“Pedestrian Support League” by Street Chant

Yay! Street Chant are back. A long 5 years on from their excellent debut album “Means” there’s a new album “Hauora” announced for November release. Here’s “Pedestrian Support League” from it.

“Pedestrian Support League” packs a brilliant and surprising jangle pop lightness in the verses. It makes the chorus drop into their trademark melodic power-pop-punk snarl – soothed as always by those golden backing vocals – all the more thrilling.

The lyrics are a strong feature of anything Street Chant do as well – and Emily in her solo capacity too. This tale of existential ennui is no exception, indicating that perhaps band life is not quite the chummy cartoon rush of the Music Manager game they were featured in a few years ago.

First time I saw Street Chant was at Auckland’s first Laneway Festival where amp stacks were climbed and stage crew upset, not for the last time at that festival. It’s exactly that kind of attitude that Street Chant have always brought to their live shows and it shines through on their recordings too.

First time I saw them play in Dunedin was at Sammy’s supporting the 3Ds when they reformed for a brief tour about 5 years ago. At the time they sounded like they had absorbed the best bits of the 3Ds and Doublehappys into their own unique post-millenium DNA. People I talked to during & after that show seemed genuinely disappointed to learn they were from Auckland and not Dunedin.

Street Chant play at Chick’s Hotel this Saturday.

“Underground” by Emily Edrosa

It’s the final day of PopLib’s May Month of Madness Marathon for NZ Music Month 2015 and Sunday is the perfect day for Emily Edrosa’s “Underground” as the song mentions Sunday mornings in the lyrics.

Listen carefully to the lyrics. ALL OF THEM.

Emily – who is perhaps better know as Emily Littler; guitarist, vocalist, songwriter for Auckland grunge-punk trio Street Chant – can write a savagely intelligent snarly lyric injected with bile like the best of them. It’s poetry to these ears. And the music is, well, music to these ears, obviously. Hopefully to yours too.

PopLib mentioned “Underground” last October as being a live favourite. If you are in Dunedin and want to experience it live, Emily is back playing in Dunedin this coming week at a Radio One 91 Club Presents event on Thursday June 4th along with some other PopLib favourites; Birdation and Embedded Figures.

As with every year I do these crazy daily posts for NZ Music Month I almost immediately regret undertaking the challenge. Not because there is no shortage of great local music I think people should hear. It’s the need to write something intelligent about each one to help convince anyone reading these posts to play the song and check out the links etc. which is the chore. Some posts write themselves though…

The idea around the May posts is that May has been decreed “New Zealand Music Month” by various music agencies in NZ. No-one involved in ground-level (or underground-level) New Zealand Music Month really knows why the month exists or cares much any more. But, rather than be a default-curmudgeon, shaking my fist at clouds like Grandpa Simpson, it’s an opportunity to go discover stuff. This year it has helped ne to find many new releases and bands/ musicians I didn’t know about previously. And I’ve discovered a fantastic Wellington label – Sonorous Circle.

It’s always interesting to see what posts are popular and in what parts of the world. Perhaps unsurprisingly the most popular of the posts (so far) was for the Sam Hunt with David Kilgour & The Heavy Eights post for their excellent album of poetry & psychedelic rock called “The 9th” which was featured here on the 9th of May. But there are also strong showing for new discoveries like Jim Nothing’s “Raleigh Arena” which was picked up and shared by some overseas music websites. That’s the kind of thing that helps make doing this month worthwhile each year.