The Big Weekend Read: Disasteradio aka Eyeliner

My sprawling two part profile of Disasteradio aka Eyeliner is live now.

Hey there!

Happy Sunday (or Saturday). I’m gonna keep this one reasonably short and sweet. The reason for this issue of my newsletter is pretty simple. Over the last few months, I’ve been working hard on a sprawling six and a half thousand word profile of the Hong Kong-based New Zealand computer musician and multimedia artist Luke Rowell. Luke is probably best known internationally for the four albums of vaporwave music he has recorded as Eyeliner. Thing is, here at home in Aotearoa, Luke had a whole musical life before Eyeliner as Disasteradio. This one is long (two parts!), but I think it’s worth spending time with.

I was lucky enough to publish it through a New Zealand-based website called Audio Culture: The Noisy Library of New Zealand music. A general overview post lives here. After that, you can read part one here and part two here. I’ll include embeds of a couple of his albums below.

WHAT ELSE?

On Friday (?), I wrote up a quick reviews round-up for my good friends over at Test Pressing. New and new old releases from Sorcerer, Psychedelic Digestion Therapy, Leong Lau, Synergetic Voice Orchestra. Big love to Growing Bin Records, Strangelove Music, Left Ear Records and Métron Records. Read the post here.

BONUS:

Grecco Romank, Red Tower (Self-Released)

To paraphrase the words of Michael McClelland, “[Grecco Romank’s] shared musical grammar just happened to be one in which Snapper rhymed with the KLF, in which Negativland wrote all their own songs, and in which Vangelis tapes sold for three hundred dollars instead of three dollars. (Just as great cities come from great cultures, great bands come from great bargain bins). Perhaps the most exciting new band in Aotearoa right now?

Joseph Spence, Encore: Unheard Recordings of Bahamian Guitar and Singing (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings)

A brilliant virtuoso, mid 20th century Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence influenced everyone from Richard Thompson to The Grateful Dead, Ry Cooder, and Taj Mahal, while mapping out pathways for voice and guitar that were infused with the very essence of improvisation. Although he was raised among the fishermen of the Bahamas, who he sang briny vocal harmonies with well past midnight, his music was wholly his own. Since he as discovered in the late 1950s, his music has served as a wellspring of inspiration to several generations. A strikingly unique figure within the singer-songwriter idiom.

FIN.