Beats + Pieces Vol. 63
Moizna, HIFI SCIFI, Mokomokai, Revulva, Mazes and more.
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.
WHAT I’VE GOT COMING UP / WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING:
At 6 pm NZT tonight, I’ll be guesting on the Auckland student radio station 95bFM to discuss the legacy of the late 1990s West Auckland RnB/hip-hop group Moizna with the Drive host with the most, Rosetta Stone. You can read the Moizna profile I wrote for Audio Culture: The Noisy Libary of New Zealand Music here.
Denmark’s Anne-Tina was already a performing pianist and singer of repute when she released her self-titled debut LP in 1984. Over ten magical synth-pop tracks that bubbled with the optimistic spirit of the mid-1980s, the nineteen-year-old musician sang in a dreamy, aspirational style. Forty years after Anne-Tina was originally issued on vinyl, New York’s Frederiksberg Records is pleased to present this slow-smouldering cult classic’s first official digital reissue, due for release on October 24, 2024.
If you’re familiar with my association with Frederiksberg Records and its founder, Andreas Vingaard, you’ll be unsurprised to note I wrote the liner notes for this digital reissue. Pre-orders are up now on Bandcamp.
One of the most significant new figures within the truly futuristic frontiers of contemporary dance music and DJ culture, DJ TRAVELLA emerged a few years ago via several viral clips documenting street party culture in Tanzania. Since then, he’s won over dancers across the globe as part of a new wave of cyber-singeli artists bringing a semi-improvisational style to their exhilarating fusion of production, DJing and live performance. This October, HI-FI SCI-FI is excited to be bringing him to Australia and New Zealand for the first time to play four shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Wellington and Auckland.
Hailing from Dar Es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania, Hamadi Hassani, aka DJ TRAVELLA, began producing seven years ago at fifteen. Since then, he’s welded elements of dembow, rave, R&B, trap, gabber, carnival dance, and ‘90s New York jeep beat into his turbo-charged, high-energy soundworld. In 2022, DJ TRAVELLA came to the attention of the Nyege Nyege Tapes collective, which released his breakout album, Mr Mixondo, that year. Described by the Chicago Reader as “Outrageous in the best way possible,” Mr Mixondo also brought DJ TRAVELLA to the attention of Arca and La Meme Young, who have both championed his exhilarating sonic visions online and offline.
At each stop, we will be bringing a pop-up shop full of books, clothing, jewellery & various other artefacts and oddities. And to mark the significance of this tour, we will be selling a limited run of exclusive DJ TRAVELLA merchandise featuring original artwork by New York-based visual artist and musician Frank Dorrey.
Last week, I helped Addison from HI-FI SCI-FI assemble the media materials for this remarkable tour. If you want to get more into the reeds with the specific show details, head over to the HI-FI SCI-I Instagram page. The support lineup on these shows is nuts.
Earlier in the year, I worked closely with the Aotearoa hip-hop group MOKOMOKAI, or as I think of them, The Boys From The Winterless North, to get a crowdfunded vinyl pressing of their second album WHAKAREHU off the ground.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone smash their crowd-funding/pre-order targets like this before. The speed at which things moved was insane. Over the last week or two, copies have been flowing out to customers around the motu, which has been beautiful to see. As part of the process, the fellas had me write up some liner notes for the insert sleeve. Here’s a brief extract.
What you are holding in your hands is a piece of Aotearoa music history: the pounamu green vinyl edition of WHAKAREHU, the second album from MOKOMOKAI, the Māori hip-hop trio comprised of the rapper Manu and the producer duo Dusty & Ghos. Drawing from a mixture of gritty, conversational storytelling, stripped-back jazz and soul chops, and low-slung neo boom bap, they’ve spent the last three years making cinematic, black-and-white film noir vignettes reimagined as songs.
If Dusty and Ghos’ cinematic production is the MOKOMOKAI skeleton, Manu’s rapping is the muscle. Grounded in an inner-city perspective that highlights te ao Māori perspectives and belief systems while never shying away from brazen honesty or rib-cracking humour, his unadorned prose mixes street-level anecdotes with nonchalant metaphors and feinted punchlines that hit with knockout intensity.
If you missed out on copping a copy, I hear they’ll be selling a few at some of their upcoming shows. Tap in via Dusty’s Instagram page here. You can also check the album via streaming if you wish.
While we’re still on the subject of crowdfunding/pre-order vinyl successes, I also just came off a rollercoaster of a month helping the Wellington octet Revula get their self-titled debut album pressed up on wax. Although pre-orders are now done, you can still order a copy via the bandcamp page above if you wish. Here’s an excerpt from some of the sales notes I wrote for them.
Over the last five years, Wellington octet Revulva has won over audiences around New Zealand with their frenzied, high-energy stage shows. Taking their cues from Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Jamiroquai, Steely Dan, Herbie Hancock, Minnie Ripperton, and Prince, their self-titled debut album reimagines the anything-goes energy of New York City’s 1970s downtown scene and London’s 1990s funk and soul renaissance through an antipodean perspective where awkward, deadpan humour goes hand in hand with the band’s social concerns and inherent feminist politics.
Led by the bassist, vocalist and composer Phoebe Johnson, Revulva recorded and produced this record at Doctor Lee Prebble’s Surgery Studios. In the same spirit as singles ‘Bush Bash’ and ‘Beep Beep’, the ten songs included here capture the dynamic energy and juxtapositions that power their percussive grooves, spellbinding horn section and Johnson’s silky smooth songcraft and spoken word strut. It’s a high-wire act in a three-ring circus. You’re all invited to the Revulva party. You can even cry if you want to.
TEST PRESSING:
Last week, I wrote a short review roundup of a few recent new and new-old releases from Leong Lau, D.D. Mirage, Naya Beat, and Alejandro Cohen for Test Pressing. You can check it out here.
MAZES:
Well, that all escalated rather quickly didn’t it? Around a month ago (maybe a bit longer), a younger relative asked if I could make them a maze. After iterating a couple of cardboard versions, I realised the way to go was foamboard. Now, I’m lost in the possibilities of plating these things in various types of mirrored cardboard. I have to say, it’s all been extraordinarily relaxing. I’ve even had a few people ask if I’d consider selling them one or possibly running a maze-making workshop. If you fit into either of these categories, feel free to drop me a line.
I’ve also had a few people drop me a line to see how my mental health is. One particularly good message went along the lines of “What would possess a man to build such a thing?” It’s worth remembering that I have a history of putting together random projects every few years. Some of you may remember when I got some Gameboy Camera photos laser etched into pieces of wood and sold a few of them. There was also last year’s photozine, PLACES. Sometimes, it’s just fun to create something. I love getting an idea over the line.
WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:
Noa Records’ in-house band Sanguine, the trio of David Feauai-Afaese, Navākatoa Tekela-Pule and Rāhara Tito-Taylor, continue to serve up more crunchy sonic gold with their new double single, ‘Tumutumu Mauga’ / ‘Lady with the Smoke’. If you’ve enjoyed their distinctive Polynesian reimaginings of psychedelic rock, soul and surf music, you’ll want to tap in again for this one.
If this world were fair and just, Nilüfer Yanya would be one of the biggest artists on the planet. Three albums in, the London-based singer-songwriter and guitarist continues to shock, awe and wow.
FIN.
The mazes are very cool 😎