Being in the happy circumstance, to go on holiday to New Zealand soon, I was wondering if you can recommend any music from over there.
AM lists 6 artists, of which I know 3: Split Enz, Crowded House and The Chills (Kaleidoscope World is a nice album!). Does anyone have any experience listening to the other 3: The Bats, Dead C and OMC?
Further bands I know of: The Veils, The Verlaines and Bic Runga.
I always try to take local music with me on holiday, to get me even more in the right atmosphere. Midaso, as 'New Zealander' hopefully you can recommend me some special traditional folk music from your country as well. For instance, is there a kind of Mauri music style?
Well you wouldn't believe me when I say that alternative stuff like The Bats,The Clean,The Chills is easier to access overseas than it is here - but it is true...
Other enjoyable bands include Shihad,The Feelers,Evermore,Straightjacket Fits,Pluto,The Exponents,The Mint Chicks,The Checks. Of course Dave Dobbyn and his side projects,Th'Dudes and DD Smash. Well the Maori here - I guess they mainly record reggae and hip hop now. That's probably the most popular stuff here nowdays - electronica/hip-hop/reggae groups like Salmenella Dub,Concord Dawn,Shapeshifter,The Black Seeds and Fat Freddy's Drop. I think my favourite local bands now would be The Brunettes and Phoenix Foundation...
The new Brunettes album is pretty good. Gets kind of annoying but it's good.
David Kilgour was here in Mpls. a couple months ago. I didn't go but he said it was amazing. He is obsessive about NZ music though especially The Clean, Bats and Chills.
No, dumbangel, haven't heard of them, but I just read some reviews to "Envy of Angels" on RYM. "Folk rock not far removed from The Byrds." Sounds inviting!
I just heard of few songs by The Brunettes, pretty retro, but also worth further investigation.
Ah yes The Mutton Birds are great - just have a few of their songs but there's absolutely no chance of finding an album by any of those bands here...
I was trying to find a youtube song for them,but couldn't find anything decent but here's a good one by Straightjacket Fits:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLTtOXIhrow
The Mutton Birds record I own is "Nature", a compilation of their first 2 albums released in 1995. It's a very fine record, good pop music in the way of Crowded House.
I gotta say i live in australia and the crap new zealand sends over here is almost as bad as the crap they produce in australia. evermore are awfull, scribe makes me cringe and shihad are whats wrong with rock. I suppose crowded house are ok, but then again there are hundreds of bands i would listen to over them. nothin against new zealand but there music industry (like australia) is pretty terrible.
Granted Jimbo - Evermore,Scribe and Shihad(although they did some alright stuff in the 90s) aren't great,but like any other country,many of the best bands are underground and all you hear is the rubbish mainstream stuff...
Last weekend, I took the opportunity to download and listen to some of your recommendations.
Here are some first impressions:
-- Shihad - Associations with post-grunge, Nickelback, etc., not my cup of tea for now.
- Concord Dawn - Their drum&bass is a little too 'busy', it gets on my nerves.
+- Evermore - Enjoyable, a bit of Keane, a bit of Travis. Don't see their second album Real Life as 'rubbish' ... yet.
+ Shapeshifter - Especially last year's live album is quite worthwile drum&bass to listen to.
+ Fat Freddys Drop - Very enjoyable reggae, coming to you from Wellington. My wife loves it!
++ The Brunettes - At first, it sounded all very familiar and not so spectacular, but I'm getting more and more into this diverse indie pop.
++ The Exponents - Danceable new wave, their singles compilation Once Bitten, Twice Bitten is great!
Did not get hold of any Mutton Birds, curious about that too.
