Mt Oxford - Ashley Saddle - 27th October 2018

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No. 163

Mt Oxford/Ashley Saddle

27th October 2018

A real shock to the system, a full on tramping trip, after more than two years of inactivity due to health issues, laziness and spending all my spare money on records. The health issue was the relapse of the disc prolapse in my back a few years back which stopped me in my tracks from walking and tramping and caused me to develop a serious limp. Due to the damage to the nerve in my back, I have been quite restricted in my activities, although, managed to keep working all through this time. Recovery has been very slow and I many never recover back to my full mobility(I can walk fairly fast now, albeit with a limp, but I cannot run).

 Part of my various treatments to get me more mobile again is to actually get back out tramping in the hills. The only walk/tramp I had done since June 2016 was a walk with the wife to Ryde Falls over 12 months earlier. I was feeling confident that I could now actually try some real tramping and the plan was to attempt some of the local hills, of which I was pretty familiar, to gage how well I was able to cope. The weekend previous, now that spring was in full effect and daylight saving time had kicked in, the wife and I tackled Mt Richardson, a local hill that I had done a couple of times many years back and knew it was not too hard. That Trip went well and I was planning to try and get out in the local environs over the coming weeks. I had planned to tackle Mt Gray with a friend this weekend but one of my other friends mentioned there was an impromptu club tramp up Mt Oxford on the same day. I wasn't going to tackle Oxford so soon but it would be good to go on a club trip after soo long. As it was so close to home I took my own car just in cast I couldn't handle the pace of a club trip after 3 years.

 I met the group of 12 others at Coopers Creek just past 9am on a pleasant but not too warm day. I inquired to the leader as to the planned route and discovered that they planned to head up Oxford then loop back via Ashley Saddle and the ridge leading down to point  758 above the Scout Lodge. This was good as I had not actually taken this route before on the several other times I had climbed Mt Oxford.

 So we hit the trail by about 9:30am as I had a catchup with a club friend and was able to keep up with the pace of the group. The climb went well and I didn't fall too far behind, although I was last one to the top. Lunch was had in pleasant conditions with great views over the plains before we set off along the tops towards Oxford Hill. It was pretty easy going, mostly but the scrub and grass got higher and thicker as we started to drop towards Ashley Saddle. We stopped in the soft grass of Ashley Saddle for afternoon tea and to regroup as we had got quite strung out on the way down.

 After point 758 things started to get pretty overgrown but there was a track to follow so it wasn't too bad. The final stretch was along the four Wheel Drive Road, through a nice strand of mature pine trees before we hit the Scout lodge again and then back to the cars by about 4:30PM. After 16KM and about 1200m of uphill work I was pretty tired and sore but I handled it a lot better than I imagined and I haven't actually lost too much condition for so long out of the game. Still a long way off from being properly tramping fit again.

Don McGlashan - Rangiora Town Hall - 18 October 2018

Don McGlashan, 40 years of producing fabulous New Zealand music and still touring the country from end to end. The  Free Flight Tour is taking in a lot of smaller centers as well as a couple of the main cities up north. This time I got to see him at the Rangiora Town Hall, a much shorter drive than most of my concerts I attend.

 A seated concert in the old theater part of the town hall complex, the place was almost full, with most of the punters being of a similar age as the man in question himself, the wife and I were feeling quite young.

 Don had Anthonie Tonnon as his support act, a name that was familiar but his music was unknown to me. He preformed solo using an electronic keyboard to provide beats and other sounds as well as playing guitar and singing. His music was is a little hard for me to describe but although he was a reasonable singer, his music did not really connect with me or the wife for that matter, so we were both pleased when he finished. He did go down fairly well with plenty of others in the audience.

 Don strode onstage after the drinks break waved to the crowd and asked how we were doing before picking up his guitar and giving us a couple of his solo songs from his last couple of records, one I recognized, one I didn't but it set the tone for what was shaping up to be an excellent night. With just an acoustic guitar and some wonderful songs and his awesome voice, Don was magic right from the go as he, after bringing out a drummer to add a bit of weight to the songs, took us through a sample of his entire catalog, from the fantastic "Don't Fight It Marsha, It's Bigger Than Both Of Us" from his early Blam Blam Blam days, a good number of Front Lawn songs, a Muttonbird song or two and even a new one that may have not yet been recorded. Anyhow, It was wall to wall excellence and I knew almost all the songs he played and many of them are classics. New Zealands best songwriter IMO. A fabulous night and an hour and a half of listening to him sing was just not enough.

Tool - Lateralus - USA 2001

The fantastic third full length, super heavy, super cool, super awesome, there are no faults with this record, except perhaps it being a bit too long. Been a while since I played it but it has just grown in stature over the years. Some of the riffs are just sublime to my ears and the production is bloody good. Always play at maximum volume and you will never be disappointed with this alternative sort of heavy metal, sort of a super heavy "Post Rock" perhaps. Awesome record, rating 5/5.

The Builders - The Darkroom - Christchurch - 12th October 2018

Another Bill Direen and The Builders Gig, this being the third time I had seen Bill at the Darkroom. The Builders had many different lineups over the last 30+ years and this was the 1985 band that had recorded most of the Conch3 album, which contained perhaps their best known song, "Alligator".

 Arrived at the venue about 8:20pm on a very cold and wet evening and while at the bar ready to order a drink, I overheard the barman talking to another gentleman regarding The Axemen and the poster art they use to use for gig advertising, I mentioned that I had been perusing the Axemen's blog the previous evening looking at some of the aforementioned posters and the gentleman that the barman was talking to was in fact the drummer from The Axemen and also was the drummer for tonight's Builders gig. So we had a nice chat about The Axemen before I settled in to wait for the gig to start. As I was pretty early, the place was still quite empty and Bill was wandering round waiting for more to arrive before he started his solo set. He stopped and said hello to me and we chatted about the recent vinyl reissues the builders had released.

 Bill finally took the stage not too long after the scheduled start time and presented us with a lovely set of his songs, many seeming to be translations of old french poetry, or stories about old friends and one dedicated to Jane Walker, of Toy Love, who had passed away the previous day from cancer.. I did recognize one song of the recent Chrysanthemum Storm reissue.
  There was only a short break as the other two musicians got ready to join Bill on stage. The guitar, bass and drums were kept at fairly low volume for some quieter songs at the start of the set, but the sound stayed quieter than most bands that I see and it was cool to actually hear so much of what they were playing and just showed that you don't have to turn everything up to 11 like so many bands do.
 So they played quite a lot of the songs from the Conch3 album several that I did recognize this time and thoroughly enjoyed their set very much, they did rock out a bit and it was perhaps the best of the gigs I have seen Bill play. The saddest thing was Bill announced that he was retiring from playing Builders gigs and this was to be their last show in New Zealand and would wind it up in Australia soon. He would still be preforming the theatre music he does but no more Builders.

Spook The Horses - People Use To Live Here - Pelagic Records PEL 085-V - New Zealand 2017

The second vinyl release from yet another Wellington band, this latest record is actually their third. I have their "Rainmaker" LP from 2015, but I have not given it a lot of attention as the screamy vocals did put me off a bit. They have certainly toned things down a bit for this latest effort and their "Post Rock" has become a lot more atmospheric and the singing is now normal, making for a much more accessible record. There are plenty of lovely touches on these tracks with some wonderful airy guitar melodies weaving through the slowish music. Very good record. Rating 4/5.

Arc of Ascent - The Higher Key - Clostridium Records CR004 - New Zealand 2012

One of the many bands lead buy the busy Craig Williamson, bass player, singer and songwriter. Arc of Ascent are heavy stoner rock/doom metal which will give you a pretty good idea of what this sounds like. blazing guitar, thunderous drums, Sabbath esq riffs, this is a pretty fine damn example of the genre IMO. This was AOC's second record from 2012 and I think the first track, "Celestial Altar" is the best track. The record motors along relentlessly and although it is a great record, it doesn't drift far from the formula and the vocals tend to sound the same for each track, but play this fucking loud and disappointed you will not be if you like this sort of music. Rating 3.5/5

Idiot Prayer - Falconer - Monkey Killer Records MKR004 - New Zealand 2011

A short lived three piece garage power trio from Dunedin, this "EP" was released in a limited number edition of 100 copies back in 2011 buy Monkey Killer Records, which was run buy one of the members of this band.

 An excellent 5 track mini LP, the lofi grungy garage rock here really gets my motor running and has become a firm favourite since I managed to secure probably one of the last copies available not all that long ago. Rating 4.5/5.

Salad Boys - This Is Glue - Trouble In Mind Records TIM128 - New Zealand 2018.

Perhaps Christchurch's premier indie rock band at present, The Salad Boys are mostly Joe Sampson and a revolving number of local muso's playing with him when needed. This was Salad Boys second full album on vinyl, although they have some other very limited cassette releases.

 Pretty straight ahead jangly catchy indie pop/rock, with some pretty cool guitar and melodies, plenty to keep the foot tapping, strong songs and a pretty good recording. Nice mix of fast and slower numbers showing off Joe's song writing chops and it can also get a bit heavier at times just to mix it up a bit. A strong album and their best so far as these melodies worm their way into my subconscious. Live they really kick arse. Rating 4/5. 

Orchestra Of Spheres - Nonagonic Now - Fire Records FIRELP247 - New Zealand 2011

Wellingtons Orchestra Of Spheres is another kiwi band I came to after they already had a couple of  albums in the wild. This was their debut release from 2011. A four piece with a big sound and exotic instrumentation, Orchestra Of Spheres inhabit quite a unique niche in New Zealand music and are one of the most creative bands going at present. This first album is great and steams along a a pretty fast tempo with its strong  funky African rhythms, fueled buy electronics and things like, Gamlan, Theremin and Carillan, what ever the hell that is, judging from when I saw them live last year, it's some sort of Oud like guitar. Some nice experimental parts on this record and a bit of Sun Ra sounding weirdness just to enamor them to me even more. A real danceable album with heaps of interesting things happening throughout, a recent New Zealand Classic IMO. Rating 4.5/5.

The Spines - Idiot Sun - Flying Nun Records FN072 - New Zealand 1986

The Spines were a band of whom I was familiar with their name and remember seeing their records around back in the day but didn't actually get round to checking out their music, much to my regret. As I am rediscovering New Zealand music now, I found I was familiar with at least one of their earlier songs from back in the day but the rest of their music was unknown to me.

 That changed recently with exposure to a couple of their songs that turned up on a compilation I acquired as well as additional exposure via a New Zealand Music podcast I listen to frequently., so I was keen to pick up a copy of this record when it came up for sale via a seller in a Facebook Group I am a member of.

 Idiot Sun was their third and last album but their first on Flying Nun. The music is a sort of alternative experimental pop, well recorded, easy to hear everything that's going on in the recording, and not hiding behind layers of effects and distortion like so much rock music. The songs are just wonderful and quirky, very well constructed and occasionally fleshed out with some cool sax over the Bass, Drums and Guitar. They certainly had a unique sound of their own and I have totally fallen for this record and it's idiosyncrasies to the point that it is now firmly cemented in my all time NZ Top Ten. Rating 5/5.

Humphress & Keen - The Overflow - Sweat Pea Sounds SWEET PEA LP 01 - New Zealand 2009

Graham Humphreys and Peter Keen were members of the Flying Nun Band, The Abel Tasmans who put out four albums between 1986 and 1995. They got together for this sole release from 2009, another limited edition release that has been ignored by almost everybody, as I was still able to pick up a copy fairly recently from their bandcamp page, although I think I may have got one of the final copies.

  This is and will be a New Zealand classic. A wonderful pop record of epic proportions, brilliant detail, catchy, awesomely creative, and so much to be revealed over repeated listens. I love this record and need to give it much more attention. There is a real Canterbury feel to this record, i.e Caravan at their poppiest, and perhaps a bit of Belle & Sebastian as well. Fantastic record and get a 5/5 rating.

The Mantarays - Garden Of Light - Rough Peel Records RPR003 - New Zealand 2013

This three piece instrumental surf band hails from Wellington I believe, and this was their second LP from 2013, with my version being the limited to 150 copies blue version, which just goes to show how under appreciated this great music is that I can still pick up a limited edition copy something like four years after it was released. 

 The music is surf orientated but has a slightly more experimental bent in places and a little distortion on the guitar in places and there is no bass guitar, the third member playing organ. A little lofi, but in this country that is far from unusual, but the songs are all catchy and creative and I like this set a lot, will be looking out for their first record too, although that is ever rarer. Rating 3.5/5.

Bachelorette - My Electric Family - Drag City DC397 - USA/New Zealand 2009

Bachelorette is the vehicle for the musical output of one Annabel Alpers, from my hometown of Christchurch. I have come late to her output but have managed to pick up about three of her releases on vinyl from the now defunct Galaxy Records shop in Christchurch.

 My Electric Family is the second of four albums she put out between 2007 and 2011 and what a wonderful slab of beautifully constructed chamber pop it is, great melodies from her lovely vocal delivery backed with intricate electronic instrumentation that has coalesced into a strong album of wonderful pop music. In an Ideal world this is the sort of pop music our radio stations would be playing. No weak tracks here just wonderfully consistent quality. Roddus Rating of 4/5.