AIR MUSIC VIDEO SING SANG SUNG from MATHEMATIC SAS on Vimeo.
Directed by : Mrzyk & Moriceau @ El Nino
Producer : Jules Dieng
Animation & exe : Mathematic Studio
I will most likely rip-off the majority of these concepts in the future.
YEAH! Check me out! Today Monstrous Media was listed as number 7 on the Hype Machine’s most popular tracks for the Casiotone for the Painfully Alone track I posted a few days ago. This is sweet because first of all, it’s an awesome song, and second of all that means people are following through to MM to read the post! Yes! So for all you Hype Machine users, get out there and “love” this track so I can get to the top.. or at least stay featured for a few days 
For those of you who have no idea what the Hype Machine is, go there and find out, cause it rules. For the rest, listen to this awesome song and favorite me!
Just playin around. It was an attempt at faking decent Global Illumination but it is apparent my lighting strategies need fine-tuning. Not sure what to do with this..
Instead of applying for jobs I’ve been recording music. Here are some tunes that came out the last few weeks. More to come.
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This one was recorded with the ears of Liz in the forefront of my interests.
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Cover of the funerary classic.
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Written about a German dude who was supposed to call me.
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Break-up ballad, life mantra.
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Ukulele cover of one of my all time favorite Beatles songs. Will Schneider IV and I will be pumping out a number of these for an all-ukulele Beatles cover album. Due out Christmas.
It’s when bands like Micachu and the Shapes come along that I regain my confidence in the future of music as a whole. At times, it appears to me that bands taking a crack at experimentalism are bombarded by the tidal wave of nonsense being generated by other bands elsewhere having an experimental month and, in turn, it becomes difficult to sort out what new ideas are rubbish and who is actually on to something. Micachu is like the old lady who spends her afternoons sorting through heaps of trash for the gems she chooses to take home, polish and put on her mantle. Aptly named Jewellery is a magnificent mash of dirty beats, clanky guitars with a perfect dusting of sprite synths and sweet vocals. The drums on this record honestly sound like a rusty collection of pots and pans whilst the guitar, almost inaudible at times, sounds like a homemade shoebox banjo with fishing-line strings. I suppose what I’m getting at here is that Micachu has successfully taken a step that many of us have been trying to take for the last 2 years; Jewellery delivers insightful new song structures but still has an addictive pop charm, has an appropriate electronic element but still sounds like it was made in someone’s basement. Way to go Micachu, now what do we do after everyone copies you?
Micachu and the Shapes – Just in Case
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Micachu and the Shapes – Golden Phone
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Micachu and the Shapes – Calculator
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wow. What month. I’ve been traveling pretty much non-stop since late august and have seen the majority of New Zealand’s North Island. Most recently, I joined some friends on a last minute romp back up to Northland (the peninsula that sticks way out up top). I had already been up there but it was just so slap-me-in-the-face beautiful the first time I was compelled to jump on the bandwagaon when I heard there was a group going that way (even though it was ridiculously out of my way). The Northland is comprised of gorgeous beaches lining the bays that spot each coast and luscious, rolling farmland, sandwiched in between. We did a bit of surfing at ‘Shipwreck Bay’ on the west coast and nearly got destroyed by a tsunami. Then we did a bit of fishing on the east coast and caught a delicious Hoki but threw it back because we thought it looked poisonous. Here’s a photo re-cap.
Would you eat that?
The campsite next to our fishing jetty.
Some happy campers using Gerty to her fullest on the shores of Maitai Bay, way up north.
On the way back up north we made a pit stop to visit our old friend Tane Mahuta. I was driving with some new travelers that hadn’t seen the giant Kaori trees yet so it was nice to be wowed with them. This fella is the actual Tane Mahuta himself, posted by request.
This is another shot of the massive Mt. Taranaki. I spent sometime in New Plymouth, a surf town at the foot of this monster, before heading way back up north.
Psychedelic dead cow-pig.
So the plan is to hang out in Wellington for a few months and get my wallet poppin’ again. I’m house-sitting for a co-worker of my father’s whilst they’re out on business. It’s indescribably nice having a hot shower at my disposal among other household luxuries. Wellington is a rad city and I’m really looking forward to settling in a bit and seeing what it’s all about. I’ll also be polishing up some songs I’ve been working on and doing a bit of album art for the new Chairy Arms EP. Expect heaps more posts about tunes and art and other goodness.
My travels will begin again in December when my super awesome friends, Liz and Patrick come to get mind-fucked with me on the South Island. Following their visit, the rocket-ship babe from outer space, Christina “yer dad” Shapalis will be hoofing it wit me for a good 2 months. Yessss. Then, my Ma will be making the trek out here as well for her own mom-style NZ adventure.
And here’s what I’ve been listening to:
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Hot Boyz ft. Dear Nora
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of Montreal – Kissing in the Grass
listen to that bass line. and, um oboe intro? clarinet maybe? brilliant.
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Seriously! I was driving south aimlessly along the west coast of the North Island and saw that there was small town tucked away in a harbor that might make for a good place to have my lunch. I entered this town (of which I wont repeat its name to retain its anonymity) to find that it was dead. The one café in town was closed on this Monday afternoon and there was not a soul to be seen. There was a precarious sign pointed out of town in the opposite direction marked ‘Ocean Beach’. I love beaches named Ocean Beach because you nearly always know exactly what to expect, except in this case. I drove a good 5km out of town towards Ocean Beach until I arrived in a gravel lot with a trash can. The hike to the beach led over a huge dune and proved to be a bit cumbersome. The beach was gorgeous, not a soul in sight, but as suspected it was just a beach, by the ocean. I spent a few minutes reflecting and headed back to prepare my lunch and decide where to go next. Whilst in the middle of preparation a campervan pulled into the lot driven by an older couple. The man driving popped out and asked me if I had found the hot water. Confused, I said I’d hadn’t and then realized what he was talking about. Apparently some Maori bloke had told him that when the tide was low enough, at this specific beach, a beach surface hot spring was revealed. And the tide was low that day, my friends, let me tell you.
This is a shot of the pool I went back over the dune to dig right before sunset. It was impossible to photograph the temperature of the water but I assure you, it was hot. Like, HOT hot. I sat there, all by myself (the old couple merely put their feet in and left) and watched the sunset. In my own secret beach-side jacuzzi. Unbelievable.
A nice photo pf the dunes before the beach.
Mt. Taranaki from Ruapuke Beach south of Raglan.
This photo of Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings) was actually taken a few months ago on a bus trip up to Auckland right before I bough Gerty… thought I’d share.
Just for the uber-curious, I’ve made a google map of my travels thus far. It’s a roughing out of the road traveled with little markers along the way of some of my stops. The map needs some refinement but you’ll get the basic idea.
View NZ in a larger map
Needless to say my sprits have picked up almost immediately following the smash-smash incident; one can’t dwell on these things for too long.
My last few days in Rotorua were excellent. I met some nice Kiwis that took me to some secret local hot springs about 20 km outside of town. The spring was piping hot and flowing perpendicular into an icy cold river creating a warmth gradient in between. You could move in close to the spring and get really hot and then just slide down closer to the river to cool off. It was perfect, especially at night with the stars smashing down.
On my way out of Rotorua I stopped at Agroventures, a big extreme sports company that owns a huge piece of farm land where people go zorbing and jet boating and bungee jumping and all sorts of shit. This emu was hanging out.. Magnificent animal. Although Agroventures was tempting, I couldn’t bring myself to throw down heaps of cash to roll down a hill in a ball. This also meant skipping the Shweeb (bike-powered monorail race track).. SORRY WILL. maybe another day.
The following morning I woke up in a farmer’s front yard and made my way into Waitomo to do a bit of glowworm caving. I signed up with a badass company that took it’s patrons on a 5 hour tour of the legendary caves which included abseiling down into a huge dark crevice, spelunking through tiny lava tubes, blackwater rafting on underground rivers and gazing upon magical glowworm displays of epic status. It was incredible. The glowworms appear like tiny blue stars on the cave ceiling; a milky way of bioluminescence, and they only enumerate as your eyes adjust. Making loud noises ups the quantity quite a bit as well. Apparently they respond to the vibrations in the still air and think there is a moth flying by. Coolest ever. The above shot is from inside the cave looking out at the entrance and below it is an open exposure of yours truly taking a gander at the spectacle.
That evening I drove out to a towards the coast and stumbled upon a small town called Raglan. It’s a quiet surf town with a focus on sustainability and organics and crap like that. The above shots are of sunset at Manu Bay, a world renowned surf spot. I like the one shot through my shades.
I managed to mind a dream-like hostel called Solscape that lets me park Gerty for a reasonable price. They also have a million dollar view of the sea and rent surf boards and bikes for day use. There are tons of hip kids here and good vibes all around. The other day some WWOOFers build a clayfire pizza oven. It had to have a fire burning in it for 36 hours to dry properly. I’ve been here for 3 days now and will probably be here for a few more. I really like it here AND I went surfing yesterday AND I got UP!. I’m going out again today for like 12 hours. yesss.
Sufjan Stevens – Introductory Fanfare For The Hooper Heroes
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The Polyphonic Spree – It’s The Sun
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I’ve only had a chance to click into this album a few times but each visit has been a pinch more rewarding than the last. Mr. Stevens never ceases to amaze me. His compositions are insanely original and engaging. I think he’s incapable of putting out a half-ass album. The BQE, an homage to the New York City subway line, is no exception. Carefully arranged into movements, the BQE takes listeners to all corners of the musical spectrum. At some points you feel like you’re listening to one of Sousa’s marches and then before you’ve got the count down you’re listening to electro-glitchcore in a basement. It’s for this reason particularly that I can see why many may be turned off by Sufjan Stevens’ most recent work, but it is also for this reason that I am attracted to it. I like music that is unpredictable, spastic; it jars you, throws you off, makes you THINK. Who wants to know when the chorus is gonna drop anyhow?
Sufjan Stevens – Introductory Fanfare For The Hooper Heroes
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Sufjan Stevens – Movement III: Linear Tableau With Intersecting Surprise
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The following pictures are the photos I took for the police report. Gahh. That’s right, Ol’ Gerty got her face smashed in. Some asshole took it upon his or herself to treat my van like a free bin outside of a second-hand store after smashing my passenger window and breaking in. To answer the obvious immediate questions you might have before getting too far into the story: I’m perfectly fine, unharmed, and all they stole was my passport and my external hard drive I was traveling with. Bummer.
I arrived in Rotorua 3 days ago. It’s a respectable town with not too much going for it outside of the incredibly high concentration of geo-thermal activity in and around the city. The town smells of rotting eggs and everywhere you go someone is trying to sell you some mineral-rich facial mud or a questionably yellow cure-all sulfer pill.
My first night here I managed to make friends with some Kiwi locals and a few kids from the hostel I had checked into, Cactus Jacks. They were making moves out to the bar but I was exhausted from a day of travel and decided to call it a night a bit early. At 3am I was awoken from a blissful slumber by an Israeli named Ayal. He told me my van window had been smashed in and all my shit was out in the street. I had no idea what was going on. I pulled myself out of bed to figure out if what he had told me was true or if it wasn’t exactly what he was saying or if I was still dreaming. Unfortunately for me and my belongings, it was raining. Also, Ayal wasn’t lying. He had noticed my broken window on his way home from the pub and rushed in to tell me.
They had kicked in the door handle, jamming the door shut. They broke the window and unlocked the other doors. I had brought most of my stuff into the hostel with me earlier that day based on a hunch that leaving my van on the street might not be a great idea, but there were no other places for Gerty to sleep. In the van still was heaps of clothing, all my cooking gear, some electronics, my big backpack, and my passport. They had pulled all of the latter out into the street and made a big muddy, glassy, terrible mess. Bummer.
From there it was just a matter of seeing what was missing and cleaning up the mess. After all my items were re-cataloged it turned out that they only got my passport and my terabyte external hard drive. I still have my computer, camera, money, credit cards and all that crap. The door they bashed in was done for so I had to find a scrap yard with a full-on new door. No one had a grey door that matched so I had to settle for a gold one. Gertrude now sports a gold tooth.
It was a really crappy experience with tons of bullshit to sort through, hours of phone calls to police officers and insurance assholes (no they didn’t cover it), and not much sleep. It’s all over now and I’ll be back on the road in a few hours. The incident has left a bad taste in my mouth with regards to Rotorua that goes beyond the taste of rotten eggs. The one redeeming quality the town has to offer is that there are hotsprings everywhere. I spent the last day or so soaking all my concerns away and smearing mineral mud on my face to improve my complexion. I’m sweet as now and ready to move on.
Much love,
Andrew
Here’s something beautiful to leave you with. It’s a panorama I made from Hahei Beach up Coromandel way.
And here’s what I’ve been listening to:
Discovery – I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (ft. Angel Deradoorian from Dirty Projectors)
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