The Turnbull Mixtape
Music Month! Because New Zealand music is great, and because it’s the official month to celebrate NZ music, that’s our theme for May. Stay tuned for all sorts of sweet music + Library awesomeness.
Last month we talked about the increasing number of musicians who are choosing to deposit their music at the Alexander Turnbull Library with an open access policy, which lets us stream their tracks.
Going further, a significant number of artists are now side-stepping the traditional copyright process and releasing their music with a Creative Commons licence.
As we’ve noted here before, Creative Commons is an attempt to address the difficulties caused by the inability of traditional copyright law to adapt to an internet era.
Even the most conditional of CC licences (Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivatives) allows users to download and share an artist’s work, only restricting modification and commercial use. This means that we can share any and all CC-licensed music (and other art forms) that comes into the Turnbull with you!
So to celebrate New Zealand Music Month we have lovingly compiled for you, dear library user, a compilation of fantastic recent songs by NZ musicians, covered by a CC licence. Feel free to download these songs, play them loud, and share them with your friends. Happy listening.
Download the Turnbull Mixtape (zip, 132MB)
Tracklist
1. I believe / Chrissie Hell
From: No commercial value (Nevermind Records, 2011)
Collection record | Chris on MySpace
Chrissie Hell is Chris Rakete, a rapper / songwriter from Papakura, Auckland. The rest of No commercial value is possibly a bit too hilarious and sweary for us to include on this compilation, but his introduction to that EP makes a good opening track for this collection of Creative Commons tunes as well. I encourage you to listen to the whole EP, either here or from Chris’s site.
2. Eye for a telescope / Doteyes
From: Doteyes EP (2009)
Collection record | Doteyes on MySpace
Doteyes is electronic/multi-instrumentalist Shane Dudfield from Hamilton. Shane began performing as Doteyes in early 2008 and released the Doteyes EP in June 2009, a collection of funky electronic pop and mash-ups.
3. Glass of wine / The Blue Onesies
From: Jim Rogers’ Party Shack EP (2011)
Collection record | The Blue Onesies on Facebook
The Blue Onesies are a psychedelic rock band based in Wellington. Glass of wine is a slight deviation from the sonic lushness from the rest of the EP, with a wonderful nod to Village Green-era Kinks.
4. Gets noisy aka One day a week / Jetsam Isles
From: Dirt beats noise Vol 2 (2011)
Collection record | Jetsam Isles on Facebook
New-wave drone pop from Wellington, Jetsam Isles recorded this track spontaneously whilst sitting in their practice room amongst feeding-back guitars. Reserving their usual biting guitar attack until the very end, Gets noisy creates a menacing and oppressive atmosphere. Jetsam Isles digitally released three Dirt beats noise EPs between 2010 and 2011, which have been combined and re-released this year as the album Physical Copy.
5. Corporate conga line / Krackatoa
(2011)
Collection record | Krackatoa's website | Corporate conga line on Vimeo
Krackatoa is the alias of Andre Owen. Andre was born in Luton Town, UK, but has lived most of his life in Auckland’s North Shore. Krackatoa began as an electronica artist, but has since started making a range of music, including the kind of brooding psychedelic rock heard on this track. Warning: written as response to the Occupy Wall Street protests, Corporate conga line contains a bit of swearing.
6. My rifle, pony and me / Samuel Stiles
(2011)
Collection record | Samuel Stiles' website
Samuel Stiles is a singer-songwriter originally from New Orleans, now living in Wellington. The classic man-and-a-guitar, Samuel showcases his smooth and rich voice with this cover of a song originally sung by Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson in the film Rio Bravo.
7. Gazeing [at my] shoes / ¡Recuerde!
(Arcade Recordings, 2012)
Collection record | ¡Recuerde! on Audio Foundation
¡Recuerde! is Rohan Evans, an experimental musician, sound engineer and manager of Auckland underground music venues Whammy Bar and Wine Cellar. As the title (and cover) of this track indicate, Gazeing [at my] shoes is Rohan’s nod to the shoegaze genre within his usual practice of improvised guitar-based soundscapes.
8. Wake up / Seth Frightening
From: B. Hoo (Sonorous Circle, 2011)
Collection record | Seth Frightening on Sonorous Circle
Seth Frightening is Sean Kelly, a Wellington based musician and co-founder of the Sonorous Circle record label. Wake up is one of three songs from the B.Hoo EP, released late last year alongside a second EP (B.Hoo/High School). Avoiding traditional folk/pop song structures, Seth Frightening employs a combination of the traditional and the experimental to create his dreamlike mini-epics.
9. Seamless / Unknown Rockstar
From: Untouched mind (Postmoderncore, 2011)
Collection record | Unknown Rockstar on Postmoderncore
Unknown Rockstar is the current alias of Sam Stephens, a Wellington based musician. The albums he releases, including this one, are single or multi-track improvisations, or assembled from improvisations. Seamless employs an assemblage of live parts, samples, treatments, field recordings and other audio snippets to form a dense and vaguely uncomfortable atmosphere.
10. People like you / Bill Borman
From: In our dreams we’re flying (2011)
Collection record | Bill Borman's website
Bill Borman is a software applications developer and home recording studio guru based in Palmerston North. Bill describes In our dreams we're flying as “a folk-rock album about people and humanity and stuff…a web-only album covering a selection of tracks I've worked on from 2007-2011”.
11. Somewhere between night and sky / Antony Milton
From: WHNZ-1-NYMI (2009)
Collection record | Antony Milton on Bandcamp
WHNZ-1-NYMI is a compilation of experimental music made by Antony, featuring his past works under various other monikers & projects. Antony Milton has been making records, exhibiting sound installations and performing live under various pseudonyms (A.M, The Nether Dawn, Paintings of Windows, Mrtyu and more) since the early 1990s. He is also the curator of the PseudoArcana record label.
12. Maybelle (feat. Robyn Kenealy) / Dick Whyte
From: Stories and songs (2006)
Collection record | Dick Whyte on Postmoderncore
Dick Whyte lives in Wellington. He describes himself as “a country/folk-blues/rock singer songwriter artist, musician, writer, philosopher, and film-tutor”. Dick specialise in the kind of gnarled and bittersweet country/folk music heard on Maybelle, which features the vocal talents of his partner Robyn Kenealy.
Kia ora for this Matt. Fantastic idea.