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For nearly a decade now,
Antagonist AD have been
at the bruising, beating heart
of New Zealand’s hardcore
movement. Their new
album, Haunt Me As I Roam,
represents the beginning of
a new chapter for the band.
In addition to their expanding
international presence and
the move to new label UNFD,
this record finds the Auckland
five-piece more unflinchingly
honest than ever. Vocalist
Sam Crocker gives us the
inside word on what it means
to be an antagonist. "A lot of
what shaped me growing up
was bands like Propagandhi,
Millencolin, Antiflag, Rancid
and NOFX," he says from
Auckland. "From a young
age I was shown the world’s
injustices through their music
and that injustice coupled
with that punk sentiment
continues to forever inspire
and motivate me. I think
it's important to be honest
and sincere, and you can
express that in a million
different ways." Antagonist
AD have hardly been shy
in expressing their beliefs
and make no apologies. "I
guess it may have offended
some people... but in some
way, that's the point. We
have a sincere and positive
message."
084 MAY 2015 JB Hi-Fi
visit NEWS MUSIC
The buzz around Jamie xx’s upcoming solo album already has it pegged as one
of the releases of the year, despite the full opus – which is named In Colour –
not being released until May 29. While he’s been highly active with his band The
xx in recent years, Jamie’s production wings have been spread fairly wide as well;
he’s remixed Radiohead and Florence and the Machine (who release a new album
around the same time as In Colour), and notably re-worked the last album by music
icon Gil Scott Heron in 2011. While early tracks released online from the album
hint at music that tinkers with the boundaries of electronica – particularly
the Lily Allen/Clash-referencing Gosh – In Colour still promises to traverse
fairly wide horizons. His bandmate from The xx, Romey Madley-Croft also
appears on Loud Places. Watch this space.
Hiatus Kaiyote had only been together six
months when they recorded they debut
Tawk Tomahawk. And suddenly – after a
Grammy nomination – they were a name on
everyone's lips. Everyone from Erykah Badu to
?uestlove was singing their praises. Despite the
international acclaim, the Melbourne four-piece's
first ever overseas gigs were at internationally
renowned music conference South by
Southwest in Austin, Texas, including a show
with jazz pianist Robert Glasper (recently heard
on Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly). "It's
a subconscious thing; you don't realise you're
becoming this family, you don't talk about it,"
says keyboardist Simon Mavin, talking to STACK
about the band's new LP Choose Your Weapon.
The album builds on the musical language of
their debut, but it sounds more assured, diverse
and atmospheric. Jekyll, for example, channels
a love of African music, and a faint hint of bossa
nova. "Jekkyll was one of the first songs I ever
wrote: I wrote it on piano and piano isn't my
usual instrument. I was going through a huge
Fela Kuti phase. That song is more Afrobeat, but
there are deliberate Bossa Nova influences on
other things," says vocalist Nai Palm. She's also
effusive about the album's imagery. Discussing
the track Shaolin Monk Motherfunk , she says
"It's intentionally cinematic. We have these
forms, it's like 'What does it look like? What
does it feel like? It blossoms in a unique way.
Shaolin Monk Motherfunk is like a Tibetan war
song." Mavin has his own take on the track: "I
see a chicken running through a Vietnamese
jungle when I hear it," he grins. The album's
interludes are also intriguing: who else records
a jam with an owl, but Hiatus Kaiyote? "On Only
Time All the Time Making Friends with Studio
Owl, I went outside and there was this owl
that rocked up," says Nai Palm. "I started trying
to lock in with it; there's 13
seconds of me and this owl!"
continued
Hiatus Kaiyote
choose a weapon
Jamie xx ready to splash the colours
Sitting down with
Roisin murphy
Q1/ Your old band
Moloko is long over,
and while Hairless
Toys is solo album
three, it's the first in
eight years. Why now?
You don't ask yourself
'Am I going to be able to make new music?' It
arrives, or it doesn't. I've never allowed that
ambition that says 'Everyone stop, call Pharrell,
I have to work with him NOW!' I started in
Moloko by saying 'Do you like my tight sweater?'
I wasn't even a singer! It was free, creative, and
marvellous: that's what gave me what I have, and
now I'm loath to overthink things. An album didn't
come knocking at my door in the last eight years.
Q2/ Gone Fishing is about the film Paris is
Burning; tell us more about it?
It's wonderful: it's a documentary about drag
culture in New York in the '80s. The 'ball culture'
as a pageant competition: they walked in several
genres – 'femme', or 'butch', or a million others.
Very flamboyant, sparkly – at the same time a
river of darkness, persecution, death and pain
flows through it. I am very attracted to that idea
of performance. To me, perfomance is for saying
very complex things, in a single moment.
Q3/ Hairless Toys addresses certain club
cultures – European house, Casablanca
Records for starters, but who are DJs Parrott
and Pipes, and Winston Hazel?
They were crucial in the breaking of House
music in the north of England. Close friends of
mine; they've shone a light on the lineage of
dance music for me, my biggest educators on that
front. The UK can take American black music,
ten a penny and taken for granted in the US, and
shine a sort of hallowed light on it. It becomes
something reverent, made to look beautiful.
Q4/ Exploitation is a nine-minute epic,
with a lovely jazz guitar break in the middle,
but tell us more about the subject matter:
who's exploiting whom?
That's a sexy song. That lyric works on
a macro level as well: the world's full of
exploitation, and the entertainment world too, is
full of exploitation. I might have been exploited
a couple of times and not known it. But really, it
came from being a bit wry, a bit ironic. It's got a
bit of a twinkle in its eye. It's not to be taken too
seriously.
Choose Your Weapon by Hiatus
Kaiyote is out now on Sony Music.
Antagonist ad haunt us as we roam
Haunt Us as
We Road by
Antagonist AD
is out now via
UFND/Warner.
Hairless Toys by
Roisin Murphy is out now
via Liberation/Universal.