Way back in 2003, we had our first show. We didn't play our instruments live, we just pretended and lip-synched along to backing tracks of our songs. We were very nervous and we projected black and white slides of our favourite stars behind us while we played, we figured if all else failed at least they would make us look good. Anyways, we spent a long time making posters for the show and this is a music video of us putting them up which we made with help from Tahi Moore - our friend and cinematographer extraordinaire. Here it is........
The Gladeyes Go Downtown from the gladeyes on Vimeo.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
The Rolling Stone blog says hello to Princess Chelsea
It's funny how blogs are symbiotic, and how they feed into each other and create endless feedback loops. We've only been blogging here for a short while and already it's happening with the stuff we're posting. Princess Chelsea posted up a blog showing off a cover she'd just finished, 'Your Woman' by White Town. The good people over at Einstein Music Journal blogged up a post about it, and linked back to our blog. And then The Rolling Stone blog posted about Princess Chelsea's cover and linked back to Einstein Music Journal.
We have The Rolling Stone linking to Einstein Music Journal linking to us. So it seems only fair that we put up a link to The Rolling Stone post, thus completing the feedback loop. May information forever flow in circles.
And congratulations to Chelsea! The cover's great, and here it is again:
Princess Chelsea - Your Woman (Whitetown Cover)
We have The Rolling Stone linking to Einstein Music Journal linking to us. So it seems only fair that we put up a link to The Rolling Stone post, thus completing the feedback loop. May information forever flow in circles.
And congratulations to Chelsea! The cover's great, and here it is again:
Princess Chelsea - Your Woman (Whitetown Cover)
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Princess Chelsea Covers Whitetown
In March 1997 Whitetown (Jyoti Mishra) released the single 'Your Woman' and it became a huge hit worldwide. Even though at the time I was busy with my studies at Northcross Intermediate - creating "Enquiries" (How Plants Reproduce, The Bronchiosaurus) I remember the song capturing my interest from the moment I heard it on 91.0 fm.
Part of what made the song intriguing for so many, was it's lyrical content - and the possible meanings behind it. Having a rather androgenous voice - people at first couldn't figure out whether the vocalist was a man or a woman and upon establishing that Jyoti was a dude - what did he mean by 'I could never be your woman'. Is he gay? Is he singing to his boyfriend? Is he singing to his gay boyfriend who met a really attractive women with a great personality and turned straight? Is he pulling a Fugazi and singing as if he were a woman? Possibly to a gay man? Or to a straight man who just doesn't like her that much? Or is he a dude who's girlfriend wants him to be a woman? Or is there no real answer and the song is meant to be confusing to reinforce the idea of gender confusion? Or am I just trying to sound really intelligent like I go to university and study psychology and take pottery classes in my spare time and I'm really open minded and also a feminist and people describe me as alternative.
Whatever trevor, its a great song so I did a cover of it.
I decided to take a slightly creepy angle on the song, creating an infusion of Dr Dre and an eight year old, perhaps singing to Bill Wyman.
Please find below an mp3 for your enjoyment and a link to the original - a true 90s masterpiece.
Princess Chelsea - Your Woman (Whitetown Cover)
Part of what made the song intriguing for so many, was it's lyrical content - and the possible meanings behind it. Having a rather androgenous voice - people at first couldn't figure out whether the vocalist was a man or a woman and upon establishing that Jyoti was a dude - what did he mean by 'I could never be your woman'. Is he gay? Is he singing to his boyfriend? Is he singing to his gay boyfriend who met a really attractive women with a great personality and turned straight? Is he pulling a Fugazi and singing as if he were a woman? Possibly to a gay man? Or to a straight man who just doesn't like her that much? Or is he a dude who's girlfriend wants him to be a woman? Or is there no real answer and the song is meant to be confusing to reinforce the idea of gender confusion? Or am I just trying to sound really intelligent like I go to university and study psychology and take pottery classes in my spare time and I'm really open minded and also a feminist and people describe me as alternative.
Whatever trevor, its a great song so I did a cover of it.
I decided to take a slightly creepy angle on the song, creating an infusion of Dr Dre and an eight year old, perhaps singing to Bill Wyman.
Please find below an mp3 for your enjoyment and a link to the original - a true 90s masterpiece.
Princess Chelsea - Your Woman (Whitetown Cover)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The Brunettes contribute to The Cure compilation on American Laundromat Records
The Brunettes have contributed a track to this compilation album of The Cure covers. It's pretty cool actually, and it only came out yesterday on American Laundromat Records. Check out the cute cover:
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
I love the internet and the internet loves me
So the other day I was sitting in class with my laptop, googling my own name to pass the time (Shut up, it's not lame, everybody does it...Right? Right??), and I came across this nice little article about us in NZ Musician Magazine. I hadn't seen it, because well... who reads hard copy magazines these days? Not me. Anyway, it's kind of sweet, and it features a stellar nerdy quote about technology from yours truly. Yay. I google myself and I love computers. My life is GOING OFF. Also they made a photo of us look purple, and that pleased me. Anyway this is a terrible post so yeah... Enjoy.
Nocturnal Couplings
Author: Stephanie Gray
Lil' Chief Records are riding a wicked west coast swell at the moment, their established acts attracting attention and critical acclaim all over the northern hemisphere. Now, as Stephanie Gray reports, the notoriously incestuous label have widened their pop gene pool with the addition of nocturnal synth + vocal couple Little Pictures.
With the intensity of young love Johanna Freeman sings: 'I wish I could tie a string between me and you / I'd pull on the string whenever I felt confused.'
There is no doubt she's singing to boyfriend and bandmate Mark Turner - the song is from a debut album that is as much a dedication to their togetherness as it is a well-crafted collection of electro-pop.
When the 20 year-old Wellingtonians play I Wish I Could Keep You live Mark triggers samples of Johanna's vocals, sneaking them in between words as she sings, to an effect that Johanna confides she finds a little creepy.
Creepy maybe, but it's a charming technique that had a house-full of Dunedin indie-kids jumping up and down with synchronised 'hip hop hands' recently. More than an enjoyable way to stay warm down south, this is a response that Little Pictures have come to look forward to from the Mainlanders.
"I like the South Island because it's less intimidating - more like our tour in Australia," says Mark."People are excited about you being there," Johanna adds.
For that reason the twosome tour out of town as much as their university timetables allow - a mission made easier by the fact they can fit all of their gear into one guitar case. It's the touring musician's dream - to fly unhindered by excess baggage and, as a couple tuned into each others energy levels and emotions, free to do as they please. But it hasn't always been so - until the middle of last year Little Pictures was a three-piece, with friend James Halborow adding drums.
Quietly but assuredly Johanna and Mark started planning for the breakaway two-piece electronic act they would call Owl + Owl, in allusion to their nocturnal tendencies. They kept the act's original name in the end, tucking 'Owl + Owl' away as a name for the album that has now followed their self-released EP 'You and Me and My Amplifier'.
Having shaken off the shackles of a drum kit, Little Pictures shaped their new sound around the monophonic tones of a Moog synthesiser, programmed beats, a glockenspiel and his-and-hers vocals. They then stripped back even further by sampling the Moog - the legendary brand's latest Little Phatty model - into an electronic sampling pad. It's a minimalist set-up that keeps people guessing. As does the way in which Mark triggers samples - joyfully thwacking the inconspicuous black pad with drum sticks next to Johanna who, in gaps between glockenspiel and singing, blows shiny bubbles that float across the ubiquitous divide between band and audience.
"It's exciting to play with stuff that people don't necessarily understand. People see me hitting the pads and there's always a musician in the front row who will come up and ask if I'm actually doing anything," smiles Mark.
"It's fun to make things more mysterious," Johanna adds.
Because it's Mark that holds the sticks, people wrongly assume that he's the songwriter - much to the annoyance of both. They are equally infatuated with technology and pop culture, happily trawling blogs and forums and working their experiences with, and knowledge of new media into their university assignments.
"Lots of people like to talk about gear, but I'm more interested in the social shaping of scenes and looking at how people use technology," Johanna explains.
To fine-tune Little Pictures' sound and style they looked into what other musicians were doing, watching YouTube clips to suss instrumentation. With refreshing honesty, they admit to culturally sampling and taking others' arrangements for their songs.
"We can't sample in the way DJs like Girl Talk can, so we try to recreate things we like," says Mark, who like Johanna listens to a lot of hip hop, and grimier artists like Dizzee Rascal. Being the nice young stars they are, Little Pictures give as much as they take - uploading their mp3s as free downloads and sending a cappella tracks to anyone keen on remixing.
"We'd love it if someone downloaded our song and borrowed a riff or a verse and built a new song around it. So our stuff is there for the taking," Johanna offers.
This is an ethic that Lil' Chief Records must be comfortable with; 'Owl + Owl' was released by the Auckland pop label after co-owner Jonathan Bree saw the band performing at Camp A Low Hum last summer.
"We were quite surprised at his interest, because Lil' Chief has The Brunettes and The Ruby Suns - these lush bands with layers of sound," says Mark.
Clearly the label do like what they hear and are propelling Little Pictures into the wake of those acts, with an American tour taking in Seattle and Portland among other cities.
There's a video clip online of a beaming Johanna and Mark reading aloud the email from Bree asking them to join the label. Recorded late at night after coming home from a gig and logging on to find the good news, the video nicely sums up the zeal and techno-savvy that shines through Little Pictures' music.
Little Pictures - I Wish I Could Keep You
Nocturnal Couplings
Author: Stephanie Gray
Lil' Chief Records are riding a wicked west coast swell at the moment, their established acts attracting attention and critical acclaim all over the northern hemisphere. Now, as Stephanie Gray reports, the notoriously incestuous label have widened their pop gene pool with the addition of nocturnal synth + vocal couple Little Pictures.
With the intensity of young love Johanna Freeman sings: 'I wish I could tie a string between me and you / I'd pull on the string whenever I felt confused.'
There is no doubt she's singing to boyfriend and bandmate Mark Turner - the song is from a debut album that is as much a dedication to their togetherness as it is a well-crafted collection of electro-pop.
When the 20 year-old Wellingtonians play I Wish I Could Keep You live Mark triggers samples of Johanna's vocals, sneaking them in between words as she sings, to an effect that Johanna confides she finds a little creepy.
Creepy maybe, but it's a charming technique that had a house-full of Dunedin indie-kids jumping up and down with synchronised 'hip hop hands' recently. More than an enjoyable way to stay warm down south, this is a response that Little Pictures have come to look forward to from the Mainlanders.
"I like the South Island because it's less intimidating - more like our tour in Australia," says Mark."People are excited about you being there," Johanna adds.
For that reason the twosome tour out of town as much as their university timetables allow - a mission made easier by the fact they can fit all of their gear into one guitar case. It's the touring musician's dream - to fly unhindered by excess baggage and, as a couple tuned into each others energy levels and emotions, free to do as they please. But it hasn't always been so - until the middle of last year Little Pictures was a three-piece, with friend James Halborow adding drums.
Quietly but assuredly Johanna and Mark started planning for the breakaway two-piece electronic act they would call Owl + Owl, in allusion to their nocturnal tendencies. They kept the act's original name in the end, tucking 'Owl + Owl' away as a name for the album that has now followed their self-released EP 'You and Me and My Amplifier'.
Having shaken off the shackles of a drum kit, Little Pictures shaped their new sound around the monophonic tones of a Moog synthesiser, programmed beats, a glockenspiel and his-and-hers vocals. They then stripped back even further by sampling the Moog - the legendary brand's latest Little Phatty model - into an electronic sampling pad. It's a minimalist set-up that keeps people guessing. As does the way in which Mark triggers samples - joyfully thwacking the inconspicuous black pad with drum sticks next to Johanna who, in gaps between glockenspiel and singing, blows shiny bubbles that float across the ubiquitous divide between band and audience.
"It's exciting to play with stuff that people don't necessarily understand. People see me hitting the pads and there's always a musician in the front row who will come up and ask if I'm actually doing anything," smiles Mark.
"It's fun to make things more mysterious," Johanna adds.
Because it's Mark that holds the sticks, people wrongly assume that he's the songwriter - much to the annoyance of both. They are equally infatuated with technology and pop culture, happily trawling blogs and forums and working their experiences with, and knowledge of new media into their university assignments.
"Lots of people like to talk about gear, but I'm more interested in the social shaping of scenes and looking at how people use technology," Johanna explains.
To fine-tune Little Pictures' sound and style they looked into what other musicians were doing, watching YouTube clips to suss instrumentation. With refreshing honesty, they admit to culturally sampling and taking others' arrangements for their songs.
"We can't sample in the way DJs like Girl Talk can, so we try to recreate things we like," says Mark, who like Johanna listens to a lot of hip hop, and grimier artists like Dizzee Rascal. Being the nice young stars they are, Little Pictures give as much as they take - uploading their mp3s as free downloads and sending a cappella tracks to anyone keen on remixing.
"We'd love it if someone downloaded our song and borrowed a riff or a verse and built a new song around it. So our stuff is there for the taking," Johanna offers.
This is an ethic that Lil' Chief Records must be comfortable with; 'Owl + Owl' was released by the Auckland pop label after co-owner Jonathan Bree saw the band performing at Camp A Low Hum last summer.
"We were quite surprised at his interest, because Lil' Chief has The Brunettes and The Ruby Suns - these lush bands with layers of sound," says Mark.
Clearly the label do like what they hear and are propelling Little Pictures into the wake of those acts, with an American tour taking in Seattle and Portland among other cities.
There's a video clip online of a beaming Johanna and Mark reading aloud the email from Bree asking them to join the label. Recorded late at night after coming home from a gig and logging on to find the good news, the video nicely sums up the zeal and techno-savvy that shines through Little Pictures' music.
Little Pictures - I Wish I Could Keep You
Sunday, January 25, 2009
'Too many Buttons' - A short story by Princess Chelsea
It was 2007, and it was the dawning of the release of The Brunettes third album 'Structure & Cosmetics'. As you may well know this album was their first release on the big fancy overseas label 'Subpop' records. As a result, many in the art, fashion and funding sectors in New Zealand finally began to take the band seriously - because they were now super important and extremely famous and also they were friends with Nirvana.
Somehow however, Jonathan Bree was still broke and homeless. He didn't even own any clothes - he just wore reviews of his previous albums that he had cut out of the newspapers and cellotaped (sticky taped) together to form some kind of poncho. His one dream was to own a fitted suit. With 3 buttons. And with his fame skyrocketing he thought that now could be his his only chance to swindle one.
A deal was struck with a local high end high street tailor. High times. They would make him the suit of his dreams - in return for him wearing it on the cover of their new album. He could have whatever type of suit he wanted, providing it was whatever type of suit they wanted.
Unfortunately an awkard exchange occurred between the owner of this high end menswear store when Jonathan made his one request for his new suit. He requested that the suit have not 2, but 3 buttons.
The owner of the store insisted that surely Jonathan did not want 3 buttons and tried to use his jedi mind tricks to purge that extra button from his mind. But Jonathan did not back down. He said he wanted 3 buttons because he wanted to look like Mark Ronson because Mark Ronson is a trendy British producer who wears 3 button suits all the time and looks like a real mod and he always gets money and ladies thrown at him and he is really popular and stuff and he gets invited to all the cool parties.
The suit eventually arrived and a message was sent to the Brunettes manager saying that this would be where the relationship between the 2 parties ended. This was because Jonathan Bree was the rudest and most difficult customer they had ever encountered.
Jonathan tried on the suit and it fitted beautifully. It was an impeccably designed and made suit, and it only had two buttons.
Edmund Cake - The Crane Brothers Suit
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Ruby Suns first album
I'd never had a chance to listen to it in full until today when Lawrence (Lil Chief's lovely post-master) kindly posted me a copy. I'd listened to Sea Lion a bunch and I like it heaps, so I was looking forward to thisThis first album is quite different in many ways. It doesn't have many of the world music aspects of Sea Lion, i.e. different languages and tribal-style drums. It's far more Shins-ish to my ears actually. Lots of nice big vocal harmonies too. My favourites are 'Trees Like Kids' and 'Look Out Sos!'.
It's a really warm sounding record. Although I prefer Sea Lion for it's more developed quirks, this first album is really good too. Ahh what a strange review this is. I guess it's not really a review, more a stream of consiousness on the the matter...
Here's Trees Like Kids, enjoy!
The Ruby Suns - Trees Like Kids
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