Throughout NZ Music Month we’ll be hearing stories from young musicians about the local songs they love the most. Today, Totems talks about songs from Rifles, Kieran Tahir, The Mint Chicks, Christoph El' Truento and Alec.
Lil B and Totems. Photo: Unknown
While coming up playing in local bands such as Bandicoot, Kitsunegari and FATANGRYMAN, Auckland-based musician/producer Reuben Winter now focuses on his two main projects – Caroles and his solo project, the Kerosene Comic Book affiliated, Totems.
Reuben talks about his five favourite New Zealand songs and the best album, “hands down”, to come out of the country.
Rifles – ‘Intercom’
I remember the first time I heard Rifles I didn't believe they were a New Zealand band, because they seemed to be miles ahead of any punk band that I had seen at the time. I think this was mostly due to the fact that the only local bands I had really heard were at the all-ages shows that seemingly used to happen every weekend when I was 13 or 14, but to this day I still think the Sketches EP is one of the most original and inspiring records from this country.
‘Intercom’ is my favourite song on the EP, because it has my favourite melody and the climax of the song has some of the most beautiful screams I've ever heard.
Unfortunately for me I only ever saw them play a handful of times, and they quickly dissipated. Also shouts to the drummer, Cam, for letting Caroles and Greenfog crash at his house last month when we played in Hamilton ^_^
Kieran Tahir – ‘Tundra’
One of the best things about Kieran's music is that he doesn't stick to one genre or sound, but still has a unique recognisable style, which I think is every good musician’s goal. This is displayed perfectly in ‘Tundra’, from the Massive Attack-meets-Lex Luger intro/outro to the middle section where the old skool dubstep influence is strong, but none of the expected sounds are used.
Kieran is one of my favourite producers not just in New Zealand but generally, and it's not just because he's a good friend (tbh all my friends who make music make good shit), but because I appreciate every little choice he makes in each tune, from a snare sound to the reverb on the synth. It's always on point. This also probably has something to do with the fact that we shared some pretty formative music throughout high school and Kieran actually taught me how to use FL when I was 14, which was my first taste of beat production.
The Mint Chicks – ‘Nothing Is A Switch’
Fuck the Golden Youth is the best album to come out of New Zealand hands down. Every single song on this album is a banger in its own right and my favourite changes with each listen. I chose ‘Nothing Is A Switch’ because it has the most extreme displays of the noise/pop duality that is The Mint Chicks sound, as well as some of the weird improv-y interludes on the album, which I also love.
As with a lot of people in my generation in Auckland, The Mint Chicks were a very important band for me in my teens. The first time I saw them was in 2007 at the filming of Live At Yours (the old show on C4 where local bands would play and do a cover song) and even though they only played five songs, my mind was sufficiently blown, and I went to every single one of their shows I could get into after that. Also, having a band like this opened my mind to a lot of weirder music, like the Three One G roster of bands and Frank Zappa.
Christoph El' Truento – ‘moOon birds’
This album also proved to be difficult to chose a single song from. I went with ‘moOon birds’ because there’s something about the dubby bassline in the second half that makes me still lose my shit after like 100+ listens.
I also really appreciate when drum beats are off kilter and don't seem to have a beginning or end but still make you move. This is something I tried to achieve in my most recent EP, but Christoph is a master as far as I am concerned.
What We Used To Know is best listened to as a whole (the re-works are not an imperative part of the experience), ideally in bed on headphones or any time after consuming cannabinoids.
It was for a very long time, and still sometimes is, my go-to "I can’t sleep" album. It often lulls me into a strange state of consciousness between sleep and waking, where I am completely relaxed. It lets my mind wander, rather than my waking state of overthinking everything that causes mass anxiety. In this state even the terrifying Pharaoh Sanders sample in the title track becomes more of an expression of negative feelings than something to cause them.
Alec – ‘For A Shine’
Alec is potentially the most mysterious entity in New Zealand music, except for maybe the Tapeman. All the info that is really known to people is that he currently resides in Turua, which is just outside of Thames.
Somehow Caroles managed to meet with him while recording Momentary Decline (we recorded on a farm near his in Turua), and he was a very erratic character who seemed like he hadn't really talked to other humans in a long time. I didn't really mange to learn much in this meeting, except that he has over 200 songs recorded and a room filled with outdated recording consoles.
This song is very very dear to my heart. The first time I heard it, I listened to it 10+ times in a row. I guess that’s the benefit of making sub-two minute songs, but also it can be hard to catch someone with that short a period of time, which this song 100% succeeds at. If I could get any stems from any artist ever it would be the cheering vocals from the intro of this song.