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'.

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

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.

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

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.

Darkstar

Darkstar have just put out a rather splendid album called 'North' on the Hyperdub label. The duo turned trio are one of a number of groups trying to translate the aesthetic of modern British electronic music to a wider audience. In doing this they take more cues from what has gone before than some of their peers, but despite their looking back; this is music moving forward. I interviewed band member James Young for Music 101 on Radio New Zealand National.

Darkstar on Music 101

Zebedees

About a month before the Christchurch earthquake I went down for a brief holiday. While there I recorded a short doco for Music 101 on Radio New Zealand National about all ages venue Zebedees. Zebedees was more fortunate than many Christchurch venues (some of which need major work or even demolishing) in that it was back to normal by the Saturday following the earthquake. So luckily Zebedees is continuing in its important role in our sadly lacking all-ages music scene.

Zebedees documentary