Beats + Pieces Vol. 94
Encore: One More Song, Clear Path Ensemble, LŌEMIS, other odds and ends
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, along with some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken, plus some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes, it takes completely different forms.
Over the last couple of months, I’ve had the joy of working with the wonderful team at the Auckland Central City Library on a few different projects. Right now, they’re hosting Encore!, a free entry exhibition that celebrates how live music brings people together through collective experience. It looks at the ways connection happens through live music: being moved emotionally by a performance, the connections between those on stage and those in the crowd, and the feeling of being connected to others in a music community.
Encore! digs deep into the library’s vast collection of ephemera, sound recordings, archives, photographs and magazines to uncover stories from a selection of central Tāmaki Makaurau venues which have been important to the city’s cultural life. It also explores the traces live music leaves behind, whether it’s the tickets kept from nights out, the magazines that reviewed performances, or the recordings listened to on repeat at home. From these places emerge stories of musicians, promoters, reviewers and fans, creating an evocative picture of what it was like to be there.
As part of Encore! I was invited to help create an accompanying magazine called One More Song: Songs From The Stage. You can pick up a copy for free at the exhibition, which again, is also free to attend. Here’s the blurb on the back of the magazine.
Under the lights of a stage, fear, excitement, joy, shame, and a multitude of other emotions tangle themselves together. This is the life of a musician, performing live for crowds ranging from a couple of punters in a dingy bar, to sold-out stadium shows in foreign capitals.
For One More Song, music journalist Martyn Pepperell interviews five local artists in pursuit of their tales from the stage. Collected within are stories of Auckland’s music scene through the eyes of Philharmonia violinist Julie Park, LEAO frontperson David Feaui-Afaese, jazz-punk artist Miho Wada, DJ Half Queen and national treasure Bic Runga.
ROLLING STONE AU/NZ: ‘PLAYING WITH HIM IS TOTAL IMMERSION’: MEET ONE OF AOTEAROA’S MOST VERSATILE MUSICIANS
On stage, Cory Champion can be seen playing a drum kit, percussion instruments, synthesisers, samplers, or beat machines. He could be with Fat Freddy’s Drop, Lord Echo, Avantdale Bowling Club, Mara TK, or Louis Baker, leading his award-winning jazz group Clear Path Ensemble, or trying out something new. Champion also produces dub, techno, and electro-slated dance music under the name Borrowed CS. Once, he painstakingly built a hi-fi sound system and used it to host a listening party for his celebrated Clear Path Ensemble album, Black Sand. In all his practices, he’s a master craftsman who values form and function.
For Rolling Stone AU/NZ, I traced Cory Champion’s career journey as his award-winning jazz project Clear Path Ensemble returns with a new album. Read more here.
WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:
This will be profoundly unsurprising to anyone who is tapped in, but Melbourne’s ‘90s indie-pop scene produced some absolutely magical groups, notably The Cat’s Miaow, who later went on to blend dream-pop and breakbeats as Hydroplane. Songs ‘94-’98 is a killer compilation.
As it turns out, Melbourne’s 2020s indie scene is turning out some special stuff as well.
While we’re on a dream-pop/shoegaze tangent, I really like UK duo The Gabys, who released a killer EP on fruits & flowers in 2024. They’re a label focused on “stupid music for smart people.” Sign me up for more.
ROLLING STONE AU/NZ: INSIDE THE WELLINGTON FESTIVAL THAT’S ‘BRINGING THINGS THAT DON’T NORMALLY HAPPEN’ TO THE CITY
Lōemis is bringing close to 30 events, spanning music, film, food, dance workshops, and more, to Wellington between June 6th-21st.
Over the last 15 years, there has been a rise in interest in mid-winter city music festivals across Australia and Aotearoa. Generally speaking, the format is a series of standalone concerts and nightclub gigs held at nearby venues, often tied together by pop-up art installations, light displays, food courts, or bars. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re familiar with popular examples of the form like Dark Mofo in Hobart, Sydney’s Vivid LIVE, or RISING in Melbourne.
Lōemis, an 11-year-old festival held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, isn’t as well known as the aforementioned events, but it deserves to be on your radar.
Read my interview with Andrew from Lōemis here.
GOOD COUNTRY: MAOLI FULLY EMBRACES HIS “ISLAND COUNTRY” POINT OF VIEW
The artist known as Maoli is Glenn Awong, a Hawaiian country reggae star who’s out to prove country, bluegrass, folk, and the islands have much in common.
In an era of polarization, social division, and dissent, Glenn Awong, the Hawaiian country reggae star better known as Maoli, believes we’ve all got more in common than not. Awong came to this realization in the late 2010s while he was touring through the US with his band. Show by show, he discovered that life in the American South wasn’t too dissimilar from the cattle ranches and pineapple fields where he grew up on Maui’s North Shore.
You can read my interview with Awong for Good Country here.
FIVE LŌEMIS FESTIVAL PICKS:
If you’re thinking about attending Lōemis, here’s a list of five music events that I think will be pretty cool.
Meow Nui, Sat 6 June
Over the last two decades, the Welsh singer-songwriter and producer Cate Le Bon, has become a towering figure in the worlds of transatlantic post-punk and art-pop. Arriving at Lōemis off the back of her celebrated seventh album, Michelangelo Dying (2025), Le Bon is an artist at the height of her powers. Luke Buda (Phoenix Foundation, Teeth, Moniker) will warm the stage with a solo performance.
Chanel Beads + Discovery Zone + Lucola
Meow, Tue 9 June
New York based D.I.Y dream pop musician Shane Lavers aka Chanel Beads has been turning heads worldwide with his transcendental sounds. In his Wellington debut at Lōemis, he’ll be joined by two other exciting new talents, Berlin multimedia/experimental music artist Discovery zone and New Zealand’s very own Lucola, a lover of ‘70s/80s synthesiser music sensibilities, machine beats and good times melodies.
Old St Paul’s, Tue 16 June
Kelly Moran is an experimental pianist/keyboardist, composer and producer who uses the keys to open up portals into other states of being. Fittingly, the New York musician is a contemporary of FKA Twigs, Yves Tumor, The Avalanches, Kelsey Lu, and Oneohtrix Point Never. For her New Zealand debut, she’ll be bringing her sensibilities to Lōemis for a special performance at Old St Paul’s church.
Troy Kingi Presents Night Lords
Meow Nui, Thu 18 June
Troy Kingi is many things to many people, while always being himself. You might love his psychedelic soul and garage rock music, or enjoy seeing him in Vogel’s Bread adverts. In a major Lōemis exclusive, he’s bringing his new Night Lords album to Wellington for one night only. Expect live hip-hop band style, featuring a genuinely star-studded cast of guest rappers from around New Zealand
REforms: Shayne P. Carter and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Michael Fowler Centre, Fri 19 June
Dunedin’s Shayne P. Carter made a name for himself in the alt-rock band Straightjack Fits, before showing us he had heavy soul with his Dimmer project. After reinventing himself as a pianist, writing a book, and a film about his life and times, Carter is ready for new challenges. At Lōemis, he’s teaming up with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to reimagine his songbook.
FIN.