makeloudnoiseswithtincans

Evan Sinton seemed to have a pretty good year in 2012. Things seemed pretty fine and dandy when his duo Intone, with drummer Hamish Jackson, made it to the National finals of the Smokefreerockquest competition in September, however his year really took off when he placed third in New Zealand’s Got Talent to an audience of 1 million. Since then, he has been signed to Sony, is currently on tour with Reece Mastin, and has released his first single, accompanied with a lyrics video, Tables And Chairs.

Starting with a nice picking with the vocals coming in quickly, it is easy to tell right off the bat that this song is going to be good. By the time it hits the chorus, the song feels as if it has built, and the passion in Sinton’s voice is overflowing. As the song continues to build as it moves until it eventually drops off at the end, ultimately making the 3 minutes 17 seconds that the song went for feel a lot shorter, as I am wanting more.

2012 may have been an exciting year for Evan Sinton, however it really only seems like the beginning for him and with this newly released single, that you can buy on iTunes, it looks like 2013 may be as promising as 2012.

Lisa Hawkins is a Waikato singer songwriter with a knack for penning catchy songs, full of life. Her sister, Anna, has an album on the way, so I think it would be safe to say that music runs in the family.

Her song ‘Not A Love’ is an addictive poppy tune that has so many places it could go, with instrumentation, whether it stays the way it is, or becomes a bit of an Rn’B number.

The bloopers section, at the end, shows how much attention she shows to detail, and how something short of perfection simply isn’t good enough.

You can hear a huge development in her sound as you watch through her videos, and you can easily hear her song writing just get better and better.

Having recently placed in the Play It Strange Lion’s Foundation song writing competition and also just having left school, Lisa Hawkins is someone to look out for in the future!

Culture Kids are another band who have recently made it to the New Zealand Smokefreerockquest final. They could be compared to NZ favourites Six60, yet are different enough to have their own unique sound!

What You Need begins with a catchy guitar hook that reccurs throughout the rest of the song. The vocals come in quickly with some addictive melodies that won’t fail to have you singing along. The pre-chorus contains one especially catchy tune and you can’t help but skibbidy bop.

When it kicks into the chorus it is almost compulsory to groove. This is the type of tune that you could show your nanas and they would have a good time, but you want to have a bit of a boogie!

The bridge builds up before going into a more distorted version of the hook and then mixing the hook with the chorus. The song comes to an end as guitarist Max Brown shows off some tasty licks.

Culture Kids defiinitely have a sound of their own and are definitely making amazing music! I am sad they at the end of this year, they, as a band, will most likely be coming to an end, however I wish that they amongst themselves continue to make music as awesome as this! 

A Bit Nigel have had recent success in the New Zealand teen music competition, Smokefreerockquest. The trio have, for the second year running, made it to the national finals.

Their song, 3 Problems, strays slightly from their main style of music, leaning slightly closer to electronic than indie pop.

The song begins with synth and kit, before an infectious melody kicks in. It’s quite addictive, andI feel myself even grooving in my chair as I write this. Then instruments then drop back, putting emphasis on the vocals as they begin.

Straight away, you can hear that this band has developed over the last year hugely. When I first heard them a year ago, they sounded hugely influenced by Kings Of Leon, however now I feel as if they have come into their own and are developing their own catchy and unique sound.

By the time it kicks into the chorus, I find it hard to stay in my seat. Everything about this song makes me want to dance and have a good time. It deels as if it could be a great summer anthem, but also an easy listening song for the winter, as you sit down with your headphones by the fire.

The bridge (which is really more of an instrumental) builds up nicely before going into a breakdown. Now breakdowns aren’t eaxactly the most common of things in indie pop music, however it is pulled off nicely here.

A Bit Nigel have a huge winner with this song right here. The may not have received the success in SFRQ that they may have liked, but this song will remain forever on my ipod, thanks to my friend Youtube Downloader, so I will be able to show everyone this wonderful song.

Noriac are a four piece instrumental djent band, who reside in the mighty Taranaki. Having only been together for a year, they have made considerable success in the Smokfreerockquest competition by making it to the national final.

Here I check out their first track from their SFRQ entry video, Dusk.

The song begins with a simple repeated melody on the guitar, soaked in a little bit of delay. It then starts to show a large emphasis on rhythm as the guitar plays a two-note riff and attention is drawn to the groove on the drums.They then all join together for one riff which makes it feel strong and powerful.

After a while, the feel of the beat changes while the riff stays the same, making it feel as if something has happened to the time signature when after all, nothing has changed.

Then up comes the first solo of this six-and-a-bit minute long piece. I wouldn’t say that the melody is catchy, however it has definitely been well crafted and compliments the song greatly. The solo then continues, becoming more catchy, as the piece goes into a bit of a breakdown feel before it drops off dynamically to where it was at the beginning.

The piece slowly builds up with a simple rhytmic melody on the guitars. The drums then enter with what may seem to be a showy solo and then the bass enters along with the kick drum, making it sound tight and well practiced before it enters one of the last sections that has a pulsing feel due to the groove on the drums and a catchy guitar solo.

The riff then changes and it enters one of the strongest sections of the piece. It begins to near the end of the song and you can tell that heaps of time and effort has just been put into this one piece. There is enough musical complexity to keep a well trained ear excited, however it is not so complicated that it would go over the head of the average listener and that is why this is one of my favourite tracks out.

Give the other two tracks a listen to as well, the grooves and solos in Spacemen are something that you should really listen to and M.I.N.C.E showboats their awesome bass player with a bit of a slap solo.

Kids Of 88 started out as a bit of an electronic pop band, with nation-wide hits in New Zealand like ‘My House’ that wre sex-driven and orientated.

Forming after previously being in different successful kiwi bands, this duo set out to make music that all would love. A debut album and an american tour later, they came to the point where they had to begin their sophmore record, and ‘Tucan’ became the first single.

While I clicked o the video and waited for it to load, I assumed that what was to come, would be the same sexual music that their first album encompased, however I was plesently surprised when the track began to play, and warm synth began to sooth my ears.

Kids Of 88 has a new mature sound that shows growth and development between records. Both sides of their music has been enjoyable to listen to, however this unexpected new sound has had me bopping my head all day.

Loui the ZU is one of New Zealand’s fastest growing artists. Obviously when I say that, I do not mean in height. He is beginning to gain a good reception from all corners of the NZ music industry and has recently been receiving quite a bit of funding. Thanks to Auckland radio station, bFM, he has been able to get his name out there quite a bit.

Loui the Zu may not seem like your average rapper, in fact at the start of this clip, he may be mistaken for a bit of a hipster. However a man’s sense of style does not necessarily say all.

His track ‘Live Yxung Die Running’ flows gracefully and even though there is not what one may deem a Chorus, his carefully crafted rhymes are just as catchy and have one wanting to rap along.

I have heard of Loui the ZU for a while, but never got around to listening to his music, until a friend began to rave about him. Trusting my friend’s good judgement, I downloaded his free album from http://louithezu.com/and have been addicted ever since. I highly regret not listening to him sooner and I wish him well as I can tell that he has big things coming his way.

Slavi Stone is relatively unheard of in the NZ music industry. Seeing as that he has ended his music career and that he posses such talent, I decided that it was my duty to pay my respects.

The song ‘Stay Honey Stay’ begins with a strong guitar part, highly reminiscent of 80s glam rock. It quickly kicks into the first verse, highlighting the vocals by stripping the instruments back to just keys and a bit of idden strings. The rest of the instruments are all slowly bought back in, in time for a catchy Chorus featuring the title lyrics. After a second Chorus, it kicks into a nice bridge in 6/8 with some lush vocal harmonies. That section quickly finishes and returns to 4/4 at a faster tempo than the beginning unleashing a highly addictive and melodic guitar solo.

It is hard not to listen to this song without seeing the influence of Queen. The tight vocal harmonies, the soothing piano, and the face melting guitar, however Salvi Stone definitely stands on his own. Yes his influences are highly recognisable, but you can hear a different artist here. Taking inspiration from around him to form amazing music that he can call his own.