#2042 Last night in New York: I watched Pikachunes kill it at the CMJ New Zealand showcase

Photos: Katherine Lowe

Of all the nights out that a person can have, my least favourite is going to live gigs. I can't deal with standing around listening to music I've never heard before, I feel bad if nobody is dancing, and it really bugs me when the sound mixing has the instruments way louder than the vocals. But you've got to support your own, so last night I went along to the CMJ New Zealand showcase. In true Kiwi form catering consisted of pies with sauce (what's ketchup?), beer and 42 Below vodka. We watched some artists that I wasn't familiar with, ate a few pies, caught up with about 50 New Zealanders, and then Pikachunes came on stage.

Miles, as he's known to his friends, hails from Christchurch and sounds a little like LCD Soundsystem. His act consists of a keyboard, laptop and microphone and his songs are what you might call catchy robo-pop. Miles is a bit of a geeky dude but there were definitely a few flushed female faces in the audience as he sang the lyrics to Metronome: "Hey you do you want a photo do you want my chromosomes?" I'm calling it: the guy's going to be a star. Yeah, yeah, I know, you knew him before he was playing New Zealand showcases at CMJ.

GO THE KIWIS!


I LIKE YOU!