So What Kind Of Music Do You Listen To?

This, ladies and gents, is my least favourite question in the world. When I was in my high school and university days it was a pretty simple question to answer: "a mix of rock and metal" I'd always say. Back then I loved the power of metal and the lifestyle of rock bands, so much so that I even briefly ran a club at uni all about celebrating the rock n roll lifestyle with gigs, podcasts and parties - the latter of which resulted in a very rock n roll scar by my temple from a keg stand gone awry.

"So what kind of music do you listen to?"

Again, I find it really difficult answering this question, and when I do I'm afraid to say that I always give the most boring answer possible: "a bit of everything." Growing up I hated talking to people who would give this answer because it isn't really an answer at all.  If i asked you this question I would do so in order to get a glimpse of your personality and "a bit of everything " was the equivalent of saying "not much" to how was your day, or "it was a game of two halves" when talking about a game of rugby - it doesn't really tell me anything. So that's why I am a bit embarrassed to admit that "a bit of everything " is almost always the answer I give. The truth is that I can't really make my mind up about what music I listen to now. During the week I listen to a big playlist on my Spotify 'All the Musics' which, as you can guess, has a bit of variation across genre. When shuffled you might here some old school Living End followed by Lamb of God (pretty similar to what I used to listen to back in the day, so no big change there), then it will take a change of gears to Nothing Sweet About Me, a song performed by a 15 year old girl which featured on adolescent deodorant commercials. After this you might hear some Lorde, then it'll change again to a bit of Red and Meth followed by some Doom. And then to round it all off you'll hear some Hermitude before finishing off with Muddy Waters. With such a cross-crossing array of genres in a single playlist I'm a bit unsure what people will think when I'm asked to chuck some music on with other people around, mainly because I will have to explain why some passive Lana Del Ray lulled my listeners into a false sense of security before DMX tore a hole in their ear drum. 

The truth of the matter is that when I add music to my juggernaut of a playlist, I do it in moods. Am I having a chilled day at the office? More Flume and Gramtik will be added. Is it finance week and am I being bugged for a report that really isn't my remit? This asks for more Death Grips and Fukkk Offf - that last one isn't an angry typo, it's a legit name. For this reason I've decided to put together weekly playlists of sorts to illustrate my musical discoveries. Best case scenario, you lovely readers will come across fancy new music to enjoy, worst case scenario at least I can stretch my creative muscle.

So without a further a-do here is my first playlist : A Long Time From Home. 

I think a bit of context is needed to help explain the wanky name. I'm writing this in my family home in Auckland, New Zealand, a place I haven't been in almost 3 years. While I wish I could say I'm in Godzone on a happy note, however the silver lining is that I have been seeing a lot of my family and friends which has helped me realise just how much I've missed this place. So in short: a lot of kiwi warm n fuzzies are going on. Last but not least, May is New Zealand music month! A month long celebration of the great music that our plucky nation generates, which is rather fitting for the inspiration of this week's playlist. 

http://open.spotify.com/user/1230918326/playlist/4dj79zQyWXMnImiVVke7Ok

I knew a bloke at high school, Joe Pascoe, who has gone on to create a really cool band No Wyld that are creating great music with their unique fusion of rock and hip-hop. Their EP Abstract is chocka with great songs including Walk Away, Confusion and Odyssey- the latter of which was featured in Macca's sponsorship of the U.S. Winter Olympic team in Sochi. On top of these check out their latest single Queen which adds a bit of an anthem to their repertoire without losing their original sound. 

http://open.spotify.com/user/thewyld/playlist/3t4tOphOMz7JPBO1zaAU9S

Venturing onto their self titled playlist gives you a great idea of their influences, Ready to Rock by Oddisee shows strong resemblance to both Mo Kheir's flow and No Wyld's overall style, whereas other songs such as God's Gonna Cut You Down, We Used To Vacation and Pursuit of Happiness (Steve Aoki remix) combine to showcase what each of the members eclectic tastes are and how they combine to create the No Wyld sound. 

I could probably write more about the rest of their playlist and tell you about more songs that I've added to my own list, but it'd be a bit similar to me asking No Wyld what kind of music they listen to: the music itself answers that question more than I ever could get down in writing - plus I'm sure they'd just respond with "a bit of everything" anyway.