Mid-Year Recap (July 2023)

As above, so below.

Selected Works is a regular newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter, and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell. Yes, that’s me. 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.

I probably should have put this together a couple of weeks ago, but duty has been calling. We’re over halfway through 2023, which - at least at my end - has been a strange, sad and somewhat challenging year. Nevertheless, I’ve still been making the best use I can of my free time, which has meant writing articles, sales sheets and album liner notes, recording DJ mixes for radio stations in Wellington, Bethlehem, Los Angeles, Melbourne and Hong Kong, and doing a few other random bits and pieces. It is the life, or at least something similar to the life, I guess? Anyway, please enjoy.

FEATURES

Clash Magazine: Seaming To’s Quest For Collaboration

Across her second album ‘Dust Gatherers’, the London-born composer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist Seaming To draws from her roots in classical composition and jazz improvisation. Equal parts magical realism and mythological pop, she describes it as “a collection of stories that have been gathering dust inside myself for some time,” hence the title. [Read here]

Bandcamp Daily: The Stylish Boogie of Mogwaa

South Korean multi-instrumentalist, producer, and DJ Seungyoung Lee, aka Mogwaa, regularly posts videos of himself preparing coffee on his Instagram story. Between his choice of equipment and technique, a loving and respectful level of care is apparent. These same qualities are evident within the stylish boogie, electro, deep house, ambient, and Balearic beat projects he’s released over the last six years. Mogwaa is a master craftsman who values form and function in equal measure. [Read here]

Mixmag: Get To Know Gayance, The DJ And Producer Expressing Joyfulness Through Music

Gayance produces and DJs music that emphasises shared joy, community and cultural connectivity across borders. Since 2013, she’s cultivated an open-hearted sensibility informed by hip hop, R&B, the late 2000s beat scene, London’s broken beat and garage movements, Detroit techno, Chicago house and an equally rich mélange of sunkissed sounds from across Latin America and West Africa. [Read here]

Thattu Pattu: Perception Swing

In the live performance video for ‘Entry 01’ — the debut track from their new collaborative alias — Asvajit and Nigel stand behind a table covered in samplers, drum machines, keyboards, and mixing desks. With a spotlight above them and the camera alternating viewpoints, they dream up an intoxicating blend of futuristic synthesizers, syncopated percussion, skipping machine beats, and squelchy basslines. [Read here]

Audio Culture: Hip Hop Aotearoa, Year 2013

Looking back with over a decade of hindsight, the early 2010s represented a crucial turning point in the history of hip-hop music in Aotearoa. In the wake of the launch of Spotify in New Zealand in 2012, the local music industry was reorganising itself to adapt to the challenges and changes of the app-based music era. As market trends shifted, music magazines were being replaced by blogs and websites, and online social media-based marketing rapidly began to supersede offline music promotion. [Read here]

Rolling Stone: ‘Funny Things Happen During the Worst Times of Your Life’, Hollie Fullbrook on Tiny Ruins’ New Album

“I think a theme in a lot of my work is the difference between how you feel internally and how you’re perceived or how the world is externally,” says the Auckland singer-songwriter, guitarist and cellist Hollie Fullbrook as we sit in a verdant inner-city park in Auckland. [Read here]

Flying Out: Unleashing Musical Freedom, How Mouthfull Radio Revives Independent Music And Community Spirit

Broadcasting online from Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, Mangawhai, Melbourne, and more recently, Berlin, Mouthfull Radio is an independent non-profit online radio station and community collective. Similarly to more established overseas platforms, the station serves as a digital third space for an ever-growing community of open-eared show hosts and listeners who often congregate together in the station’s website’s chatroom. [Read here]

Audio Culture: Lisa Tomlins

Over the last three and a half decades, Lisa Tomlins (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Toa) has established herself as one of the most versatile vocalists in the local music scene.

In that time, the Upper Hutt-based stage singer, studio recording artist, mentor, and vocal coach has fronted the Wellington disco-house-dub trio Ebb and sung with a who’s who of Aotearoa New Zealand bands, including Fat Freddy’s Drop, TrinityRoots, Little Bushman, The Recloose Live Band, Lord Echo, and L.A.B. “When you hire me, what you get is reliability,” she says. It’s a humble statement from an enduring talent with far, far more to offer to the world. [Read here]

Audio Culture: Deva Mahal

Born and raised in Kauaʻi, Hawaii, when Deva Mahal arrived in Aotearoa in the early 2000s, she quickly became part of a generation of local musicians who used their love of jazz, soul, funk, reggae, dub, hip-hop, house and techno to ascend from the underground into our country’s mainstream consciousness.

Several years later, the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist relocated to New York to pursue a musical career that has taken her through North America, Europe, and the Caribbean, sharing stages with international stars including Etta James, Björk, CeeLo, Angelique Kidjo, Wyclef Jean, Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, De La Soul, The Roots, and Alice Russell along the way. [Read here]

Audio Culture: Ermehn

An Ōtara original, Herman Lealaiauloto, aka Ermehn, got his start in the New Zealand hip-hop scene as one half of Radio Backstab & DJ Payback, the duo he shared with Jeremy Toomata. From there, he became one of the original members of the Otara Millionaires Club before going solo and releasing his debut album, Samoans: Part 2, in 1998. The hip-hop community was shocked by his death in July 2023. [Read here]

DJ MIXES

Mouthful Radio: Broken Swing w/ Martyn Pepperell - February 28th 2023

Martyn Pepperell @martynpepperell is a freelance music journalist, broadcaster and DJ from Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa. His feature stories and mixes have been published and presented by Bandcamp Daily, Dazed, Dublab, Mixmag, NTS, Radio Al-Hara, Resident Advisor, Skylab Radio, Test Pressing, The Wire and Wax Poetics. For broken swing, a one-off special, Martyn has assembled a mix of two parts: Half an hour of West London broken beat followed by thirty minutes of obscure new jack swing/swingbeat records from across Europe and the Caribbean. [Listen here]

Radio Al Hara: Neo Jack Feeling w/ Martyn Pepperell

Te Whanganui-a-Tara based writer, broadcaster and DJ Martyn Pepperell presents a sixty minute exploration of uptempo New Jack Swing, Swingbeat and Street Soul from France, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Aotearoa, the UK and the US. Originally presented from 12-1pm Bethlehem Time on Friday March 10 2023 by Palestine's Radio Al Hara. [Listen here]

Hong Kong Community Radio: Around The World (global 90s street soul and swingbeat special) w/ Martyn Pepperell

Martyn Pepperell is a freelance music journalist, broadcaster and DJ from Wellington, New Zealand. Over the last decade, his feature stories and mixshows have been published and presented through Bandcamp Daily, Dazed, Dublab, i-D, Mixmag, Norient, NTS, Resident Advisor, Skylab Radio, Test Pressing, The Lot Radio, The Wire, and Wax Poetics.

As a DJ, Martyn has shared showbills with Brian Jackson, The Egyptian Lover, Awesome Tapes, Kae Tempest, The Internet, Vince Staples, Aldous Harding, Ladyhawke, Oddisee, Richard Dawson, Nai Palm, Daedalus, Clear Path Ensemble and Le1f. On the radio or in the club, his open-eared DJ sets reflect his passion for Street Soul, Swingbeat, AOR, City-Pop, West London Broken Beat, MPB, New Jack Swing and the Balearic Beat. [Listen here]

Skylab Radio: J'ai Pas Sommeil (I Can't Sleep)

Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa-based journalist and DJ Martyn Pepperell presents a one-hour mix of 90s Street Soul and Swingbeat from the UK, France, Brazil and New Zealand. White labels, CD singles, album cuts and obscure downloads. [Listen here]

Mixcloud: Let Groove Come, A West London Broken Beat Excursion

Sixty minutes of classic late 90s/early 2000s Broken Beat/Bruk tunes with a heavy West London influence. Lovingly selected and mixed by yours truly, DJ Martyn Pepperell. [Listen here]

Dublab: Sensitive, New Jack Swing, RnB and Neo Soul from France

Taking its name from the 1994 compilation album of the same name, Sensitive is a wide-ranging survey of New Jack Swing, RnB and Neo Soul recorded in France during the final decade of the 20th century. [Listen here]

SALES SHEETS / LINER NOTES

10 Days in San Antonio, by MoonDoctoR & Surly

Resurrected from a set of previously thought-lost session files from the late 2010s, Ten Days In San Antonio is the first collaborative album from two friends from different sides of the globe, Surly (New Zealand) and MoonDoctoR (USA). Over ten dynamic club tracks, they imagine a neon-tinged late-night synthesis of the regional sounds of Chicago footwork and UK garage where euphoric rave stabs, laidback g-funk whistle synths, and perfectly placed hip-hop vocal chops float across rumbling bass and syncopated machine beats. Landing in a high-tech dancefloor interzone, the results are something neither of them could have envisioned alone. [Listen/Read here]

II, by Ambient Warrior

Following the success of the 2021 reissue of Ambient Warrior’s cult classic Dub Journey's (1995), Isle of Jura is pleased to present their previously unreleased second album, II. The album was recorded from 1995 to 1999 and is born from the same oceanside fusion of instrumental dub, reggae, bossa nova and tango music that made Dub Journey's so distinctive and memorable; II is an equally sublime collection of eleven unheard tracks from the brilliant minds of Ronnie Lion and Andrea Terrano. [Listen/Read here]

Tell Me / What You Need, by Eo

In September 2022, Mānuka Recordings released our debut record, a now sold-out 10” double single recorded with the Tāmaki Makaurau singer-songwriter and guitarist Summer Vaha'akolo aka Summer Vee, Key To All Your Love/Judas. After winning DJ and radio support from Scratcha DVA, Shy One, Bill Brewster, and coverage from Radio New Zealand and Dr Rob’s Ban Ban Ton Ton blog, we’re pleased to present our second record, Tell Me. [Listen/Read here]

Kvinder for Fred, by Kvinder for Fred

Forty-three years ago, the late great Danish singer and actress Lone Kellermann headed into Werner Studios with a group of prominent musicians and peace activists from the local 1970s protest music scene. This included singer- songwriters and guitarists Eva Langkow and Birte Zander, drummer Marianne Rottbøll, pianist/ harmonicist Nina Frederiksen, bassist Marianne Hall Christensen and guitarist Pia Nyrup Boudigaard. [Listen/Read here]

BITS + PIECES

Stuff: What I'm Reading, Martyn Pepperell

Lately, I’ve been rereading some of the books the great American author, translator and composer Paul Bowles​ wrote during the middle years of the 20th century, The Sheltering Sky​, Let It Come Down​, and The Spider’s House​. [Read here]

Resident Advisor: Kate NV - WOW

Kate NV returns to RVNG Intl. for a kaleidoscopic journey through sound and joy. [Read here]

Selected Works Podcast: A Journey of Giraffes, Empress Nouveau

John Lane is a Baltimore, Maryland-based composer, instrumentalist and producer who records ambient, modern classical and electronica as A Journey of Giraffes. For the first-ever edition of the Selected Works Podcast, John talked to me about Empress Nouveau, his sixth album with the Shelbyville, Kentucky label Somewherecold Records. We discussed film soundtracks, the late great Japanese composer, producer and DJ Susumu Yokota, half-remembered childhood memories and more. [Listen here]

Test Pressing: I Always Had Faith In My Music, An Interview With Ahmed Ben Ali

In February 2020, Jannis Stürtz's excellently curated Habibi Funk label released a 4-track 12" EP of early 2000s Libyan reggae from a musician named Ahmed Ben Ali. At the time, I was floored over by how effortlessly Ahmed blended the conventions and codes of reggae, dub and dancehall ragga with his own North African sensibility. Going off the EP's sales notes, it looked like Ahmed had had a rather colourful life. I made a mental note to try and find out more, but life got in the way. [Read here]

DAZED

Four times a year, I write a quarterly new music report for Dazed & Confused. The first two editions for 2023, Q1 and Q2, are live here and here.

FIN.