Celebrating NZ Music Month

Celebrating NZ Music Month

Kia ora ,

Well, it's upon us! New Zealand Music Month 2011 - a solid thirty odd days of intense celebration of our favourite genre: LOCAL!

Aside from having a mega-load of great releases for you today, we're excited about the ridonkulous selection of shows on up and down the country too. Forget the rain - let's party!

Keep your eyes peeled for interviews, reviews, photos, hilarious and informative tweets and more as the days unfold.

Let's not let a fairytale wedding or James Bond style terrorist villain killing get in the way of our good times... Let's enjoy our New Zealand Music in style!

Let the good times roll...
Mr Editor

ALL MUSIC NEWS • NEW ON AMPLIFIER

Music News
• Country Album & Song Finalists Announced
• VNZMA 2011 Nominations Open Now
• Batucada Sound Machine To Play Sziget Festival
• Ladi6's The Liberation Of... Wins The 2011 Taite Music Prize
• Julia Deans & Anna Coddington Add Lyttelton Date To The Keepsakes Tour
• Family Cactus Album Release Shows
• Dates Announced For Splore 2012
• Chartfest 2011 To Return To Christchurch
• APRA Supports Government's Commitment To Creative Rights
• Pacific Music Awards Finalists Announced
• Don McGlashan Goes Solo In The North Island
• The Whiskey In Ponsonby To Celebrate NZ Music Month
• UPDATED: Christchurch Earthquake Fundraisers
More music news »

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Album
Princess Chelsea - Lil' Golden Book
You lucky beggars! It's Princess Chelsea's debut album, Lil' Golden Book, and she wants you to take this treasure home, curl up under the covers and get lost in a world of greedy monkeys, slumber parties and robot children.
Written, performed and recorded by Chelsea "Princess Chelsea" Nikkel; with production assistance from Jonathan "The Brunettes" Bree and a guest vocal by James "Lawrence Arabia" Milne.

The amazing artwork is designed by Brad "Brand New Math" Fafejta and it's all brought to you by the good folk at Lil' Chief Records!

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Album
Luger Boa - New Hot Nights
New Hot Nights is the second album for Luger Boa, the brainchild of Jimmy Christmas and yet another evolution in a musical career that has seen him play major stages all over the world, sign to major record labels in all territories, rub shoulders with the rock n roll elite, and develop a knack for crafting hit singles.
2010 saw the band headline the hugely successful 'State Of Rock Tour' and return to the studio to create a new album described as "12 deliciously twisted tales from the concrete jungle".
Christmas says of New Hot Nights, "Many long nights spent on various city streets conjured up the images and characters that infest this album. It's a loose concept of a whole collection of nocturnal stories, all a little bizarre. Musically the idea of what Luger Boa is has been pushed several steps ahead and at least two to the side...I think it is my best work to date, and the guys playing on this record are phenomenal - the Luger Boa is a very well oiled machine and an honour to be a part of, this album is great and I can't wait to get it to the stage".

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EP
Diana Rozz - Numbskull
Wellington party triplets Diana Rozz finally release their debut EP Numbskull!
You can expect riffs, riffs and more riffs with a sprinkling of organ on top in a style they describe as "What you get if Diana Ross went to a Sonic Youth concert".

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Album
The Gladeyes - Shadows Explode
Shadows Explode is the second album from the female Auckland duo The Gladeyes, released via Lil Chief Records, it's the follow up to Psychosis Of Love, the duo's acclaimed 2009 album.
An album of witchy guitar-pop, Shadows Explode remains strongly informed by long-time touchstones The Velvet Underground and The Carpenters, while adding some of the hazy, romantic riffs of Best Coast and Dum Dum Girls.

Sadly, one half of the duo is headed off to live in Sweden, so this album is something of a swansong for a group that has sailed below the radar for the past decade, building their DIY world into something truly impressive.

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Album
David Kilgour - Left By Soft
Left By Soft is David's eighth solo album and his fourth with Arch Hill.
The album was recorded in the Catlins, about two hours south of Dunedin, in an old lodge surrounded by native bush, birds, and the sea. David spent about a week down there with the Heavy Eights.

Thomas Bell engineered and produced but also played bass and cooked the band awesome meals every night.
After chilling out most mornings, the band would start recording mid afternoon into the night. Apart from a couple of overblown tracks, they kept overdubs to a minimum and when mixing left most takes as is - no cleaning up via Pro Tools editing, etc.
"To me, it sounds like the band on a good night, warts and all," says Kilgour. "It's probably the first real 'band' LP I've made since Frozen Orange or the David Kilgour and the Heavy 8's LP from the mid '90s."
Left By Soft, his first album in four years with the Heavy Eights (Taane Tokona on drums, Tony de Raad on guitar and keyboards, and Thomas Bell on bass and keyboards), comes on the heels of The Clean's excellent 2009 outing, Mister Pop. You could say it's all part of a late-career renaissance, but that implies there's been some sort of valley in his 30 years of making music. This time, there are more of the elegantly chiming chords and beautifully drifting solos, all presented with Kilgour's sparkling pop sensibilities.

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EP
City Oh Sigh - Like A Light
City Oh Sigh is a Wellington-based trio of classically trained musicians that carefully craft soulful songs, capturing audiences with their softness and beauty. The band combines unique instrumentation with subtle elements of folk and minimalist pop to emerge with a sound that is both difficult to categorise yet warmly familiar.
Lead singer, songwriter and cellist Kate started writing her own songs after a stint playing with several bands (Ladybird, Blackbelles) across NZ, Australia, America and Europe. On returning to NZ, Kate teamed up with old friends, Sarah (rhodes) and Catherine (guitar, vocals, trumpet) and started writing songs with themes of love and loss, friendship and loneliness.
Presenting City Oh Sigh's debut EP, released on Home Alone Music, recorded and mixed by Richard Caigou at Massey Concert Hall, Wellington, 2010, and mastered by James Goldsmith.

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Single
Kimbra - Cameo Lover
Cameo Lover is the latest single from Kimbra's forthcoming album "Vows" - due for release later this year.
Kimbra's is a voice that belies her age; a rich, expressive timbre settled somewhere between the honeyed croon of a soul singer and the acrobatic flair of an indie rock girl.
Kimbra has already earned comparisons to jazz greats like Nina Simone and Bessie Smith, while also bringing a contemporary edge more akin to Bjork.

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EP
Luke Thompson - The Water
You'd be forgiven for wondering where NZ's golden boy Luke Thompson has been for the past three years. Since his 2008 breakout record Here On The Ground, which won him audiences over with songs like Perfect Drive, Bleed and Morning Light, Luke has been hard at work, forging and crafting his latest solo work - The Water EP.
The title track is a stunning new song that features appearances from his good friends Dave Baxter (Avalanche City) and Lydia Cole as well as industry legends Nic Manders and Bruce Lynch.
The Water was recorded in conjunction with local charity The Good Trust (www.good.org.nz) and proceeds from the sale of the song will benefit the creation of clean drinking water projects around the world, helping to build wells for poverty-stricken communities.

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Album
The DeSotos - Your Highway For Tonight
Comprising fourteen original tracks, Your Highway For Tonight is The DeSotos second release.
Paul Gurney and Stuart McIntyre have been regular attendees at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in recent years and much of The DeSotos' songwriting reflects their love of the Louisiana region and music.
The title also has special meaning for Gurney, named after an advertising slogan used to promote the Wahine ferry service in the 1960s, the title relates to one of the new songs In The Harbour.
"It's a song about loss, set against the backdrop of the Wahine disaster on April 10, 1968," says Gurney. "I was a child on the beach at Seatoun that day and I still vividly remember the sight of the stricken ship and the lifeboats washing up on the beach in the heaving, boiling water."

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Single
Karnel - Got Me On Fire
Rapper / musician Karnel was born and bred in Massey, West Auckland. His family was heavily involved in the music and performing arts industry and this was naturally a huge influence on him from an early age.

Got Me On Fire is his reggae-influenced follow-up single to Gone, which was released in February 2011.

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Album
R.E.S - Absolute Epoch
The long awaited second release from Red Eye Society. Tracks produced by Nate D and Dan 'Exile' Mawby. Recorded by Jared Abbott.

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Album
Jacqui Dunn - Magic, Mystery and Ordinary Everyday Miracles Vol.1
All stories here are written and told by Jacqui Dunn and suitable for children aged between five and eleven.
In Jacqui's stories the Brown twins find a new way of behaving, Susan has a wonderful idea for her mother's birthday gift, Darryl wants desperately to get into the school softball team, Allie meets an angel on the way home from school, and a story from long ago which may be a ghost story!

(See the link for Volume 2 below!)

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More New Stuff We Like!
Artists and releases new to Amplifier this week
Jacqui Dunn - Magic, Mystery and Ordinary Everyday Miracles Vol.2 (download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/release/69966/magic-mystery-and-ordinary-everyday-miracles-vol2.html

Lupus Lunar - Rabbit On The Moon (download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/release/69996/rabbit-on-the-moon-single.html

The New Fuse Box - The Wakem/Nielson Project (download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/default,69741.sm

Various - 1981 Christchurch Reunion Night 30th Anniversary (download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/default,69705.sm

Reg Keyworth & Mirika Flegg - 18 Wheels (single download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/default,69775.sm

NRG Rising - Rua Kenana (single download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/default,69702.sm

John Rowles - Hits & Lovesongs (album) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/default,69733.sm

Sandpit - Prototype (download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/default,69782.sm

Trevor Bycroft - Take Two (download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/release/70130/take-two.html

Kieran Cooper - In Search Of Reason (free download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/release/70020/in-search-of-reason.html

Wayne Daverne - Wayne Sings (download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/release/70028/wayne-sings.html

Al Galbraith - Silverfox (free download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/default,67691.sm

Freaky Meat - The Lament Of Paris (single download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/release/70051/the-lament-of-paris-single.html

Angel Rock - This Time (download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/release/69709/this-time.html

Bryce Wastney - A Perfect Day For Travel (download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/release/37581/a-perfect-day-for-travel.html

Axiom P.L. - Poems And Short Stories (book/download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/release/70071/poems-and-short-stories.html

ASLab1 - eFactor (single download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/track/70078/efactor.html

The Red Suns (artist) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/artist/69934/the-red-suns.html

Souleezy - Don't Sweat It (single download) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/default,70018.sm

The Yoots (artist) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/artist/69989/the-yoots.html

The Giddy Robbins Trio (artist) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/artist/69939/the-giddy-robbins-trio.html

La Petite Manouche (artist) - http://www.amplifier.co.nz/artist/69612/la-petite-manouche.html

Video Of The Week
Liam Finn - Second Chance
A 'recent classic' for NZ Music Month.

We're looking forward to your new album too, Liam!

TOP VIDEOS THIS WEEK

Ladi6
Like Water

maitreya
Chur To The Chur (Remix)

Lucid 3
Smooth Machine

Katie Thompson
Good As Gold

Barnaby Weir
Tarot Card Rock

Katchafire
On The Road

DINA - Urban Pacifika Records 2006
Aue Hoki Mai - Baby Don't Go

Tiki
Starship Lullaby

The Veils
The Stars Came Out When The Lights Went Out

David Dallas
Til Tomorrow

View more videos »

Amplifier Release Chart

01. Tiki - In The World Of Light

02. Little Bushman - Te Oranga

03. Shapeshifter - System Remix

04. State of Mind - Nil By Ear

05. Ladi6 - the Liberation of...

06. NRG Rising - Rua Kenana - Single

07. Various - Boy - Movie Soundtrack

08. PNC - Man On Wire

09. TrinityRoots - Music Is Choice (CD and DVD)

10. Hand Me Downs - Void

11. Miss Black & The Light - Black Light

12. Hayley Westenra - Paradiso

13. Aly Cook - Brand New Day

Hot Sh*t
by The Rainy Days
Richie

Soup Kitchen
by One Million Dollars
Stephen

On The Down And In
by Dictaphone Blues
Matthew

ends

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