ed

we went up twice - 1st to try out a routine and see what's possible - did a bunch of spipns and rolls over ashburton - then landed - checked the footage for shake etc... refuelled and off again - headed straight for mt. somers up the ashburton river - we did a bunch more spins and wing overs etc over a big clearing - but i wanted mountains under us - so on the way back we climbed for a while to get altitude over the snowy peaks beside mt. somers - and went thru the rolls and wing-overs and split s etc - and this became the video in one shot - the music was playing in my ears - but it quickly went out of sync - so i adjusted the tiings with twixtor in post - the wild footage with engine noise is pretty cool - and is the same length as the song / just the big climb and dive comes in slightly different place

we didn't end up going into a spin over the mountains cos dad was a bit wary of altitude / it's hard to gauge perfectly... but i'm happy with what we came up with - and we got pretty close to that snowy hilltop by the end of the run

yah - and my old man was at the controls - bitchin

how about if NZONAIR started up an OFFSHOOT funding round for exemplarily original and really "out there" experiemental (tho still potentially catchy and accessible music)

a kind of wildcard funding proposal

i reckon the work that'd be submitted to this would be actually very interesting

jamaica and sweden are global populations

mz is just a itty bitty island out in the pacific with very little clout

we produce world class shit

but the local population isn't really expamsive enough - nor with large enough expendable income - to support terribly many truly original artists

i think it boils down to the average kid with $30 to spend has got poor taste

and the folks WITH taste don't even show up on the mainstream radar

radio is a placator (dummy) in the mouth of the factory workers - who don't give a shit

mostly people want something familiar and friendly and and and and

so what shoudl an artist do?

be very clever - make "mainstream" music to get funding

and make honest music in their spare time - be prolific

and never forget

it's only frikkin music

what ever happened to the days of being sustained by a single song for months on end

nowadays we go thru new music like so much toilet paper

the direct link (mp4 video file zipped up) 10mb

[ external link ]

SAFETY IN NUMBERS

off JAKOB's new album SOLACE

filmed up over Mt Somers, 20min inland from Ashburton... south of Mt. Hutt. Sth Is. NZ

a yak-52's eye view

NZ music industry FOOLED by cannabis

nz music does sound better when your state is altered somewhat

those who say they wrote something wicked when they were stoned - but thought it was shite when they heard it straight the next day... should just stay stoned

thanks for the good vibes bucjo...

what does your name mean?

that video was lots of fun to make

stuff i figured out doing code and that last autozamm vid has suddenly opened up a whole big bag of fun new tricks =)

if you're coming to the wgtn fringe fest u should check out "heavenly burlesque on at the paramount in the weekends - i'm having a ball doing visuals for hell pizza for the event.... =)

[ http://www.underbelly.co.nz/hell ]

ps. any bands need a video?

CODE took 6weeks and was made for NZonAIR grant + Made In Wellington = $6500

[ external link ]

absolutely agree

that's why concept albums are the shizzle - 40-70 minute ruminaitons on a theme

can you imagine being in the ozzie outback and a local native storyteller walks up to you and blurts a bunch of senseless 4 minute tirades in your face frenetically trying to keep your attention - enticing you to spend spend SPEND - and flashing pix of half-naked chicks - and repeating brand-names over and over - and so the metaphore stretches and stretches

just to bring this topic back on track a tad

does anyone have any stories of record labels putting pressure on radio stations to playlist their latest releases?

i've heard about it - like a label is guaranteed to shift x amount of units if a track is played x^y times... but how do they ensure the track will get played?

and another job - double shifts in a kiwifruit factory in katikati - i'd switch the radio to the concert program and see how long it took someone to erupt into swearing and belligerently march over and switch it back to the rock or whatever the hell it was - man you wouldn't believe the ire it would provoke in folks

long live the kiwifruit season and all the fellow shiftworkers i knew before

ahahaha i worked in a factory near reporoa and had long standing arguments with the other workers about what station should be on - luckily i had a post outside the main room where the DJ's voice was distorting constantly over the sound of the stockfeed being pressed into bags... but there was one dude in the workshop right ebside my station who i managed to convince to NOT play the radio - and play his own music collection instead - anything to avoid that frikkin DJ banter and those goddam awful radio ads aaaRRRGH

i ended up with joe cocker and credence clearwater revival over and voer and over - even thru industrial earmuffs it was torturous - but it was better than radio

ahh yes lou reed

i read interview where he said he saw music and the emergence of radio as a vehicle for a new form of the NOVEL... as if literature would evolve from written word to sung...

but he finished up the interview saying it had all gone to the dogs as soon as it became apparent there was a buck to be made from commercial (shallow) messageless catchy ditties

last great american whale

cos the pay's shit
cos a little candy coating makes the medicine go down

hmm certainly looks like "that's the way it is" in the states - where this article is from...

but it looks like something's being done about i t- ie. Warners are paying fines / donating cassh to "good causes"

i'd like to know if anyone knows of any scams like this in the nz radio industry

my guess is everything we hear and see on tv / radio is part of a scam - nothing to do with genuine artisitic merit - all to do with how hard the international record labels are ramming up our asses

for instance - and award winning music video will not necessarily get much tv-play - unless the track it's associated with is going well on radio

and then there's the video that wins an award - not because the video is particularly good - but because the band associated with the track that's associated with the video might be flvour of themonth etc

thoughts? anecdotes? who's REALLY deciding what we're listening to / staring zombie-like at?