Guest post: New Zealand Music Month

Hey! Hope you’re having a good New Zealand Music Month so far. This being the teen blog, you guys are probably pretty onto it with your new music. But do you know many of these under the radar local artists? These are my favourite new tracks to listen to at the moment, and what better time to check them out than New Zealand Music Month.

Tiny Ruins – Me at the Museum, You at the Wintergardens

This is probably the local song I’m most excited about at the moment. It’s a coy love song with intricate guitar picking, ghostly instrumental flourishes and staggeringly wonderful lyrics. Rather than beating around the bush and trying to describe it, just listen, and read these: “I await the day when I work at the Museum/ with you across the way in the Wintergardens/ So young and so warm, we’ll storm, we’ll swarm the parks on our lunchbreaks, we’ll lie on the lawn/ smile so stealthily, buttery and brief, we’ll lie through our teeth, shock all the cavalry statues watching on/ us in our time bomb/ Nobody feels old at the Museum/ Nobody feels cold in the Wintergardens/ We’ll roll on and roll on, cutting it fine with the clock-on – we’ll persevere, carry on working there/ Me at the Museum, you in the Wintergardens”. Stunning.

Broods - Bridges

Broods are an excellent new band that’s been produced by Lorde’s producer Joel Little. Little’s brought the same minimal aesthetic as Lorde to the songs. The lyrics are simple and evocative, and the chorus is pretty inescapable. Here’s their track Bridges.

Lawrence Arabia – His Parents’ Jeep

Lawrence Arabia is the coolest, he’s a very debonair man with a snappy moustache and he knows his way around a witty lyric. His Parents Jeep is a new/old song featuring Elroy Finn (another of Neil Finn’s sons) on drums and Connan Mockasin on bass. If your parents drive you to school in a jeep you should definitely call them out. Jeeps are for riding the Serengeti, not dropping off teenagers in Ponsonby.

Great North  - I Was Gold

This is the rollicking album opener from Great North’s latest alt-country opus Up In Smoke. If you like Dylan, The National, Okkervil River or Ryan Adams then Up In Smoke is going to be right up your alley. They’re touring New Zealand in May so if you like this then look em up and see if they’re coming to your town.

Boycrush ft Watercolours – Secrets

his is a track by Auckland electronic pop producer (and Ruby Suns drummer) Alistair Deverick, who performs as Boycrush. If the big NZ radio stations actually had an ounce of guts, then Secrets would be getting played all the time, and it’d be anything but a secret. Chelsea (aka Watercolours) is on vocals and she’s an incredible artist in her own right, releasing recordings and videos that always have a beautifully strong aesthetic.

Why not celebrate New Zealand Music Month by picking up a local song from iTunes, or checking out a local band’s CD at your library? Hope you’ve enjoyed these songs. Let us know what your latest favourites are!

Cheers,

Dan from the Auckland Central Library Music Team