Strong weather warnings for Thursday: This Week’s NZ Music Forecast
presented by Lachlan Ewing
We are deep into NZ Music Month. This week it is time to step up the consumption of local ‘choons’. There is a classic for every moment and feeling, for every day of the week. Here is this week’s listening guide, to take you on a magical, multidimensional journey through some of NZ Music’s finest bangers.
Monday: “Whakaaria Mai”
Some may prefer to get their week started to a song with a bit more get up and go. To you, I recommend “Freaks” by Timmy Trumpet & Savage. Nothing goes harder at 7 a.m. on a Monday morning. Some may wish to simply wallow in the Monday blues. “Blue Smoke”, written by Ruru Karaitiana and performed by Pixie Williams, is both NZ’s oldest and most depressing pop hit.
Personally, however, I like to ease into my week in peace and tranquility. “Whakaaria Mai” is a beautiful waita hīmene (hymn), written as a loose translation to the hymn “Abide with Me” and sung to the tune of “How Great Thou Art”. It is best listened to live, reverberating around school halls or wharenui full of mana. If this is not where you find yourself on a Monday, several versions are available online. Howard Morrison’s version made the song famous when he performed it for the Queen in 1981. Teeks & Holly Smith’s 2019 cover is incredibly powerful, but you will unlikely be able to sing along to it. If you’re craving that choir spirit that will have you floating home over the ocean on the wings of an albatross, try Te Aute College’s recording.
Tuesday: “400 Lux”, Lorde
Lorde is a guilty pleasure. She sold her upbringing in Devonport as a hood experience in “Royals”, which was weird. She can be very corny. But any New Zealander is at least begrudgingly proud of her international success, and will find that a few of her songs make them feel weirdly emotional. “400 Lux”, from Pure Heroine, is a great example of this. It is a multidimensional song. On one level, it is about the beautiful boredom of driving around at sunset. Sunset is a liminal space in time, much like the late teens/early twenties. Tuesday is a liminal day in the week. It is a transitional day, a day of waiting for the rest of the week to come at you. Not much happens on a Tuesday, like in this stripped back song, but it can still be gracious and meaningful. There is also a heroin innuendo running through the song; kind of odd because I don’t think 16-year-old Lorde was shooting up, but good for her.
Wednesday: “Chains”, DLT feat. Che Fu
Wednesday, hump-day. Energy levels are lagging, but work needs to be done. This calls for a driving beat and punchy bars, blasted through headphones, head down. This is exactly what producer DLT, the man behind the boards of Aotearoa’s first rap group, Upper Hutt Posse, delivers on “Chains”. The hook will have you feeling like the baddest motherfucker around as you march into the city against the driving rain. But you’re not the baddest mothefucker around, because Che Fu is. From the first verse of his first solo effort since splitting with Supergroove, Che Fu lays it down:
“Come test me like a bomb straight from Mururoa
How comes I got cyclops fish in my water
A nation of Pacific lambs to the slaughter
Three eyes for my son and an extra foot for my daughter
Gifts from a land that I don’t even know
I was too slow to even see that escargot”
The verses brilliantly protest the French nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific. They are juxtaposed with a chorus Che Fu improvised on the day of recording, which calls to mind an apocalyptic urban future. Smash your Wednesday.
Thursday: “Lydia”, Fur Patrol
The exact vibe of a Thursday is hard to pin down. It seems to rain often on Thursdays. They can be bittersweet, honest, and hopeful days. Anything by The Beths would suit a Thursday. But “Lydia”, by Fur Patrol has the most Thursday-ness of all. From Julia Deans’ heartfelt wail of “my baa-aaaybeeeee”, to Andrew Bain’s simple yet powerful bassline, everything comes together just right. Listeners are hypnotised to step into the shoes of the jilted ex-lover. You may have been kidding yourself for years that you are over your high school sweetheart. One spin of “Lydia”, however, will bring all of that juvenile longing and desperation straight back to the surface. That is okay.
Friday: “Be Mine Tonight”, Th’ Dudes
For generations, young New Zealanders have begun their weekend heavily under the influence of alcohol and the music of Sacred Heart College alumni. While today it is more likely you scream “TGIF!” over amateurly mixed DnB coming at you from Sacred breathas, in years gone by Sacred Heart was more famous for giving us Th’ Dudes. Th’ Dudes are famous for giving us “Bliss”, the enduring drinking anthem of these isles. Their finest work however, is their debut single “Be Mine Tonight”. I was fortunate enough to hear it on the radio, at the end of the working week on a hot summer afternoon. The opening riff had me instantly salivating for a cold beer. Dave Dobbyn sings lead, announcing himself to the world. He invites us enticingly for “another smoke, another can, another conversation.” It sucks that we can’t join him, but “Be Mine Tonight” will have you excited for a smoke/drink/yarn in anyone’s company.
Saturday: “Dutchies”, Shapeshifter
While Th’ Dudes trump Drum and Bass any night of the week, there can be a time and place for it. Sometimes on a Saturday night you just need to creature out to something naughty and crunchy that reverberates your vertebrae. However, most of that new age oonce oonce could have been made anywhere. “Dutchies” by Shapeshifter will help to truly access that NZ Music Month feeling at your next rave. Paora ‘P Digsss’ Apera has a unique voice that couldn’t come from anywhere else in the world, and sounds so right turned up to full volume. When he warbles “hoooooold on” at the start of this 2009 banger, shit is about to get real. The next six minutes and 53 seconds are certainly a journey, straight back to Northern Bass via the serotonin super highway. There is some strong old-school MC-ing from Apera, who then shifts into sorcery mode when he demands that “wickedness increase”. If you are fortunate enough to see Shapeys live, the whole set is in fact some sort of sorcery. These strange men cast a net of magic out into the night sky with a variety of instruments, computers and lights. If you are caught in it, hooooooold on.
Sunday: Wake Up, Aaradhna
Ah, Sunday. Empty pizza boxes on the floor. Empty liquor bottles from before. Sound familiar? These are the opening lines to Aaradhna’s 2012 single “Wake Up”. Released under the legendary Dawn Raid Entertainment label, the song peaked at 12 on the NZ singles chart. Mad respect, but it’s also a crying shame the song didn’t climb higher. Aaradhna’s voice is soulful, silky, and fun, and delivers an inspirational message for a dusty Sunday. “Wake up… get out of bed… stop wasting time.” If such advice was given to be me by anyone from the law school, I would call out toxic productivity. But coming from Aaradhna’s over the top of a groovy tune, it feels like a friendly but firm reminder to carpe your diem by doing a few chores and getting some sunshine. Maybe spin your own favourite NZ music. There’s so much more our amazing music industry has to offer, any day of the week.