Hard News by Russell Brown

Compulsory Joy?

Lot going on. #kiaora

The Trick Mammoth stuff is really nice!

nipped up to RG for another dip into the 7s bin and pulled a minty spare of the Rebels' Passing You By.

what the Brits call a psychmoddancer, if in a 60s Nu Zild stylee.

Thanks for coming through for that BaseFM Digital Liberation launch bro. Can't believe we been going for almost 9 years!

The Trick Mammoth stuff is really nice!

Last night was the first time I'd seen them and while they had their haphazard moments, I kept thinking : "well, that's a good tune".

TuneIn

Love TuneIn - and it's not just mobile. The new stereo setup at my place doesn't have a tuner in it anymore, all radio off that interwebs thing even when it's local - I find I tend to start on the local stations then end up listening to some random French soul station or the like...

This is fresh out of the recording studio from Wellington band Brockaflowersaurus Rex and the Blueberry Biscuits.

Wow,there's actual Ministry of Compulsory Joy in the interwebs! OMG.

At one stage I wanted to paint up a friends house truck/bus as "MoCJ: Official Funbus" with the slogan "You WILL enjoy yourselves". Owner vetoed it.

thanks for fixing up the link

Jangling most certainly is back. Viz:

We went up to Islington with a just-arrived Wellington friend week before last to see Veronica Falls. Great gig, but man they sounded like The Chills. The illusion of being in Dunedin in the mid-80s was only shattered during song breaks, when the band mumbled at us in Glaswegian. So good.

like that very much, channeling the Clean also

Trick Mammoth are pretty good, but Millie Lovelock's main band, Astro Children, are even better, I reckon. As the name suggests, they go for a more droney, shoe-gazey, space rock approach.

Drummer Sam Valentine is also the bassist for the more poppy, surf-pop Males, plus he writes a music column each Saturday for the Otago Daily Times.

Apart from these acts, there's also several other very, very good young bands around Dunedin at present; I reckon the local scene is the best it's been several years' primarily due to these bands and their associated bands.

That Home Brew session that was meant to go on Friday will happen at 3pm – here

There was a problem with out video provider. See how I distance myself from it?

cheers
Hugh

Apart from these acts, there’s also several other very, very good young bands around Dunedin at present; I reckon the local scene is the best it’s been several years’ primarily due to these bands and their associated bands.

See, back in the day, some half-mad manager would have booked three or four of them as a roadshow and taken it to the nation. But no one drives any more.

I've been sick in bed all Bank Holiday weekend, so I decided I might as well see if I've been missing any decent Auckland/NZ bands since I left. What the hell, right? Fired up the links here and then the various bfm Youtube channels and then moved to bandcamp ... Crawling out of the rabbit hole a day later, I can say I really like Evil Twins/Las Tetas, Mellow Grave, Paquin, Ghost Wave, bits and pieces of Astro Children and Sunken Seas, and Cat Venom. Maybe I'm just an easy mark because I'm feverish and my faculties aren't running at full strength ... but that looks like a healthy and diverse scene ...

Judging by the "In Session" clips, though, there are a lot of bands that really do have to lay off the Iron & Wine influences ...

on the road...

...some half-mad manager would have booked three or four of them as a roadshow and taken it to the nation

That would be some kind of Looney Tour, wouldn't it?
;- )

in case ya missed the publicity
The Bats play Chchch Friday 10th May
- lunchtime concert in Restart Mall (weather permitting)
- the Brougham (Waltham Arms) doors open 8pm