Evil Genius
The first two weekends of NZ Music Month at Evil Genius were awesome. The month started off on Friday 4th with 'Fish n Chips Fridays' and Sam Manzanza who played unplugged African blues 'High Life Music'. The Saturday 5th was lovely folk from Emily Fairlight and friends, then Sunday was soul blues singer Mara Simpson unplugged. The weekend gone on Friday 11th was a great crowd of families and friends enjoying 4 piece alt country band Eb & Sparrow. Saturday was blues rock locals Von Thundersvolt. Loud and bangin' them fallas were. Blues singer Pip Payne entertained a solid crowd on Sunday 13th May. So what's coming up for the upcoming weekend.
- Friday 18th 6pm Fish n Chip Friday again from 6pm. Maz Hermon 'Newtown Rocksteady'. Maz will be doing a free style set of blues and more goodies and then 'Ginger Brown' 3 piece psych band making a rare appearance in Wellington. Special magic show included before the show by young magician Niko. Get in early, I suggest 5.30. The shop will be open late selling records and serving up coffee. BYO fish n chips and drinks. Cheeky sneaky beverages wink wink ALL G
- Saturday 19th 3pm Dallas and the Mannequins. Blues indie pop ballad. This is the release of the brother's EP.
- Sunday 20th More details to be added. There is a gig this day.
Next week Ryan Prebble, Louis Baker and more.
The 14th annual Hip Hop Appreciation Week gets underway this Monday 14th May. Hip Hop is a form of musical expression and an artistic subculture originating from African and Latin communities in New York, especially the Bronx in the 70s. Hip Hop music consists of poetry which is spoken not sung, DJing, Hip Hop dance (breaking) and Graffiti art(graf). Hip Hop first started from block parties run by DJ Kool Herc. Kool Herc would mix samples from other records while he shouted out over the records. This was considered the birth of Hip Hop. DJ Africa Bambaataa of the collective Zulu Nation outlined the four pillars of Hip Hop culture, MCing, DJing, B-boying and grafitti writing. Hip Hop has progessed immensely since its early years and over the last 15 years it's been one of the highest selling genres. From the early days of block parties and battling to the East vs West rivalry, gangsta to conscious raps and now commercial success. The glory era of Hip Hop was 1993-97 with crews such as KRS 1 (Boogie Down Productions), Public Enemy, EPMD, NWA, Wu Tang Clan, Beastie Boys, Tu Pac, A Tribe Called Quest & Jungle Brothers all dominated worldwide with their special talents. Listen to some Hip Hop next week and remember it's not just all gangsta bootie and pimp rappers flaunting around in their country club outfits; it's about street culture.
Another busy week at Evil Genius. NZ Music Month, Evil quiz and more. Fish'n'Chip Friday got underway on Friday 4th May with the man, Sam Manzanza, playing African blues high life music. It was a cute setting with the smell of fish and chippies. This Friday will continue the trend with 4 piece alt folk country band 'EB & SPARROW' and our own DJ Eclectica spinning. Come into Evil Genius anytime in the evening for a hang, dig, coffee and a listen. We have two fish n chip shops local. We will supply sauce and lemons. You bring the chips and sneaky beverages. Check you fallas there.
We have new vouchers instore now. Surprise that boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife with a piece of gold; well, an Evil Genius voucher valued at however much you love your number 1. The vouchers can be used for vinyl records, CDs, tapes, T-shirts, posters and coffee. Keen on a voucher without coming to the shop? Then email vinylclub@hotmail.com or call Apa 0210638547 to arrange. Postage free.
Stocked instore at Evil Genius right now is a great selection of new and used NZ vinyl and CDs. A good collection of Flying Nun, Stink Magnetic, Kato, She'll Be Right, Southbound and loads more. Lots of independent music coming in all of the time. Ask the crew and we will show you some of the good stuff. Support local music people and remember there is life outside Top 40 music.
New Zealand's popular music month is happening all May and at Evil Genius we have a massive selection of goodie grooves for you. Starting the month off, our walls will be filled with 100% Kiwi, Maori vinyl and on Friday we start the music and also get fish n chip Fridays going. Bring your own fish n chips and listen to the meanest local acts. Here's the deal grandchild McGruffin Fluffin:
Friday 4th May from 6pm is 'Sam Manzanza-High life music'. The brother will be a one man Fella Kuti on the gat. Sure to be highly uplifting night of Afro music.
Saturday 5th May 3pm is folk buddie of mine Emily Fairlight and friends. Emily is different from your average folk singer mixing in wild tasty lyrics.
Sunday 6th May 2pm we have the lovely strong voice of Mara Simpson. One of her last shows before her and her falla head outta NZ. Soul folk and blues are her fortes.
Coming up in May are performers, Von Thundersvolt, Pip Payne, Maz Hermon, Ginger Brown, Ryan Prebble, Eb & Sparrow, DALLAS, Louis Baker, Terror from the Deep, French for Rabbits and loads more. We will keep you updated on Facebook and on here. Email vinylclub@hotmail.com for more info.
I recently had a trip over to Melbourne for a family reunion. I used my free time to hunt out various record stores using a 'Diggin Melbourne' guide packed with 51 vinyl spots. Here are a bunch of recommended record stores in Melbourne
1) Wax Museum Records - city
A very small record store about a quarter the size of Evil but filled with semi good DJ style vinyl. So bits of soul funk, hip hop, dance, etc. The shop is located in a underground subway. It's dark and and quite cool. And it really is underground fool.
2) Basement Discs - city
Basement is not too dissimilar to Evil's music selections. Again another shop located in a basement. Its main sellers are dirty garage rock n roll. They have lots of cool instores. Lots of local bands on CD and vinyl and they have their own label. The dude owner even gave me a beer and we got chatting about local music. He recommended me to go and check out a Cramps style band playing just out of the city, respect.
3) Northside Records - Fitzroy
Northside are another DJ style record store stocking awesome soul afro funk, jazz, blues, disco and hip hop. I picked up a stack of new sealed reissue funk lps for only $15au. The setup was cool as and the dude was friendly as. haha he did try to sell me his bands 7", Aus afro funk. Aussies and funk!!!!!
4) Greville Records - Prahran
I didn't purchase anything from here but the layout was excellent. Just another Slowboat Records style store. But darker and skinny. Filled with lots of music memorabilia on the walls. The records were in great condition and they had lots of good quality vinyl. Most of it seemed new but 80s-90s pressings. Lots of quality records and I would go back again.
5) Licorice Pie Records - Prahran
The best record store I have ever been in. Licorice Pie was recomended by three other record stores in Melbourne. The shop specialized in eclectic music. So lots of Progresive, psychadelic and kraut rock. A really decent blues section which had me fizzing. The general A-Z section was filled with gold and rarities. Some of the other sections included afro funk, rockabilly, surf and garage. The wall was filled with interesting rare lps and their 7" section was solid. I spent a good amount of time and money there, but it was well worth it.
If you are going to Melbourne I recommend grabbing the 'Diggin Melbourne' guide. Use the trams as they are the easiest way to get around quickly. a few of the shops in the guide have closed in the last year so ask around. The guide came out recently on record store day. Enjoy and 50 odd record stores, WTFarout bro!
We just have to say a huge thanks to all of the people who came out on Record Store Day to support Evil Genius and all of the other Wellington record stores. I talked to a few punters who had been doing the rounds. The word on the street is that Record Store Day was a great success. We had super deals on the day including giveaways and good discounts on records, plus djs and live music. We are a small independent business which makes the minimal amounts of sales, but because of all of the regulars who consistanly come into the store, we are able to operate and keep the shop open.
Super grouse to you music lovers.
If you're in the know about records then you know about Vinyl Club. It's Wellington's only vinyl record fair. For the last three or so years me and a few of the local geeks have been putting on Vinyl Club. It first launched on a Tuesday night in the middle of winter at Bodega. I was djing on MUNT FM (Massey University Network Transmissions) and the manager at the time, Dayle Jones, got given a fortnightly Tuesday night slot at Bodega. She asked me if I was keen to put something on. At that time I was doing lots of the DJ work and other work for MUNT. At the same time I had been talking to my close friends about having Vinyl Club. We talked about games of poker, drinking whiskey, eating fine foods and lastly listening to and ranting about cool records. I thought maybe we can take this to a bar and advertise a club for vinyl record geeks. Talking to a close mate of mine, Matt Bayliss, he suggested that I trade records as well. I had about 6 crates of doubles records, but I needed more. A couple of weeks before the record fair I was in Real Groovy for my weekly dig and I started chatting to a fellow digging chap by the name of Liam about Vinyl Club, and he was very interested when I said there might be a couple of records for sale. He told me he had 15 crates to trade with and that was the start of Vinyl Club: Two traders with around 1200 records, a fantastic young funk band providing entertainment, and 50-60 people showing up on the wet cold night. Masses of ranting went on that night and lots of people walked away with some goodies. I saw Don Luchito with a massive pile.
The next record fair was moved to the Southern Cross and has become a mean as event. We have over 10 traders every time and close to 10,000 records. The newest installment of Vinyl Club will be happening on 26th May 12-4pm. This time around there will be a mega prize. More draws will better the chances of winning. From Record Store Day on the 21st of April you can enter at Evil Genius, Slow Boat Records and RPM. All you have to do is buy a record and you will be given an entry form. But to win you need to be present at the record fair at 2.30pm.
The comfirmed prize so far is:
A new Gemini XL 200 professional DJ turntable
A stack of vouchers are yet to be comfirmed from Evil Genius, Slow Boat, RPM and Southern Cross.
Prizes will be updated as soon as they are comfirmed.
Awesome ae.
Out
We are soooooo damn proud to bring you the Record Store day. Record store day was founded in 2007 by American independent record store owner Chris Brown. The day is for celebrating independent record stores around the world with hundreds of artist making special releases and talks on the day. We will be celebrating our first record store day with bands playing mean tunes. Turntables will be setup for the whole day and the deals. Oh do we have deals for you. Evil will have 10% of all vinyl records, that includes new and used. Every $30 you spend on records gets you a free coffee and we will have special giveaways including records. Come and adopt Evil Genius as your record store and support all other Wellington independent records stores Slow Boat records, RPM, David White Gallery, Vanishing Point, Lo-Cost records and lastly Wonderland records. Support and respect.
Evil Genius
Saturday 21st April
