this is not a love song :

Hej Hej, pop pickers - welcome back....
SJD : Down a hole (SJD remix)

Well - this is from another fine NZ band...well, artist really - SJD (aka Sean James Donnelly) - from the album 'Southern Lights (Pic 'n Mix edition)'. The thing about this album is that while it's full of beautiful songs and fantastic music, SJD's sound is, in my opinion, an acquired taste. Don't get me wrong - this is a cool album - but if you're gonna get it, I advise the Pic 'n Mix edition, because it has the advantage of 7 remixes and 4 official band promotional video MPGs on disc 2, which add enormously to one's understanding of what SJD are about. The featured song is kinda the rock exception in this album, really - but I think is an excellent example of the way that SJD's music is full of space, and dense yet spare background sounds...in fact 'space' (as in room to move, breathe, think) is the essence of Sean's music, really. I don't expect that the band are well known (if known at all) outside NZ and probably Australia, which is a shame because, like the excellent Danish bands that I'll soon start featuring here, they have *huge* potential, and are kinda like sonic beacons, lighthouses occasionally flashing signals of hope from the otherwise dull, boring, unimaginative shores of music's entropy island, which is home to so many bands, current and past. So - much, much more SJD to listen to here, at Amplifier.co.nz - and I highly recommend you watch the 'Beautiful Haze' video there - a delicious little song which deserves lots of international success, and I'm afraid (but not surprised) to say that as I write, SJD don't feature on Amazon.com. So if you're interested, you can certainly buy most of the band's material as either CD or downloadable MP3 from Amlifier.co.nz, as linked above - alternatively if it's just hard CDs (new and especially 2nd hand) you want, go to NZ's very own Real Groovy on-line music store (they ship internationally too ). I use both these places all the time, and I can confirm they're secure and reliable Oh yeah - this album gets 5/10 on the musicometer

OK - I'll leave you with a rather cool little youtube, the title-track from this album, which is perhaps more representative of what of you'll get if you buy it...this really *is* cool :

The original video of this is included on the pic 'n mix edition of this album, b t w. Enjoy