Loop and Main Divide

Released just prior to Christmas, here's a Loop Recordings/Main Divide collab with a bunch of work from a pretty impressive group of funky locals including Yoko-Zuna, Lord Echo, Miloux, Bailey Wiley, Electric Wire Hustle, and many others. It's available as a free download on Bandcamp ... 

"A journey into New Zealand music from across the Main Divide and beyond. Welcome to Main Divide NZ music compilation Vol.04 - In keeping with the vibe of this series, these quality homegrown tunes cover the spectrum of soul, funk, groove, R&B, hip-hop and electronica, made by some of NZ's most cutting-edge artists."

Album Review: Average Rap Band - El Sol (2016)

I picked up my digital copy of the Average Rap Band debut album, El Sol, as long ago as April, but in typical lazy arse fashion, as a grumpy greybeard and confirmed hip hop sceptic (context is everything), I’ve waited until the year is all but over to share my thoughts about it.

Then again, if you're looking for timeliness and relevance, you'd hardly come to everythingsgonegreen for the good oil, would you?

I hope not ...

So anyway, the 11-track El Sol is the first upsized album release for ex @peaceniks Tom Scott and Lui Tuiasau, as the Average Rap Band. It’s a follow-up to last year’s well-received Stream of Nonsenseness EP, and as you’d expect from this pair, it’s yet another state-of-the-art benchmarking album for the local hip hop scene.

 

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to call this "local"? Even though Scott and Tuiasau are now based in Melbourne, and not Auckland, where they previously made a big noise as part of the critically acclaimed @peace, and prior to that, as part of the wider Home Brew crew.

Those former projects tagged Scott and Tuiasau as massively talented wordsmiths. Masters of rhyme, and students of flow, each man possessing an uncanny ability to turn even the most mundane routine observation into something resembling an existential vision. It isn't just about being clever and wordy, it's also about timing and having the delivery to ensure those words have maximum impact.

El Sol is packed full of such seemingly throwaway (but not really) moments, and the duo's attention to detail when it comes to straight up storytelling is a pivotal element here. As is the sense of place present in each tune - helped by a clear commitment to telling these tales in unashamedly authentic "Kiwi" accents, rather than falling into the common (and often cringeworthy) trap of seeking to imitate our American brethren.

Musically, it draws from a relatively broad base and these narratives are underpinned by a variety of funky beats - from 80s style Jam & Lewis-flecked slow-jams to replica G-Funk styles. Even where the subject matter veers toward the serious, the vibe underneath it all seldom deviates from summery and relaxed. It all tends to blend together seamlessly, and in production terms, nothing ever feels out of place or rushed.

Highlights include the sublime 'Pool Side' (a Tuiasau stand-out moment), the humorous 'Pizza Man', and the great-ball-in-the-sky worshipping title track.

Ps. All things considered, I guess that’s a favourable review for someone who struggles with post-1990 hip hop. But I also picked up new work from past heroes like De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and Common, during 2016, and I struggled with each one of those albums. Yet, stuff like El Sol, plus new EPs from the home-schooled likes of Raiza Biza and Yoko-Zuna were impressive this year, and it’s clear, despite a sense of default cynicism, hip hop from this corner of the globe is currently flying a steep upward trajectory …

Album Review: Yoko-Zuna - Luminols EP (2016)

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of young Auckland band Yoko-Zuna. Last year’s debut album, This Place Here, was a heady genre-defying mix of the many styles we routinely categorise as “urban”, with a heavy emphasis on sounds at the jazzier end of the spectrum. This week the band released its follow-up, an EP called Luminols, recorded at Red Bull Studios in Auckland, and released on Loop.

Once again the four-piece band nail it, as a unit, and alongside the many co-conspirators involved, which reads like a mini who’s who shortlist of the current Aotearoa hip hop scene – see the likes of Tom Scott, P Digsss, Lukan Rai$ey, Laughton Kora, LarzRanda, and Heavy. The five-track EP is another boundary-pushing, innovative, thoroughly mature piece of work.

For me, the best hip hop is that which embraces a live backdrop (see The Roots, as the most obvious benchmark) and that’s exactly what makes Yoko-Zuna special amid a sea of young up-and-coming local hopefuls. These guys use a range of instrumentation (that sax is a killer) and it’s hardly surprising they – along with regular producer Cam Duncan – manage to woo “big” names (in a local context, at least) like Scott, Kora, and Digsss, along with the relative newcomers featured here. Just as they nabbed David Dallas for the debut.

Without really wanting to single out highlights too much, it’s that more experienced trio who provide special moments here; the P Digsss (Shapeshifter) collab, ‘Lightning Sabres’ is an infectious excursion into clubland electronica, Kora’s contribution, ‘One Question’, is as soul-drenched as anything else he’s ever released, while Tom Scott (HomeBrew, @Peace, and Average Rap Band*) adds yet another masterclass in rhyme and flow on ‘Orchard St’. Complete with his trademark relevant, clever, and mildly-amusing set of lyrics.

(* I think the Average Rap Band debut album, El Sol, is one of the best local releases of 2016 so far, and I will review it for the blog at some point soon).

You can stream or pick up a copy of Luminols on Bandcamp here, and check out this clip for ‘Lightning Sabres’ below:

Diversity And Collaboration

I mentioned a little while back that I was lucky enough to collaborate on the cover feature for the February/March 2016 issue of NZ Musician. My interview with up-and-coming young Auckland-based hip hop/jazz/pop/jam outfit Yoko-Zuna took place during the height of the festive season, and although I was pretty satisfied with the final result, it was a far from straightforward process involving a couple of revised versions of the feature. It all felt a little messy from my perspective, but ultimately we got there in the end. Since then I’ve been afforded an advance listen of the band’s next release – an EP – which sounds every bit as good as last year’s impressive debut album. I can’t wait for that one to be released, and firmly believe Yoko-Zuna have a very big future. Click here to read the very appropriately titled Diversity and Collaboration.

Fresh Cuts for NZ Musician February/March 2016

Yet again I managed to sneak a couple of album reviews past the quality control police over at NZ Musician magazine (for the hot-off-the-press February/March issue). Publication of the Kong Fooey review (below) was especially timely, with the band set to play Wellington's Bodega this coming Saturday night. What a funky little album that one is.

I was also quietly a bit chuffed to see Yoko-Zuna feature on the magazine's front cover, given that I wrote the accompanying feature piece. Well, I say "wrote" but what I really mean is "co-wrote", given the hissy fit I had when challenged by the editorial team to make some minor changes to my original draft.

All I really did was conduct the initial interview, submit 1800-odd words, throw my toys, stomp my feet, then sit back wait for the co-editor to tidy-up my half completed mess. Hackdom 101 made easy. But I'll say no more ... let's just say I'm thrilled this incredibly talented young band got the exposure they deserve and leave it at that. My job was the easy bit.

I'll link to that piece in a few weeks, but in the meantime, here are those album reviews:

Kong Fooey – Final Destination

Final Destination is the soul-infused hip hop debut album from Kong Fooey; the collective work of ex-Pumpkinhead beatmaker Jason Peters, guitarist David Haslett, rap artists Maitreya (Jamie Greenslade) and Topaz (Alice Egan), plus guest co-conspirators, vocalists Ella Rose and Katerina Theo. It’s an album that positively oozes the good vibes and raw energy of old-school style funk, and a cursory glance at titles like Time To Move, The Mahina Shuffle and Get In The Flow only serves to confirm that Kong Fooey's sole intention is to make us dance. Awash with brass, heavy bass, vintage keys, and lashings of funky guitar, it’s also an album dripping with ubiquitous Stax and Motown reference points. That formula lays down a foundation for the vocal collaborators to do their thing, and when they do the message is almost always one of genuine positivity: “Life is too short to be wearin’ a frown” (on early single Let Go) being just one upbeat lyrical refrain on an album crammed full of them. There’s a strong element of humour across the generous 15-track release, and if that cover looks familiar, it’s because it apes the Elvis debut, and The Clash’s London Calling, with its distinctive pink and green lettering and font set against a black and white photo image. Something that only adds to the retro-feel of the whole thing. This one is as sharp and punchy as they come.

http://www.nzmusician.co.nz/index.php/ps_pagename/album/pi_albumid/2639

Golden Curtain – Hell Is Other People

Album number three for Hawke’s Bay’s Golden Curtain, the super tight three-piece consisting of guitarist Andrew Mckenzie, bass player Brad Gamble, and former Garageland stickman Andrew Gladstone on drums. Short in its duration, with just eight tracks clocking in a few ticks under 25 minutes, Hell Is Other People takes us on a whirlwind journey into the world of alt-country Bay-style, with ’60s passages (Toys), boy-girl excursions (Penelope Blue, Lucille), and an occasional venture into rockier climes (Like An Island). All supplemented with a pop twist, colourful textures, and subtle hints of psychedelia. Produced by the band, mixed and mastered by Brett Stanton, one of the album’s real strengths is the strong vocal harmonies throughout – something that seems to hint, inadvertently perhaps, at a certain togetherness or unity, or of a collective self-assurance. At the very least, there’s a sense that this band is perfectly comfortable in its own skin. Or it might just be as simple as Golden Curtain being right at the very peak of its powers. Despite the relative brevity it’s a solid album, with the musical package suitably complemented by the rather fetching pop-art album cover artwork by local music identity, artist, and all-round Hall-of-Famer, Fane Flaws.

http://www.nzmusician.co.nz/index.php/ps_pagename/album/pi_albumid/2630

Albums of 2015

Yes, yes. I know. We’re practically a tenth of the way through 2016 already and everythingsgonegreen is still living in the past. Even more than it usually does. Still wrapping up the formalities of bidding 2015 a fairly fond farewell. And other “F” words. But being late is nothing unusual for this blog. To be fair, I would have published this a fortnight ago, but my AA meeting went on longer than planned, and the barman wouldn’t let me leave.

And so these are the albums that made the most impact on me throughout 2015. Not “the best albums”, not the most popular or critically acclaimed, but the albums that were significant to my world. The music I played the most, I guess is the best criteria to use. I make no apologies for the local bias. The only prerequisite for an album’s inclusion was that I had to have my own copy of it in one form or another. Spotify and streaming mean nothing to me.

10. Blur – The Magic Whip

Damon Albarn has his moments, and I think The Magic Whip is one of his better ones. I really didn’t need any more Blur, and Modern Life Is Rubbish was always going to be enough for me, but this turned out to be a lovely unexpected bonus, and a real grower as the year progressed. My original review can be found here.

9. Adrian Sherwood – At The Controls Volume 1 1979 – 1984

It probably goes against all of the unwritten rules of music blogging to include a sneaky retro-compilation on these sorts of year-end lists. But everythingsgonegreen despises rules, especially those pesky unwritten ones, so here it is, another superb set of tunes from ace producer Adrian Sherwood. I loved this, and I dribble from the mouth a wee bit when pondering just how deep the yet-to-be-released On-U Sound archives might run. Despite being a huge fan of the label and of the Eighties, I was gobsmacked to discover a couple of bands here that I’d never even heard of before. And then there was the primo Shriekback track I knew nothing at all about. We’re nothing if not current and cutting edge up here at everythingsgonegreen towers … or the tree hut at the bottom of the backyard as it’s otherwise known. Shame – with some mitigating circumstances – on the hapless JB Hi Fi guy who didn’t know this album even existed. My original review can be found here.

8. Fat Freddy’s Drop – Bays

It's no secret that everythingsgonegreen is a massive fan of local dub/reggae/funk crossover merchants Fat Freddy's Drop. But even I baulked at the option of paying something close to $150 for two tickets to the band's recent NYE (2015/2016) gig at Petone beach. It was effectively a homecoming or hometown gig, but nothing about that price was especially festive or neighbourly, and it was all a little too rich for yours truly. Less disappointing and even less prohibitive was the $24.99 I'd already forked out for a copy of Bays, the band's rather excellent fifth album from earlier in 2015. All of the regular Fat Freddy's touchstones are present and accounted for on Bays – bass, horns, drops, laid back grooves, and songs about food. You mostly know what you're going to get with these guys. Some (local) critics will doubtlessly argue that's a bad thing, but I reckon the intense progressive electro vibes found on 'Razor' and 'Novak' actually do represent something quite different here. Of course it won’t be enough to satisfy those naysayers, nor the bandwagon-hoppers who continue to tag the band with the lazy and tiresome "barbecue reggae" label. But who really cares about unimaginative worn-out labels? Beyond wanting to give one or two regular grizzlers a poke in the eye with a particularly sharp stick, the band obviously couldn’t care less.

7. Belle and Sebastian – Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance

We live in a topsy-turvy world. A world where everything we once believed is now in danger of being turned completely on its head at any given moment. For proof of such a claim, look no further than Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance. A rare and barely imagined two-headed beastie; a disco-pop album made by long-time kings of bedsit twee, Belle and Sebastian. An album that challenges all of the things I thought I knew about Stuart Murdoch and his stalwart gang of Scottish indie pop perfectionists. Two decades into their journey, album number nine feels like something quite special for the band. It’s clever stuff, charmingly existential, as ever, while shamelessly strutting its way across the dancefloor with its arse hanging out. Always a good look. And I don’t know if Belle and Sebastian have peaked inside the Top 10 of the ‘fishal UK album charts all that often, but Girls In Peacetime did exactly that, by hook over crook, all part of the plan, as espoused on notional centrepiece ‘The Everlasting Muse’ … “a subtle gift to modern rock, she says ‘be popular, play pop’ … and you will win my love”. I’ve had a fractured relationship with Belle and Sebastian over the years, but who doesn’t love a happy ending?

6. Mel Parsons – Drylands

Mel Parsons is a huge talent. As a musician, as a vocalist, and as a songwriter. Drylands represents exhibit A, and is, from all accounts, her best work yet. It’s also an album that just gets better with each and every listen. My original review can be found here. 

5. New Order – Music Complete

When it first arrived, I never expected Music Complete to wind up on any year-end lists. But then, when it comes to New Order in context of 2015, I really had no expectations at all. Why would I? The band has nothing left to prove, and this barely anticipated late addition to an already astounding musical legacy was the band's best full length work since 1989's Technique. And if you think that's merely a case of blatant fanboy hyperbole (which it partly might be) then it's still a long way short of Mojo magazine's rating of New Order as its 2015 band of the year. Yes, really. My original review can be found here.

4. She's So Rad – Tango

Tango was such a long time in coming that by the time it arrived I'd already heard most of it in one form or another. But that did nothing to dampen my enjoyment of it. Circles, the band's 2011 debut, largely flew under my radar, and to some extent a steady drip-feed diet of this stuff has given Tango an impetus the first album probably lacked. Main Rad dude, Jeremy Toy, wears his musical influences on his sleeve for all to see, and Tango is an exercise in blending a strong Eighties synthpop aesthetic with copious helpings of early Nineties shoegaze. And who doesn’t love a little bit of both of those things? But it’s not all retro-centric, with David Dallas’ straight-outta-Auckland hip hop cameo on ‘Say The Word’ taking things to another place entirely. Best bits: ‘Levels’, ‘Cool It’, ‘Confetti’, and ‘Sewn Up Sunshine’.

3. Yoko-Zuna – This Place Here

When I spoke to Cam Duncan, this album’s producer, early last month, he talked a little bit about how music fans can *feel* music before they actually *hear* it. That was all a bit flowery and “out there” for a mere layman and pragmatist like me, but I think I partly knew what he was trying to get at. For me, This Place Here conjures up widescreen cinematic imagery the very instant I do hear it, so I suppose that’s close enough. It’s probably just the sax and the wider jazzy feel, but I’m reminded of that scene in Scorcese’s Taxi Driver, where there’s a downpour and a narrative/voiceover describing how the rains arrive to cleanse the streets of all the gunk and grime. All of mankind’s sins are washed away, as if the drenching was all part of some great masterplan (Travis: “someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets”). It’s Seventies New York at twilight, dusky downtown streets, and film noir black and white imagery. Only it isn’t really New York. This Place Here is a trip. It’s an album conceived on the streets of urban Auckland, on Grafton Road, on Queen Street, and on K Road. In the small clubs and jam-bars in the side streets off the main drag. And that voiceover? … it comes in the form of multiple narratives from some of the best hip hop exponents those streets have to offer – from David Dallas to Team Dynamite, Spycc, and others. In more simple terms, the album was a mature, multi-collaborative, and perfectly formed mix of hip hop, RnB, and jazz. With a super-sized “just jamming with mates” feel right at its core. My original review can be found here.

2. The Phoenix Foundation – Give Up Your Dreams

I reckon The Phoenix Foundation might just about be the best band in New Zealand right now. And I'm not saying that just because they're regular neighbourhood guys from just down the road; the band's output across more than a decade speaks for itself, and album number six, Give Up Your Dreams, is arguably the best work yet. With its capacity for musical surprises and a more than generous sprinkling of lyrical brilliance, it certainly appeals as the band's most consistent full-length effort. From the psych-rock of opener 'Mountain' to the electro-pop textures and harmonies of closer 'Myth', and everything in between, The Phoenix Foundation effortlessly conjure up a masterclass in state-of-the-art pop on GUYD. While it’s tempting to single out the bouncy hooks of 'Bob Lennon John Dylan', or the title track itself as highpoints, no single track really stands out ahead of the rest, and it’s the sheer variety on offer that ultimately leaves the longest lasting impression. A career high for the band.

1. Of Monsters And Men – Beneath The Skin

I’m not sure whether I should feel guilt pangs for loving Of Monsters And Men as much as I do. But, just quietly, sometimes I do feel that way. I have form for this sort of thing. Back in 2012, the band’s excellent debut, My Head Is An Animal, also featured highly (number 2) on the blog’s end-of-year album wrap. There’s just something so damned irresistible about Of Monsters And Men. Is it still too soon to call them Iceland’s best pop export since Bjork’s imperious Sugarcubes? There’s a strong argument to be made there, it has to be said. If the debut was all about embracing childlike magic and feelgood triggers, and I think it was, then 2015’s Beneath The Skin is a far more adult and grown-up affair. As an album it’s altogether an earthier, more grounded, inward-looking work. But being a little darker lyrically, and unafraid to broach some of life’s more existential questions, just means the band’s music is all the broader in appeal this time out. Thankfully, none of the quirk or charm of previous work was lost in the process of giving this stuff a more introspective or serious hue. For the absence of any doubt, check out ‘Crystals’, ‘Empire’, ‘I of the Storm’, and ‘Wolves Without Teeth’. Guilty pleasures be damned, I can’t wait for album number three already.

Honourable mentions:

The Orb’s Moonbuilding 2703 AD, a four-track epic spanning some 52 minutes, making it rather reminiscent of the now archaic Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld. Without being quite as good as that particular masterpiece.

Leftfield’s Alternative Light Source, which was effectively Neil Barnes and a whole list of collaborators making Leftfield’s first set of new and original material this century. I especially enjoyed the contribution of James Williamson (Sleaford Mods) on the mildly amusing but nonetheless slightly disturbing ‘Head and Shoulders’.

St Germain’s “comeback” work St Germain, a self-titled third album for French producer Ludovic Navarre. While this one was not quite in the same league as its predecessor, Tourist (2000), I thought it was a wonderful exercise in exploring the concept of rhythm, specifically as it relates to Africa and naturally, the blues. Put like that, it might also have been about the meaning of life …

Oxford band Foals released What Went Down mid-year and for a long time it was a stick-on certainty to make this list. But as the year wore on, the more I listened to it, the more bored I became. A decent collection of songs, just lacking one special element … even if I’m not entirely sure what that element was. I preferred 2013’s Holy Fire, but still love Foals, and this one possibly suffered from me becoming overly familiar with it a little too quickly.

Finally, Jamie xx’s In Colour was hailed everywhere else, and while I liked the vast majority of it, the stuff I didn’t like – and I include the big “hit” ‘I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)’ in that – really put me off. When he’s good, he’s great. When he’s not, he’s … well, not. In Colour was, for me, despite all of the bouquets, a patchwork album. But still worthy of an honourable mention.

Biggest disappointment of 2015: The Pop Group’s Citizen Zombie. A 35-year wait. For that? Really? I expected more from Mark Stewart. Because I know what he’s really capable of. But then, that’s easy for me to say. I’m not a once angry young man who has grown old. I’m a once happy (and extremely handsome!) young man who has grown angry.

Was there also a Prince album I could get my knickers knotted over? I think there might have been. It’ll be the one in the recycle bin.

Best reissue: Paul Hardcastle’s 30th anniversary edition of ‘19’. You probably knew that was coming. So many different versions, so many of them truly epic. Seemingly more relevant today than it was back in 1985.

Best live album: The abbreviated version of Live at Carnegie Hall from Ryan Adams (not the sprawling three-album set), which set me up nicely for seeing Adams live at Wellington’s Opera House in July. It was my first time seeing him and he was truly impressive.

Best gig: I’m tempted to say Ryan Adams, but Fleetwood Mac in Auckland was pretty special. The swirling wind and monsoon conditions made it difficult at times, but boy oh boy did it up the drama quotient tenfold. I’ll never forget Stevie Nicks taking ‘Gold Dust Woman’ somewhere very special indeed, just as the heavens opened one last time. It was a thoroughly mental but very memorable 24-hour blast getting up there and back.

Just quickly, another thing on Fleetwood Mac: I couldn’t include the three-disc Rumours deluxe box in the best reissues because it was released as far back as 2013. But it was new to me this year and quite special in its own right. Aside from the additional disc of alternative takes and demos, there’s live tracks from the band’s 1977 World tour – which somehow seemed especially poignant and timely.

So that more or less wraps things up, and puts 2015 where it belongs – in a big fuck-off box. And ties the bow. I’m reaching up and placing it on the shelf beside the others right now. Thanks for reading. You had the easy bit. I think.

 

The Festive Dozen 2015: Yoko-Zuna - This Place Here

It’s taking pleasure from the small things in life that keeps us smiling, isn’t it?

One of the biggest buzzes – from the smallest of treats – I got during the year happened every second month or so, when discovering a freshly wrapped bulging CD-sized package safely stowed away in my letter box, courtesy of NZ Musician magazine. Upon discovery, sometimes before I’d even made it all the way up the driveway, I’d excitedly open said package, completely blind to the delights (or otherwise) of the music the magazine had sent me to review. And who doesn’t like getting new music (in physical form) and a nice surprise in the post?

More often than not it was something I was vaguely familiar with, so I might have already formed some kind of opinion. But on the occasion back in September, when the debut album/CD of young Auckland jazz-hoppers Yoko-Zuna turned up there, I simply stared blankly back at it, scratching my head. That release, This Place Here, would quickly go on to become one of my most thrashed albums of the past few months … pretty much locking itself in as one of the blog’s albums of the year.

Here’s the title track for that work:

(The Festive Dozen is a fairly randomly selected year-end collection of clips featuring the tunes which featured most prominently on the (generally pop-loving) iPod playlists of everythingsgonegreen at various stages throughout 2015) ...

Fresh Cuts for NZ Musician October/November 2015

I had a couple of album reviews included in the latest edition of NZ Musician magazine (see below). I’m pretty certain the Yoko-Zuna album is among the very best things – local or international – I’ve heard all year, and I’ll be very surprised if we don’t end up hearing a lot more from these super-talented young Aucklanders.

 

Yoko-Zuna: This Place Here

One of the best things about the jazz and hip hop genres is the capacity each has for embracing the concept of collaboration. The nature of hip hop in particular – with its emphasis on sampling and production – makes it ripe for a cross pollination of musical ideas, and many of the genre’s seminal moments have been born from this pick and mix approach. And so it is with ‘This Place Here’, the debut release from Auckland four-piece Yoko-Zuna. It’s an album which features lyrical/vocal star turns from local luminaries such as David Dallas, Spycc, Team Dynamite, Bailey Wiley, Melodownz from Third3ye and Goodshirt’s Rodney Fisher. Throw in a variety of instrumentation from the group’s core members – keys/synth, sax, flute – plus terrific recording and mastering from Cam Duncan, and the result is a wonderfully eclectic mix across the album’s nine tracks. So much so, it feels plain wrong to file this hybrid concoction exclusively under the hip hop banner. The album’s roots are deeply embedded in the genre, there’s no question about that, but above ground, given the air and room to breathe, these soul and jazz-infused tunes take on a life of their own; boundaries are breached, horizons are expanded and ultimately ‘This Place Here’ is guaranteed a much wider reach than might have been expected. One or two tracks appeal as glorious half-formed ideas that could perhaps be developed further, but there are no duds. The RnB-styled One’s Cycle, topped with a delicious soul-drenched Bailey Wiley vocal, is a sumptuous stand out.

http://www.nzmusician.co.nz/index.php/ps_pagename/album/pi_albumid/2569

Greg Fleming And The Working Poor: Stranger In My Own Hometown

Fleming’s second outing with The Working Poor, and alongside the evident irony, the road-worn Auckland songsmith has perfected the art of what might be called working man’s blues rock. An edgy country-tinged blues rock, with a gruff lived-in vocal to both die for and rally behind. The sort of voice you might get if you crossed Dylan with Knopfler, or Petty, or Waits, or any combination thereof. Produced by the band’s drummer Wayne Bell, Fleming’s vocals sit atop beautifully crafted compositions and songs about things that matter. Songs about important things like bad politics, cruel cities, and matters of the heart – not necessarily in that order. Songs like Corporate Hill, Night Country Blues, the lovely piano ballad Autumn Auckland, and the intimate Heart’s a Wreck. But more than that, more than the voice, more than those lyrics, what really makes ‘Stranger in My Own Hometown’ work is the sense that each member of the six-piece band knows exactly what their job is, and as a unit they execute it to perfection. And you can’t really ask for much more than that.

http://www.nzmusician.co.nz/index.php/pi_pageid/10/pi_albumid/2588