Our Lord the Internet’s current genre du jour, ‘witch house’, finally gets its blast into the ‘Best New Music’ section of your torrents list with the debut full-length from the genre’s progenitors, Salem. Omitting the obvious fact that this genre really is just ‘80s industrial / goth jacked up with hip hop beats and bass to the extreme, there are actually quite a few good points across the album. Opener ‘King Night’ samples a choir performing ‘O Holy Night’ across its tinny MPC beat, while the bass synths blow everything out of control. It’s a legitimate slowbanger, if only for the floor-shuddering intensity of its bass drops.

This propensity to annihilation by bass proves to be Salem’s most potent weapon across the album. Their beats stutter and shake, but regularly (and always satisfactorily) allow for booming drops. Just see the updated versions of older tracks ‘Frost’ and ‘Redlights’. These two also bring Heather Marlatt’s vocals to the fore, which is definitely one of the wiser decisions they made. When Jack Donoghue takes over the vocal duties, the results are just embarrassing. Downshifting his vocals to the point where it’s hard to take it as anything but a joke (or a sitcom ransom call), ‘Trapdoor’ and ‘Sick’ flirt with pop melody while leaning back on hip hop a little too far, which really serves only to highlight the lack of tricks up their sleeve. Their strengths are laid bare in the first two tracks (arena-level bass and downbeat synth sludge), and any variation on this across the album jumps straight onto the fail train.

Witch house itself, really, is pretty much a joke of a genre. A new label for old tricks pioneered over 20 years ago. Whether Salem are in on this joke or not is debatable (although their pathetic showing at the Fader Fort this year points to ‘no, they’re not’). Some points on this album feel deliberately awful, others just plain painful, yet many tracks prove themselves to be dense, well-constructed slices of crushing dance music. It’s a frustrating listen, to say the least. I think this can readily be viewed as Sleigh Bells’ ugly twin. Both are amping louder than loud dance music and hip-hop’s skittery beats, just to completely different ends. Sleigh Bells go for dancefloor epilepsy, Salem take the murky, druggy road. Whichever you prefer, you may as well lap it up while it’s hot—I can’t see Salem’s stock having much longevity.

HEIL SATAN

2.5/5

Active Since: 2006
Salient Picks: Glass Vaults, Seth Frightening, I.ryoko, Arkitype
Site: www.sonorouscircle.com

From smaller beginnings in 2006, Thomas Lambert and close friend Matt Faisandier began the label as a logical step from their furious creative output. “[We] were in three or four bands or projects each at the time (In the Interest of the Convoy, Akaname, Ornithologist, 100 Suns, A Flight to Blackout, The Enright House and i.ryoko), and it was obvious that we would be making music for the rest of our lives, so it just made sense to start a label,” Lambert says. The label has been an evolving process, one which now consists of core members Lambert, Faisander and Sean Kelly (of Seth Frightening)—“close friends who I know will be obsessed with music and general good times until we die.”

Which seems like a pretty bold statement, considering the relatively young age of those involved—all under 23. But their commitment to producing and releasing quality music is pretty concrete, once you look at their list of releases; old This City Sunrise material still rules, the Glass Vaults EP was received extremely well, and Seth Frightening’s The Prince and His Madness has been cited again and again as a landmark New Zealand album. (Let’s not forget that this is the same Seth Frightening who recently was chosen to tour Australia with Jonsi of Sigur Ros). In addition to that, the current projects on Sonorous Circle look to also be stone cold classics—Paperghost’s latest album (which you can find reviewed among these pages) is of the highest calibre, as is the recent release from Christchurch’s Arkitype. Collaborations that have worked exceedingly well, and exceedingly simply. Lambert explains: “Arkitype is Alex Wootton, a friend I lived with in Christchurch. He would spend the majority of his time making music on his computer in the shed we had out back that he had turned into his musical lair. I’d just have to ask him if I can hear what he’s been up to and he would give me some tracks. The Meats the Beatles album he did (a “sacriligeous, but highly tasteful” mashup affair) was a favourite listen last summer and it seemed a crying shame for people not to hear it. So I just asked if he wanted me to put it through the website. That’s about the extent of it.” And on Paperghost and other Sonorous Circle artist Minelli, he continues: “These are just people we have known for a while. I consider myself very lucky to be consistently in the vicinity of such talented people.”

Again and again, this sense of community has yielded some of the best music across New Zealand in the last few years, across many labels, across most genres. One specific facet of Sonorous Circle that perhaps sets them apart is their attention to detail in the music-making process—their output may not be gargantuan, but they are exemplary of the “quality, not quantity” ethos, something that Lambert simply puts down to the group of people that work together being, well, geeks. “I can say that for me personally and for the people associated with Sonorous Circle, our lives pretty much totally revolve around music,” he says. “Perhaps that could be the difference. I can’t speak for any other scenes, but for us geeks there is a lot of thought, care, experimentation and time that gets put into the music, which must come through when listening. Perhaps it just depends on how much one values the craft.”

And apparently, there is also some ‘hydroponic aid’ involved in judging whether or not a Sonorous Circle product is ready to be unleashed upon the masses: “There is also what we call the ‘stoned-test’, whereby one sits in a dim room with an ideal-as-possible listening environment (perhaps in the centre of some nice speakers and a cloud of smoke) and engages with some music in a concerted act of focussed submission. If executed correctly this process allows the true value of the music to be revealed in all its detailed splendour.”

Lambert also represented Sonorous Circle in the recent ‘For The Record’ discussion at the Adam Art Gallery, pondering the future of music distribution, in which panelists from Papaiti to Flying Nun intimated the importance of working for the music, not the money—Lambert included. “There is a massive group of us who just don’t care about money or the system that places so much importance on it and as someone pointed out, there is a generation of music enthusiasts who have come to expect everything for free. Due to the fact that I am a poor student, I am by default one of those people,” he admits. “I don’t think anyone should be denied an experience because they can’t afford to pay for it. And it is a horrible truth that that is how the world (for the most part) currently works. So it will be interesting to see what the future has in store—when our idealism wears off and we start voting National (not going to happen).”

The near future holds more of the same for Sonorous Circle. In addition to the aforementioned releases, there is a physical release planned for Glass Vaults (“hopefully on coloured vinyl!”), and more to come. As always, as with everyone, money is their primary constraint—“We don’t always have access to decent amounts of money. We just have to make do. But all releases deserve the best presentation they can possibly get.” Their level of commitment to their output is apparent. As is the quality of said output —just sample any one of their releases from this year. They may have only really come to prominence in 2010, but if Sonorous Circle actually do continue like this until they die, then Wellington need not fear for a lack of quality bands in the near future. Like, at all.

Sets is Brandon Sayring. Brandon Sayring is Sets. He is one of the most innovative musicians operating in the country at the moment, easily. Many of you may have seen the Whanganui resident’s performances during Orientation, or opening for heavyweights like Die! Die! Die! earlier in the year. Working with a wide array of equipment, much of it straying from standard instrumentation, there is a focus on making something more than a song: space, texture, general sonics play as important a part for him as song structure does for other performers.

One distinctive feature of Sets in 2010 is his goal to play a different setlist for each show he plays over the year—all completely new material. It’s a daunting task, especially considering there have been points where he has had to play three shows in a week. But it is a task from which he won’t back down.

“While I do enjoy playing the same set over and over and acknowledging the subtle differences with each repetition, my approach has been nothing but [repetition] until I came to terms with it very early in the year,” he says.

“I noticed it is a new decade and came to the understanding that I need to re-evaluate my ideas and motives in contrast with what I had been doing so far. It was a totally selfish decision, but I feel selfishness is totally applicable to self-directed activities. Though in saying that, a lot of my material recently has been designed so that the audience can potentially become more involved with it.

“I have attempted to do so through consciously subtracting some elements of the composition and equipment so that instead of giving people what they want, they have to fill in the blanks. If people see it as annoying talentless rubbish, this view is also valid and I think it kinda works in my favour since it redirects people who I wouldn’t want to really share my ideas with anyway.”

This subtraction of elements from the live show is what has brought Sayring to his current performance setup: employing what you could call irregular household electronics (telephones, speakers) to serve his wishes. Sayring, however, sees it slightly differently.

“I have not tried to forcefully impose what could be considered as unconventional components. I have always used Sets as a way to output my thoughts and ideas. Sometimes I don’t think about developing a set based on a list of songs but more on composing a component or an instrument and having the duration revolve around it. I will sometimes use the specific function that it produces to enhance an idea or an environment which I feel may need it. It has all been a seemingly natural progression articulated by my general interests.”

This journey has been one that has been described as both compelling and frustrating by reviewers of his 2010 shows, but it must be argued that every show he does is an engaging, unique piece of work—one-offs—as nothing will be recorded or redone.

“I have no real desire at this stage to document what I have been doing at shows this year. I have loved having every composition live only for its duration and really enjoy the fact that those who are unable to come to a show never get to experience what happened. They can only imagine.”

Another of his projects is a Boadrum-esque setup, wherein “as many drummers as I can get to all play a kit each and play the same thing. The focus isn’t so much on making songs but more on physical power and how different spaces (and I guess audiences) react to that amount of sonic force.”

However, performance projects aren’t the entirety of Sayring’s output. For the uninitiated, the Whanganui music scene lost one of its most vital components this year in Al Cameron, who ran venue space Eye of Night and, in Sayring’s words, “influenced and sculpted this town in ways no one else could have.”

In his absence, Sayring has begun work on another project. “I admired Al’s philosophies a lot, and so with the help of the community I will be generating an outlet for the creativity of this town to continue. In a way this venue will be a homage to Al’s impact here and because of this, I have decided to name this project The Arc Theatre—‘Arc’ being his initials.”
And for the foreseeable future, it is this project that seems to be his priority.

“As I suggested, I am influenced by whatever my current situation is, so it will all depend on where I end up. At the moment I am pretty passionate about The Arc Theatre and am spending a lot of time on that.

“The only parameter I really want to put on myself is to not be a dick.”

Sharpie Crows
Golf Course / Mass Grave EP
(Mole Music)

Sharpie Crows’ last release, Greed, cemented itself as one of the best New Zealand releases of last year exceedingly quickly; its hyperpolitical noise balladry ringing true with many of those dissatisfied with either one Mr. Key, the lack of visceral, angry music in Wellington, or both. Then, of course, they upped and left to Melbourne, leaving us pretty much high and dry—a pretty good move really, since their brand of rhythmic, grooving, sparse noise-rock is much more in tune with the likes of Bad Seeds children like HTRK than the poppier focus of Flying Nun offshoots in New Zealand.

And now we have Mass Grave, the new EP. Once again produced by band member Jackson Hobbs, the quality of the work here is immediately apparent. Sharpie Crows have a bizarre knack for self-recording to a level well above anyone else operating on the same budget. It’s not gloss, not by any stretch, but it is b.r.u.t.a.l.

The music itself switches down a gear from the unrestrained fury of Greed; opener ‘Communist Girls’ rides by on a two simple haunted house keyboard chords, the same tone carrying over into the ‘Fifteen Golden balls’ duo. It’s important to note, I think, that this EP probably has the best flow of any piece of work I’ve listened to this year—keyboards from ‘Communist Girls’ overlap into ‘Fiftteen Golden Balls’, which in turn segues neatly into the final two tracks on the EP—a credit to both their songwriting and their production skills.

The two parts of ‘Fifteen Golden Balls’ are two affecting sides to the same coin: Part 1 reprises the trailer trash guitar shreds of ‘Landlords’ from Greed, driving a 4/4 nail home. Part 2, however, sprawls much more; at almost half the speed of its first part, Sam Bradford’s vocal multitracking haunts much more than their terror-noise assaults of past, and the horn-filled exiting coda, equal parts melodic and apocalyptic, is a surprising but excellent turn for the band. Leading out the EP are ‘Country Music’ and ‘Hunterville Tire Spikes’, both employing the best of their effects—the former’s stuttering machine-gun pedal bursts jar the listener out of the childish keyboard melody, ‘Hunterville Tire Spikes’’ slow, echoing build is easily the EP’s highlight, however. Bradford’s yelling punctuates the tale of Hunterville’s redneck Tartarus over some deathly, pallid pacing: it’s a world of pain laid out in 5 minutes of unrequited angst and squalor.

Following on from this, is Golf Course. Effectively a b-sides EP, it comes free with Mass Grave, and showcases a weird, fun side of Sharpie Crows. There are live smash hits, like ‘Bank’ and the formidable ‘Sheepskin’, alongside a couple of other, rougher, less subtle tracks than those on the main EP. The real surprise here is ‘Heybro vs Keybro’, a nearly six-minute banger redux of Greed epic ‘Hebrew vs Key’. It gets grating in parts, with a solid section of the middle taken up with an annoying refrain of ‘Racheeeeel, Racheeeel’, but still, it’s a Sharpie Crows banger.

All in all, this EP marks a turning point for Sharpie Crows, it seems: Josh Jenkins is no longer a part of the band, and their future is up in the air. However, even if there is no more Sharpie Crows material in the near future, this is all you need to tide you over, it’s hateful, for sure, but compellingly so. To quote their press release: “You know when you hear it, and you don’t hear it often, because most bands can’t do it. It’s staring into the void, and then pissing into the void.” That’s pretty much them.

Buy it.

Mass Grave: 4/5

Golf Course: 3/5

Arcade Fire—The Suburbs
Merge Records

Win Butler has always had a fervent preoccupation with ‘the kids’, be it the youthful escapism of debut Funeral, or anger and concern for the kids with no future on Neon Bible. Here, on their third full-length, it seems to be maturing—they’re no longer running with ‘the kids’, but they’re contemplating settling down and having their own. It’s a more tempered record than what has come before—their propensity towards arena anthems is dampened considerably, replaced with a focus on rhythm across many tracks.

‘The Suburbs’ opens the album, bouncing along as Butler sings “Grab your mother’s keys, we’re leaving”—still preoccupied with the kids, but not as joyously as before. ‘Ready To Start’ and ‘Empty Room’ couple their string section with an upped pace, to great effect. Butler’s vocal apex on the former, particularly, is a highlight. Unfortunately, the highlights are somewhat disparate across The Suburbs. At sixteen tracks, the album is overlong. By quite some distance. ‘Wasted Hours’, ‘Deep Blue’ and ‘We Used To Wait’ have no place here—their pacing is too similar, their melodies too ineffectual to warrant making the final cut on this album. ‘Month of May’ attempts what I guess you could label Arcade Fire’s version of ‘punk’, but Butler lacks the bite to pull off the viciousness that the song strives for, calling out all the “kids standing with their arms folded tight”. That’s not to fault the band though, they pull off a driving, heavy(ish) rhythm that I wouldn’t have expected of them. All in all, however, the album drags far too often, and when it drags, it draaaags. However, all is not lost, as the band redeem themselves wonderfully on the final two tracks. ‘Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)’ totally sparkles, with echoes of both Funeral’s ‘Haiti’ and Blondie’s ‘Heart of Glass’ in a vibrant, upbeat number. Regine Chassagne takes centre stage and makes the most of it, completely eclipsing any vocal turn by Butler on the album. Then the album is bookended by a downbeat closing to the track ‘The Suburbs’, melancholic and pretty depressing, really. But these last two tracks easily make the biggest impression on the listener, and ‘Sprawl II’ is totally one of their career highlights. I just wish there wasn’t so much fucking filler to work through to get to it.

3/5

In a year littered with releases from great New Zealand bands, it kinda looks like Auckland three-piece Street Chant topped them all. Their debut album Means has been quite some time coming (via Arch Hill), but turns out it’s worth the wait. Despite some of these songs being initially written almost four years ago, little, if anything about this album feels dated. On that note, nor does it feel particularly ‘trendy’, or adhering to a certain sound / aesthetic of the now. Means is, simply put, a collection of fucking good songs.

Opener ‘The Fatigues’ comes forth from some electronic squeal (possibly the only non bass / drums / guitar / vox input on the album) and storms the gates, its fast / medium pacing turns, keeping the listener engaged all the way. By the time it hits the chorus, you realise just what a fucking incredible opener this is. All the ‘hits’ that Street Chant fans will know are here—‘Scream Walk’, ‘You Do The Maths’, ‘Yr Philosophy’ and ‘Less Chat, More Sewing’ sound superb. Bob Frisbee’s production isn’t overbearing by any means (lol), balancing everything—the bass is fuzzed out slightly but super forceful, Emily Littler, whose vocals have never really been a ‘wow’ point of the band previously, establishes herself exemplarily as a quality vocalist, and, of course, Alex Brown’s drumming becomes a focal point wherever he is given room to move (see the end of ‘Less Chat, More Sewing’—or anywhere on the album, really).

Means exhibits excellent variation in pacing too. Slowburner ‘Stoned Again’ chronicles weed escapism and boredom in a fantastic buildup of a song, while ‘Yara Aba’ brings out one of the catchier riffs on the record. Littler’s vocals don’t quite match the frantic breaks, but as a colleague pointed out, that’s more of a production issue than anything else. Album closer ‘The Password is Password’ comes as a particular surprise. Quiet, with minimal drums and hushed vocals, it rounds out the album calmly and effectively. Even if it does sound like a track which might have benefitted more from being a full-blown grunge monster, the decision to pare it back was inspired and successful.

In any case, I’m pretty sure I’ve gone on enough about this record. There’s a sort of timeless quality here, these are songs that merit returning to again and again. For those who know the material, it’s a near-perfect summation of their career to date. For those who don’t, it’s a stellar set of heavy guitar-pop songs. Either way, this album is an essential purchase.

3/5

Age: 4 (ish)
Salient Picks: Sharpie Crows, DHDFDs, Rifles, Nevernudes, Deer Park… fuck, all of them
Website: molemusiconline.net

After a brief hiatus, the series of pieces on New Zealand record labels has returned. This week I talked to Sam Walsh, of Auckland-based Mole Music, who are responsible for bands such as Nevernudes, ex-Wellingtonians Sharpie Crows, Deer Park, and Wellington residents The Body Lyre.

It all began about four years ago, with Walsh working with bands such as The Vacants, and moving from there: “There have been some pretty big gaps in regards to the label’s output, as it’s always been run on a part-time basis, which is why our releases are a bit muddily. I was overseas for a while but moved back to New Zealand earlier in the year to study, so Deer Park, Rifles, Nevernudes, Sharpie Crows, Mild America and Body Lyre are all fairly new projects.”

Mole’s approach to the label-artist relationship shares a similar ethos to those that we have covered before: they don’t have binding agreements (Walsh quips “I’m not sure what I would actually offer them if I did.”), rather it is a mutually beneficial partnership between the two parties: “In the past, we would create weird mini-partnerships with bands, and depending on what the project is, provide organisational and financial support. This year I’m trying to do it a little bit differently though, and have been working much more collaboratively with bands to create something more like a family or small gang, which has been way cooler, and I think (hope) the bands feel like they are part of something communal rather than a strict, creatively subdued business arrangement.”

While the relationship between Mole and their bands echoes that of previously mentioned labels, the point of difference with Mole would have to be production quality. Across the board, their roster appears to have a definite onus on quality of recordings, something which Walsh admits is a factor in who they collaborate with, even if not the defining quality: “In regards to production, we are pretty strict about quality (within a releases context), but the production varies from band to band with each release. We do have a studio we have started working with, and a few of our upcoming projects were recorded there, but by no means will every future Mole release be taken there. Believing what you hear when you watch a performance or hear a song is super important to us and would definitely be the main factor in choosing bands. Also what type of people are in the bands—their work ethic, personality, ideas and stuff can sometimes be just as important as the music they are making, so that also helps shape our overall aesthetic.”

Thus, with this framework in mind, Mole has set about working with the aforementioned bands, promoting, funding, recording and assisting their groups where possible. It will always be difficult to get your bands’ material out into a wider audience, but that’s not Walsh’s short-term target: he understands the limitations of what Mole is doing, and embraces it, pushing his bands towards audiences that he knows will enjoy the output, rather than incessant promotion of bands everywhere he can: “Promoting our stuff is definitely something we have have started getting better at, but also an area we still need to improve on. There are so many avenues available with Facebook and Bandcamp and MySpace and Twitter and blah blah blah, which are amazing resources, but it can sometimes get really overwhelming. With Mole we have platforms for letting people know about what we are doing and we have relationships with media and radio etc, which is helpful for our bands and something I really want to continue to develop this year; we are also trying to figure out who actually listens to what we put out, and focus our promotional efforts on them. We are just a tiny label so angling what resources we do have towards the smaller but evangelic group of supporters makes more sense for us than a watered-down attempt at preaching to a larger group of the uninterested.”

It’s a method that has resulted in good exposure for Mole music over recent months, particularly with the release of their band sampler, The Burrow, Pt 1. Walsh not only works with his bands, but also together with other labels and people around Auckland and Australia. “Everyone seems to want to work together rather than compete with one another, which is pretty special… There has been an increase in the number of worthwhile bands coming out in New Zealand over the last year or so and lots of younger kids are starting to get involved in making and presenting music, which is super rad.”

Effectively, everyone seems to be working towards a situation where everyone can help one another out, between bands, and between labels. It’s this appreciation of mutual benefit that has helped so many bands across the country (mostly in Auckland though) get started, and get the recognition that they deserve. Mole Music has planned six releases, in addition to tours and shows on the back of these, just in the next few months. It’s the busiest they’ve ever been, and is probably a reflection of the burgeoning quality in the work that they are releasing. Walsh is contemplating a move to China next year, so will either “take Mole with me, or put it to bed. I’m not quite sure yet”. Either way, Walsh and Mole are yet another label reinforcing the quality of current music around New Zealand, and leading from the front too: they’re not just another independent New Zealand label, they’re one with the best roster of current bands around. Look it up.

(Or, In Which I Try Not To Say “Summer Vibes”)

Bethany Cosentino, newfound beach babe, used to be in a band called Pocahaunted. Delving into quarter-hour hypnotic drone jams, she has since moved to greener pastures, in the form of Best Coast. In collaboration with Bobb Bruno, she has been spewing out hazy summer tracks for the best part of the last two years. Now, on the eve of the release of her debut LP Crazy For You, we have a few mumblings from her (and us) about the Best Coast project, and probably a little too much talking about California.

Cosentino loves the beach. The sandy disposition is immediately evident in any of her tracks, from the early blog-hit ‘Sun Was High (So Was I)’ to her album cut ‘Summer Mood’. The sentiments are all Californian palm trees and beach blankets, seeing as she now lives Westside following a stint in New York. But where other summery bands like Ducktails manage to emanate these sunstoned sounds from the faraway reaches of New Jersey, Bethany found creating the music away from the source couldn’t work for her: “When I was living in New York, I really wanted to be playing and writing music—but I just didn’t feel any form of inspiration in terms of music. I went to college out there, for creative writing, and essentially EVERYTHING I wrote was about California—so I guess that is what I was doing there—and this is what I’m doing here. I really truly do feel that I couldn’t be doing this any place other than California, it just doesn’t feel like it would fit… at least not for me.”

Jumping from ten-plus minute drone ecstasy in Pocahaunted into 2–3 minute pop songs may come off like an active movement against her old band, or drone music in general, but apparently not. In fact, according to Bethany, Pocahaunted may not even be entirely defunct: “To be honest I’m not 100 per cent sure what is currently up with Pocahaunted. I didn’t start Best Coast to intentionally go against what I was playing in Pocahaunted. Pocahaunted was then. Best Coast is now. I am really happy playing the music I am playing, and I was really happy playing that music at that time. Honestly, it’s a lot easier to play two-minute pop songs than it was to sit on the floor and play 13-minute-long drone jams—but I had fun doing that, and I’m really happy to be doing this now.”

It’s this enjoyment of her current work which seems to have Cosentino on a roll, releasing Where The Boys Are on cassette approximately a year ago, and having it sell out almost immediately. There were a bunch of CD-Rs floating about, but they’ve been snapped up too. The last year has seen a plethora of 7” and 12” releases across labels such as Art Fag, Tightener, PPM (Dean Spunt of No Age’s label), all leading up to the July 27th release of Crazy For You on Mexican Summer. It’s all fairly straightforward, minor chord changes and longing for boys, the beach, or her cat Snacks, who features on the album cover. It’s a simple sound, but one that seems to have found Cosentino and current collaborator Bobb Bruno plenty of fans in the last year or so, fitting in snugly with those who enjoy lo-fi pop, but don’t want to deal with the tinnitus-inducing Wavves.

And now to the aforementioned Bobb Bruno. The partner in shine for the Best Coast tracks, Bruno is a “magically rad-sounding” collaborator, who helps record, produce and perform in Best Coast. If you watch her video for ‘When I’m With You’, you can see him loitering in the background, while Cosentino relaxes on the beach and orders burgers with a copyright-inducing depiction of Ronald McDonald. According to Cosentino, “(He) will say stuff to me like, ‘Okay, let’s do two layers of that vocal track,’ and as soon as I hear it back I’m like ‘FUCK YES!’ (We) just work together so perfectly that I don’t want to really ever add anyone else into the equation! Just two Bs hanging out, and we plan to keep this going for a while, taking it as it comes.”

So good news all round for those who dig the Malibu aesthetic and good feelings that seem inherently associated with California. And what of those who don’t dig her sound so much? It’s fair to say there’s been more than a little hate for the seemingly scrappy lo-fi output over the last two years, and the lack of production quality for much of her material, and in fact the general Best Coast aesthetic of weed / pizza / chords has been more than enough bait for potential detractors of her output.

“I mean, I’m sure there are already haters out there. It’s sooooo crazy to me how people on the internet act. I mean in all honesty, I haven’t had any direct negative feedback—which is nice, but I’m definitely prepared to deal with the haters when they start showing up, haha. I just think that people who sit around on the internet and blog about how much they hate so and so when they don’t even know them, is really childish and kind of pathetic. But there will always be haters no matter what.”

Until the inevitable hate waves hit Best Coast, it seems to be pretty smooth sailing. With internet kudos riding in from many corners of the globe and her Crazy For You set to be released in a mere fortnight, it seems she can look forward to a pretty stellar 2010. CFY itself is a continuation of what’s come before, albeit with much better production, allowing for vocal audibility, and therefore a chance to showcase her songwriting, without it being buried under fuzz. It’s good lyricism too, extremely self-aware and filled with wry humour about boredom and boys. And yes, the beach. It’s probably about time we had a moratorium on beach-blanket stoner pop (it’s all about Witch House now anyway, duh), so let’s hope that CFY is the last release of this type we have for a while.

In any case, babin’ Bethany looks set to move from blog fame (woooooo) into bigger things with her next single: in a true what-the-fuck move, she has collaborated with members of Vampire Weekend and Kid Cudi. From the beach to the big time, all the way.

Crazy For You is out digitally July 27th on Mexican Summer.

Label: Papaiti Records
Formed: 2009
Website: papaiti.com
Salient Picks: Mammal Airlines, BMX Rapists, EVERY SINGLE BOOTLEG

“For an artist with a small fan base I think making their music accessible should be more of a priority than making money.”—Giles Thompson

Papaiti Records, although decidedly smaller than previously featured MUZAI, is doing great things for music in and around Wellington. Originally formed out of boredom in 2009 by Giles Thompson, it was initially based in Whanganui, but given that the duo behind the label, Thompson and James Stuteley, live in Wellington, it’s essentially become a Wellington label. It exists as a vehicle for their own projects, as well as others who have expressed interest—a community of like-minded musicians.

“I always intended to release several groups, and did so from the beginning. We are open to new stuff and have already had a lot of people email us, which is awesome. It was never just James and I, even at the beginning there were a few other artists (e.g. Deathdream, BMX Rapists). Hopefully if someone likes an artist that has music on Papaiti, they might check out a few of the other artists. By forming a co-operative of sorts, all the artists get more exposure than they would alone. That’s the theory anyway. For example, a Deathdream EP was posted on a Brazilian shoegaze blog, and we got a whole load of traffic—which hopefully spilled over to some of the other artists.”

The desire for attention on one group to transfer into attention for others on Papaiti is just one facet of their altruistic approach to releasing music. While there are small physical releases of Papaiti albums and EPs, everything on the Papaiti roster is released for free via mp3 download on their site.

“For an artist with a small fan base I think making their music accessible should be more of a priority than making money. I don’t really believe in ‘owning’ music itself at all or in APRA and similar things. When you buy a physical release of a Papaiti artist, you’re paying for the physical product (case/plastic/booklet), not the music. So far our physical releases have been hand-made, non-traditional case formats, personalised and very limited runs, generally only charging enough to cover costs, and we plan to continue in this direction with other merch as well. I don’t think we’ll ever ‘sell’ the music.”

It’s a generous move, and one that has seen Papaiti get no small amount of love in recent months. The Mammal Airlines Two Songs, Too Much EP sold way more than we expected”, and their site is constantly updated with projects from around the North Island, mostly those of Thompson and Stuteley, but several other notables as well, particularly the abrasive BMX Rapists. But one of the main talking points with Papaiti of late has been their bootlegging. On their site you will find free downloads of live sets by Jeffrey Lewis, Grayson Gilmour, Street Chant, Seth Frightening and numerous other class New Zealand acts. It’s not direct ripping off, though: every bootleg on the site has been posted with the permission of the artists involved. Except a recording of Deerhoof’s Orientation show, which wasn’t posted because, according to Stuteley, “I just really don’t like Deerhoof.”

He goes on to explain why he’s bootlegging for Papaiti: “There were always people recording in Wellington, but not really releasing them nicely packaged and for free from the same website. It costs a bit to get into and takes a lot of time for basically no return apart from having the recording yourself and maybe a few compliments.”
Thompson adds: “I like the idea of being able to hear a show you couldn’t make it to, or check out a band you keep missing. The other thing I like about the bootlegs is the documentary aspect of them. I hope that they will be around for a long time.”

So, you know, you get it. They’re pretty good guys. The effort from Thompson and Stuteley put into the label is incredibly impressive, especially given that their main payoff is a sense of wellbeing, or the knowledge that they’re doing some good for the greater music community. But that’s the point: they’re (cheesily) in it for the music, it seems. No overpriced pen drives here. They’re releasing free music for all to enjoy, from a number of varied bands from across New Zealand. If you’ve got the bandwidth, they’ve got the goods.

In light of the buy-back of Flying Nun, we thought it prudent to take a look at some of the smaller labels that have existed in its absence. Over the next few weeks we’ll be profiling several smaller labels that have been in existence over the last few years. This week, we take a look at Auckland grunge outfit MUZAI Records.—James and Kim

“I think it was just trying to get stuff we really liked unearthed and exposed a lot more. You know, the kind of people that go ‘these guys should have more attention than they’re getting’—we pissed and moaned, but we actually tried to do something about it.”—Benjii Munro-Jackson

A little over a year ago, Benjii Munro-Jackson and Martin Phillips (no, not that one) joined forces to give birth to MUZAI records, an independent label based out of Auckland that was hell-bent on getting a series of noisy bands from Auckland the exposure that they merited. From small beginnings, they now have a roster of affiliated artists that’s into double figures, their bratty youngsters Bandicoot have had their Jurassic Warfare EP mysteriously available on the iTunes store (“A serious ‘WTF’ moment”), and are about to turn one. So, it’s been a pretty good year. We got in touch with Jackson, and found out a little more on their label ethos and plans for continued survival.

MUZAI run a pretty transparent contract setup between band and label, a method of business which benefits both parties pretty well. They help with the recording of a release, take a small amount of the profit (covering costs, etc) and promote said band to no end. Of course, that’s a rough outline: “It’s different for every band. It’s more agreements than contracts—no one wins when you’ve handcuffed a band to something and they don’t want to be there anymore. With some bands we’ll do one-off releases (like with Sworn To The King), but thankfully with most of the bands on the label they’re happy with what we do, and we generally map out a plan of what they want, what we want, and what we both agree to.”

In the last year, MUZAI have released and distributed albums, splits and EPs from the likes of God Bows To Math, Bandicoot, BMX Rapists, Sherpa and TFF. They bring on board bands they personally enjoy, and have more or less managed to have their taste be appealing to the Auckland music community (I might personally omit the decidedly MOR Sherpa though). But, with only two people running promotion and distribution for a number of very active bands, there has to be a breaking point: “It’s always fun to sign bands, I think that’s the dream everyone has of running a label—rocking up to a show and going ‘Hey, we like your stuff, we think you should work with us’. You know, the ‘cool’ side of it. But when you keep signing bands, the less time you have—and that’s something I really don’t want to happen. I’m happy with the roster and as you’ve said, it is sizeable. But it’s also manageable, I can keep being hands-on with the musicians involved for the most part and not spread out too thinly. There are a few bands I’d like to sign or work with, but at the moment I think we’ll stick with what we’ve got—but who knows what’ll happen. Music is a fickle creature.”

While MUZAI may not increase in size exponentially from here, they are, along with others, filling an important gap that hasn’t really been completely filled since the days of A Low Hum compilations and tours. MUZAI have released two sampler compilations to date, aptly titled Fuck These Bands and Fuck These Bands Too, and are consistently putting on shows around Auckland, while MUZAI-affiliated bands (such as TFF) play innumerable shows around their hometown of Dunedin. With more national touring to come, including a potential MUZAI show in Wellington in the coming months (“We would love to do something big with a few bands down in Wellington. Everyone down there is just so receptive to stuff and the friendliest bunch of people.”) and a large-scale birthday celebration in collaboration with the dubious but omnipresent music.hype website, there looks to be no slowing down on the MUZAI front. One step at a time, though: when asked where MUZAI will be in a few years, Munro-Jackson’s main concern was merely survival. “I hope we’re still around in five years. Maybe we’ll have worn out our welcome mat by then. Who knows.”

Age: One
Genre: Grunge / Noise
Salient picks: God Bows To Math, Nice Birds, Bandicoot
Website: http://muzairecords.com/