Your Gig Guide (30 April - 6 May)

Welcome to New Zealand Music Month, the one month of the year where we show our love of local music by treating it like a charitable pity-case. Look out for the usual slew of awareness-raising events and minor-celebrity endorsements.

This Thursday, you can catch …

Get nostalgic

Ah sixth form, reading Das Kapital and smoking Spaceman candy cigarettes on the back cricket pitch. Tuesdays meant the latest NME and also MTV UK's Alternative Nation, at some ungodly set-the-VRC-and-hope-for-the-best hour. Discovering Tortoise and Belle and Sebastian …

Listen up

You there, take out those stupid white earphones and turn up the speakers on your computer. I've stumbled upon some pure gems lately, and you're darned well going to give them a listen. OK? Let's begin then.

1. Dappled Cities from Sydney, Australia. They're energetic, …

Getting a RAW deal.

I don't like proprietary file formats. I don't like the ubiquity of Microsoft Word .docs. I don't like websites that only work in IE, or offer streamed media in Windows Media formats (or Quicktime, for that matter, but at least they don't make my iBook cough up a …

They got a great big convoy

Golly. Fleet FM have just posted the line-up of Conoy 5, their uber-mega-party at The Space in Newmarket this Saturday night. Highlights include Cortina, Collapsing Cities, Phony Bone, Thought Creature, Kittyhawk, Golden Axe, Megaheroes vs MC Stormtroopa, Wayne …

Conclusions and New Beginnings

Im a top-ten recording artist. True story. Satan, from Amy Racecars new album Conclusions, is sitting at #7 on the 95bTop Ten. That backing-bitch sass was a result of locking Dynamo Gos Maria Mo, Nexus editor Roz, pop sensation Kimbra and myself in the linen …

Bury It

The brand new vid from The Deadly Deaths. Local goodness.

Travel Sickness

I dont get travel sick. Not the kind brought on by bumpy plane rides, anyway. But is there a better word for the opposite of homesickness, the urge to suddenly pack up and Go Anywhere But Here? I guess the Germans gave us wanderlust, in their …

Home town advantage

Finally, a nice relaxing H-town show after all these Wellington trips. The Brunettes are playing this Friday night at Diggers back bar. Tune in to Contact 88.1fm for details and ticket giveaways.

Looks like the back bar has come out of hibernation. Next Friday …

Your gig guide

Gigs are like buses: loud, smelly, and just when you?ve given up and start walking home, three arrive at once. This Friday night theres plenty to do in the Big H?and nothing much else for the rest of the week.

Wednesday is Anzac Day. You could get up early for the …

New Toys

I went a bit crazy at Photo Warehouse in Wellington. They'd set aside a prime lens for me. I came out with the lens, a UV filter (to keep my clumsy, greasy fingers off the lens) and...oops...a new SB600 TTL speedlight.

James from Tiger Tones flung himself into the …

Gearwank

In case you missed the memo, I'm now proudly initiated into the DSLR-weilding Cool Kids' Club. I love it. I love the clean, precise image files. I love being able to physically control zoom and aperture instead of grappling with menu buttons. I love the clu-clunk sound …