Kiwis In America

Flying Kiwi Productions

2010-11-17T15:10:00.000-08:00

Sam:

This post is about a cool new business in Auckland, Flying Kiwi Productions, who specialise in low cost video and photography production. Using modern dslr camera technology they are able to make vibrant, eye catching short videos, music videos and web videos at very affordable prices. They also have a studio for photography work including portraits and editorial fashion phootgraphy.

Check them out here:
Photography, Video Production

Lets get down in Barclelona!

2009-11-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking pretty heavily about moving to Barcelona some time in the near future, so this track has a much deeper relevance in my life than you might first think. I always love lifelike remixes, and thought his version of Chromeo - Needy Girl was definitely near the top of the heap.
This track is by a group of four chicks called Plastiscines. I dunno... pfff. But I love the remix, plenty of chords and bass all that stuff.

Plastiscines - Barcelona (Lifelike Remix) (Mp3)

This next track is in the same cruisy driving home vain. I always thought Kleerup was about the coolest swedish dude around ever since he made the beat for Robyn - With Every Heartbeat and I think a bunch of other Robyn stuff.... Sweden's always had a disproportionate number of mega house producers but now with Kleerup and Basshunter they're kind of getting good at pop too, ABBA style.
This track is from his self titled debut album Kleerup and is just cool I dunno kind of sounds like baby music but dark music at the same time.... ?

Kleerup - Thank You For Nothing (Mp3)

Best for last - my favourite now broken up band The XX get a dirty house remix of Shelter by Death To The Throne. Shelter kind of grew on me till it was my favourite track of the album, but this is sick it keeps all the great vocals and atmosphere but just has a dirty pushing electro beat under it! Gonna go make a cup of tea.

The XX - Shelter (Death To The Throne Remix) (Mp3)

Being silly

2009-11-09T18:51:00.001-08:00

Above is an artist's impression of how my friend's house usually looks at about 2am. These next two songs are pretty cheezy but they've been on pretty heavy repeat!

Kesha - Tik Tok (Mp3)

Iyaz - Replay (Mp3)

Weezin!

2009-11-09T18:42:00.001-08:00

This is the big single off Weezer's new Raditude album, I like it! Reminds me of american pie

Weezer - (If you're wondering if you want me to) I want you to (Mp3)

Snares are the new Hi Hats

2009-11-08T23:28:00.000-08:00

Much like the picture above, I've found a new trend in Hip Hop which gives me hope for the future...
These songs both have a 'hip hop' feel to them, which seems obvious but I feel like the golden age of intense hi hat krunk rap is behind us and judging by cds like Jay Z's new one, rap's turning back into hip hop!

Big Boi feat Gucci Mane - Shine Blockas (Mp3)

World tour features the lyrics da da da daaa da, dun na da da da daa daa

Wale - World Tour (Mp3)

Bruh Man

2009-10-24T00:58:00.000-07:00

Sam:
My flatmate kept going on about how his character in my show was gonna be like 'Bruh Man', always popping up for no reason. I didn't know what he was on about so looked into it...

So here's some bruh man, straight from the 'Fifth Flo'

"What you doin up? I usually have the place to myself round this hour..." hahahaha

Biggie mashups for africa

2009-10-24T00:31:00.000-07:00

Sam:
Seems like right now throwing a biggie acapella over a track is this years version of all the daft punk remixing that went on a few years back... In the last two weeks I've noticed these two tracks pop up:

This one is the mashup equivalent of throwing 22s on a yellow VW beetle (the new model beetle...) and... I guess it is what it is. For the record I kind of love it but dunno if i'd ever wanna play it anywhere other than in a car full of drunk girls... But then they'd just wanna listen to the original. Bit of a catch 22...

Biggie vs Miley Cirus - Party And Bullshit in The USA (Mp3)

The next is Pac and Biggie's raps from 'Runnin' over 'Intro' by The XX (woop woop! best new band!!!!!). This one's a lot better in my opinion, more 'general', kind of like throwing 22s on an audi or something. Certain people might be like 'tut tut' at this kind of gaudy behaviour, but the guy driving it would just be like 'so what buy your own audi losers'...

Biggie vs The XX - Runnin with The XX (Mp3)

Oooh Look at me I go to university...

2009-10-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Sam:
Vampire Weekend seemed to cause quite a stir when they released their debut album Vampire Weekend... I was probably playing civ 4 or something cus I never noticed it but they were definitely a hyped up band.
Here's a link to get the single Horchata off their announced album Contra. To be honest I think it kind of just sounds like everything off their first album but not as cool...
So here's some goodies off their debut:

Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma (Mp3)

Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Mp3)

Kind of reminds me of early Rage Against The Machine, back when Tom Morello and crew used to wear turquoise sweaters and sniff flowers on picnic benches... (Not many people know about that period in their career)

Speaking of which, this song got me thinking how at any given moment there are 50,000 people walking through the desert south of me coming across the border from Mexico...

Rage Against The Machine - Maria (Mp3) Off the Album Battle of Los Angeles

Yea Buddy! Rollin Like a big shot!

2009-10-19T01:29:00.000-07:00

Chevy tuned up like a Nascar pit stop!

Sam:
A while back the fine gentlemen of my fraternity had a bit of a social... One kid was in charge of djing on the party bus and he spent about 25 minutes trying to put this one song on:

Dorrough Music - Ice Cream Paint Job (mp3) (Off the album Dorrough Music)

Everyone was so drunk we never even really noticed haha. Overall track listing of the bus ride:
Ice cream paint job, 25 minutes silence/skipping between songs,Ice cream paint job x 5

Hotel, Motel, Shack Up Inn.

2009-10-16T19:26:00.001-07:00

Dylan:

Whilst travelling through Clarksdale Mississippi, I stayed at the Shack Up Inn; this place was a well-needed break from the monotony of the franchise accommodation utilized along the rest of the 6000mile journey.

This ex-cotton plantation was home to blues man/tractor driver Pinetop Perkins, and today R.L. Burnside’s grandson performs at the Inn as one half of a Two Man Wrecking Crew.

R.L. Burnside - Goin' Down South feat. Lyrics Born

Painting the house

2009-10-16T17:01:00.000-07:00

Sam:
We've been planning a pretty big renovation at our house, but we need to get our hands on some paint. Its gonna be a big mural in our living room along the lines of sick NZ artists Askew's work:

The whole project's been mired in controversy... Its all about getting that PAINT somehow...

These tracks are dedicated to how our flatmate wanted to basically paint big africa murals haha... This 'The Very Best' Group looks pretty cool.

The Very Best Feat. EZ - Warm Heart of Africa (mp3)

Wale Feat. K'naan - Um Ricka (mp3)

Custom Grills

2009-10-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

Dylan:

When I think of clock radios I think of a bunch of clock makers getting into bed with a company that supplies speakers for laptops. But, today I got myself the lushest clock radio known to myself. It's made by Boston Acoustics, whose primary business is speakers, not clocks. I was looking for something small to connect my Macbook to, with solid low end, given the amount of bass driven music I have on rotation. Queue the Boston acoustics horizon duo; this unit is running some serious hardware, it weighs more than an obese toddler that's been denied healthcare coverage. Note the picture below is of the duo-i, which also has an ipod dock, clearly.

Didn't really purchase it to serve as an alarm clock, but one cool feature is that the entire rear body acts as the snooze button; so even the laziest of slaps is gonna buy you another 20 minutes. This badboy also has 9 different colored custom grills available. Would be cool to see a graf. art series of grills; I'd definitely pick up a pair.

Breakin' it in with a bit of this

Flying Lotus - Disco Balls

This tune is available on the 5 years of Hyperdub compilation.

No waaaaaaaay.... Not ever

2009-10-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

Sam:
Drugs are bad for people... especially Nyew Yaaawkers

White boy equivalent of songs that make my flatmate do the snappy fingers arm wave in front of him thing....

2009-10-16T13:27:00.001-07:00

Sam:
K so to stay true to my colonialist roots I had to offer a post of pure Kiwi girl moves to the big smoke and makes good Ladyhawke. nothing new here, just good old songs. For a while I had this rule that 'good girls listen to Ladyhawke', but I had to change that when I moved to America, as she's not exactly on heavy rotation over here. She should be though...

My Delirium's the big banger, hair shakey sing-alonger off her self titled Debut. I'll let you guess what it's called. here's a link to her website it's cool it has a cat attacking some old atari or something.

Embrace was off of PNAU's self titled non-debut album, PNAU. I think this remix is the best of all. The orgina mix is pretty summadayze crowd anthem sing along awesome but the Fred Falke & Miami Horror mix just has that BASS...

Ladyhake - My Delirium (mp3)

PNAU ft. Ladyhawke - Embrace (Fred Falke & Miami Horror Remix) (mp3)

Songs that make my flatmate do the snappy fingers arm wave in front of him thing....

2009-10-16T12:57:00.001-07:00

Sam:
Every now and then my flatmate throws on some music and walks past my door with this big grin on his face doing this 'groovy' arm wave thing... Or even more so when he's drunk in the back of some girls car and he convinces her to throw it on. Its fun... Im not gonna lie.

Mick Boogie Presents Jay Z Vs Marving Gaye - Hello Brooklyn (mp3)

Kid Cudi Feat MGMT - Pursuit of Happiness (mp3) (From his album Man On The Moon - The End of Day)

Talib Kweli feat Will I Am - Hot Thing (mp3) (Off his album Eardrum)

Jay Z Feat Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind (mp3) (Off The Blueprint 3 Album)

I think this song takes the funky arm movement thing crown though:

Mark Morrisson - Return of The Mack (mp3)

Off the album Return of The Mack

Cassette Tape DJ Pioneer

2009-10-15T21:42:00.000-07:00

Dylan:

It seems today that every man and his illegitimate love child are mixing using the likes of Serato etc. But these companies cant be blamed for the slump in vinyl sales, no, it's the russians who are to blame. Dj Artyom, paved the way with his analog to digital cassette tape turntables and mixer.

Upon first glance this looks like you couldn't get any more analog, but in fact he's got this rig connected to a PC that's running a whole host of custom MAX/MSP patches.

Oh No - Cassette (from the album, Dr. No's Oxperiment)

The history of floor fillers and bootlegs

2009-10-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

Sam:

It's funny I was thinking the other day about how back in the day classical music was like the hottest stuff out, like how hearing the new vivaldi would be like having the new Jay Z...

That got me on to thinking about bootlegs back then. I like to think wannabe musicians snuck into composers houses and quickly scribbled down the score, ran down the street past some urchins with a handful of papers, then went and busted it out on their grand piano at some underground tea party or something. It just seems cooler than some weird italian guy who knows some guy getting a copy of the mp3 and then that finding its way via the internet to a blank cd in your CDJ.... anyway...

This is kinda old now but it still does the trick as a floor filling bootleg:
Kanye West vs MGMT - Electric Touch (Mp3)

This one's just a straight vintage (classical you might say) floor filler on a big system (A big funky bassline never dies):
Groove Armada - Superstyling (Mp3)

Off of their awesome Best Of compilation

Clae Shoes Fall 2009 Look Book.

2009-10-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

Dylan:

I've always loved the clean designs these guys produce and the collection coming out this fall is looking real nice. Check 'em out.

I really want to get my old man into a pair of these. Gotta be about the most gangster boat shoes on the market.

Dr Hook - Original Gangsta

2009-10-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

Sam:

I was just listening to this song and reminisced about how it was like an ANTHEM to all the gangsters at my high school... I feel like that wasn't really Dr Hook's original intention.... But there you go.

Dr. Hook - When You're in Love With a Beautiful Woman (Mp3)

This is off their Pleasure and Pain album

Toothpaste and discrimination

2009-10-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

Sam:

Quite possibly the best commercial ever. Bangs home the relationship between clean teeth and institutionalised racism.

Racist Thai Commercial

This one's just funny. We live with an Italian and a Nigerian and this is basically exactly how it is... Joe sleazing around in his tighty whiteys and Dave popping up out of washing machines flexing his muscles.

Bob Marley would be rolling in his grave...

Bob Marley - Redemption Song (Mp3)

Legend is a best of album that is of course jam packed with great songs.

Splore Festival 2010

2009-10-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

Dylan:

Not long after stumbling across the We Make it Good Mix Series Vol. 5 mixed by The Gaslamp Killer I read the first announcement for Splore Festival 2010 (a three day festival just south of Auckland, on the east coast of New Zealand).

The line up so far is :

Jamie Lidell (UK)

Kid Carpet (UK)

Mystro (UK)

The Gaslamp Kiler (USA)

Daniel Haaksman (Germany)

10 Sui (UK)

Along with a wealth of local talent.

The one name on the bill that tickled me appropriately was obviously The Gaslamp Killer. I was suitably gurning for the homeland until I checked his MySpace and found out he’s playing on the 10^th of December at the Cherry Lounge & pit. It’s hardly on a par with the beachfront location of Splore, but I’m still hyped.

Passion Pit - The Reeling (Mosus & HLZ Remix)

2009-10-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

Dylan:

Operating from under a rock I had no idea who Passion Pit were until I heard this remix of the reeling by Mosus and HLZ. This rework was commissioned by Sony Music, but was never released. It’s an intelligent balance of bass driven grit whilst maintaining the electro-pop vibe of the original. Seriously nice bit of halftime drum & bass. Mosus and HLZ breathing life back into the genre and pushing boundaries.

Passion Pit - The Reeling (Mosus & HLZ remix)

Check out the Passion Pit official site for more info about their latest album Manners, and upcoming tour dates.

PassionPit.com

The end of Napoleon

2009-10-14T16:58:00.000-07:00

Sam:

About a week ago my flatmate gave his dog away to another family because we weren't really around enough or have enough space for a big ass pitbull puppy. We'll all miss him, so here's a little tribute to his glory days before I delete his facebook profile....

Napoleon doing what he did best... partying:

Napoleon learning to skateboard in his characteristic red tee:

Kind of wish Naps had of been easier to train, so this song is dedicated to his 'struggles' with authority.

Tupac Feat. Notorious BIG - Running

This is one of the really good Eminem - produced tracks on the Resurrection soundtrack.
(He was young and he was dumb but he had heart hahaha)

Producing for television 101

2009-10-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

Sam again.
I've been trying to get a pilot for this TV show I'm working on to happen, and my first real act as a 'producer' was to order an inflatable shark on ebay. The guy still hasn't got back to me with how to pay him, but I ended up settling on this nice little 72" model.

It's pretty good considering, but I ended up getting jacked with the shipping and handling. Some of the sharks weren't even close, they were like dolphins and hammerheads.

I found that Bob Dylan - Tangled Up in Blue, from his Blood On the Tracks album, was a good song to search for inflatable sharks to. All the talk about music in cafes and revolution in the air seemed to add a sense of importance to what I was doing.

Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue (Mp3)