German sound-artist and musician Robert Henke — he also records pretty great minimal techno as Monolake — is in the midst of a tour of Australia and New Zealand.
At 9pm on Friday night he is doing one of his famous Layering Buddha performances at the Adam Concert Room, at VUW. There will also be an address by Henke at 6pm the preceding night, at the same venue.
During the performance the audience is placed in between a ring of six speakers with the performer sitting in between them in the center. The layers of sound are dynamically distributed in space, providing an experience of being really placed in between the sonic cloud where the acoustic result depends on the position of the listener.
More after the break, including audio! Electrons! Downloads! Joy!
There’s a lot on in the cultural capital tonight but my completely biased pick for the evening’s entertainment has to be Loudon Wainwright III at the SFBH.
Supported and accompanied by one of his daughters, Lucy Wainwright Roche (half sister to the more famous Rufus and Martha), Wainwright is bringing his singer-songwriter folk-rockin’ guitar to our shores on the back of last year’s album Strange Weirdos: music from and inspired by the film Knocked Up. Yep, not only did Loudon III supply the music for the movie’s creator, Judd Apatow (who made Freaks and Geeks, so he must be cool), but he also acted in the movie – playing a gynecologist.
Wainwright’s most famous for songs like ‘Dead Skunk'(1972) but alongside his musical career his acting has been ticking along for some time; the two strands successfully marrying when LWIII played singing surgeon Capt. Spaulding in M*A*S*H.
Intrigued? I am. And in the interests of full disclosure: my band, the Wrongdoings, will open for Loudon tonight, on the eve of our Auckland debut at Ladyfest ’08.
Doors open at 9, tickets available from Ticketek, Real Groovy or on the door at San Francisco Bathhouse.
CUNNING LINGUISTS: if you can tell me what it’s called when you add a “III” to your name I’ll be dead impressed either at your linguistic knowledge or your mad google skillz – the closest I could get to it is that it’s some form of pronominal suffix. And it’s driving me crazy.
In the fifth of their Malty Media Chillout Sessions, homebred Wellington electronica gurus Jet Jaguar (home after a long spell o’seas) and Aquaboogie will be playing delectable tunes and delightful compositions this Wednesday night, at Katipo Café.
Explosions in the Sky!
The latest instalment in a semi-regular Wellingtonista series on the thriving local touring circuit for international bands sees the instrumental rock goodness of Explosions in the Sky hitting Wellington for the first time tomorrow night, bringing their firecracker of a live set to the San Fran Bathhouse.
Praised for the cinematic grandeur of their albums and the intensity of their live shows, the Texans have come a long way since their inception as a post-rock four-piece in 1999. The band has also been appointed as the curators for the 2008 All Tomorrow’s Parties festival line-up.
Fusing bittersweet guitar melodies with crashing bouts of noise, Explosions in the Sky have garnered a strong following among fans and critics alike, with Tiny Mix Tapes labelling them “the only instrumental post-rock band that mattersâ€. Rolling Stone compared their most recent album, All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone, to the music of the Kronos Quartet, but with “big amps and John Bonham in the backâ€, and internet giant Pitchfork Media touted 2003’s The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place as “the perfect testament to art-rock mastery.â€
Show details after the jump…
In the third of their Malty Media Chillout Sessions, homebred Wellington electronica gurus Jet Jaguar (home after a long spell o’seas) and Aquaboogie will be playing delectable tunes and delightful compositions this Wednesday night, at Katipo Café.
This is a free event.
I keep meaning to post about all the fantastic international gigs that are about to happen in Wellington as summer kicks in, but what with the 2AWA and Blams fever, the launch of CHOICE magazine, the golden weather and the party season, I’ve been a bit slack.
So it is with some urgency that I draw your attention to two shows coming up in the next week:
Galesburg presents The Gossip and Palomino presents Black Lips
The Gossip play this Saturday night (8th) at the San Fran Bathhouse with locals Cortina, and Black Lips at the same venue next Tuesday the 11th with Knife Fight.
Tickets available from Slowboat Records, Cuba St.
Read more after the jump about both bands and supports…
This evening the town hall will play host to three hours of indigenous noise making as Pao Pao Pao takes centre stage. This lucky Wellingtonista is on a mission; I have gained access as an embedded civilian photographer to report on the proceedings and soak up the atmosphere. My compatriot will be reporting for Taiohi. She is tasked with extracting some sound bites from the rangatahi and I will be running around with a camera in place of the delicious Mys-T.
Wellington is a small place, as I have been discovering since I moved here. Unless you are a complete hermit you will find yourself being inexorably drawn into various networks and their attendant sticky webs of gossip. Of course this is the same where ever you go, I think anyone who has felt slighty queasy looking at those Facebook friend wheels will know what I am talking about. On the other hand, sometimes the people you meet make you feel like the universe is conspiring in your favour. I am happy to be a drone for the hive mind here at Wellingtonista and will do my best to bring the honey, so in that spirit here is a link to my girl Shaarne clad in Blackberi. Some of our readers may remember a shop called Stand Up Apparel on Plimmer Steps that was featured on Wellingtonista way back when. Blackberi is still alive and kicking via Trademe and Bebo, so check it out if you like what you see.
Shaarne and I will be joining the hordes at the Wellington Town Hall from 7pm. The cost is $30 which is very reasonable for such a wide range of performers. I am looking forward to my first taste of the ancient art of taonga puoro and a chance to check out 4 Corners. Come along and get down with the tangata whenua.
You’ve got to love the effect a sunny day has on people – I’ve seen more smiles on the streets of Newtown today than I have done the entire 6 months that I’ve lived here.
And speaking of Newtown, time to give props to a local icon,The Adelaide…
Once the infamous Tramways Hotel, and sticking resolutely to the “smalltown pub” vibe and decor, the Adelaide has quietly reinvented itself as one of the best places in town to see bands play for around the $5 mark. Cheap beer, great mirrors in the ladies’, flashing lights behind glass bricks at the counter and under the stage, pool tables, pub meals … one day I’ll devote an entire post to how much I love unpretentious hospitality. But the point of this post is to announce the inaugural Saturday Matinee at the Adelaide – just in time for the return of the golden weather!
Details after the jump…
The Garbage and the Flowers (formerly of Wellington and now based in Sydney; Myspace) are touring NZ.
They’re playing tomorrow night (Friday Nov 2nd) at Happy with Birchville Cat Motel and Panel of Judges.