RNZ's Music 101 programme recently aired a feature on Nicholas Joseph's debut single, Not Yours.
Nick talks a bit about his musical journey, songwriting process and recording the single in his 'grotty' basement studio in Shanghai.
M Faisandier has released two new albums of work this year. Lush, long-form ambient guitar x tape machine journeys! Listen here :
Artist Page:
Composer and musician extraordinaire Karl Sölve Steven, aka “one of Aotearoa's most trailblazing musical figures of the past three decades” (UTR) has just released a remix by Dream Chambers!
“I love the Dream Chambers adaptation. It's sort of grown the track into another dimension that makes the original feel like a roadmap while this is the actual terrain. It's pretty magical to hear it brought to life in this way; it's like going to sleep having sketched the first sentence of a novel in a notebook and waking up to find the whole thing written.” — Karl Sölve Steven
“In the Cold Light of Day”: Press play and read more below:
Jess aka Dream Chambers described her approach to the remix on UTR – “I immediately loved the song's meditative quality… I took Karl's bass synth progression as a jumping off point and created some arpeggios over top using my modular synthesizers.
“I expanded the chord sequence to have a Dream Chambers-esque melodic build. Added some more synths cause I love them and it's fun to layer melody on melody. Then added Karl's synths and drums back in for extra vibe and a nice crescendo at the end. I also added my voice to create a duet with Karl's spoken word and some backing harmonies in the chorus.
“When I was working on this track last year I had a lot of uncertainty in my life and being able to accentuate the optimism of the song and make it into a positive mantra of sorts was really soothing for me.
“As the song says 'It will all be a whole lot clearer in the cold light of day.' I interpreted that as 'Tomorrow is a new day and everything is going to be ok.'”
All Of Human Emotion On Microfiche (The Remixes) is out on 6th July via Sunreturn
Artist Page:
Works For Loudspeakers is a platform for emerging and established composers working in the field of electro-acoustic music.
This is the 24th edition, featuring works by:
BJ Leo
Kraus
Andrew Reddy
Jessica Robinson
Tyrone MacIntosh
Ryan Smith
Skymning
notv
Ivan Clayden
Matt F
& Fern
Many thanks to the composers for their work! Click through to listen & read more.
Check out this profile of Ana Chaya Scotney, aka Kōtiro, featuring her ocean swimming, hanging in the studio with Thomas Arbor and jamming a new song with Ben Lemi.
“[I really like] figuring out how we can use contemporary technology to bring forward sounds that are inspired by Te Urewera, by the experience of being in places that really put our smallness, our youth as a species into perspective.” – Ana Chaya Scotney / Kōtiro
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“Hosted by DJ & music journalist Jess Fu, Amplified spotlights artists who use music to embrace, connect & explore their cultural roots.”
MOTTE is touring Aotearoa in celebration of her newest album ‘Cold + Liquid’. She will be joined by Luke Scott (Admiral Drowsy) to fully capture the aural expansiveness of this new work, and to create a very special listening experience.
Anita Clark’s new Motte album, Cold + Liquid, builds glacial atmospheres, frozen moods and isolated impressions. Portraying New Zealand through socio-geological sound, breathing in Christchurch cultures and locales, the album embodies an artistic simulation of the Kiwi environment. Motte borrows from an array of sound sources to create an immense entity, with each piece situated precisely along the path. Cold + Liquid offers this rich sensory experience, transporting the listener into a world of Clark’s imagination.
As a master violinist, Clark is a favourite of the NZ music scene. She’s been employed by the Renderers, Nadia Reid, Lawrence Arabia and Delaney Davidson for her skills. Currently, she plays with The Phoenix Foundation, Luke Buda and Don McGlashan and the Others. Her skilful reach across genres fuels her popularity both with the rock under and overground, and she has also built a rich CV of film soundtracks and contemporary dance compositions.
Listening to Cold + Liquid is a fulsome experience of articulated sound and specific place. Anita Clark dances around the shining candescence of her culture like a night insect, always seeking a better vantage point to the light.
It’s designed as an immersive experience and does sometimes feel like the aural equivalent to caving as Motte’s strings swoop and trill around you…Often this kind of music aims for warmth and comfort, it’s nice to hear something so purposefully chilly – Tony Stamp
Here there are beautiful songs, drifting soundscapes, and monstrous head-twisting bouts of discordance that nonetheless remains somehow mellifluous (no matter how murky the water). You will be the judge, but to me this music sits in a zone of conditional beauty, equidistant from the work of Coil, Kate Bush and Danielle Dax. That location is a latitude at which tall drinks and tiny paper parasols become obligatory. So, spin this disc, pour yourself a Shirley Temple, and hit the floating sun loungers with me. This water’s warm. – Bruce Russell
LINKS
Having tested the waters with a tour in China and a handful of shows in Kirikiriroa as ‘Umbrellas’, Nicholas Joseph (former frontman for Deer Park) is ready to lose the moniker and stand on his own two feet – taking on his first and middle name with a collection of songs that are stripped back, personal and raw – a far cry from the hazy beat driven soundscapes of his former band Deer Park.
Joseph’s new music is arresting and melodic – taking cues from the likes of Big Thief, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Nick Hakim – often favouring electric guitar over keyboard (his usual weapon of choice).
Nicholas Joseph features Arden Tanner-Dempsey on drums and Kirikiriroa by way of Portland folk musician Brandon De La Cruz on guitar and keyboard.
A debut release is fourthcoming via Te Whanganui-a-Tara based collective Sonorous Circle (home to the likes of Seth Frightening, Kōtiro and Glass Vaults).
With support from Harris & Brandon De La Cruz.
Brandon De La Cruz is a Kirikiriroa by-way-of Portland folk artist whose lyricism is uniquely shaped by his interest in mythology, ceremony and RH Blyth’s translations of Japanese haiku.
Works For Loudspeakers is a platform for emerging and established composers working in the field of electro-acoustic music.
This is the 23rd edition, featuring works by:
Jonathan Cruz
Châu
Aotūroa
Dream Chambers
Nick Hunter & Jeremy Hunter
Mark Donlon
& Thomas Arbor
Many thanks to the composers for their work!
Click through to listen & read more about the composers and their work:
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