Monthly Archive for May, 2009

CHARTFEST 2009 – getting the word out about your music and getting it on-air

Published on May 28, 2009 in culture, music and promo. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

CHARTFEST 09 is happening tomorrow yo and it’s gonna be BUSY! Jeff Fulton and the team at CHART – christchurchmusic.org.nz have been working well hard to get some serious action happening here in Churchtown. Mad big-ups, props and totz lolz to them!

Chartfest is a multi staged music festival AND music industry expo. Shocking Pinks (who played a FAB set at The Media Club on Saturday night), Isaac Chambers, Maitreya, Rare Shot Blue, and Tim Moore are some of the bands I’m most looking forward to see play. Industry-side the key things to check out are the Media and Promotion Q&A at which I’ll be making a cameo as well as the ’How To Break Into The Australian Market’ session. There will be plenty of seriously on-to-it peeps at these sessions so be sure to make an appearence if you’re a musician or band in Christchurch trying to make things happen.

Here are some details:
Media & Promotion Workshop (5.00pm – 5.30pm)
Want to know how to pitch your music to radio and print media? Find out the right way to do it with David Saunders(CPIT/MC) Vicki Anderson (Music Editor, The Press), Benet Hitchcock (PD RDU98.5FM/Starlifter.tv), Kirsten Johnstone(Music101 RNZ), Fleur Jack (KiwiFM) and Richard Bell (Shuriken).

NZMC & MMF ’How To Break Into The Australian Market’ Seminar (6.00pm – 7.00pm)
The New Zealand Music Managers Forum and the NZ Music Commission are proud to present the May Music Month Seminars ‘How to Break Into the Australian Market’.

Speakers are Sashya Jayawardena (Tour Manager / Promoter and Event Manager Australia), Chris Wu (Popfrenzy Australia) Brent Harris (Cut Off Your Hands), Chris Gough (Native Tongue Music Publishing), Teresa Patterson (CRS Music Management).

Topics include:
* Where do I begin? – what are your first steps to take to get over the ditch to either release a CD or do some gigs.

* The Australian Media – a run down of who is who and the best media to target (Radio, Street Press, TV, Newspapers, Magazines, Internet).

* Touring Australia – how hard is it to book a tour. What would be the best way to start touring Australia? What sort of fees can you expect?

* Promoting your Music – how do you start promoting your tours/album releases.

* The Australian Industry – who are the movers and shakers in Record Companies, Booking Agencies, Promoters, Publicists. More details here.

For more info check out:
http://www.christchurchmusic.org.nz/events/chartfest09
http://www.christchurchmusic.org.nz/events/chartfest09/artists 

 

Shocking Pinks

Shocking Pinks

Coco Solid chats with Dr H about Turtle Pizza Cadillacs

Published on May 26, 2009 in MP3 Downloads, culture, interview and music. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

 

While Coco Solid was snuggled under her electric blanket we about her time at the Red Bull Music Academy, the politics of the creative industries and her latest song Turtle Pizza Cadillacs which she produced with Denmark producer Robin Hannibal.

MP3: Coco Solid chats with Dr H (right click then “save as”)

http://www.cocosolid.com

:: Dr H

my maudlin career – camera obscura

Published on May 25, 2009 in MP3 Downloads, culture, music and review. 0 Comments Tags: , .

well, if you’re anything like me, you’ll prob’ly buy this due to the lush cover art and remarkably fitting title. and like the cover art, this band’s sound includes a particularly specialised palette featuring contrasting and dreamy hallucinatory swirls amongst the finer lines.

camera obscura are into the swirling, string-laden melancholy melange formerly carried off by fellow scots belle and sebastian, and sorta like the arrangements of our own candy-striped brunettes, their bittersweet sense of humour drips with an irony occasionally maligned and malicious but always delicious.

now, i fuckin hate phil spector for what he did to that otherwise great band (that’s what he should really be locked up for), but for some reason this ear-candy is remarkably easy to swallow despite it’s obvious influences from mr “24 more tracks of strings”.

standouts for me include ‘away with murder’ with so many clever plays on words rolling together the little deaths of drugs, love and heartbreak and sparking them up with catchy choruses spiked with fiddles.. yes, FIDDLES. also the curiously warped title track and the generally reverbed-out waves of cavernous chamber music which accompany each see-sawing tune. camera obscura will give you flashbacks of times you’ve never seen and places you’ll never live.

if the pixies had a trade-mark “loud-quite-loud” then these guys do a trademark “exhale-blackout-gasp back to life and thank your lucky stars you’re not dead yet”. so if you like your hits clean and your comedowns sunbeam-saturated, by all means dip a toe into this nectar-bath of tunes so topsy turvy you’re never sure whether they’re lifting you up or just letting you down gently.

on ‘my maudlin career” camera obscura capture that shaky sensation that you may have nearly killed yourself again, whether it be dancing the morning to death or working your days away– yet you can’t help but feel a teensy bit glad you’re still here.

“how many times have you told me you wanna die?” 
– ‘away with murder’

MP3: Camera Obscura – my maudlin career (right click then “save as”)

:: nurse nos

Thought Creature – You Telepathy

Published on May 24, 2009 in music, parties, review and video. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Thought Creature played a fucking amazing set here in Christchurch last night, TWICE! They played a sold out all age gig at the legendary Media Club with support sets from Hypercolour (MEGA_UBER_MADNESS and it was their 1st ever set), Brains (FUCKIN_WOWO_PLUS_DELUXE), and Shocking Pinks who primarily played sans-vocal versions of songs off their debut release Dance the Dance Electric, my absolute favourite SP album.  And then TC packed out Goodbye Blue Monday, smashing the collective conscious of the present party participants. GBM was so fill in fact that some punters opened the window side of stage so that the sounds could flow into the courtyard. These particularly dedicated party peeps started their own little dance floor. Mr Bass Man from TC would occassionally pass through the window to play the odd song on this newly cleared dance floor. MADNESS.

Anyways, here’s the video that the tour was in aid of. FUCKIN’ trip yo! Do it!



RedHead Outdoors – i don’t know why

Published on May 21, 2009 in MP3 Downloads, music and review. 9 Comments Tags: , , .

 

RedHead Outdoors

RedHead Outdoors

Personally, I like bad boys. I particularly like bad boys who can sing and scream at the same time. The singer of RedHead Outdoors just broke my heart in this sense. In the band’s freshly baked song I don’t know why he resurrects the anarchic rebel spirit of Sid Vicious. I’m not talking about the way it sounds, but the way it makes me behave. Jumping on the bed, hitting the walls, shouting, and swearing may be, are strongly recommended. This will help to discover another side of the composition.

And yes, back to the singer. I do not even know his name; Wikipedia is, as yet, silent about his personal details. After thoroughly surfing the Internet the band remains a total enigma. The only fact I discovered was that RedHead Outdoors has many Myspace friends. Touching, but not all that helpful.

The band’s disco punk sound is bright and vigorous, and I totally loved the main guitar motif. However, it wasn’t enough to make me like the song. Seconds 54,55 and 56 of the second minute of the composition radically changed my mind. Just out of the blue in the middle of the song I could hear a distinctive eight-beat sound that brought back memories of a good old Pacman. I’m not sure if it was intentional of the band’s members to insert this part into the song in order to make the listener nostalgic, but it worked for me.

Mint singer, mint band, mint song.

MP3: RedHead Outdoors – i don’t know why

:: Cara Totoro