Made in NZ on Home Services

Jan

Made in NZ

posted by admin in Window Cleaning

Travelling in wheel style on the bus recently, I sat not minding my own business by looking out the bus window into the homes of strangers.

In the seat in front of me, a pair of screamos of indiscriminate age waxed unlyrically about New Zealand music.

“New Zealand Music Awards, huh. It’s all crap,” she said. “There are no good sounds in New Zealand. It’s all just lame.”

She made a bubble out of vaguely pinkish-looking gum. The man who’d insinuated himself into a pair of lycra shorts beside her nodded and went to talk, but, gum back inside her gob, she gave him no opportunity. “There’s no-one with any talent here,” she said.

Unable to restrain myself any longer, I loomed over her seat.

“Sorry to eavesdrop,” I said as politely as I could, “but I’m just curious _ have you heard of Hollie Smith?”

“Smith?”, she said. “Nah. Was she on New Zealand Idol?”

I got off the bus.

Sure, some New Zealand music is rubbish, but these EPs are not. Below are examples of unique local talent that you may or may not know about.

Here are six of the best. Some are new releases and some have been around for a while. They’re available in Christchurch at Real Groovy and Galaxy Records.

MYSTERIOUS TAPE MAN

Live at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, $14.95.

The words Surf-Star, Supernatural and Secretive sum up the enigmatic creature that is the Mysterious Tape Man (MTM).

He may bear more than a passing resemblance to the gimp from the movie Pulp Fiction, but his music sounds more like the scene where Vince Vega is driving around in a smooth ride, out of his slick, back-haired head on something. Everything is slowed down to a snail’s speed and the music reaches out, grabs you by the hand and invites you to shimmy your hips, daddyo.

The Mysterious Tape Man plays live gigs with his face wrapped in black magnetic tape. He likes to be called Raymond Gunn _ it’s not his real name _ but the 27-year- old has metaphysically stuck a bit of tape over my mouth to prevent me from revealing his real identity to you.

MTM tells me he wears the tape because he is “horribly disfigured” from an incident when he was a film director.

“I made New Zealand’s first Werewolf film, you know, but while I was making I Was a Teenage Rebel, there was an accident on location. We were shooting at a stormy surf beach on the south coast of the North Island. I was tangled in a mess of video that had spread across the surf. I was then struck by lightning, which fused the tape to my skin.”

MTM says it’s not just his face which is covered in tape, but I don’t ask which other body parts are similarly affected _ let’s keep a little mystery, shall we?

As well as being inspired by the music of Link Wray, MTM is besotted with the ocean, the moon, astronomy and supernatural activity.

Recorded inside the tomb of the unknown warrior, with whom MTM feels a kinship _ “we’re both battling to be known” _ the EP is a classic. This enigmatic character plays surf guitar as if he’s been transported straight from the ’50s. The riffs are divine.

Something else to look forward to _ MTM’s says his first seven-inch vinyl, Kaikoura UFO, will be released when he plays at the Civic on November 17. Wipeout. Within surf lies the keys to the universe.

SOLE SURVIVOR

Six Pack Project, $17.95.

Beaming sun, beaming smile _ do the barefoot-sole leap, ow, leap, ow walk across hot sand with a six-pack under one arm and this in your headphones this summer should it ever arrive. In Sole Survivor, Vanessa McGowan and Matiu Sadd collaborate with mates and masterful musicians Godfrey De Grut (Che Fu, New Loungehead), Lewis McCallum, Kevin Field (Nathan Haines), Rota Barrington (Batucada Sound Machine), Neil Watson (Anika Moa) and Adi Dick (Fly My Pretties).

Released last August, this is the first release from Sole Survivor, and it is a cruisy, chilled-out offering that makes me think of wispy butterflies fluttering around brightly hued flowers in Jamaica, man.

If the songs Family and Breeze %26 Stereo Sound don’t make you smile and bob your head like a chicken, nothing will.

THE LIVIDS

High Heeled, $19.95.

“If I’m not No. 1 in your life, then No.2 on you” read the postcard with a picture of a lamb frollicking in a meadow that arrived at The Press with a copy of this EP from an anonymous source. High heels have hurt me in the past, so I chucked it in a drawer next to a Press pen and a pile of paperclips, until I rediscovered it when I was looking for a perfectly formed paperclip.

I had no idea what I was missing _ The Livids are incredible. Play them and fun gravitates towards you. You’re instantly merry and clearing tabletops to dance, so don’t listen to it at work like I did. After a brief but dynamic stint in the late ’90s _ in 1997 they opened the Big Day Out and pitched in to The Clean tribute album beside Pavement, Calexico and Guided By Voices _ they’re back and better than ever.

Way back, they released a vinyl EP, Cheviot, and two longplays, Oroua Downs and 5 Amp Fuse Wire. Originally from Palmerston North, but now based in Wellington, The Livids are Andrew Carey, Waka Harris, Regan O’Brien and Sean O’Brien, or as the postcard describes them: “two brothers, their cousin and a butcher’s son”.

This rocks like a bogan’s car on a Saturday night. I recommend Doo Doo, Champagne and High Heeled.

WICKED DRAW

Wicked Intentions, $19.95.

This is Wicked Draw’s first release. It was recorded at Handtruck Studios in Nelson and is on the Dub Conspiracy Label, which features the likes of Kora, Salmonella Dub and Cornerstone Roots. This should give you an idea of the hypnotically lazy beats that drift through your soul when you plug in.

It’s the mellow kind of reggae-dub that uplifts the spirits and forces uptight white boys to shuffle their feet and rotate their shoulders.

Included on Wicked Intentions is the track Wanted, which features on the Kaikoura Roots Festival 2005 compilation. Wanted rhymes the words “winda” and “driva” and still manages to sound good.

Wicked Draw are playing at the Dux de Lux on New Year’s Eve with Salmonella Dub. It should be, ahem, wicked.

HOLLIE SMITH

E. P., $19.95.

This has been out seemingly forever (where is the album, Hollie?), but it recently came to my attention that, unbelievably, some people have not heard of Hollie Smith. What? Despite the plain surname, she has a one-in-a-zillion voice that could make angels weep apologetically and hand over their harps at their inability to sound as heavenly.

She’s collaborated with Trinity Roots, Fat Freddy’s Drop, One Million Dollars and The Illphonics. Since releasing this EP, she’s been nominated for best single of the year at the Tui NZ Music Awards for the Don McGlashan-penned song, Bathe In The River, and has travelled to Brazil to record the stunning OE:Brazil CD with a bunch of big names.

Although she did a Celtic album a few years ago, we’ll forget about that, because this EP is the real Hollie. Demonstrating the large musical ability that resides in her tiny ethereal frame, this is written and arranged by Smith from start to finish.

It also features the talents of Rio Hemopo and Warryn Maxwell (Trinity Roots), Dallas Tamaira (Fat Freddy’s Drop), Jeremy Toy (OpenSouls), Chris Yeabsley (TwinSet) and Nick Gaffaney (Anika Moa band). Hollie Smith is a star.

SHAKY HANDS

Cut Off Your Hands, $14.95.

Formerly Nova Echo, the Auckland- based four-piece now named Shaky Hands are being touted as the next big thing. Each track on this EP is a stunner. Currently touring all over the place in Aussie, the Shaky Hands are playing in Christchurch at the Civic on November 10 with Steriogram and Deja Voodoo. They are fantastic live.