22 Dec 2024
Artisan Guns - Coral Album Review
08 Sep 2012 // A review by Alistar3000
Artisan Guns don’t just write songs, they make musical poems where lyrics and instrumentation work in perfect harmony with each other. Each song paints a musical picture telling of heartbreak, longing, loss and frustration. Often melancholy, the album never gets too dark, retaining a faint feeling of hope throughout, despite the sometimes dark subject matter.
Pulled You In, around the middle of the album, is the exception to the rule, providing an upbeat interlude before the album descends back into despondency with Heights. The overall mood of the album, and in particular the singing style of the ironically named Matthew Hope, reminded me a bit of the Smiths; the sound however is distinctly original.
The band has a lot of talent, with members also playing in a lot of other acclaimed bands, and their combined abilities really shine through on this album, resulting in a collection of songs that demand repeated listening. I can see Coral becoming one of my favourite local albums, and one that is sure to have longevity.
Coral
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About Artisan Guns
Artisan Guns have played around Auckland with the likes of The Ruby Suns, The Electric Confectionaires, An Emerald City, The Nudie Suits, White Birds & Lemons, Clap Clap Riot, Teacups and heaps of others.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Artisan Guns
Other Reviews By Alistar3000
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Cairo Knife Fight - Album review: The Colossus
11 Jun 2015 // by Alistar3000
Having seen Cairo Knife Fight perform live many times over the past few years I’d always been under the assumption they were performing songs from a number of prior recordings. So I was a little surprised to discover that The Colossus was actually their first album (they do have a few EPs recorded), and more surprised to find that long time guitarist Aaron Tokona (AHoriBuzz) was no longer a key part of the band, and makes only a small appearance on the album – with that revelation I didn’t know what to expect when I pressed play.
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Back in 2011 I reviewed Mel Parsons' second album Red Grey Blue and enjoyed it – it had some well written songs, was well produced, and was easy to listen to. When I first popped in her latest album Drylands, I thought she’d taken a bit of a different path to the alt-country that dominated her first album.
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Album Review: Tahuna Breaks Live 10
02 Apr 2015 // by Alistar3000
It’s hard to believe that Tahuna Breaks is celebrating 10 years making music together, although they do seem to have always been around, and I guess if anyone’s going to be keeping a record of how long they’ve been making their brand of funkified reggae, it’d be them. To celebrate the occasion they’ve release Tahuna Breaks Live 10 – 10 tracks spanning their career, recorded live last year at a one-off concert to celebrate the milestone (so I guess the album should actually be called 10 + 6 months).
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State Of Mind - EP Review: Until The World Ends
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Auckland drum and bass duo State of Mind are no strangers to collaboration, having worked with the likes of Tiki Taane and PNC to craft some big hitting tracks that achieved a lot of airplay. This time round they’re working with the trio from Black Sun Empire, hailing out of the Netherlands, produce the heavy hitting Until The World Ends EP together.
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Album Review: Latinaotearoa in Latinoamerica
09 Dec 2014 // by Alistar3000
When I started reading about the concept behind the second Latinaotearoa album it sounded like a good idea and I was quite excited to have a listen to it. If you’re not familiar with the story, Auckland musician Isaac Aesili (Solaa, Opensouls, Eru Dangerspiel, Funkommunity) teamed up once again with Venezualan singer Jennifer Zea, and Brazilian-born DJ Bobby Brazuka, to research and write a bunch of songs in Brazil, then record the album of Latin-influenced tunes in Brazil and Auckland with guest appearances by some great musicians (such as Raiza Biza, Julien Dyne, Riki Gooch and Miguel Fuentes) – what should, on paper, lead to some great experimentation and crossovers of styles.
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Beastwars Live at San Fran, Wellington 10/10/2014
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I was finding it hard to believe that it’d been over 18 months since I last saw Beastwars play in Wellington as I stumbled on down to the newly refurbished San Fran in Wellington last week. I’m not sure why it’d taken me so long to go back to Wellington’s number one metal (or at least heavy rock) band, especially since they’d never disappointed me before.
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Into Orbit - Caverns Album Review
24 Aug 2014 // by Alistar3000
Wellington two piece noisemakers Into Orbit have an appropriate name for the kind of music they’ve created on their new album Caverns; it’s spacey feeling, often out there and is sure to take off. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from the album before listening to it (or even if I’d like it at all), but came away a devoted fan after having it on constant repeat for a couple of days while I explored everything it had to offer (I’m still not there yet, not even close).
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