Holidaymakers enjoy summer sounds
A different street corner provided a different sound as a multitude of musicians performed for the summer hordes in Nelson city yesterday.
The Nelson City Jazz Band had the crowd toe-tapping to samba and singing along to a Billy Joel number at the 1903 site, drowning out any buskers nearby hoping for a share of the audience that had gathered.
Around the corner in Hardy St, Wellington-based electropop trio Minuit offered a slice of their latest sounds to a hometown crowd outside music store Everyman.
Stripped of their electronic sound and singer Ruth Carr’s usual sparkly attire, the trio were in summer mode prior to kicking off a camping holiday in the region, and doing an informal promotion for their new album, Last Night You Saw This Band.
Band member Paul Dodge said it was ‘‘old school’’ playing at a record store, especially for a group such as Minuit, whose main emphasis was on electronic music.
He said being able to translate their songs to acoustic versions was a good thing for them to do.
‘‘Stripping back the sound makes it a bit more vulnerable,’’ Dodge said before yesterday’s lunchtime gig.
The group spent the morning working out which songs would work acoustically and which ones wouldn’t.
Nelson Mail music reviewer Nick Ward wrote recently that each Minuit album included a new development that kept them interesting. This time it was the power of organic beats and a ‘‘less is more’’ philosophy.
Some in yesterday’s lunchtime audience looked surprised to have stumbled across Minuit playing casual, acoustic music on a Nelson footpath, clad in jeans and sandals.
Dodge said
it was good being able to present the album in Nelson, because it had a strong Nelson connection, with several local musicians appearing on it.
The album is also available on vinyl, at the suggestion of Everyman owner Greg Shaw, who is a firm believer in vinyl making a strong comeback.
‘‘People are starting to figure out they get something of substance with vinyl, which often comes with a free download or CD anyway,’’ Shaw said.
‘‘There’s also the better sound quality, and vinyl carries history; like a diary of where you were at any given time.
‘‘Artwork on a vinyl album cover was an art form lost on CDs,’’ he said.
Music will continue to fill streets, parks and vineyards across the region this weekend, with the Nelson Jazz and Blues Festival.
Tasman Jazz in the Park at Richmond’s Washbourn Gardens starts at 3pm today.
The festival ends tomorrow with a free lawn concert from midday at Woollaston Estates in Mahana.