Christoph El Truento

My profile of Christoph El Truento is live on Audio Culture now.

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.

Over the last 13 years, Christopher Martin James, better known by his musical moniker Christoph El Truento, has crafted one of the most exciting and diverse discographies of any 21st-century musician from Aotearoa.

A longstanding DJ, beatmaker, producer, musician, and artist, Truento has never let his creativity be confined to his solo work, collaborating closely with fellow Aucklander Tom Scott in the @Peace, Homebrew, and Avantdale Bowling Club projects along his journey. He’s also worked with Team Dynamite, Hone Be Good, Brandn Shiraz, and numerous other figures who inhabit New Zealand’s underground hip-hop, jazz, beats, dub, and experimental music scenes. Earlier this year, I spent several hours interviewing Christoph for Audio Culture. You can read the full feature story by clicking here.

WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:

Alex Kassian’s 40th-anniversary cover version of ‘E2-E4’ by Manuel Göttsching is spectacular. Due for release through Test Pressing Recordings near the end of May, the 12”/digital EP also includes two dub mixes from the Mad Professor. Check it out; it’s a lovely, hyper-floaty vibe.

Christchurch, New Zealand-based singer-songer Hannah Everingham really knows how to use devices and tricks in her music. On her second album, Siempre Tiene Flores, she sings in English and Spanish, employs some very clever feats of melodic sleight of hand and brings a new set of colours to New Zealand’s storied modern country/folk scene. I can’t get enough of ‘Maria’ and ‘Don’t Be Crass’.

Conceived during the bijou thrum of Adelaide creativity in the early 80s, Toyland's raw mixture of post-punk and new-wave sounds, blanketed by heavy dub and afro-pop experimentations, reflects the mongrel sensibilities of an Australian sound in an ever-growing global mirror. This one might only be four songs long, but they’re all a lot of fun, proper dub funk punk pop wave sounds for lovers of Efficient Space’s OZ Waves and Oz Echoes complications, as bought to us by a lovely new label, Austudy Records.

PHOTOS:

Here’s a few b+w film photos I shot in Christchurch last month. Gotta love iso 3200 film. Developed and scanned by Splendid in Wellington.

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING/WATCHING:

An Interview With Starlito: Justin Ivey speaks to the Nashville artist about the balancing act of being a rapper and a father, his six-year hiatus from music, how working with Don Trip forces himself to a challenge and more. Over on Passion of The Weiss now.

Act’s arts spokesman once watched a musical: A scornful interview with Act’s arts spokesman who knows next to nothing about the arts. For Newsroom, Steve Braunias.

Ruth Saxelby is a writer and editor based in Queens, New York, with a background in electronic music journalism. Born and raised in the UK, she got into writing through clubbing in the north of England in the late '90s. She was the clubs editor at The Leeds Guide (2001 -2003), new music editor at Dummy (2009-2013), and managing editor at The FADER (2014-2018). Some of the things she's written include a column about listening for NPR, record reviews for Pitchfork, memoir essays for Hazlitt, and a libretto for an opera by Actress's Darren Cunningham. Check out Ruth’s conversation with Pick Up The Flow above.

The Long, Slow Death of Urban Nightlife: Soaring costs, safety concerns and noise complaints are strangling after-dark economies from London to Montreal — but campaigners aren’t going down quietly. For Bloomberg, Marc Daniel Davies.

FIN.