Echoes of the Night

Two of my favourite things. Together. In the same place. Joining forces to create something new from something … well, relatively new. If you’ve read this blog before you’ll know I’ve raved a fair bit about On-U Sound production maestro Adrian Sherwood. And you’ll know I’ve raved a fair bit about Aotearoa dub legends Pitch Black. Now I (potentially) get to have a rave about both in the same blogpost because Dubmission have just released Echoes of The Night on Bandcamp (link here); four Pitch Black originals re-purposed and re-energised by none other than Adrian Sherwood himself.

 But look, rather than have me go over the same old fanboy ground, I’ll let Dubmission tell you all about it in this blurb that hit my inbox earlier today:

They say you should never meet your heroes, but for Mike Hodgson of Pitch Black, meeting the legendary Adrian Sherwood has been a transformative experience, leading to creative collaborations that have benefited both of them.

Nearly 30 years after first being mesmerized by On-U Sound’s releases, a cheeky bit of radio ripping serendipitously led to Mike helping Pats Dokter, the label’s official archivist, with his work restoring master tapes, and eventually to him creating visual content for Adrian’s live shows.

A while after this collaboration began, Adrian offered to remix some of Mike’s music, either by his solo project Misled Convoy or his work with Paddy Free as Pitch Black, and it’s four cuts by the latter that grace this heavyweight platter.

From the dreamy dub of Transient Transmission to the rolling rhythms of A Doubtful Sound, Pitch Black’s originals have been re-arranged and dubbed to $%># in Adrian’s signature style, with fluid melodies, pounding basslines and vocal samples awash in a wall of effects.

Trumpets by David “Ital Horns” Fullwood bookend the release, haunting in the first track and celebratory in the last, while Doug Wimbish (Living Colour/Tackhead) added an extra bassline to the heaving version of 1000 Mile Drift, which now also features the voice of the iconic Lee “Scratch” Perry.

Reflecting on the collaboration, Mike Hodgson says, “the whole experience has been slightly unreal, from working on Adrian’s videos to being in the On-U studio and watching him dub-mixing the tracks I’ve made, something I could never have imagined happening!”

Mike isn’t the only On-U fan in Pitch Black, as a pivotal moment for Paddy was “watching Adrian mixing Tackhead at the Powerstation in 1995 and seeing the cause-and-effect of what he was doing and hearing the unbelievable sounds coming out of the speakers. It was the first time I’d ever seen somebody dub mix like that.”

The cover of Echoes of the Night is based upon an original artwork by long-time Pitch Black collaborator (and fellow On-U aficionado) Hamish Macaulay, while the vinyl has been pressed using a 100% recycled compound known as eco-mix, making each record totally unique as the colours change across the pressing run (most appear to be green-ish).

Echoes of the Night on Bandcamp

The Nomad, to Infinity and beyond ...

After a relatively prolonged period of hiatus, pioneering Aotearoa electronic producer Daimon Schwalger, aka The Nomad, has had a busy past twelve months or so; not only with a return to live performances and DJ-ing gigs, but with the careful curation of two compilation albums released to celebrate a quarter of a century of making music.

Those two compilations come in the form of Infinite and Infinite II. A recent social media post from Schwalger hinted that a third compilation might also be a current work-in-progress.

Let’s hope so – The Nomad has been at the forefront of the development of electronic music in this country, with seven full album releases, an early EP (Concentrated, 2002), and one previous compilation album (Selected Works, 2008), across that 25-year period, so it’s fair to say his back catalogue is expansive enough to easily accommodate a third volume of Infinite.

 Initially, Infinite and Infinite II were exclusive limited edition vinyl releases but thankfully they’re now both available as digital downloads on Bandcamp (here), something that will ensure their reach is a lot more widespread than it might otherwise have been.

Each volume of Infinite is notable for the variety of musical styles on offer – The Nomad’s debut release ‘Movement’ is widely touted as New Zealand’s first ever drum n bass release but the palate across all subsequent releases beyond the 1998 debut broadens into reggae, dub, trap, dubstep, techno, some experimental stuff, and morsels of just about every other club or dance music trend this century has had to offer.

The other most obvious feature of each album is the heavyweight collabs deployed with The Nomad’s co-credit support cast being a virtual Who’s Who, anyone who’s anyone, list of local musical talent. Plus a fair few of the international variety as well; local co-conspirators include Julia Deans, Pearl Runga, Lisa Tomlins, Barnaby Weir, Tiki Taane, King Kapisi, Tehimana Kerr, MC Antsman, Ras Stone, Israel Starr, Oakley Grenell, plus fellow local production pioneer Opiuo. Those bringing the overseas vibes include Dexta Malawi, MC Lotek, and true giants of the dub and reggae scenes such as Luciano and the Mad Professor.

Plus there’s been many others (not mentioned above) who have also brought the love to The Nomad’s sound across the course of his wholly unique musical journey. It is surely testament to how highly regarded he is that so many high-profile talents have seamlessly slotted into his musical vision.

 Having interviewed Schwalger for NZ Musician magazine back in 2014 (here) upon the release of the seventh Nomad album, the aptly named 7, I can attest that he was a pleasure to deal with, and certainly one of the more pragmatic, honest, and down-to-earth local musicians I’ve met. You simply don’t survive and thrive for a full quarter of a century in the music and production business in this country unless you’re cut from the right cloth, and you’re prepared or able to collaborate without fuss.  

Listening to both Infinite and Infinite II are no-skip events, so I wouldn’t recommend you single out specific cuts, but if pushed, my own Five Favourite Essential Nomad Cuts, all of which feature on either album, would be: ‘Destinations’, ‘Deeper’ ft. Saritah & Jornick, Opiuo’s remix of ‘Devil In The Dark’ ft. Julia Deans, ‘Combination Dub AD’ ft. MC Antsman, and one of his sleeper hits, ‘Seductive Wolf Eyes’ ft. Christina Roberts.

I’m looking forward to Infinite III already.

Choice Kiwi Cuts 2021: Vietnam - 'What Have I Done?'

From the Straight Outta Wainuiomata files. Also from the Most Unlikely Comeback of 2021 files. Early 80s post-punk veterans Vietnam returned this year with a new track called ‘What Have I Done?’ and the promise of a new album in early 2022. As comeback releases go, this one was right up my alley.

Founding member and bass guitarist Adrian Workman says of the track:

“‘What Have I Done?’ is about the experience of being in a destructive and co-dependent relationship, which is always destined to fail. The lyric contains a desperate plea for understanding and forgiveness, while at the same time projecting the hurt and anger that comes with the inability to take responsibility for your own behaviours and feelings. The desperation in the chorus lyric (and title of the song) is the inner voice of shame that drives the narrative.”

Download the track from the Vietnam Bandcamp page here

(Choice Kiwi Cuts 2021 is a series of blogposts which seek to highlight the best tracks released by New Zealand artists over the course of the calendar year. Not necessarily the “best” in any commercial sense, but those which have proven to be the best additions to this blogger’s music collection)

Choice Kiwi Cuts 2021: Repulsive Woman - 'Julia Knows Beauty'

With another year end approaching it seems timely to reconvene a regular everythingsgonegreen blog pre-festive tradition – the all-too-readily missed and/or often completely ignored practice of me sharing with you some of my thoughts and reckons on Aotearoa’s musical year. 

I’ve got to be honest, in my view, 2021 hasn’t been particularly epic for local music. At least not when it comes to album additions to my own collection. Over the past decade, “new” New Zealand-made music has always featured prominently among those additions, and it hasn’t been unusual for a number of homegrown albums to make my annual “most listened to” or best of year-end list. 

Unfortunately, I just can’t see that happening this year. But that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been some good stuff released during 2021 – it just means I didn’t pick up a physical or digital copy of it … Spotify doesn’t count. Over the next couple of months, I’ll be posting a series of clips or streams of those local tracks that did move me sufficiently in 2021 to earn a, um, highly coveted place on the, um, very prestigious everythingsgonegreen Choice Kiwi Cuts list. 

That list seldom features the most obvious stuff so if you’re a fan of Six60, L.A.B., or insert-popular-biggish-name-Kiwi-artist-here, you’re probably going to be disappointed. It goes without saying then, that the list does not profess to be anything close to a definitive summary of everything that happened on these shores during the year. I’ll reserve a place only for those tracks or artists I personally liked or enjoyed. 

Starting with … Repulsive Woman – ‘Julia Knows Beauty’ 

Repulsive Woman is the musical handle for former Astro Child, Millie Lovelock, whose 2019 album Relief won the Taite Music Prize for Best Independent Debut in 2020. Lovelock didn’t offer us too much in the form of new work in 2021, but this track, ‘Julia Knows Beauty’, was a stand-out cut on a Z Tapes ‘Summer 2021’ compilation I picked up. It’s a bit of a slow burner but one that really starts to reveal its charms after a few repeat plays and a little bit of patience. It isn’t going to rock your socks off, but beautifully crafted acoustic ballads rarely tend to do that, and the appeal lies elsewhere.

 

Album Review: Brain Damage meets Big Youth – Beyond the Blue (2021)

Released earlier this year on the Jarring Effects label, Beyond the Blue is an album with quite a sobering backstory. A collaboration between legendary Jamaican DJ Big Youth, France-based dub producer Martin Nathan (aka Brain Damage), and Jamaican-born studio veteran Samuel Clayton Jr., it was recorded in Kingston in March 2020, just as the first wave of Covid-19 sent the planet into meltdown, and lockdown. And that’s when things took a tragic turn for the worst.

The trio had barely started the process, recording just a few takes before both Nathan and Clayton Jr. contracted the virus. Nathan somehow managed to return to France, with the remaining pair opting to try to continue with the album in Kingston alongside fellow Anchor Studios producer Stephen Stewart. Sadly, Clayton Jr. would not survive, succumbing to the virus before the project reached completion. 

With the support of his label, Nathan resolved to finish the album, mixing the work-in-progress and adding the finishing touches back in Lyon, after eventually winning his own prolonged battle with Covid-19. The result is Beyond the Blue, a masterclass in reggae toasting and dub production, and a fitting tribute to the talent and determination of all three key protagonists. 

For the uninitiated, Big Youth (Manley Buchanan, to his Mum) is something of a legend in Jamaican DJ circles. With the recent loss of Jamaican uber producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, you could say he is one of the last great survivors of the reggae’s 1970s and 1980s golden age. Now in his 70s, he is one of the pioneers of the popular “toasting” vocal style, alongside contemporary U-Roy, who coincidentally, is another of the genre’s greats to pass in 2021. 

The album itself is superb. A compelling mix of rootsy flavours, rocksteady, ska, jazz (yes, jazz) it finds Big Youth in fine vocal form. There’s a couple of jazzy remakes of the classic ‘I Pray Thee’, which bookend the 12-tracks on offer, and beyond the usual declarations of faith and chants of praise, there’s a fair bit of prescient social and political content as well. As you’d expect. 

And naturally, given the context, there are also a couple of references to the virus itself. There’s a nice touch on a couple of tracks where the recording of in-studio spoken narrative or preamble is left in, raw and unedited, presumably as a tribute to Clayton Jr. 

I especially enjoyed the old school rocksteady-paced stuff, with the ridiculously infectious, yet relatively simple groove of ‘Those Days’ in particular, quickly becoming a firm favourite. 

But they’re all pretty good tunes, and Martin Nathan, wearing his Brain Damage hat, deserves enormous credit for not only providing the compositions which allow Big Youth to shine, but for bringing the project to completion at a time when it might have been easier to simply shelf it. The album can be found on Bandcamp here. 

R.I.P. Samuel Clayton Jr. 

Here’s the 2020 version of ‘I Pray Thee’, which opens the album:

EP Review: Camomile Dawn – Bruttissimo (2021)

I've seen the music of Camomile Dawn described as "house" or "dance music". Which isn't really all that accurate. I struggle with each of those labels. The four tracks found on the Bruttissimo EP play out rather more like a frayed-around-the-edges form of synthpop. Equal portions melodrama, psychedelia, and melancholia. Not unlike the Cocteau Twins, yet not really like the Cocteau Twins at all. And that’s without even starting on the (lack of) requisite bpm factor. If this is dance music, then it’s dance music for dancing on the inside. Little head bobs, finger taps, and warm brain fuzzies. That sort of thing. 

Art is seldom so black and white. Bruttissimo is moody grey, with flecks of sunlight peeking through. Presented with a stylish French sheen. It all works quite well. Except perhaps for the EP cover design, which looks a little bit like one of those paint-by-numbers canvas artworks my dear old Gran used to occupy her time with.

Whatever else it is, the EP is one of the best short form releases I’ve heard all year. 

Joe Muggs kind of nails it in his write-up for “The Best Electronic Music on Bandcamp”, August 2021:

"Just when you think there can’t be more mileage in fizzy, nostalgic, lo-fi house, here comes another alias of Turkish producer Sumatran Black to make it feel fresh again. All the signifiers are here: The voyeuristic feeling of finding an old VHS of someone else’s wedding, the cosmopolitan and stylish voiceovers, the fizz that becomes part of the instruments. It’s rich, it’s romantic, it’s irresistible."

EP Review: FRTG13 – Supersymmetrie (2021)

Here’s a thing. Another great recommendation from Fabrizio Lusso’s excellent White Light // White Heat website. Another great name-your-price digital download on Bandcamp. Dark industrial synthpop crossing over seamlessly with more orthodox forms of post-punk. Coming to you by way of Hanover, Germany. With a nod and a definite debt to compatriots Kraftwerk. Five tracks, the best of which are the title track, ‘Supersymmetrie’, and the more than vaguely familiar ‘Computer Welt’. 

Grab a copy from the link below, and if you like this, why not go back further and pick up a copy of last year’s Corona Sessions, which is also name-your-price.

Introducing ... Graysons

I know nothing about mysterious Austin-based post-punkers Graysons – other than the fact that the band hails from Detroit and is currently based in Austin (clearly, thanks Bandcamp). I wish I knew more, but it probably doesn’t matter too much – the important bit is they sound great and their debut full-length release, I, is currently up on Bandcamp as a name-your-price digital download (link below). The album itself ticks all the right boxes for me, sitting at the darker end of the post-punk spectrum, veering occasionally towards shoegaze. Nine tracks, clocking in at just over half an hour, the highlights include ‘Til The End’, ‘Illuminate’, and ‘Through The Ether’. Grab a copy:

 

Album Review: Various - Ambient Maladies (2021)

Released this week on the Strange Behaviour platform, Ambient Maladies is a compilation of downbeat ambient work by a bunch of Aotearoa-based artists and producers. Clocking in at just a few minutes shy of an hour, over the course of ten tracks, it’s the sort of album that is probably best appreciated on headphones. An album to be fully absorbed without distraction, at a time when you’ve got little else to do other than to gaze off into the distance. Perhaps. Or maybe even the sort of album you’d listen to when you’re heavily under the influence of something that aids involuntary gazing off into the distance. I really wouldn’t know much about such frivolous indulgence. 

Compiled by Paul Berrington - who may (or may not) be better known as Wellington DJ B.Lo - it features local luminaries such as Ludus, who also mixed and mastered the release under the guise of her real name (Emma Bernard), Jet Jaguar, Stephen Gallagher, and a couple of artists who have previously featured on everythingsgonegreen, Arcology (see here), and Box of Hammers (see here). Plus there's a handful of others.

 For those who aren't big fans of the ambient “genre”, it may prove a bit of a mixed bag, but the highlights for me include the Arcology track ‘Now Exhale’, which was described by a friend as being “menacing”, which I thought was a very accurate description, Box of Hammers’ soundtrack-ready ‘Maelstrom’, and Stephen Gallagher’s excellent ‘Even A Bird Loves Its Nest’. 

Bonus point: the release is available on cassette. Grab it at the Bandcamp link below. 

Here’s the Bandcamp blurb: Welcome to Ambient Maladies, a selection of atmospheres, vignettes and expressions from Aotearoa New Zealand. Embracing the geographical isolation of the land of the long white cloud, Strange Behaviour's second release is at times dark and brooding while at others delicate, detailed and melancholy.

The Tron's Penultimate Sonic Ensemble of One

Hamilton-based retro-electro producer Terrorball has had a busy start to 2021, with four new releases uploaded to his Bandcamp page in the past couple of months. 

I've covered off a fair few of his releases in the past, but for an introductory ‘just who is Terrorball?’ overview, this Q&A (here) from back in 2016 is probably as good a place to start as any.

Or better still, download all four 2021 releases from the Terrorball Bandcamp page, and you’ll get some idea of what I’m on about. If you enjoy them, go back further and explore the rest of his (earlier) catalogue. Maybe even flick him some coin. The most recent releases are as follows:

BJRD (here) … or “bass jazz rhythm drop”, a ten track album, released in early April, with highlights including ‘Firebirds’ and the sample-fried delights of ‘Turntable’.

2010 – 2021 (here) … exactly what it says on the tin, if there was an actual tin, this is a 28-track sampler collection of tracks extracted from previous releases, spanning more than a decade. As such, this may actually be the ideal starting point for any newbies.

Dimension X (here) … I’ve listened to most of his work at some point or other over the past half dozen years, and I think this is one of his best sets yet. Highlights: ‘Horizon’, ‘Fiend Zone’, and ‘Tactical Strike’.   

Heavy Atmosphere 4 (here) … the fourth and latest instalment of his edit series where he adds a Terrorball spin to the work of others. As much as the world probably didn’t need yet another mix of The Shapeshifters’ ‘Lola’s Theme’ in 2021, this one is actually quite decent.

All of the above are well worth your time if you’ve got a weakness for all things funky and retro.

Album Review: Celt Islam - Acidanarchist (2021)

Sometimes when you follow an artist’s work closely for a decade or so, there is often a tendency to notice a subtle - or not so subtle - softening of that artist’s original sound. It might be due to compromises made on account of some sort of commercial breakthrough (often termed “selling out”), adapting to more recent musical trends, a change of environment, or simply a natural mellowing that comes with the irreversible passage of time. 

On Celt Islam’s latest release, Acidanarchist, the opposite applies. If anything, the UK-based electro dub maestro keeps ramping things up a notch (or seven) on each and every release – and there’s been a few releases. Celt Islam’s vibe just seems to get heavier and more hardcore each time out.

The Baghdad release (here) of some ten years ago was the album that first drew me into Celt Islam’s artistic vision. It was the perfect fusion of east meets west, an album which connected so many diverse global musical strands, and it appealed as a borderless, meditative blueprint for a better world. A couple of years later, as the Analogue Fakir, he released an IDM-geared album called Worlds We Know (here), which I absolutely loved, but with the benefit of hindsight, I can now view these early works through a slightly different lens … he was just getting started, still at the simmering stage, and slowly but steadily, over the course of the past decade, as world events descend into an almost farcical state, a cesspit of fakery, false information, and twisted narratives, Celt Islam has reached boiling point. Which is where we find him on Acidanarchist. 

As a Sufi Muslim based in Northern England, as a political activist and social justice campaigner, it is impossible for Celt Islam to separate his art from the environment or political climate in which it is made. That goes without saying. When forwarding the pre-release copy he noted … “this is a manifestation of our times, and where dance music needs to be, instead of the same carbon copy of everything boring, no depth, no meaning, void of any form of spirituality or real consciousness” … 

Or, anger is an energy, as someone else once claimed. Etc. And so we get drenched in a relentless high-bpm form of electronic punk (minimal vocal, often buried deeper in the mix), with track titles like ‘Vendetta’, ‘System Reset’, and ‘Resurgence’, progressively building in tempo to a reach a distinct DnB-style climax on closing tracks ‘Dominator’, and the majestic ‘Hikam’. 

And yet, for all of that forward pulsating electro momentum, my own favourite cut (of 13) is perhaps the most mellow of all, without being mellow at all … the Mark Iration collab, ‘Born As An African’ (“sufferer”), which for some reason taps into my love of On-U Sound/dub, and its bouncy swaggering skank would be absolutely begging for an Adrian Sherwood makeover if it wasn’t already near perfect in its current form. 

Other collaborators on Acidanarchist include Shahin Badar, who, amongst other things, is well known for her vocal work with The Prodigy (‘Smack’), Aki Nawaz (Fun-Da-Mental), and of course, regular and longtime Celt Islam collaborator Inder Goldfinger (percussionist extraordinaire, producer, TransGlobal Underground, far too many others to list). 

Acidanarchist will be released on 24 May, and can be found on the Earth City Recordz Bandcamp page (here).

Album Review: Kill Shelter & Antipole - A Haunted Place (2021)

A Haunted Place is a new collaborative album made by Edinburgh-based Pete Burns (Kill Shelter) and Trondheim-based Karl Morten Dahl (Antipole). It’s a partnership that feels like the most natural thing in the world. It’s also not an entirely new development, with Dahl having contributed to the Kill Shelter debut (Damage) of a few years back, and Burns having previously added deft remixing touches to Antipole’s past work. I think I’m also correct in saying that the pair were former labelmates on the Unknown Pleasures platform. But A Haunted Place, released on the Manic Depression label, is the first occasion that Burns and Dahl have put their names to the same full-length album.

It’s a blending of dark post-punk talent that complements each man’s skills perfectly. Burns really does have a terrific “goth” voice, the sort that immediately conjures up recall of some of the genre’s finest exponents of yester-year … the likes of Murphy, and Eldritch, to name only the most obvious of touchstones. The sort of vocal that undoubtedly adds an extra layer of drama and heft to proceedings. That’s without even starting on his abilities as a multi-instrumentalist, his generally excellent word-smithery, and crystalline production skills.

Dahl’s powers have been well documented on this site in the past. Antipole’s work will need no introduction to any regular everythingsgonegreen reader. If there is such a thing. I’ve fanboy-ed so often on this blog it almost feels embarrassing to wax any further about his melodic, always evocative, and frequently mesmerising guitar work. Suffice to say his instantly identifiable use of space remains a stand-out feature on A Haunted Place, and the manner in which his own fretwork blends so beautifully with that of Burns is key to making the collaboration so effective.

So it is an album that fair drips with a dark dense atmosphere, from the banging club-geared opener ‘Raise The Skies’, right through to the more mild paced album closer, ‘Every Waking Hour’, it’s a journey into a deep fog of nocturnal wanderings (and back). The sort of trip that might be traversed through the chilly or misty narrow cobblestoned lanes of old Edinburgh town in the middle of a winter’s night. With an all-consuming sense of drama. A prevailing angst proving impossible to shake due to the uncertainty of what might be lurking under that streetlamp off in the murky distance. A picturesque dream that hasn’t quite yet morphed into a fully-fledged nightmare.

Your blogger may have even experienced such, in a past life. I know that exact spot in Auld Reekie. Devastatingly beautiful by day, unnerving and foreboding by night. Sadly, I have no personal experience of Trondheim, but I imagine it wouldn’t be too dissimilar to Edinburgh … and maybe, just maybe, that is exactly where and how this album was born? Different cities, but shared experiences, past lives, and haunted places.

P.S. Don’t look behind you.

Bandcamp link here.

Melted Ice Cream and Wurld Series

Melted Ice Cream is a Christchurch-based label which has been at the forefront of the Christchurch indie scene for a number of years now. My own relationship with the label goes back to 2013 when a label sampler called Sickest Smashes from Arson City (here) hit my inbox, introducing me to previously unfamiliar artists such as Salad Boys, Transistors, X-Ray Charles, and Wurld Series. 

The general vibe of that release, and the music of those acts reminded me a lot of the earliest Flying Nun stuff I loved so much in the 1980s. Subsequent years have seen the label expand its roster to become a significant player in the always vibrant Christchurch indie scene, and although I can’t hand-on-heart say I’ve followed everything being released – the label is relatively prolific – I’ve always retained an interest in all of the above artists. In fact, I’ve previously blogged about Salad Boys (here). I also really liked the fact that Melted Ice Cream released cassettes during an era when that particular medium was being shunned almost everywhere else.  

Calling Melted Ice Cream a “label” might actually be a little bit inaccurate, or a bit of an injustice even, because I suspect, as with fellow Southerners Flying Nun and Xpressway, it’s much more of a tight creative hub or community than merely a vehicle by which to release music.

Fast forward to 2021, and it seems even the globally renowned and widely read music website Pitchfork has started to take note, with the brand new Wurld Series album, What’s Growing, receiving a very positive review (here) earlier this week. I downloaded the album, and although I’m unable wax quite as lyrically as our learned Pitchfork friends, or discuss the deeper meaning (maaan) behind the band’s songs in quite the same way as that website somehow manages, I can say I’ve enjoyed listening to it a fair amount over the past couple of days.

A very digestible 15 tracks, nine of them clocking in under the 2-minute mark, with stand-out track ‘Nap Gate’ (clip below) being the longest at just a few clicks under four minutes. What’s Growing appeals as being a far more polished collection than anything else Wurld Series has released in the past. You can read a little bit more about Melted Ice Cream, Wurld Series, and pick up a copy of the album here.

The Return of Darkside

A month or so ago, over on the blog’s Facebook page, I was lamenting the fact that we hadn’t seen or heard much of Darkside since the release of a fantastic debut album, Psychic, back in 2013. An album that claimed the highly coveted title (just go with it) of the everythingsgonegreen album of the year. It was later included on Pitchfork’s list of the “top of 100 albums of the decade (so far)” in 2014.

It’s fair to say it was a quite brilliant piece of work, but little did I know at the time of writing that particular social media post that Darkside were already plotting a return in 2021, with a new single/taster, ‘Liberty Bell’ (click here), released just days after I pressed “send”. I’m now rather more reliably informed we can expect a new album “in the spring”, which in southern hemisphere parlance means “in the autumn”, or more specifically, sometime in the early part of the year.

Darkside, of course, is a musical project of two multi-talented New York producers, Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington, and while both men have been active in releasing new music since Psychic received so much love and attention, especially the very prolific Jaar, this is the first sign of Darkside life we’ve seen, and a very welcome development.

In late 2020, possibly as a precursor to the new work, unbeknown to yours truly, the duo had also released a digital format only live version of Psychic over on their Bandcamp platform, a release which captures a rare live performance at Belgium’s Dour Festival in July of 2014. It’s a name-your-price release, and I reckon you’d be mad not to pick up a download, see below.

EP Review: Antipole - Marble (2021)

I’ve been a bit quiet over the festive new-year period, but with it being a relatively Covid-free summer down here at the bottom of the world, I decided I needed to get out and about more, and spend a little less time slaving over a hot keyboard writing obscure blogposts.

So anyway, I’m just checking in to give a shout out to longtime blog favourites Antipole, and to note that the Anglo-Norwegian collective have released a new EP called Marble. It consists of four tracks, with the title track being a brand new foray into very familiar territory … that of guitar-led dark and dreamy melodic post-punk. 

Well, it is, and it isn’t. ‘Marble’ (the track) is all of that, sure, and yet another fine example of the fastidious attention to detail offered by Karl Morten Dahl, Eirene, and Paris Alexander when releasing work under the Antipole moniker. But I really couldn’t have anticipated just how well that same track would translate into a banging dance number under the guise of the Molchat Doma remix. (Molchat Doma being a Belarusian post-punk outfit). If the original is a retro-flavoured nod to the 80s, then the roots of the remix are firmly planted in the techno-drenched 90s. 

The remaining two tracks on the EP, ‘Narcissus’ and ‘Someday 45’ will already be familiar to Antipole fans, as both appeared - in different form - on Antipole’s stunning full-length debut Northern Flux back in 2017. ‘Narcissus’ gets the edit treatment, while the latter benefits from an extended mix. 

Have a listen and grab a download at Antipole's Bandcamp page:

Terrorball's No Panzers No Peace

I’ve been following the work of Hamilton electro producer Terrorball (aka Gareth Pemberton) for a number of years. Over the past decade he’s been relatively prolific in releasing stuff on platforms like Soundcloud and Bandcamp. Not only his own original work but also edits and reworks of other material. Most of it issued as either a free download or as a name-your-price release. In 2016, he was even kind enough to help fill in a few gaps for us when completing a short Q & A for the blog (here).

The latest Terrorball work, No Panzers No Peace, was released online earlier this month and it’s one of his best efforts yet. It's mostly the tried and trusted hybrid of electro-funk and disco, but in the form of tracks like ‘Goblins’ and closer ‘Daydream’, there are perhaps a few surprises on offer for those familiar with past Terrorball output. Not least for the way they deviate into a far more reflective or melancholic guitar-pop realm. Check it out by streaming or downloading below:

Album Review: Darren Watson - Getting Sober For The End Of The World (2020)

I’m not sure I want to be sober for the end of the world. I’m not even sure I want to be sober. But that’s one hell of an album title, and given everything else that’s been going on around us in 2020, you might be surprised to learn that Wellington bluesman Darren Watson had locked in that title for his latest album long before we were lumbered with any of this pre-apocalyptic global Covid-19 saga. 

It’s probably fair to say this album has been one of the more difficult releases of Watson’s long career. It’s been a bit of a process. From the initial Pledge Me rallying cry in November 2019, which heralded an “early to mid-2020” release date for Getting Sober For The End Of The World, through a prolonged lockdown period as tracks were recorded and mastered, right up until this week’s release date, Watson has been hard at work, piecing it all together without any real certainty of outcome or timing. And yet, somehow, despite all of those very real challenges, it arrived perfectly formed, fastidiously crafted, and bearing all of Watson’s trademark attention to detail. And, let’s face it, you’d need to be sober to make any of that happen, surely. Fair play.

I’ve already seen a few early reviews from learned scribes suggesting that Getting Sober is Watson’s best work yet. With just a few listens under my belt before writing this, I’m less keen to go that far … for now. After all, the bar was set awfully high after 2018’s Too Many Millionaires. 

What I will say is that this album adopts a very similar approach to Millionaires, which was a far more stripped back variation on blues and soul than a lot of his earlier work. What worked there, works well again. Watson’s ever-maturing voice and gat-work again take centre stage, but a few of the same players are back to help out, most notably - without really wanting to single anyone out - Terry Casey, who adds an harmonica masterclass to several (of the nine) tracks. 

Album centrepiece ‘Ernie Abbott’ is a stand-out. One of Watson’s best ever tracks. More than just a story about an unsolved murder, it’s a heartfelt, if forlorn, plea for justice. A sobering reminder of one of this country’s worst and more gutless acts of domestic terrorism. A fitting tribute to the every-day working class ordinary bloke who goes about his daily business barely noticed. There but for the grace of God etc … 

Watson’s penchant for including local covers continues – this time we get ‘Love That I Had’, penned by fellow Wellington musician Matt Hay. There’s also Robert Johnson’s ‘Preachin’ Blues (Up Jumped The Devil)’, which acts as an ideal album closer. My own favourite track so far, just for the little bit of grime added to the vocal mix, is ‘Broken’, which simply oozes authenticity and stylish execution. 

I’m a little gutted I’m going to miss Watson’s album promo gig at San Fran this week. Wrong day, wrong part of the world for me. I was all set for another Paekakariki date with Watson before the most recent round of Covid-19 restrictions somewhat prematurely put paid to that idea. Another night then, but in the meantime, I can raise a sneaky glass to Getting Sober For The End Of The World. 

You can pick up a copy of the album here.

Electronomicon Live

20 years ago this week, local electro-dub duo Pitch Black released Electronomicon, a follow-up album to the landmark Futureproof release of a few years earlier. To celebrate the anniversary, Pitch Black have released live versions of six tracks featuring on the album, issuing the set as a name-your-price download on Bandcamp. Here’s the blurb:

Just under 20 years ago, on the 7th September 2000 to be precise, our second album "Electronomicon" was released by Kog Transmissions in New Zealand. 

To celebrate this milestone we dug deep into our archives to find recordings of our live shows from the time. After listening to hours and hours and hours and hours of DAT tapes, we've selected a live version of each of the tracks from the album and are happy to present "Electronomicon Live" for your listening pleasure. 

Very sadly we couldn't find anything from the release tour with Shapeshifter, Salmonella Dub Soundsystem and DJ Automatic, which is a shame as it was one of our most enjoyable live experiences, being the first time that we had full creative control of the whole look and feel of each show. 

As we think the audio quality of the recordings we did find doesn't quite match up to those we found for "Futureproof Live", we've decided to make this collection available on a pay as you want basis. 

Later this month we'll be releasing "Electronomicon" on vinyl for the first time. 

When Did Things Become So So-So?

Joe Sampson is best known for his work with Salad Boys, T54, and the Dance Asthmatics, but he’s also not shy about venturing solo when the occasion demands.

One such recent occasion being the enforced Covid-19 lockdown period, when Sampson was left to his own devices, or in this case, a device better known as the ever trusty MicroKorg XL, which he used to compose and produce an album of quirky retro-fuelled instrumental tracks. Ten of them, collectively spanning less than 25 minutes, most with cryptic long-winded titles, the best of which is the infectious opener ‘This Has Been An Issue For As Long As I Can Remember’.

But they’ve all got something about them, and I’ve been really enjoying this barely noticed gem of a release.

Buy the cassette (yes, cassette), stream, or download (name your price) from the link below.

EP Review: International Badboys Inc. - CCOI (2020)

International Badboys Inc. might well be an all boy band. I don’t really know. That is a very boy band-sounding name after all, conjuring up actual recall of an awful but mercifully short-lived mid 90s UK-based boy band called Bad Boys Inc. These guys sound nothing like a boy band.

Bandcamp informs me that International Badboys Inc. is a band – or possibly a solo artist – from Seoul, South Korea, the home of that much-loved global pop phenomenon known as K-Pop. These guys (or guy, even) sound nothing like a K-Pop band either.

What I can tell you for certain, is that this 7-track mini-album, CCOI, released in March of this year in digital form on Bandcamp only (as a name your price), is well worth your time if you’re a fan, as I am, of coldwave, lightweight goth, or 80s-flecked post-punk. Seven short sharp bursts of aural pleasure. Stripped back to tight drum/bass and Cure-esque guitar.

I especially love some of the humour on offer – on tracks like ‘Refrigerator Breeding Project’, and on the hilarious opening track ‘Elementary Loser’, which is based on the premise of a 20-year-old repeating second grade for 15 years because of a crush on a teacher … “you’re just not trying hard enough” … second grade for life!

Stream or pick up a download here: