CD Releases: February 2004 updated:25/02/2004
soane
TonganChicLeading DJ and Producer Soane releases his eagerly awaited debut artist album, TonganChic. It’s been a long time since his days as a doorman and then DJ at Club Roma and the Box back in the day. Since then Soane has released several 12" singles for UK Labels Shaboom and Paperecordings and has also compiled and mixed three local mix CDs, as well as finding the time to grace the decks at all of New Zealand’s top clubs and club nights.
In 2002 Soane teamed up with local engineer Luke Toomes and set about recording his debut album, which has like all good things taken a bit longer than expected. TonganChic the resulting album named after Soane’s BFM show is to be unleashed on the New Zealand public February 2004 the first single All I Need which features the vocal talents of Boh Runga and Feelstyle will coincide with the album release and will be complimented by a video kindly funded by NZ On Air. With the release of TonganChic Soane will embark on a New Zealand wide tour to support the album.
Tracklisting:
Not Without You Crazy Cousins Leap of Faith Gettin High Song For Sesilia Saxy Beast Boavida Feat. Robson Santos Where Do We Go Feat. Anthony Gold Syncopated Music Kenneth Ave Shuffle Secret Weapon All I Need Feat. Feelstyle and Boh Runga The Tonic (Instrumental) Runaway feat. Hassanah Iroegbu
SEARCH & DESTROY Various CDR
(04748455 Records)
File Under: NZ Music / Drum n Bass
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Auckland: Indisputably one of the most significant Drum'n Bass Centres outside the UK. Data:Bass a collective of DJs committed to wicked music and great gigs to build their own unique contribution to the local DnB scene. The focus being on establishing viability within the Drum'n Bass market while their collective production skills are still developing and the stand out tunes are making themselves known. These CDs are not professionally mastered or pressed but are an excellent way of exposing the best new work from a wealth of up and coming artists including Romantech, State Of Mind, DVS, DJ Blazem, Four Point Five Hertz, Kyren and more. Future sound, today.
TRANS AM Liberation CD
(Thrill Jockey / Spunk)
File Under: Trans Am
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Another fine treat to ring in 2004 is a new album by Trans Am! Liberation is the first album on which politics have crept into their music. Their position is unambiguous. Recorded in summer and fall of 2003 at National Recording Studio (Washington DC), built by the band in 1998, Liberation reflects and contains sounds of the tension coursing through the city. The hum of swirling helicopters, the din of police sirens, and culture of fear have become omnipresent in Washington, DC. It was in this environment that Trans Am finished their seventh album. Recorded live with the window of the studio open, the police car driving past their city studio was caught on tape.Today, on a normal commute through the city, one is likely to encounter a Humvee on the side of the road- not a workout guru's Hummer, but the real thing with mounted machine guns, surrounded by desert camouflage. And so with the window of the studio open, pressing play and record, police cars and helicopters were caught on tape, along with the tunes. It is in this environment that Trans Am finished their seventh album. Musically Liberation is classic Trans Am. Styles continue to shift from track to track, culling from a vocabulary familiar to fans of their previous six records. Trans Am’s agenda of Liberation in being as much political statement as recorded output. Collages of sound bites culled from radio and television give the tracks a dark tension that captures our current state of affairs, and harkens to the listener Liberate yourselves!!
M WARD End Of Amnesia CD
(Spunk)
File Under: M Ward / Alt Country
URA122
End Of Amnesia is M Ward’s 2nd album, released originally in 2001, and never before released in New Zealand. It’s a great collection of acoustic country-folk songs, always rooted deeply in the American folk guitar tradition (John Fahey), but with a slightly Lynchian feel to it. There's a strange fiftiesish atmosphere and a dreamy, nostalgic mood in this album which make it very special, more reminiscent of timeless classics (Nina Simone, Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan) than of any contemporary songwriters. Features guests Howe Gelb and Deanna Varagona (Lambchop) and more. From the faint to the jangle-y, M. Ward manages to master it all on End of Amnesia, an album that is subtle and lo-fi, revelling in the quiet moments, saying more with silence than most artists will ever manage to say in their lives.
Represent – special Oz Tour edition
M WARD Transfiguration Of Vincent 2CD
(Spunk)
File Under: M Ward / Alt Country
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Strictly limited edition release of this stunning album that comes with a bonus disc containing three bonus tracks.
Transfiguration of Vincent is the third solo album from M Ward, who cut his musical teeth in the San Luis Obispo based trio Rodriguez. In composition and style his music has been compared to such luminaries as Tom Waits, Granddaddy, Sparklehorse and Howe Gelb (the Giant Sand front man has been one of Ward’s strongest champions, releasing the young songwriter’s debut CD, Duet For Guitars #2, on his own Ow Om label). Ward’s seemingly effortless finger picking guitar conjures the elegance of the late John Fahey. The seeds have been sown for Transfiguration of Vincent to be the breakout release for one of America’s most enigmatic songwriters. We welcome you to come along for the ride.
BELLE & SEBASTIAN I’m A Cuckoo CDEP
(Rough Trade /Spunk)
File Under: Belle & Sebastian
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Second single from their hot selling and ever-popular Dear Catastophe Waitress album. The EP contains 4 tracks plus the snazzy video for I’m A Cuckoo. Some of the featured tracks are a remix of I’m A Cuckoo by The Avalanches and the Stevie Jackson penned Travellin’ Light which was a last second emission from the album. It is that good!
FRIENDLY 10 Things You Need To Know About Friendly CD
(Fat! Records)
File Under: Friendly / Breaks / Remixes / Dance
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Friendly (aka Andrew Kornweibel) is back with a brand new album! Half way between an artist album and a compilation, 10 Things You Need To Know About Friendly comprises Friendly 12"s, remixes and bootlegs, with all tracks having gone through the Friendly studio, and featuring bootlegs of rave classics LFO and SL2, seamlessly sewn together by the man himself. Starting out on his own label with his debut album Hello Bellybutton, Friendly was nominated for an ARIA Award. On the success of this, he signed to Zomba Records in Australia, becoming their first Australian signing ever. Zomba released a string of singles and his sophomore album Akimbo. In late 2001, Andrew relocated to London for four months, and set up studio at Battery. There he soaked up the break beat scene and gained invaluable inspiration and direction. In early 2002, things started to turn sour at Zomba, with the departure of his A&R man, and many other key figures. Now free from Zomba, Andrew is remembering why he was in this game all along, getting back to the music with freedom and independence. Andrew took the chance to start afresh, collected his studio, ditched the live line up, and has now relocated permanently in London. Starting with a release on Boombox Records, he now works very closely with the highly respected Fat! Records. His singles have been played and given props by Rennie Pilgrem, Meat Katie, Tayo, Soul of Man, UNKLE, Plump DJs, Stanton Warriors and many others. His bootleg of LFO was one of the bigger bootlegs of 2003, and was the closing track for the Berlin Love Parade. Everything is on track to establish Friendly as a new player and a respected producer on the London break beat circuit.
CREATURES Hai! 2CD
(Sioux Records)
File Under: Creatures / Siouxsie Sioux /
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"A spine-tingling achievement" - Time Out
"another challenging album" - The Daily Mirror
"A robust return" - Mojo
Siouxsie & Budgie return as The Creatures with their emphatically titled new album Hái! Translated, the title of this Self-produced, Anglo-Japanese fusion means Yes! and is released on their own Sioux Records. As mysterious as the serene yet sensual beauty of the cover image by Japanese artist Kimiko Yoshida, Hái! is an alchemy of distilled atmospherics and sublime minimalism. Yet as Siouxsie’s vocals soar over Budgie’s daredevil drums & marimbas, syncromeshed to the pulsing Taiko rhythms of ex-Kodo drummer Leonard Eto, Hái! soon splits several sonic skins to emit a roar that would rival that of Japan’s most famous movie monster, Godzilla! Hái! began on the stormy Tokyo morning when fate brought Budgie and Taiko drum master Leonard Eto together for the first time. The ensuing spontaneous drumming frenzy was like lightning striking at the source of a rhythmical rainbow. The sizzling spectrum of beats unleashed in that one relentless recording session would become the backbone of the album. If Budgie’s drums are the beating heart of The Creatures, then Siouxsie’s voice is the lifeblood, capable of the same ground-shaking dynamism it is also, as is evident on ‘Hái!’, an increasingly subtle and uniquely entrancing instrument.
in music releases are available at all good record stores nation-wide
