Rackets are a skuzzy bunch of dudes. That’s the best word I could come up for them when sometime-lead-man Jeremy Goatsman pushed his way past the security door at bFM last Saturday and plonked himself down for an interview. The band were set to play a J-Day renegade set from the top of a fire truck (and they did). Calling these guys “no-nonsense” wouldn’t be fair, as their songs are pretty much the antitheses to remaining coherent. They’re known for doing some spews, playing virtually anywhere and having a very cool series of 6 video singles released a week apart earlier this year. You can read an interview with them at Under The Radar here.

Push A Man, (which they played from the aforementioned fire truck) is up on their bandcamp as a pay-what-you-want, along with a bunch of other good shit. ~Cheque it out~

This video made me feel really funny.

Whoa there. One of my favourite live acts, a real go-to of the late night Auckland Whammy Bar wino scene, is Dictaphone Blues. Front man Ed Castelow is a songsmith willing and capable of filling an album with tunes ranging from smirking 60s pop to wistful heartbroken regretters to certified nugged out jamstorms. It’s a delicate balance, but Dictaphone Blues’ new LP Beneath Crystal Palace seems to have landed happily in the zone of albums you can drink 2 bottles of wine to. The accompanying emotions will really help with absorption.

Listen to/buy the album on Bandcamp here. You can also grip a physical copy to play in the car or something here.

Have a listen to this song, if you will:

Drag City posted up this rad video of early 90′s Forgotten Foundation-era Smog on their site the other day. When they released this album (their first CD release), I was 5 years old and completely immersed in my ABC for Kids cassette. It’s kind of handy, then, that they’re re-releasing this clanging hunk of history for a 20th anniversary. You can buy the thing digitally, physically and physically again here, if that’s in your interest. Otherwise, check out this video of Smog on their first European tour. It’s mean!

Just a quick post to share this Soundcloud upload by Auckland’s most dedicated wearer of sneans + headphones, the phenomenally talented Stefan Neville, aka Pumice. Look for him weirding out a large crowd as the opener at a show near you soon. Hat tip to the lovely Paul Gallagher for putting this into my sphere.

Voyageurs are from Fayetteville, North Carolina, in the United States. I’ve never been to Fayetteville, but from their busy little bandcamp page, you get the feeling it’s a place with a strong psychedelic drug scene. Their Twitter page is rife with in-jokes to other dank warriors, such as DEAD GAZE and Dent May, certified party-time dudes.

I had a feeling I had posted something about an earlier Voyageurs release on this stinkin’ website, but apparently that was just guilty fiction. To make up for it, have a listen to the newest track from an upcoming album. It’s got the kind of beat you’d expect to find in something labelled IDM, with some sincere noodling going on in the background. Less raucous than previous outings, but equally endearing. (Grab it here).
VOYAGEURS – BEYOND SELF POSSESSED (DEMO)

And an old favourite for good measure: (buy here)
VOYAGEURS – CLUB ADDICT

With some added DEAD GAZE for seasoning: (spend spend spend)
DEAD GAZE – This Big World

Here’s a Brooklyn bunch, as heavy on the Instagram as they are on the beats. I find NIGHT MANAGER pretty neat (cheers to the magic Sonic Masala for this tip). Okay, the Instagram thing can get a bit tiresome (and shockingly – super mainstream now that it’s suffered prole-shift to Android and Facebook), but I’m willing to let that slide in favour of it pre-seasoning my expectations for the music. Check it out! You can buy it from Bandcamp, get on the mailing list and play the waiting game for an album to materialize. Either way, have a listen down here:

NIGHT MANAGER – Ghost

Every time a new Liars album comes out I get pretty excited. On hearing their self-titled 4th album (Liars, 2007, Mute), I was drawn to the back catalogue which lead to such a catchy, frightening and supremely dance-able record. Liars are a band who make an effort to evolve, the changing production and sound held up by the skeleton of Angus Andrew’s voice. Following 2010′s wildly popular Sisterworld, which saw a return to violence in the band’s music, will be WIXIW, expected out in June. From the first single on Mute’s Soundcloud page, it seems like the sound is morphing once more. I’m sitting in a froth of anticipation.

Not sure if the soundcloud API is going to let me embed, so check the direct link here.

Lumber has a million uses. When it’s all run out, you’re in for a pretty bleak time. blue mt lumber, aka Matt McAuley (formerly of Brains) has mixed uncomfortable feelings of losing all your wood with some genuine lo-fi catchy-ness on this debut ep. To my ear it sounds a bit like a confrontational Michael Morley having a go at an ex on a long car ride.

It’s available on bandcamp as a ‘pay what you want’ deal. Have a listen here.

Firstly, sorry for the delay between posts. I’ve been on holiday, wifi has been sketchy and the chance to listen to new music has been far away. Today I was lucky enough to be in internet zone for long enough to check some new things and found the following new jam from Auckland dudes Mothers of Darkness. These bros have been around for a couple of years, sitting atop the bfm top 10 a couple of times. Their live performances are worth standing around St Kevin’s arcade until 3am for.

Points for the Waihope style artwork and radio-unfriendly tone and running time. Check the rest of their online stuff at Bandcamp, including a bunch of free downloads.

ooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH SHIT IT’S SMOOTH AS FUCK FRIDAY!!!! ON MICHAEL MUSIC BLOG????? HELL FUCKIN YEAH ON MICHAEL MUSIC BLOG!!!!! I AIN’T GOING TO TALK YOUR EAR OFF, LET’S GET INTO IT MANE!!!!!!!!

Change – A Lover’s Holiday

MOTHERFUCKIN JAM!!!!!!! YALL NEED A GROOVE ABOUT TWO PEOPLE WHO LOVE EACH OTHER VERY MUCH GOIN ON A MOTHERFUCKIN PICNIC AND ESCAPING BIG CITY LIFE????? THEN I GOT THE SHIT!!!!!!!!!!! COT DAMN THIS MAKES ME DO THE TWO STEP IN MY MOTHERFUCKIN OFFICE CHAIR

Kerrier District – Negresco

AAAAAAAaaAAAA LUKE VIBERT GETTIN ALL UP IN THAT ASS WITH A STONE COLD MOTHERFUCKIN JAM FROM THAT DISCO ALBUM HE MADE!!!!!!! THIS IS ONE OF THE THICKEST, FATTEST TRACKS I’VE EVER LAID DOWN ON YOU UNGRATEFUL MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT’S LIKE A BIG OL ROUND JUICY BOOTY IN YOUR EARS!!!!!!! DIG IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ll keep this very short. In 2009, Kyle Thomas (of Witch, Feathers) released an instantly catchy-as-it-was-kitch record under the moniker King Tuff (Was Dead, Teepee Records 2008). This album lives on every device I own, I couldn’t be more stoked that King Tuff is making new tunes.

(Update: Thanks to the commenter who called me out on my fact checking. Durrrrh!)

Holy hol.. This is summer is shaping up to be one of the finest in (my) living memory. While we’re bombarded by people whining about the Big Day Out being “a bloody joke mate” and the regular New Year’s Eve tramp-stamp mephedrone flip-flop festivals, just below the surface are heaps of class-A shows, mostly all cheap or free and happening all about. This is my earliest formed up attempt at previewing a few of them. Wahoo.

Mark McGuire of Emeralds is coming. The guy gets toasted on the blogfires with long words like ‘transcendental’ and ‘crystaline superstructures’, mostly due to his guitar work with the band Emeralds. The NZ tour is happening TONIGHT, starting at The Audio Foundation (in the old Parisian Tie Factory) from 8pm. McGuire is also slicing off chewy pieces of psychedellic brain-wad in Wellington and Dunedin. Check some tickets here.

Sun Araw has been a mentioned here in the past – and not just because of the dude’s ability to continually release mind-bending jammers. His live show here in 2010 was something out-of-this-world, the kind of sonic density and laissez-faire showmanship we don’t often get exposed to. Lethal doses. I bought a ticket to this show the day it was announced (here) with the knowledge in mind that I’d be on a different island due to a wedding. I’m seafaring for this show, make sure you don’t sleep on it.

Sun Araw – LAST CHANTS

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – OK, so Ariel Pink is a heavy hitter on the main scene these days. Along with band Haunted Graffiti, he took out P4Ks song of the year and toured the globe on the strength of Before Today.., ending up playing in the middle of the afternoon at Laneway early last year. This time around he’s not playing at a big festival, but a much more suitable indoor, night-time show. Chur Crawley, will be a treat.

(This post missed out Laneway, Thee Oh Sees and a couple of other good ones because I wrote it in November and slept on it. Sorry!)

This video for Tomorrow’s World came via The Horror’s facebook page, which is usually as good a recommendation as I need. So Long My Love is the Sugababes fired into space. I feel kind of bad for them (sounding glum, mates) but there is a subtle twang to suggest they’re not alone. They have some default beats and twangy synth to keep company. Bless.

Seccondly, a free EP. Not sure what the long term cost/benefit of plopping your music out on the internet for no money will be, but this is hardly the place to discuss something so.. hard. Auckland 4-piece Grass Cannons have been around for a year or so (from hazy memory), sounding pretty solid. Rikki Sutton (Dear Time’s Waste/ex Ghostwave) did the production, and he did a smashing job. It’s times like this I’m really glad Joe Cant didn’t hurl himself off the balcony at CALH, track 3 is really “doing it” for me.

Have a listen, here.

Holy-shit-bricks, the time is upon us. As humidity has now reached levels able to drown even the coolest player in his own ball soup, the good people at The High Seas & Under The Radar are planning on boiling us alive.

The San Francisco based 5-piece form an important part of the lumpy punk crust that covers most of the West Coast, although frontman John Dywer has a 20 year head start over contemporary heck-raisers Ty Segall, Sic Alps and other highly bloggable bros. Dywer, (formerly part of Coachwhips and Pink & Brown) puts on an reportedly riotous live show, something to look forward to in the cramped confines of Whammy Bar. A more perfect venue could not exist for this band.

I’ll plop a few choice tracks from recent albums, but as there are about a billion to choose from, there is plenty of scope in what to expect come the end of the month. Full line-up and more info below. The shows are $10, which is an unbelievable steal to see this shit when other international 5-pieces cost us upwards of $40. Do the maths!

Thee Oh Sees – Two Drummers Disappear

Thee Oh Sees – I Was Denied

Thee Oh Sees – I Need Seed

Buy tickets to AKLD show here. The rest are doors!

Auckland Friday 27th Jan 2012
Whammy!
w/ SMOKIN’ DAGGERS
THE SPUNKS

Wellington Saturday 28th Jan
Mighty Mighty
w/ THE GRAND CHANCELLORS
THE SPUNKS
MR. SLACKJAW

Wanganui Sunday 29th Jan
ARC Theatre
w/ THE GRAND CHANCELLORS
THE SPUNKS
MR. SLACKJAW