The new Palace of Wisdom cut ‘True Man’ is a marriage of the old and new. Musically, this track lends itself to the monumental riffage of the husky bluemen and roughnut surf guitarists of the 50s and 60s. While never mimicking their emotive chops, their influence is certainly tangible. Lyrically, this track is a cutting criticism of modern society, capitalism and the banes of a watered down intellect, referencing an age where “working men wrote poetry and talked politics” as counterpoint to the modern ignorance of “the media man.” While this track is found a little wanting structurally, the open plan song structure works well with the kerouacian ‘stream of consciousness’ lyrical style to create a very listenable wee number.
‘Aaaarrrgh!!!’ the debut album from Auckland based four piece Yule is eight songs, thirty minutes long, and sounds familiarly quirky. This may or may not have something to do with some of the band once being in One Million Dollars (Alex Urlich, Jono Goss and Bjorn), although I wouldn’t say this formation taps much from the soul/funk vein…Interpol, Regurgitator and Gomez, definitely.
It seems Yules’ influences are clear to hear, but whatever is used, is transformed into something unique and danceable. Songs on the album range from layered to minimal, with cute stand out track ‘Eat Your Greens’ simply featuring banjo and vocals. ‘attack! ATTACK!!!’ has Interpol sounding guitar and vocals, ‘A Mess’ reminds very much of Gomez, and ‘Migraine’ sounds like the Streets…kind of.
The band describes the album as “darkly fun”, which I think is rather apt in terms of song subject matter; and if you like any of the mentioned influences you will definitely appreciate this album. Have a listen: http://www.myspace.com/yulenz or http://www.amplifier.co.nz/release/41924/aaaarrrggh.html
Don’t laugh, but I went to see Kylie Minogue. I did get a freebie – but I will admit I was intrigued to see what a 24 million dollar show might look like…
I went to her second show, and had heard a lot of the audience from the first night made an effort to dress up; however I arrived to girls and their BFF’s (with accompanying boyfriend/husband brigade looking guiltily uncomfortable) and loads of gay guys.
Vector was at capacity, and our tickets may well have been situated atop Mt Everest they were was so high up. The show started with Kylie dressed Cleopatra-like, and went through several different costume changes – Cheerleader, Sailor (with accompanying Love Boat Theme and Barry Manilow cover), Gentleman, Sparkly…more Sparkly…but the annoying thing was that between each change, the show literally stopped! In terms of the stage, it was dressed with a giant visual backdrop projecting Madonna-esque images of Kylie relating to the different songs/sets, and was littered with androgynous dancers and a backing band.
Songs covered were from the new album “X” and pretty much all of her singles – there were two encores of which the last contained an accapella version of Locomotion and a normal version of I Should Be So Lucky…which in all honestly was the only song that nearly everybody got up to dance to (but not me).The crowd overall was pretty calm considering the nature of her music, but managed to get excited every time Kylie said “New Zealand”. Kylie did manage to chat with the audience during the show; she turned up the lights, looked out at the crowd and praised a few fans who had made an effort to dress up which would have definitely made their year.
Overall, my thoughts on the concert was that it was all a bit too High School Musical for my taste. In fact, I really disliked it! I thought it lacked emotion, grit, and Kylie came off as a poor mans Madonna. I went with an open mind, a little excited to see what kind of show a popstar of Kylie’s fame would produce; and left really disappointed! One friend who is a huge Kylie fan had a blast – and obviously the woman has sold millions of records. But without the effects and costumes, the show would have been a dead bore – and as my colleague the next day put it: “millions of people can be wrong, right?”
Seeing Kanye West play in Auckland December 1st was really a last minute decision:
“Should we buy a 2 for 1 ticket, and can I borrow the money?”
flatmate says: “yes”.
“How much was it?”
“$70”.
“DAMN.”
Considering I only had four of his songs on Hungry Hungry iPod I wasn’t sure if I had made the right choice…
I turned up to Vector on the night, and was really surprised at the amount of young (dare I say it – white) people that were there! Although this year all I’ve seen at Vector is grey haired concert after adult contemporary concert so it’s been a while since I have seen a large gathering of youth. Also surprising was the security measures at the gate. I opened my bag for inspection and the woman picked up my pain killers and demanded to know “what pills are these?” I said nothing as I watched her turn the packet over to display “Signature Range” on the foil. This wasn’t enough: “what PILLS are these??” to which I gingerly responded “aspirin”.
Anyway, I got in to see Nas’ band playing (is that the correct use of an apostrophe here?). To be honest I don’t know ANY of his songs, but he was phenomenal and I would definitely go to see him perform on his own. His guitarist wore a Ramones t shirt. We missed Scribe opening, but I’m sure he was crapping his pants with excitement to be there.
After Nas, the lights went up and we paced the stadium waiting, watching and wishing I wore my $3 Kanye glasses after all…until finally it went dark. The stage was illuminated with bars of neon, flashing lights and blade-runner style costumes (all designed by Daft Punk apparently). Kanye showed up looking very small, but stylish and took us on a retrospective journey through the hits. “Through the Wire” was the second song (my fave of all his tracks) and basically he just went through his singles in order after that. I even thought “wow he could totally release a best of!”. He didn’t play “American Boy” though; and the crowd went crazy over the song “Homecoming” featuring Chris Martin which I found bizarre! “Flashing Lights” and “Good Life” were personal favourites to dance to, along with this track where he pitch shifted his voice to sound like a demon rapping from Hell (“Get ’em High”).
Kanye West – Live at Vector Arena, Auckland, NZ – Dec 08
People I’ve talked to have mentioned Kanye’s ego hindering their enjoyability of the show, but aren’t all rappers a bit up themselves? There was one point after “Touch the Sky” where he kept repeating “I hope you’re having a good night, I hope you’re having a good night…fuck it, I hope you’re having the time of your life!” which was a bit presumptuous… Anyway, it didn’t bother me, and in terms of an overall concert I would say it was average to good. I’m glad I got to see him perform but still not sure about that seventy bucks…
http://www.myspace.com/inthepalaceofwisdom
