Stumps vs. BBA Dukes and Postures

Post-rock is a done-to-death description but as a semaphore of intent it still serves a certain purpose. First coined by music-journo Simon Reynolds as a term to describe progressive music "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures rather than riffs and power chords", it's use was rapidly spread during the 90s by breathless writers suddenly overwhelmed by seemingly-infinite possible music-futures. Reynolds further expounded:

perhaps the really provocative area for future development lies... in cyborg rock; not the wholehearted embrace of Techno's methodology, but some kind of interface between real time, hands-on playing and the use of digital effects and enhancement.

... which in itself has turned out to be suitably ambitious, as in general attempts at an amalgam of real-time instrumentation and digital frippery have turned out to be a big horrible mess (with notable exceptions, of course).

However some have managed to find a kinda cautious way-forward through this experimental minefield, and on Saturday night four progressive musical groups take four individual post-rockin' approaches to deconstructing sound within the codified meta-language of rock music:

...some of Wellington's greatest rock explorers...

The Postures will have you shakin' yer booty and shaking in your boots with their disco/doom rhythms combined with piercing tones and a punk delivery. The Stumps are quite possibly the Grateful Dead for the 21st century... noxious jazz-fusion is administered a good spanking to within an inch of the (current) law. Join The Dukes of Leisure on an idler's stroll through huge spaces of gentle melodies surrounded by walls of violent and engulfing noise. And Black Boned Angel is uber-ambient doom-metal created from massively overdriven instruments... the aural equivalent of a tequila and opiates-bender followed by a five-day crying jag.

SATURDAY APRIL 14th
SAN FRANCISCO BATH-HOUSE
10$

The last Black Boned Angel performance:

The Dead C are coming to town

... as noted on The Wellingtonista.

Drinking and eating and rocking and rolling

Over on the Wellingtonista, I wrote about Negroni cocktails, free gigs at the City Gallery, and Aro Community Fair.

Now. On also on this Friday night March 23th, The Stumps are playing at Happy with our friends Zombie Fuck! and Public Toilet Ltd.



There's plenty happening, yes there is...

Comets on Fire and Birchville Cat Motel

Last night, as mentioned, I went to see Comets on Fire. They ruled. They were really, really great.

Birchville Cat Motel opened, and was fantastic too. People danced, which is not normal. I mean, it's not not-normal to dance, but it is at a BCM show. Here's a bunch of pics. (Click on the images to view a much larger version which opens in another tab/window):



Also, here's a couple of shots of Comets on Fire, taken from behind the soundboard (the sound was much better there):



These are from the end, when Campbell Kneale (BCM) was jamming with them -- you can see him over on the far-left of the stage (our right).

No, you are correct -- there weren't very many people there. This surprised me a lot.

Ginga bullshit

New Zealand popular culture continues its slide into Macca & Ridgie hell...

Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma: Wed 14th March

I have joined the staff of the Wellingtonista website; fun times beckon. As I mentioned in my introduction, I'm looking forward to the challenge of making much more sense about many things much more of the time.

My first post was about the Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma gig at St. Mary of the Angels on Wednesday night, 14th March.

Unfortunately I won't be able to make it to the show, because I am going to see Comets on Fire the same night. To be frank, I love that all this fantastic music is coming through Wellington at the moment, but i really, really hate when shows collide like this.

Best searches

Best searches bringin' in the punters:

Preteen sex
after work drinks (no. 2!)
Picasso (image search)
skinny dipping (image search, not particularly NSFW)
Bull
cartoon preteen sex
cartoons who fuck
free smoking fetish gay chat rooms
preteen nude sex
a funny thing that happened in new zealand
taggart theme (ol' faithful)
horny girls in fort mcmurray
sifty etymology


NP: Soon Clyde

Thursday night: Noise/drone/rock extravaganza

Black Boned Angel::1/3 Octave Band::The Stumps::Spiers/Weeks Band

8.30 PM, Thursday 8th March, Valve bar and grill, Vivian St. Wgtn NZ...

Friday nite: Motorik ' ' dance party ' '

Party Like It's 1971 presents: Motorik
progressive German music from the 60s, 70s, and 80s... ich bin der Kapitaen und Sie sind meine Weibchen...

This event is part of the Berlin Bonanza at The Mighty Mighty in March.

Holy crap, Comets On Fire are coming to town!

Oh man, this is going to be so fckn sweet. I love this band. If you're not familir with their work, I have in the past ad with some success described them as Cream meets Fushitsusha; that seems to do the trick. Download Punk describes them as "dark and damaged acid rock served in a crude and blown out speedball of Blue Cheer, High Rise, James Williamson, and a shit-faced-drunk Brian Eno-era Roxy Music" and promises "methamphetamine and Schnapps-drenched lullabies takin' it straight into a sonic shit storm, shifting from 4/4 power-rock to imploding free-form".

From the promoter:

"" Ethan Miller and Ben Flashman formed Comets on Fire (wiki) just prior to the turn of the century in the drug-infested hippie town of Santa Cruz, California. Their original intent was to create a rock group free of commercial pretensions or genre trend; one that simply dealt in pure bombast, attack, overwhelming distortion and chaos, and yet possessing a shameless love for anthemic choruses, shattering hooks and riffs, and the smoke and magic of yesteryears' rock and roll iconoclasts. They now number five members, and live and work in San Francisco and Oakland, but have retained their original directive -- harnessing the most crucial elements of freeform classic rock, AM gold, and the never-ending, occasionally psychotropic possibilities of their combined instrumentation. ""

Support from Birchville Cat Motel.

Comets on Fire
San Francisco Bath House
Wednesday 14 March
$30 (+ booking fee) pre-sales from Real Groovy and TicketDirect

Here is the official Comets On Fire site (which unfortunately seems to be down at the moment).

Holy crap, Jon Auer is coming to town

Yep, the guy Matthew Sweet always wished he could be. Possibly. He's in town for one show only. (Remember Matthew Sweet?)

From the press-release:

""Jon Auer is co-founder of one of the most critically-acclaimed power-pop bands, The Posies, and has also spent a good deal of time in the legendary Big Star with the granddaddy of all 'em power-popsters, Alex Chilton. He also finds time to be the self-confessed number one solo sadcore artist in the world.

With his exceptional songwriting, eminently-hummable melodies, and unique musical vision, he takes listeners to sonic and emotional territories far beyond the expected parameters of the pop genre.""

John Auer brings his signature guitar-work and angelic voice to MVP for one very special, intimate night.

Saturday the 3rd of March
MVP, Dixon Street
Doors open at 8pm.
$20 presales from Slow Boat records ($15 with an Active Card).


(also coming soon... Comets on Fire)

A weekend of Pumice in Wellington

Global itinerant, national treasure and one-man-band extrordanaire Pumice is in town this weekend. Fresh from an extended tour of the US, he is playing two shows this weekend. Pumice (aka Stefan Neville) has been involved with the local underground avant-music scene for many, many years now. He has recently released a series of acclaimed albums such as "White" (on Stabbies), "Raft", and "YeahNahVienna" (on US labels Last Visible Dog and Soft Abuse respectively). He has played in Ohm (with Campbell Kneale and James Kirk), Chris Knox's band The Nothing, and is RUMOURED to have played in Thee Ideal Gus (with Clayton "CJA/Armpit" Noone among others). He currently also drums in The Coolies.

I was once talking to someone - a Pumice initiate, if you will - who asked me what it was that Pumice 'did'. I had to think about it for a moment and then came up with drifting, shuddering gospel-folk-music. Upon reflection, that kinda nails it perfectly. It's very interactive; you have to engage with it and when you do, you'll have a hard job to disengage again. Pumice hangs out a big analogue carrot which you follow, transfixed, teetering on the edge of something that you have a vague feeling might be going to be really important.. you're transcending.. pay attention; Pumice is goan take your head a-rambling over those hills over there in his little wheezing broke-ass tape-loop and concertina-powered flying machine.


Friday 9th Feb, San Francisco Bath House
The Cake Kitchen / MarineVille / Pumice
Pumice supports ex-patriate legend Graeme Jefferies' band The Cake Kitchen. Over the last 25 or so years, Graeme has been involved in some of New Zealand's most loved groups such as Nocturnal Projections, and This Kind of Punishment. His first solo album "Messages from the Cake Kitchen" stands as a highlight in the mid-late-80s Flying Nun catalogue. Graeme has been based in Europe the last 12 years, where The Cake Kitchen has won strong and lasting support. He still visits home regularly but infrequently; don't miss this chance to see him in action. Local Wellington indie-rocksters MarineVille also support.

Saturday 10th Feb, The Mighty Mighty
Pumice / The Livids / The Stumps
The Livids are entertaining pop-cock-rock who - weirdly enough - remind me of Thin Lizzy and Kiss. They are always a good time. The Stumps will probably be playfully playing their playful psych set.


Linkage:
Pumice: www.myspace.com/pumarse
The Stumps: www.myspace.com/stumpsthe
The Cake Kitchen: www.thecakekitchen.net
The Livids: www.myspace.com/thelivids
MarineVille: www.marineville.co.nz

We would love to see you there.

Freemasonry

I wonder if this guy is gonna be booted out of the lodge. (click image for larger view)

Freemasonry is weird, isn't it. Its origins are shrouded in rumour and arcane mystery. One mooted theory is that the organisation came out of a fraternity consisting of a bunch of stone-masons who were not affiliated with a guild. As you were, if you were a tradesman, at the time.

So that makes them contractors, essentially. The first sub-contractors. Albeit, kinda secretive ones, with their own peculiar set of rituals and symbology.

"Peculiar?" I hear you say. Exactly. Anyone who's ever heard the bunch of tradesmen who regularly assemble down at the Occidental on a Friday afternoon will attest to the bizarre coded language in which they converse.

"Grouting" this... "9/16 locking pipe-wrench" that.

All that remains is for them to do is to bust out the secret handshakes. And anyone who's seen a gasfitter answer his cell-phone while carrying a round of 8, 9, 10 beers to the table knows to look no further.

Go me

My recent CD The Green Morning was made #3 on the Top 10 Albums of 2006 in Portugese music 'zine Trinta de Fevereiro, and also got a really good review here in PopMatters.

More reviews here...

Stumps vs. xNoBBQx and UnAustralians

Nevermind the cricket... here's the Australia vs New Zealand NOISE|ROCK showdown

from Sydney, Australia*:
xNoBBQx
::mindnumbing minimalist comatose urban-blues::

-with-

UnAustralians
::insane outsider weirdo what-the-fuck grind-metal::

go head-to-head in street-style no-holds-barred mind-buggering AURAL BLUDGEON DEATH MATCH

versus

THE STUMPS
::estatic improvised psychedelic noise-doom-groan-rock::

Some sample tunage:

xNoBBQx - Blues 2 (3.30 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)

xNoBBQx - Sunshine of Your Love part 3 (3.27 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)

xNoBBQx - Sunshine of Your Love part 9 (2.53 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)

UnAustralians - 13654 (1.45 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)

UnAustralians - 33602 (501 KB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)

UnAustralians - 33640 (2.05 MB mp3: right-click and Save As to download)

All the usual merchandising will be in effect, including *NEW* Stumps LPs, and t-shirts.

*This event is brought to you as part of the Sun of the Seventh Sister Summer 2007 tour of New Zealand. Some spontaneous SSS action may occur on the night, as it is wont to do. Also look out for this band of merry Australians as they trip around the country late-January / early-February, 2007.

...

Merry xmas and a happy new year to y'all. Forgive the continued quietness here, busy-ness prevails.

Foxy

Hi. I've been really really really busy. I've been helping to build the new Foxy Digitalis website. It's way better than the old one - there's still the Reviews and Features but there's now a Blog and the Podcasts are much more prominent, and there's much more integration of information providing multiple points-of-access into the content. Check it out.. there's lots to see.

For your continued edification - and I'm nothing if not concerned for y'all edification - here's links to a couple of my recent postings there..

Four blues for a low Sunday My baby left me and I just don't know.. my car broke down and now I gotta walk to work.. my landlady is a mean old broad.. etc. Well along those lines, my head hurts and I'm feeling sorry for myself.. so here's my "Four blues for a low Sunday" (17 December, 2006)

Chant down Babylon A reggae music, mek we chant down Babylon... and if that doesn't work, it's good to know that there're always a couple of other options (13 December, 2006)

Ain't nothing going on...

Mo'vember Update

Progress: I'm well sick of this fucking moustache. It's bristley, itchy, and women give me funny looks. It also - apparently - makes me look like a paedophile. (Although it could be argued that my accuser just has trouble accepting that he finds attractive men.. well.. attractive).

Basically I can't wait until the end of the month. However, you can make the next 8 or so days more bearable by sponsoring my hirsuteness. Here is the officially-sanctioned spiel re. the same:

Hi all,

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'll be growin a moustache. That's right I'm bringing the Mo back because I'm passionate about changing the state of men's health.

Male health is a major issue, did you know:

1. Men are far less healthy than women. The average life expectancy of males is 6 years less than females.
2. Every year in New Zealand about 600 men die of prostate cancer – about the same as the number of women who die from breast cancer.

Help me change the face of men's health by sponsoring my mo.

Please go to http://www.movember.com/nz/sponsor, enter my Rego number which is 55551 and your credit card details. All donations over $5 are tax deductible.

The money raised by Movember will be used to create awareness and fund support networks for those that suffer from prostate cancer.

Cheers

More info is available at www.movember.com

Movember is proudly grown by Motorola, Polaroid, Remington and VB. Movember is proud partners with the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand.

So yeah.

Y'know, all this comedy-moustache growing must make those who usually sport a hairy decoration upon their upper lips feel kinda stink. Everyone's all like "ewww gross.. a moustache.. ha ha ha ha ha gross out.. kiddie-fiddler" etc. and they're all quietly going "oh. damn. I thought I looked pretty good".

NP: Leviathan - The Tenth Sub Level Of Suicide (Encyclopaedia Metallum)

Mo'vember update: 1/2-way mark

Pictured (left) is yours truly at about 1 am, Thursday 16th. Observe stunning bed-hair.

Progress: Disappointing. However, although some health experts have warned against it, I have a new model to aspire to. A Lemmy (right).

NP: Urfaust - II: Verraeterischer, Nichtswuerdiger Geist (Encyclopaedia Metallum)

Mo'vember update

Pictured (right) is yours truly at about midnight, Monday 13th. While there is now certainly something approaching definition, my upper lip is nowhere near as hirsute as I had hoped for at this point, nearly 1/2 way through the month. I've been in Auckland again the last few days and the (moderate but certainly not excessive) humidity must not be good for mo'-growin.

I'm thinking I may have to resort to hair-growth encouragement strategies. Top of the list would be such time-honoured tactics as:
1. Lotions / potions / tonics
2. Pagan hair-growth encouragement rituals (poss. see 1.)
3. Mo'-dancing (see: rain-dancing)
and so on.

Your suggestions are welcomed.

NP: Katharsis - VVorld VVithout End (Aquarius Records website)

Mo'vember

Ooh haven't I been a bad blogger. Who's a bad blogger? Me.. me.. that's who. Been flitting about all over the place - playing music, having fun, working a bit.. and not keeping y'all informed. Sorry. Now on to the topic at hand.

Introduction

It's Mo'vember. I'm participating. It's all in a good cause; men's health. You can read about it here.

So at the beginning of the month I was clean-shaven - or at least as clean-shaven as I ever get in public (see right). That means.. about days worth of stubble - a light sprinkling - nothing too serious at all.

Design Phase

I decided at the outset that I wanted to go for a kinda "Carlos the Jackal" (assassin) combined with a "John Wayne Gacy" (serial killer):

Not that I can even find a decent picture of Carlos the Jackel with a mustache; he really was the master of disguise, I guess. I hope this one (above, left) with the well-groovy glasses will suffice.

Implementation Phase

Now, one week in, we have the beginnings of mo'. As you can see (left) I have not quite achieved the desired aesthetic effect - more of a 1970s undercover cop thing going on.

However, all is not lost; this possibly may be able to be groomed into a fully-stylish Grizz Wylie (right) - we shall see.

Stay tuned.

NP: Basic Channel - Basic Channel (wikipedia)