Exit Through the Gift Shop could be Banksy’s biggest prank yet. But would you expect anything less from the stencil master who snuck his own paintings into the Tate, painted escape routes on sections of the West Bank, and dropped a fake Guantanamo prisoner into a ride at Disneyland?

In Gift Shop Banksy turns the camera around on the purported filmmaker of this documentary, Thierry Guetta, a diminutive Frenchman with an all-consuming compulsion to film the world around him. “The film’s the story of what happened when this guy tried to make a documentary about me, but he was a lot more interesting than I am,” says Banksy, “so now the film is kind of about him.”

Obsessively carrying his camera everywhere (even, as we discover early on in the piece, to the toilet), Guetta gets his introduction to the world of street art through his cousin Invader in Paris. Upon his return to LA, the Frenchman ingratiates himself with Shepherd ‘Obey’ Fairey and starts following him and other well-known street art figures around the world, documenting their practices and even lending a hand.

Guetta eventually bags his biggest catch – Banksy – and films him as he prepares for his debut show ‘Barely Legal’ in LA. All of this is straightforward until Banksy presses Guetta to assemble the documentary he has supposedly been collecting footage for. It quickly becomes apparent that Guetta is not a filmmaker, but simply a neurotic dude with a camera.

Taking over the film project, Banksy sends Guetta back to LA and suggests he make his own street art despite the fact that Guetta so far hasn’t shown any artistic tendencies of his own.

And here’s where the film gets really interesting. Guetta decides he doesn’t want to just create street art, he wants all of the fanfare, hoopla and acclaim he witnessed at Banksy’s own LA art show and sets out to surpass him in every way. Setting up a studio of designers and artists, he arbitrates over these creative workers churning out a bunch of derivative, uninspired, photoshopped ‘art pieces’ under the moniker Mr Brain Wash and proceeds to mount a huge exhibition of some 4000 works in an old movie studio. He generates enough publicity (through the exploitation of quotes he’s garnered from Obey and Banksy) to see an art opening attended by over 7000 people and close to a million dollars worth of sales.

Guetta has taken the subversive, maverick quality of the artists he was originally documented and reduced their practice to something pathetic, all influence and no originality, all hype, huge price tages and no meaning. “Andy Warhol took cultural icons and repeated them until they became meaningless” says Banksy. “Thierry made them really meaningless.”

But is it real? Speculation has been rife that the entire documentary is a hoax, and Banksy is having the last laugh. I’m talking about a Richard Koufey style prank here but on an elaborate scale. The figure of Guetta could merely be a smokescreen for Banksy to stage his own large-scale, vacuous art show. Why? To illustrate how easy it is to ‘be’ somebody in the art world, simply because you can generate the hype, attract the crowds and manage to fool people into buying your works at vastly over inflated prices.

Street art, like everything else, has become fashionable, ensuring that prices have skyrocketed and everyone wants a piece. While Banksy himself is guilty of being in this arena, with works going for tens of thousands of dollars in auction, he is also in the position to argue that he didn’t ask for fame (he’s still anonymous for Pete’s sake) or fortune (the ‘shop’ on his website doesn’t offer anything for sale, and it could be argued that he wouldn’t see much of the auction money his work generates).

Whether he’s taking us for a ride or not, Banksy has used Mr Brain Wash to make a not-so-subtle point about the the artist, the buyer and the state of art today, portrayed tongue-in-cheek through this hilarious film.

Bad Buzz takes its musical direction of harmonised 1960s British rock: The Kinks, The Animals, and later, Supergrass at their melodic best. The eponymous opening track speaks of the drug addled selling of sex and it is the thing that perfectly crafted pop song dreams are made of, from its haunting harpsichord opening through to its heavy guitar crescendo.

Say Goodbye, the second track builds with its one simple guitar hook, a perfectly harmonised chorus and a movement that builds and loops, its beautiful simplicity never getting boring. The closing track You’ve Got Spray Paint in your Third Eye draws the Minties firmly back in to some of their better worn territory, all staccato drums and pop riffs and distorted guitars.

This EP once again proves the Mint Chicks are ahead of the game, creating music that is incredibly infectious, intelligent and always informed by but never superseded by their influences.

Get the album here.

His third album Out of the Soup was released in late 2009, and guiltily, I have only just picked it up to listen to now.

What a fool I’ve been.

Chucking it on my headphones during a recent trudge to work I was mesmerized. Taking the reigns from such big alt-country names as Wilco and Ryan Adams, Storey has managed to imbue Soup with country ambience a plenty while also managing to produce a thoroughly Kiwi-sounding album.

In these Fat Freddy’s Drop/Wellington Sound saturation times, it is no mean feat to take a different musical path and still manage to make an album that sounds like home.

Out of the Soup contains input from a plethora of local musicians including Gareth Scott and Reb Fountain, while the lyrical content of the album ranges from traveling salesmen to politics to expensive cars and WWII. The closing track is even a genius bit of psychedelia lasting a full eight minutes.

Don’t be the fool I was and go listen to this album immediately!

Rozzy Middleton

The first WOMAD took place in England in 1982 and has now spread to over 20 festival sites around the world – with New Zealand’s first  incarnation of the festival taking place in 2003. In 2010, we will be enjoying the sixth outing of WOMAD at the Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth. This year features a staggering 250 artists from 19 countries over the three days of the festival.

Musically, this year is particularly exciting for the astounding range of talented performers appearing. Heading the line up is the world renown Ethiopiques, featuring Ethopian Mahmoud Ahmed together with a 10-piece band. Film auteur Jim Jarmusch first brought Ahmed’s smooth grooves to the world on his soundtrack for the ‘Broken Flowers’ soundtrack. And now Ahmed will bring his band, and particular brand of music to our shores.

Another big name making an appearance is Eliades Ochoa from Cuba, star of the Buena Vista Social Club (you know the movie… If you don’t, look in your parents music collection. The soundtrack will definitely be there).

Of particular excitement to a Sideroom.com generation is the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. Featuring all eight (EIGHT!) sons of legendary Sun Ra jazz musician Phil Cohran, these horn playing brothers have teamed up with vocalist Mariem Hassan, to bring a truly hypnotic fusion of music.

Coming back for the first time since their awesome, sell out Studio show in 2008, are eclectic – and prolific – American band Calexico. Anyone familiar with the Alt-Country movement of the last 10 years will definitely be familiar with the sounds of Calexico through such albums as Feast of Wire and Carried to Dust. The low-fi band explore all manner of country sound and are amazing live.

If this meagre teaser and the promise of seven stages is not enough to tickle your considerable fancy, WOMAD also features a strong visual arts component, live workshops and cooking demonstrations throughout the weekend.

The particular visual arts draw card for 2010 is the highly regarded Chinese multi-media artist Mu Yu Ming. Hailing from Kuhming, China, Mu Yu’s visit to WOMAD is part of his four month New Zealand residency which will include projects in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

Specialising in portraiture and interactive public art projects, Mu Yu has exhibited in France, the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, the United States, Singapore, China and Hong Kong and his 20-day interactive public art project has been undertaken in China, Norway and France.

Also featuring in the visual arts programme at WOMAD 2010 is Wellington artist Ashley Turner’s ever-changing light installation Reflective Community. This interactive totem uses reflective materials and and is part of Ashley’s series of totems and light-based installations.

WOMAD runs next weekend from March 12 – 14. See www.womad.co.nz for full details.

From the harmonica bursting through the shimmery opening track, past the lilting loveliness of sleeper tracks such as ‘Lost on the Motorway’ and onto the lengthy meander of the closing track ‘Could Not Be More Wrong’, the Calico Brothers could not be more right.

Their debut full-length album hits the nail on the head, pushing the Calico Brothers beyond their musical reference points (read Wilco, Crowded House and even the Travelling Wilburies) and on to a nuanced and varied album, which is beautiful, melody laden and lyrically interesting.

My favourite track ‘Is There Anyone There?’ showcases just how eerily similar to John Lennon, frontman and guitarist Andrew Thorne sounds, whilst the album overall shows the affinity with 60s-esque, harmony-heavy folk pop that this Waitekere band has.

This is a beautifully produced album with a rather old fashioned string of instruments including the banjo, mandolin, Hammond Organ, Wurlitzer and the aforementioned harmonica. The sum of these equals a real delight to listen to and the perfect album to brighten up your winter and lead you into summer.
 

Rozzy Middleton

On the Horizon – Pages from Dunedin is a compilation of live recordings taken over three years at open mic nights in Dunedin’s St Lees Café and The Backstage. The contributing songwriters and musicians are all unsigned or independent and provide a sampler of what is going on in Dunedin’s much celebrated and unique indie scene.

Acoustic girl-pop two-piece band Paper Planes are a stand-out and appear twice on the compilation with strong vocal harmonies, and the occasional harmonica.

Hana Fahey appears with her the dramatic piano of her song ‘Slide,’ evoking the theatrical emotion of Amanda Palmer from the Dresden Dolls  (this song has also made it onto Fahey’s recently released debut album).

American singer/songwriter Casey Sharpe provides a polished title track to the compilation with well-crafted lyrics and harmonica sounds to evoke the sights, sounds and goings on of the southern city where he lived for six months.

Overall, this compilation is a great slice of the local music action in Dunedin and well worth getting your hands on if you want to keep up to date with what’s going down in Dunedin.

Rozzy Middleton

Click here to read more or buy online

You may not have heard of New York djing duo Rich Medina and Bobbito, but their first installment of The Connection series brings together a range of well-known musicians and djs with afro/latin leanings then puts them in the funk blender, throws in some hot sauce and strains it over ice. Spicy and cool.

The aim of The Connection is to explore the connections between afro-beat and afro-Latin influences in modern dance music and to this end, this mix is a party-starting, hip-shaking collection of songs. Highlights include New York turntablist Rob Swift (you may remember him from such projects as the X-ecutioners and Mike Patton’s Peeping Tom as well as a host of his own albums) and a funk instrumental of epic proportions by the eight-piece English/Brazilian funk ensemble Saravah Soul’s Supersossego.

Surprising to my mind was that the Latin side of things was curiously more funky at times than its Afro counterpart and I will be interested to see what they do with the final double album, which will feature bands such as Quantic Soul Orchestra. This mix is a triumphant and uplifting collection of songs. Lets get this party started!

Rozzy Middleton

The first time I ever saw Don McGlashan play live was at a formal arts dinner and he played only one song. It didn’t matter, I was completely blown away. The same thing happened when I listened to his second solo album Marvellous Year.

From the melancholic beginnings of ‘The Switch’ through to the organ driven power of Bathe in the River, Marvellous Year if nothing else proves Don McGlashan’s remarkable ability to capture and carry a melody. This was what he was known for during his years with the Muttonbirds, but Marvellous Year shows an artist continuing to develop in his songwriting abilities.

Of course a stellar band helps The Don out here (Chris O’Connor, Maree Thom, John Segovia and Dominic Blaazer) and according to him they allowed the album to unfurl quite naturally and quickly, resulting in a collaborative effort.

My personal favourite is the song Bad Blood with the wry lyrics ‘he was a snappy dresser, as far as I could tell,’ but this whole album is a gem, reflecting a talented and iconic New Zealand songwriter having a lot of fun with his band of talented musicians. Good stuff.

It’s not often that you read a press release which not only snares your interest but also lives up to the hype it generates. Such is the case with White Swan Black Swan. The brainchild of long time local music veterans Sonya Waters and Ben Howe, this release is gentle and beautiful.

A double mini album, Waters (White Swan) and Howe (Black Swan) take a disc each to pen the songs and perform the vocals, but these two discs are not as disparate as the idea might make them sound. Rather the separate parts are variations on a theme that is part ethereal Cloudboy vocals, part dark Nick Cave soundscapes and all gloriously and melodically Swan. Waters and Howe (and a host of other musicians and guest stars) take generous lashings of indie rock, mix it with the alternative twangings of country guitar and distil it into a sonorous, languid art-house music mix which is well accomplished and warrants many a repeat listen.

With gorgeous cover art by Auckland based artist Henrietta Harris (who created two paintings for the inside and outside of the cover), this is an album to be bought and enjoyed.

I arranged a bunch of questions for the boys but chaos, talk of robots and Croatian mass-murder quickly reigned so the following interview is not a direct transcript of conversation, but more a mishmash of four, equally enthusiastic musicians, answering my all too serious for a Friday questions as best they could:

How did you four manage to get together and how did you decide on your (rockabilly-esque punk) sound?

We had all vaguely known each other at school but weren’t really friends. When we left school we all played in a range of different bands and as they didn’t work out, we all drifted together. We all got together and asked what’s up and who wanted to get down.

Your first full length album The First Chapter came out recently, have you had a good response?

Rip It Up Magazine gave our album 3.5 stars and said we would be a band to watch. The general response has been that this is a fantastic first album and that everyone cannot wait to see what we’ll come up with next. We wanna get straight back into the studio and start recording again. Back on back to the first album. We’re writing and thinking of ideas all the time.

Can you tell me a little bit about the recording process for The First Chapter?

It was an interesting way to record, in the studio, not jamming but laying down all the different parts of the tracks separately. We’re not sure if we would like to record that way on our next album – we might prefer to go in and have a jam in the studio. An interesting experience though.

How did you get signed to both your local label Deadboy and global giants Universal? How did you decide on Deadboy as your label of choice?

Deadboy came about because one of the band member’s brother-in-law is in the Bleeders and owns the label. Partly ‘who you know’ instead of doing exhaustive label research but it was the right fit. As for Universal, Deadboy falls under their umbrella, which means that we have the chance to be represented and distributed overseas if the interest picks up. That’s exciting. So far most stores we get our albums into sell out pretty quickly so that’s also a good thing!

Interesting choice of band name, I would have thought it was more a death metal band. How and why did you decide to call yourselves Bad Bride?

We had a number of band names ideas bandied around – the Tom Coats, the Saran Boys – but none of them seemed to fit. As we were getting together Sam’s sister was getting married and we’ll give you three guesses what sort of a bride she was being. The name was born.

You recently said on your Facebook profile that you have “more shows, recording, writing and good times” coming up. What are the future plans for Bad Bride and can we come for the good times?

As mentioned, we’re keen to get back into the studio and lay down some tracks for the second album – we wanna be prolific in a Ryan Adams sort of a way! Other than that, just playing as many gigs as possible and having a good time.

Finally – do you prefer denim or leather?

DENIM DEFINITELY!!!!

More on Bade Bride here http://www.myspace.com/badbride
Album available here http://www.amplifier.co.nz/artist/46204