The Nomad and more linky love ...

I attended a pretty special gig at Wellington’s Boat Café on Saturday night. It was the final stop on The Nomad’s national tour – promoting new album ‘7’ – and it proved to be about as state of the art as these things can get, from both a visual and aural perspective.

The night was MC-ed by Melbourne-based Londoner Lotek, but also on hand were fellow collaborators on the album, Christina Roberts, Israel Starr, and the star turn (for me) saxophonist, Andy Qroniq (aka Andy Pearce).

The Boat Café is a relatively new venue on the Wellington live music scene but it strikes me that the lower deck area/room (of the docked tugboat on Oriental Parade) might just about be one of the most sound-friendly spaces on the circuit. Certainly the room coped admirably with the bass-heavy bottom-end treats being conjured up on the night, and I doubt I’ll attend a louder gig all year. As venues go, it was very impressive.

And so it occurs to me that although it’s been on virtual perma-repeat ever since I scored a pre-release copy of it a few months back, I’ve yet to review ‘7’ for the blog. Suffice to say it’s easily one of the best local albums I’ve heard all year – if not the best – and quite possibly the best thing the Nomad has ever done, although that in itself is a big call given his extensive back catalogue and wider legendary status in local production/DJ circles.

I will get around to giving it a more thorough review at some stage soon, but in the meantime I thought I’d link to a feature piece I wrote on the Nomad (aka Daimon Schwalger) for NZ Musician a month or so ago … (click below)

Strength Through Adversity - as it appears in NZ Musician magazine August/September 2014

R.I.P. Peter Gutteridge

New Zealand music lost one of its very best this week, with the death of Flying Nun legend Peter Gutteridge (The Clean, The Chills, The Great Unwashed, Snapper, and others). Here’s one of his best moments:

 

Classic Album Review: Psychedelic Furs – Forever Now (1982)

The Psychedelic Furs’ third album, Forever Now, is another one of those albums you’d not normally associate with the label, “classic album”. It makes the everythingsgonegreen cut only on account of the nostalgia factor it offers your blogger. It’s that old familiarity thing again. It just sort of fits ... a bit like a comfy old sock, or an old grey jersey.

Or something …

The album was recorded in New York and produced by Todd Rundgren, yet it remains quintessentially English in mood and atmosphere, and delivers something of a prototype four-piece post-Punk/”new wave” sound.

 

 Although the band had already enjoyed some limited chart success – and would enjoy considerably more once American teen movie director John Hughes (RIP) got his hands on an earlier release called ‘Pretty In Pink’ – the Furs were at the time of Forever Now’s release still very much in the “cult band” category and not taken especially seriously by the notoriously hard to please British music press.

The singles, ‘Love My Way’ – complete with Richard Butler’s trademark almost Bowie-esque vocal and that memorable if (now) slightly dated synth line – and ‘Run And Run’, with the memorable lyric “I’ve been waiting all night for someone like you … but you’ll have to do” … are probably the best known tracks off the album, but it’s solid throughout and Forever Now is devoid of obvious filler.

The increased preference for synthesisers over guitars on Forever Now was a welcome development generally, adding a more chart-friendly formula, and helping to flesh out several tracks; making the music fuller and less sparse than it might previously have otherwise been, while Rundgren himself also contributed keyboards on the album. In saying that, there is no question that Tim Butler’s fretwork remained every bit as pivotal an element to the band’s overall sound.

Forever Now hasn’t aged particularly well, it is VERY Eighties, and yes, the more familiar stuff like ‘Love My Way’ sounds a touch flawed today, but on the whole the album remains very listenable and has much less of the cheese/cringe factor than you might imagine.

The aforementioned singles are definite highlights, ‘Love My Way’ in fact became a global hit, but the title-track (and album opener) itself is a great scene-setter, and ‘President Gas’ remains a personal favourite if only for the fact that a local covers band I once knew did such an awesome version of it.
 

 

 

Going Global Part 2

This time last week I rambled on a little bit about the Going Global gig at GalatosLive in Auckland (I’d attended the previous Friday). I actually took a few photos on my phone while I was there but when push came to shove none of them were good enough for publication (even for a hobby blog) so I pushed delete instead.

Little did I know that Jackson Perry was snapping away for Russell Brown’s PA/Capture blog and he came up with quite a few gems well worth sharing … check them out here:

Public Address/Capture Photoblog by Jackson Perry

Classic Album Review: Boomtown Rats - The Fine Art of Surfacing (1979)

The Fine Art Of Surfacing is not an album that will feature on too many ‘Classic Album’ lists but it was a much loved one for yours truly growing up so it makes the cut according to the not particularly exact science of everythingsgonegreen …

It was the third album for Bob Geldof’s Boomtown Rats, following on from the band’s breakthrough release, A Tonic For The Troops, released a year or so earlier. Thanks to the chart success of the worldwide No.1 smash ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’, Fine Art also represented something of a commercial peak for the band.

Certainly some of the music found on the album owes rather more to the still saleable glam excesses of the mid-Seventies pop charts, than the hard-edged raw social commentary, spirit of ’77 and-all-that, influences of its two predecessors.

That was down to two things – the band’s natural evolutionary inclination toward the theatrical and the arty, and secondly, the excellent keyboard work of Johnnie Fingers, which gave the band its most identifiable point of difference from the multitude of other vogue bands of the day. His contribution to ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ is a prime example of that.

But when all else is said and done, there’s a little bit of everything on the album.

We’re instantly converted from the get go, courtesy of a couple of supremely crafted pop gems in the form of ‘Someone’s Looking At You’ and ‘Diamond Smiles’ – something close to the perfect opening double whammy.

We’re then treated to flurries of hard-out rocking in an assortment of guises; short bursts of pure energy, with flashbacks to the past – both distant and recent, and lashings of formula rock, be it of the more rudimentary and basic variety, or that which might proudly adorn brand new post-punk threads.

 

And while he’ll never be Weller, Strummer, or even Shelley in the lyric stakes, Geldof keeps things fresh, witty, and always interesting.

Other highlights include: ‘Wind Chill Factor (minus zero)’, ‘Having My Picture Taken’, ‘Nothing Happened Today’, and ‘When The Night Comes’.

Despite subsequent releases and a couple of Geldof solo efforts, The Fine Art of Surfacing is probably the last album where the Boomtown Rats were taken even remotely seriously … although Geldof himself, of course, would soon dwarf such frivolous achievement by embarking on a rather more demanding global crusade to feed the world …

 

ps … and further to that, I always felt Geldof never quite got the credit he deserved for his lead role in the Pink Floyd concept film ‘The Wall’, where he gave an astonishing performance for a man merely moonlighting as an “actor” at the time.

 

The Return of Echo Chamber – Around The World In Dub (Volumes 5 and 6)

I've blogged about all four previous volumes in this series as they've been released, so here we go again with another double compilation set from the Echo Chamber crew. So far as state-of-the-art global dub goes, it doesn't get much better than this ... grab a free download from Dan Dada Records ...

Here's the blurb:

For the last 18 years Dr. StrangeDub (Michael Rose) and DJ Baby Swiss (Elmar Romain) have been bringing dubwise sounds to the massive on their radio program the Echo Chamber. With the heaviest dubs, the most conscious roots, and the funkiest club beats from around the world, all chilled and expertly mixed into a subsonic stew, the Echo Chamber is always the hippest place to be every Wednesday morning ...

 A typical show features a heavy dose of modern roots dub reggae and a potent shot of old school roots and dub. But dub just lays the foundation and holds the trip together: the DJ dub doctors cover the entire reggae rainbow, and they pull in the heaviest chilled beats from clubs around the world - from dubstep to cumbia, from trip-hop to drum & bass.

For this compilation, the Echo Chamber has once again teamed up with Bandulu Dub and Dan Dada Records to present a worldwide trip into Dub. This collection represents a broad variety of musical styles...and spans the globe in doing so. This is very much in keeping with the eclectic "anything goes" format of the Echo Chamber radio program.

On behalf of Dan Dada Records, Dr. StrangeDub and DJ Baby Swiss extend our undying gratitude to all the artists and record labels that agreed to be a part of this worldwide dubwise project. Spreading the dubwise vibe to the world...

Gig Review: Moisty Atsushi & The Moisties at Ginger Minx, Auckland, 6 September 2014

In my previous blogpost I wrote a little bit about last Friday night in Auckland and attending the Going Global showcase gig which featured a number of great local bands. I also happened to be in the big smoke on Saturday night, and was equally determined to check out more live music.

There were a number of options including the BaseFM 10th birthday celebration gig - featuring local Hall of Fame contenders King Kapisi, Che Fu, and P-Money among many others - at GalatosLive, but having already been there on the Friday I decided once again to go somewhere I'd never been before.

Ginger Minx in Mt Eden - just off Dominion Road - is an unlikely venue for live music. The venue has two distinct zones, or bars, and the lounge area where live music is played ultimately feels rather more like a student flat than it does a space for bands or DJs - with an open fireplace, a couple of large couches, coffee tables etc. But that's just part of its charm and despite the relatively low ceiling, the "lounge" was surprisingly very sound friendly.

I'd chosen Ginger Minx because local ska/rocksteady favourite Moisty Atsushi - who I've blogged about before - was playing a live set with his band. I'd previously seen him in a solo/acoustic context and certainly the addition of a second guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer allowed for a much fuller sound.

What Atsushi lacks in terms of vocal subtlety - and it is perhaps only a minor issue - he more than makes up for with his commitment to producing an authentic ska and/or rocksteady sound. His guitar playing was more dynamic (and electric) this time around and his passion for ska is beyond doubt. His set was a mix of originals - his releases can be found here - and covers.

If I have a moan (and I do) it is about the late start. The gig was advertised “from 8pm” and while I would normally expect an hour or so of pre-band DJ support and the gig to start around 10pm (at latest), it was at least 11.30pm by the time the band started playing (I suspect the late arrival of its drummer was the issue). It was just a little frustrating watching Atsushi repeatedly wander up, sling the guitar over his shoulder, sound-check the mics, only to then take the guitar off and return to his seat by the fire.

I also think when your band is playing a gig at a venue a little off the beaten track, or at a location where no alternative venues or clubs are within walking distance, then it should be obvious that those in attendance haven’t just wandered in by chance. They’re there for the gig, not part of some wider pub or club crawl (unlike more centrally located venues). You either play before they leave or you let them know that you’re not far off from starting.

That said, it was a “free” gig, and any frustration on this occasion was largely mitigated by the presence of a couple of pretty good DJs who kept the warm rocksteady and rootsy reggae vibes ticking over during the near three hour wait, among them local legend and 95bFM favourite DJ Dubhead - another guy I’ve seen play “live” before, albeit several lifetimes ago …

Overall, it was a pretty good night, and more generally it was great to have a couple of nights out in unfamiliar Auckland surrounds for a change.

Gig Review: Going Global Showcase at Galatos, Auckland, 5 September 2014

A rare few days up in Auckland last weekend gave me the opportunity to check out a couple of venues I'd never visited before.

With the Going Global Summit - a conference/event looking at all aspects of the music industry in NZ - on in the city last week, there were a number of showcase events taking place as part of that so my timing was pretty good ...

One of those gigs was a 14-act/band extravaganza on the Friday night at GalatosLive (just off Karangahape Road), a multi-room venue with stages on three levels.

The whole event had something of a festival feel about it (albeit indoor) and each act or band - all local - was given roughly 20 minutes or just a handful of tracks each to showcase their respective talents.

With so much going on simultaneously it was impossible to check them all out but of those I did manage to see, the best sets - bar one - occurred in the venue's main room, starting early on in the evening with the edgy rock n roll of Jesse Sheehan (and band), culminating a few hours later with a great set from the almost New Order-esque four-piece She's So Rad.

Also in the main room, immediately after Sheehan, a guy called Anthonie Tonnon (who I'd not seen before) was hugely impressive - as a solo act (man/guitar) to begin with, and then with a band during the second half of a short set.

The highlight of the night though occurred in the upstairs lounge midway through the night when the nerdy tech-geek figure of Race Banyon filled the room with an almost indescribable sense of fuzzy electronic warmth - a funky bass drone-meets-chopped-up-techno vibe which had the all-too-small crowd fully captivated throughout. Race Banyon's sole release - the Whatever Dreams Are Made Of EP - of some 14 months ago can be downloaded here (name your price).

Some of the more prominent acts also performing over the course of the night included Little Bark, Dictaphone Blues, Ha The Unclear, and Trip Pony (who I really should have made more effort to check out).

Another bonus of the evening for me was meeting one of my colleagues/"boss" on the team at NZ Musician magazine - website editor and 95bFM DJ Silke Hartung, who was working the door. It was a pretty special night all around really.

The Saturday night threw up another new venue, but a couple of familiar old faces, and more on that shortly ...