As another year quickly draws to a close, so does Suitable Alternative.
As we'll be out of action for the next month or so, here's a rundown of my picks from Otago's musical summer, many of them happening at Chick's Hotel.
Stay tuned for our traditional end-of-year wrap next week.
UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA
Unknown Mortal Orchestra, the Portland via New Zealand outfit fronted by psychedelic visionary Ruban Nielson, is making a welcome return to Dunedin with a two-night stint in support of new album Multi-Love.
With a happier disposition than Nielson's more introspective road-weary and druggy early material, Multi-Love indulges a classic soul influence, Nielson aligning his chakras with Prince and D'Angelo if produced by Mark Ronson.
Helped along by his brother, Kody, the album struts and grooves, with twisting melodies and intoxicating soft-rock weirdness bringing Nielson's vivid mysticism to this expansive new frontier of what his band can be.
The shimmering disco of Can't Keep Checking My Phone might just be single of the year.
Two years ago, during their last Dunedin visit, Nielson and co jammed harder than anyone thought possible.
I simply cannot wait to see them grace the Chick's Hotel stage.
BESPIN
Winners of the 2015 Critics' Choice Prize as part of the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards, Auckland ambient shoegaze outfit Bespin is visiting Dunedin as part of its first South Island tour.
The trio of Alex Freer (Tiny Ruins), Jonathan Lee (Cut Off Your Hands) and Joel Beeby (The DHDFDs), who recently opened for Australian indie heavyweights Tame Impala, are touring behind debut EP Osris, five tracks of woozy fuzz, lush atmospherics, and a hint of texturally dense art-pop ala The Cure or Tampa's Merchandise.
Head along to be washed in some feedback.
DIE! DIE! DIE!
It is fitting Die! Die! Die! will see out Chick's last New Year's Eve.
Not only is the venue the band's self-proclaimed spiritual home, but the Dunedin/Auckland noise-punk trio have made something of a habit of ringing in the new year there, a couple of sublime and frenetic nights half-recalled in recent memory.
Touring behind the What Did You Expect EP, you can expect a wired and frenzied collection of wrought glares and sonic punches in the face, true to Die! Die! Die!'s now storied legacy.
The title track is the highlight: three minutes of melancholic mid-tempo guitar-bending bliss.
The gigs
• Unknown Mortal Orchestra with support from Fazerdaze, Wednesday, December 16, and Thursday, December 17, at Chick's Hotel. SOLD OUT.
• Bespin with Bad Sav, Friday, December 18, at Chick's Hotel, $10 from 8.30pm.
• Die! Die! Die!, New Year's Eve Dance Party with Miss June, Psychic Maps, and Bad Sav, Thursday, December 31, at Chick's Hotel, $15 presales from Undertheradar.co.nz with a copy of Die! Die! Die!'s new EP What Did You Expect, or $20 on the door.
For all Chick's Hotel shows, the Chick's Hotel Magic Bus leaves Countdown Central at 8.30pm, the University of Otago library at 8.35pm, returning to town after the show.
