''Avantdale Bowling Club'' is the debut album by Avantdale Bowling Club, a project fronted by New Zealand rapper Tom Scott. The album won the Taite Music Prize in 2019, and was recognised as Album of the Year at the

2019 New Zealand Music Awards The 2019 New Zealand Music Awards was the 54th holding of the annual ceremony featuring awards for musical recording artists based in or originating from New Zealand. It took place on 14 November 2019 at Spark Arena in Auckland and was hosted b ...

. Commercially, it debuted at number one on the New Zealand albums chart.

Background

Tom Scott began work on ''Avantdale Bowling Club'' while living in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, where he had moved after the dissolution of his previous band At Peace. The earliest track he wrote for the album, "Pocket Lint", was completed in 2014. The album builds on Scott's longtime interest in jazz, which stems from his jazz bassist father and his childhood exposure to jazz, funk, and soul music. While working on the album, Scott also listened to the work of

Alice Coltrane Alice Coltrane (' McLeod; August 27, 1937January 12, 2007), also known by her adopted Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda, was an American jazz musician and composer, and in her later years a swamini. An accomplished pianist and one of the few har ...

and

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

. The title "Avantdale Bowling Club" is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsAvondale, Auckland Avondale is a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. Located on the western Auckland isthmus, the suburb is often considered a part of West Auckland. It is located in the Whau local board area, one of the 21 administrative divisions for the Auckland ...

Music

''Avantdale Bowling Club'' is a

jazz rap Jazz rap (or jazz hip hop) is a fusion of jazz and hip hop music, as well as an alternative hip hop subgenre, that developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. AllMusic writes that the genre "was an attempt to fuse African-American music of th ...

album on which Scott collaborates with a large group of musicians. Major contributors to the album include drummer Julien Dyne, pianist Guy Harrison, and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Ben Lawson. Scott developed the album's tracks by putting together the basic melodies himself, before bringing the album's cast of musicians into the studio to fill out the arrangements. When writing the lyrics for the album, Scott eschewed the traditional hip hop format of sixteen-

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

verses, instead writing lengthy verses to complement the album's jazz instrumentation. Addiction and parenthood have been identified as some of the most prevalent recurring themes on the record. "Years Gone By", the album's opening track and lead single, is an autobiographical song where Scott discusses the progression of his life from year to year. Scott has described the track "F(r)iends" as an "ode" to people he knows who struggle with drug addiction, including his parents and friends; the track also discusses the 2006 suicide of one of Scott's close friends. "Home" samples

Chico Hamilton Foreststorn "Chico" Hamilton (September 20, 1921 – November 25, 2013) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He came to prominence as sideman for Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Count Basie, and Lena Horne. Hamilton became a bandleader, ...

and has been characterised as "the slow-burning... centrepiece of the album", discussing Scott's experiences leaving and returning to New Zealand. "Quincy's March", named in honour of Scott's son, addresses Scott's thoughts and anxieties about parenthood. The final track, "Tea Break", is an instrumental song inspired by Scott's aunt and her battle with

early onset dementia Early onset dementia is dementia in which symptoms first appear before the age of 65. The term favored until about 2000 was ''presenile dementia''; ''young onset dementia'' is also used. Early onset dementia may be caused by degenerative or vascu ...

. Scott has characterised ''Avantdale Bowling Club'' as a "grown-up version" of his work with the band Home Brew, and described the album's subject matter as follows:

Critical reception

''Avantdale Bowling Club'' received a positive reaction from critics. Karl Puschmann of ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'' described it as a "remarkable achievement", and a 2019 profile of Scott stated that "many regard 'Avantdale Bowling Club''as his best album yet". Critics particularly praised the album for being more mature and reflective than Scott's previous work, and spoke favorably about its ambitious scope. The instrumentation on the album has been described as "groove-orientated" jazz with "moody, street vibes". It has also been praised as "lush and beautiful".

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{reflist 2018 albums Hip hop albums by New Zealand artists Jazz albums by New Zealand artists