The pair of Simon Gooding and Brendon Morrow released their debut self-titled album earlier this year, reaching No 7 and No 3 on the New Zealand album charts and the indie charts respectively.
Morrow and Gooding met while studying audio engineering in Australia, and upon returning to Auckland the pair began to write music together.
During a year-long trip from Argentina to Colombia, the duo developed their sound by writing and playing shows along the way.
Writing tightly crafted pop songs in the vein of American indie band Grizzly Bears' latest album Shields, with a hint of the motoric tempos of Spoon and Metronomy, The Map Room's sound is lush, chiming and polished.
Full of layers of acoustic and electric guitar, textural synths, and a delicate sense of weight and balance between all the elements, lovers of dream pop in particular should enjoy the group's music.
While the album was created entirely by Gooding and Morrow, a bassist and drummer join the duo for live performances.
- Following a couple of excellent cassette releases from Dinosaur Sanctuary and pop-savant Mavis Gary, and the announcement of a singles club, Dunedin label The Attic is having a show at Queens to celebrate their final release of the year (#AR012).
Entitled These Walls Will Shout, the release comes from ambitious sonic Wellington duo The Shocking and Stunning.
With loose, live percussion sitting atop waves of pulsating and undulating bass synth and swirling walls of ambient noise, the pair creates a droning noisy post-rock. Repeat and build, repeat and build, repeat and build (then start over again).
Side A of the cassette is a collection of live tracks recorded in The Attic at the very first and very last Attic Rattle shows (2011/12) while Side B features an exclusive track entitled Bloodied Eyes recorded earlier this year.
Support comes from Space Bats, Attack! which has recently been working on some impressive-sounding recordings of its own.
Before the tape release, the pair will this weekend release their first batch of new material in more than a year, and their fourth EP in total, titled We Will Fight You, a ''loud and raw cacophony of whirling drums and dirty synth textures'' according to the band. The Attic's tapes will be available on the night and online.
Check the current Attic catalogue at theatticrattle.bigcartel.com/.
See them
The Map Room New Zealand tour plays at Queens (1 Queens Gardens), tonight. Doors open 8pm. Tickets $10, pre-sales from www.undertheradar.co.nz. The Shocking and Stunning cassette release show with Space Bats, Attack!, Friday November 29, Queens Bar, 9pm. $10 waged, $5 unwaged.
