Xmas on the Beach

Well after two of the Beach DJs being instrumental in saving the Waiheke Santa Parade from the apathy of Auckland City the thing went ahead on Saturday in all it's island glory with more floats than it's ever had and a good spectator turnout. Even despite the torrential rain that made the route back up Oneroa Village quite a battle against the forces of nature for both viewers and participants, the word on the street has been that it was one of the best parades in recent memory. So congrats to all those who put in the hard yard to get the thing back (you know who you are) and for all the Waihekians to turned out to watch.

The Beach had another spectacular float this year that consisted of a bamboo transmission tower ala Gilligans Isle on the back of Barry's trailer, surrounded by a banana tree and a couple of beach umbrellas, plus the usual DJs in their festive kiwi Xmas garb. We handed out the usual CD singles to the kids and blasted the Beach and generally a good time was had by all. Bit dissapointed to not win in any of the categories that were proferred up this year, but in effect I reckon a pat on the back for the Beach crew in making sure that the thing was still around anyways and for creating the most appropriately themed float in the parade.

Pre-parade meditations - getting in the zone.

The weather started getting rough...

There's a few more pics of the Beach float, here.

Cause of death: Heart failure due to tequila and morphine overdose

Such is the cause of death listed for one Cecil Ingram Connor, III better known to some of us as Gram Parsons. This coming Sunday will mark 33 years since that fateful concoction knocked one of country musics more interesting characters out of the game - aged 26. A solo artist as well as a member of both The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, he is best known for a series of recordings which anticipate the so-called country rock of the 1970s and the alt-country movement that began around 1990. To mark the occassion I played the following songs from across Parson's oevre:

Life in Prison - The Byrds
Dim Lights - The Flying Burrito Brothers
Hot Burrito #1 - The Flying Burrito Brothers
We'll Sweep Out the Ashes - Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels (live radio broadcast)
Return of the Grevious Angel - Gram Parsons
Ooh Las Vegas - Gram Parsons
Love Hurts - Gram Parsons (duet w/ Emmylou Harris)
Sin City - Beck and Emmylou Harris

There's a fantastic bio of Gram Parsons called Hickory Wind: The Life and Times of Gram Parsons, by Ben Fong-Torres if you're interested or quite a good article (that I contributed to years ago) here in Wikipedia. Worth a read if at least for the intriguing tale of his cremation by manager Phil Kaufman, a story that has taken on legendary proportions and been treated on screen numerous times.

The full playlist of Country Mike's Hauraki Hoedown can be found here.

This weeks Mix & Mash Radio Show - 11 November 2006

Yeah, good to get back in the seat after a week getting used to turning into a responsible adult, father type person somewhat earlier than expected this week!! and a good week to return it was too - Lots of new releases to keep at least this old man entertained!!!

Fatboy Slim returned with a new single, Champion Sound (which he cheekily put on his greatest hits CD a few months back), the Gossip released a single stuffed full of brillaint remixes off last years single Standing in the way of Control' and Basement Jaxx released an intruiging little track with a bit of a country flavour to it 'Take me back to your house'. Not forgetting the new single CSS - Alala (New single from the Brazilian band that brought you 'Let's make love and listen to death from above' - And it's darn funky. Essentially it's a bunch of hot Brazilian girls and an old guy making electro-party tunes in the LCD Soundsystem stylee.

Also worth a mention is The Good, The Bad And The Queen - Herculean (Out last Tuesday, 31st October) brand new from Damon Albarns's latest project and very fine it is too! He's turning out to be a bit of a national institution is our Damon isn't he?

Somewhere during the show I did play Spiller's Cry Baby (Röyksopp remix) for my new baby Bam Bam which did indeed make me cry! Must be going soft afterall!!!

Hour 1 Part 1 - 19:30

Guns n Bombs - Crossover Appeal
Fatboy Slim - Champion sound (Released on 6th November and already on his greatest hits CD out a few months back - which is a bit cheeky!!!)
The Gossip - Standing in the way of control (Playgroup mix) (From a new single release of last years brilliant Standing in the way of control from the Gossip - Other remixes include Headman, Playgroup, Tronik Youth and a belter from Soulwax.
Basement Jaxx - Take me back to your house (Out on 30 Oct 2006)


Hour 1 Part 3 - 21:56

CSS - Alala Released 30th October)
The Cure v Boomtown Rats v New Order dont like mondays its friday (club mix)(A brand new mix from Mark Vidler of Go Home Productions fame. For a copy of this and two other tracks from his new EP go to www.gohomeproductions.co.uk)
Datarock - Fa fa fa
Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel like Dancing - Erol Alkan's Carnival of Light re-work - ESSENTIAL!!!


Hour 2 Part 1 - 22:01

Beck - Nausea (new beck.com)
Teddybears - PUnkrocker
Wolfmother - Joker & the thief (to be released on 20 Nov 2006) I LOVE Wolfmother!!! :-)
The Good, The Bad And The Queen - Herculean (Out last Tuesday, 31st October)
Lily Allen - Littlest Things (Out on 9th November) Brilliant, love the lyrics from this third single from Lily Allen. The album is priceless!!
Air - Alpha Beta Gaga (Mark Ronson Instrumental Mix)


Hour 2 Part 3 - 24:31

The 25 minute mix

Spank Rock - Bump (Switch Remix)
Moby - Go (Trentemoller Remix) (Check out the superb Twin Peaks sample on this brilliant track, essentially more Trentemoller than Mody!)
Spiller - Jumbo
Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler

Enough said, all quality tunes, impecably mixed into 25 glorious minutes! :-) Go to http://kimberleymansfield.multiply.com/music/item/31

Until next time!

I'd Like To Thank The Academy, My Family, And God.

There has been a terrific response to the Counting The Beat Alternatuis (see the post below). This may even become an annual event.

Some of the winners have been in touch and made acceptance speeches.

Album of the Year: Steve Abel - Little Death

Steve recommends people check out the tracks he has streaming on MySpace.

Best Male Solo Artist: Dudley Benson

Best Group: The Mint Chicks

In My Humble Opinion

Never mind the Tuis - Here's the Alternatuis.
Last week the Tuis were held. These are probably the biggest of the NZ music awards. There are a number of categories based on commercial and artistic success. Unlike the Silver Scrolls, which are judged on songwriting ability, for the Tuis sales and public appeal do count. This week Counting The Beat will feature some of the Tui winners alongside the Counting The Beat picks for artists and releases of the year - The Alternatuis. The criteria for selection is simply whether or not Counting The Beat rates it or not - hence, In My Humble Opinion.

Single of the Year: Chris Knox and The Nothing
What is a single anyway? There are hardly any singles actually released anymore. A single nowadays is just a track picked for promotion and airplay. Even the single charts are put together on the basis of both airplay and sales. Whether it is a real single or not - to succeed it must have a hook, be catchy as hell, and preferably a great sing-along chorus. The Tui was picked up by Pluto for "Long White Cross". The Counting the Beat Alternatui goes to Chris Knox and The Nothing for "Great Big Puppy Eyes".

Best Male Solo Artist: Dudley Benson
Dave Dobbyn picked up the Tui for this category- his fifteenth. While he must be respected for his longevity and genuine talent, these award shows can sometimes seem a bit like the Dave Dobbyn and Don McGlashan show. Here on Counting The Beat we like to showcase new talent so the Alternatui goes to newcomer Dudley Benson. I guarantee you haven't heard of this guy. He put out an EP, Steam Railways of Britain, in a limited run of 75 - a surefire way to cultdom and obscurity. But what a voice. Take a listen.

Best Female Solo Artist: Bic Runga
Bic Runga won the Tuis For Best Female Solo Artist and Best Album, and you won't get any argument from me. Birds is a fantastic album full of dark, slightly unsettling but fragile songs. Runga is a fantastic performer and a truly great songwriter. Notable mentions in the female solo artist category go to Miriam Clancy (stream of live performance here), Reb Fountain (tracks on myspace) and Flip Grater (songs and video). New Zealand is producing some very good female singer-songwriters at the moment. These three are top class.

Best Group: The Mint Chicks
Pop-punkers Elemeno P pick up the Tui. There was absolutely no doubt in the Counting The Beat camp who the Alternatui would go to. The Mint Chicks are the stand out group of the year by far. Their album Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! is superb. These guys write pop songs full of oddball structures and tangential ideas. Live, they go off like the Energiser ad. As previously heralded here on the Counting The Beat blog the Mint Chicks are currently the best band in the land.

Best Rock Album: Jakob
One of two Tuis for The Bleeders in this category, they also took out Breakthrough Artist. The Alternatui goes to Jakob for their third album Solace. Jakob are a guitar, bass and drums instrumental three piece whose songs are at once brooding , powerful and beautiful. They draw influence from the isolation and power of the landscape around their home town, Napier. I once saw this band perform at The Big Day Out. They were so loud the whole crowd took an involuntary step backwards. They built slowly to a huge crescendo and then the gear blew up - literally - smoke / silence. Awesome. The Jakob website is currently being rebuilt so check out some tracks from their myspace page.

Album of the Year: Steve Abel
As mentioned earlier Bic Runga got the Tui for best album. My pick is a little old but one of the strange things about the Tuis is that they seem to span a long timeframe. This year Dave Dobbyn was nominated for Available Light, the same album he was nominated for last year. So, if it's good enough for them it's good enough for me. Steve Abel's Little Death has also had a previous mention on this blog. He is an extraordinarilyly good songwriter - the album is haunting and quiet with the songs he often performs solo live augmented with additional instrumentationon including accordion and the additonal vocals of Golden Horse singer Kirsten Morrell. A hidden treasure in the New Zealand music scene, check out this stream of a live performance.

There you go - the Counting The Beat Alternatuis. Any questioning of the judges decisions will be treated with utter contempt. You can check out the full list of Tui winners here and if awards are your thing also take a look at the bNets.

Hauraki Hoedown Highlight - Ramblin' Jack Elliot

Apparently the name Ramblin' Jack is not as it may seem the mark of honor given to a well travelled man (although I'd imagine that he is that as well) but is rather the result of this 75 year olds propensity to retell countless stories before answering even the simplest of questions. It's kind of ironic that a man so prone to the conversational arts can produce an album of 16 tracks that clock in at a mere 32-and-a-half minutes. "My Old Dog and Me" lasts 19 seconds!

As you might suspect the story goes a little something like this: born 1931 in New York, ran away from home as a teenager and joined a rodeo in an attempt to fulfill his childhood dream. Learnt to play the guitar and started busking for a living. Eventually he hooked up with Woody Guthrie and lived with him as a kind of student. Not too bad. And at 75 Ramblin' Jack has changed labels and released "I Stand Alone" on the Anti- label (home to the likes of Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Michael Franti & Spearhead) with an assortment of guest backup players including Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, Lucinda Williams, and celebrated rockers Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker, Nels Cline, and X / Knitters drummer DJ Bonebrake.

I played one of the longest tracks on the CD: "Arthritis Blues", a nicely sung prescription of folk cures for the protaganists arthritis including apple jack, gin and opium, none of which seem to do the trick. The only cure seems to be shared misery. Theres a lot of tales shared with the listener on this short CD, tales from songs collected over a life of travelling. In an anecdote that may resonate with people on the island, Elliot was going to call this CD "Not For The Tourists" because it was recorded in response to his daughter's request for songs he loved but never played in concert. When she asked why he did not play them in public, he replied "These songs are not for the tourists".

There's a couple of free downloads of the "not for the tourist" songs available from the Anti- site, here: http://www.anti.com/media.php?id=33

The full playlist of the Hauraki Hoedown can be found at the Casa de Country Mike.

Dj Simon - MIx & Mash 7th Oct

This weeks show was stuffed full of new goodies including a new track from Beck's, Cell Phone's Dead, a signature Jacque Lu Cont Thin White Duke Mix of The Killers new single When You Were Young, a great new track, (supported obviously by a stunning video) from Beyonce and two 'not so new' remixes from the DFA although they are just released on the brilliant new 'DFA remixes - Chapter 2' CD out this week. Am still loving the CSS - Let's make love and listen to death from above single (is anyone hearing that up there in the northern hemisphere?) but in the end my track of the week has to go to..........The Rapture - Get Myself Into It (Serge Santiago Edit). First up, I'm just glad that The Rapture have a returned with a quality single after a three year wait and this subtle, funky remix from Brighton's own Serge Santiago is excellent! Download it from http://kimberleymansfield.multiply.com/music/


Hour 1 Part 1 - 22:19

Shapeshifter - Electric dream
Nerd - She wants to move (DFA remix)
Beyonce Feat Jay-Z - Deja Vu
Beck - Cell Phone's Dead


Hour 1 part 3 - 21:18

Basement Jaxx - Hush boy
Chromeo - Destination overdrive (DFA remix)
The Killers - When You Were Young (Jacque Lu Cont's Thin White Duke Mix)
Peaches - Downtown


Hour 2 Part 1 - 19:13

The Gossip - Standing in the way of control - (Soulwax nite version)
Goose - British mode
The Rapture - Get Myself Into It (Serge Santiago Edit)
CSS - Let's Make Love & Listen Death From Above


Hour 2 Part 3 - 27:42

The '25 minute mix'

Plump DJs - Electric disco (d. ramirez remix)
Cassius Toop Toop (Cassius Reggae Rock Mix)
Robbie Williams - Lovelight (Soulwax Ravelight Dub)
Goose - British Mode (Jester Mix)

Hauraki Hoedown Playlist

I followed on from another BOBcast - this time celebrating the onset of daylight savings time by playing songs with the word "time" in the title. A significantly easier task for a country boy than some of Bob's earlier themes I discovered that I had a plethora of "time" related tracks at my fingertips so instead of the usual one or two offerings I extended the cast for another hour. Here's a list of what I played:

All the Time in Airports - The Handsome Family
A Matter of Time - Los Lobos
Baby Let the Bad Times Be - Junior Brown
Cry One More Time - Gram Parsons
Hard Time Killing Floor Blues - Chris Thomas King
Honky Tonk Night Time Man - Merle Haggard
Pretty Woman Won't Give Me the Time of Day - National Grain
Time Changes Everything - Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys
Right in Time - Lucinda Williams
Time of Your Life - Pickin' on Green Day
Hard Times - Waco Brothers
On Time - Soledad Brothers
Funny How Time Slips Away - Elvis
Just Passin' Time - Dwight Yoakum
Big City Good Time Girl - Wayne "the Train" Hancock
One More Time - Alejandro Escovedo
Hi Ho Silver - Freakwater
Dumb Blonde - Dolly Parton
Japanese Cowboy - Ween
People Learn Things When I Drink - Ron White
Nashville Radio - Jon Langford
Tornadoes - Drive-by Truckers
Driving Nails in my Coffin - Ramblin Jack Elliot
O Death - Ralph Stanley
Kiss of Death - Split Lip Rayfield
Star Witness - Neko Case
Winter in the Hamptons - Josh Rouse
I Feel Just Like A Child - Devendra Banhart
Wine Don't Lie - Dale Watson
Ain't Life Hell - Hank Cochran and Willie Nelson
Donkey Ride Straight to Hell - Michael Sheehy

Thanks to everyone who filled in the Beach Radio survey by either dropping it off in the station or filling it out online. Will try to get a bit of an aggregate of what we found out and post on the blog in the coming weeks.

Mix & Mash Radio Show - 23 Sept 2006

So, yeah, this weeks show. Was a a corker (even though I say so myself) There were new tracks and new bands all over the place and a general feeling of freshness in the air(waves) :-) That said, I so wanted to play the new Scissor Sisters single, I don't feel like dancin', this week. Petty it turned out to be a complete pile of old gubbins! Number 1 in the UK my arse!!!

Never mind, there were a couple of new Soulwax remixes to keep us all happy!


Hour 1 Part 1 - 20:47

The Gossip - Standing in the way of control (Soulwax remix) Go here to download this track! The second remix package of 'Standing In The Way Of Control' and here we have a lairy, synth heavy rocker from Soulwax. On the single there's also a percussive remix from Playgroup that utilizes the vocal to full effect and to round things off Headman serves up one of his dubs - Essential!!!!
Goldfapp - Satin Chic
Beck - Cell Phone's Dead (first of two tracks from Beck's soon to be released CD 'The information' coming out on Oct 3)
Roni Size - Brown paper bag (From New Forms from back in 1997 blimey almost 10 years ago...Roni Size played the Fu Bar, Auckland this Saturday.


Hour 1 part 3 - 19:33

Coldcut - True Skool (Playing Sept 28 St James, Auckland)
Basement jaxx - Hush boy (The current single)
CSS - Let's Make Love & Listen Death From Above (Brilliant)
Yoko Uno - Walking On Thin Ice - [Felix Da Housecat's Tribute Mix] An old (2003) but essential track from Felix da Housecat)


Hour 2 Part 1 - 20:42

Beck - Nausea (new beck.com) From his new album - The Information
Phoenix - Consolation prizes (A recent release from the mighty Phoenix from France)
The Rapture - Get myself into it (Current single)
Keith - Mona Lisa's Smile (Track came out a couple of weeks ago and there's some cracking remixes, one from Simian Mobile Disco) Last week's record of the week but I've grown tired of it already, funny how that happens eh!)
Jarvis Cocker - C*nts are still running the world
Jarvic Cocker quote: "I wanted you to hear it now cos It's exactly 1 year since that Live-8 thing & it was the night of that event that I wrote this song. I apologise for all the swearing but sometimes that's the only thing that seems appropriate. It's in no way a criticism of Geldof & co. but I remember thinking at the time: "Where does engaging with these politicians/businessmen really get you?" - ( 12 months on & the cunts still haven't paid up as far as I can make out) - maybe the problem is something more ..... fundamental." - Bless im!! :-)

This song (and video) is available @ http://www.myspace.com/jarvspace


Hour 2 Part 2 - 25:23

The 25 minute mix

Peter Bjorn John - Young Folks (Tomas Andersson remake
LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations (Tigas out of the trance closet mix)
North Shore Pony Club - Computer Games
Robbie Williams - Lovelight (Soulwax Ravelight dub) Unbelievable! not yet released. Not a hint of Mr Williams on this one and its all the better for it
Buy now - For sale

Silver Scrolls Report: Are the Mint Chicks the Best Band in the Land?

Mission accomplished! Last Wednesday, media pass in hand, I joined the likes of TV3 and National Radio in a VIP room at the Auckland Town Hall. We were there to interview the five nominees for the 2006 Silver Scrolls - the country's premier music award. Having blagged my way in at the last moment and therefore having done no interview prep whatsoever I listened in on the other interviews, partook of the complimentary drinks , and tried to look like I knew what I was doing.

After the interview session it was the mix and mingle. A five hundred strong crowd comprised of the nations top musos. Feeling a little braver I spoke to Chris Knox, Evermore, Cody from The Mint Chicks, Eddie Raynor from Split Enz and Ray Columbus. Listen out for "Your listening to . . . " stings from the last two on Counting The Beat.



The award ceremony itself is fantastic. Each of the nominated songs is performed by another New Zealand act. This leads to some great suprises and some cross-genre car crashes. In the latter category would be The North Shore Pony Club and Aaradhna covering Evermore's Running, while highlights were South Auckland teenagers Spacifix doing The Reduction Agents The Pool, and The Mint Chicks awesome version of Anika Moa's Stolen Hill. You should be able to hear excerpts of these performances and an interview I ended up doing with Don McGlashan in coming weeks on Counting The Beat.

But back to The Mint Chicks. They have just released their second album "Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!" which showcases their ability to make great pop skewed by a punk-brat anarchic aesthetic that means you never know where they are going next. One song by these guys contains more ideas than a whole album by many artists. If you haven't heard their material check out the songs streaming here. Their cover of Stolen Hill at the awards just confirmed their brilliance. The song was transformed from being an introspective quiet singer-songwriter piece to a tense, edgy thriller. Apparently they now want to include it in their live set.

The Mint Chicks are one of only two currently recording bands on the Flying Nun label, once the proud vanguard of intelligent indie pop in NZ (the other being The Shocking Pinks). Russell Brown of Public Address has been running a top five Flying Nun post which makes interesting reading. The predominance of old material is telling. Lets just hope that the labels 25th anniversary is marked by something better than the dire 'Under the Influence" album that was released for their 21st.

A box set is promised. Now that Flying Nun is under the wing of a multi-national conglomerate I fear the acts included will be the obvious ones like The Chills and The Straitjacket Fits. I've got no argument with that but I hope it's not at the cost of some of the great acts with out-of-print material that risk being lost to history. Let's hear it for Marie and the Atom!

Blogging slackness leads to catchup

Due to one or two internet hassles over the past three weeks I've been a bit remiss in not posting the track listing of my last three BOBcasts, so I'm about to rectify that grossness.

August 28th - WEEKEND

Janet jacson - Weekend
Black Eyed peas - Weekend
Dillinger Escape Plan - Weekend Sex Change
Dwele - Weekend Love
Bill Anderson - Wild Weekend
Ted Nugent - Weekend Warrior
Wall Of Voodoo - Lost Weekend
Unknown Prophets - The Weekend
S O S Band - Weekend Girl
Soul Seekerz - Party For The Weekend
Letter Kills - For The Weekend
Neil Young - Out On The Weekend
Ann Nesby - This Weekend
Steve Harvey - Black & White Folks Weekends (comedy)
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Lost Weekend
Hard Fi - Living For The Weekend
Art Brut - Bad Weekend
Wet Willie - Weekeend
Sweetheart - See You On The Weekend
Terminal Head - Weekend Warriors
The Starting Line - Nights And Weekends
Rookie Of The Year - The Weekend
George Benson - Weekend In LA
Kurupt & DJ Shadow - Another Cali Weekend
Steve Warner - The Weekend
Debbie Deb - Look Out Weekends


Sept 4th - OCEAN

Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue
Quercus Circus - Ocean Dreaming
Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
Groove Collective - Ocean Floor
Lustral - Ocean
Diana Krall - How Deep Is The Ocean
Led Zeppelin - The Ocean
Pablo Cruise - Ocean Breeze
Special EFX - Oceanna
Blue October - Into The Ocean
Manic Street preachers - Ocean Spray
Sparta - While Oceana Sleeps
Toad The Wet Sprocket - Walk On The Ocean
Mae - The Ocean
Starone - Songs Of The Ocean
John Mayer - Walk On The Ocean
Monica - I Will Cross The ocean For You
Acoustic Alchemy - Oceans Apart
George Strait - Ocean Front Property
The Decemberists - Oceanside
Pain Of Salvation - Oblivion Ocean

Sept 11th - SLEEP

John Lennon - How Do You Sleep
Bon Jovi - I'll Sleep When I'm dead
Cartel - The City Never Sleeps
Cher - We All Sleep alone
Electric Soft Parade - Sleep Alone
The Corrs - Only When I Sleep
Blind Melon - Sleepyhouse
Peter Gabriel & Enigma - While The Earth Sleeps
Peter Yorn - Sleep Better
Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night
Meatloaf - Sleep On it
Brothers In Sound - Sleep Again
Garbage - Sleep Together
Controller.Controller - Sleep Over It
The Early November - My Sleep Pattern Changed
Eric Gales - Sleepy Time Time
Dave Mathews Band - Sleep To Dream Her
Texas - Sleep
Beastie Boys - No Sleep Til Brooklyn
Z Z Top - Sleeping Bag
Socratic - Sleepless Nights
My American Heart - Don't Sleep
Silverstein - Smile In Your Sleep
Fiona Apple - Sleep To Dream

Sept 18th - RAIN

The Feelers - Rain (Kiwi Group)
The Apples In Stereo - Rainfall
Counting Crows - Rainking
Sizzla - Rain Showers
Belinda Carlisle - Summer Rain
Rolling Stones - Rain Fall Down
Garbage - Only happy When it rains
Match Box 20 - Rainmaker
The Fall - Rainmaker
LTJ Bukem - Sunrain
Stunts - Raindrops
Blind Melon - No Rain
Angeline Ball - I Cant Stand The Rain
James Blunt - Tears And Rain
The Jayhawks - Save It For A Rainy Day
Grateful dead - Box Of rain
Guns And Roses - November Rain
The Cult - Rain
Willie Nelson - Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
The Underdogs - Sittin Here In The Rain (Kiwi Group)
Tim McGraw - She's My Kinda Rain
Amanda Marshall - Let it Rain
Mondo Grosso - Tree Air & Rain On The Earth
Degrees K - Raindrop
Cascada - Cant Stop The Rain
Blue Rodeo - Rain Down On Me

...........and there you have it folks, all up to date now, time for.................?

Feedback

For once feedback on the radio is a good thing! We here at The Beach would like some feedback as what YOU would like to be listening to on your Community Radio Station. If you could take time to fill in our online survey you’ll be entered into the draw to win a TEN TRIP Fullers ferry ticket. To be in to win simply fill in the survey including your name, address, and telephone number before Friday the 29th of September and the 10 Trip could be yours.

Click here for the Beach Radio Feedback Questionnaire

And The Winner Is . . .

Of all the various NZ music awards - The Tuis, The bNets, Juice TV Music Awards?? etc - the most interesting have to be the Silver Scrolls. Running for over 40 years the Silver Scrolls are also regarded as highly credible. And that is because the nominees and winners are selected on the basis of songwriting talent rather than commercial success. Also the winner is voted on by a large panel that are songwriters themselves.

This can mean that you you get incredibly diverse selections amongst the 5 finalists. For example last year saw Evermore up against The Mint Chicks and Dave Dobbyn. The selected songs don't have to be by well known artists, they don't have to be singles and they don't have to be from a single genre.

This years final five are again an interesting mix. I will be featuring all five on Counting The Beat this Sunday. So in no particular order here they are.

First up, Evermore with Running. Evermore won the Silver Scroll last year with It's Too Late. This year they are up with a song from their latest album. These three brothers are huge in Australia and have also featured in the soundtrack of US teen telly show The OC. So, definitely a commercial song, with a pretty international flavour.

Anika Moa's Stolen Hill is the title track of her second album. She took a lot of time out to find herself after resisting record label attempts to market her as the next Bic Runga/Jewel. This track is representative of her attempt to assert her own personality through her songs.

Don McGlashan gets two tracks in the final five. Miracle Sun is the first single from his great solo album Warm Hands. McGlashan has an indisputable talent for story telling and characterisation in his lyrics. This song tells the story of a summertime visitor to Opononi during the season of Opo the Dolphin, managing to capture both the joy of the event and the melancholy of times past. This is the one that I think will win.

McGlashan is also nominated for Bathe in the River, a song from the soundtrack to the movie No. 2. It is soulful song delivered with vocal punch by Hollie Smith. Despite his talent I can't help thinking that a McGlashan win is a bit safe. Worldwide there seems to be a trend towards awards celebrating longevity and past glories - even Barry Manilow won an award last month ferr chrissakes!

Finally is the song I would like to win. The Pool is written by James Milne who performs under the name Lawrence Arabia. It is on one of two albums he has put out this year, a solo Lawrence Arabia album and the one that features this track with his band The Reduction Agents. The album, The Dance Reduction Agents, is great. It is full of 60s inspired pop songs that are interesting and unexpected. The nominated track is quite reminiscent of 'For the Benefit of Mr Kite' from the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper. The album got great reviews but no-one bought it. Put this right - get it today. You won't find The Pool here but there are downloadable tracks on MySpace.

The Silver Scroll will be announced on Sept 20th. The award ceremony is also something special. Each nominated song is performed by another top NZ music act in their own style. Unfortunately it is invite only. My aim this year is to get meself a ticket.

DJ Simon - The Mix & Mash Radio Show - 27th August

Here's the playlist for this week's show. I can't say there's a standout record of the week this week. Am loving The Gossip, especially the remixes (watch out for one from Soulwax soon) the Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve take on Kraut Rock is a winner but I've caught onto that far too later for it be nominated. The Quantic & Mr Scruff - Tell it like you mean it track is certainly up there and the Robster remix is pretty good but if I chose a Robbie williams song as a track of the week I think I might just have to shoot myself - Hmm, I dunno, you chose!!!

Hour 1 part 1 - 21:30

Lily Allen - Smile (Digital soundboy remix)
Robbie Williams - Rudebox (Soul mekanik ext vocal)
The Gossip_Standing In The Way Of Control (Le Tigre Remix)
Lazyboy - Underwear Goes Inside the Pants


Hour 1 Part 3 - 19:20

Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve - I Swim Around
Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Remix)
Hot Chip - Colours (DFA remix)


Hour 2 part 1 - 20:04

Wolfmother - Love Train
The Chemical Brothers - Shake Break Bounce
The Rapture - Get Myself Into It
EDITORS -Blood (Freelance Hellraiser Editorial)
The Futureheads - Worry about it later


Hour 2 Part 3 - 25:00

Peter Bjorn John - Young folks (Tomas andersson remake)
North Shore Pony Club - Computer Games
Hot chip - over and over solid groove remix
Scissor sisters - I dont feel like dancing (Paper faces mix)
Goose - Black gloves

Country Mike's Hauraki Hoedown Playlist

Here is the playlist for Country Mike’s Hauraki Hoedown on Beach Radio for Monday August 28th, 2006.

El Paso/Out on the Weekend - Giant Sand
Stubborn Beast - Jolie Holland
Ruination Day Part II - Gillian Welch
Needle in the Hay - Elliot Smith
I Won't Let You Down - Travel by Sea
Old Blue - Ramblin' Jack Elliot
Spit and Tears - Damnations
Crazy (Gnarls Barkley Cover) - Ray Lamontagne
I've Always Been Crazy - Waylon Jennings
I Wish I Was Crazy Again - Dale Watson
Crazy - Willie Nelson
No Fun - The Black Keys (Stooges cover)
Lowdown Streamline - The Soledad Brothers
Bush War Blues - Billy Bragg
Hospice for Destitute Lovers - Steve Abel
Your Loves Not In Vain - Broken Heartbreakers
Nest Egg - Phoenix Foundation
Broken Hills - the Boxcar Guitars
Surfer Girl - Beach Boys (rehearsal version, 1967)
Bamboo Swing - Bill Sevesi Team
The World is Waiting for a Sunrise - Jon Rauhouse
Sap - Freakwater
Bowling Alley Bar - The Handsome Family
Aftermath USA - Drive-by Truckers
The Hand that Throws the Bottle Down - The Waco Brothers
Venom Wearing Denom - Junior Brown
Roka - Calexico
The Ladder - Alejandro Escovedo
Por Las Parrandas - Flaco Jimenez*
When I Was Drinking - Hem

* I was sort of right about Parrandas ... they're Puerto Rican / Cuban form of Christmas carolling.

The Mix & Mash Radio show - 18th August 2006

Another week and another set of quality tunes to inflict upon an unsuspecting Island. If only the web streaming was up, I could broadcast to the whole planet!!! Ah well, just another couple of weeks to wait I'm told.

Track of the week

Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Remix)

The original version of this is the feelgood song of the winter (northern hemisphere) summer and is a song that is singlehandledly restoring whistling to its rightful place in pop! This 'Beyond the Wizzard' Sleeve' 'remix is beautifully stretched out, emphasising the bass and samples enough of the words and whistling to make cheer up even the most miserable of punters!!!

Ha ha - Have just been surfing around and found out that 'Beyond the Wizzard's Sleeve' are an alter ego of Riton and my (second) favourite Uber-muso - Erol Alkan. Well there's a thing! :-)

Go to http://kimberleymansfield.multiply.c9

01. GHP “Marvin’s Not In Love (Part1)” Marvin Gaye ‘Lets Get In On’ // 10CC ‘I’m Not In Love’
02. Mark Vidler “Strawfields To Skyplain”
03. GHP “Cold Missy School Cut” Coldcut ‘The Music Maker’ // Coldcut ‘True Skool’ // Missy Elliot ‘One Minute Man’
04. GHP “Don’t Hold Back (Sweet Jane)” Chemical Brothers ‘Galvanize’ // The Velvet Underground ‘Sweet Jane’
..... U2 ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ // MARRS ‘Pump Up The Volume’ // Blur ‘To The End’
05. Mark Vidler vs Andre Popp “Ophelian Dub” Andre Popp ‘Ophelia’
06. GHP “Velvet Sugar” The Archies ‘Sugar Sugar’ // The Velvet Underground ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’..... Bassment Jaxx ‘Where’s Your Head At?’
07. GHP “Riders Of Love” ABC ‘The Look Of Love (Part 4) // The Doors ’Riders On The Storm’
08. GHP “I Can’t Freak Her” XTC ‘I Can’t Own Her’ // Adina Howard ‘Freak Like Me'
09. GHP “Paul Wilson” The Beach Boys ‘I Guess I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times’ // Wings ‘Let ’Em In’
10. GHP “All My Birds” The Beatles “All My Loving” // The Beatles ‘For No One’ // Annie Lennox “Little Bird’


Hour 2 Part 1 - 19:22

Jim noir - Eanie meany (fat boy slim radio edit)
Madonna - Lycra Virgin (Moc2Fem>

The Mix & Mash Radio Show - 19th August 2006

Another week and another set of quality tunes to inflict upon an unsuspecting Island. If only the web streaming was up, I could broadcast to the whole planet!!! Ah well, just another couple of weeks to wait I'm told.

Track of the week

Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Remix)

The original version of this is the feelgood song of the winter (northern hemisphere) summer and is a song that is singlehandledly restoring whistling to its rightful place in pop! This 'Beyond the Wizzard' Sleeve' 'remix is beautifully stretched out, emphasising the bass and samples enough of the words and whistling to make cheer up even the most miserable of punters!!!

Ha ha - Have just been surfing around and found out that 'Beyond the Wizzard's Sleeve' are an alter ego of Riton and my (second) favourite Uber-muso - Erol Alkan. Well there's a thing! :-)

Go to http://kimberleymansfield.multiply.com/music for a download of
DJ Simon

Country Mike's Hauraki Hoedown Playlist

Many thanks to Cowboy Bob for filling in for me last week as I was laid up w/ the leurgy ... he did a great show and even posted the playlist... cher! I followed his latest monday BOBcast with a couple of Sunday songs myself which was his theme this week. Not sure if i'll get time to really write up a highlight but I'm thinking that something on the Freakwater CD that I've progressively been playing is in order.

Sunday Morning Coming Down - Johhny Cash
Sunday Sunny Mill Valley Groove Day - Frank Black
Country Mike's Theme Song - Beastie Boys
Hong Kong Blues - Ramblin' Jack Elliot
Come On In - R.L. Burnside
My Mind is Ramblin - The Black Keys
Flapping Your Broken Wings - The Handsome Family
Panic Open String - Calexico
When I Was Drinking - Hem
Double Clutch - Freakwater
Blacklisted - Neko Case
Dear Head on the Wall - Alejandro Escovedo
Lonely I Be - Steve Abel
Walkin on Hells Roof Looking at the Flowers - The Waco Brothers
High Places - Los Lobos
Let It Roll - The Willard Grant Conspiracy
Girl In the War - Josh Ritter
White Center - Damien Jurado
The Beatles - Devendra Banhart
Gray Stables - Iron & Wine
Arthritis Blues - Ramblin' Jack Elliot
Hobo Blues - John Lee Hooker
Righteously - Lucinda Williams
These Golden Jewels - The Handsome Family
Strange Weather - Tom Waits
Waiting for a Sign - Jon Dee Graham
Salvador Sanchez - Sun Kil Moon

Hauraki Hoedown with Country Bob (Mikes Cuzzi)

I had the opportunity Monday night to fill in for Country Mike on the Hauraki Hoedown, and I must say this is one show I love to guest for. Heres a list of the tracks I played for my cousin
Country Mike.

Hal Ketchum - Small Town Saturday Night - Past The Point Of Rescue 1991
Southern Culture On The Skids - Banana Pudding
Aaron Trippin - Aint Nothing Wrong With The Radio
Alan Jackson - Pickup Man
Bonnie Raitt - Unnecessarily Mercenary
Cowboy Junkies - Hunted
Los Lobos & John Hiatt - Down On The Riverbed
Joe Ely - Rock Salt & Nails
Iron & Wine & Calexico - Prison On Route 41
Blue Rodeo - Bulletproof (Album Vers)
The Legendary Shack Shakers - Blood On The Bluegrass
Travis Tritt - Ten Feet Tall & Bulletproof
Lonnie Mack - Rockin Pneumonia & The Boogie Woogie Flu
Lousiana Red - Down So Long
Jeff Foxworthy - Drinking Do's & Dont's (comedy)
Mitch Woods & The Rocket 88's - Shakin The Shack
Powder Blues Band - Thirsty Ears
The Legendary Shack Shakers - Shake Your Hips
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - Hidden Superstition
Ricky Skaggs & K T Oslin - Seven Hillsides
The Phoenix Foundation - Slightest Shift In The Weather
Dierks Bentley - How Am I Doin?
Lonnie Mack - Too Rock For Country
Stoney LaRue - Hardwired
Dave Alvin - King Of California
Jimmy Rodgers Allstar Band - Gonna Shoot You Right Down
Southern Culture On The Skids - 69 El Camino
Grateful Dead - One More Saturday Night
Lorrie Morgan - Five Minutes

It was indeed an Honour and a Pleasure.

Saturday Is But One Day

So the BOBcasts keep on coming and here is the list of songs that were played Monday 14/08/06.
Songs with the word Saturday in their title and the Albums they came from:-

Bon Jovi - Someday I'll Be Saturday Night - Crossroads (Japan Release) 1999
Oceansize - Saturday Morning Breakfast Show - Effloresce 2003
Marc Broussard - Saturday - Carenco 2004
De La Soul - Roller Skating Jam Saturday
Ozomatli - Saturday Night - Street Signs 2004
Cold Chisel - Saturday Night - Twentieth Century 1984
John Fogerty - Almost Saturday Night - Premonition 1998
Charlie Daniels Band - Louisiana Saturday Night - Greatest Hits 1987
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Saturday Night Special - The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd 1998
Jason Forrest - Skyrocket Saturday - Shamelessly Exciting 2005
Milo - Saturday People - Darkside Of The Rumours 2003
Joey Negro - Saturday - Mint unknown year of release
Kylie Minogue Vs Whigfield - Saturday Night Remix - Just another horrible Mix & Mash
Nickleback & Kid Rock - Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting - Charlies Angels Full Throttle
Soundtrack 2003
Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Saturday Night - So I Married An Axe Murderer Soundtrack 1993
Suburban Reptiles - Saturday Night Stay At Homes - 12 inch release Kiwi Band
Eels - Saturday Morning - Music From The OC Mix2 2004
Groove Collective - Saturday Afternoon - Self Titled Album 1993
Oliver Cheatham - Get Down Saturday Night - Pure Groove The Classics 2003
Cherrelle with Alexander O'Neal - Saturday Love - Greatest Hits 2005
Vertical Horizon - Sunrays And Saturdays - Running On Ice 1995
Holly Cole - The Heart Of Saturday Night - Temptation 1999
Cat Stevens - Another Saturday Night - Very Best Of 2000
Fall Out Boy - Saturday - Take This To Your Grave 2003
The Rocket Summer - Saturday - Calendar Days 2003

......and there you have it!

No Bo Derek Here

The Bobcast Special last Monday 07/08/06 was the last of the numerical sequence that I started at number 1 and finished on 10. However don't despair of these specials disappearing off the radar, as I have three more lined up already with ideas pouring in from fellow staffers and esoterical ethers.

Herewith the TEN Special:-

Fauna Flash - Ten (Kyoto Jazz Massive Remix)
Missy Higgins - Ten Day
Buddy Guy - Ten Years Ago
Aerosmith - Big Ten Inch Record
Motley Crue - Ten Seconds Of Love
The Cure - Ten Fifteen Saturday Night
The Bats - Ten To One
The Hives - 10AM Automatic
Underoath - I Got Ten Friends And A Crowbar
Five For Fighting - Ten Miles From Nowhere
Led Zeppelin - Ten Years Gone
INXS - Gods Top Ten
Kill Hannah - 10 More Minutes With You
Prince Buster - Ten Commandments Of Man
UB 40 - One In Ten
Halifax - Ten Fingers Isn't Enough
The Get Up Kids - Ten Minutes
George Canyon - Working On Ten
Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists
Bury Your Dead - Ten Minute Romance
Tracy Byrd - Ten rounds With Jose Cuevero
The Wailin Jennys - Ten Mile Stilts
George Carlin - The Ten Commandments (comedy)
Vinnie Colaiuta & Robben Ford - Ten Goku
Travis Tritt - Ten Feet Tall & Bulletproof

There ya go folks, stay tuned to the beach on 99.4fm & 107fm on Waiheke Island and hopefully
streaming on the web again in the near future as major tele comms are being devised.

Special BOBcasts coming up featuring the words Saturday Sunday & Weekend!!!!

DJ Simon - The Mix & Mash Radio show 12th August 2006

I was off air last week so it was good to get back behind the desk. Loadsa new stuff this week.

Tune of the week: Goose - Black gloves (Extended mix)

Peter Bjorn And John 'Young Folks' almost got there this week but this gorgeous, throbbing, funky dance tune pipped it at the post. Goose are a four-piece band from Belgian and have thrust their synth-based, rocking sound on the world, and it's catchy as hell. It's really clear that a lot of influences have gone into this release. Pumping, jerky, thick beats proliferate, allowing the track penetrates your consciousness, making it way more accessible than something you'd hear at a rave. However, it still retains that unique sound that makes Goose so special.

The combination of vocals, record scratching, synth and funky backing tune make 'Black Gloves' one of the stand-out dance releases of the year.

This is a track that could become truly mainstream in Britain, and has already demonstrated this potential by being featured on a recent ad for Coca Cola across Europe. 'Black Gloves' is due to be let out to pasture on a very limited release, and will only be available on vinyl, so you'd do well to get out there and purchase it while you can.

Hour 1 Part 2 - 19:14

Lily Allen - Smile (Digital Soundboy remix)
Britney Spears v Linus loves - Britney loves linus (Essexboy bootleg)
Destiny's Child v Thin Lizzy - Waiting for a destiny (GHP Bootleg) - Priceless!
Peter Bjorn And John - Young Folks

Hour 1 Part 3 - 18:39

GO HOME PRODUCTIONS-THE BLUE ROOM MIX (2006) As aired on Radio1's Blue Room Show 15/07/2006

01. GHP “Marvin’s Not In Love (Part1)” Marvin Gaye ‘Lets Get In On’ // 10CC ‘I’m Not In Love’
02. Mark Vidler “Strawfields To Skyplain”
03. GHP “Cold Missy School Cut” Coldcut ‘The Music Maker’ // Coldcut ‘True Skool’ // Missy Elliot ‘One Minute Man’
04. GHP “Don’t Hold Back (Sweet Jane)” Chemical Brothers ‘Galvanize’ // The Velvet Underground ‘Sweet Jane’..... U2 ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ // MARRS ‘Pump Up The Volume’ // Blur ‘To The End’
05. Mark Vidler vs Andre Popp “Ophelian Dub” Andre Popp ‘Ophelia’
06. GHP “Velvet Sugar” The Archies ‘Sugar Sugar’ // The Velvet Underground ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’..... Bassment Jaxx ‘Where’s Your Head At?’
07. GHP “Riders Of Love” ABC ‘The Look Of Love (Part 4) // The Doors ’Riders On The Storm’
08. GHP “I Can’t Freak Her” XTC ‘I Can’t Own Her’ // Adina Howard ‘Freak Like Me'
09. GHP “Paul Wilson” The Beach Boys ‘I Guess I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times’ // Wings ‘Let ’Em In’
10. GHP “All My Birds” The Beatles “All My Loving” // The Beatles ‘For No One’ // Annie Lennox “Little Bird’

This entire mix (above) was ripped from a gohomeproductions set put together for the Blue Room and broadcast on BBC Radio 1 last month is available to download @ http://www.gohomeproductions.co.uk/mp3.html

Hour 2 Part 1 - 19:22

Jim Noir - Eanie meany (fat boy slim radio edit)
Madonna - Lycra Virgin (Mock & Toof remix)
Justin Timberlake - Sexy back
Gorillaz - Kids with guns - Hot chip remix
Lazy Boy - Underwear Goes Inside the Pants

Hour 2 Part 3 - 24:52

Goldfrapp - Ride a white horse (fk ek vocal version)
Donna Summer v Gnarls Barclay - I Feel Crazy (PartyBen mashup)
Scissor sisters - I dont feel like dancing (Paper faces mix)
Goose - Black gloves (Extended mix)

Beach Radio's live streaming is down at the moment while we switch ISP but check back to www.beachradio.net soon to listen live 12-2 here in NZ, 1am BST and 2am CET.

Country Mike's Hauraki Hoedown Playlist

Sorry to break the illusion that we're broadcasting from a secret tricked out high tech bunker somewhere beneath Stony Batter ... but this is pretty much what Beach Radio looks like most of the time. If you look hard enough you might just make out the duct tape that holds the desk together.

Thought I'd chuck my playlist up in case anyone was interested. Of note tonight I thought was a kind of experimental piece (way out of line from my usual faire), by a guy called Mazen Kerbaj who recorded this piece "Starry Night" from the balcony of his flat in Beirut with himself on trumpet and the Israeli airforce providing the bombs! Eerie and quite disturbing; you can grab a copy from the link in the playlist.

Ten Little Kids - the Jayhawks
Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine - the White Stripes
Portland, Oregon - Loretta Lynn
Arthritis Blues - Ramblin' Jack Elliot (w/ David Hidalgo)
Elvis Presley Blues - Gillian Welch
Blue Moon of Kentucky - the King
Cathy Ann - Freakwater
That Teenage Feeling - Neko Case
Neverending Math Equation - Sun Kil Moon
All the Time in Airports - the Handsome Family
Graviy/Falling Down Again - Alejandro Escovedo
Starry Night - Mazen Kerbaj/Trumpet, Israeli Airforce/Percussion
Time of the Preacher - Johnny Cash
Three Days - L7
Made in Japan - Buck Owens
The Lost and Found - the Derailers
Don't Worry Baby - Los Lobos
Aftermath USA - Drive-by Truckers
Blinding Sun - Jimmie Dale Gilmore
My Mind is Ramblin - The Black Keys
Woody's Last Ride - Ramblin' Jack Elliot
Everything Beautiful is Far Away - Grandaddy
The Madonna Trilogy - The Meat Purveyors
My Grey and Fading Dream - Jim and Jenny and the Pinetops
He Lays the Reins - Iron and Wine | Calexico
Lived in Bars - Cat Power
Stubborn Beast - Jolie Holland

BOBcasts updated

I have been really slack the past couple of weeks by not posting the track listing so herewith are the last few weeks.

The SIX Special
DJ Shadow - 6 Days (Soulwax Mix)
Soul Drive - 6th Avenue
Split Enz - 6 Months In A Leaky Boat
B52's - 6 Oh 6 Oh 842
Creed - 6 Feet From The Edge
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - 6 Barrel Shotgun
Rise Against - Six Ways Til Sunday
Common - Sixth Sense
DJ Hype & Zinc - 6 Million Ways To Die
Project 86 - Six Sirens
Sneaker Pimps - 6 Underground
New Order - Sixty Miles An Hour
Yellowcard - One Year Six Months
Son Volt - 6 String Belief
Dire Straits - Six Blade Knife
Steve Earle - Six Days On The Road
Big & Rich - Six Foot Town
Sawyer Brown - 6 Days On The Road
Grace Gale - 6 Of Hearts
Fred Eaglesmith - My Last Six Dollars
Tool - Forty Six & Two
Son Volt - Afterglow 61
Dave Alvin - Highway 61 Revisited
Hot Lizard - 165 Drop
Triple Six Mafia - Triple Six Anthem


The SEVEN Special,

Armin Van Burren - Seven Cities
Jamiroquai - 7 Days In June
Toni Braxton - Seven Whole Days
Prince - Seven
Echo & The Bunnymen - Seven Seas
Teddy Geiger - Seven days Without You
Bob Dylan - Seven Curses
Freezepop - Seven Boom medley
The Sounds - Seven Days A Week
White Stripes - Seven nation Army
TNT - Seven Seas
Wah - Seven Minutes To midnight
Sunny Day Real Estate - Seven
Brand New - 70 Times 7
Feeder - Seven Days In The Sun
Controller.Controller - Silent Seven
10 Years - Seven
Fleetwood Mac - Seven Wonders
Craig David - Seven days
Mary J Blige - Seven Days
Corrosion Of Conformity - Seven Days
Bleeding Through - #7 With A Bullet
Ricky Scaggs/ K T Oslin - Seven Hillsides
Willie Nelson & Ray Charles - 7 Spanish Angels
Nenah Cherry & Youssou N'Dor - 7 Seconds Away

The EIGHT Special

Underworld - 8 Ball
Love Tattoo - 88
The Byrds - Eight Miles High
Alanis Morissette - Eight Easy Steps
Reckless Kelly - Eight More Miles
The Andrew Sisters - Beat Me Daddy Eight To The Bar
The Beatles - Eight Days A Week
Pitchshifter - Eight Days
Nada Surf - 80 Windows
O.V.Wright - Eight Men Four Women
David Bowie - Eight Line Poem
Styx - Pieces Of Eight
I Am Kloot - 86 Tv's
Pitch Black - The 48 Sharks - Kiwi Dub Group
Dot. Hack Infection - Eight Phases
Senses Fail - One Eight Seven
Tokyo Rose - The Hard Eight
Ambry - Eight Letter Homicide
Taking Back Sunday - One Eight By Summer
Tom Robinson Band - 2 4 6 8 Motorway
Glassjaw - When One Eight Becomes Two Zeros
Stereoblis - Eight Half Letters
Chris LeDoux - Hooked On An Eight Second Ride
Aceyalone - Eighty Five
Killing Joke - Eighties

The NINE Special

Nautilus - Nine Miles
Katie Melua - Nine Million Bicycles
Bryan Adams - Cloud #9
Bare Naked Ladies - This Is Me In Grade Nine
Hit The Lights - 309
Third Eye Blind/Blink 182 - Nine Days
Brand New - My Nine Rides Shotgun
Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
Boozoo Bajou - 9 Below Zero
Nicole Wray - Cloud Nine
Anthony B - Nine Yard
Unknown Artist - Nine Inch Banana
Elephant Man - Lift Up Your Nine
The Cat Empire - Nine Lives
Herb albert & The Tijuana Brass - Love Potion No 9
Styles Of Beyond - Nine Thou (Superstars Remix)
Spice 1 - Peace To My Nine
Red Rat - Nine Night Riddum
Bill monroe - Nine Pound Hammer
Dolly Parton - Working Nine To Five
Weird Al Yankowic - Nine Coronas
Dave Alvin - Nine Volt Heart
The ataris - Eight Of Nine
The Moldy Peaches - Lucky No 9
Tech 9 - Here Comes Techa Nine
Project Pat - Nine To Yo Dome
Catch 22 - 9mm & A Three Piece Suit

Yeah I know there's a couple of shonky titles in that lot but they just squeeze in as far as I'm concerned, and as I have stated before if you need to check out any of these bands then wikipaedia or allmusic.com are good places to start. Keep your ears on!

Lost for Words

This week I'm launching a new weekly feature on Counting the Beat. Lost for Words will be a regular showcase for great kiwi instrumentals. Each week I will play one or two songs san vocals.

The series was inspired by a new album I picked up by a band called Salon Kingsadore. Once I had struck on this idea the immediate question I had to ask myself was how to define an instrumental. On the surface it seems quite simple, a piece of music that doesn't feature voice. But the whole electronic / dance music thang muddies the water. Sure it might not feature vocals but is the music made by Pitch Black or Concord Dawn what you think of as an instrumental. (Come to think of it some of that music doesn't even feature instruments, unless you're going to count a laptop.)

If we look back a bit it gets easier. Many early kiwi rock acts in the 1960s aped their overseas counterparts such as the Stone etc and some also picked up on huge instrumental acts like The Shadows or the American surf guitar sound of Dick Dale, Link Wray and so on. In New Zealand the biggest instrumental act was Peter Posa, his most famous tune - White Rabbit. He drew on the surf guitar sound but wasn't quite so drenched in reverb and was a mighty fine picker. It is with Peter that I will start the Lost for Words series because he was the master. He is still around playing gospel and in fact he put out an album a couple of years back.

The instrumental tradition is still going strong in New Zealand and much of the best is still in a surf guitar vein (The Counting the Beat podcast that you can link to on the right is a kiwi surf guitar special). Check out tracks by The Hollow Grinders.

Anyway, Lost For Words will feature the best in kiwi instrumentals over the next few weeks. I would love to hear any suggestions you have, click on comments below.

The Mix and Mash Radio show - DJ Simon July 15th

Yeah some good tunes out at the moment as listed below. The Lily Allen's a surefire winner as is (strangely) the new Christina Aguilara single (out this week) and the Peaches track promises much for the forthcoming album. My tune of the week though has to be 'Jim Noir - Eanie Meany (Fat boy slim remix)'. The original was fine as it was to be honest but the Fatboy's added some more umph to the drums and some extra bleeps where necessary and it's converted into a modern uplifting classsic. Kinda what Norman does best really - and it's all about football too! You may well have heard the song recently. You recall that Adidas ad that was playing during the world cup where 2 young lads are picking there team for a game of soccer (sic) and chose from such luminary stars as David Beckham, Franz Becckenbauer, Zidane etc? Well it's the tune used in that ad.

Hour 1 Part 1 - 18:27

Pepe deluxe - Before you leave
Christina Aguilara - Ain't No Other Man
Gorillaz - Dirty Harry - Paul Mac Remix.
Peaches - Downtown
Lily Allen - Smile

Hour 1 Part 3 - 19:35

Jim Noir - Eanie Meany (Fat boy slim radio edit)
Lazyboy - Police dogs bonfire (linus loves mix)
Tiga - (Far From) Home The Speed Of Sexor Reprise
Daft Punk - The prime time of your life


Hour 2 Part 1 - 19:52

Muse - Supermassive black hole
Snow Patrol - Alpine Stars
Fatboy slim - Praise you (mike d and adrock remix)
Gorillaz - El manana (Metronomy remix)
Freelance Hellraiser - You Can Cry All You Want

Hour 2 Part 3 - 22:08

Goldfrapp - Ride a white horse (fk ek vocal version)
Madonna - Get Together (Tiefschwarz remix)
Gabrielle - Forget About The World (Daft Punk Remix)

Madonna - Get together

Oh you can always tell when someone is flavour of the month because Madonna's people get them in for a remix. Tiefschwarz drop this floor-friendly electrohouse remix.

Peaches - Downtown

As a prelude to her forthcoming album "Impeach My Bush", Peaches returns with new tracks to whet our appetites. Unique with her minimal pumping beats and loved by true innovators as diverse as Deborah Harry, Iggy Pop, Bjork, Josh Homme, Lil Kim, Marilyn Manson, Kelis, 2 Many DJs, MIA and LCD Soundsystem.

Melancholy: Bleak is the New Black

Some of the best NZ music ever has been melancholic, dark, depressive and even downright gothic (think of the meaning of the word of here, not Bauhaus and The Cure). Bands like The Chills, The Gordons, The 3Ds were all top standard, as good as anything else in the world, but none of them wrote songs your likely to hear at a kids birthday party. And when NZ bands have gone for the happy sound the results have been dire - remember "Melting Pot" by When the Cats Away - or "For Today" by The Netherworld Dancing Toys? Awful!

This month there have been a slew of great releases by kiwi acts that wallow in the melancholy. Bleak is the new black.

First up - Cassette. This band released a stone cold classic EP called EMO in 2000. The EP drew on everything great about laid back country era Neil Young but managed to sound fresh with engaging songs and great hooks. EMO has been on high rotate at home and on my show for five years. Cassette first started talking about an album release around 2001. Five years later Cut For Summer is here. (True to form they're still running late, releasing an album of that title in the midst of winter.)

So, has it been worth the wait? Absolutely. There are a handful of tracks on here, Pieces, Not Home and What a Relief, that could easily have sat on EMO. These songs are vey laid back, so slow they're almost not moving forward. There are a couple of rockers, one of which, Pick Me Up, has a great muted guitar refrain that just gets under your skin. Towards the end a couple of the songs are less engaging, but that seems to be the case with just about every albums these days.

The other thing about this album is that it's a grower. First time through I was thinking "okay", now I'm finding it hard to listen to anything else. You can stream tracks from both Cassette releases here.


A couple of other releases warrant mention too. The Haints of Dean Hall have put out a self released album on Arch Hill Records. Not to everyone's taste, this album is sparse and quiet, many tracks featuring only acoustic guitar and vocal, although a couple of tracks are reminiscent of the great NZ gothic country outfit The Renderers.

A haint is a southern term for a ghostly steam rising off the road, often mistaken to be a ghost, and the songs on this album are ghost like, definitely present but hard to get hold of. I'm still getting my head around this, but if you like acts like Bonnie "Prince" Billy, the great Steve Abel, or quieter moments of the Renderers give it a try. You can stream and download tracks here.


Finally, well worth checking out is the new album from Don McGlashan, Warm Hand. This has had plenty of media, so I won't say too much. However, the standout feature of this album is his melancholic lyrics. My favourite track, Toy Factory Fire, is narrated through the eyes of a New York executive whose company was ran a third world sweatshop factory that burnt to the ground killing 151 workers (a true story). There aren't many people who could turn that into a song without being heavy handed and overly polemic, but Don McGlashan is one.


For these and other depressing songs make sure you tune into Counting The Beat, Sundays at 6pm.

Hauraki Hoedown Highlight - Scott H Biram

A couple of years ago Scott H. Biram was involved in a near fatal car wreck on the way home from a gig. A head-on collision with an 18-wheeler resulted in multiple fractures and massive internal injuries but the bluesman survived, and was back on stage a week after his release from the hospital. Apparently his comeback show consisted of Biram on stage in a wheelchair complete with I.V. drip, 2 broken legs, a broken foot, a broken arm and 1 foot less of his lower intestine. It's a kind of mythical story - pulled back from the edge sort of stuff, that will, if this guy keeps making music the way he does, add another great bluesman story to the pile.

The self proclaimed "Dirty Old One Man Band" fuses together blues, hillbilly and country precariously into a raucous punk rock style fusion with the odd wink towards a not so latent flirtation with metal. Or something like that anyways ... download a couple of free Biram tracks here and start your own damn blog :-)

http://www.scottbiram.com/

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The full playlist for for Country Mike’s Hauraki Hoedown for Monday July 10th, 2006, can be found here at the Casa de Country Mike.

Famous Five Discover Music

Another two hour BOBcast this week about songs with the word Five in their title, as follows the tracks played.

The Vogues - Five O'Clock World
Fat Freddys Drop - Five Day Night
Mazzy Star - Five String Serenade
Patrick Nuo - Five Days
Stars - First Five Times
Spitalfield - Five Days & Counting
McFly - Five Colours In Her Hair
Soilwork - Figure Number Five
Megadeath - Five Magics
Five By Design - Five More minutes
Blue Rodeo - Five Days In May
Alabama - Five O'Clock 500
Dane Cook - Five Sisters (comedy)
Stranglers - Five Minutes
Less Than jake - Five State Drive
Choking Victim - Five Finger Discount
Cord Lund Band - Five Dollar Bill
Alan Jackson/ Jimmy Buffet - Its Five O'Clock Somewhere
Hoyt Axton - Five Hundred Miles
Prince - Five Women
The Looniz - I Got Five On It
Raffi - Five Frogs (childrens song maybe)
The Doors - Five To One
Taking Back Sunday - No Five With A Bullet
Lost Prophets - Five Is A Four Letter Word
Robert Earle Keene Jr - Five Pound Bass
Lorrie Morgan - Five Minutes
Hollywood Undead - Number Five

So there you go until next week, enjoy your music.

Four On The Floor

The two hour BOBcast and track listing for the week of songs with the word Four in the title is as follows:-

Starsailor - Four to the Floor (Thin White Duke Mix)
Clock DVA - Four Hours
Halfway Home - Four Months Until The Swarm
Bachman Turner Overdrive - Four Wheel Drive (dedicated to all the Waiheke Mums in their big shopping baskets who can't keep left)
Boys To Men - Four Seasons Of Loneliness
Aaliyah - Four Page Letter
Kings Of Leon - Four Kicks
Living Things - On All Fours
Badly Drawn Boy - Four Leaf Clover
Crowded House - Four Seasons In One Day
Athlete - Twenty Four Hours
Metallica - The Four Horsemen
Tom Robinson Band - 2 4 6 8 Motorway
The Junction - In Components Of Four
Bloodhound Gang - 3 Point One Four
Castanets - 3 Days Four Nights
Robert Plant - Let Four Winds Blow
Led Zeppelin - Four Sticks
Dead Poetic - Four Wall Blackmail
O V Wright - 8 Men 4 Women
Nina Simone - Four Women
Abra Moore - Four Leaf Clover
Pretty Willie - Four Walls
Cheyenne Kimball - Four Walls
Avant - Four Minutes

......and there you have it, til next week.

Is 3 a crowd?

Following on from the specials that have been posted herewith is the week I played all songs for two hours with the word three in their title:-

Coheed & Cambria - Three Evils
Matchbox Twenty - Three AM
Ever We Fall - Three Wires In
The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys
Autolux - Twenty Three Watt Apple Juice
Catch 22 - 9mm & A Three Piece Suit
Eric Clapton & B B King - Three O'Clock Blues
Meatloaf - Two Out Of Three Aint Bad
Billy Connelly - Three Condoms (comedy)
The Wallflowers - Three Marlenas
U2 - The Three Sunrises
Valencia - Three Thousand Miles From Here
Janes Addiction - Three Days
Lynard Skynard - Gimme Three Steps
The Starting Line - Three Is A Charm
Fenix TX - Threesome
FM Static - Three Days Later
Mayday Parade - Three Cheers For Five Years
Finch - Three Simple Minds
Swing Kids - Forty Three seconds
Jamie Foxx - Three Letter Word
The Chemical Bros - Three Little Birdies Downbeats (instrumental)
Terri Clark - Three Mississippi
Randy Travis - Three Wooden Crosses

If you want to know more about any of these artists I always head for www.allmusic.com, possibly one of the best music data bases on offer.

What I really like about Alt-Country (whatever that is..?) is the Alt

When I started listening to this stuff back in the late 90's I was a pretty dedicated punk rocker, and if you'd have told me at that time that in 10 years I'd be hosting a country music oriented show I'd probably have choked on my beer and told you to p*ss off. But, to quote Bob Wills among others, "Time Changes Everything". What I really like about Alt-country though is still actually the punk parts of it, where the same ingredients; the sex, drugs, death, loss, longing and alienation, are all rolled in together with a touch of twang and a DIY ethic that even the best of punk rockers would have to nod along to.

One of those punk rockers has been John Doe, who's solo career after the seminal LA punk band X has had all those ingredients and often explored country styled genres most notably in the Knitters an early attempt to blur the punk rock / country divide. Doe's most recent solo offering "Forever Hasn't Happened Yet" released in 2005 is a bluesy, country-folk album with Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf in mind and one that pulls on a number of substantial musical guests (Dave Alvin, Grant-Lee Phillips, Neko Case, Kristin Hersh, Doe's daughter Veronica Jane, Excene Cervenca) to make one of the top CDs of last year. I've been playing selections off this CD for quite some time now, including the track I played last night called "Twin Brother" (for a full playlist see Casa de Country Mike.)

You can find out more about Doe and listen to a couple of tracks from Forever Hasn't Happened Yet here: http://www.theejohndoe.com/

I've Been Everywhere: A Musical Journey From the North to the South of New Zealand

On Sunday June 18 Counting the Beat will feature the long promised place name special. The deal is that all songs on the show have a New Zealand place name as their title. As you may imagine the result is an eclectic array of musical styles, from folk, to electronica, to punk and more. This post highlights a few of the artists, songs and locations featured.

Auckland Tonight - The Androidss
One of two songs about Auckland comes from The Androidss (sic), a band that actually hail from Christchurch. You can read a short bio on the excellent thebigcity site, an essential for your favourites list if you are into alternative kiwi acts.

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu - Peter Cape

One of the reasons this show took so long to put together was because I had to learn how to say the name of this place. The song is by Peter Cape, a cleric, broadcaster, and folk singer with a very interesting history. Believe it our not the song title is an abbreviation of the actual place name.

Cape Turnagain - The Warratahs and Sam Hunt
Named by Cook on his inaugural visit to these shores, Cape Turnagain became the subject of this fantastic song written by Barry Saunders and Sam Hunt. Here's Barry with the Cape in the background.

Otaki - The Fourmyula
Not much to say about this one. All you need to know is here on another essential kiwi music website.

Wellington - The Mutton Birds
Don McGlashan has a new solo album out called Warm Hand. I haven't heard it yet, but reviews are good. The Mutton Birds still have a site you can check out.

Christchurch (In Cashel St I Wait) - The Dance Exponents
Brilliant, Naming not only the city, but the specific street. Are there any kiwi songs with an actual address? If so, I want to hear about them.

Purakanui - Jetty
One of my favourite places in the world. I was very excited when I discovered someone had recorded a song about this beach on the Otago coast. Incidentally the band Jetty are also named after a place. The band name came about because their practice rooms were on Jetty St, down by the wharf area in Dunedin.

I've Been Everywhere - John Hore
John Hore gave John Denver his name. He later changed his own name to John Grenell. Who knew? More info here.

There you go; a musical journey from North to South. Of course, there'll be more songs featured on the broadcast. Putting this show together has been a real labour of love and I'm pretty rapt with the result. Be sure to listen on Sunday at 6pm.

there is always life on the beach

Well my first official blog on this site is meant to be about the unofficial history of this eccentric little radio station located offshore of New Zealands major city Auckland in the Hauraki Gulf.
But as luck would have it I'm still debating just exactly where I should start that journey because once I do I'm afraid I wont know where to stop.
So in the interim I thought it would be nice to post some of the music that I have been playing on the Monday night BOB FORMAT DRIVE SHOW (BOB stands for Brilliant or Bad or whatever else you might want to attach to those 3 initials, just remember to keep it nice or if you cant be nice then be funny).

Here is a list then of tracks played Monday 5th Queens Birthday Weekend here in NZ.

Echo Beach - Martha & The Muffins
Widespread Panic - Airplane
Electra Made Me Blind - Everclear
Sunshine - The Outlaws
Girls Got Rhythm - AC DC
Best Looking Boys - The Promise Ring
You're All I Have - oops forgot the band
Five Women - Prince
Eyes Without A Face - Billy Idol
Us - Inxs
Obsession - Sugababes
We Run This - Missy Elliot
Phoenix Ignition - Thrice
Some Girls - Rolling Stones
Basketball Jones - Cheech & Chong
Lonely Street - Eddie Kirkland
Freedom Fries - Robert Plant & The Strange Sensation
Pearl Necklace - Z Z Top
Singers With One Name (comedy drop) - George Carlin
Finding You - The Go Betweens
Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams - The 69 Eyes
Music Is The Victim - Scissor Sisters

That finished the first two hours and at this point I then went into the next hour with one of my BOB specials, to date there have been 3, and the track listing that follows is Pt 2 of a special started the previous week that was songs that had the word one in their title and there was such an overwhelming amount of songs with just such a word, that I decided to make it a two parter with creative licence to come back to it with more parts as desired.
This series of specials over the next few weeks will be trying to play songs with the numbers one to nine in their titles and hopefully fill up an hour with good radio songs.

Part 1B Monday 5th June

One - Johnny Cash (God Rest His Soul)
The Lucky One - Alison Krauss & Union Station
One Room Country Shack - Johnny "Guitar" Watson
One More Song The Radio Won't Like - Kathleen Edwards
One Monkey - Gillian Welch
One Night Away - The Delays
One In A Million - Thomas Parkes (Kiwi)
One - Thievery Corp.
One In Ten - UB40
One Good Reason - The Swingers (Kiwi)
All Hands On The Bad One - Sleater-Kinney
One By One All Day - oops forgot the band
One Step Too Far - Faithless
One Note Song - Tenacious D

Counting the Beat - The Hunt Brings Us Life

The feature album on this weeks Counting the Beat is The Hunt Brings Us Life, the new solo album from Samuel Flynn Scott of the Phoenix Foundation. Scott is the second PF member to release a solo album; Luke Buda also put out a good CD, Special Surprise, earlier in the year. Download tracks from the Buda album here.

Samuel Flynn Scott has been busy. As well as recording and releasing the solo album, he has been touring with The Phoenix Foundation and playing with his other band Bunnies on Ponies. Bunnies don't have any releases but there is video footage of them playing live. For more info on Scott, check out this television interview or this great spoof press release for The Hunt Brings Us Life by Russell Brown.

Of Scott's and Buda's albums my pick is Scott's The Hunt Brings Us Life, although I would recommend both to any fan of the Phoenix Foundation. Incidentally, I will also be featuring a rare PF track on the radio show. Buenos Dias is a cut from a little known EP the band put out in 2001 titled China Cove. That EP came out on Lovely Horse Recordings. The equine theme has continued, the fist PF album was titled Horse Power, while the second, Pegasus, featured a horse on the cover. The Phoenix Foundation have a nice website with both video and audio downloads.

Watch out for future posts - there are some great Counting the Beat specials on the way this month.

Hauraki Hoedown Highlights - The Old Ceremony

Actually two highlights from tonights show one of which was following on from Bob's awesome 45 minute review of the Uncle Tupelo/Wilco/Son Volt ouvre. I added a track by Tweedy's side project Loose Fur into that mix and a couple of rarities from Uncle Tupelo (I Wanna Destroy You - Gun 7") and a live Wilco that I got off the net. Bob had done his research and was filling in the history of the bands as he went along.

The song that really made an impression on me from tonight though was something that I'd only just listened to about an hour before going on air by a band called The Old Ceremony. Self described as "a pop-noir musical association from Chapel Hill, North Carolina figureheaded by songwriter/raconteur Django Haskins" the song was called "Blood and Oil". Lyrically reminiscient of a Nick Cave or Tom Waits composition it was a little out of the theme of my show but sufficiently Americana to warrant inspection. You can grab a copy of Blood and Oil from here.

Playlist for tonights show is posted on my blog, Casa de Country Mike.

Hauraki Hoedown Highlight - Neko Case

Neko Case's offerings are getting progressively more refined as well as progressively more cryptic in some respects. Rather than letting her growing alt-country stardom go to her head (ala Ryan Adams), Case appears to be on a solid path of songwriter maturation backed up by collaborations with artists of notable caliber in her 'solo' offerings as well as in her side projects like The New Pornographers. "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" is her latest offering and features such artists as Bloodshot Records artist Kelly Hogan on backup vocals, Howe Gelb formerly of Giant Sand, and tracks with backup bands such as Calexico and the Sadies. This record is an ambitious and lyrically reflective statement by Case, a follow on from her critically aclaimed CD "Blacklisted" from 2002, the CD contains some incredible narrative flourishes from thinly veiled personal insights to deeply metaphorical meditations. I played a couple of tracks this Monday, Star Witness and Hold On, Hold On.

You can download a recent live Neko Case performance from NPR.org here or grab both Hold On, Hold On or the title track Fox Confessor Brings the Flood from this post over on the Aquariam Drunkard Blog.

Live on The Beach

Our live NZ Music Month series has got off to a great start. First up was Katy Soljak (thats her in the picture), one of the island's most accomplished musicians. She played two new songs that she has written to accompany a screenplay about a kiwi songwriter running off to Texas. Her set was great, despite the fact that she was suffering from a nasty white tailed spider bite, that had caused her to be hospitalised the week before the show. Katy was joined by Genevieve Cohen, a student from Waiheke High. Genevieve has a great voice, and they sounded particularly good together on a cover of the crazy hippy anthem All Around the World, originally performed by Blerta. You can read all about Blerta on this fantastic site about NZ music of the 60s and 70s.

Genevieve was back for the second week of Live on The Beach for a solo performance. Ocne again she was fantastic. My sound engineer skills, however, are far from outstanding. Despite my failings Genevieve pulled of a cracking set, concluding with a Neil Finn cover. Look out for her at the Waiheke Jam at Cats Tango on Sundays.

What's coming up? Who knows! Organising musicians is like herding cats. Check this site and the station for details.

We are recording the Live on The Beach performances and replaying them on Island Life the following Saturday morning so you all have a second chance to hear these great acts.