The Beths and Kip McGrath - Live at Cassette Nine

God the night of the gig must have been one of the coldest of the year, seriously it was freezing.
Despite the frigid temperature plenty of music enthusiasts turned up for Sal Valentines new club
night at Cassette nine were he jokingly quipped on stage about how it was funny he booked his own band for the first night. To be fair though The Beths is somewhat of a side project for Sal who sings in Sal Valentine and the Babyshakes but drums in The Beths (which I had no idea was the case until i went to the gig last night). I firmly hold it's always cool to try and promote your side project as much as possible, I mean if your gonna have a fling enjoy it am i right Sal? lol.

Photos from the reviewed gig viewable at Under the radar:
http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/photo/20360/Kip-Mcgrath.utr#/10

Usually good music wouldn't be enough to entice me out into the cold on a freezing Spring night but I had made plans to see my lady friend and so I was looking forward to the gig a lot polar blasts withstanding. Unfortunately I missed the bus on the way to Cassette, as the first bus driver was stuck on auto-pilot and couldn't see my in the dark. So I walked down the road nearer to St Lukes were there was more light and managed to flag down the next bus like a man possessed waving about. Being an Auckland Public transport veteran I take it as a personally challenge to see from how far away I can flag down a bus from, a hundred meters two hundred meters, ok that's bullshit but when the driver sees you and starts indicating it feels good to relax and pretend to be cool knowing your going to get from a to b.

After getting off the bus and thanking the kind Polynesian female bus driver i skipped over the lights and bumped into my friend Rufus and his girlfriend Jenco. Apparently the had  just been swimming at the tepid pools somewhere, at the news of such delights on this ice age like night my body was overcome with a jealous flash of emotion, they just looked so much warmer than me lol. After wrangling my emotions Rufus mentioned how he had a rap record sitting on his hardrive that he had recorded in Vietnam which he had only left last month to return home to NZ. I told them I had some studio monitors and a bunch of enthusiasm about the project so he rumbled round in his wallet and produced a very novel business card, which had a funny play on words on it instead of the 'fuck the world' acronym he had flipped into 'Pup the World' with a little dog on the world with all his social media and email address starting with PTW we had a good laugh about it then I said had to run to the show as I was running late. I snuck in a cheeky high five and ran across the street cutting my way through the cold.

Checking into the venue I bounced past the bouncer and scanned the room while mentally clocking the outrageous disco ball dangling from the ceiling. I couldn't see my friends anywhere who I had actually meet at Face club the week before and hit it off with. I knew they were there somewhere though so flopped over to the bar. I ordered a lemon, lime and bitters from a very friendly and sincere bartender. Then just as my drink was being stirred I saw my friend wearing a coloured blue and black tartan shirt with her mate with blue dyed hair and plonked my weary bones on the chair beside them while simultaneously offering a genuine heart rendered apology for being late. I detest lateness. A quick scan of the drums and amps on stage thankfully signalled I hadn't missed the first act Kip McGrath. Which allowed me to rest back in my chair a little easier, i took my coat off in preparation for a thoroughly enjoyable night. My friend uttered she had high hopes for the show and later after the show she would mention how she hadn't been disappointed.

Kip McGrath a young ensemble of talented musicians were the first to preform. Their music reminded me of Mac Demarco with maybe a more ruthless Kiwi edge, less chorus more grit. The band lurched and rolled like a well oiled rocknroll machine. My new friend Rachel mentioned how
she enjoyed the arrangements of the songs and how the lead guitarist who I am pretty sure is Kip himself was doing a stellar job, he also even jammed some dirty funked up synth in one song which kicked ass! Also as a classically trained grade 8 musician I tend to take what Rachel says with some air of authority, she nodded her head and clapped with appreciation at Kips bands her favourite of the night. Rachel also mentioned how she played the french horn, which she told me sells for like 10K wow!! so she didn't actually have one ;(


The flow and feel of the drummer of Kip's groups with his snare flourishes plus the way he leaned into and accented the high hats in a haphazardly human way was great, something a drum machine can really struggle to replicate do in my opinion. As a whole I thought the McGrathies sounded more jubilant and daring than on their records all though fun and imaginative their records so far didn't quite do sound justice to how tight and well orchestrated their live performance is. However, I don't think this is uncommon phenomena as band members tend to change and musicians get better and evolving from past works that tend to represent a band in their adolescent period. My favourite track from the Kip was the groovy disco funk number towards the end of the set that the crowd loved.
Carb on Carb in the crowd looked to also be really enjoying the show i didn't get to say hello to them
physically but mentally i did haha

https://www.facebook.com/KipMcGrathBand

Next up were the headliners The Beths a casually dressed rocky quartet oozing swag. I'm pretty sure every member of the band is classical trained something I really admire in musicians.
Earlier in the night all the members had been waltzing around the room lookin chilled literally and very relaxed with no signs of worry about any rabid Beth's super fans in the crowd jumping out at them haha. It's always nice to see a band in good spirits before a show I think it can really tell how the gig is going to go.

I also spied the bass player of Miss June gearing up for the Beths set, it looked like he was flying solo looking to drink in the next onslaught of rock music, I thought about saying hi and mentioning how much I enjoyed June's set at Fuzzy Islands a while back but was feeling shy and hanging with friends.
I really admire anyone who goes to a gig by themselves it shows moxy and a strong sense of character.

Suddenly the Beths jumped on stage and started some pre-gig banter on stage with a comical 'fucking fuck' ringing out across the room uttered from the mischievous lips of drummer Sal Valentine.
On stage right, guitarist Johnthan Pearce a local mixing/production whizz-kid and a personal inspiration was tonifying his weapon of a choice a slashesque Lez Paul. I actually had to do a double take on the guitar he was practising scales on as even though I had seen him rocking it in the Beths music vids it triggered off  a flashback of when I saw Guns and Roses play at Vector Arena, hey Johnathan that guitar needs a trigger warning sticker on it haha. Then in the latent memory banks of my brain meat I remembered the god of everything good in the world Neil Young plays a black Lez and I recovered from my mental discombobulation. On a side note one of things I like best about The Beths music are their backing vocals that remind me of the crazy horse maestros compositions. My view of the bass player was blocked but after a few kicks, doubles and flams paradiddle diddles on his practice pad Sal and his friends all fell into soupy mess of kiwi garage propelled rock music.

https://www.facebook.com/bethsmusic/

The first couple of songs from the headliners were polished renditions of tracks off their debut E.P Warm Blood you can buy here:


I think Liz the lead singer said the first song was a pseudo soundcheck but you never would've even guessed that. Bob Frisbee manning the mixing desk was as always killing it, I heard some guys moan about the sound behind me when you were right up close but I couldn't hear a damn thing wrong but I did have my earplugs in. The only thing I could that was wrong was their pretentious moaning dont talk of the music please!!  I was sitting at closest table to the front of stage and it sounded perfect, just shows how you can't please everyone peeps. I also think people don't have much of an idea how to mix live sound just mutter about small problems. I mean if you get up real close in a small club your probably gonna get a lot of sound from the actually amps which is something an engineer has really no control over if they are being slammed full boar like The Beths did winning. In polar opposition to the dis-gruntled and rather annoying spectator I thought the vocals drums and guitars were beautifully insync with the bass pulsating like a beautiful well measured earthquake. Sal's starchy Ludwig acrolite snare sounded beautiful matched with his virtuoistic drum feel, it almost seems unfair how much talent one person can have, then you remember it almost always comes down to hard-work haha. As Kevin Hart said on his hilarious DVD "everyone wants to be famous, no one wants to put the work in"!! To me Sals rolls reflecting this quotes power as his prowess behind the the kit during the Beths songs really stood out to me due to his endearing sense of time, the way smashed his cymbals with fury and such wild abandon and the different beats and flashes across the toms. It may be an over statement but it's probably worth seeing the Beths play just to witness Sal thrashing a kit in all the right ways! especially if your a drummer.

Moving on to the guitars both Liz and Johnathan worked really well together both guitars harmonizng and singing together well. What of my favourite moments of the gig was when Liz played the first lead line on her guitar that sounded so musically like a trumpet which I am pretty sure is an instrument she also plays. Her singing was also clear and beautiful with unorthodox note choices in the vocal melody throwing the listener of when the song would return to the root note. Certain high and low notes really created a sense of random joy to the music that more predictable vocal lines and note choice would have lacked.

The wall of guitars driven forth by Johnathan were also sublime in the fact that you could tell how much detail he had put into his choice of tone and his pedal board. His lead guitar playing also reminded me of Dire Straits as did the whole bands sound. As a group the hit song "Whatever" was flawless and kept you in the groove and running through the highs and the lows of the dynamics but the new stuff was in a different league. As a group the Beth's are starting to hit their stride and I believe their new album that they have been recording is going to rock our socks off :) :)

The real bonus of seeing The Beth's play on such a horrible night was to get a glimpse at the new and unreleased material that is going to make its way onto their latest record. But as a memento after the show I scored a physical copy of the E.P as a keepsake and also out of practical necessity as i love listening to compact discs. I also bought my friend a band t-shirt as I thought it would look good on her. Apparently she plays the clarinet.

Photos from the reviewed gig viewable at Under the radar:
http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/photo/20360/Kip-Mcgrath.utr#/10


https://www.facebook.com/bethsmusic/


https://www.facebook.com/KipMcGrathBand

Suren Unka & Levi Patel - Classical music meets Electronica on "5/8" at Lot 23

I caught the first show of Suren Unka and Levi Patel's joint classical meets electronic project "5/8" at venue Lot 23 a couple weekends ago with my friend Sai near Kingsland. For some reason I thought the gig was going to be in a run down warehouse in Ponsonby. I got all confused and thought the gig was going down at the art studio 230 were some great Auckland artists work out of haha. I guess that's what happens when you don't google the venue early in the week to make sure of crucial geographical details.

After playing cricket earlier in the day i rolled up to Sai's place round 8pm on Saturday at the Empire apartments in Auckland cbd. I waited for him for a couple of minutes and saw a beautiful young European couple check in. I overheard them muttering about the price of rooms something about what a rip of it was for 250 dollars or something. 

Once Sai was ready he appeared and we trooped off in the complete wrong direction like Don Quixote and his trusted side kick. Once we came to the stark realisation that we were at the wrong place, we quickly talked about how walks aren't bad however meaningless walks are to be avoided when you need to be somewhere. I mentioned how I believed meaningless walks with no fruitful end to be just slightly better than painful torture, waterboarding and the like.

After weighing up to get an Uber we flagged the idea as we both weren't well versed in the app and had low battery and brain power. Naturally i volunteered to pay for the taxi as I screwed up! so in we got and roared off toward Mt Eden were Sai said the venue actually was :) 

When we arrived the flaming venue was annoyingly close to my house which ground my gears for a second and slightly enraged me for a chilled out. We quickly paid our door charge and glanced in at the room down a white walled hallway were the gig was to take place. It was an intimate vibe definitely more romantic date night than head banging electro rave bender. Sai kept mentioning how he thought it might have been someones house that was converted into a music venue, which i thought it may have been. Then he changed tack and thought it was a recording studio. Instead I offered an account that perhaps the room was used for shooting videos and commercials due to the lights dangling from the ceiling which reminded me of my brief extras career on Shortland street lol. 

After a couple of minutes we identified a table to plonk down on I grabbed the first round of overpriced drinks. Probably the laugh of the night was when Sai asked the bar-lady who looked and sounded like the owner "do you sell RTDs?" which me made me crack up. He didn't immediately grasp the idea that this was a more middle-upper class establishment where they tried to rob you blind even over a small orange juice, not that i'm hating on them i mean people operating arts based venues need to make some form of profit to stay afloat especially in these dreary economy times. But sometimes I do feel they forget about people also trying to survive and how lower drink prices and higher volumes may make them more money, but i guess that all depends on their suppliers and how much they are tryna squeeze the venue for. About 5 minutes later after Sai came to the realisation that the woman really wasn't hiding any Ready to Drink coke and whiskeys behind the bar, he opted for Champagne which I thought was a miraculous decision. I'm also glad he chose bubbles as he had almost even completely convinced me that they were hiding RTDs behind the bar. I nonchalantly chose a lemonade with some funny childish drawing on it as i am avoiding alcoholic beverages. 

After fighting our way back through the bourgeois crowd nursing our drinks like new born babies Sai and I patiently sat down and offered the random clap at the opening act who played some pretty sweet piano chords re-creating previously rehearsed music live. He was playing synthesizers and live triggering some vibey soul samples.

Right in the middle of the room was Bob Frisbee mixing sound and the low end was just right with a nice balanced brightness on the overall mix.

 I had a quick glance at the desk
 he was using that 
 I've seen him man at quite a few gigs were for live sound. 

It looked slightly robotic with flashing lights and computer programmed algorithms and filters. I inwardly whimpered at what the user manual for such a piece of audio gear would resemble something probably harder to read than

 Karl Marx's Das Capital 

and likely exceedingly more boring and  confusing. 

On a side note whenever i think of Karl a Bukowski quote flashes through my mind "Don't read Marx, very dry shit!"

After another round of drinks i opted for a marvellously flavoured boysenberry drink or something of that elk. The headlining act aka Suren Unka and Levi jumped up on stage after mingling in the crowd and started drumming and playing synths coming out of the stage from all directions like sizzyling lightsabers.

Hands down my favourite song of the night was the one when Levi Patel started off playing the xylophone as it got into a real deep groove with the drumming slamming a way and strings and synths floating around everyone's heads like little halos.

Funnily enough the band got asked to play an encore but it looked like their repertoire was spent leaving the crowd hungrily wanting more with the random punter looking round like a stunned mallet trying to figure out what was going on? 

From my perspective I think the new E.P "5/8" is a quite mind expanding form of music slightly avant garde and not immediately accessible but potentially very rewarding if it hits you in the right mood and state of mind. Stream my favourite song off the record "Shelter" below; 

The Local Musicians Music Show @ The Dogs Bollix 2015

                       Benjamin Silver and LA Thompson 

Check out: http://localmusicians.co.nz to find out more about the acts from this music review!  

Rolling into the Dogs Bollix I was struck by the

professional set up of LA Thompson's

Local Musicians Music show, a night spearheaded

by the independent artist set to showcase awesome

homegrown NZ talent in the underground stables 

of Auckland City, with the possible inclusion of other 

musos from different areas to be included in the future. 

I wasn't let down by the live sound either.

It was dialled in immaculately on the sound

desk and the speakers were set at just the right

volume for the first performer of the night 

singer songwriter Kerryn playing solo on her 

trusty acoustic guitar. 

     Kerryn     https://www.facebook.com/KerrynBand/

Sitting up straight on a bar stool Kerryn

strummed off a bright and chirpy first song

before jumping waist deep into a brooding

cover of Bruce Springsteen's anthem 

"The River". I have to say I was a bit surprised

by the song choice as you don't usually hear

that song being played to much at your local bar. 

But I'm glad Kerryn did as it proved to be a 

real gem of a rendition. With no signs of intimidation

at all Kerryn just rocked into it like any other song 

and did it more than justice displaying solid vocal 

abilities and flare. She also resisted the temptation

to overplay and go full Boss mode on the song 

and try and take the Dogs Bollix Roof of which

Im sure she could've.


 Also of particular interest was Kerryn's original 

song "Dreaming" that followed   'The River". 

Inspired by hard working themes not dissimilar

 to our favourite guitar slinging New Jersey boy

with sullen themes of dissatisfaction and self-

alienation brought about by the working day it even

hinted at a bit of resentment for having to work in the

first place. Kerryn's final song made you think. After it

finished the crowd applauded her final song with a

note or possibly more a chord of approval about the

pains tackled by the subject matter of "Dreaming".   

After the first performer left the stage LA Thompson

quickly jumped on stage grasped the microphone and

let the audience know there would be a brief break

before the next act called Benjamin Silver took to 

the Dogs Bollix's stage. In the mean time Bob Marley's

anti-establishment reggae song "Get Up Stand Up" 

blasted over the speakers loud and proud. 

    Benjamin Silver   https://www.facebook.com/TheBenjaminSilver

After sorting out his amp and plugging in his tobacco

stained Fender Stratocaster Benjamin Silver introduced

himself very briefly with a 'how do you do?" before stealing 

the hearts in the crowd of the room with his powerful

gravelly voice and spidery melodic guitar work.

Throughout his short set Ben painted a picture of his

personal adventure through life with its triumphs, 

pitfalls and those many in-between moments.

His original song "Journey to Home" conveyed the 

repetitive lack of meaning in life that sometimes we 

all must face hopefully with a good sense of humour 

as it can be painful to never quite get to a place we are

truly happy with. The line that grabbed me the most in

Silver's first song was; "how many more miles must 

I travel before I arrive". 

Moving further into Ben's set his voice shone brightest

in a heartfelt cover of "Walking in Memphis". Everyone

in attendance went quiet as Marc Cohn's song was 

given new life by Silver. The crowd were collectively

impressed with the quality of such a performance 

conveying the beautiful yet raw timbre of Ben's vocal

performance as well as its emotional intensity with lines

 like; "You aint got a prayer in Memphis, in the middle of 

the pouring rain" reverberating round the room long 

after the songs final refrain. Silver finally emerged into 

a Rock 'N" Roll version of the Beatles "Let it Be" 

that was akin to the Beatles channeling the energy 

of Grunge rocker Eddie Vedders raspy vocal delivery. 

Certainly not an obvious blending of two beloved artists

but the unison of both was wicked to hear. 

     LA Thompson      https://www.facebook.com/lathompsonsmusictoday

LA Thompson and Frankencopter would finally

finish of the nights entertainment with a very professional 

edge. The former playing an almost flamenco style finger

picking guitar over sweltering electronic drum machines. 

The almost Led Zeppelin feel of Thompsons song;

 "New Sun Rising" and many other songs from her set 

really added glimmers and shades of colour and sound 

to the show that were new and refreshing. 

Frankencopter by contrast with a full live band set up

hammered away with tenacious wild abandon on the

drums with screeching guitars, vocal harmonies soared and 

the Kiwi band rocked as one. Well except for the very

groovy bass player who was a suspected Aussie by his

fellow Frankencopter bandmates.The guys fronted by a 

talented lead singer who didn't hit one bung not all night 

launched into a final hair raising version of "Gutter Black"

 in tribute to "Graham and that other guy" with a full on 

saxophone solo. It was raw fun even a bit raucous. 

What a Kiwi plus an Aussie classic played with gusto, brilliant, 

fantastic :)  By Moss Bioletti 

          Frankencopter   https://www.facebook.com/Frankencopter

Chris Barclay

Chris Barclay also shredded the guitar to death at

the show. I've never seen someone play guitar like

that before my head literally exploded roll over to his 

Facebook page;

https://www.facebook.com/Chris-Barclay-124877030889411/

to check out his GoPro live recording that he 

managed to film himself of his guitar playing antics

at lightening speed wow!! 

Check out: http://localmusicians.co.nz

      to find out more about the acts from 

                  this music review!

         

Did Kurt Cobain Cheat his Way to Enlightenment?

"The event which takes place when we fully assume the results of brain sciences is the event of Enlightenment, the attainment of Nirvana, which liberates us from the constraints of our self as as an autonomous substantial agent. But does this solution work?" Slavoj Zizek from his book Event

Is their a dark brooding irony that Kurt Cobain's band was called Nirvana. By Zizeks' reading Buddhist enlightenment once attained renders an individual free from the concept of the self. So when Kurt Cobain died in a way he made the choice to rid himself of individual consciousness and enter into the state of Nirvana free from his pain in the world. Or instead should we read Cobain's death as an occurrence generated by historically specific life narrative that chained him to the wheel of suffering, the very thing Buddhism emphasizes one must break free from before becoming enlightened.

The secondary reading begs the question whether one can you go from a suffering individual to free from suffering by eliminating the self in one fateful step. Did Kurt Cobain cheat his way to enlightenment? or instead succumb to the earthly misery with roots in his traumatic childhood, what was by most accounts a very unhappy time for him taking on the role as a sullen and ostracized outcast abandoned even by his blood relatives.

A useful source of commentary on death and enlightenment is Ickheartol a new age self-help guru who talks about the split running down the consciousness of every human being who has two selves enclosed inside one body. On one side, much like old cartoons is the healthy happy angel sitting on our shoulder side that we usually are. However, in tough circumstance horrible circumstances the 'pain body' or devil side of our mental selves comes to the for, typified by the emotional scars amassed over a lifetime from mean and hurtful comments.

Despite the prima-facie beneficial arrangement of the angelic and demonic selves inside us, problems rapidly arise when we lose control of the 'pain body',that has the ability to derail our lives sabotaging every good thing that happens in our lives inherited by the actions of the happy side of our psyche mental self. An out of control pain body occurs when someone is triggered who has has undergone to much trauma in a single lifetime usually occurring in childhood were 'issues repressed come back into our lives with double the original ferocity'(zizek).  

The guru Ickehardtol was himself almost a fatal victim of the pain body as he opened up to his audience in a lecture about the perils of the battle inside his unconscious in the shape of a war against himself motivated by self-hatred and self-disgust. He outlined how he nearly lost complete control over his body almost resulting in suicide. Thankfully things didn't turn pear shaped as he was able to distinguish the pain body from his true self the happy side that wrenched back control and saved his life. Tols own battle with the pain body made him highly motivated to educate others on the dangers of mentally distinct and split selves, when you hear a negative voice rolling around in your head that's the pain body the one listening is your other side the good side. Sadly for some people yes even the famous who have bad mental health the inner-mind dialogue comes to be completely dominated by the pain body, the idea of diminished responsibility seems to be appropriate as a person loses control

over their own actions.Like an insane person the pain body in a sense is the manifestation of an inability to function in a normal way due to a troubling situation or circumstance in the present, past or future. 

To draw a parallel back to Kurt Cobain after watching the latest documentary "Montage of Heck" executive produced by his daughter Francis Bean it seems strikingly obvious how the trauma and pain Cobain suffered as an unwanted child with no real family to depended on fractured his sense of self. The unimaginable pain of being rejected by loved ones caused him to constantly act out and become angry and very depressed as an adolescent which only further isolated him and re-inforced his families decision to reject him, which created the primordial pain and root cause of his bad behaviour. Cobain stated that all he ever truly wanted was a strong cohesive family unit. And for this very reason I believe Kurt Cobain and many other individuals in similar positions to him die unnecessarily at the hands of themselves due to an out of control pain body that consciously blocks any good thoughts from entering their mind when they preform their self-harming final act. The fight of the split psyche between the devil and angel at war inside Kurt and others causes far to many people to die when they have so much to live for, but in their last moments controlled by the pain body they have no way to realize the good, such a scenario really sounds like the opposite of enlightenment.