Thursday, March 11, 2010
Mighty Mighty, Wellington

Photos by Michael Harvey

 More photos of Street Chant, The Transistors and The Datsuns

Wednesday, March 10, 2010
San Francisco Bathhouse, Wellington

Photos by Ema Richards

 More Deerhoof, Grayson Gilmour and Seth Frightening live photos

SCREENS’ press release caught my eye when I noticed that they are touring with another one of my favourite bands, Aa. They’ve also got a whole stack of shows coming up (including SXSW) with Beach Fossils, Vivian Girls, Death Sentence: Panda! and Male Bonding. The four piece, who joined forces in Brooklyn, New York, after playing in various other bands across the US (Apes, The Mall, Medications), make rather fucked up noise similar to HEALTH, but with less gadgets and raw power. They rely on percussion to punch their music into shape, while Casio keyboards squiggle and Breck Brunson sends vocals whistling through a reverb box. Their music gets bent into shape rather than taking an obvious melodic path, running through a gauntlet of flailing fists before reaching its final destination. They have just finished recording their debut album, however its release date is still unknown.

 SCREENS- Saturdays: MP3

SCREENS- Myspace

Disappointment struck me yesterday when I read that one of my favourite bands of 2009 had split. But the bad news was quickly overcome when I learnt that The Widow Babies had just downscaled and changed their name to Rare Grooves, with guitarist Danny Millar and drummer Tabor Allen continuing to work together. They’ve also managed to draft legendary Minutemen bassist Mike Watt into the fold, to hit the strings on their first official release, due out in late March.

When I interviewed Danny last year he spoke openly of his friendship with Tabor, and briefly mentioned that before forming The Widow Babies he and Tabor had been in other bands together. “Tabor, Elise McCuthchen (The Widow Babies’ vocalist) and I all met at our high school in Santa Ana, Orange County. Tabor and I met in PE class and we had a mutual love for Led Zeppelin and Marilyn Manson so we really hit it off. We played in bands for a couple of years together and then Tabor started dating Elise so we started a side project called The Widow Babies.” The “side project” later became their main project.

No explanation has been given for the split, but a statement on the band’s myspace confirms, “we are very sad to announce that The Widow Babies have broken up.”

Danny and Tabor have wasted no time getting Rare Grooves off the ground. Yesterday they unveiled their first offering, a limited edition 7″ vinyl containing the songs ‘Cause For Concern’ and ‘No Garden’. Both songs were recorded with Mike Watt playing bass guitar, a dream come true for the pair whose first Widow Babies release was a homage to their hero, titled The Mike Watt EP. The songs were produced by Chris Schlarb, who produced both The Mike Watt EP and The Widow Babies’ full length album Jetpacks.

As could be somewhat expected, Rare Grooves sound reasonably similar to The Widow Babies, especially with Danny’s signature guitar playing remaining the main focus of the band. However both songs have a much more chilled out vibe, with less punk rock elements and more California surf, teetering on the edge between chillwave and post-punk but not really bowing to either genre. They meander and glide rather than chug and twist, adopting more of a natural flow that is less spastic and has a much simpler song structure.

You can pre-order Rare Grooves’ debut 7″ via Sounds Are Active for a special pre-sale price of $3.99 (US). It will be officially released towards the end of March.

Rare Grooves- Cause For Concern: MP3

Rare Grooves- Myspace

Imbuing a ramshackle country quality to their magical, jangly folk pop, brother-sister duo Camille and Alexander McGregor have been making music under the heart-explodingly cute moniker Ponies In The Surf for five years. Their crafty tales are executed with swooning, sighing play off voices and gentle acoustic guitar on ‘Ventricle’, elsewhere lather on a foamy, energetic pace in the rockier ‘Holes In The Walls’. The brilliance of PITS is that they aren’t painfully cutesy or sickeningly sweet. Their songs are clever and a little bit fruity in their laid back, weird and fraying attire. Alexander, on organs, guitar, bass and cornet, sings in his boyish, conversational tone against Camille’s sweet, gentle lulls while Andrew Churchman of Pants Yell! plays minimal but energetic drums. Their songs are like old friends you’ve known all your life – comfortable to be around, fun and endearing. PITS have a few releases on Darla Records and Asaurus Records.

Ponies In The Surf- Fairy In My House: MP3

Ponies In The Surf- Myspace

Mixing Casiotone For The Painfully Alone’s sincerity and speedy drum machine beats with Moldy Peaches’ ramshackle insecurity and Daniel Johnston’s wavering tone of despair, California’s Jon Barba, AKA Nicole Kidman, makes cautiously heart-on-sleeve, scratchy pop music. ‘Thirst For God’ is a speedy attack aiming straight for the heart, and ‘Obsessed’ could have been plucked straight from Johnston’s catalog; its traditional structure with wobbling, soul-crushing lyrics overtake the crunchy guitar at the very last moment. ‘Tyrone’, written and produced with Kevin Greenspon, will stick in your head for days with its short and simple chorus hook. Barba knows a thing or two about simple, succinct pop songs. ‘Miley Is Awesome’ epitomises the girl-crushing guitar-strumming approach and shows Barba’s true talents as a songwriter. Playing regular gigs in LA’s cultural melting pot with the likes of Foot Village and Former Ghosts, Barba has a CD-R and a 7″ pending to add to his collection of cassettes and CDs released on Greenspon’s label Bridgetown Records.

Nicole Kidman- Thirst For God: MP3

Nicole Kidman & Kevin Greenspon- Tyrone: MP3

Nicole Kidman- Myspace

Friday, March 5, 2010
San Francisco Bathhouse, Wellington

Photos by Ema Richards

 More Mint Chicks, Die! Die! Die! and BANG BANG ECHE live photos

Friday, March 5, 2010
Cool Town, Wellington

Photos by Ema Richards

 More Street Chant and Nevernudes photos

Bandicoot- Jurassic Warfare
8/10

“… Pearl fires insults into a twisted catch phrase, singing “so run along and act all snarky, super faggy and talk about art.” Reuben Winter’s guitar riffs blast like a cannon before erupting into a wall of spastic, wobbly noise and Daniel McBride’s drumming keeps the music in rhythm and stops it from falling apart.”

 Read The Full Review

 Bandicoot- Bitchface: MP3

Nice Birds- Swirly
6/10

“The parts are all there and when they’re executed well Nice Birds sound like a solid post-punk band. Unfortunately at times they become bogged down, lost in a mist that turns their defining instrumental parts into one big clump of mud.”

 Read The Full Review

 Nice Birds- F. Scott Fitzgerald Book Club: MP3

 Buy Both EPs at Muzai Records’ Online Shop

Bandicoot- Jurassic Warfare
8/10

Stepping into the footprints left by Be Your Own Pet, Bandicoot’s bratty punk rock sounds ever so similar to the Tennessee teens. The difference is that Bandicoot actually sound like a genuine punk band; rough, unpolished and with loads of teenage angst. Be Your Own Pet, while fun, sleazy and chic, always sounded like they were faking it, just a little bit. There’s no irony in the fact that both bands are/were fronted by spitting, rebellious teenage girls, both named Pearl. Their lyrics and attitudes are similar, but one doubts Bandicoot’s Pearl McGlashan was influenced by BYOP’s Jemina Pearl. They’ve also been compared to The Mint Chicks, but that’s perhaps more geographically bound than due to their music. As one who wasn’t in Auckland during The Mint Chicks’ early days, at which time they gained the reputation as the noisiest and most obnoxious band around, it’s hard to compare the two, but Bandicoot has most definitely set the Auckland live scene on fire. They’re currently dominating the local music media and they’ve been offered just about every international support slot available. So with their live reputation carrying them forth, how does it translate to record? Well it’s a little greasy and a little untamed but it’s ultra spicy and bites like poison. ‘Yr Art Degree Doesn’t Mean Shit’ says fuck you to pretentious art school students, as Pearl fires insults into a twisted catch phrase, singing “so run along and act all snarky, super faggy and talk about art.” Reuben Winter’s guitar riffs blast like a cannon before erupting into a wall of spastic, wobbly noise and Daniel McBride’s drumming keeps the music in rhythm and stops it from falling apart. ‘Bessie’ sounds like an expulsion of rage towards an ex-best friend similar to BYOP’s ‘Becky’, but it’s much noisier. ‘Bitchface’ has a similar theme, tearing apart a backstabbing ex (best friend, girlfriend, whatever…). The line “She’s wishing that she was me, I’m treading water, she’s walking on her knees,” is gritty and angry and the song ends with a circuitry of drum rolls and jolting guitar stabs. ‘Silence Is Golden’, a live favourite, is the only minor disappointment, lacking a bit of intensity. It does however display Reuben’s guitar skills, shredding and piling on speedy riffs, working them into a ball of fury before Pearl drops the line “Silence Is Golden”. Live, the crowd jumps around and shouts along, unfortunately you can’t see that in your speakers.
Nick