Attention to all the dance music fans: On the 3rd of April are the NZ Shapeshifter from New Zealand coming to Prague, where they will present their new album Delta! Record-breaking New Zealand tours, scene-setting appearances at festivals like Glastonbury, The Big Chill, Big Day Out and Parklife, sold-out performances across Europe, worlds-colliding collaborations with the Symphony Orchestras, multiple music awards, four EPs and five LPs – three with platinum sales – and an army of fans who return to relive the experience time and time again: the towering achievements of NZ Shapeshifter, the future-shocked soul outfit who hail from Christchurch New Zealand, were built by a living, breathing band of musicians, with all the form-changing sonic possibilities live instrumentation offers. The players in NZ Shapeshifter created their very own heavy soul, a stadium-sized sound which adds layers of drum & bass, jazz, funk, rock and electronica to solid bass culture foundations, capable of morphing from rolling drum & bass to pummelling guitar-driven jams to horizon-shifting electronic soundscapes. This genre-defying amalgamation of influences continues to draw from new source material and inspiration as NZ Shapeshifter evolves, motivating dancefloors worldwide and delivering audiences to the bleeding edge of musical possibility.
The 5th studio album “Delta” was released end of May 2013 and has 13 tracks – single Monarch included, which you can hear in the radios already since 2012.
Delta is the embodiment of this spirit of exploration. The sublime opening chords of „Arcadia“ and junglist jabs of „Shadowboxer“ neighbour elevated trance progressions in „Diamond Trade“ and jagged guitar riffs on „Giving Up the Ghost“. Delta builds on NZ Shapeshifter’s bass heritage while barreling forward into the future, unhindered by BPM counts or genre boxes.
Perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of Delta ist he electronic production underspinning the album. Live drums have mostly been eschewed for a backbone of digital rhythmus that support all analogue instrumentation of vintage synths, horns and guitar.
Like the mighty Twelve Mile Delta in the South of Island New Zealand, the album’s namesake, Delta marks a confluence of NZ Shapeshifter’s influence – past and present. As at home in an amped club environment as they are playing to packed festival fields, NZShapeshifter is a truly adaptable unit. The five-strong lineup of PDigsss (vocals), Devin Abrams (sax/keys/synths), Sam Trevethick (guitar/synths/sampler), Nick Robinson (bass/synths/MPC) and Johnny Hooves (drums) have individually called Auckland, Wellington, Melbourne, Kingscliff, Berlin, Queenstown and, first and foremost, their original Christchurch stomping ground home, yet a chemistry refined over 12 years of playing together means they lock back into formation whenever they regroup.
In 2011 they played in the sold out MeetFactory in Prague and in 2012 they were the headliner of the Czech festival Rock for Churchill. We think it is time that they come again and show us, what has changed in their music.
Tickets are available for 450,- CZK at Ticketpro, Ticketportal, Eventim and Ticketstream, at this page and at the cash desk of the LMB (without fee). At the door: 550,- CZK.
