. Plenty of laughs and tears in the theatre during and afterwards, it was a great reception all round. Mission accomplished! Day 16 Lots of shopping for the family! Day 18 We’re headed home! Our delegation is bussed out early morning to the airport, where Maisey serenaded a beautiful native ko ‘ku bird that had come out to farewell our street artist couple Charles and Janine who had painted two of the most amazing large scale bird murals ever. We depart for another overnighter in Townsville, looking out the windows on takeoff reminiscing on the most amazing two weeks that had just flashed by. Day 19 – June 2 An early morning RNZAF flight brings me right up to this present moment as I type these final lines in the clouds, somewhere between Australia and Aotearoa, having obviously successfully remembered my passport this time! This trip has been a once in a lifetime experience, meeting amazing people and interacting with other creatives of all disciplines at the top of their game. One cannot help but be hugely inspired being immersed in such a cauldron of culture and creativity for two full on weeks. The most grateful of thanks to Tanea Heke and Creative NZ for having me and my team on board, and also to the rest of our delegation whānau who we have bonded with. To the people of Guåhan / Guam, your amazing manaakitanga, your hosting, your fa’aaloalo has been second to none. Biba Guåhan! Biba Chamorro!

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r o F s k n Tha s u g n i p Hel NZM is developing a brand new online presence! During NZ Music Month NZM staged a Boosted.org.nz crowdfunding campaign to raise funds that will help cover some of the costs of designing and building a completely new www.nzmusician.co.nz. It took just 160 individuals and businesses to carry the total beyond our target, and by the end of May over $11,500 had been pledged. We’d like to sincerely THANK each and every one of them for taking the time (and cash) to show a bit of love for what we’ve been doing here at NZM for more than 25 years now. Thanks too for the many wonderfully supportive comments and endorsements. Aside for the vital importance of ensuring that www.nzmusician.co.nz will now look great on your phone, tablet, desktop and whatever other computer device you might like to use, we want to ensure that the vast archive of information from those decades of publishing, in print and online, will remain just as easily accessible in the future. We’re super excited about the developing website plans and look forward to unveiling the newly designed site ahead of our August/September issue… Meantime www.nzmusician.co.nz is very open for your business. Come on in…

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