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Posts tagged with New Zealand bands

October 13, 2009 | Video | There's video in this post. by Zolton |

Oh boy! The Mockers were the poppiest Kiwi band that no-one outside of the Shaky Isles ever heard of. Take a trip back to the 80s and be prepared to dance.

September 9, 2009 | New Music | There's audio in this post. by Zolton |

The Chills were the first band I ever saw. Well, actually, they were the first band I never saw, despite my best intentions. I was fifteen at the time, and my friend got word that the seminal Flying Nun act, who hailed from the deepest, darkest trenches of Dunedin, New Zealand, were to play a show that night at the now long gone Max’s in Petersham, Sydney. We had to go. It was The Chills, the very symbol of low-fi sullen rebellion, with their ruddy cheeks and out of tune guitars. So we whacked handfulls of gel in our hair and resolved to sneak our way past the doorman. Only my friend arrived at the venue a little earlier than me (his Dad was clearly a better driver than mine) and promptly sauntered into the venue, while I was turned away for ‘obviously being a minor’. Dammit! They were probably better on record anyway.

October 17, 2008 | New Music | This post contains an interview. by Amy Freeborn |

New Zealand-born, globe-trotting, communal-living, psych rockers, The Datsuns, have a new album, a relatively-new drummer and a new living set-up, so expect something fresh from the Anitpodean ex-pats. ‘The new record has a lot of different styles and influences’, says The Datsuns guitarist and vocalist, Christian. ‘When we were doing this record a great thing was that we could try different things that we hadn’t done in the past’, he says, thanks to the addition of new drummer, Ben, offering as an example: ‘The last track on the record is an eight minute psychedelic song; it was a pop song but we turned it psychedelic. We said to Ben ‘play psychedelic drums’ and he did. It was completely improvised. He enabled us to do anything we wanted to do’.

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September 13, 2008 | Video | There's video in this post. by Zolton |

This live performance of Liam Finn’s Second Chance is the reason why music cuts so deep to the soul. The guy is giving it everything, and then a little extra on top. And, no, I’m not talking about the beard.

May 14, 2008 | Video | There's video in this post. by Zolton |

Oh man, what I wouldn’t give to be able to sing like Neil Finn. His voice rasps with all the sincerity and integrity of a thousand heartfelt melodies. Heck, I’d probably trade my prized collection of Archie comics for just the chorus on this song. Driving Me Mad? You betcha(dupa). This man is a treasure. Bow low indeed.

November 1, 2007 | New Music | by Zolton |

Back in the day, New Zealand pop absurdists, Split Enz were the finest damn Australasian band around. This track, I Walk Away, off their final album — Spellbound — is their ultimate moment: a hefty dose of pure melodic majestry, wrapped around the aching lyrics and quirky arrangements of genius frontman, Neil Finn.

April 28, 2007 | Video | There's video in this post. by Zolton |

I spent the formative first six years of my life in Wellington, New Zealand, a beautiful windswept city framed by a magnificent harbour in one direction and a stunning collection of green, rolling hills in the other. It was here, on a return visit many years later and deep amongst the clipped accents and ruddy faces of the weather-beaten locals, that I stumbled upon the vast catalogue of the then Dunedin based record label Flying Nun. And what a roster of acts they housed — The Chills, The Bats, The Clean, Tall Dwarfs, The Verlaines, and my favourite guitar-pop band, Straitjacket Fits. Read more

 

Latvian-born, UK-based artist Henrijs Preiss cites Russion Icons and Renaissance paintings as primary influences, but his paintings are surprisingly non-figurative. The images seem to draw from a cryptic system of iconography, as if they were panels from the temple walls of a futuristic solar cult. Read more


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Situated on the corner of Fifth Avenue and St Marks Place, in Brooklyn’s Park Slope, Total Wine Bar serves wine, beer and some small eats (their Mac n’ Cheese is seriously the best that I’ve eaten). Read more

Ben Lee upped the label a while back, but Band of Outsiders is still probably the best label you’ve never heard of. Read more


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Our friends over at Australian website Sex In Art have posted a (very tastefully done) nude by London artist Kes Richardson, who uses soft colours to give his work a pop art quality.

Somehow, meme-based blogs never lose their charm. Maybe because they’re just so stupid. The FAIL blog is simply a catalog of the funniest FAIL images on the web.

If animated wall drawings of severed heads and insect men ejecting their brains from their craniums is what people produce when they have too much time on their hands, then we should do their laundry for them and cook them dinner so they’ll have even more time on their hands.

One of the most dynamic new acts to burst into our eardrums in years, Brooklyn’s Vivian Girls have just released their debut self-titled album, which combines Phil Spector-ish Wall Of Sound harmonies with fuzzy melodies, as reflected on this track, Where Do You Run To. We have it available for free download in the Music Download section of Lost At E Minor. Hooray! [psst, it's in the third column of the site]

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Cardboard shoes

With the recession still biting, it may be time to whip out the glue and the cardboard and make your next pair of cool kicks. Don’t know how they’d manage in the rain though? Read more

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1970s and 80s Soviet Union buildings

Cambodian born photographer Frederic Chaubin is the editor of French magazine Citizen K. His photo series on bizarre buildings built in the former Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s is absolutely fascinating. Read more

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Kris Kuksi

Good thing Kris Kuksi channelled the trauma of growing up with an alcoholic stepfather, his disdain for ‘the typical American life and pop culture’, and his fascination with the macabre into obsessive, baroque assemblages, paintings, and drawings. Read more

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Paolo Ventura

Italian-born, New York City-based photographer Paolo Ventura creates fairy-tale like pictures out of amazingly constructed, miniature dioramas that almost trick the eye into thinking he’s a tilt-shift photographer. Read more

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Sparrow Vs Sparrow

Trip out with Sparrow Vs Sparrow’s retro illustrations, I love their aesthetic, color use and sense of humor. Read more


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Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more

Milk and honey, an indubitable pair. In this necklace by Stephanie Simek, a golden honeycomb beeswax pendant is encased in plastic and hangs from an oxidized sterling silver chain. The links are interwoven with a milk protein-based fiber. We have it for sale in our online store. Read more

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