Auckland Town Hall
November 12 | Reviewed by Samuel Holloway

THE VIOLA is a much-neglected instrument. Falling in the string hierarchy between the violins and celli, it has received the attention it deserves from neither composers nor audiences. And it really does deserve attention, with a richer tone than the violin but with the benefits, contra the cello, of a smaller instrument.

Auckland Town Hall
October 16 | Reviewed by Samuel Holloway

WHILE evolution may be (to borrow from Richard Dawkins) ‘the greatest show on earth’, the creation-in-seven-days still makes for a damn good story. And Genesis has never seemed more enjoyable that in Haydn’s oratorio The Creation (1798), a monumental, joyful piece that draws on the Old Testament and Milton’s Paradise Lost. It is one of Haydn’s most admired works, and – in running the gamut from the creation of worms to the creation of planets – contains some of his most memorable musical moments.

Auckland Town Hall
October 3 | Reviewed by Samuel Holloway

IN THE 1930s and 40s the United States received a cultural shot in the arm with an influx of artists, writers and composers from war torn Europe. One such émigré was the Hungarian Béla Bartók. In contrast to the experience of others who were fêted upon their arrival, Bartók’s time in America was characterised by frustration and poverty. In spite of this – or, some might romantically argue, because of this – Bartók managed to write one of his best works there, shortly before his death in 1945.

Aotea Centre; St James Theatre
Sept 17-26; October 10-17 | Reviewed by Samuel Holloway

BASED on the novel by Pushkin, Eugene Onegin (1878) is the story of Tatyana Larina, whose impulsive love letter to the urbane and aloof Onegin is rejected. In time, Onegin grows to regret his dismissal of Tatyana (and the killing of his best friend Lensky in a duel). But in the end Tatyana – despite an enduring love – rebuffs his pleading, and Onegin is left in despair.

Auckland Town Hall
August 20 | Reviewed by Samuel Holloway

IN THE AGE of the sub-four-minute song, listening to the work of Gustav Mahler presents a special challenge. His Sixth Symphony, performed recently to a sell-out crowd by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, weighs in at around ninety minutes, with both the first and last movements individually as long as many complete symphonies.

The Basement
August 13 | Reviewed by Samuel Holloway

175 East is an unusually constituted ensemble, with an emphasis on the bottom end. It’s an idiosyncratic combination of flute, clarinet, cello, double bass, bass clarinet and trombone that has, for over ten years, performed some of the most interesting ‘new music for old instruments’. Their recent Auckland concert (repeated in Wellington) proved no exception. The concert took place at the acoustically-interesting Basement, and the ensemble, joined by horn player Carl Wells, presented six works, including three from New Zealand composers.

Opera House
August 11 | Reviewed by Anne Harré

PARK YOUR Puritanism at the door, The Tiger Lillies are in town. The British cult band and regular on the festival circuit (they’ve just come from the Christchurch Arts Festival) stirred up the cobwebs in Wellington’s Opera House recently with their mix of lusty, crude, rude, and extraordinarily poignant songs. Paintings of the crucifixion will never be the same.

Auckland Town Hall
July 23-24 | Reviewed by Samuel Holloway

TWO VERY different programmes were on offer in recent concerts from New Zealand’s two finest orchestras. The Thursday night concert by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra saw an odd pairing of Spanish composers de Falla and Rodrigo with Brit Ralph Vaughan Williams. The programme opened with Manuel de Falla’s El Amor Brujo (‘Love the Magician’), a colourful if lightly-textured score consisting of thirteen scenes from a gypsy story. The APO’s performance included notable contributions from many woodwind and brass players, but too often the Orchestra overwhelmed soloist Anna Cors, a New Zealand-based Spanish soprano, who otherwise displayed admirable pronunciation and enthusiasm.

NZSO, Made in NZ 2009; Wellington Town Hall
June 12-13 | Reviewed by Samuel Holloway

THE ARRIVAL of Finnish clarinetist Kari Kriikku in New Zealand gave dual reasons for celebration. Not only did we have one of the world’s foremost clarinetists performing here, but he had convinced the NZSO to programme two substantial contemporary pieces by fellow Finns Magnus Lindberg and Jukka Tiensuu. These two works were without doubt the highlights of the concert series, but were sandwiched between standard concert repertoire that came off looking a little banal by comparison, in spite of consistently excellent playing by the NZSO.

NZSO, Made in NZ 2009; Wellington Town Hall
May 29 | Reviewed by Lynley Edmeades

PART WAY through the performance, Ross Harris, contemporary New Zealand composer, was invited on stage by conductor Hamish McKeich, to take on a question and answer session. Although he stood with arms crossed, a warmth emanated off him as his facial expression provided a bridge between Douglas Lilburn and what had just been performed: Landfall in Unknown Seas, a collaborative project between Lilburn and literary comrade Allen Curnow, written to commemorate the tercentenary of New Zealand’s discovery by Abel Tasman.

San Francisco Bathhouse
May 28 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

THE SOUTHERLY winds that have purged Wellington over the last week got some respite at the San Francisco Bathhouse, where two local bands threw out melodies which danced around like fur coats. Both bands seem to be able to write catchy pop hooks in their sleep, throwing them out with the ease of drunken taunts. The bands were having considerable fun during their performance, and the audience threw themselves around on the dancefloor in support (particularly during Family Cactus’ set). The two bands are another sign that Wellington’s indie pop scene is as healthy as ever.

Bodega
May 13 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

WATCHING a band you’ve seen before and drooled over is a bit of a challenge. Hype can be, after all, cruel. It’s like watching something with a towel wrapped around your face. Endless comparisons waft in-between songs, images from previous experiences vie for prime attention. But the disappointment that it didn’t match up to last year’s incredible performance, is in hindsight pretty minor. To use a bad analogy, it’ll be like saying since Canada is not as big as Russia, Canada’s a small country. Will Sheff and co. put on another excellent show, showcasing the overdriven melodrama and good old-fashioned rock n roll that their live shows are legendary for. The intensity with which he sings is enough to show he’s not faking it, the amount of spit that bellows from his mouth (given his recent arrival from the US) would have had health officials concerned if they still cared about swine flu.

BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM trawls the local music calendar to bring us the month’s best gigs. This April: The Phoenix Foundation, Rollercoaster 09, SummerSet 09, Sneaky Sound System.

Auckland Festival
March 5-22 | Reviewed by Alexander Bisley

“WE’RE GONNA spiegel for you tonight,” SJD opined. Despite creating some of the great songs of the last decade on Southern Lights and Songs From a Dictaphone, past SJD performances at WOMAD, the Big Day Out and the Big Night In have left me a dash disappointed. Alas, this performance at the Spiegeltent, nattily awash in red lights, joins that list.

Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth
March 13-15 | Reviewed by Alexander Bisley

NOTHING came anywhere near to Salif Keita and Mariza’s sensuous, mesmerising majesty at WOMAD 2008’s Brooklands Bowl. Though several bands, such as Fat Freddy’s Drop, clearly struggled with the main stage this year, Keita’s Malian compatriot Rokia Traore delivered a dazzling ninety-minute performance. Her third album Tchamantche, sets her beautifully textured, varied vocals against three ambient guitarists (standard, bass and ngoni, a four-string, lute-like Malian instrument). With a back-up vocalist/dancer added to Tchamantche’s guitar blend, Rokia gracefully commanded the stage. From her ‘The Man I Love’ cover to ‘Kounandi’, it was potent and intimate.

Wellington Jazz Festival, Town Hall
March 7 | Reviewed by Catherine Bisley

“I LOVE YOU,” a woman shrieked. Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca considered this declaration a moment before responding with a gravelly “Thank you.” No response was needed for the slightly strangled “YES” that issued from a male audience member at the end of Fonseca’s Saturday night performance.

BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM asks film programmer Richard King about the documentaries showing at this year’s WOMAD.

WHILE WOMAD is known for its music and dance, there is a little growing aspect of the festival which might interest audiences heading up to the Festival in New Plymouth. Programmed by Richard King, a former programmer of the New Zealand International Film Festivals, WOMAD also presents a number of musical-themed documentaries for those who want to get away from the music for a little bit. King says “it was never going to be a big thing. Last year was the first year. But some people like to chill out and sit under a tree and watch a film and have a space away from everything. Last year it was so low-key. A lot of people aren’t going to go to WOMAD to watch films.”

ALEXANDER BISLEY asks Madeleine Sami a few quick questions ahead of upcoming WOMAD and Auckland Festival engagements.

MADELEINE SAMI’s performance of all nine roles in Toa Fraser’s 1999 play No. 2 was a dazzling tour-de-force that garnered worldwide acclaim. Now the effervescent Irish-Indian actress you may remember from Sione’s Wedding has joined forces with her sisters Anji and Priya, forming The Sami Sisters. The Onehunga trio will be singing at WOMAD 2009 and Auckland Festival 2009.

Wellington Jazz Festival, Town Hall
March 8 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

THOSE OF US who have worked retail in our lives, will no doubt have had horrific experiences with jazz pianists playing popular songs on endlessly repeating muzak CDs as if it was some sort of special circle of hell. However, when jazz pianist Brad Mehldau cranks into his Radiohead or Sufjan Stevens, he manages to retain his own distinctive sound and showcase his breathtaking virtuosity – while also paying homage to the music. An excellent Wellington Jazz Festival closed with another stellar performance, as the Brad Mehldau Trio showcases some exceptional skill and musicianship.

Wellington Jazz Festival, Town Hall
March 7 | Reviewed by Peter Bisley

THE LEGENDARY Polish trumpeter, with his exceptional quartet, provided a genuine treat for the Saturday night audience at the Pacific Blue Note. Tomasz Stanko and his quartet moved slickly through a greatly varied set. Stanko was a subtle front for the band, at times crouching down to the side of the drum kit or wandering away while they dabbled in ethereal soundscapes. He built a broad palette of tonal effects, with clean long peals, and fuzzy runs which resisted the temptation to dominate the set with flagrant soloistic displays, while there was enough mellow virtuosity to anchor the set around him.

Wellington Jazz Festival, Town Hall
March 6 | Reviewed by Alexander Bisley

“BONSOIR, bonsoir Wellington,” from the moment Mélanie Pain opened her mouth with that classic Parisian inflection; the Pacific Blue Note audience was charmed. They lapped up everything she did. With big, expressive eyes glinting mischievously, immaculately coiffured hair and a chic white dress, there’s no denying Mélanie looks “top”, a cultural archetype purer than Bordeaux Baguette.

Wellington Jazz Festival, Town Hall
March 5 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

THE SET DESIGN for the Town Hall was impressive. The stately room, too infrequently used as a music venue given its wonderful acoustics, had been transformed into a jazz club through an elevated stage, impressive lighting, and a constructed, intimate atmosphere. Which was perfect as Otis Taylor, the highly regarded singer-songwriter from Colorado, threw down his blues to a near capacity audience. With able support from his daughter Cassie Taylor and Jonn Richardson (plus a bit of New Zealand assistance), he forced the crowd to throw off their Steve-Buscemi-from-Ghost-World-shyness and sing and hoot and dance.

BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM trawls the local music calendar to bring us the month’s best gigs. This March: Old Crow Medicine Show, Wellington Jazz Festival, The Dead C w/ So So Modern, Amanda Palmer w/ Battle Circus, John Doe and Jim White, WOMAD, The Kills.

BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM talks programming world music festival WOMAD with Artistic Director Roger King.

ROGER KING has a job which would make most music fans jealous. He gets to programme WOMAD, and sift through mountains and mountains of the best music from around the globe. The festival is noted for its eclectic taste, from a former Miles Davis/Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer (Bill Cobham) to the legendary Malian musician Salif Keita, from Portuguese fado music to the French/Argentinian electronic tango mixers, The Gotan Project. This year’s line-up is similarly diverse, and there are plenty of hidden gems and key figures frolicking in the programme.

San Francisco Bathhouse
February 27 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

WHEN THE MEDIA the world over is running hence, proclaiming and crying about the streets over economic doomsday, it’s good to see that the excesses of music at its finest haven’t been killed off yet. On Thursday night, two disparate bands, So So Modern and Of Montreal appeased the multitude with contrasting live shows. Of course, despite how good So So Modern were, the sell-out crowd was there for Of Montreal, the steaming whirligig of the crowd whipping themselves into a frenzy over the prog/glam/costumed excess of the second wave Elephant 6 band. And while in these times of austerity, a savage spectacle might appear overly excessive, the glorious utopia of these bands brought out all kinds of love, good thoughts and reverence.

San Francisco Bathhouse
February 13 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

SPANISH DJ Pablo Díaz-Reixa AKA El Guincho achieved some unexpected success in 2008 with his assortment of world sample goodness. Unexpected, because singers who sing in Spanish rarely achieve success in the Anglophonic world, let alone those who assemble a cornucopia of unusual sounds and samples into one gigantic party. Alegranza! was a great album, with minimalist loops of everything from ‘60s Cuban doo-wop to Kenyan guitar riffs. The album translated brilliantly live too – it was much more melodic than expected, and the crowd danced with unmitigated joy.

ALEXANDER BISLEY looks forward to another WOMAD this year in Taranaki, March 13-15.

IS THERE a better live music venue than New Plymouth’s Brooklands Park? WOMAD 2009 once again harnesses the Brooklands Bowl’s spectacular acoustics. The atmosphere is most inviting. The Bollinger interviews at the Pinetum elicit intriguing yarns. The kai is delicious. Taha Maori is out in force. In 2008 the manager of Russia’s Terem Quartet was one enthusiast. On Whangara’s kapa haka supremos: “We must bring them to Russia. I have never seen so many good looking men on a stage in my life.” And then there’s the music. Damn fine. My local 2009 picks include Fat Freddy’s Drop, the innovative and original Pacifika fusion of soul, dub, funk, jazz, roots reggae and blues. This national taonga is scorching live. As DJ Mu told me: “The key to it for us is having fun... People can tell how good a time we’re having on stage and that definitely translates to the audience.” The same can be said about ex-Dropper Warren Maxwell’s Little Bushman. My international picks include the sublimely soulful Gurrumul, dynamic Dengue Fever and Seun “son of Fela” Keuti’s Afrobeat. Keep an eye on The Lumière Reader for upcoming interviews, including WOMAD musical director Roger King and the effervescent Madeleine Sami, performing with the Sami Sisters.

PERSPECTIVE: Music Editor BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM on WOMAD 2007 and 2008, plus interviews with Billy Cobham, Mr. Scruff, An Emerald City and Beirut; ARJUN HARINDRANATH on WOMAD 2007; ALEXANDER BISLEY on WOMAD 2008, plus profiles of DJ Mu and Warren Maxwell; CATHERINE BISLEY’s images of WOMAD 2007 and 2008, plus her recollection of WOMAD 2007 in words.

Opera House
February 3 | Reviewed by James Robinson

IT’S BEEN a pretty crazy nine years for Ryan Adams. Viewed with no knowledge of his work, or the constantly shifting scale of hate and adoration evoked with the mention of his name, you would still have to give the guy his due for releasing ten albums in nine years (at his peak he had released eight albums in six). But it has been even more hectic than merely releasing a little more than an album a year. It has been a rollercoaster ride of constructed image, and tantrums, from both sides. Ryan Adams has had one idea of Ryan Adams; music journalists another. Each has shifted frenetically, and only occasionally have they two overlapped. He went from being the next Bob Dylan (Heartbreaker), to the rising star of the easy-listening-adult-contemporary world while still holding a dash of “indie-cred” (Gold, and the slightly ignored Demolition), a widely decried disappointment and maligned, over-covered music scene figure (Love is Hell, Rock N Roll), to comeback-kid slash Grateful Dead revivalist (Jacksonville City Nights, Cold Roses, 29). All the while Ryan Adams has played himself as a slightly misunderstood and difficult artist, who wanted to be judged on nothing more than his work. No one bought it. His actions, his styles always indicated at the opposite.

BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM trawls the local music calendar to bring us the month’s best gigs. This February: El Guincho w/ The Ruby Suns & Pikelet, Dan Deacon & High Places, Jolie Holland, Of Montreal.

Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

FOLLOWING almost immediately on the back of last year’s excellent Songs from a Dictaphone, this year’s Dayglo Spectres is yet another brilliant release from one of New Zealand’s premier and unheralded musicians. But the new album is less the solo musings of Donnelly, but a collaboration with Donnelly and James Duncan – and the more collaborative approach finds the band finding their voice more. It’s a thrilling and intense listen. The sound shifts back to SJD’s earlier work, with the strong interplay of electronic and acoustic instrumentation. The Berlin years Bowie has now been married with strong hip-hop and electronic beats. The thematic and lyrical unity of Songs of a Dictaphone is pushed even further, and Donnelly’s voice sounds as fragile and powerful as ever (even if, at times, such as in the wonderful No Telling Where, he sounds remarkably like Bono). I wonder if SJD has openly accepted the continual marginalisation of his music (in spite of its ubiquity on recent advertisements – fair enough given that all the critical acclaim doesn’t necessarily pay the bills), but with another album as good as Dayglo Spectres it’s really starting to baffle why he hasn’t had statues and prostrations from the general public.

Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

OVER THE ATLANTICS’s November released album Dimensions is a little doozy. Eschewing the dreamy shoegazey fuzz of 2006’s excellent Junica, Dimensions finds the band much more comfortable and upfront. This newfound confidence is evident in the band’s live performances since their return from overseas, but the album itself pushes Nik Brinkman’s vocals and lyrics up to the fore. Producer-whizz Bevan Smith has crafted an ‘80s feel to the beats and textures, a kind of offering that wouldn’t have been out of place coming out in the post-punk or even 4AD hey-day. The influence of hip-hop and R&B is also evident in the syncopated and unconventional rhythms, something that is announced at the very start of the album in opening track ‘Colour of Sound’ but the melodies are as strong as ever. The band has had a tendency in the past to sound a little same-y, and this band does expand the sound out somewhat – this is perhaps more evident in the thrilling Over the Atlantic live shows. The album’s highlights include ‘Celia’, and ‘We Are All Ghosts’ with their mellifluous melodies. Another standout is album closer ‘Cocorone’. This is an excellent offering by the Over the Atlantic crew, and another testament to their undoubted talent as a band.

San Francisco Bathhouse
January 29 | Reviewed by Svenda Ström

DISCLOSURE: As an impromptu, last minute stand-in for an absentee reviewer, I write tentatively of this gig as a musician and regular admirer of live music, but not necessarily a follower of the two acts billed. Hoping that enthusiasm would compensate for my lack of knowledge, I arrived much too early, the scene subdued at a quarter past eight. Bartenders aplenty were preparing themselves for the deluge of cheerful Stereolab fans eager to see a band that had not played in Wellington for ten years. Most turned up before the support act, a solo female musician calling herself Bachelorette, entered the stage. I positioned myself in front of the mixing desk, at the back of the stage area, and curiously watched her through the shallow and equally shy wall of punters before me.

JAMES ROBINSON discerns the highs from the lows at Big Day Out 2009.

THE Big Day Out, whether you want to admit it or not, is the premiere New Zealand music festival. For now at least. It is our lifeline to feeling that we get at least a taste of the big international festivals that we lust after in glossy and vacuous music magazines. It’s all that we’ve got really. We’re stuck with it.

Dispatched from Australia, STUART LYNCH reports on Melbourne’s live music scene.

SITUATED on iconic Smith Street, Yah Yah’s is Collingwood’s newest venue and drinking hole. The high-ceiling/low lighting combination created a suitably sleazy rock ambiance for this eclectic line-up, and the idea of a free gig at this time of year seemed a godsend to the frugally-minded locals who made the effort.

San Francisco Bathhouse
January 7 | Reviewed by James Robinson

WATCHING a band on the ascendance is a curious thing. When you’re pulled in by a band with only an album or two under their belt, you’re riding a fine line. There’s not the cache of favourites to draw on; never more than at the start of a career does a band need a shit-hot live show. There’s no free pass, no store of crowd sentiment for a band they’ve been following for a while.

BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM trawls the local music calendar to bring us the month’s best gigs. This January: The Fleet Foxes, Dodos w/ The Ruby Suns, Metronomy w/ The Teenagers, Throwing Muses, Gypsy Fever Summer Tour, Spiritualized, Girl Talk, Stereolab w/ Bachelorette.

Dispatched from Australia, STUART LYNCH reports on Melbourne’s live music scene.

FIRSTLY, apologies to Washington for completely missing the opening set. I can unfortunately offer no plausible excuses, but will of course endeavour to get to a show in the not too distant future.

And so we were left with the somewhat nautical double bill of The Boat People and Seabellies, on the Melbourne leg of their East Coast ‘Home Sweet Home’ tour, after playing a bunch of gigs… you guessed it, overseas. Ahem.

San Francisco Bathhouse
December 18 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

I SAW a jet-lagged John Darnielle and Peter Hughes play in 2005 to twenty people in Bodega. He seemed genuinely surprised that that many people even came back then, he asked in his laconic, self-deprecating style, “does anyone in the crowd own any of my albums?” One person put up his hand and said he owned two. Another said he had borrowed his album from library. Three years later it was the complete opposite, as the nearly full San Fran Bathhouse crowd pleaded for songs off him, giving him the rapturous applauses reserved for idols, as a relaxed Darnielle joked and threw himself around for his final performance of the year. But he played much harder than he did that time, a quite remarkable performance from a remarkable performer. He admitted that 2008 was a tough year, and when he closed his main set with ‘This Year’ and belted “I am going to make it through this year if it kills me”, it was as cathartic for Darnielle as it was celebratory for the audience.

San Francisco Bathhouse
December 15 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

IT’S NOT that often that a band gets sworn at by the crowd at full voice, unless they were about to be lynched. The crowd’s demands for “fuck fuck fuck” wasn’t a misguided attempt at seduction, it was pleading for the Toronto four-piece to re-live their crazed electronic-cum-indie music. Of course, they’re mainly known for their infamous name, and renowned for being made scapegoats by the Conservative Canadian government, but it’s their musical prowess that was the most vivid detail after their Wellington show. Their control of improvisation made a mockery of their professed lack of rehearsal, as the four cavorted with textures and rhythms. The drummer astonished with his metronomic drumming, punctuated by fills that were as loud as a petulant kid trying to get attention. And the music was delivered with a fury that made you want to dance while stand dumbfounded at their control.

Dispatched from Australia, STUART LYNCH reports on Melbourne’s live music scene.

THE EMPRESS HOTEL in North Fitzroy has a fierce reputation for its support of the local scene, and is famous as one of the original promoters of live music in the area. Such standing predictably attracted all manner of trendies and musos to this showcase of three underground acts with steadily growing acclaim of their own.