MUZAI: YEAR 2 – June 24th 2011 (Whammy/Wine Cellar)

Our good friends at Muzai Records are celebrating their second birthday and are having a swish wee shindig. If you’re in Auckland at the end of the month be sure to stop by for some raucous rock’n’roll yo. Here’s the goss from the pen of Benjii Jackson…. and the email address, truth be told…..

Greetings all.

It’s been pretty amazing – that I am writing this “media release” to talk about the second anniversary when in all honesty I thought MUZAI would be over and done with by now. My key word throughout the tenure of this little label was “survival”. We’ve come this far, outlasting the dreaded first year and surviving as a new business in a recession.

In fact we’ve done pretty darn well in our first two years if I may toot my own horn for a moment. We’ve had critical acclaim with a few releases of ours (Full Moon Fiasco, Sherpa, Diana Rozz), our audiences have started to swell at venues at the M that an old friend Mittins created has started to become recognized rather thatn asked about.

So along with Undertheradar and Cheese On Toast, we’re throwing a big shindig in June (as god awful a word shindig is): MUZAI YEAR TWO, being held across both Wine Cellar and Whammy Bar from 7:30pm until late. Why two venues? On top of the huge support Rohan and staff have given us, we actually need space for the line up, including some out of towners….

Full Moon Fiasco (Wellington), Sherpa, Idiot Prayer (Dunedin), Cool Cult, Cat Venom, Kitsunegari, god bows to math, Hussies, Sidewalk Meese, Diana Rozz (DJ set).

There will be merchandise, there will be cake (no seriously, there will actually be cake), there will even be those little idiosyncratic things that apparently people have come to love about MUZAI, or completely deride us for.

But more importantly, it’s a chance for all of us to get together once a year, meet and greet each other and just have fun. It’s for us and ultimately for everyone else to come and enjoy.

Benjii Jackson
MUZAI overlord

HERE’S THE SHILL…..
MUZAI: Year Two plays June 24th 2011, 7:30pm – Late Wine Cellar/Whammy Bar, St. Kevins Arcade, Auckland R18

Tickets available from Undertheradar
Presale: $10 (plus booking fee).

Door sales: $15

Debut Kitsunegari EP Available for Free Download

Kitsunegari – Alles Gute Zum Geburtstag oder Herzlichen Gluckenwunsch
http://kitsunegari-rock.bandcamp.com

What’s happened to multi-instrumentalist Reuben Winter, guitarist for People People, sometimes Cannibal Faggots and a whole host of other collaborations since the break up of that MUZAI band? Yeah, we meant Bandicoot…

Forged with a tone and ambiance the 16 year old relates as similar to the works of Slint, Boris, Smashing Pumpkins and “a bit of Mastodon and Devo”, Winter’s latest project with MUZAI Records, Kitsunegari, have been feverishly tightening up their compositions after a handful of shows and a sneak-preview of their music in the form of a rough version of “Revolver Ocelot”. A very rough version, some might confess.

Comprising of members of People People and FATANGRYMAN, it’s been six months of refinement as a band which has lead them to test the proverbial waters of the New Zealand music scene – and rather than making the listener part with their hard earned cash, the band’s debut EP, Alles Gute Zum Geberstag oder Herzlichen Gluckenwunsch (roughly translated – “Happy Birthday and Best Wishes”) is free to download from Wednesday September 22nd at 4pm through their Bandcamp page.

Recording duties undertaken by another former Bandicoot member, Daniel McBride, in a whirlwind two days, so tight lipped is the release of the EP that not everyone involved with the record label has heard any of the material since completion – let alone the entire EP.

However, going by their strong performances at the Year One anniversary show, their most recent outing supporting Tommy Ill during his album release tour and the collective aptitude the “supergroup” have shown through their other ventures, it’s hard to believe this release will fall short of anything other than remarkable.

Photo credit: Frances Carter (www.francescarter.co.nz)