Amplifier

Buffalo was the eagerly awaited follow-up to the band's 2007 gold album Happy Ending, which received huge critical acclaim in New Zealand and rave reviews in the UK after its release there late last year.

Amplifier says: After reading once that the band was creating a horse themed trilogy starting with debut Horsepower and continuing with Pegasus, I was slightly miffed when Happy Ending appeared. At least with Buffalo we're back on track with the animal kingdom reference. The band are also back on track musically. A more consistent album than their last, from Eventually to Golden Ship, there is a warm, magical air that weaves it's way through this superb collection.

Listen to: Golden Ship


3. Bannerman - The Dusty Dream Hole

Six months later Richie took the hard drive to a home studio in Kingsland for an intensive 10 days of overdubbing; playing all the instruments except for violin and horns. Songs to work up were randomly selected, dictating the final tracklisting for the album.

In the end only 14 of the 26 tracks were completed. And June 2009 saw him back at The Lab for mixing and mastering, with Olly Harmer again in the drivers seat.

Featuring beautiful illustrations by Angela Keoghan, new album The Dusty Dream Hole captures all the wildness and subtlety of the artist's imagination and takes the listener into the far reaches of the Bannerman realm. Be prepared for folk/country ballads, searing indie guitar soundscapes and hope-filled torchsongs. The scope of the material is broad and all the better for it!

Amplifier says: If Primal Scream's Screamadelica was the musical equivalent of dropping an E then The Dusty Dream Hole is like a night on whisky with all the exultant highs, the gut wrenching lows, the messy violence and the inevitable hangover.  And in a time when it seems as though pop has been the ruling music genre for nearly a decade and a half it's refreshing to listen to an album with so much texture, emotion and dirt.

We could easily be accused of nepotism when choosing The Dusty Dream Hole in our top 20 (Bannerman is also known as Amplifier's Music Manager Richie) but you only have to look at how other people who aren't on the Amplifier pay roll have reacted to this album to see that it's a pearler.  Nick Bollinger in The Listener and on National Radio compared this album to The Beatles White Album. Can praise get any higher?  Even noted Wellington curmudgeon Simon Sweetman drew comparisons with Nick Cave, The Johnnys, Faith No More and Mark Lanegan before giving the album 4/5 in his Stuff review.

Listen to: Hills and Valleys

4. The Ruby Suns - Fight Softly

Fight Softly is the new studio album by NZ's pop masters The Ruby Suns.

Ryan McPhun (their prime mover) has the kind of voracious musical mind that cites as equal influences '80s New Jack Swing & modern Angolan kuduro, the Beach Boys & Britney Spears, Brazilian tropicalia & Argentinian cumbia. He's the kind of diligent, meticulous soul that spends days hunched over a laptop in a tiny rented studio in Auckland, just to perfect a sequenced drum track (mission accomplished).

Fight Softly is the kind of head-spinning combo of big-picture vision and sumptuous detail that only comes from an artist with a need to express all he's seen. And you can dance to it!

Rather than an album of clearly-drawn influences, Fight Softly is a unique, inscrutable synthesis, more itself than anything else.

Amplifier says: I bought this one on vinyl. That means I think it's special. It means I think it will have longevity. It means at some time this year I had money. Fight Softly is a kaleidoscopic swirling nest of musical ideas. Keep both eyes on Mr McPhun, he's an immensley creative talent, who is likely to confound us all and release something completely different in 2011 - God speed sir!

Listen to: Closet Astrologer

5. Die! Die! Die! - Form

The latest signing to Flying Nun Records, Die! Die! Die! have joined up with the re-born label to release their third album Form.

Produced and recorded by Nick Roughan (Skeptics), Form is Die! Die! Die! like you have never heard. It is the album they always wanted to write, and the one you knew they would.

It calls upon all the parts, plus more, that make this band so exciting but never allows you to stop and put your finger on one.

Remember the first time you saw a band that blew your mind right open?

Die! Die! Die! will do that.

Amplifier says: As one of the hardest working bands ever to come from our Great South, it's a wonder Die! Die! Die! have time to write a song, let alone a completely killer record. From now on, Form is what people will be talking about when they call something "a return to form" - this is the new benchmark. Thanks Flying Nun!

Listen to: Wasted Lands


6. Ladi6 - The Liberation Of...

Spending the last six months based in Berlin and performing over 60 shows in Europe and the UK, Ladi6 and Parks have been wowing audiences with their unique blend of hip hop, soul and funk.

Ladi6 and Parks have supported top artists such as Gil Scott Heron on his European and UK tour, Mos Def, Mayer Hawthorne and German Hip Hop stars Blumentopft as well as festival slots and solo shows.

Ladi6, described by London's Metro Magazine as "One to Watch" - they say, "she knows how to make an impression - including a recent wow-inducing support slot for Gil Scott-Heron at London's Southbank Centre"

While in Europe, Ladi recorded her second album with production by Parks and top German producer, Sepalot.

Amplifier says: Time Is Not Much (Amplifier's number 1 of 2008) was always going to be hard to top and when I heard that the album was called The Liberation Of... I was picturing some craved ego driven pop record that I'd be forced to listen to.  Thankfully Ladi and Parks were inspired during their European travels.  There's diversity amongst the usual deep soul numbers including the welcomely aggressive 98 Til Now and the brilliantly conceived Burn With Me. Quality. 

The Drab Doo-Riffs are a five-piece Auckland band, fronted by Supergroove's Karl Steven and Heart Attack Alley's Caoimhe Macfehin. Rounded out by guitarist Lucy Stewart, bass monster M.F. Joyce, and animal drummer Mikey Sperring, the Doo-Riffs have been a live act to reckon with for some time.

Now, after two years of gigging and leaving bars filled with danced-to-death bodies of rock'n'roll carnage The Drab Doo Riffs release their second EP - Postcards From Uranus... 

Amplifier says: There's no band quite like the Drabs. Their live shows have outshone any other group in town this past year, with an energy and unique sound that is unsurpassed. If anyone thought there would be no music career for Karl beyond Supergroove, think again. Postcards From Uranus is only the tip of the iceberg of what's to come, but already these 

Listen to: Trouble


10. Homebrew - Last Week 12"

This was a strictly limited pressing of the Last Week EP, previously unavailable in any other format.

Produced by Haz - except Saturday which was by DJ Truent. Recorded and edited by Substance. Mastered by Chris Macro. Photos by Sam Montgomery.

The EP features seven tracks, all based around days of the week... Songs include Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday... and more! 

Amplifier says: Concept albums rule alright!  This is a week in the life of Homebrew, a dreary, smoky, boozy, banging week.  A week that tells the boss to fuck off, that hangs around WINZ and looks for the cheap fix, that keeps domestics at bay, that exists for the weekend.  It's hilarious and insightful not to mention savvy in the production department.

Listen to: Wednesday


11. Connan Mockasin - Please Turn Me Into The Snat 

Written and recorded over 18 months, everywhere from East Sussex (UK) to an abandoned haunted house in Wellington, Please Turn Me Into The Snat introduces the listener to the amazing world of Connan Mockasin, from cats with larger-than-life personalities and unicorns in uniform to alter egos like Don Dicaprio.

Somewhere between fantasy and reality, innocence and wisdom, pop music and an art form as yet unnamed, is the world of Connan Mockasin.

Amplifier says: Say what you like about Connan Mockasin, I know he's weird the same as you know he's weird. But he's also wonderful. This record was more of a revelation to me than all the WikiLeaks combined. If there's only one psychedelic-indie-pop record you listen to this summer...

Listen to: Forever Dolphin Love


12. Surf City - Kudos

Surf City have come up trumps with their excellent debut longplayer, Kudos.

The album was recorded over the last year & a half mostly in bedrooms,  basements and occasionally the old Arch Hill studios.

Mostly it was recorded and mixed by themselves!

Amplifier says: Our great young hope, Surf City have finally made good on all the promise they've been showing since day one. Anyone who's been following the guys since the early days (formerly known as the Fibs, formerly known as Kill Surf City) will tell you it was worth the wait. Kudos is New Zealand as it was meant to sound - and the world is listening!

Listen to: Crazy Rulers Of The World


13. Robert Scott - Ends Run Together

Robert Scott's list of music projects over the years reads like a who's who of alternative New Zealand music for the past three decades. From his role as bass-player, song-writer and non-Kilgour The Clean and as singer, guitarist and songwriter for his equally enduring band The Bats, he also helmed the acclaimed Magick Heads.

It's hardly surprising that Robert has found little time to pursue many solo records. But songs - lovely, glorious, subtle, mysterious, sad, questioning and perfect songs - pour out of him constantly, collected in exercise books and on cassette tapes over the years.

The result is an outstanding album of thirteen engaging songs, as likely to appeal to any fan of great alternative pop as much as to those already familiar with his past projects. To Robert's guitar and voice (which has never sounded better) are added the talents of fellow Clean-er David Kilgour, and miraculously, even Lesley Paris (Look Blue, Go Purple) has been coaxed back onto a drumkit for some of the songs.

Jam-packed full of pop hooks, Ends Run Together features everything from squalling guitar rock (On The Lake, Too Early), dreamy pastoral folk (Days Run Together), through to the driving krautrock-ish pop of first single Daylight.

Amplifier says: You can't argue with Robert Scott's status as a legend in New Zealand. As an integral member of the Bats, the Clean, and a ton of other groups throughout the years - it's only natural that when Bob releases a solo record, we're going to be all over it. 

Ends Run Together is a great record, and track after track it keeps sounding fresh while remaining undeniably Flying Nun.

Listen to: Too Early


14. Michael Morley (Gate) - A Republic Of Sadness

"The NZ avant-garde lynchpin is on tremendous form for this record... one of the strangest & least readily pigeonholed albums you'll hear for a while, A Republic Of Sadness is eminently worth exploring." Boomkat

A Republic Of Sadness is the first new Gate aka Michael Morley (The Dead C) album in over a decade.

While known primarily for his work with The Dead C, Morley has been writing, performing & recording as Gate simultaneously the entire time. A Republic Of Sadness comprises the apex of Morley's various interests in one collection, released by the famed Ba Da Bing label.

Morley's famous 'dronetronica' is front & centre, mixing shifting plates of synthetic sounds over simple electronic rhythms. His guitar & vocal drones permeate through looped beats & sounds, arriving at a sound that is not quite dance, not quite noise, not quite electronica & never, ever ambient.

The six songs, all over 6min long, will surprise longtime followers of Morley's work, with A Republic Of Sadness bearing little resemblance to The Dew Line or any of his other material from the '90s.

Amplifier says: This record is stunning, and came totally unexpectedly. Released by our friends at Bada Bing in New York, the album gives new meaning to having to leave home to know what you've got... I'm struggling to compare A Republic Of Sadness to anything as a point of reference... but if melancholictronica is your thing - Mr Morley has the record for you. Check the link to listen to Forever, and you'll be hooked.

Listen to: Forever


15. So So Modern - Crude Futures 

Tommy Ill combines all his powers of
past EPs with a new rap repertoire, kind
of like when the Planeteers combined their powers to summon Captain Planet. The result - a fresh take on past offerings mingled with completely new tracks. You can also still expect songs that tackle the everyday issues of hangovers, heartache and bills - party tracks full of dry witticisms and cheeky rhymes set to askew pop tracks from the 50s and 60s.

Amplifier says: I've got a lot of time for Tommy Ill. Calling one of his first singles "Billy Cosby" gave him ten points with me immediately, and now several years later, Tommy Ill is in fact a force to be reckoned with when it comes to party time. One listen to Tommy's self-titled record and you'll be calling friends to head on over for the Good Timez - even if it's a schoolnight. 

Listen to: Robot (Featuring a Robot)


18. Nightchoir - 24 Hours Of Night 

Channeling the lilt of David Rawlings, the tempo of Red House Painters in places, and the mood of Band Of Horses, Nightchoir deliver a staggeringly beautiful album. 24 Hours Of Night refreshingly explores varied song styles but is made coherent with the undertone of a focused vision of friends who know and trust each other's skills implicitly.

Recording began at Roundhead in 2009 with Mike Hall in the unfamiliar position of playing guitar and singing lead vocals on all but one of the tracks. With "Other Mike" (Franklin-Browne) and Matthias in more familiar roles the album came together swiftly. Renowned engineer Kerry Furlong also contributed his playing skills as well as the engineering of the album. Combined with the mixing talents of Jol Mulholland (The Mots, Gasoline Cowboy) and mastering by Greg Calbi at Sterling Studios in New York, 24 Hours Of Night is ready for release.

Amplifier says: Imagine if you chopped the head off Richie McCaw only to find out that the decapitated torso was actually a better rugby player and captain than the full bodied player had been.  Nightchoir are the rhythm section of Pluto, Mike Hall (who was previously in The Brunettes), Matthias Jordan and Michael Franklin-Browne, with assistance from Jol Mulholand (Gasoline Cowboy, The Nothing) and Nick Buckton (Voom, SideKickNick).  

Nothing on 24 Hours of Night is like Pluto though. If you're looking for reference points think more of Lawrence Arabia, Stereobus or Good Laika. It's a very soft, melodic and pleasant album that - strangely - was released by 1157 Records, which is a label more noted for angry young men with tattoos who like to shout a lot.

Listen to: Glass Tiger


19. The Broken Heartbreakers - Wintersun

The Broken Heartbreakers are an Auckland based folk-pop group and Wintersun is their third album. Songwriting duo Rachel Bailey & John Guy Howell  have crafted a new album which is a natural outgrowth of the direction they've been taking since their last, self-titled album.

The full band - which includes Mike Stoodley (Verlaines), Myles Allpress (Heavy Jones, Dictaphone Blues) & Sam Prebble (Bond Street Bridge) - is now a powerful live unit, with extensive touring honing their show into a sonically lush & dynamic experience. This sound and approach is more than carried over to Wintersun, with stunning results.

The result is an album that showcases all of the Broken Heartbreakers trademarks: Howell & Bailey's songwriting & rich vocal harmonies, solid and melodic basslines, sensitive drumming, sparkling mandolin and 12-string.

The Broken Heartbreakers use this sonic palette to bring to life Howell & Bailey's songs of misplaced love, urban alienation, quiet resignation & tentative hope, moving from fragile to thunderous & back again.

Amplifier says: I'm a big fan of these swooning Aucklanders. John and Rachel have always nodded at songwriting's rich history while eyeing up their own tunes. To cut through the bullshit - they make songwriting seem simple. Wintersun proves them to be in fine form, it's a slightly weightier release than their previous effort and there's a bit more going on behind the scenes with the band embellishing these crisp and fragile songs in just the right way.

Listen to: Sylvia


20. Tono & the Finance Company - Fragile Thing EP

This new EP leaves behind the old themes and Beatles-esque pop of Tono and the Finance Company's first EP, Love and Economics, but retains singer Anthonie Tonnon's ironic wit and emphasis on character. His songwriting has become more acerbic, the humor blacker. The musical textures on the record reflect this change; the guitars more distorted, and the rhythm section more dominant.

Fragile Thing features vocal appearances from Haunted Love, guitars from Logan Valentine and keyboards from Aidan Fraser.

The artwork is an "exquisite corpse" drawing, where artists each draw one part of a picture without seeing the other parts. It is included in a package designed by Tim Chapman and Taarati Taiaroa, and includes drawings by themselves, and five other Auckland artists - John Wood-Knox, Alexsandra Petrovic, Erin Forsyth, Jenna Todd and Ceili Murphy.

Amplifier says: With comparisons to top performers and lyricists like Morrissey floating around Tono like a good smell, the Fragile Thing EP arrived with some anticipation. It certainly didn't disappoint, rather leave us craving more --- bring on the full album, give us more of those strongly sung melodies and dry, witty observations!

Listen to: Tuesday Evening

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TOP 20 ALBUMS of 2009

TOP 20 ALBUMS of 2008

TOP 20 ALBUMS of 2007

TOP 20 ALBUMS of 2006

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