First day of NZ Music Month 2008!

Welcome to the first day of NZ Music Month 2008!

For the next 31 days we'll be doing our best to help you find your favourite new band or reconnect with an old musical hero, and here we'll start by lighting the fuse on this annual celebration of local musicâ Raising a loud cheer for great live music today is the best way you can take part in kicking it off, and since Thursday's been the new Friday for some time now, there's no shortage of shows happening all over the place. With artists like Surf City, The Enright House, Gray Bartlett, the Mint Chicks and White Swan, Black Swan gigging up and down New Zealand tonight, there's really no excuse to not get out there and enjoy yourselves.

While you're checking www.nzmusicmonth.co.nz to see what's happening all around the country, take a minute to cast the first entries in our competition with Telecomâ Little Town, Big Gig will see opshop heading off to a regional town to close the month, and we're asking you to help us decide where it's going to take place. Click www.telecom.co.nz/opshop for more info and to start the ball rolling with your best suggestion. And whether you're on foot or online there's got to be a local album with your name on it in a store near you. In fact, two brand new releases - Shihad's Beautiful Machine and Flight Of The Conchords' self-titled debut for Sub Pop - jostle for position at the top of the album chart, something you don't see every day, or every month either. These two goodies aside, there have been a bumper crop of releases of late, with more on the horizon, so put a bit of money where your ears are, already!

Over the coming weeks and days we'll be piping up with highlights and recommendations for the month, as well as keeping you up to date with everything going on at NZMM HQ. Stay tuned for news about Little Town, Big Gig - including Telecom handsets and more besides for our favourite entries - as well as an announcement about where exactly the gig's going to happen. And if you've got a gig happening that you think we might not know about, please drop us a line so we can help get the word out about what you're up to.

But most of all enjoy yourselves, have a good weekend, swap notes about the best stuff you've seen on Monday, and have a bloody good month while you're at it!

NZ Music Month www.nzmusicmonth.co.nz

ends

© Scoop Media