Overview
2014 is looking to be a good year for music in Australia and New Zealand, with visits from Neko Case and Gold Panda.
Indie rocker and singer/songwriter Neko Case (of The New Pornographers) has announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand for the release of her newest solo album, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I fight, The More I Love You. Released this past September, this is Case's first album since 2009's extremely popular Middle Cyclone.
The Worse Things Get... is full of tracks with the same vigour and bluntness that audiences appreciated in past hits such as 'People Got a Lotta Nerve' and 'I'm an Animal'. Her lyrical candour is particularly riotous in 'Man', where she declares, "And if I'm dipshit drunk on the pink perfume / I am the man in the fucking moon / 'Cause you didn't know what a man was / Until I showed you." Indubitably, Case is a force to be reckoned with.
Meanwhile, electro highflier Gold Panda (aka Derwin Powers) first popped onto the radar in 2009, and has constantly thrown EPs and 7"s at us since. He's dropped two critically praised albums, 2010's Lucky Shiner and 2013's Half of Where You Live.
This latest album holds truth in its name. Half of Where You Live is an electronic echo of the producer's experiences: having lived in Japan and travelled extensively, he's now based in Berlin. With tracks such as 'An English House', 'Enoshima' and 'My Father in Hong Kong 1961', our ears get an ambiguous, aural journey through Powers' experiences and geography.
Neko Case February/March 2014 Tour Dates
Perth: 27 February at Fly By Night
Melbourne: 1 and 2 March at Corner Hotel and Melbourne Zoo Twilights
Sydney: 3 March at Sydney Opera House
Brisbane: 5 March at Hi Fi
Adelaide: 7 March at Fowlers Live
Mossvale: 8 March at Meeniyan Town Hall
Meredith: 9 March at Golden Plains Festival
Wellington: 12 and 13 March at NZ Festival
Auckland: 14 March at Powerstation
Tickets available from Handsome Tours
Gold Panda March 2014 Tour Dates
Sydney: 6 March at Oxford Art Factory
Melbourne: 7 March at Corner Hotel
Perth: 9 March at The Bakery
Also appearing at Golden Plains Festival. Tickets available from Handsome Tours.
