Nick Setteducato is a New Zealand-based freelance animator and digital artist originally from New Jersey. Nick was one of the authors of the Port Huron Statement (the original Port Huron Statement, not the compromised second draft). He is passionate about music, pop culture, sarcasm, and procrastination.
Before emigrating to NZ in 2008, Nick was lead guitarist for several touring and recording bands in the Northeastern US. He has since spent 10 years in Wellington working full time for legendary filmmaker Peter Jackson, and creating short, pop-culture-inspired animations in his spare moments. He and his partner Amy Brennan recently ditched the film industry for the more relaxed lifestyle of regional Taranaki, where they both spend their time making art and procrastinating instead of doing the dishes.
This playlist is a snapshot of time and place, evoking moments from Nick's life, time on the road as a musician, and journey through New Zealand.
1. Raisinhill - Nameless
Driving beat and thumping bass, late night drives between gigs, rhythm of passing road signs on the NY State Thruway, intensity of oncoming headlights, punctuated by a lingering melody.
2. Solas - The Coconut Dog / Morning Dew
East Village dimly lit sticky bar floors with the jukebox stuck on jigs and reels. Irish bands like Solas and Flook were the soundtrack for my many late night walks around New York City.
3. Grateful Dead - Cosmic Charlie
Psychedelic acoustic daydream etched into the far corner of my subconscious. A trip completed, "Cosmic Charlie" is the safe, warm, familiar payoff for making it through the psychic trauma of "What's Become of the Baby"…
4. Tinariwen - Cler Achel
Transported to my first days in New Zealand via foot stomping guitar grooves from the Sahara.
5. Orchestra Baobab - Yen Saay
Nothing beats Welly on a good day, and this tune more than any other reminds me sunkissed summer afternoons on the porch in Wellington, New Zealand with my guitar and a cold Garage Project — one of the sweetest guitar solos ever pressed to wax.
