Husky - "Dark Sea"

Melbourne band 'Husky' are a beardy folk band with a sound not too distant from their compatriots Angus and Julia Stone... and 'Fleet Foxes' come to mind as well. They released their debut album 'Forever So' last year and promoted it with a couple of harmony driven singles "History's Door" and "Dark Sea". Not a bad introduction at all.

Amy Rigby - "Dancing with Joey Ramone"

Amy Rigby started her solo career in 1996 with a concept album 'Diary of a Mod Housewife' and her sense of humour continued throughout her career. "Are We Ever Going To Have Sex Again" was one such witty song that is played regularly on Bitter FM. Another is "Dancing with Joey Ramone" from her 2005 album 'Little Fugitive'. It is pure fantasy... but may be a homage to her younger days and influences from New York rock joints such as CBGB's. She married Wreckless Eric not long after and now they tour together on a regular basis.

Goon - "Have u seen my girl"

This is the greatest song that no one has heard of. In fact, to add to the 'Goon' mystery, I won't tell you a thing about them. Except that... no, I said I won't say anything.

Sonic Youth - "Computer Age"

"Computer Age" was from Neil Young's 'Trans' album from 1982. The album was a complete change in direction with the use of vocoders and synthesizers. It was his first album for his new label Geffen Records and the electronic 'Kraftwerk' musical style didn't impress them. He followed that up with a rockabilly album 'Everybody's Rockin' and that confused his fans even more. Geffen had decided it was enough and sued him for over $3 million, on the grounds that both albums were not commercial and in no way characteristic of his previous output. A countersuit put an end to it and they eventually settled out of court a few years (and albums) later. I don't think I would want to go near 'Everybody's Rockin' but 'Trans' had some credit to it, although, not as a complete album. One such example is "Computer Age" which I first heard covered by 'Sonic Youth' on a Neil Young tribute album.



Neil Young - "Computer Age" (original)

AMMP - "Ironman"

Our little town of Taupo hosts Ironman New Zealand and today was the day of this annual event. A record number of around 1600 athletes were ready to take over the town. A weather bomb, as they are called these days (which actually means...'a storm') decided to ruin the party and the race was cancelled and replaced with a half Ironman tomorrow. Here is the official song for Ironman NZ by Wellington band AMMP.... for the people who trained all year and now don't get the chance to cross it off their list.

SOKO - "I Thought I Was An Alien"

French singer and actress Soko has just recently released her debut album 'I Thought I Was An Alien' and the title track was an earlier single. She has collaborated with The Go! Team and Cornershop... as well as being sampled by Cee Lo Green. So not too bad for someone most of us have never heard of.

The Smiths vs Lana Del Rey - "This Charming Video Game" (mashup)

A mash-up featuring the greatest song of 2011 and a classic song from the greatest band ever... a complete surprise out of nowhere. But the biggest surprise is that it works so well.