Very Special NZ Music Awards

That's right, as far as New Zealand music goes, today there will be some very special awards.

And there will also be the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards tomorrow.

But first - you asked for it - here they are: The Blog on the Tracks NZ Music Awards (aka the awards that would never be given out when record companies could instead push product they had invested loads of marketing money in and therefore need to pass that off as being the best).

Best Esoterica - for want of a category (and best Kiwi album of the year for me): Standing in Silence, Rhian Sheehan
He's moved on from the bedsit electronica of Paradigm Shift.  And moved past the widescreen bubble-and-flow of Tiny Blue Biosphere to arrive at the point of Standing in Silence; a place which, as I described earlier this year, writing for North & South, sees him taking "his love of film score composition and blending it with his passion for making the melody prominent. There are no 'songs' on this album as such, rather the parts (numbered, parts 1-14) play out through music-box melodies and tinkering glockenspiels. Moody, textural guitars sweep and crash like waves on the shore of these soundscapes. It is a bold, big, beautiful album; exquisitely epic and happy to wait for you to discover it".

Best Kiwiana:
The Homeward Stretch, Rosy Tin Teacaddy
I was happy to turn Blog on the Tracks over to Billy Earl and Betty Grey and let them interview themselves. I liked the duo's album because it both celebrates and transcends their gimmick of playing (and playing up) kitsch Kiwiana. It moves beyond the cups of tea and vintage outfits and since I'm happy quoting myself from the pages of North & South, where I had this to say about The Homeward Stretch: "this full length album sees songs like Crosswords, Deliverance, Bangers and Mash and Come Home with Me standing head and shoulders above so many of the usual Kiwi bands. This is not a guitar indie band, nor is it reggae/dub - and the blend of Earl and Grey is sublime; the perfect vocal cup of tea, so to speak".

Best Return to the Stage:
Mountaineater
I interviewed Tristan Dingemans for Blog on the Tracks; you may remember him from HDU/High Dependency Unit. He's back as/with Mountaineater. Happy days.

Best Collective Releasing New Albums:
The Phoenix Foundation
There have been strong solo albums by Luke Buda and Sam Scott. And T.C. Wedde's Bronze was the first to follow. This year we have been all but bombarded - the highlight for me is definitely Will Ricketts's John Dryden. But I really liked Rebel Peasant's album (aka Phoenix drummer Richie Singleton) too. And Sam and Luke's soundtrack to Separation City was a lot better than the rather awful film.

Best Addition to a Great Discography:
Dimmer, Degrees of Existence
Shayne Carter had a decent enough track record before forming/shaping/creating Dimmer. And each Dimmer album has its own voice, its own sound. Degrees of Existence will stand as one of Dimmer's finest.

Best Albums About To Be Released:
Give it up for the return of Jan Hellriegel. Her first album in 12 years, All Grown Up, is due (very) soon. It's fantastic. I've been lucky enough to hear it already. And an interview with Jan for this blog is coming. And get ready - a little longer down the track - to give it up for Darren Watson. He's got a new album due early-ish next year and, remember, he won an international songwriting competition this year!

Best Solo Album By a Guy Who Was Already Doing Great Things in Bands: James Duncan, Hello-Fi
We already had Punches and James's huge contributions to Dimmer and SJD and this year we were treated to his full-lengther as a solo artist, Hello-Fi. It was a treat to speak to him recently, written up here for Blog on the Tracks. Click on that link and check out some of his past work and material from the new album. He's one very clever chap.

Best Song You Might Not Have Heard But Should Check Out  a.s.a.f.p:
Butterfly P!G, Bob Dylan Electrocuted (from the album It's Another Life)
See the band's MySpace page here (where you can hear the song). Buy the album from Real Groovy in Wellington (and, I think, Slow Boat Records as well).

Then there are the albums by Sam Hunt/David Kilgour and The Clean; by The Verlaines and Pie Warmer. So many good things to celebrate...many of them will never be given awards. But that's okay, all they ask for is for you to lend an ear.

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Now play one of these tonight - and by all means feel free to list your own choices below. And then there's those other awards tomorrow...hmmm...

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