CEO vs SDW

Late one night I went into a studio and had a nocturnal heart to heart with a Swede in a field surrounded by raucous pheasants. That Swede was the writer of the best track since House of the Rising Sun to be set in an establishment frequented by ladies of the night. He goes by CEO. He is in fact the CEO of Gothenburg label Sincerly Yours. We chatted for Music 101; starting off with how he came to cover Kanye West's 'Hold My Liquor'.

The Sketchscreen EP

My 3rd EP is called The Sketchscreen EP and it's a mess of cutting things up, mucking about with them, putting them with some other mucked up things (plus some keyboards and pianos) and then trying to make it sound like a good sort of mucked up. I'm really proud of it in all its chopped up glory. Download it for a dose of adventurous electronic tomfoolery.

5X5=25

In celebration of my birthday I put together a fantastic mix called 5X5=25 for a party I held of the same name. It includes a track from every year from 1989 to 2014 and has some lovely edits.

The Absurdity of an Obituary of Caitlin Daugherty-Kelly

So I had a text message conversation with a friend that got out of hand. Which led to this happening...

AlunaGeorge

For Music 101 George Reid of semi-eponymous R&B electro duo AlunaGeorge talked about performing collaborations without their collaborators, and sounding different from everyone else. That difference no doubt ensured their high placement on the BBC’s Sound of 2013 poll. AlunaGeorge make music for the heart and the head aka exactly the type of music I gravitate towards.

AlunaGeorge on Music 101

Gold Panda

Whilst he was on his New Zealand tour I spoke to UK electronic producer Gold Panda for Music 101. He makes shuffling, inventive music that somehow still feels comforting.

                                                   Gold Panda on Music 101

Forest Spirits and Sable

Sable - John, and Forest Spirits - Liam are two New Zealand electronic producers. They both make lush atmospheric beat driven music. Before John moved to London they released a collaborative EP called 'Carpooling'. I spoke to Forest Spirits and Sable for Music 101 and asked them to describe each others music.


            Forest Spirits and Sable on Music 101

MNDR

Electro-poppers MNDR first caught my attention when they worked on Mark Ronson's hit 'Bang Bang Bang'. Their debut album Feed Me Diamonds is now out. For Music 101 I had an interesting conversation with Amanda Warner about sexism, the music industry, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and making art.

MNDR on Music 101

Into The Uncanny Valley

For Radio New Zealand's The Arts on Sunday I've been following the progress of putting together 'Into The Uncanny Valley' which is part of BATS theatre's STAB season. They're trying some really ambitious theatrical techniques to tell the story of physics in the most interesting way possible.

Marina and The Diamonds

Marina Diamandis makes pop music as Marina and The Diamonds. It's pop music I have previously reviewed in a weirdly hesitant yet gushing way. It's pop music for the heart and the head, and it's good stuff to dance to/think about. I spoke to Marina about said pop music for Music 101 on Radio New Zealand National.

Marina and The Diamonds on Music 101

Leto Xavier: Ascension

'Leto Xavier: Ascension' is a short film by Kate Norquay about my flatmate. I helped Kate to make the film, and also pop up in it. If you like art and distracted, intense men with spiky hair this is for you.



If someone would like to go out with Leto I might be able to hook that up if the applicant is "very, very, brave". If you just want to check out his art it's at letoxavier.daportfolio.com.

Deadlines

'Deadlines' is part of BATS Theatre's 2012 Young and Hungry Season and I'm the Sound Designer. It's a twisted tale of High School and murder. Here's the blurb:

"Nothing out-of-the-ordinary ever happens at Wellington's prestigious Arrowhead High School, and that's just the way Tracey Aldridge, the ambitious head photographer for Arrowhead's student newspaper, doesn't like it. But when arrogant new student Daniel Ward barrels into Tracey's life with wild claims of murders and cover-ups within Arrowhead's student body, Tracey is thrust into an investigation where the money shot could come at a steep price..."

You don't get an idea of the intense pace of the show from that but perhaps this collage of my sound design demonstrates some of that frenzy.

She’s Hearing Mauve

In my entry for the Third Coast International Audio Festival Short Docs Challenge 2012 I collaborated with Kate Norquay to create a piece that concentrated on the search for the elements prescribed by the competition. We had to feature neighbours, three seconds of narrative silence, as well as a colour in the title. You can listen below or here where you'll also find my previous submissions.

   She’s Hearing Mauve by Shaun D Wilson

Sugar Mountain Festival

So I went to this Music Festival in Melbourne, Australia. It was pretty cool. You should listen to the documentary I made about it. The acts interviewed are Fox & Sui, Julianna Barwick, Lost Animal, Prince Rama, and The Harpoons.

Sugar Mountain Festival Documentary

Photos from Sugar Mountain Festival

In the same edition of Music 101 that my Sugar Mountain feature played; there was a lot of coverage of Camp A Low Hum 2012. I was there as a sound engineer for the programme and thoroughly recommend checking it out by clicking right here.

Summer Camp

 

At the end of 2011 Summer Camp released a record that appealed to all my primordial indie-pop instincts. It was called 'Welcome to Condale' and I had a bit of a chinwag to Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey about it for Music 101.

Summer Camp on Music 101

Christchurch Introducings

When I was last in Christchurch I recorded a few interviews for Music 101 on Radio New Zealand National's Introducing series. It's a slot that gives exposure to new acts, introducing them and their music to a nationwide audience. Here's three Christchurch acts you probably haven't heard before:

 

Teen Fortress 

 

Alexander Harmer

Psych Tigers

MayaVanya

On a trip to Auckland earlier this year I spoke to DJ and production duo Mayavanya who favour a tropical dance-ready style. I heartily recommend checking out their Soundcloud page. It was for a piece for Magneto Magazine which you can peruse with your eyeballs here.

I also did a audio version which someone (I assume from the Mayavanya camp) posted on youtube though oddly it seems to have been remixed a bit at the end. The original SDW cut is below:

   MayaVanya - Magneto Magazine Interview by Shaun D Wilson

Writing Roundup

Firstly a live review for Groove Guide with some great photos by Ash Smith of Lil' Chief Records acts Princess Chelsea and Pikatunes.

Not much of my writing for Magneto this year is online but there are a couple of my marvelous fun to write radio columns. Here's one focusing on speech radio shows about music, and here's another talking about This American Life and other shows indebted to that cultural powerhouse.

Ikonika

I've been spinning Ikonika's album 'Contact, Love,Want, Have' album and her unpronounciable EP 'Dckhdbtch' since they came out in 2010. All her stuff is worth checking out - particularly if you grew up playing video games in the late nineties. For Music 101 I phoned up Sara Abdel-Hamid, for an enlightening chat ahead of her New Zealand tour.

 Ikonika on Music 101

The Yule Vortex and Mix and Mash

I've been listening to the mad melodies that Andy Cirzan compiles each year for a while and I have to say no Christmas music has ever grabbed me as much as his 'Adventures in Holiday Obscura' with the possible exception of Bing Crosby and David Bowie dueting on 'Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth'. So it was a great pleasure to have a chat with Andy for Music 101.

Andy Cirzan on Music 101

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An Opal Dream Cave, by Jem Yoshioka, winner of the supreme NZ remix

Mix and Mash was a competition run by Digital New Zealand (a part of the National Library of New Zealand). It invited entrants to mix data, pictures, poems, whatever into something new and innovative. I put together a piece for The Arts on Sunday on Radio New Zealand National that gives a nice overview.