You know when you get a new album, you play it for the first time and you have to play it all over again, just to make sure it's really that good?
That's how I was last week with @peace, the eponymous debut album from a collaboration between Tom Scott of Home Brew and Lui Tuiasau of Nothing to Nobody. It's dense, soulful, intelligent, funny, honest and all about being in New Zealand now. It's not just my album of the year; I think it's one of the better albums to come out of this country, ever. I've spent a lot of time since I got it just unravelling what it has to say.
You can listen to it -- and buy it on a name-your-price basis -- at their Bandcamp page. I warmly recommend that you do so.
Here's the video for the title track:
@peace 'At Peace' from @ Peace on Vimeo.
And a really lovely montage from the @peace launch gig at The Wne Cellar in Auckland. It does make me wish I'd been there.
@Peace 'Wine Cellar Debut' from @ Peace on Vimeo.
I only "know" Tom Scott in the sense of following him on the @homebrewcrew Twitter account, where he's been pretty frank about some of the challenges he's been facing lately. I hope and trust he sorts it out and keeps working, because this young guy has so much to say and I'm inspired by what he does.
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There have been some treats for the older music nerd lately too. Veteran British DJ Greg Wilson has come back big-time to Soundcloud, uploading a bunch of mixes and some of his personal, never-available-before edits, including a gorgeous edit of 808 State's classic 'Pacific State':
Edits - Previously Unavailable by gregwilson
Another, ahem, mature personality has come back around on the local front. You may not know that 3 News' ace reporter Richard Langston once edited a vital Dunedin fanzine called Garage. Well, you can travel back and feel the fan-love thanks to Flying Nun Records, which has begun uploading the Garage back-catalogue as free PDFs, as part of the label's 30 anniversary celebrations.
Even better, Richard has written a blog post about the project and compiled a Flying Nun mixtape, which is available as a podcast. There's life in the old chap yet.
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Speaking of old chaps, I was flattered to see I've featured in a new post by Peter McLennan. Peter dug out an interview he did with me for his Real Groove column in 2000 -- not about music, but my early experience with the internet -- and accompanied it with an even older picture of me and my little boy, from an early 1990s issue of Stamp magazine, back when I was editing Planet magazine. How lovely.
You should also check out Peter's new musical project, Kilodee. There's a free download in the modern style("dirty strings, blippy drums, mariachi horns") available on Bandcamp. Nice!
And, finally, thanks to Chris Matthews for drawing my attention to this "meat and potatoes mash-up" of two tunes you may know:
Thin Lizzy vs Pixies - The Boys Are Back In Heaven from Phil RetroSpector on Vimeo.
Righto, that's me. Have a nice weekend, see you at The Adults maybe -- and post 'em if you got 'em.