27 October 2007 - 0 Comments
IMNZ Independent Album Chart
You can view the latest IMNZ Album Chart on our charts page:
http://www.muzic.net.nz/charts/c44238/imnz-independent-album-chart-01-october-2007.html
October News
Three cheers for members of the IMNZ whanau who picked up Tuis at the Vodafone NZ Music Awards 2007 on October 18: John Psathas; Richard Nunns, the late Hirini Melbourne and the ‘Te Whaiao: Te Ku Te Whe’ remixers (both albums are on Rattle Records); Hollie Smith (3 awards); PNC; and Shapeshifter. Adding to the booty, trophies from the Vodafone Juice TV Awards held on October 8 were claimed by videomakers who made clips for IMNZ artists Scribe, Shapeshifter, Katchafire and Duchess. The 2007 third round recipients of Outward Sound grants include IMNZ artists Kora, Young Sid, Shapeshifter, So So Modern, Batucada Sound Machine, and Tangata Records, Die!Die!Die! and Cut Off Your Hands. Good work all round.
Three-time Classical Album of the Year winner and Olympics composer John Psathas is turning up the heat around the country this week with his new timpani concerto, Planet Damnation (inspired by Robert Fisk’s book The Great War For Civilisation), which the NZSO is touring with superstar conductor Edo de Waart. NZSO timpanist Larry Reese has given up the last 9 months of his life to mastering the precise business of just how to bash the hell of this virtuoso music.
Minuit are all over internet forums in Czech Republic; they’re playing Prague on October 25 and Prague’s Radio 1 is recording the set and streaming it live. The band also recorded a set at the legendary Maida Vale studios to be broadcast on Annie Nightingale’s show. According to UK correspondent Jasper from Spacific.net.uk, “Minuit's tour is going incredibly well, with sell out crowds in London and rapturous receptions in Finland, Russia, Ireland, Berlin and Barcelona.”
After being selected as Track of the Day on US-based site Garageband.com, Recliner’s Ugly was then chosen as Track of the Week on October 1. Pitch Black’s ‘Rude Mechanicals’ album is released in the UK on October 29 and is picking up positive press from the likes of DJ magazine, Clash, Bent, Blah Blah, DMC and Update. Pig Out have begun their final series of European shows, and after Hallowe'en in New York the band return to spend summer recording and touring New Zealand and Australia. Their releases ‘Club Poems’ and ‘BAK 2 XTACY RUSH’ have been flying out of stores in London after being championed by staff at Rough Trade.
More than 10,000 people got to see Te Vaka perform live in Paris during their 2 performances for the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup. The 90-minute show ended with a powerful Te Vaka Haka, Oku Tupuga, delivered with a promise of a South Pacific comeback in 2011. The group will continue on to Germany for 2 more sold-out shows and then return to Australia where they will perform before heading to Asia at the beginning of 2008.
Further acts have been announced to play Christchurch’s Southern Amp festival on November 10, including Pumpkinhead, who have reformed especially for this, their first show in 11 years. Newcomers may like to check out their legendary loud 1995 Wildside album ‘Sloth’. Back in the day Pumpkinhead regularly toured nationally, played with Shihad, Supergroove, Fugazi and Primus, opened for Faith No More on two NZ tours and played two Big Days Out. Other acts at Southern Amp include dDub, Dukes, Scribe, Concord Dawn with MC Tiki, Ladi 6, Timmy Schumacher & Mc Kyla, Tainted, Heavy Jones, Charlie Ash, The Enright House, Ragamuffin Children, Mustard, John White, Andy Gibson, The Eastern and Trillion Band.
She'll Be Right Records are holding a Festival warmup in Lyttelton on November 9; and to celebrate ten years of existence plus the release of 5 CDs (from John White, Trillion, The Eastern, The Incredible Braking Wheel and Mustard) they’re going on the road for the first time. The tour sees most of the past and present She'll Be Right entourage involved: Ragamuffin Children, Trillion & The Incredible Braking Wheel, John White, Andy Gibson, Jeremy Taylor, Billy Wilson, Lindon Puffin, The Eastern, Mustard, Dark Tower, Le Mot Cafe and Mark Tupuhi. In further Garden City news, two acts have songs in the hit TV show Brothers and Sisters: Dukes’ Mornin’ and Flip Grater’s Long Awaited Sigh.
Summer festival announcements are rolling in, so start planning your holiday quicksmart as tickets to all of them are moving fast. The Big Drop Off on New Year’s Eve in Wellington features Ladi6 & Parks, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Shapeshifter and DJs Mu, Cian and Kava. At Rhythm and Vines you can catch Scribe, dDub, Don McGlashan, Hollie Smith, Jakob, The Tutts, Charlie Ash, Die! Die! Die!, Motocade, The Have, Concord Dawn, State of Mind ft MC Twin Cam, and DJ Philippa alongside the UK act New Young Pony Club and many other locals. Artists announced for Rippon 08 on February 2 include Shapeshifter, Connan and the Mockasins, Kora, Little Bushman and Tiki; and the after-party features Recloose, Murray Cammick, Manuel Bundy, Riki Gooch and many more. Bi-annual festival Splore 08 runs from February 8 – 10 and will host Shapeshifter, Kora, Tiki, Tyra and the Tornadoes, Epsilon Blue and Module alongside many other local and international performers such as Pharoah Monche and DJ Freddie Cruger. The lineup so far for the Big Day Out includes SJD, Cut Off Your Hands, Young Sid, Antagonist and Motocade.
There’s a supersized swag of new releases this month. The new Shona Laing album, her first album of new material for 10 years, entitled ‘Pass the Whisper’, will be released through Jayrem Records on November 2. Former Salmonella Dub soundman-turned-frontman Tiki Taane’s album ‘Past, Present, Future’ is out now; he’ll tour the album in November. Guest vocalists include Taane’s father Uekaha Taanetinorau and grandmother Inuwai, as well as PDigsss, Julia Deans, Celia Church and Zaniah Carigiet, alongside the production talents of P-Money, Sean Deans and Motive.
Auckland hardcore upstarts Strangers have released their debut album, ‘The Weight’; and This Night Creeps offer their second album ‘To Form A Body Tone’. Area 07’ is a compilation of artists representing Hamilton's diverse music scene, including This Night Creeps, 4 Corners, Rumpus Room, The Shrugs, The Deadly Deaths and many more. Drummer/producer Julien Dyne (Opensouls, Tyra & The Tornadoes) has delivered his debut solo release ‘The Phantom Limbo’ CDEP; guests include Opensouls cohorts Tyra Hammond, Jeremy Toy, Isaac Aesili, Scott Towers and Steph Brown plus acclaimed locals like Riki Gooch (ex-Trinity Roots), Joe Lindsay (Fat Freddy’s Drop), Lewis McCallum and Julien’s Dad, jazz musician Paul Dyne.
The inspired and industrious Trip To The Moon, aka Trevor Reekie and Tom Ludvigson, release their fifth album ‘Welcome to the Big Room’ out on jazzscore through Ode. From Wellington, OdESSA’s first full-length album ‘The Prize’ is out now, as is Good Laika’s debut ‘Heads I Win, Tails You Lose’. Members of Good Laika have previously been in Bleakhouse, The Stereo Bus, OdESSA, the Accelerants, Boom Shack and Verona.
Following the release of 4 EPs, plus a track for the 2004 Shaun Smith Tribute on Yak records, pop-via-hardcore outfit Amy Racecar - currently resident in Melbourne - have released their first full-length album ‘Conclusions’. BSM (Batucada Sound Machine) have toured throughout Australasia and the UK, including playing gigs at the WOMAD UK Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Sydney Festival and Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festival. Based in Auckland, the 13-piece group has released their debut studio album 'Rhythm & Rhyme', crafted by renowned UK producer Neil Sparkes, who mixed and mastered the album in New York City, at the legendary Avatar studios.
One Million Dollars’ new live album ‘Stand Up to the Shakedown’ is out on October 26; it was recorded at York St over one night where the band invited family and friends, had some food and drinks and laid down all tracks in one take. Kora unleashed their self-titled debut album this month. Recorded in Aotearoa and mastered in London by Kevin Metcalfe at The Soundmasters Intl. (David Bowie, Queen, The Prodigy), this is the long-awaited follow up to the platinum-selling ‘EP Volume’. The album graphics pay homage to a love of arcade games and epic movies and were created by brothers Damon and Kieran Oates whose works include Marvel Comics, Transformers and others. Between recording the album and morphing from human form into superheroes, Kora have kept up the live vibe, most recently playing to critical acclaim in Australia and London.
The label arm of A Low Hum have released Disasteradio’s new album ‘Visions’, which is inspired by futuristic movies, TV shows and computer games, The Cure, dreams of the future of technology, Devo and ‘80s idioms such as the terms ‘rad’ and ‘awesome’. Arch Hill is releasing an album by Jay Clarkson with Johannes Contag (Cloudboy) on November 12th. The album was recorded in the Austrian Alps and Dunedin and titled ‘Over the Mountain’. Jay will also be playing some very rare shows around the country in November. Having already played a pretty magical show with Jose Gonzales at the sold out Hopetoun Alpha a couple of months ago, The Haints of Dean Hall will be playing some shows with him in January next year. dDub have been asked to play at Waitakere Stadium for the Netball World finals and the boys have been busy recording album number two.
Tim Guy has released his second album ‘Hummabyes’, which features his band The Tutus - aka Anika Moa (vocals, bass) and Anna Coddington (vocals, drums) - plus special guest appearances from Ed Cake, Jeremy Toy, Age Pryor, Paul McLaney and Steve Abel. The album will be launched on October 26th at the Dogs Bollix in Auckland with Anna and Steve supporting, and the band will be touring New Zealand together in November/December. Tahuna Breaks have opened for the likes of Fat Freddy’s Drop, Concord Dawn, Sola Rosa and One Million Dollars, and they’re releasing their debut album ‘Reflections’, which they’ll celebrate with a nationwide tour.
Powertool Records are releasing new recordings by four New Zealand icons. Robert Scott of the Clean and The Bats is back with a solo album called ‘Tascam Hits’. ‘Moth’ is a CD of songs written and performed by One Man Bannister aka Matthew Bannister (ex-Sneaky Feelings, Dribbling Darts of Love, author of Positively George Street) over the period 2002-2006. Musician/author/poet Bill Direen has been making and releasing music since 1975; and he is back with a new album, 'Human Kindness', his third through Powertool. Otis Mace is “a hardy perennial on the touring circuit” (David Eggleton), and his new album ‘Bird in Bush Road’ is his first since 1995’s ‘Quick’ collection. Mace and Direen will be doing a national tour throughout November.
Toi Maori Aotearoa has announced that Moana & the Tribe, Whirimako Black, Te Aratoi – Riki and Rewi, Toni Huata, Pacific Curls, Ngatai Huata, Zero T and 4 Corners are amongst the artists performing at Pao Pao Pao! 2007 in Wellington on November 2. The acts selected have helped to take Maori music and te reo Maori to the four corners of the world.
The North Island leg of Chuganaut’s album release tour is on right now, with South Island dates to be announced in early 2008. Horse fan Hannah Curwood fulfilled a lifelong dream by appearing in this month's New Zealand Horse and Pony magazine. US DJs/producers King Britt and Nickodemus have been performing with local acts including Module, Recloose, MC Kyla and Lisa Tomlins on the Bacardi B-LIVE Tour in October. Keep an eye out for news on forthcoming OE: NYC (New York) album which is in the pipeline. Tommy and Paul McLaney have both been in Los Angeles recording and shooting music videos.
The Tweeks are saving for Bulgaria: in an era of hyper-inflated house prices, The Tweeks happened upon a secret: an 11-room Bulgarian house could be purchased for NZ$13,000. October has seen The Tweeks tour New Zealand yet again in an effort to raise enough money. The band intend on setting up a studio and basing themselves there in 2008, and they cordially invite bookings for recording sessions in their yet to be purchased/built/named Bulgarian studio to "get away from it all".
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