San Francisco Bathhouse
February 27 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

WHEN THE MEDIA the world over is running hence, proclaiming and crying about the streets over economic doomsday, it’s good to see that the excesses of music at its finest haven’t been killed off yet. On Thursday night, two disparate bands, So So Modern and Of Montreal appeased the multitude with contrasting live shows. Of course, despite how good So So Modern were, the sell-out crowd was there for Of Montreal, the steaming whirligig of the crowd whipping themselves into a frenzy over the prog/glam/costumed excess of the second wave Elephant 6 band. And while in these times of austerity, a savage spectacle might appear overly excessive, the glorious utopia of these bands brought out all kinds of love, good thoughts and reverence.

Fringe 2009, Garden Club
Feb 25-28 | Reviewed by Kate Blackhurst

Tick, Tick... Boom! begins with the main character, Jon (Sam Benton), explaining over a metronomic ticking sound, “The sound you are hearing is not a technical problem. It is not a musical cue. It is not a joke. It is the sound of one man’s mounting anxiety. I... am that man.” From there on we are taken deep within his self-indulgent, navel-gazing, pre-mid-life crisis, which he describes to the audience in detailed neurotic New York fashion that Woody Allen would admire. But it’s good!

Fringe 2009, BATS Theatre
February 22-25 | Reviewed by Kate Blackhurst

THE THREE VIGNETTES – two solos and a duet – in this evening’s entertainment are united by the rural theme. In his director’s note, Adam Donald states, “There is a thin line between mocking and commenting on rural New Zealand. We aim to be respectful and true to this sector whilst making a comedy which is largely at their expense.” I’m not sure this is entirely achieved as derision certainly outweighs compassion and there is a healthy dollop of typecasting served up.

Fringe 2009, Waimapihi Reserve
February 20-28 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

GOING to a Three Spoon Theatre production is a theatrical treat – intelligent, creative and unabashedly dramatic. A Most Outrageous Humbug, while being a very different offering to their past productions (March of the Meeklings, The Storm, The Eiffel Tower Wedding Party) continues to maintain the very high standard this young company is setting.

Downstage Theatre
Feb 18-March 7 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

NEW ZEALAND has one of the world’s best wind resources. Wind farms seem to be on the ‘side’ of moral ‘good’ – a relatively clean way to generate electricity. However, harnessing this resource is not without impacts that can be severe on local communities and the environment. These impacts can be overlooked by the ‘drivers’ of wind farms – commercial power companies. The moral conundrum of the good of the many versus the welfare of the few is given life through the family drama at the heart of the SEEyD Company’s production Turbine.

Artspace
Jan 31-Feb 28 | Reviewed by Thomasin Sleigh

AUCKLAND was a smoggy, humid, soup when I was up there in early February. To get some respite from the heat I scuttled in to the Giovanni Intra exhibition at Artspace. It was a slick show. No dusty, cluttered vitrines for this contemporary art space. Jauntily angled glass topped tables presented the ephemera from Intra’s life and work; sketch books, doodles on serviettes, exhibition invites, photographic contact sheets and working notes. Around the corner, slides projectors flicked through images of Intra’s work and a table displayed books and catalogues collected by Intra and relating to practice.

Fringe 2009, BATS Theatre
February 14-18 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

Words Apart is a simple and sweet show, combining spoken English with New Zealand Sign Language. It loosely draws on Romeo and Juliet for its plot, with a slight twist – Ryan (Romeo) is deaf and Jules (Juliet) is hearing. Their fledging relationship faces prejudice from both of their families – interestingly comprised on both sides of siblings raising their bother/sister due to absent parents. As the programme notes, Ryan and Jules face a battle of proving that their love can overcome the language barrier between them – that it is ‘more than just words’.

Fringe 2009, BATS Theatre
February 13-17 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

Poly-zygotic is a play about Samoan triplets. Two are the same, one is different – is it the boy contrasted with his two sisters? Or the short one contrasted with her two tall siblings? This question is never really resolved, but it emerges that all of them are outsiders – as a group and individually. Although the play bills itself as following the triplets’ attempt to find their ‘uniqueness’, it seems that they have been unique from birth – not only because they are triplets, but because they come from a ‘black sheep’ family that has been marked by tragedy. Although the triplets are the subjects of neighbourhood pity, they are far from feeling sorry for themselves.

Ahead of an intriguing weekend of performances, MELODY NIXON caught up with Fleur Elise Noble and Erica Field of 2-Dimensional Life of Her, a combination of film, animation, and marionettes.

VUW, Studio 77 Amphitheatre
February 13-28 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

Henry V is a theatrical testament to the titular King’s victory at Agincourt over the French and subsequent unification of the English and French Crowns bringing a (short as it turned out) period of peace. It’s a play that takes war as its central theme – although whether it glorifies war or is critical of it has divided scholars and audience members alike. David Lawrence’s spirited Summer Shakespeare production revels in the battle, but also highlights the grim consequence of war and the moral struggles it produces in the formerly carefree King. Despite a slight anti-war whiff (or just an encouragement towards gaining wisdom out of a querulous time?), Lawrence stays true to form and never strays from a full illumination of the text for his audience, often through ingenious means.

Fringe 2009, ‘Eli’s Bedroom’
February 10-28 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

‘GIFTED’, ‘talented’ and ‘fresh’ are the terms that come to mind when trying to describe this brilliant production by the Playground Collective. This is particularly amusing given the play is a ‘comedy about apathy’ and a portrait of disaffected youth in search of a “living, breathing exclamation mark.”

Fringe 2009, Kapito Cafe
February 12-18 | Reviewed by Kate Blackhurst

ESTHER ROSE GREEN and Sara Marlene Allen are excellent in The Mountain. I’m not entirely sure what the play was all about, but the acting by these two was phenomenal, as they inhabited several different characters with conviction.

Fringe 2009, Gryphon Theatre
February 11-14 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

WHEN A company names Ubu Roi as its patron saint you know you are in for something out of the ordinary. Faust Chroma certainly was that. This extravagant piece of avant garde theatre is thrilling and best enjoyed if you sit back and don’t try too hard to understand every moment (although reading the programme notes in advance might help, especially for the opening scenes).

San Francisco Bathhouse
February 13 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

SPANISH DJ Pablo Díaz-Reixa AKA El Guincho achieved some unexpected success in 2008 with his assortment of world sample goodness. Unexpected, because singers who sing in Spanish rarely achieve success in the Anglophonic world, let alone those who assemble a cornucopia of unusual sounds and samples into one gigantic party. Alegranza! was a great album, with minimalist loops of everything from ‘60s Cuban doo-wop to Kenyan guitar riffs. The album translated brilliantly live too – it was much more melodic than expected, and the crowd danced with unmitigated joy.

Fringe 2009, BATS Theatre
February 11-19 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon

Drowning Bird, Plummeting Fish succeeds in being a rare instance of a sketch of apathy that is moving. (I would say unlike The Intricate Art of Actually Caring, currently playing in another part of the Fringe, which is very moving but is not so much about apathy as fear and the overcoming of fear – two quite separate forms of stasis.) Plummeting Fish taps into the zeitgeist of the disenfranchised teenage spirit, sets this in Wellington, and finds there ambivalence, hopelessness and a barren narcissism. Deciding who or what is to blame for that narcissism and hopelessness is left up to the audience.

ALEXANDER BISLEY looks forward to another WOMAD this year in Taranaki, March 13-15.

IS THERE a better live music venue than New Plymouth’s Brooklands Park? WOMAD 2009 once again harnesses the Brooklands Bowl’s spectacular acoustics. The atmosphere is most inviting. The Bollinger interviews at the Pinetum elicit intriguing yarns. The kai is delicious. Taha Maori is out in force. In 2008 the manager of Russia’s Terem Quartet was one enthusiast. On Whangara’s kapa haka supremos: “We must bring them to Russia. I have never seen so many good looking men on a stage in my life.” And then there’s the music. Damn fine. My local 2009 picks include Fat Freddy’s Drop, the innovative and original Pacifika fusion of soul, dub, funk, jazz, roots reggae and blues. This national taonga is scorching live. As DJ Mu told me: “The key to it for us is having fun... People can tell how good a time we’re having on stage and that definitely translates to the audience.” The same can be said about ex-Dropper Warren Maxwell’s Little Bushman. My international picks include the sublimely soulful Gurrumul, dynamic Dengue Fever and Seun “son of Fela” Keuti’s Afrobeat. Keep an eye on The Lumière Reader for upcoming interviews, including WOMAD musical director Roger King and the effervescent Madeleine Sami, performing with the Sami Sisters.

PERSPECTIVE: Music Editor BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM on WOMAD 2007 and 2008, plus interviews with Billy Cobham, Mr. Scruff, An Emerald City and Beirut; ARJUN HARINDRANATH on WOMAD 2007; ALEXANDER BISLEY on WOMAD 2008, plus profiles of DJ Mu and Warren Maxwell; CATHERINE BISLEY’s images of WOMAD 2007 and 2008, plus her recollection of WOMAD 2007 in words.

Opera House
February 3 | Reviewed by James Robinson

IT’S BEEN a pretty crazy nine years for Ryan Adams. Viewed with no knowledge of his work, or the constantly shifting scale of hate and adoration evoked with the mention of his name, you would still have to give the guy his due for releasing ten albums in nine years (at his peak he had released eight albums in six). But it has been even more hectic than merely releasing a little more than an album a year. It has been a rollercoaster ride of constructed image, and tantrums, from both sides. Ryan Adams has had one idea of Ryan Adams; music journalists another. Each has shifted frenetically, and only occasionally have they two overlapped. He went from being the next Bob Dylan (Heartbreaker), to the rising star of the easy-listening-adult-contemporary world while still holding a dash of “indie-cred” (Gold, and the slightly ignored Demolition), a widely decried disappointment and maligned, over-covered music scene figure (Love is Hell, Rock N Roll), to comeback-kid slash Grateful Dead revivalist (Jacksonville City Nights, Cold Roses, 29). All the while Ryan Adams has played himself as a slightly misunderstood and difficult artist, who wanted to be judged on nothing more than his work. No one bought it. His actions, his styles always indicated at the opposite.

BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM trawls the local music calendar to bring us the month’s best gigs. This February: El Guincho w/ The Ruby Suns & Pikelet, Dan Deacon & High Places, Jolie Holland, Of Montreal.

Fringe 2009, Performing Arts Centre
February 6-9 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

THE FRINGE FESTIVAL sees the welcome return season of both Colony! And GRIMM – two short pieces devised by the Long Cloud Youth Theatre group under the capable direction of Willem Wassenaar. Both showcase excellent young talent, although they are far from mere vehicles for exhibiting acting skill. Both shows are entirely entertaining in their own right, and surpass some of the professional (and more generously funded) work seen on Wellington stages in recent times for sheer originality and energy.

Fringe 2009, BATS Theatre
February 3-9 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

UPON ENTERING BATS to see Buddha Boy one takes in first a shirtless, slim Asian man meditating under what appears to be a tall tent (actually a stylised tree), who unsurprisingly turns out to be the title character. Then you notice the bed to the side of the tree, surrounded by rubbish and alcohol. The play begins with the disheveled Sophie sitting up in this bed. It seems she has been there for some time, passing in and out of lucidity. You realise fairly early on that she is seriously depressed, following an unspecified disappointment. Sophie reads about the ‘Buddha Boy’ in a newspaper article – a 17-year-old who has been meditating under a tree for 10 months, without eating, drinking or sleeping. She travels to meet him in her alcohol-induced dreams (or possibly on some other plane of reality?) Janu, the ‘Buddha Boy’ is far from spiritually enlightened – he is also trying to escape from the world and more particularly, his childhood friend Maya. The rest of the play charts their healing influence on each other.

Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

FOLLOWING almost immediately on the back of last year’s excellent Songs from a Dictaphone, this year’s Dayglo Spectres is yet another brilliant release from one of New Zealand’s premier and unheralded musicians. But the new album is less the solo musings of Donnelly, but a collaboration with Donnelly and James Duncan – and the more collaborative approach finds the band finding their voice more. It’s a thrilling and intense listen. The sound shifts back to SJD’s earlier work, with the strong interplay of electronic and acoustic instrumentation. The Berlin years Bowie has now been married with strong hip-hop and electronic beats. The thematic and lyrical unity of Songs of a Dictaphone is pushed even further, and Donnelly’s voice sounds as fragile and powerful as ever (even if, at times, such as in the wonderful No Telling Where, he sounds remarkably like Bono). I wonder if SJD has openly accepted the continual marginalisation of his music (in spite of its ubiquity on recent advertisements – fair enough given that all the critical acclaim doesn’t necessarily pay the bills), but with another album as good as Dayglo Spectres it’s really starting to baffle why he hasn’t had statues and prostrations from the general public.

Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

OVER THE ATLANTICS’s November released album Dimensions is a little doozy. Eschewing the dreamy shoegazey fuzz of 2006’s excellent Junica, Dimensions finds the band much more comfortable and upfront. This newfound confidence is evident in the band’s live performances since their return from overseas, but the album itself pushes Nik Brinkman’s vocals and lyrics up to the fore. Producer-whizz Bevan Smith has crafted an ‘80s feel to the beats and textures, a kind of offering that wouldn’t have been out of place coming out in the post-punk or even 4AD hey-day. The influence of hip-hop and R&B is also evident in the syncopated and unconventional rhythms, something that is announced at the very start of the album in opening track ‘Colour of Sound’ but the melodies are as strong as ever. The band has had a tendency in the past to sound a little same-y, and this band does expand the sound out somewhat – this is perhaps more evident in the thrilling Over the Atlantic live shows. The album’s highlights include ‘Celia’, and ‘We Are All Ghosts’ with their mellifluous melodies. Another standout is album closer ‘Cocorone’. This is an excellent offering by the Over the Atlantic crew, and another testament to their undoubted talent as a band.

Fringe 2009, Waterfront
February 2-21 | Reviewed by Melody Nixon

THE PLAY with what could be the biggest heart in the Fringe opened on Monday for a lucky group of 25 rapt audience members. The Frogs Under the Waterfront is a highly ambitious and creative take on Aristophanes’ BC work, spiced with topical commentary; snippets of poetry, singing and – unbelievably – swimming; and much care and enthusiasm. While the overall working of the piece is patchy in parts, and could be shortened by at least half an hour, the pure novelty of the experience, the courage of the actors (some of whom brave the tepid Wellington waters for nigh on two hours) and the eloquence of the opening and closing scenes make this work truly worthwhile.

San Francisco Bathhouse
January 29 | Reviewed by Svenda Ström

DISCLOSURE: As an impromptu, last minute stand-in for an absentee reviewer, I write tentatively of this gig as a musician and regular admirer of live music, but not necessarily a follower of the two acts billed. Hoping that enthusiasm would compensate for my lack of knowledge, I arrived much too early, the scene subdued at a quarter past eight. Bartenders aplenty were preparing themselves for the deluge of cheerful Stereolab fans eager to see a band that had not played in Wellington for ten years. Most turned up before the support act, a solo female musician calling herself Bachelorette, entered the stage. I positioned myself in front of the mixing desk, at the back of the stage area, and curiously watched her through the shallow and equally shy wall of punters before me.

Circa Theatre
Jan 24-Feb 21 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

Betrayal is arguably the most accessible of Pinter’s works. Emma betrays her husband, Robert, a publisher, by conducting a seven-year affair with his best friend, Jerry, a literary agent. Although the plot is seemingly simple, it is told (mostly) in reverse – beginning with a meeting between Emma and Jerry several years after their affair has ended, and ending with the beginning of the affair (although who knows how long the feelings have been latent within them). Its themes become both clear and complex due to the retrospective construction – love, lust, memory, and of course, betrayal. Pinter ruthlessly pursues the point at which love begins to end – and the deceit begins.