November Music Review

Fantas­ing

Eth­er­e­al Raunch

(Self-released)

3½ stars

Eth­er­e­al Raunch is the debut EP from Fantas­ing, a col­lab­or­at­ive ven­ture between Wel­ling­ton musicians/artists Bek Coogan (of Cor­tina and Full F**king Moon), Claire Har­ris, Sarah Jane Par­ton and Gemma Syme (of Diana Rozz and 47 Diamantes). Rooted in a lo-fi alt-rock aes­thet­ic, these four songs see the quar­tet indul­ging in pan flutes, comed­ic lyr­ic­al storylines and pop­u­lar music- and arts-related commentary.

‘Instant Fantasy’ matches gar­age rock rhythms and gui­tar with repeated group vocal refrains. ‘Art Cloak’ pushes the group into a tri­bal space, where rolling per­cus­sion col­lides with the afore­men­tioned pan flute, grind­ing tex­tures, and chanted lyr­ics cent­ral­ised around the line “take off your art cloak”. The whim­sic­al ‘My Vegan Lov­er’ is the hil­ari­ous story of a clichéd vegan lov­er as floppy as the song. ‘A Girl Called Run­way’ kicks off as exper­i­ment­al drone music, before unfold­ing into some­thing close to con­ven­tion­al song.

Per­form­ance art music for those with both a sense of adven­ture and humour, Eth­er­e­al Raunch is a good time.

Bella Kalolo

Time and Space

(Self-released)

4 stars

In her Time and Space EP, easy­going Wel­ling­ton diva Bella Kalolo expands on the idio­syn­crat­ic Poly­ne­sian soul of her first album, Without The Paper. Where her debut ripped with break-beat grooves, funky swamp gui­tar and taste­ful pop aspir­a­tions, Time and Space ripples with disco swing.

‘Be Happy’, fea­tur­ing Auck­land rap­pers Spycc and INF, pops with the same bounce that powered Amer­ic­an post-disco legends Mtume. ‘Time to Get Away’ struts like an even­ing walk down Broad­way, with flick­er­ing boo­gie gui­tar and Kalolo’s call to “take it to the dance-floor, and move as if there’s noth­ing wrong”. ‘Noth­ing Else’ finds Bella in full flight vocally, soar­ing over four-to-the-floor disco drums and grunty melod­ies, before drop­ping into an intense half-timed arrange­ment that actu­ally pushes her intens­ity up fur­ther. While not neces­sar­ily a step up from Without The Paper, in Time and Space Kalolo reminds us why she is far from a one-trick pony.

Novem­ber Live Music Recommendations

On Fri­day 1 Novem­ber, Lawrence Ara­bia per­forms at San Fran­cisco Bath House. On Sunday 2 Novem­ber, exper­i­ment­al com­poser Rhi­an Shee­han and Orches­tra Wel­ling­ton col­lab­or­ate at the Opera House. The same night, Bella Kalolo brings her Time and Space Tour to the South­ern Cross Garden Bar. On Fri­day 8 Novem­ber, post-punk UK reg­gae fig­ure­heads The Mem­bers play at Bodega. The Black Seeds play at James Cab­aret on Fri­day 15 Novem­ber. The same night, Mel­bourne-based New Zea­l­and rap­per Louie Knuxx head­lines Assembly at San Fran­cisco Bath House, and Lyt­telton country/folk stal­warts The East­ern per­form at St Peters Hall. On Sat­urday 16 Novem­ber, the Gun­slingers Ball presents Australia’s Wag­ons at Bodega. Amer­ic­an fuzz rock­ers Black Rebel Motor­cycle Club play at Bodega on Tues­day 19 November.