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Last night I went to the Wunderbar to catch a band called Modern Trash Quartet. They are a two-piece folk unit who play quirky cool songs with very witty, smart lyrics. They had great little hooks and most of the songs put a smile on me dial with the odd song, when they sung in unison, reminded me of Kings of Convenience of whom I love.
Now on to some news. I have managed to track down Modern Trash Quartet who are now playing a 4 song set in November's show! These guys are great. Please check out their stuff at their myspace page.
Harley Williams - The Harbour Sessions, Lyttelton, Christchurch, New Zealand
Discography
Live recorded studio e.p consisting of four tracks, Will contribte towards a full length album for release in February
Photos
Bio
Formed in July 2008 by the infamous Zimm
Roberts, and equally unfamous Eurarde Borgwah,
Modern Trash Quartet (MTQ) strive to encompass
everything that is, was and never will be in modern musical expression… or failing that, at least play rock solid acoustic folk and ballads aided by multimedia film and video imagery.
Hammer of Folk (Hammer of Folk, The Hungarian-Jewish-Christan Folk and Rap All Stars) brings a depth of cheese and angst that is almost unfathomable to so many, while Borgwah
(Burning Monks, Hound, Sudden Tan Air Hostesses) attempts to help serve this Roquefort with a range of nifty soul searchers care of his off the shelf and home modified guitar ensemble.
Originally, the duo was aiming to eventually evolve into a full quartet, although they have instead substituted permanent third and fourth members for a lap top computer (I.K.E) and a wind up metronome (S.O.N.N.Y) and a number of film and video projectors (G.R.O.U.P.I.E.S) to reduce travel overheads, APRAH payment squabbles, and to increase their respective share of the bar and nacho tab offerings at clubs and bars.
However take heed, MTQ is not a folk parody duo, both artists are deadly serious regarding the lyrical and musical content of their performance.
Influences:
Both artists claim the chaos and vacuum of modernism and the media as the main inspiration for the group. They also cite a number of their own musical influences of profound effect:
(Hammer of Folk)
Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, Robert Zimmerman,
Zimm Roberts, Hungarian Jewish Folk, Willie of the
Nelson, Old Country, The Food of the Gods, The
Hungarian-Jewish-Christian Folk and Rap Allstars.
(Eurarde Borgwah)
The 3D’s, Iron Maiden, Ornette Coleman, Engelbert
Humperdinck, Gene Wilder, Doro Pesch, Seeds From
the Barley, Hound, The Burning Monks, Living Under
the Fear of God, Orange and Mango with Callamassi
Essence:
For both artists, MTQ serves as a mechanism to portray the music of both individuals’ back catalogs in a slightly different light, as well as act as a conduit for new individual and co-authored material. Additionally, the multimedia aspect of the duo’s live performance serves as a vehicle for furthering the film making interests of both players.
Experience and Activity:
Between both performers, live stage experience numbers to around 500 performances, and in addition around a month of studio recording experience encompassing approx. 10 albums.
In the brief period of three months since their formation of MTQ, the duo have managed to squeeze in almost 35 gigs around their local area of Christchurch, as well as a 6 gig mini tour of the wider South Island of New Zealand including a number of live radio performances.
Although the band is in its early stages, both Hammer and Eurarde bring with them an unavoidably down to earth and approachable persona to the stage almost always resulting in the entire audience being in open dialogue with the duo. The duo have just completed (October 2008) an unmastered and un polished live studio EP consisting of 4 recorded tracks (with some vocal chorus overdubs). In addition, they have also
completed a live recording and video session at the
world famous in New Zealand “Wunderbar” in Lyttelton. Future projects include a number of multi track studio recordings and video single releases, written, directed and produced by the due leading up to the release of their self titled debut album in February 2009.
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