In more good news for music lovers, a small taster of acts has been announced for next February's Splore festival.
South London hip-hop geezer Blak Twang is making his first foray down to New Zealand for the three-day celebration. A cornerstone of British rap, like Dizzee Rascal, he originally emerged from the garage scene, and earned a reputation as a charismatic MC who enjoyed throwing slang and and sly-winking modesty into his work. Probably best known for his club classic So Rotten, he's also collaborated with Roots Manuva and Talib Kweli.
Fellow Brit hip-hop DJ/producer Shortee Blitz will also be returning to the festival for the third time, and Canadian electronic duo The Funk Hunters, who are regulars at the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert in the US, will be making their first local appearance.
The always colourful, multi-genre festival has also confirmed some local acts for the bill: Wellington nine-piece Brockaflowersaurus-rex and the Blueberry Biscuits (check out their vocalists), Nick Dwyer and Dick Johnson's afro-Caribbean-influenced group Weird Together, and Berlin-based producer Scratch 22. The festival will run from February 14 to 16, and tickets are available now though splore.net.
Arizona six-piece Calexico have also announced their return to New Zealand this week. Since their last visit in 2010, they've been busy writing film soundtracks, collating an anthology of their live recordings from the last 13 years, and recording and releasing their seventh studio album Algiers, from which they will be playing plenty of new material.
