| Everyone's gonna wonder. |
[14 February 2007|02:58 pm] |
I just discovered something today that is seriously cool. I'm sure ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) screendoor3 will agree. This will need a bit of context though, so read on!
Those of you who are familiar with the New Zealand music scene of the 1980s will know of the highly influential "Dunedin Sound", characterised by a do-it-yourself work ethic, lo-fi production (due to a lack of funds rather than today's lame pretentiousness), and 'jingly-jangly' pop melodies, and influenced itself by whatever sixties pop and seventies punk managed to filter down to Dunedin. And anyone who has any clue at all about eighties Kiwi music will know of the Dunedin Sound's most prominent figure, Martin Phillipps and his band The Chills, as well as David Kilgour and his band The Clean. And anyone who has a clue about my tastes knows that I think they, especially The Chills, are really awesome. In 1994, Martin Phillipps and David Kilgour as well as three other Dunedin Sound musicians formed a supergroup of sorts called the Pop Art Toasters and released a five song EP of covers of obscure sixties pop songs.
Now, let's step back in time, back to the sixties when those pop songs were current rather than long forgotten. In 1966, a Wellington promoter formed a band called The Avengers (no, not the TV show or the seventies punk band!) to play at his new club. The band's debut single was called Everyone's Gonna Wonder and it went to #7 on the Kiwi charts. It was followed by a number of other top ten hits until they disbanded in 1969, with the most successful being Love Hate Revenge, which hit #2. The band members were Clive Cockburn (lead guitar, organ), Dave Brown (rhythm guitar), Eddie McDonald (bass), and Hank Davis (drums), and those of you with exceedingly good memories now know where I'm going. If you remember the annual entries I make commemorating the Tangiwai Disaster, you'll remember that that's because my grandfather survived and my great-uncles, Douglas and John Cockburn, died. Yep, there's the connection: Clive Cockburn is the brother of Douglas and John, and thus is my great-uncle as well.
So what on earth does my great-uncle being the leader of The Avengers have to do with Martin Phillipps and David Kilgour's Pop Art Toasters? Well, I just discovered that one of the five songs on the Pop Art Toasters' EP is a cover of the aforementioned Avengers lead single, Everyone's Gonna Wonder! I find this to be sensationally awesome. Martin Phillipps and David Kilgour actually covered a song by my uncle's band! To give this some perspective for those who don't know how highly I think of Martin Phillipps and David Kilgour, here's an example based on the fact that I know many of you are U2 and REM fans: imagine if Bono and Michael Stipe teamed up to do a series of covers and one of the songs was by your relative's band. Yeah, it's pretty damn cool, huh?
The best part is that I think the Pop Art Toasters' version of Everyone's Gonna Wonder is the best of the five songs on the EP. Have a listen! It's some good sixties pop put through the Dunedin Sound machine.
Pop Art Toasters - Everyone's Gonna Wonder (The Avengers cover) |
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| For your listening pleasure ... |
[24 August 2005|09:36 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | crowded house, dunedin sound, finn brothers, music, neil finn, new zealand, shihad, split enz, straitjacket fits, the bats, the chills, the clean, the feelers | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  good | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | 'She Speeds' by Straitjacket Fits | ] |
Yes, it's a post of free music! Why am I posting free music?
1. To make up for the horror of my atrocious singing on Exit, here's some good stuff.
2. When I made my post praising Kiwi music, MP3s were requested. Well, as promised, here they are!
3. I was tagged for that "post 7 songs you're currently into" meme by someone a while back, so this is pretty much my response. I don't do memes, but I can sure post songs I'm enjoying currently! And why stop at seven?
4. Just for your general listening pleasure, because music's good.
On account of #2, I have split this into Kiwi music and music from anywhere else, with the Kiwi music today and the other music tomorrow (and maybe some more Kiwi stuff in there if I have the time and inclination). I have taken the liberty of considering Crowded House to be a Kiwi band despite the argument between New Zealand and Australia - Neil Finn, the lead singer, is a Kiwi so that's good enough for me. On account of #3, some songs will be classics by the band in question, while others will be my personal favourites, and I'm too lazy to offer a distinction (especially because classics and favourites overlap sometimes!).
Some of the songs are in MP3 format, some are in M4A. Whatever program you use to play music should have no trouble with MP3, but M4A is the iTunes format and may not work on other players. M4A does work on my WinAmp 5, but I honestly don't remember if I once downloaded a plugin to allow such files to play. If you don't use iTunes and haven't tried an M4A file before, you might just want to download one and see if it works on your player of choice.
Enough waffling, here's the music!
( Quality music from New Zealand! )
You want music? There's definitely a lot of music there for you, and there'll be even more tomorrow! Watch out for that entry.
Download, listen, enjoy, and tell me what you think! |
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