Hey Seuss

I thought that I'd mark Easter with a special episode of Counting the Beat. No, it's not songs about bunnies, buns or chocolates, but songs about Jesus. Well, not strictly about Jesus, I've kept away from the Christian rock genre, and in fact many of these songs merely make reference to Jesus rather than being about him.

'Talk to Jesus' from The Brunettes debut album Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks, is intricately crafted slice of melancholic, melodramatic, 60s influenced pop, of the kind the band are so good at. This wouldn't sound out of place on a Lee Heazlewood and Nancy Sinatra album.

Lindon Puffin fronted an indie band with glam ambitions, The Puffins, in the 90s but he's now gone solo modeling himself as a folk/punk troubadour gaining acclamation for his 2007 album Show Pony. Puffin has now put together a band, the Transgressions and has released country rocker 'Jesus Girl' from forthcoming album Vaseline on The Lens. Puffins also made a road movie Figure 8000. I've put the trailer on the video page.

On his 2007 album Songs from a Dictaphone SJD was searching for his place in the world and the song 'Jesus' was not the only to explore questions of spiritual connection on an album that combined the melancholy thoughts of a stay at home suburban dad with great beats.
Cut Off Your Hands seemed to burst from nowhere to the world overnight. Starting off as Shaky hands in 2006 they released a debut E.P. titled Cut Off Your Hands, which they later adopted as the band name. Then they decamped to the UK where they recorded with Bernard Butler of Suede. The band are great at angular post-punk pop songs and the songs 'Girl' and 'Still Fond' are great indie pop tracks but on the album You and I you'll also find the much more introspective song 'In The Name of Jesus Christ' questioning Christian hypocrisy.

Jetty's album Soundtrax for Modern Lovers was originally self released in 1999 but luckily has been re-released by Powertool Records. The band were influenced by all the bands of the glory days of 90s alternative guitar rock, many of whom came from Jetty's home town of Dunedin. The song 'Jesus Speeds' is actually about a guy named Jamie (nicknamed Speedy), a man with mental health issues renowned around Dunedin for walking very quickly and listening to a very loud transistor radio.

If you want sentimental American sounding country/folk then Warren Love is your man. He was robbed a few years ago when his Warren Love Band album missed out on a country music Tui. The stand out track on the album, written by locals Kevin Byrt and Barry Hennessey is 'Autographed Picture of Jesus'.

Tom Bailey was in the huge internationally famous pop band The Thompson Twins before leaving all that behind to make dub in the New Zealand bush as International Observer. Originally on the excellent Round Trip mars compilation Sideways Too and then later on the 2005 album Played Out is 2 Steps at a Time Sweet Jesus.

The only song in this episode without Jesus in the title comes from the early days of the amazing punk/skank/dub group Hallelujah Picassos. Before they made two excellent albums in the early 90s, Hateman in Love and Drinking with Judas, they released a number of cassettes and singles. Their first single (which also appeared on the Pagan Records compilation Postive Vibrations) only just reveals the influence of ska on their later sound. It came out in 1989 and was called 'Clap Your Hands'. Somewhere there is a video for this track, it aired on Radio With Pictures. I would love to hear from anyone who can track it down.

And of course there's no way any collection of New Zealand "Jesus" songs would be complete without Darcy Clay's classic 'Jesus I Was Evil'. The video is posted on the video page.

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I Like Both Kinds of Music, Country and Western

Regular followers of Counting The Beat will know that I'm not averse to slipping the odd country number into the mix. Liking country music kind of took me by surprise. A few years back I would sooner have poked my eyes out with a rusty fork than listen to anything with a twang. Something happened though and now there are country albums in my all-time top 10.

Every year the New Zealand country music community celebrates and recognises their best at the Gold Guitar Awards. However, just about every year the interesting and innovative is overlooked in favour of cliched, big hats and checked shirt country. Take, for example, 2007. A great, thoughtful, lyrically powerful self titled album by the Warren Love Band sadly, but predictably lost out to the Topp Twins whose album Flowergirls and Cowgirls actually came out in 2005.

This year, however, a song I actually like has taken an award at the Gold Guitars. Jess Chambers (pictured above) won APRA best country song with 'Stringing Me Along' which comes from The Woolshed Sessions album which Jess participated in along with the likes of Lee Prebble and Age Pryor. The Woolshed Sessions is a nice album with a laid-back folky feel that means it gets played on National Radio and enough members of the super-cool Wellington music scene to also get airtime on the bnet stations. Jess's self titled album with the firefly Orchestra is also a great listen and you can hear a live performance recorded for National Radio (stream). There's a video for 'Stringing Me Along' on the video page along with a couple of others by, or featuring, Jess Chambers.

Also featured on the podcast are a couple of other kiwi country favourites that won't turn your brain to mush. 'Already Broken' is the title track from a 1999 album by Wellington band Pit Pony, a vehicle for the songs of Steven Hinderwell. It's a good album with nice touches of mandolin, banjo and lap stell along with vocals from Catherine George and Steve Roche along with a guest spot from Shihad's Jon Toogood. You may still be able to pick up a copy at Slowboat Records in Wellington.

The Shot Band are another Wellington group but they play a more rocky bar-room brand of country. In fact their first E.P. was titled Songs About Drinking and Dying. The band also released a self titled album in 2005, but have gone quiet since proposing a tour in 2008 that didn't come off. There's a 2006 performance recorded by National Radio here (stream) and a clip for the opening track from that album, 'My Lord' on the video page.

To finish I've got a classic from 1974 - Dawn Garmson with her song 'New Zealand needs a Country Hall of Fame' - yodels and all.

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Shopping Spree

Ever since I had kids my record shopping has slowed down. But every once in a while I go on a bit of a splurge. A recent trip to Wellington gave me the opportunity to check out the record stores and pick up a couple of new releases and some I had missed from the last year or two. I always like going to Slow Boat Records in Wellington. While they may not have the same amount of stock as the big shops like Real Groovy, what they do have is well selected and the staff know their stuff. Shops like that are getting harder to find.

So what did I buy? Well first up was a surf guitar instrumental release from The Mysterious Tape Man called Tape Man Goes To Outer Space. I'm a fan of surf guitar and I love the 50s science fiction theme that runs through this EP. I selected Kaikoura U.F.O. for the podcast because I have a thing for songs named after NZ towns and locations (check out a place name special I recorded a while back). There's a TV news interview with The Tape Man on the video page and a good print interview here.

Next up is a song from a new EP by Let's Planet. They have been around since the the mid 1980s and have been sporadically releasing material since 1990. The Bounce E.P. remains true to Let's Planet form - catchy, engaging indie-pop.

Autographed Picture of Jesus is a standout track from the the self titled debut by The Warren Love Band. Love writes great country tunes and this 2006 album was nominated for the country music Tui in 2007. Warren was robbed, with the award going to a less than stellar release from The Topp Twins.

Hailing from Wellington, Hot Swiss Mistress make indie pop with an alternative guitar edge. The track I feature is from their EP the Falling Stars. You can also check out a nice live performance recorded for National Radio (stream).

And to finish, probably my best find, a new release from Kerretta. This is the kind of epic guitar soundscape I love so much. A Death in The Future is released on 7" single by Midium records. They're touring around the country with Jakob at the moment in support of the single and on the strength of this will be well worth seeing.

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