Triumphs - Computer Man - Self Released TRI001 - New Zealand 2017 - (Limited Edition Vinyl)

So I have had 8 new slabs of vinyl arrive so far for the first week of 2018, four I have already reviewed below, but this one is the pick of the new arrivals so far.

 Triumphs are a two piece with just guitar and drums, hailing from the southern metropolis of Dunedin, New Zealand. They play what is usually termed "Post Rock" and they stick to the formula of quiet/loud which seems to be quite common for this style of music. The scene seems to be pretty busy here in NZ and with this album Triumphs have pushed them selves to the top of the heap here up with the likes of Jacob, Karretta and Into Orbit.

 Four Sides of awesome riffing backed with excellent drumming, over all four sides it never gets dull, even though they never stray from the usual formula. Their first album, "Beekeeper/Bastardknocker" was a great record but suffered from low volume and was quite Lofi sounding on vinyl. This record supersedes that record in every aspic, the sound is incredible, the volume is excellent, the music is fantastic and the vinyl is quiet as a mouse. Perfect. What a great record to start off the year. Rating 5/5.

https://triumphs.bandcamp.com/album/computer-man

https://www.discogs.com/Triumphs-Computer-Man/release/11362732

Blazed and Confused - The Great Southern Doom Fest - New City Hotel - Christchurch - 9 December 2017

The title will inform most as to the sort of music presented on this night of noisy mayhem. I was most interested in seeing Triumphs again and hopefully picking up their latest slab of vinyl and Arc Of Ascent of whom I also have a couple of records and was keen to meet their leader, Craig, whom I kinda knew through a Facebook Group, Also Bloodnut was one I had heard a little via Bandcamp and liked enough to bee keen on seeing them live.
 The stage was split into two halves with a band playing on one half of the stage while the next band set up behind curtains on the other half of the stage. Each band played an approx 30 minute set.
 The first three sets were from Old Haven, Shetland and Yarnspinner. I knew nothing about any of them, enjoyed the first with just guitar and drums with some vocals and also enjoyed the second band with a larger line up. A week later as I right this, my memory of their sets is already fading, but I do remember liking what I heard. YarnSpinner seemed to be somewhat louder than the first two bands who I thought played at just the right volume but I was actually struggling with the loudness of Yarnspinner and so went out to get some ear plugs from my car for the rest of their set. I don't recall much about what they played.
 Triumphs were up next and unlike last time I saw them, I believe they played more material from the earlier album than the new one as I seemed to recognize more of the tunes, although I had listened to the new record on Bandcamp a couple of times. Their music is all instrumental, so no vocal melodies to help identify their tunes but I definitely knew all they played. Their set was blood excellent and I would have loved them to play longer. I had removed my earplugs for their set as I didn't enjoy the muffled sound with them in.
  The next two bands, Opium Eater and Enfire, I can't sat too much about as I got distracted by checking out the growing crowd, moving to the back of the room for a drink and a respite from the earsplitting volume and also got into a shot conversation with the guitarist from Triumphs as to what had happened to their new album, which I was intending to buy a copy of while at this gig. Unfortunately the album had been delayed from the pressing plant for an unknown time.
 Next up was Bloodnut and I was pretty close to the stage for this ferocious 3 piece who played some excellent bass lines, some great guitar  and thundering drums, I really enjoyed their high octane set although there was a fair bit of distortion that muddied the sound and I couldn't understand much of what the singer said or sang.
 Then Arc of Ascent hit the stage, their first gig in Christchurch for many years, and perhaps the band I was most looking forward to. I already had their first two records and picked up their latest from the merch table earlier in the night. I also sorta knew the band leader from Facebook so was keen to say hello at some stage. Anyhow their set was as good as I expected, the band was tight and the riffs awesome, with I think a majority coming off the latest record(which I think is their strongest). There was a tall, quite old looking gentleman with a beer in hand and conservatively dressed next ot me as they played their last track. He just stood there looking straight ahead and not moving as the wall of great noise hit us. as they finished, he turned to me, cracked a big and slightly drunken smile and said"that was fucking awesome! What are they called?"
  I managed to catch Craig's attention before he left the stage and introduced myself and he said he will catch me after he packed up. I caught some of the next band, Stonehurst, but spent the rest of their set in conversation with Craig. The last band was from Australia and called Hobo Magic, but it was already 12.30am and I had an hours drive home so I excused myself from Craig and left.

Hiboux - Triumphs - No Broardcast - Space Academy - Christchurch June 1 2017

Ended up attending two gigs this night, susch is the number of interesting events happening lately. I missed several other gigs recently through them either being sold out, clashing with other gigs or just too many for me to travel all the way to the city for every night.

  This gig attracted me because of Triumphs, of whom I have had their first LP for some time and I really liked it. Hiboux were the headlining act as it was their tour supporting their new CD and No Broadcast were also a local band who had been around a while and have a couple of CDs out.

 After watching half of the other gig I was attending across the road, I wandered into Space Academy around 9:30PM just as No Broardcast hit the stage. A three peice, they had a great heavy sound with the lead singer and guitarist coaxing out some more experimental walls of sound in amongst their Muse inspired rock songs. I thought the singer wasn't to bad although with all the reverb and echo it was hard to hear much clearly. I enjoyed the set and also the CD EP they gave me which I listened to the next afternoon.

 Triumphs are a two peice heavy instrumental rock band hailing from the southern metropolis of Dunedin. I waas excited to see them as I have really enjoyed their debut LP, which came out on the fabulos Monkey Killer Records in a limited edition of 100. Therefor it was surprising to see they still had some copies for sale after 18 months since it's release. Just shows how low key these great bands are. They were the loudest band of the night but with just guitar and drums it made it much easier to hear what was being played buy each member with just the two instruments, of course the guitarest had a plethora of effect pedals at his feet and created an excellent wall of noise. I think most of their set was from their upcoming new album as I didn't recognise any of the tunes but they were great numbers with some impressive riffs and I definatly enjoyed them the most this night.

  Hiboux  were a five peice, two guitars, bass, keys and drums that played an instrumental form of "Post Rock". Their set was OK but I wasn't particulary moved or electrified by their music and with so many instruments through the small PA it became all a bit murky. The Music was OK but not really all that inspiring for me.