Raiza Biza - Flashbacks

From 2013's "Summer" album, this video rendition of "Flashbacks" seems well in character. A moody, jazz-infused ode with horns and woodwind from the massively-talented K*Saba, the song further enhances Raiza Biza's commercial appeal. Smooth production job from choiceVaughan. There aren't many who have the potential to cross over from the beats/hip-hop audience into a more mainstream appeal, but Raiza Biza has many tracks that could do just that. The video was directed by Paul Innes and features talented young actress, model and artist, Theodora Allison. You can download the "Summer" album for free at the link below. (or maybe pay the artist if you are able to!). I have been a Raiza Biza fan for a couple of years now. He doesn't disappoint.

http://raizabiza.bandcamp.com/album/summer

Raiza Biza - Flashbacks (Official Music Video)

Chelsea Jade - Night Swimmer

Close to perfect. This song has been around awhile and I was wondering when it would get an official release. It was this track and that other ethereal stunner "Under" that first got me hooked on Chelsea Jade Metcalf's dream-pop. She has just made the transition from her "Watercolours" moniker to "Chelsea Jade". Both work for me, but I think there is maybe more to it, with Chelsea relaunching her identity more strongly. And wow! What a way to do it. This video's haunting ice block metaphor intersecting such sensuous writing brings a lump to the throat. This isn't just a dream-pop video. This is a full-on work of art. Alexander Gandar (director) has demonstrated talent before, but this collaboration with artist Zainab Hikmet (art direction/sculpture) and Chelsea Jade is a masterpiece. Chelsea's aesthetic acuity and visual performance binds it all together. Best video of the year. Hands down. Go buy the track at the link below. It is the first single off her new EP "Beacons" due out imminently. Can't wait.

http://iamchelseajade.bandcamp.com/

Chelsea Jade - Night Swimmer

Suren Unka - Flee ft. Dahnu Graham

One of my favourite tracks off Suren Unka's "El Chupacabra" album released earlier this year, "Flee" featuring Dahnu Graham comes to us via one of the best videos of the year. The video was made by Markus Hofko, a German artist, designer and musician of some note who now lives in New Zealand. The blurb on the press release says the "video hinges on an extreme contrast between states of mental absence and sensation, as performed by actor and stuntman Howard Cyster. His character shifts from a lethargic state into an absurd dream-space of wild-west proportions, a 'hyper roller coaster ride, at least for a couple of minutes". There is some spectacular imagery for sure. Suren, who is also drummer for the Beach Pigs, (and an event photographer!) comes from a talented family, his mother Vasanti Unka having won the NZ Post Children's Book Award for her "Boring Book". The "El Chupacabra" album, which I own, isn't immediate, but rewards repeated listens. You can buy it at the link below. Go to the link!

http://surenunka.bandcamp.com/album/el-chupacabra

Suren Unka - Flee ft. Dahnu Graham (Official Music Video)

Streets of Laredo - Slow Train

These guys have been at it in NYC for over two years now. Hard graft and little glamour, apart from their increasingly well-patronised live shows. But a record deal with Dine Alone records and a USA tour coupled with a proper album release...and this band looks like it might just do it. The "Slow Train" video is a great vehicle to show off one of those songs that has always sounded like it had radio potential. A great live song, it made it into recordings with its live edge intact. In fact, the production on the recent releases is a marvel of restraint, not over-done, but allowing an almost perfect transition of an organic rattle, bang and hum to the digital medium. And now they are getting their sound re-heated by a vinyl release of "Volume I & II", the album due out from October 7th. The "Slow Train" video was done on the smell of an old oily rag by Melburnian Oli Sansom. Loving those 70s vibes. Oli's website is linked below. For more information, go to the Streets of Laredo link below. Go and fall in love with this band like I have.

http://www.streets-of-laredo.com/discography/volume-i-and-ii/
www.olisansom.com

Streets of Laredo - Slow Train (Official Video)

Mzwetwo - Horror

Previously known as Loui The Zu, an identity that has now been almost completely stripped from the web, Zimbabwean New Zealander Mzwetwo, has cast off his earlier incarnation, and reinvented himself. Better written, better produced and with great visuals (he is clearly an aesthete),  "Horror" is an in-between release ahead of his "Gallantino 2" EP due soon. The song was a collaboration with Taste Nasa who also played guitar on the track. Video direction was by Mzwetwo in collaboration with SZA Hands Digital who also did the filming, editing and animation. Art direction and fashion is by Mzwetwo. You can download the song at the link below. There are a number of other links where you can get to know this talented emerging artist. He probably won't like this, but I have included a link to a previous NZMusic4U post on the superb single he did using Lydia Cole's "Feels Like" as a base. Go have a look at it all. If The Wyld can get a bite at break-out in the USA (exciting news by the day from them), I am pretty sure Mzwetwo can follow. Success expected.

Download: https://www.sendspace.com/file/v8ea0z
Tumblr: http://mzwetwo.tumblr.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mzwetwomusic
Louis the Zu "In The Winter": http://nzmusic4u.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/for-some-time-i-have-thought-loui-zu.html

MZWETWO - HORROR

Grayson Gilmour - Silence & Youth

Glorious melody, harmony, dense textures, masses of layered effects, and driving rhythms that come and go with the dynamic surges that are typical of his work. I love it. Grayson Gilmour's "Infinite Life" album is one of my favourites this year.  And its not been a barren year for Grayson, with that album, and a 100 track release of  music sourced from "albums, b-sides, demos, covers, sketches, alter-egoisms, experiments, film scores & compositions" called "Skeletons and Closets". The "Silence and Youth" "journey" video is perfect in this context, directed, edited and animated by Jesse Taylor Smith, with art direction and colourisation by Jenna Eriksen. Great job! I just saw Grayson live at a private gig, and I suppose I had expected a band. But on his own, using technology of course, he filled that small room with a wonderful wall of sound...and occasionally moved like a man possessed. Highly recommended. It is artists like this that are the reason I started, and continue with NZMusic4U. You can read up on his background at the bio link below. If you like this, you can buy both the "Infinite Life" album and "Skeletons and Closets" at the Bandcamp links below. I have bought both and love both of 'em.

http://graysongilmour.bandcamp.com/album/infinite-life
http://graysongilmour.bandcamp.com/album/skeletons-closets-2003-2013

Bio here:
http://www.graysongilmour.com/wp/?page_id=13

Grayson Gilmour - Silence & Youth (Music Video)

School for Birds - 10,000 Things

The twenty-strong line-up of APRA Silver Scroll nominees this year is especially strong. And "10,000 Things" has made the list...justifiably. School for Birds is Sean Sturm and Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper. The band have been blogged upon previously at NZMusic4U, as they make clever, appealing pop music. The School for Birds album, released in late 2013, is a sophisticated offering, which is not really surprising considering the education, musical and life experiences of the two principals. But something nags at me. No one really knows about this, apart from a few "connected" individuals in the industry. I would like to see a more pro-active promotion campaign around this little masterpiece, as public funding has gone into creating/promoting something very special. More effort is needed all round. All that aside, you can buy the (very good) School for Birds album at the iTunes link below. The video was put together by Luke Sharpe of Bunker Media. Very, very, very good. Bunker Media is linked below.

https://itunes.apple.com/nz/album/school-for-birds/id720451472?ign-mpt=uo%3D4

http://bunker.co.nz/

School for Birds - 10,000 Things

Jay Roacher & Nettsmoney ft. Louie Knuxx & Tourettes - Pretty Day To Die

One of the most striking videos of the last twelve months, "Pretty Day To Die" managed to sneak by me in May, but better late than never for this visual feast (sorry). Jay Roacher is accompanied by some talented artists here. Louie Knuxx, Tourettes both cameo (fellow BreakinWreckWordz alumni), and with production by NettsMoney, it works on all levels. The video almost didn't get funded, as it was being finished with a day to go before the NZonAir funding deadline. Jay Roacher (Jared Watene) was living in Japan, Louie Knuxx was at that stage based in Melbourne, and Tourettes was apparently in the vicinity of Iceland when they received the funding decision...but it was some time till they were all in NZ again, and the wayward were corralled. I was told some other anecdotes about the video, but to keep the tone "seemly", I will leave those for private conversations! The superb video was directed by Auckland film maker Hamish Pattison and the offering as a whole is easily good enough to make it's way onto the NZMusic4U Honour Roll. Jay's new project is Karaoke Suicide Club. You can download his new material free at the Bandcamp link below.

https://karaokesuicideclub.bandcamp.com

Jay Roacher & Nettsmoney ft. Louie Knuxx & Tourettes - Pretty Day To Die

K.One - Love Don't Live Around Here

Out of the ashes...or was that the puddles? This was apparently a disastrous video shoot, with meteorological disasters, missing props, no shows...but no sign of it in the finished product. Slick, sharp and easy-to-watch, Illegal Musik's Mark Arona (director), Mikey Rockwell (editor) and Kaleb Vitale (creative direction and star) have put together an expensive-looking video. And the song? Catchy as anything that K.One has put out previously, and there is some hooky back catalogue out there. The 60s feel is helped by some backing vocals from Brooke Duff and horns from "Three Houses Down". I have bought K.One's music previously, with old favourite singles being 2010's "Walking Away" featuring a heavily auto-tuned Jason Kerrison (who clearly doesn't need to be but it worked), and 2011's "So Long" which also features Scribe. So who is K.One? Well he was a small-town forestry worker for seven years, and he ascribes his work ethic to that background. But it's not just a work ethic in play here. He clearly has an ear, and an eye, and I have thought for some time he is one of those "most likely to". "Love Don't Live Around Here" sounds very radio friendly, and with such a well-put-together video, I hope he gets noticed, not just by local fans, but also groups outside NZ which is clearly where his future lies. If you would like to buy "Love Don't Live Around Here" there is an iTunes link below. Go buy it.

https://itunes.apple.com/nz/album/love-dont-live-around-here/id882489419?i=882489463




K.One - Love Don't Live Around Here (Official Video)

Tiny Ruins - Me At The Museum, You In The Wintergardens

"Fantasize your ideal love. With that in mind, write the most gentle, serene love song." So writes Bob Boilen of the USA's NPR. This song is one of those that many songwriters would go with to their death bed, happy, having created something of such simple, elegant beauty. And the ancillary arrangements are stunning. There's not much...just enough. It is interesting that Neil Finn liked the song enough to do a video as the song could almost be his in one of his quieter moments (when I like his music the most). He says of making the video (thanks to Arch Hill Records for the quote) "I’ve been enjoying making little films and was carrying a Pelican case with me on the road , setting up for editing in hotels rooms and the back of the bus. One night I discovered a few images which seemed to suit the atmosphere of this song , so just started making a video without even being asked .The next day I asked her if I could film her singing it at soundcheck and in the show and placed these images left and right . I like the way her hair is crumpled for soundcheck and all smoothed out at the show. I’m glad Hollie likes it and wants people to see it but I would have been happy just making it anyway." This clip is going up on the NZMusic4U Honour Roll. In this case, it is a pretty little video...but it is the song, arrangements and its production that drives this blog's recognition. Some links for you to follow below, including a Bandcamp link with purchasing links for the EP from which this song hails...."Brightly Painted One". I own it.

http://www.npr.org/event/music/331973918/tiny-ruins-me-at-the-museum-you-in-the-wintergardens?ft=1&f=1039
http://tinyruins.bandcamp.com/
http://flyingout.co.nz/collections/tiny-ruins


Tiny Ruins - Me At The Museum, You In The Wintergardens (Music Video)