Dunedin jangle veterans The Chills will perform a series of New Zealand shows this month, including a hometown show on Friday.
The legendary band, led by Martin Phillipps, will play at Re:Fuel with sleek electro trio Death and the Maiden in support.
Last year, the band released their first new material in forever, the unmistakably Chills sounding Molten Gold, and more recently have been recording tracks for a forthcoming album (under the working title Silver Bullets, which has remained unchained since the completion of the Sunburnt album in 1995) with producer Brendan Davies at Karma Sound Studios in Thailand.
April's Record Store Day also saw the first of The Chills material to be re-released via Flying Nun's new partnership with Brooklyn label Captured Tracks, with the reissue of the seminal Dunedin Double EP.
The band has also announced three June European dates in Ghent, Berlin, and Amsterdam in partnership with their UK indie label Fire Records, and is hinting at more announcements, indicating the band might be finally making real plans (unlike that Glastonbury rumour) for the great escape and a full European tour.
Rare NZ tour
New Zealand-born and Nashville-based experimental pop artist Renee-Louise Carafice starts a rare home tour next week, kicking things off with a show at Dunedin's Taste Merchants.
Carafice is touring in support of her new album Power Animals, which is available via her own record label, Bird Army Records.
The album, written while Carafice was undergoing intense hypnotherapy and living across the road from a zoo, was originally released in mid-2012 in a demo-like state, featuring toy instruments recorded directly into Carafice's computer.
Those demos gained some attention from various corners of the globe, but following a Kickstarter campaign the album has now been re-recorded by Carafice and friend/electronic musician Daniel Tomczak.
Built on thunderclap drum pads, touches of folk instrumentation, and some confessional-sounding lyrics, Carafice has said of the album: ''This album is an anti-suicide note: love songs to myself and hate songs to the haters. These songs say: I am alive, and perhaps being alive is more brutal than being dead.''
The last time Carafice visited New Zealand, it was in support of avant folk experimental musician Sufjan Stevens. At her Taste Merchants show, Carafice will be supported by Verlaines frontman Graeme Downes.
The Sami Sisters
Auckland sister trio the Sami Sisters will visit next week, fresh from releasing their single Jumpstart.
The meditative and country-fried Jumpstart tells the story of a young boy oppressed by his father and how, with the help of a friend, he plans to break free.
See it
- The Chills with Death and the Maiden, Re:Fuel Bar, Friday, June 6, doors 8pm. Tickets $20 from www.eventfinder.co.nz
- Renee-Louise Carafice with support from Graeme Downes (Verlaines), Taste Merchants, Lower Stuart St, Friday, June 6, doors 8pm. Downes on at 8.15pm sharp. Tickets from www.undertheradar.co.nz The Sami Sisters, Chick's Hotel, Port Chalmers, Friday, June 6, doors 9pm. Tickets $15 from www.undertheradar.co.nz; door sales available.
