Recent Vinyl Finds #15
Showing posts with label Pumice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pumice. Show all posts
Free Music Archive
The Free Music Archive (FMA) is a fantastic project initiated by one my favourite radio stations in the world, WFMU, a freeform non-commercial station from New York. The Free Music Archive is a curated on-line collection of music that is free and legal to listen to and download. The music in the collection reflects the wide-ranging and left-field approach of WFMU and the other stations that are contributing. Being a US initiative there's not a lot of New Zealand music on there, but there is a bit. I've been following the FMA since it was started trying to keep track of any kiwi contributions. If you know of any I've missed I'd love to hear from you.
Many of the recordings on the FMA are live-to-air performances. The Veils played a four track set live on Seattle radio station KEXP in July of this year. One of these songs 'The House She Lived In' has been submitted to the FMA but you can also hear sets from The Veils recorded live at KEXP in 2004 and 2007 on the KEXP site.
KEXP also submitted a track to the FMA from Christchurch dance-punkers Bang Bang Eche who performed a set for the station at 2008's CMJ music expo. You can hear that whole set here (mp3).
Another freeform radio station KDVS in Davis, California has a great feature called Phoning It In. The idea is they get hold of a musician on the phone who then plays a live set down the line. Some of these sets have been contributed to the FMA but of particular interest to NZ music fans is a 2005 performance from David Kilgour where he plays solo and Clean material across the phone line from Dunedin to California. Hear the entire set here on the FMA.
FMA originators WFMU often broadcast alternative music festivals like All Tomorrow's Parties and Primavera, in Spain. The Bats performed at the latter in 2009 and their set was one that WFMU broadcast. The entire set is available on the FMA.
One of the great things about WFMU and the FMA is that they provide exposure to very experimental music and artists. One New Zealand experimental musician who has made it to the FMA is Stefan Neville, who performs as Pumice. Pumice is featured in a duet with US experimental artist Mudboy, who played a live to air at WFMU on the same show as Pumice. You can stream the entire Pumice performance on the WFMU archives.
Bruce Russell of the Dead C is another experimental kiwi musician featured on the FMA. His contribution is a recorded rather than live work. His album 21st Century Field Hollers and Prison Songs is an audio collage made entirely from samples taken from the Midnight Crossroads Tape Recorder Blues, an earlier album he recorded with Ralf Wehowsky. russell describes the album as "a tribute to the spirit of the blues, viewed through a prism of 21st century cultural criticism".
Please use he comments to let me know of any other NZ acts who appear on the FMA. In the mean-time I'll keep trawling this amazing resource and I'll hopefully bring you another kiwi update soon.
UPDATE: A day after I posted this a live set from The Mint Chicks was added to the Free Music Archive.
Download the Counting The Beat - Free Music Archive podcast
Don't miss the next episode of Counting The Beat: 
Counting The Beat Podcast RSS
The Art of Noise
Some of New Zealand's most acclaimed musicians are virtually unknown at home. The music they produce appeals to such a niche audience that it is only on the international stage that there are sufficient numbers of people interested that they can make a mark. This is particularly true of artists producing what could be described as post-rock, experimental, avant-garde punk. Take for instance The Dead C. Hardly a household name in New Zealand a couple of years ago they played at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in a line up that went The Stooges, Sonic Youth, The Dead C.
Another artist garnering attention overseas is Campbell Kneale, a prolific musician who has released many albums as Birchville Cat Motel, has a "metal" side project Black Boned Angel, and has just re-launched himself as Our Love Will Destroy The World. When I say he's prolific I mean it. This new project has already released two albums, two 7" singles, a CDR and two cassettes. One of the Our Love . . . singles he has released is 'Sadnessfinalamen', a split single with Bark Haze, a group including Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, a Campbell Kneale fan. The song is a glistening, powerful and entrancing wall of noise that achieves Kneale's mission throughout his various musical incarnations of achieving "total sensory and spiritual overload". For more info check out an excellent interview with Kneale on The Lumiere Reader and more explanation of the retirement of Birchville Cat Motel on Foxy Digitalis. There are Black Boned Angel and Our Love Will Destroy The World clips on the video page.
Another musician exploring the edges of contemporary rock is Stefan Neville, who as well as drumming for the likes of Chris Knox's The Nothing, has a long-standing solo pysch/noise/folk/rock project called Pumice. With over three dozen releases since 1994 he's also very prolific although if you're looking for a starting point I would recommend the excellent 2007 album Pebbles. Pumic has released his material over the years on a variety of small labels, nearly all of them based out of New Zealand. His latest release is 7" single called Persevere on Soft Abuse records. The single has three tracks, an original titled 'The Dawn Chorus of Kina' plus two acoustic covers, including one of NZ band The Axemen.
Better known in New Zealand is Tristan Dingeman of HDU. HDU's 2008 album Metamathics was the band's first since 2001. In between Dingeman was performing solo as Kahu. One of the songs he released as Kahu was 'Mountaineater' which has now become the name of his new three piece band. The band's name gives you a sense of Mountaineater's sound which, in an interview with the Dominion Post's Simon Sweetman, Dingeman describes as "hav[ing] aspects of punk and metal, we have the noise thing going on and pop with melodies too". The band have released a debut single 'Mata'/'Sunfired' which is available through Under The Radar.
There's been a lot of anticipation for the debut album from Kerretta, Vilayer. The three piece band have previously been show-cased on a 7" and 12" single and they have gained a loyal live following. They have a massive driving instrumental sound that has seen them hold their own on stage with the likes of New Zealand's Jakob and Americans Explosions in the Sky, but that sound has gotten even bigger on Vilayer. The first single from the album is 'The Square Outside'. There is a Kerretta clip on the video page.Download the Counting The Beat - The Art of Noise podcast
Don't miss the next episode of Counting The Beat: Counting The Beat Podcast RSS
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
