Category: review

Starlifter.TV – nearly/roughly 1 year old…

Posted on by Dr Hitchcock
Dr H had something to say at a house party one night...

Hey yo!

October 2009 will officially be Starlifter.TV’s 1st Birthday (although I did back date some posts to June 08 from the old Mixtape Connection website). It has been a real joy and a total experiment. Over that time there has been some interesting changes. At some points it has been a personal blog, at other points pure promo for friends, it’s been a place to reflect on the music my friends and I like, but at the end of the day I wanted this website to be tool to build a community of passionate, open minded, musical party peeps.

What do you as a reader and part of this small community (we get around 100 different visitors a day) think about Starlifter.TV?!! Over the year I have tried many different things. If you’re a regular reader what do you keep coming back for? What do you enjoy reading about? What could there be less of?

Over the past year I haved tried to post as many free MP3s as possible but moving into the next year of Starlifter.TVs life I may try and limit this to Creative Commons (CC) licensed music and images as the CC philisophy and framework is an excellent alternative to the current Copyright licenses which are being used by big business to hold the [digital] world to ransom.

But yeah! What do you wanna see on Starlifter.TV? So far I’ve posted set lists for radio shows and DJ sets, podcast episodes, peeps Top 10s, videos of shit I find interesting, reviews of songs and albums, MP3s, party pics and interesting images, tunes from my band Electro Pussy Posse, DJ mixsets, live sets, lots of Christchurch music guff (that’s where I’m based), pictures of Zia from the Dandy Warhols (HOT!), interviews, blah, blah, you get the picture.

Have you been thinking about contributing? Do you think you’ve got your head around what Starlifter.TV is all about? Do you have things to say? How do you see the world? Are you a Photographer? Writer? Musician? Artist? Creative type? Well if you would like to be a greater part of Starlifter.TV and help us then buzz an email to me yo: drh (at) starlifter.tv or you could even send me a letter: 42 Hanrahan Street, Upper Riccarton, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand. Otherwise free feel to leave a comment at the end of this post or above in the Google Friend Connect bar.

And I’d really like to thank all of the contributors to Starlifter.TV so far: Nurse NOS, Tom Darlow, Cara Totoro, Darlene Brown, Evan James, Erin Hutching, Sixtyten, Tom Cosm, Muz & Ezra from DeliciousMusic.co.nz and anyone else who I may have forgotten, you peeps POP!

Anyways, thanks for hanging with us here at Starlifter.TV and hopefully we’ll be seeing more of yo.

Mad love, peace and respect,
Dr Hitchcock
xoxox

Wrapped up – Eddy Current Supression Ring

Posted on by Dr Hitchcock

More Melbourne magic! Yet another Melbourne act have broken out of the garage and onto international eardrums. Their name is The Eddy Current Suppression Ring, an obscurely named, motly group of Ozzie blokes, producing a beautaful mix of youthful angst and simplicity. Their latest tune, Wrapped Up, is awash with valvestate tones and simple hooks. It is the proverbial hug to your bad day at work, a filthy porche, or Mick Jagger with make-up. It is beauty draped over raw grit or vice versa. On the first listen it is easy to dismiss the tune for its simplicity, lo-fi production and repetition. However, these lads know that in pop music, less is more, and more is the kind of magic we haven’t heard since The Troggs. Enjoy falling in love.

:: Tom Darlow



Von Klap – Water and Wine

Posted on by Dr Hitchcock





Water and wine is the latest release by glue-sniffing Christchurch mainstays, Von Klap (the band formely known as The Klap). It is also the leading single from their hotly anticipated debut album, which is currently being recorded in Churchtown’s finest boutique studio, The Sitting Room. Accompanied by a stunningly crafted video, this single is the first release from Von Klap that masks the depravity of the members’ minds behind a facade of composure. Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or maybe more appropriately, a closet trani at their day job. This track wears its slease on its sleave, opting for vivid imagery of salvation over the graphic tales of violence and incest of their former work. Musically, the tune drapes evocative meloddy over a skeleton of gritty mongrel. The vocal delivery is unexpected and perfect, the founding chord progression keeps you guessing, and the verse/chorus dynamic is subtle and delicious. While it doesn’t have the charming hook and swagger of RDU favourites “Not Getting Younger” or “Screenplay”, this is the first tune released this year that has hugged me like an old friend and clung to the memory glands. Good luck getting it out of your head.

:: Tom Darlow

my maudlin career – camera obscura

Posted on by Dr Hitchcock

well, if you’re anything like me, you’ll prob’ly buy this due to the lush cover art and remarkably fitting title. and like the cover art, this band’s sound includes a particularly specialised palette featuring contrasting and dreamy hallucinatory swirls amongst the finer lines.

camera obscura are into the swirling, string-laden melancholy melange formerly carried off by fellow scots belle and sebastian, and sorta like the arrangements of our own candy-striped brunettes, their bittersweet sense of humour drips with an irony occasionally maligned and malicious but always delicious.

now, i fuckin hate phil spector for what he did to that otherwise great band (that’s what he should really be locked up for), but for some reason this ear-candy is remarkably easy to swallow despite it’s obvious influences from mr “24 more tracks of strings”.

standouts for me include ‘away with murder’ with so many clever plays on words rolling together the little deaths of drugs, love and heartbreak and sparking them up with catchy choruses spiked with fiddles.. yes, FIDDLES. also the curiously warped title track and the generally reverbed-out waves of cavernous chamber music which accompany each see-sawing tune. camera obscura will give you flashbacks of times you’ve never seen and places you’ll never live.

if the pixies had a trade-mark “loud-quite-loud” then these guys do a trademark “exhale-blackout-gasp back to life and thank your lucky stars you’re not dead yet”. so if you like your hits clean and your comedowns sunbeam-saturated, by all means dip a toe into this nectar-bath of tunes so topsy turvy you’re never sure whether they’re lifting you up or just letting you down gently.

on ‘my maudlin career” camera obscura capture that shaky sensation that you may have nearly killed yourself again, whether it be dancing the morning to death or working your days away– yet you can’t help but feel a teensy bit glad you’re still here.

“how many times have you told me you wanna die?” 
– ‘away with murder’

MP3: Camera Obscura – my maudlin career (right click then “save as”)

:: nurse nos