The Social Music Revolution II

The previous Social Music Revolution post was based on my entire history with the website and the charts that were provided were for my overall play count. To achieve a better understanding of my music taste, I thought it would be helpful to include my charts from over the last 6 months, it is a much more accurate compilation of my current musical taste.

1.     The Black Dahlia Murder                    1427
2.     The White Stripes                                 870
3.     Queens Of The Stone Age                   728
4.     The Kills                                               675
5.     Them Crooked Vultures                       510
6.     Mos Def                                                464
7.     Trivium                                                 446
8.     Lykke Li                                               432
9.     T. Rex                                                   375
10.   Arch Enemy                                          371
11.   The Drab Doo-Riffs                              312
12.   Leeches                                                 292
13.   Marina & The Diamonds                      291
14.   The Distillers                                        289
15.   Street Chant                                          283
16.   The Dead Weather                                272
17.   Nightrage                                              253
18.   August Burns Red                                250
19.   Lamb Of God                                       246
20.   Kanye West                                          242
21.   BEASTWARS                                     232
22.   Bikini Kill                                            230
23.   Crystal Castles                                     210
24.   Karen Elson                                         196
25.   Sex Bob-Omb                                      161
26.   Liam Finn                                            144
27.   The Mint Chicks                                  142
28.   The Velvet Underground                     140
29.   Foo Fighters                                         137
30.   Hole                                                      125


Come Visit Me! http://www.last.fm/user/Harrison1630

Check out the original The Social Music Revolution

New Zealand Music Month 2011 - Part II

This is part II of my New Zealand Music Month tribute, it will be dedicated to all the slightly lesser known bands that are currently out there being awesome. I limited my first post about NZMM to only four bands because they are my absolute favourite New Zealand bands, but there are so many more that the rest of the world needs to know about.



LISA CRAWLEY

She is a charming songstress from Auckland who plays a beautiful mix of indie pop music. She is backed by her band, The Conversations, who feature a wide variety of instruments including trombone. Lisa is an extremely talented songwriter and vocalist with mesmerizing skilled on the piano, guitar, glockenspiel and many other instruments. She currently has 2 EP's out called Shoot The Night and Hello, Goodbye and Everything In Between, and she has also opened for Jools Holland and John Mayer. Currently recording her first full length album.

Best Songs: Brother, Back To You, These Friends Of Mine, Birds

TAINTED

A death/thrash metal band from Christchurch, these guys are one of our most brutal and technically proficient exports. I first saw them open for Iron Maiden back in 2009 and since then they have opened for such legendary acts as Metallica, Trivium, Unearth, The Black Dahlia Murder, Chimaira and Arch Enemy. They have become one of the best live acts in New Zealand metal with their dynamic energy and brutal sound which landed them a place in the line up for Big Day Out 2010. With 2 outstanding albums under their belt (The Awakening and Carved and Created) they are still a strong force to be dealt with on the NZ metal scene, leaving most NZ cities bruised, battered and desperate for more.

Best Songs: Beneath The Veneer, Say What You Mean, Tyranny, Scars

CAIRO KNIFE FIGHT

The most dynamic and explosive two-piece to come out of New Zealand ever. They play a unique style of rock that has numerous twists and turns that develop and evolve as their songs unfurl. Their live performance can only be described as hectic and intense, with Nick Gaffaney on drums, keyboard bass and vocals simultaneously, while sometimes operating the loop pedal to keep things interesting. He is supported on stage by the charismatic Aaron Tokona, whose infectiously rhythmic guitar playing is electric and yet, somehow sexual. These two set up their equipment to face each other on the stage so that they can build off of each other as the songs develop and grow. Always starting a gig on a suspense filled note, with long droning sounds of feedback and building to a destructive climax of rock brilliance. With a fantastic eponymous EP out now, they have opened for legendary bands like Queens Of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters and Them Crooked Vultures.

Best Songs: Big Face, The Happy Couple, This Is Love, All I Ever Wanted

OTHER HONOURABLE MENTIONS:


BEASTWARS
The Mint Chicks
Die! Die! Die!
The Dauntless
Cobra Khan
Nathan King
Ladyhawke
Goldenhorse/Kirsten Morrell
Liam Finn
Antagonist AD
Oilbarrons
The Transistors

+

Flight of the Conchords
Shihad
Split Enz

Check out New Zealand Music Month - Part I

Elephants broken & screaming

It's going to be fucking hard for me to write about this, because I don't think I know enough adjectives for "fucking amazing" to keep this interesting. I have been a fan of Led Zeppelin ever since I was young, they were my gateway band into rock music and over the last few years I have been getting  into Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters. So when I found out that Dave, Josh and John were forming a new band, it blew my fucking mind. I had no idea what to expect from the band, but I bought tickets to their show in New Zealand even though the album wouldn't come out for another few months. I just had immense faith that whatever they did, it would be fucking amazing. And I was right, the album was released in December of '09 and my obsession exploded exactly 2 minutes and 44 seconds into the first song. Now my life had focused like a laser towards January 30th, when they would play at Vector Arena. It was the first (of many) concerts where I lined up all day and I managed to get front row. Cairo Knife Fight were a fucking awesome opening band and they really destroyed their set (literally), then it was time for TCV. Its safe to say that night changed my life forever and whatever I type about it just couldn't possible do it justice, so I'll just leave you with some photos from that night.

Them Crooked Vultures. 30/01/2010. Vector Arena, Auckland, New Zealand 

Josh Homme & Dave Grohl

Dave Grohl

John Paul Jones

Josh Homme

Dave Grohl

Josh Homme, Dave Grohl & John Paul Jones

Them Crooked Vultures

Signed and vandalised by Josh Homme

Welcome To The Hollow

Why the hell is everything so purple?

That was my first question too. This is my first time blogging, so i've still got a lot to learn about setting up my profile and making it actually look good. Im currently in my 3rd year of a bachelor of Design at Massey University in Auckland, New Zealand and i'm going to use every bit of that education to make this an aesthetically bitchin blog. I will mainly be posting random drawings and sketches accompanied with specific rants filled with plenty of obscure references....it should be genius.

This was drawn over a month ago now, it's just a black pen doodle done during class. The title is a reference to a Queens of the Stone Age song called 'Into The Hollow'. It was about 4 days before I was seeing them live at the Logan Cambell Centre for the first time. I met the entire band at Real Groovy before the show which was just fucking amazing. I'm one of those crazy fools who just loves lining up all day for concerts, the atmosphere is just brilliant and nothing beats the thrill of front row. I also have a pretty decent setlist collection from all the concerts I've been to.

It is barely legible due to the extreme temperature but it was a fucking amazing night. Though one of the unexpected highlights of that day was earlier in the day when I was lucky enough to meet Brody Dalle (The Distillers, Spinnerette), she was about 4 months pregnant and just so fucking cool.

So yeah.