Friday, December 10, 2010 15
THE PRESS, Christchurch
music GO
HOME BREW
Avondale’s biggest selling boyband,
aka rappers Home Brew, pitch
themselves as ‘‘a smooth, refreshing
ale that will make you feel golden
and moist inside just like you did
before big kids pants’’. Their
addictive raps about everyday life in
New Zealand for some are
apparently most appreciated by
substance abusers, social rejects
and the homeless. The makers of
Home Brew insist that excessive
consumption will not result in
unwanted pregnancy. Home Brew
present the Start of Summer party
at Graffiti White tonight, 10pm. $10
plus booking fee, dashtickets.co.nz
Check out their funny video, A Little
Boy Waits, inspired after they
applied for funding for a video from
NZ On Air and didn’t get one.
MY LOVELIES
Celebrating Christchurch’s female
songwriters, My Lovelies are at the
Harbour Light tonight. This round of
rising female stars features Billie
Jean, accompanied by guitarist Zion
Tauamiti, Ella Bye, the solo musings
of Lucy Hiku and Charlotte and the
Thump fronted by current music
student, Charlotte Crone, and
featuring bass player Luke Belcher,
Von Voin Strum’s guitarist, Kurt
Fleming, on drums, and guitarist
Brydon Hulse. Also on the bill, I Am
The Light – from ska (4ManBob) and
pop-punk (All Left Out) to hardcore
bands (Mona Vale Falls) comes the
solo project of Malisa Palalagi. And
last but not least, Mary Baycroft aka
Mother Love will be spinning her
records between sets. 7.30pm, $20
door sales.
SONIC WEREWOLF CONFERENCE
On Saturday night El Santo Porteno,
Lyttelton, hosts the Stink Magnetic
Sonic Werewolf Conference, and
celebrates its 13th birthday with
music from Wolf Party, House On
Haunted Hill, Bad Evil, Delaney
Davidson and Dubya D. Stink
Magnetic is a record label run by
Dylan Herkes out of the old
Wanganui Chronicle offices which
also sees the odd gig from label
stars. The label, known for its gritty
handmade artwork and cassette
releases is heavily influenced by
rockabilly, performance art and
B-Grade horror flicks. On Saturday
night they unleash on Christchurch
a compilation album about
werewolves. Join the pack from
9pm, $10 door sales, $30 for
records.
Age of aquarium
VICKI ANDERSON
discovers that musical
visitors Monopoly Child
Star Searchers and
Dolphins Into the Future
plan to turn an inner-city
art gallery into an
‘‘aquarium slash temple’’
this weekend.
M
onopoly Child Star
Searchers and
Dolphins Into the
Future have plans to
turn HSP, on Lichfield St, into an
‘‘aquarium slash temple’’ on
Saturday night.
Newsflash to those who like to
write art-speak, aka pretentious,
incomprehensible drivel:
stringing nonsensical words of
multiple syllables together does
not make you appear superior, it
just proves you own a dictionary.
Take this, for example: ‘‘His
ornate, hallucinatory
environments are enacted
through a Xerox mirage of
celestial horse gallop, mizmar-like
horn melisma and avian vocal
interpretation. His live
performances have been likened
to a mix of temple inauguration
and 50s Ethnic Folkways bootleg,
and his myriad of recorded
artefacts surf from devotional
pyramid drone and celestial
bamboo ritual to the tropical
romance audio novel of his most
recent vision, Make Mine,
Macaw.’’
No disrespect to the pointyheaded person who whipped out
that masterpiece but please allow
me to reinterpret for morons like
DICTAPHONE BLUES
Dictaphone Blues fronted by Ed
Castelow is at Goodbye Blue
Monday on Saturday night.
Dictaphone Blues consists of former
Heavy Jones members, Myles
Allpress and Rob Collins. One-time
Brunette and Ruby Sun member and
ex Degrees K member Castelow
released On The Down and In on his
own Blah-lah-lah Records label in
2009 which featured songs which
could have come from a suburban
60s house on a low-light winter’s
afternoon. Highlights being 1000
Suns Inside My Lungs, You Put It In
Me, Spooky Room and Lantern. In
October, Dictaphone Blues released
their EP Oh So Sorry. The five-track
EP opens with the epic Questioner
with their signature indie pop
stylings. Check out the 7’’ vinyl.
Things that make
you go ‘‘Bamercise’’:
You know the ad for
getting stuff clean
‘‘Bam’’ and how
they say there is a
Bamercise website?
There really is.
Things that make
you go ‘‘Phil Collins
is cool’’: Claimed
the ridiculous
article. Yeah, right. Where was
the Tui logo?
Things that make you go ‘‘Tweet
of the Week’’: Sara Bareilles: ‘‘I
feel so much love from so many of
you. Thank you so much for that.
And I’m sorry I talked about my
period on stage yesterday. That is
all.’’
myself. What you’re saying is it
sounds equal parts like horses
galloping through space
accompanied by birds honking
and ‘‘field recordings’’ inside a
pyramid while some geezer
whacks a bamboo attached to that
horse roaming through space.
Oh, and, bartender, make mine
a tropical romance audio novel. I
don’t know what it is but I want
one. And while you’re there make
mine McCaw.
However, I do desperately
want to see the United States’
Monopoly Child Star Searchers,
aka Spencer Clark of the Skaters
and Pacific City Visions, and
Belgium’s Dolphins Into the
Future when they perform on
Saturday night. Richard
MacFarlane, of the superb Rose
Quartz blog, is as enthused as I’ve
ever seen him about anything. His
emails to me on the subject are
peppered with more than a
seemly amount of exclamation
marks.
Yet, it’s hard to get any facts
about what is actually happening
on Saturday night. Real aquarium
with fish, or a goldfish bowl on
someone’s head while beardstrokers sit around commenting
at length on the nuances of the
water in the bowl?
Clark has collaborated and
performed with artists such as
Tomutonttu, Sonic Youth,
Deerhoof, Nurse With Wound,
Charalambides, Melvins and
Wooden Wand and is undoubtedly
well worth seeing.
Saturday’s show offers fans a
chance to get their hands on new
release Bamboo For Two, ‘‘a
parroted companions guided tour
to the most romantic details of a
jungle’s sensibility’’.
Checking out the music I
discover a personal introduction
by the artist himself, who appears
to have written erotic poetry for
his parrot.
Dolphins into the Future is the
Antwerp-based Lieven Martens.
According to the art-speakers:
‘‘Dolphins’ radiant musical glare
and calming ascension emerges
from an innerspace of reflective
elation and higher intelligence.’’
Whatever buddy, I wanna see
Flipper play. Swimming’s a
bonus.
❏ Monopoly Child Star Searchers
and Dolphins Into the Future with LA
Lakers at HSP, 84 Lichfield St,
Saturday. Tickets from
undertheradar.co.nz.
Things that make you go ‘‘The
magic happens’’: The Bats are
busy recording at the mental
hospital, Seacliff, which once
housed Janet Frame, this
weekend.
GrassRoots
GrassRoots hits the Puhinui
Reserve in Auckland on April
23-24. The two-day festival will
bring together some of the best
international and local talent
across a multitude of genres while
still having its core ethos firmly
grounded in blues and roots-based
music. Over thirty artists on two
stages over the two days will
launch GrassRoots – The New
Zealand Blues and Roots All
Music Festival 2011. First artists
to be announced include BB King
(US), Elvis Costello & The
Imposters (US), and Ben Harper
and Relentless7 (US). Ticket
options include single day, two
day, VIP and camping with
limited early-buy offer. Go to
grassrootsfestival.co.nz
RDU news
Congratulations and big hugs
go to RoundUp grand champions
M*A*S*S*I*V*E SUMMER SOULSTICE
At Napenape, North Canterbury, on
Saturday celebrate with a big lineup including Pitch Black, Isaac
Chambers, Pylonz, Insomniac, Dov,
Locean, Alpharhythm, Nrt, Tom
Cosm and more. Directions: Drive
north on State Highway 1 through
Greta Valley. Take the second right
(after Greta Valley) down
Stoneyhurst Rd to Blythe Valley.
Follow to road end, Napenape.
Signposted from Greta Valley. Take
food, warm clothes, sunblock, a
torch and a smile. Don’t take
alcohol, glass, dogs, silly drivers or
bad attitudes. No fires. Dangerous
beach so no swimming. Don’t cross
farmer’s fences. Take your rubbish
home. 4pm, pre-sale tickets $35
from Cosmic Corner, $50 on the
gate.
four-piece garage
punk band The
Guest. Decknology
grand champion
Thanks and Best
Demo 2010 winner,
Ed Muzik, aka
James Dann.
That’s
Country
Running from
1976 to 1983, TV
show That’s Country, hosted by
Ray Columbus, was one of the
highest-rating music shows in
New Zealand.
The programme, filmed at the
Christchurch Town Hall,
screened on Saturday nights in
the 1970s and 1980s and in its final
year it also screened on
Nashville’s country music cable
channel. After 27 years, a DVD
and CD celebrating the show is
out now. Ray Columbus says
putting it together brought back a
lot of vivid memories.
‘‘I remember the time Emmy
Lou Harris was on the show. She
was a little thirsty so I ran out and
got her one of those Just Juice
boxes, with the little straw. She
took one sip and I asked her how
it was. She said ‘anything that
tastes that bad must be good for
you’. She was a pretty straight up
lady.’’
The DVD/CD features Kiwi
performances from singers
Suzanne Prentice, John Grenell,
The Topp Twins, Patsy Riggir,
Brendan Dugan, Jodi Vaughan,
and Suzanne Lynch.
‘‘We did that deliberately,’’
Columbus says. ‘‘We didn’t want
this part of Kiwi music history to
be lost. We had the gamut of
country music from rockabilly
and beyond. I think that’s why it
was so popular.’’
WIN ★ WIN ★ WIN
Pop Tart has five copies of the
That’s Country CD to give away. To
enter the draw, email
[email protected] with ‘‘Going
Down Country’’ in the subject line,
before 5pm today. Winners will be
notified.