Midweek Beats + Pieces vol. 37
Tiny Ruins, Skylab Radio, Ambient Warrior, etc.
Photographer Credit: Frances Carter
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.
WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING:
I profiled Tiny Ruins for Rolling Stone Australia/New Zealand. Their new album, Ceremony, is out now. Here’s a quote from the interview: “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. The leader of the Tiny Ruins band, Fullbrook has spent the last fourteen years using this theme as a lens to explore and articulate her understanding of the human experience. “I guess songwriting is a way of extrapolating the important things from my inner dialogue,” she continues. “It’s a way of figuring out which bits are important and which are just the shit of life.”
Last week (or maybe it was two weeks ago), Naarm/Melbourne’s Skylab Radio aired my latest DJ mix, J'ai Pas Sommeil (I Can't Sleep). One hour of 90s Street Soul and Swingbeat from the UK, France, Brazil and New Zealand. White labels, CD singles, album cuts and obscure downloads. You can listen to it here.
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. I wrote the sales notes for this release for Adelaide’s Isle of Jura label. You can pre-order it in vinyl or digital formats now over here.
On a similar note, last year, I took on a couple of freelance artist interview jobs for English DJ and Producer Miles Cleret’s Soundway Records. One of them was speaking with G.C. Cameron, the lead singer of the legendary soul group The Spinners, in preparation for special EP of his solo music Soundway is releasing in June. Live For Love is up for pre-order on Bandcamp now.
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:
"The Ends Rule": Perifa No Toque Is A Baile Funk Haven For People On The Fringe Of São Paulo - For Mixmag, Issac Muk caught up with two of the key members of the party for people on the city’s peripheries, to chat about its rise from a tongue-in-cheek barbecue fundraiser to one of its most important proponents of an often demonised genre and culture.
patten Taps Into Text To Audio AI’s Musical Potential: By the time you read this article, the technology it describes will be out of date, left in the dust by the warp-speed acceleration in machine intelligence we’re living through. Understandably, not all musicians are stringing up the bunting for the arrival of AI-assisted music production. Seems too much like cheating, maybe—or worse: a portent of their own obsolescence. Not so for South London producer patten. Chal Ravens for Bandcamp Daily.
Inside Taipei's flourishing underground club scene: With a close-knit community of DJs playing everything from heavyweight techno to deconstructed club and Mandopop, and a healthy selection of intimate venues to host them, Taipei’s club scene is booming with creative, futuristic purpose. James Gui travels to the Taiwanese capital for DJ Mag to learn more.
Northern soul scenes are thriving despite the cost of living crisis: A nationwide community of young soul fans are finding solace in the dance movement established over half a century ago. For Dazed, Laura Molly.
Oliver Cronin: Boulevard of Hollywood Dreams - Oliver Cronin isn't the type of artist to attribute his success to serendipity. He'd never tell you he was simply in the right place at the right time, or that some A&R type 'discovered' him after he uploaded a half-baked bedroom demo without a second thought. For Rolling Stone Australia, Poppy Reid.
House of Shem and Carl Perkins: House of Shem are one of the most popular reggae acts in Aotearoa and were the first roots reggae group to have an album debut at No.1. The band was formed by Carl Perkins, who was already well-known for his work in Herbs and Mana. Eventually his sons Te Omeka and Isaiah became integral group members, which has meant that House of Shem has been able to continue on beyond Carl Perkins’ death in 2018. For Audio Culture, Gareth Shute.
WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:
LP1 by Isola is the first release from Nick Sylvester’s new Smartdumb label, “ “a home for music that starts with a question mark and ends with an exclamation point.” Across nine high-gloss dub house tracks, West Virginia artist and synthesist Ivana Carrescia, aka Isola and Los Angeles-based producer Sylvester (formerly of Godmode) revel in the power and potential of field recordings, modular synthesis and classic dance music aesthetics as a tool for unlocking a superior 2k23 pop sound. Exciting stuff.
Slowly Forgetting, Barely Remembering, by the Polish composer Martyna Basta, is a series of ambient/environmental vignettes drawn from the threshold of the doors of perception. Between a heady blend of voice, classical instrumentation, field recordings and a guest appearance from an autotuned Claire Rousay, Basta crafts a world of faint memories, fading dreams and moments so lucid they could be imagined or real - who can really tell? One thing is for sure, though, Basta is beating the second album slump with this one. Headphone music for the ages.
Due for release on the 19th of May 2023, Spirits is the first album from The Circling Sun, a modern New Zealand jazz supergroup with an undefined membership roster that includes the cult drummer/producer Julien Dyne and all-around multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer guy Matt Hunter aka Kenny Sterling. Right now, you can listen to ‘Kohan’, a beautiful spiritual jazz number with plenty of hip-hugging percussion and just the right amount of soul. Spirits arrives through Soundway Records, who have previously released albums from Julien Dyne and The Circling Sun collaborator Cory Champion, aka Clear Path Ensemble. I’m loving this antipodean connection.
THE SPINOFF:
Over the course of 2017 and 2018, I wrote ten music-related articles for the New Zealand-based culture website, The Spinoff. Some of them were fairly decent, so this week, I thought I’d include a quick directory of those stories in my newsletter.
How two artists on opposite sides of the planet fused electronics and Māori instrumentation on their new album: Martyn Pepperell talks to Fis and Rob Thorne about their new album of trans-continental experimental collaboration, Clear Stones.
Music is just whatever sounds you’re willing to hear as music: Jet Jaguar on his eclectic new album - Martyn Pepperell talks to Jet Jaguar about his new album ‘Grounded’, the transportive power of field recordings, and the unreliability of memory.
An enigma wrapped in a musician: A chat with Ben Lemi - Martyn Pepperell hangs out at the library with musical polymath Ben Lemi to talk about Lemi’s debut solo EP as Courtesy Caller.
Jordan Rakei, the introverted multi-instrumentalist: ‘My only hurdle is shyness -Martyn Pepperell talks to New Zealand-born, Australia-raised vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jordan Rakei about his shyness and his new album Wallflower, out now on Ninja Tune.
How Noah Slee’s new album saved him from himself: Berlin-based Tongan-New Zealand musician Noah Slee talks to Martyn Pepperell ahead of his appearance at Laneway Festival next week.
Folk singer Julie Byrne: ‘Music is a space where I don’t have to conceal my pain’ - Martyn Pepperell talks to American folk-singer and park ranger Julie Byrne before her two shows with Nadia Reid in Christchurch this weekend.
Wellington electronica act Groeni: ‘I feel like I have come back to life’ - Martyn Pepperell talks to Alexander Green of Wellington electronica act Groeni about their new album, Nihx, and new sandwich and coffee shop, Good Boy.
R&B singer-songwriter Villette: ‘I’ll do whatever the fuck it takes’ - Martyn Pepperell talks to R&B and neo-soul singer-songwriter Villette about making it from the Mad Butcher to Los Angeles.
Girlboss show there are second acts in indie rock lives: Martyn Pepperell talks to Girlboss about the transition from Christchurch to Wellington – and from music’s blog-era to its playlist-era.
Dictaphone Blues: ‘We’ll all end up at the Grey Lynn RSC playing as 50-year-olds. That would be success’ - Martyn Pepperell talks to Dictaphone Blues’s Ed Castelow on Tinder, synths and redefining indie success.
BONUS:
Happy 10th Anniversary to Audio Culture / Iwi Waiata: The Noisy Library of Aotearoa / New Zealand Music.
FIN.