Posts Tagged ‘New Zealand’

SURF CITY – ” NYC “

Posted: March 6, 2015 in MUSIC
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New Zealand band Surf City’s latest album We Knew It Was Not Going To Be Like This continues their love affair with psychedelic, reverb-swathed guitar pop, drawing from their Flying Nun forefathers The Clean and The Chills, as well as the fuzzed-up dream pop of The Jesus and Mary Chain and the loopy noise of Animal Collective. This time round the songwriting is stronger, the tunes are hookier and the sound is even more lush.
Named after a random snippet of overhead conversation in a crowded South Korean bar, We Knew It Was Not Going To Be Like This captures a haze of broken connections, isolation in the belly of the city. Recorded in snippets from different corners of the world – New Zealand, New York and South Korea – this is their second to be released via London label Fire Records, whose back catalogue boasts a host of classic dreamy acts such as Spacemen 3 and Bailterspace, as well as newer Antipodean bands such as Opossom, Blank Realm, Lower Plenty and Scott & Charlene’s Wedding.

Initially a four-piece formed by Davin Stoddard and Josh Kennedy with Josh’s brother Jamie on bass and Logan Collins on drums, Surf City released their debut EP in 2008. Arch Hill went on to put out their debut album Kudos domestically in 2010, before it was released worldwide by Fire Records in 2011.

SURF CITY – ” One Too Many Things “

Posted: March 6, 2015 in MUSIC
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New Zealand quartet Surf City have always sounded proudly aware of a well-honed strain of rock history, one that stretches from the Velvet Underground’s jangle through the homemade garage rock of their country’s most influential indie label, Flying Nun. They usually tweak that style enough to give their songs a unique stamp—especially through the low-key but expressive singing of frontman Davin Stoddard—and that holds true for most of their forthcoming album, Jekyll Island.
But there’s no harm in completely indulging in your influences sometimes. That’s what Surf City does on the retro-tinted but blood-filled “One Too Many Things”. It opens with an acoustic strum that sounds like the Feelies riffing on the VU’s “What Goes On”—or perhaps Real Estate riffing on both—before launching into a simple, irresistibly-catchy swing. The guitars pile into a kind of 3D rave-up, but there’s no forced energy here; Surf City wisely trust that three good chords can excite and hypnotize without any extraneous bells and whistles. There’s a wistfulness to the way Davin Stoddard doles out his world-weary lines, but rather than dragging the song down, they simply add to its classic, lived-in field. In other words, “One Too Many Things” sounds like it’s been around a while, and deservedly so.

SURF CITY – ” Its A Common Life “

Posted: March 6, 2015 in MUSIC
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The album enjoyed critical acclaim from a host of bloggers, who praised their “impressively assured sound” and “perfect 2-minute pop storm.” with their punky psychedelic pop is impressive  and admitted Surf City’s pleasure for pleasure’s sake approach already has me pining for more.”

The band toured the US and NZ/Australia before taking a brief hiatus while Davin Stoddard did a good amount of traveling. Josh became a father and left the band and Davin moved to New York, where he found a basement studio in Chinatown and began to work on the new album. He soon realized that the Big Apple wasn’t really for him (revealed in the song “NYC”). He returned to New Zealand and continued recording. He soon found himself in South Korea, teaching English, and far removed from everyone he knew. Filling so many of his late nights and early mornings with recording additional vocals and guitar parts in his apartment, the paper-thin walls would eventually cause the tenants who lived upstairs to move out as a result.

During this time Davin was listening to a lot of Bob Dylan, Scott Walker and Leonard Cohen, who all coloured the lyrical style that appears on the album. In many ways it’s a sad record, reflecting the loneliness and introspection that can occur whilst traveling and spending a vast amount of time alone on buses or trains or in airports with these legendary songwriters on repeat.

Musically, the band have developed their signature reverb-heavy fuzz rock in to something more gutsy but whilst retaining a keen ear for melody to create some unforgettable tunes.

ZEBRA HUNT – ” City Sighs “

Posted: February 15, 2015 in MUSIC
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After a couple singles, Zebra Hunt, the Pacific Northwest’s foremost purveyors of the Dunnedin sound have released an album. City Sighs has obviously been influenced by the classic Flying Nun sound of the early 80’s made famous by the Clean, the Verlaines and the Chills, but it also incorporates some distinctly American sounds to create a fresh variation on a well worn style.

City Sighs seems to be an album full of jangle, longing and discovery. It’s full of pop songs that are instantly likable and easy to remember. Deleware starts the record and opines for a lost friend who’s up and moved back to the first state in the Union. Singer Robert Mercer sings just enough (and leaves even more unsaid) to get you wondering why this person left. It has an air of mystery to it like a Raymond Carver story. The American influences aren’t just literary. Call It Off is a dusty rocker that has Long Ryders feel to it and Isle of Song and Always both owe a little something to Galaxy 500. The band also rightfully resurrect Half Right and Beaches of LA, two of their best songs that originally appeared on their first single that came out on the now defunct Manic Pop label.

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The last song Haze Of Youth may be my favorite song on the album. Starting out as pop and then transitioning into a long jam, it out real estates Real Estate. “City Sighs” is being released by the tiny Tenorio Cotobade label in Madrid, Spain, so you probably won’t see this record at your local shop unless you live in Seattle, but it deserves as much exposure and recognition as like minded records (on much larger labels) by the Twerps and Real Estate.

YUMI ZOUMA – ” Catastrophe “

Posted: February 14, 2015 in MUSIC
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Yumi Zouma began as a project in 2013 between three friends from New Zealand. The songs were never intended to leave the machines they were composed on. In January 2014, their debut EP launched to overwhelming acclaim – lauded as undeniably stylish and sincere. The months that followed saw the band repeatedly climb to top spot on the Hype Machine, collaborate with musical role models, Air France, and support both Lorde and Chet Faker on key international tours.

Yumi Zouma now returns with their anticipated second EP, bookending their era of intimate and restrained short-form releases. The new tracks are just as effortless and engaging as expected, but they also tell the story of a band evolving. Lush, electronic productions buoy key tracks and the vocal deliveries are increasingly sophisticated. Yumi Zouma will be at SXSW this March. International tour dates are currently being routed.

 

MERMAIDENS – ” Wander “

Posted: January 22, 2015 in MUSIC
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New Zealand based trio Mermaidens was released in the middle of last year .

“Wander” is full of rumbling drums and dreamy harmonies wrapped around spidery, reverb heavy guitars and the result is rich and hypnotic, soaking you within ethereal realms with jam-heavy, never hurried melody and steadily building atmosphere. “Cold Skin” is darker and yet more haunting with deep drum echoes and shadowy guitars ebbing and flowing from slow, brooding intent to a quivering climax of euphoric noise. Both tracks are quite exceptional.

Newer is a live recording of “Dive” which came out in December and shifts their style somewhat, a bigger, heavier beast propelled by a frenetic rhythm section, searing guitar riffs and intense vocals, straight in your face, it’s a world away from the textured structures of that earlier EP.

YUMI ZOUMA – ” The Brae “

Posted: December 19, 2014 in MUSIC
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Yumi Zouma’s EP is wonderful, It’s a delightful taster of what’s (hopefully) to come from this artist and let’s hope sooner rather than later. As many have already noted, this is summer music and just as Theme Park did last year, Yumi Zouma would be utter fools not to consolidate their dominance in the genre by dropping something else around, say, July.” The band based in Paris, New York, Christchurch are  Charlie Ryder, Kim Pflaum, Josh Burgess. Yumi Zouma’s music – budget-plush, instantly poignant – sounds placeless. It could have come from anywhere, and yet it was made everywhere – or at least in countries as far-flung as France (Charlie Ryder), America (Josh Burgess) and New Zealand (Kim Pflaum), where the three members live. It’s a very modern way of operating, via Dropbox. They used to live together in a house in Christchurch, until it was destroyed in the city’s 2011 earthquake. They used that terrible event as the impetus to scatter, but their connection lingers in the songs they file-share into existence. It’s dreampop, only this time there is a good reason for them to be making hazy, drowsy music – it was often assembled in half-waking states after the demos arrived across conflicting time zones.

TINY RUINS – ” Me at The Museum “

Posted: December 18, 2014 in LEICESTER CITY VENUES, MUSIC
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New Zealander Singer Songwriter Hollie Fullbrook and a track from the album “Brightly Painted One” Having previously worked as a solo artist, New Zealand singer-songwriter Hollie Fullbrook took the moniker of Tiny Ruins back in 2009. With bassist Cass Basil and drummer Alex Freer added to the line-up, Tiny Ruins released its sophomore album, “Brightly Painted One”, this year on Bella Union. There is a beguiling subtlety to the record, highlighted by Fullbrook’s delicate finger-picked guitar work, her softly longing vocals and sensitive accompaniments by her band mates. Her songs are often quirky and always graced with subtle observations. “Me At The Museum, You In The Wintergardens” neatly sums up Tiny Ruins’ charms.

TINY RUINS – ” Carriages “

Posted: December 13, 2014 in MUSIC
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New Zealand Singer Songwriter Tiny Ruins released their second album, “Brightly Painted One”, in May 2014 and have since embarked on an international tour of New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the U.S. and Europe, seeing them through until Iceland in November. Formed as a solo project in 2009 by songwriter Hollie Fullbrook, the band now includes bassist Cass Basil and drummer Alexander Freer.

While continuing to be based in New Zealand, Tiny Ruins has spent much of the past three years touring throughout Australia, the UK, Ireland, Europe and the U.S., touring with and opening for bands such as Beach House, Joanna Newsom, Father John Misty, Fleet Foxes, Sonny & the Sunsets, The Handsome Family, Calexico and Neil Finn.

Previous releases include 2010’s collaborative EP “Little Notes”, 2011’s celebrated debut “Some Were Meant for Sea”, and a collection of older songs & B-sides titled “Haunts”, recorded by the band on 8-track and released in 2013.

The TWERPS – ” Shoulders “

Posted: December 9, 2014 in MUSIC
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new track from The Twerps’ forthcoming second album “Range Anxiety”.Range Anxiety is out Jan 23 on Chapter Music (Aus/NZ).
Pre-order the album and get “Shoulders” + first single “Back To You” via: the webpage. The low-key but top-notch indie-pop of Twerps harkens back to the 1980s, when fellow Australians the Go-Betweens and New Zealand neighbours the Chills and the Clean made waves on college radio. They’re smart and literate without trying too hard at either, and tender without ever getting whiny or overemotional. It’s classic college radio stuff done as well as anybody else today is doing it.

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