On the evidence of last Thursday's Dunedin show out at Chick's Hotel in Port Chalmers - Wellington-based Waterfalls' first sojourn out of the North Island - solo artist Amber Johnson is creating a distinctive new voice, combining what is in New Zealand terms a fairly traditional level of music geekery, blending multifarious pop, electronic, classical and folk inputs, played out through a decidedly sophisticated experimental pop world of new structures and ideas.
One thing
that's striking is the way these songs aren't sweet or innocent, but the
music world they create comes across as directly about the possibilities of
pleasure that can be found in music, even if only fleetingly. This
inversion of much of the hierarchies of post-modern pop certainly covers
a lot of terrain along the way - while contemporary pop, Sandy
Denny-style folk, electronic noodle, hip-hop, modern classical, new age,
techno, hauntology and 4AD layering may seem part of many a
contemporary canon, it's unusual to see them as readily integrated
together into such lateral patterns.
Tonight,
Johnson joins us on Avant Gardening to discuss the project, and play and
discuss a diverse range of music that may have some relation to
it.
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Playlist:
1. Waterfalls, 'Faun' (2015)
2. Waterfalls, 'Merecat' (2011)
3. The Pentangle, 'Let No Man Steal Your Thyme', from The Pentangle (1968)
4. ABBA, 'The Piper', from Super Trooper (1980)
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Playlist:
1. Waterfalls, 'Faun' (2015)
2. Waterfalls, 'Merecat' (2011)
3. The Pentangle, 'Let No Man Steal Your Thyme', from The Pentangle (1968)
4. ABBA, 'The Piper', from Super Trooper (1980)
5. Owen Pallett, 'Scandal at the Parkade,' from A Swedish Love Story EP (2010)
6. The Raincoats, 'No One's Little Girl,' from Moving (1983)
7. Vox Populi!, 'Fassle,' from Half Dead Ganja Music (1987)
8. West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, 'I Won't Hurt You, from Part One (1967)
9. Bonnie "Prince" Billy, 'Someone's Sleeping,' from More Revery EP (2001)
10. The Capris, 'There's a Moon Out Tonight,' single (1961)
11. Apollo 100, 'Joy' single, 1972.
12. Claude Debussy, 'Arabesque no. 1' from Clair de Lune Piano Music of Debussy, 1975? composed 1881.
13. Olivier Messiaen, 'Le Merle Noir for flute and piano,' from Quartet For The End Of Time, (1972), composed
1952
14. Morita Doji, 'Wolf Boy' from Wolf Boy, 1980.
15. Eyeliner, 'Scenery' from High Fashion Mood Music, (2012)
16. Enya, 'Storms in Africa' from Watermark, (1988)
17. Kelly Rowland, 'Ice ft Lil Wayne' single, (2012)
18. Waterfalls, 'CalmTV: Cat' musical score for video artist Claire Harris (2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0OjC2B4msw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0OjC2B4msw
19. Blossom Child, 'I Pray' single (1985)
20. Rick Wakeman, 'I'm so Straight I'm a weirdo, single (1980)
21. Goblin, 'Suspiria' from Suspiria OST (1977)
22. A-ha, 'Take on me' from Hunting High and Low, (1985)
23. Waterfalls, 'I Can't Wait' (2013)
23. Waterfalls, 'Mongoose' (2012)
24. Ol' Dirty Bastard, 'Shimmy Shimmy Ya' from Return to the 36 Chambers, (1995)
25. Kevin Saunderson, 'Transiztor' single (1988)
26. Kraftwerk, 'Autobahn' from Autobahn (1974)
