Little Pictures are an electronic pop duo from Wellington. The boyfriend/girlfriend duo of Mark Turner and Johanna Freeman write warm, happy, bedroom pop music.

They have recently released their debut album 'Owl + Owl' through Lil Chief Records (The Brunettes, The Ruby Suns etc) to rave reviews from the blog world, with Bigstereo proclaiming it "Perfect DIY pop, all the tracks are real gems", and Panda Toes calling it "The cutest, most fun-loving music of 2008".

They have just got back from an Australian tour, and are currently touring their album throughout New Zealand.

What is the best gig/event you have ever performed at, and why?

Lately we've been playing some really amazing shows where lots of people have been singing along with our songs and dancing along, it's been awesome! But there's been two really standout shows.

The first was at Camp A Low Hum this year. One of the sets we played there was on this stage in the middle of a little grassy glen. People were all dancing and singing along, it was really the first amazing experience we've had playing a show. The whole festival is amazing!

Another best performance was in Melbourne during the Australian tour we did earlier in the year. It was at this bar called Pony. Pony have this system where they get bands in to play at staggered times throughout the night, and we played the 2am slot. So we show up and it's this scummy sort of bar, kind of like Valve in Wellington only two stories and way bigger. Turns out we were meant to organise our own sound guy, so we get a friend to do it at the last minute, a friend who's of questionable sobriety. We start setting up, and they're playing Rage Against The Machine over the PA and a bunch of people at the bar are singing along. There's a guy skateboarding in the far corner of the bar. This is a pretty strange enviroment for us, I mean we play happy pop music! We start worrying that people are gonna start throwing bottles at us and stuff. We start up our set, and the room we're playing in starts getting really full. And people start dancing and singing along, and getting really into it. And then it starts getting even more full. There must have been about 200 people crammed into this room, it was nuts! After we'd finished playing everyone was chanting for an encore, but we didn't have any more songs. So we had to somehow get off the stage. But the crowd was so massively packed in that we had to really push our way through them all to get off the stage and over to our friend at the mixing desk. It was really crazy, we thought it was going to be a really awful concert, but it turned out to be a real highlight of the tour!

What is your favourite NZ venue?

Without a doubt The Wunderbar, just out of Christchurch. If you haven't been there it's a must! They have all this strange sci fi artwork all over the roof, I've never seen anything like it. We've actually never played there before, but we'd really love to.

What can we expect to see from Little Pictures over the next year?

We're in the middle of booking a US and European tour. We'll be heading off on that earlyish next year, it's shaping up to be fantastic! Before that we'll be releasing the second video from our album, for a song called 'I Wish I Could Keep You'. Our friend Dan from Eep Productions is helping us again, he made the last one for us too which we were so happy with. We'll also be releasing a 7" single in the UK through a record label there, we'll be included in both a French compilation and a US compilation. We're also hoping to release our album in Australia and in the US, plans for that are in motion already which is great. So it should be really busy!

What other NZ musicians or bands would you like to see more of, and why?

Bachelorette! She's our favourite NZ band. Her album 'Isolation Loops' is so so amazing! We've never seen her live though. We almost did! We went to one show in Wellington where she was playing support for HDU, but the cover charge was too much for us so we had to sit outside and listen to what we could. It sounded good though! She's doing a tour soon supporting Beach House which looks really really cool.

If you could, what rumour would you start about Little Pictures?

Haha, start a rumour? I don't know about starting rumours, sounds like a whole lot of trouble...

What advice would you like to give to other aspiring musicians?

I don't think there's a whole lot I can say here without sounding lame.. oh wait no I can talk about gear! Have really cool equipment. It's been such a huge help for us being able to record and mix our own album. Own space echos and moog synthesisers and sweet laptops. First you get the equipment, then you get the power, and then you get the women. Well.. maybe not the women. But you do have sweet equipment.

See the new Little Pictures video here!

Little Pictures are Mark Turner and Johanna Freeman.

Website Links:

Muzic.net.nz Profile
Official Website
MySpace Profile
Amplifier Profile

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Announcing the finalists for the APRA Silver Scroll Award 2008

The songwriters and composers of New Zealand – the 6,500+ APRA Members – have spoken. A list of the Top 20 songs of the past year was issued last month, and from this list the songwriting champions for 2008 have been chosen.

APRA is proud to announce the 5 finalists for New Zealand’s most prestigious songwriting award, the APRA Silver Scroll:

- Liam Finn - Gather To The Chapel
- Anika Moa - Dreams In My Head
- Dave Gibson & Justyn Pilbrow (Elemeno P) - Baby Come On
- Jason Kerrison, Bobby Kennedy, Matt Treacy & Clinton Harris (Opshop) - One Day
- Samuel Scott, Luke Buda, Tom Wedde, William Ricketts, Richard Singleton & Warner Emery (The Phoenix Foundation) - Bright Grey

Not only are the finalists chosen by their peers, their works will also be performed by their peers. Unique renditions of each of the above songs will be performed at the invite only APRA Silver Scroll Awards on Wednesday 10th September at the Auckland Town Hall.

Full Article including the finalists for the APRA Maioha Award and the SOUNZ Contemporary Award.

IMNZ News: Conchords Still Perched at the Top

Flight of the Conchords’ TV show has received three Emmy nominations - for directing, writing, and original music and lyrics; they narrowly missed out on a nomination for best comedy series, having made the shortlist of 10 shows considered for nomination. The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards for television will take place on September 21. And last month the Conchords had a special guest open for them – Bic Runga supported them at one of their sold out LA shows; she was returning the favour as the Conchords had previously opened for her on her New Zealand tour a couple of years back.

The Ruby Suns have finished their European tour and are starting a 15-date US tour with Tilly and the Wall. In between times they’ve also squeezed in playing at the Sub Pop Records 20^th Anniversary Festival and the (apparently muddy) Pitchfork Festival, hosted by influential music website Pitchfork.com – good work you shining Suns. Highlights according to Amee have included playing with Esau Mwamwaya, Beach House, Fleet Foxes and the Dodos. The Tilly tour will feature the Ruby Suns as a two-piece with Amee and Ryan, as Imogen has headed back to NZ to focus on her art career.

Full Article

Vodafone NZ Music Awards Technical Section Finalists

The countdown to the 2008 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards has begun with the first round of finalists announced for the 2008 Technical Awards.

The backroom wizards who make New Zealand music great are set to be honoured on September 3. Among the nominations are a who’s who’s of NZ music.

There will be three Technical Awards presented - Best Album Cover, Best Engineer and Best Producer.

The finalists in the Best Album Cover category are: Barny Bewick for 'Keep Me On Your Side' (Goodnight Nurse); Liam Finn for 'I'll Be Lightning' (Liam Finn); and Tim Gummer for 'Inland' (Michael Houstoun).

In the Best Engineer category, the finalists are: Andre Upston for 'In Swings The Tide' by Anika Moa; Lee Prebble for 'Happy Ending' by The Phoenix Foundation; and Tiki Taane & Evan Short for 'Past, Present, Future' by Tiki Taane.

The finalists for Best Producer are: Anika Moa for 'In Swings The Tide' (Anika Moa); Lee Prebble for 'Happy Ending' (The Phoenix Foundation); and Tiki Taane for 'Past, Present, Future' (Tiki Taane).

Full Article

Hammond Gamble releases 'Ninety Mile Days'

Legendary bluesman and songwriter Hammond Gamble has delivered the best album of his career.

Ninety Mile Days is a collection of all-new originals covering the electrifying gamut of Gamble’s styles, from McCartney-esque pop songs in ‘Memory No.1’ through gentle soulful ballads ‘I Had A Dream’ to full-blooded blues rock songs ‘It’s Been Too Long’ ringing with Gamble’s lead guitar.

With definite touches of Hammond’s life in New Zealand, as told by Hammond ‘Ninety Mile Days’ is “a little story that looks back at a time spent at Ahipara up north in the mid seventies, Susan and I went back recently to get some photos for the cover.”

Full Article

Tiki goes platinum!

Today Tiki and his beautiful acoustic track ‘Always On My Mind’ became the first ever New Zealand single to achieve platinum sales via a digital only release.

The # 1 single from Tiki’s platinum debut album ‘Past, Present, Future’ has been all over the radio, hitting the # 1 airplay spot in the country and racking up over 258,000 hits on Youtube to date.

‘Always On My Mind’ and ‘Past, Present, Future’ are available on tikidub.com, itunes, Amplifier, Digirama, Vodafone and Telecom, with the album also available as a physical release at all music retailers.

Full Article

SXSW 09 - applications now open

Applications for SXSW 09 are now open!

The SXSW MUSIC AND MEDIA CONFERENCE showcases hundreds of musical acts from around the globe on over eighty stages in downtown Austin. By day, conference registrants do business in the SXSW Trade Show in the Austin Convention Center and partake of a full agenda of informative, provocative panel discussions featuring hundreds of speakers of international stature.

http://www.sxsw.com/

Site of the moment: Raggamuffin Festival 2009

Following the overwhelming success of the first inaugural reggae festival Raggamuffin, fans will be delighted to hear it’s happening all over again with Raggamuffin 2009 announced August 10. Ziggy Marley, Eddy Grant, Stephen Marley, Shaggy, Arrested Development and Inner Circle will join Kiwi bands Kora, Unity Pacific and Three Houses Down.

Raggamuffin Website

New Artists

The following musicians were added to the muzic.net.nz website recently. Check them out:

Competitions

Congratulations to J. Lopes from Auckland who won the last of our Hit Your Head giveaways. This giveaway included the 'Flip Your Lid' Compilation and the Secluded By Right EP.

Congratulations also goes out to J. Bowler from Glenfield and K. Scott from Palmerston North for winning our Earbuddies competition. The correct answer to the question 'What are the smaller sized EarBuddies Etymotic ER20s called?' is 'BabyBlues'.

Don't miss out on your chance to win the following prizes:

	After a 5 year hiatus, Pacific Heights returns with an eagerly awaited second album, 'In A Quiet Storm'. Pacific Heights is the solo project of Devin Abrams (Shapeshifter). Enter for your chance to win a copy!
	The Fea Street Hustle finally got their EP out! The Hustle aim to make music which is fun, energetic, creative, and progressive while staying true to its country roots. Win yourself a free copy!

New Reviews

- Goodnight Nurse - Palmerston North gig 13 May 08
- Nort - 'The Age Of Violence' album review.

We have space available in our 31st August newsletter and during September (14th and 28th), so if you are a NZ musician or in a band and would like to promote your music this winter by featuring in this newsletter, please email Lisa. We can also feature NZ music websites, venues and record companies.

If you would like to advertise your next album release or tour in our newsletter and/or gig mail out email Adam.

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