Beats + Pieces Vol. 59
Crystal Chen, Mokomokai, Christoph El Truento, beats, pieces, all the usual.
Selected Works is a weekly (usually) newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell, aka Yours Truly. Most weeks, Selected Works consists of a recap of what I’ve been doing lately and some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken + some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes it takes completely different forms.
BOOSTED: CRYSTAL CHEN
The Tamaki Mākaurau-based Chinese-New Zealand singer, musician, and visual artist Crystal Chen is currently in the middle of running a campaign with Boosted - The home of arts crowdfunding in Aotearoa New Zealand to complete her debut album. If you’ve been following this newsletter for a while, you might remember me posting about her recent single with the musician and producer Kenny Sterling, ‘Love Letter’.
When Crystal was getting everything ready for her campaign, she asked me to help re-edit and write some text to accompany it. Comprised of fourteen songs that feel like handwritten journal entries transposed into music, Crystal’s album (Untitled at the moment) offers an intimate window into the emotional landscapes, foibles and humour that underpin the unvarnished realities of her daily life.
The work of an old soul with a young heart, or perhaps an analogue girl in a digital world - no, literally, during the day, she works as a film photographer - her debut album unfolds at its own unhurried pace. Unencumbered by concerns about trends or formulas, Crystal’s music is an outgrowth of her love of jazz, soul and improvised live performance. Animated by the idea of playing and performing music as a way of life, Crystal seeks to make the most of every instrument, from the delicate touch of the harp to the vibrant tones of the trumpet and Wurlitzer.
Every song on the album reflects a different moment in Crystal’s story, as expressed through the swirling spectrum of feelings she experienced while creating it. From introspective moments like the gentle harp-driven "Bloom" to more intense jazz-rock tracks like "The Forecast," where she channels anger and frustration, the album is a veritable cornucopia of experiences. It includes jazzy interludes and poignant melodies, such as the evocative "Stained Glass," where Crystal dives headfirst into themes of heartbreak and disillusionment. Along the way, she works through various vocal styles and song types, always striving to situate her wry, diaristic tales within the correct musical context.
If you’re interested in digging in further and perhaps supporting her venture, click the link and have a look over here.
MOKOMOKAI X HOLIDAY RECORDS:
Last week, Mokomokai, one of my favourite contemporary hip-hop acts from Aotearoa New Zealand, ran a pre-order campaign with Tamaki Mākaurau’s Holiday Records vinyl pressing plant for a greenstone-coloured edition of their second album, Whakarehu. To our absolute delight, the fellas smashed their pre-order target in under 24 hours. Here’s some promo text I wrote for them while they were setting the campaign up.
Three Māori boys from the winterless north who grew up fast in Central Auckland. Mokomokai is the group project of Manu (formerly Dirty) and producer duo Dusty & Ghos. Over the last few years, they’ve dropped two effortlessly stylish hip-hop albums, in which Dusty & Ghos’ drumless soul, jazz chops and low-slung neo-boombap instrumentals serve as the backdrop for Manu and his unvarnished storytelling.
Written from an inner-city perspective that highlights te ao māori perspectives and belief systems while never shying away from brazen honesty or rib-cracking humour, across their self-titled debut and ‘Whakarehu’. Mokomokai has collaborated with Troy Kingi, Brandn Shiraz, We$, Melodownz and the bassist Chip Matthews. Along the way, they’ve crafted flawless street anthems like ‘Roofracks’ and ‘Tumeke’, rocked sold-out shows in Auckland and Wellington, and been celebrated by Radio New Zealand, Sniffers and Rolling Stone.
Described by Radio New Zealand’s So'omalo Schwalger as “a masterclass in local hip-hop” and “a collection of some of the best talent Aotearoa has to offer”, Whakarehu presents Mokomokai in apex form. Throughout seven bruised, bleeding and unbroken songs that could be vignettes from a black-and-white neo-noir film, Manu and his friends talk down on stripper shaming, talk about rolling loose blunts with lovers, pay homage to Polynesian legends and flex with stylish flair. It’s an undeniable statement of intent from a trio of talents with plenty more tales to tell.
CHRISTOPH EL TRUENTO:
Last week, I published a bonus newsletter titled “A Lifetime Later, Christoph El Truento Finds His Way Back To Dub,” where I interviewed the longstanding New Zealand DJ, beatmaker, and producer about dub music, his two dub reggae albums and working with Haymaker Records. If you missed the newsletter, you can read it here.
On Friday, August 2nd, 2024, Truento and MC Lucky Lance are headed to Wellington to perform from open to close at the Meow venue on Edward Street for the Everything Always promotions group. Presale tickets are available for purchase here.
BEATS:
Here’s a lil sumthing sumthing DJ Mart sent me on Instagram last week. I’ll let his words speak for it: “Hello, Martyn. A summer gift from DJ Mart aka Minimalphunk - Celmar loosely translated means protection of the gods. The play is about the generations that Clemar kissed. About omnipresent love in all aspects of life, which knows no boundaries and continues to blossom across generations to provide support for future generations. When I get a bitter kiss, I'm lucky to be able to process my feelings through music and use them for something positive. I always work on my music very emotionally, with minimal instrumentation to express what I believe is the power. That also describes my stage name Minimalphunk. With the piece Celmar, I didn't look up what the name meant until I decided to publish it digitally.
Iron Will is a musician, beatmaker, DJ and producer from Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (New Zealand). Actually, that’s understating things. If you really want to get to it, Will is a community leader, a changemaker, a motivational force and a guy who gets things done. I’m not sure exactly when I met Will, but I remember him DJing at concerts alongside a New Zealand reggae band called The Midnights.
Later on, he had a home studio in Tāmaki, where a generation of New Zealand rappers got their start recording. Actually, the first time I met Tom Scott of Homebrew and Avantdale Bowling Club was at Will’s house. Then, even later on, Will used to book me to DJ for the KFM 106.9 community radio station at Verona Bar on Karangahape Road. There’s some history there.
Last week, Will messaged me about a new album he’s uploaded on YouTube and Bandcamp (for free download) called Reggae Got Soul. Simply put, it’s a collection of nine perfectly poised reggae remixes of some of the great classic Black American soul songs, as sung by Al Green, Bill Withers, Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke and more. The twist here, however, is when I say remix, I mean Will recorded a new set of roots/rocksteady slanted riddims and laid acapellas from the original songs over the top. Front to back, the whole thing is very tasty. If you’ve got a soul reggae itch, Reggae Got Soul will scratch it several times over.
DJ DUBHEAD: 1970s JAMAICAN FUNKY REGGAE
If that’s not enough, earlier in the week, Patrick Waller, aka Dubhead, a well-respected Auckland DJ, selector and radio host, took Radio New Zealand’s Jesse Mulligan on a tour of Jamaican 1970s Funky Reggae - highlighting the island’s fascination with American Soul music. Check it out here.
Here’s a forthcoming one I have an interesting connection with. In August 2023, the Ōtautahi, New Zealand-based books and literature festival, WORD, booked the duo of multi-award-winning Scottish author David Keenan and Bruce Russell, the guitarist from the celebrated New Zealand noise/free rock trio The Dead C, to perform together at the Space Academy venue. The premise was Keenan would read from his monolithic and critically acclaimed modernist masterpiece, Monument Maker with accompanying guitar and electronics from Russell. It was a very special performance, and the reason I know that is because I was there for it, marvelling at not just how compelling Keenan is as a live storyteller but how technically skilful Russell is as an experimental musician. I actually took some film photos at the gig. I may reshare them after the record comes out.
The next day (or maybe two days later?), WORD programmer Kiran Dass interviewed Keenan about his writing career, worldview, and the idea of psycho-geographies. During the Q&A at the end, I asked him to talk about DJ Screw and Houston Screw Music, which led to quite an animated monologue, to say the least. Anyhow, a year on, it turns out that the performance was recorded, and the London, UK-based Glass Records imprint, Glass Modern, is releasing it as a limited edition 12” and an unlimited edition digital download. As below, so above.
PIECES:
The Future of No Bells: In light of recent news, Mano Sundaresan on the future of No Bells. Read here.
“We’re Tired Of Hiding”: An Interview With Two Shell, Dance Music’s Final Boss: Dance music’s elusive duo open up — or are they playing a game in front of our eyes? In a rare interview with Philip Sherburne for Mixmag, Two Shell talks about their stylistic shift away from straightforward club records, resisting the matrix, gamifying dance music, and eyeing up fashion next. Read here.
Toumani Diabaté obituary: The Malian master of the kora who delighted in performing with musicians from other traditions and countries. For The Guardian, Robin Denselow. Read here.
How Sade’s ‘Diamond Life’ soothed a restless generation: Released in July 1984, ‘Diamond Life’ is one of UK pop music’s most enduring jewels — a sophisticated blend of soulful songwriting with flourishes of London’s multicultural jazz scene, all held aloft by the rich, husky contralto of Sade Adu, whose stories of love and the struggle cut through the ’80s political racket with graceful determination and effortless cool. Here, with the help of producer Robin Millar, Kemi Alemoru maps the legacy of Sade's timeless debut for DJ Mag. Read here.
BONUS:
Who here has seen Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness (2024) yet? Did you notice the callbacks to The Lobster (2015)? Not much kindness in that film, and yet I feel compelled to watch it again.
What about MaXXXine? Does anyone else feel like they matched a live-action version of a Scooby Doo episode with some added comedy gore? Not sure how I missed the memo about it being the third instalment in Ti West’s X series, but here we are.
FIN.