KEY POINTS:
A series of gigs in early January will kick the live music year off quite nicely.
Seattle's Fleet Foxes, who can best be described as psychedelic pastoral folk rockers, play Wellington's San Francisco Bath House on January 7 and the following night North Shore's Bruce Mason Centre. The band's self-titled debut got five stars in TimeOut earlier this year and is a strong candidate for album of the year.
Then, on January 9 at the Kings Arms in Auckland, the double bill of electronic crazies Metronomy and French trio The Teenagers play. Metronomy is made up of British songwriter Joseph Mount (with two others making up the live band) who describes his new album Nights Out as a "half-arsed concept album about going out and having a crap time". But really it's more like an odd and wonky modern-day disco record worthy of dancing to. The bands also play Bodega in Wellington on January 10.
And lastly, sonic British space rock band Spiritualized, lead by former Spaceman 3 member Jason Spaceman, will play New Zealand for the first time on January 13. Spaceman and his seven-piece band will take us all on a trip at the Powerstation in Auckland.
