Soul Jazz Records – SJR CD411 746MB .FLAC files
Thursday, February 17, 2022
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Monday, February 14, 2022
The Kiwi Animal - (2019) Mercy
DIGITAL REGRESS – DR41
Digital Regress's foray into the fabled NZ underground hops over to the North Island for two exquisite pieces of acoustic DIY and shadowy, cracked pastoralia. After a few years spleen venting at the front of Wellington art brutes SHOES THIS HIGH, BRENT HAYWARD struck out on his own, self-releasing a few EPs as SMELLY FEETt before forming THE KIWI ANIMAL with JULIE COOPER in 1982. The duo released their first album, Music Media, on Massage Records (their own imprint) in 1984. With the addition of PATRICK WALLER on cello and sundry other instruments, 1985's Mercy finds an augmented Kiwi Animal trying on what at first glance is a more refined, melancholic sound. But the group's experimental bent, largely restrained on Music Media, soon shows its hand. Pinprick ur-folk guitar themes, blinking on and off, buffeted by radio interference and toy piano; woozy bedsit slow-burns; the arresting croak of Hayward's penpal, William S. Burroughs; even a foray into dosed synth-pop: MERCY presents a unique yield of fraying, autumnal DIY songcraft. The music of The Kiwi Animal, moody and intelligent and often abruptly gentle, works subcutaneously, propelled by guitars that churn and weave – no jangle here – and a his 'n' hers vocal delivery for the ages. Digital Regress is happy to make these essentially perfect records available again.
Midnight Mines - (2019) Create Disturbance In Your Mind 2xCD
| Independent Woman Records – I.W.R C.D 005 Midnight Mines started between 7 and 10 years ago. Neither of the core duo of Sorrow & Saturday can remember now. Both endure busy lives in the tunnel hive, so the concept was hatched of occasional meetings to record spontaneous compositions, subsequently chopped up and dubbed into shape. Improv attacked with a primitive garage band mentality and a love of the endless prism of the JA version excursion - the same material re-purposed and looped to make something new. We’re grateful to Independent Woman Records for this opportunity to present a selection of tracks from our tiny universe of homemade fun. |
Scorched Earth Policy - (2020) Keep Away From the Wires CD
Medication – 004
SEP followed the Victor Dimisich band and lasted from '82-'86. Stapleton and Mary Heney continued on from VDB but the most important new element was Brian Crook... Brian Crook's guitar playing sounds like the result of a thirty day wander through a desert. It's psychedelic in the way that alchol poisoning and sunstroke are. I don't even think they have desert in New Zealand, but if they do - even 10 square feet - I'd wager Crook has toured it extensively, and frequently on hands and knees. The Scorched Earth Policy sound wasn't quite as obvious as the name - a baked, churning mixture of punk rock, 60s garage and psychedelia and a tinge of country. The lyrics began taking a turn from the arty to the bad trip and horror movie side of things. Male/female vocals and some of the most excellently raw production in my memory gave the music a sound that is somehow 1960s, somehow timeless. Not "paisley revival" bullshit, this, but an atavistic rebirth, a slavering and weird new thing from old roots.
Alastair Galbraith - (2020) Seconds Mark III
A Colourful Storm – ACOLOUR028
Seconds Mark III is the third iteration of a unique work within the remarkable, ever-sprawling discography of Alastair Galbraith: poet-dilettante, improvisor extraordinaire and one of the most important figures of New Zealand's storied DIY underground.
Commencing his collaborative musical activities in the early 1980s as part of Flying Nun outfit The Rip (with Jeff Harford and Robbie Muir), it was almost a decade earlier when Galbraith first invested in the violin, an instrument that would accompany him throughout the rest of his career. "I think it was much like the kind of thing I do now, because it was a solo occupation". Established at the end of the decade in response to The Nun's growing affiliations with major music labels, Xpressway - a relatively short-lived operation formed together with Bruce Russell (The Dead C) and Peter Jefferies - proved to be crucial in exposing the trio's activities to the rest of the world, forging relationships with US-based labels Siltbreeze, Drag City and Ajax while releasing seminal sides by the likes of Sandra Bell, Scorched Earth Policy, This Kind Of Punishment and The Terminals. It was during this time that Galbraith honed-in on his intimate, intricate style of songwriting detailed on Morse (Siltbreeze, 1993), Talisman (Next Best Way, 1995) and the first Seconds tape (1994).
Gathered from source material recorded during a fertile period of touring and collaboration and re-imagined as a brand new work, Seconds Mark III elucidates Galbraith's hushed yet commanding presence felt on Mirrorwork (Emperor Jones, 1998), Cry (2000) and Orb (Next Best Way, 2000), culminating in Mass (Siltbreeze, 2010) - his last solo album. Despite being rooted in psychedelic traditions of narcotic time-dilation, Galbraith's dealings are distinctively out of time, out of tune; dismantling and eschewing notions of song and structure for small, affecting gestures and fragmentary glimpses. The result is a world of fragile, quietly enveloping poetry embracing fleetingness and intimacy, undulating between hope and pain.
The Chills - (2013) Somewhere Beautiful CD
Fire Records – FIRECD298
For a band who haven’t released any new material since 2004 (the apparently 'stopgap' EP Stand By) and haven’t issued a full length album proper since 1996, a triple vinyl recorded live at a private New Year’s party and issued in collaboration with artist Shane Cotton may seem a slightly esoteric way to reintroduce New Zealand’s finest pop band to the world.
Yet the erratic prince of the Dunedin sound, Martin Phillips, has never been one for ease of travel when it’s come to The Chills' scattershot career. Comparable only to The Fall in terms of personnel turnover and with a tendency to allow drug issues to trip up musical talent, his, and therefore The Chills’ story is one of early tragedy (in the form of the death of their original drummer Martyn Bull in ’83), homeland successes, international cultdom and, as Phillips so brilliantly depicted on Soft Bomb’s ‘Song For Randy Newman Etc.’ a lifetime’s work doomed to be celebrated more by critics than by the public at large.
Somewhere Beautiful holds 20 songs pieced together from a ramshackle performance from the band’s current line-up (five years and counting - impressive). It’s not of the highest sound quality, nor is it perfectly played – it’s clearly a nicely brushed up bootleg and the band, in the finest Dunedin tradition, play with looseness and feeling rather than precision and directness – yet regardless, it is absolutely, unquestionably wonderful.
When Phillips cries out “I’ve no patience for anyone, anyone, anyone but you”on ‘Wet Blanket’ backed by the most glorious, tin-can guitar sound in the world it’s instantly evident that you’re dealing with a songwriter that understands yearning and desperation almost as well as he grasps melody and instrumentation.
That song’s original 7-inch b-side ‘Nothing Else To Think About’ crops up a few yards down the road and opens the gates wide – frantic, bafflingly tuneful, unerringly gorgeous and weirdly moving it’s like REM in their prime, shorn of Stipe’s veil, emotion openly presented rather than listener inferred.
If you’re after three and a half minutes of unutterable heartbreak (Christ knows what kind of New Year party this was) reach out for this here version of ‘Submarine Bells’. Led by a crushing, how-much-can-you-take piano line, Phillips whispers sonorous poetry like “I can watch in wonder as your gaze shifts past my shoulder / Just a glimpsed abyss that flashes at me”. More? Try the chorus on: “I know deep down hidden in you submarine bells chime / Gold and groaning, sunlit toning, submerged sound sublime.” It’s a mid-album moment of reflection that ranks with all-time showstoppers like John Cale’s ‘Dying On The Vine’ or The Go-Betweens’ ‘The Wrong Road’.
The 1992 nearly-hit ‘The Male Monster From The Id’ thrashes wildly and tunefully, a rampage of self-deprecation and frustration, next to the band’s iconic ‘Pink Frost’, its ‘Love Buzz’-like bass riff as rousing as it was in 1984, its woodsy, almost gothic pop sensibility as unsettling as it gets – a murder ballad slathered in regret, tarted up with tune.
‘February’ offers the rackety, rickety kind of pop that Darren Hayman used to belt out in his Hefner days – all smart, sweet and damaged. The choice to throw in a cover of Cat Stevens’ ‘Matthew And Son’ that could best and most generously be described as ‘energetic’ is perhaps the only mis-step on the whole record.
In the last quarter we get the majestic double of ‘Heavenly Pop Hit’ and ‘I Love My Leather Jacket’. The former is as jaw-dropping as it was the first time you heard it and will leave you with the same sense of wonder, joy and confusion at just how it’s possible to write a piece of pop music as perfect as this. The latter absolutely thunders – a roaring, garage-glam stomp that pays tribute to the aforementioned Bull.
Let’s not overlook the glorious packaging and prints involved in the vinyl version of this release – they are genuinely impressive and great care has clearly been taken to present the album as a document of great import both to the band and to Shane Cotton. You’ll lose no points here for trying to give your fans something special.
In the final assessment what we’ve got here are a set of pop songs that are almost uniformly brilliant, captured in a fashion that harks back to the band’s beginnings, presented beautifully and with pride. If The Chills never do get around to releasing that new album, Phillips never does get recognized as the master of melody that he is, the world never does collectively stand up and realize this band’s greatness – at least there’ll be this to play out endlessly, marvelling, eyes fixed on the stereo as another tune rises, thinking wordlessly – how the fuck does he do that?
Pumice - (2020) Table LP
| Soft Abuse – SAB 093 |
Pumice--now the duo of Stefan Neville and Jade Farley--stretch time further out, leaning heavily on drones and moans in making their modern day Aotearoa folk-rock masterpiece. The fruits of their time together as a pair has come to bear in the buzzing, swirling epic: Table.
Table! Table primarily finds Pumice deep in a pastoral expanse, with Jade's violin lines and Stefan's organ drones serving collectively as guide. Elsewhere the dense fog of synth, guitar, F/X, chants and melodies create warm miniature zones to tuck into.
With each new recording, Pumice finds a way to achieve new levels of rugged grandeur. Table is the latest example.
The Clean - (1981) Tally Ho 7''
Flying Nun Records – FN002
Pitchfork described The Clean's “Tally Ho!” as “a classic of immense proportions, from its Velcro melody, absurdly mixed garage organ and motorik beat, to the crusty, hiss-laden home eight-track recording that embodies it.” Recorded in the middle of a New Zealand tour for a humble NZ$60, the song broke into the country’s Top 20 singles chart at #19, surprising everyone including the band. Its B-side “Platypus” was recorded live at a show just days prior, capturing the band’s buoyant and elastic sound on stage.
Purple Pilgrims - (2019) Perfumed Earth CD
| Flying Nun Records – FN589LP |
From there, Purple Pilgrims shared a 2013 split LP with the US-based twisted synth psych sculptor Gary War on Upset! The Rhythm and they followed that in 2016 with their proper full-length debut Eternal Delight on the Not Not Fun label. The songs on the split lessened the hazy drifty quality that could make ‘em seem like a byproduct of the Xpressway label in favor of dreamy glisten-glide, and all was well.
With Eternal Delight, the sound blossomed even more, all while retaining tangible but subtle edge in the delivery, so that folks who gravitated toward the lathe-cut debut could continue to relate. There was also an increase in attention to synth ambiance that underscored the association with Gary War. On Perfumed Earth, this connection persists, as War contributed bass and synth lines to the record from various US hotels while he was out touring with John Maus.
For this recording, the Nixons utilized the same rustic studio in Tapu where Eternal Delight was cut, augmenting the vibe with those above mentioned assists, which include drumming from Lorde keyboardist Jimmy Mac and guitar from Surf City’s Joshua Kennedy. But the moody lushness of the brief opener “How Long Is Too Long” puts the sisters solidly in the foreground.
And it’s not like they get lost in the proceedings as Perfumed Earth unfolds, but “Ancestors Watching” does register as a more collaborative affair, or at least more layered, even as it mingles vocal beauty with a gemlike glistening keyboard pattern. And speaking of patterns, those drums do add heft, but it’s not like Purple Pilgrims are standing on the precipice of rocking out.
And that’s cool. Pop splendor is increasingly the fruits of the Nixon’s artistic labor, with “Sensing Me” the sorta tune that will inevitably draw comparisons to Kate Bush. One crucial difference is the elevated vocal harmony; hey, it’s like having two Kate Bush’s on hand, and that circumstance blends well with the non-clichéd and often subtle synth-pop current that runs throughout the disc.
This synth-pop aura, with an emphasis on pop, intensifies during “I’m Not Saying,” the song reminding me a little bit of Stephin Merritt (like something he might’ve recorded with Susan Amway, or as part of the 6ths project), but just a wee bit, as the Nixons lack Merritt’s strain of eccentricity and his anachronistic qualities. That is, “I’m Not Saying” has nothing to do with the Tin Pan Alley. It’s just good pure synth-pop that calls out for chilly autumn weather.
To my ear, synth-pop and the fall season complement each other particularly well. A personal idiosyncrasy perhaps, but one not unworthy of comment. I’m also taken with how well the Nixonian dream-pop sensibility blends with the playing of experimental saxophonist Jeff Henderson. While his playing does flirt with free jazz a smidge along the way, the whole is much more about prettiness, courtesy of a vibraphone-like keyboard line. There is also a hovering synth.
But most notably, as neither Nixon sings it all holds up extremely well. The voices do return in “Two Worlds Apart.” Here, the tempo shifts. It’s now up, and it’s dancy, though there’s an instrumental ambiance reminding me just a little of very early Stereolab. Others may not hear this similarity at all, but hopefully it’s getting driven home that Purple Pilgrims are far from a typical dream-pop/ synth-pop scenario.
“Love in Lunacy (Saturn Return)” cultivates a touch of retro-futurist strangeness while keeping on the pop course. Closer “Tragic Gloss” heads wholeheartedly down that the same avenue and with some appealing synth cascades thrown in. However, it’s penultimate track “Ruinous Splendour,” in part through the guitar of Roy Montgomery, that stands as one of Perfumed Earth’s highlights.
As Purple Pilgrims assisted Montgomery on his very nifty Suffuse from last year, their association is a sturdy one. I’m also struck that the most enjoyable (if not necessarily best) Flying Nun record I’ve heard in quite a while features guitar from a member of the Pin Group, a unit responsible for the very first Flying Nun record, the “Ambivalence” 45. But I don’t want to stray from the point here; even with a handful of help, the core of Perfumed Earth’s goodness derives from Valentine and Clementine Nixon.
Wurld Series - (2021) What's Growing LP
Melted Ice Cream – MICV006 What’s Growing is the second album by Wurld Series, an indie rock band from Christchurch, New Zealand. Christchurch is a city home to a strong DIY music ethic, traceable back to the beginning of labels such as Flying Nun and Xpressway. Wurld Series have been at the forefront of a continuation of this approach since the mid 2010’s, and are known locally for their skewed pop sensibility and lo-fi production aesthetic. Their new album will be released on March 19th through Meritorio Records (Europe & USA), Osborne Again (Australia) and Melted Ice Cream (New Zealand & Rest of the World). The songs contained in What's Growing are submerged within reeling guitar, hypnotic mellotron and meditative drones. Lyrical themes include post apocalyptic living, extraterrestrial visitation, TV game show monsters and the workplace as a dreamlike medieval dystopia. At times traces of Tall Dwarfs or The 3Ds can be heard. More obvious American 90’s indie rock influences are also evident, alongside a clear strain of unsettling, pastoral British psych folk that runs throughout the album. What's Growing is a compact statement of intent; a collage of full-noise indie rock recordings and minimal, psychedelic, and homespun artefacts. Wurld Series was founded by Luke Towart, a British expatriate with strong familial ties to New Zealand, when he moved to Christchurch from Lancashire, England in 2012. Two EPs of loner bedroom pop followed - Lunch Songs first and later Pool Food - which were compiled on a debut US release in 2016 - a collection of early highlights titled Anthology via Portland tape label Voyager Golden Records. A single from this release, 'Oh Well', led Radio New Zealand to declare that the band represented 'New Zealand DIY done at it's very best'. During this period Wurld Series became more active live and toured New Zealand in support of their first album Air Goofy and the follow-up EP Stately and Befrothed. From this point on Towart has seen Wurld Series as less of a band and more of a music-making guild, with a changing line-up that depends on who is present for recording sessions at the band's lock-up space in the industrial suburb of Woolston. Sessions for What's Growing were primarily driven by Towart and producer/drummer Brian Feary (Salad Boys, Dance Asthmatics), who runs Melted Ice Cream, a Christchurch label that is responsible for some of the more notable recordings and compilations to come out of Christchurch in the past few years. Between working with and playing in other projects and a varying line-up, Wurld Series has remained a central recording concern throughout. What's Growing features the band's most accomplished output so far and represents a frontwards leap into studio-fidelity. |
Stephen - (1993) Radar Of Small Dogs CD
Flying Nun Records – FNCD 252 |
David Kilgour's idea of pop music was encapsulated in Dumb, the name he gave this band's 1988 Flying Nun EP. There was no self-demeaning intent; it's just that David subscribes fully to the Brian Wilson school of songwriting and believes that "dumb" is the essence of pop's appeal. It's not like Stephen were just the Ramones or anything, though. For a band that lasted just a couple of years as a haywire pop outfit on the periphery of the Dunedin scene, only making it up to Auckland in 1988 to record that QEII-funded EP, they did manage to add a little spice and a lot of spirit to the pop brew in their short time.
Stephen played a barreling kind of fast and loud pop music, noisy and rough around the edges. Their jet-propelled energy--David's songs and his big white guitar, with former Goblin Mix bassist Alf Danielson and drummer Geoff Hoani pounding out a rhythm that usually sounded like it was flailing itself right around the song--made this band a joy to behold. After Stephen Kilroy joined on second guitar, gigs in places like the tiny Empire got louder and better. The group fell apart partway through recording an album at Stephen Kilroy's Fish Street studio - David rejoining The Clean and eventually recording his solo LP, Here Come the Cars, while Alf and Stephen went on to form Chug.
The Radar of Small Dogs CD marks the reappearance of the entire Stephen Dumb EP, plus six tracks from the group's lengthy album recording sessions and a couple of live numbers recorded in Christchurch. The story is best told in the sound of the group on disc, all ringing guitars and growling bottom end, and in David Kilgour's wonderfully understated liner notes ("By now the band is generally seen as an excuse for lots of male bonding... I guess there is no direction apart from wanting to record good music and have some fun.")
Stephen played a barreling kind of fast and loud pop music, noisy and rough around the edges. Their jet-propelled energy--David's songs and his big white guitar, with former Goblin Mix bassist Alf Danielson and drummer Geoff Hoani pounding out a rhythm that usually sounded like it was flailing itself right around the song--made this band a joy to behold. After Stephen Kilroy joined on second guitar, gigs in places like the tiny Empire got louder and better. The group fell apart partway through recording an album at Stephen Kilroy's Fish Street studio - David rejoining The Clean and eventually recording his solo LP, Here Come the Cars, while Alf and Stephen went on to form Chug.
The Radar of Small Dogs CD marks the reappearance of the entire Stephen Dumb EP, plus six tracks from the group's lengthy album recording sessions and a couple of live numbers recorded in Christchurch. The story is best told in the sound of the group on disc, all ringing guitars and growling bottom end, and in David Kilgour's wonderfully understated liner notes ("By now the band is generally seen as an excuse for lots of male bonding... I guess there is no direction apart from wanting to record good music and have some fun.")
Reb Fountain - (2020) ST CD
Flying Nun Records – FN591CD
Celebrated singer-songwriter Reb Fountain’s forthcoming self-titled album marks a new chapter in the kiwi artist’s career and her first full-length release on Flying Nun Records.
Reb Fountain came together in the well-seasoned walls of Neil Finn’s iconic Roundhead Studios in Auckland, New Zealand. This arrangement came about after Fountain performed, recorded and toured with Finn through his ‘Out of Silence’ album cycle, and it seemed only natural. Long-time studio collaborator and head engineer at Roundhead, Simon Gooding, manned the helm of Fountain’s 3-week recording stint, alongside the legendary Dave Khan on producing duties and Chris Chetland (Kog Studios) who mastered the final result. The album features a range of musical cameos including Finn Andrews, Ben Woolley (The Yarra Benders), Elroy Finn and Logan Compain. The ten-track record features singles Faster, and her new single Samson which premiered worldwide on The FADER with a captivating video featuring kiwi drag-superstar Medulla Oblongata.
Over the span of her illustrious career as an independent singer-songwriter, Fountain has become well-known for her earnest and honest approach to storytelling, garnering a close following of fans around the world and in her home, New Zealand. While spearheading a career of her own, Reb has recorded and performed with the likes of Neil Finn, Tami Neilson, The Eastern, Don McGlashan, Marlon Williams, Steve Abel, and more. Her 2017 EP Hopeful & Hopeless saw Fountain awarded Best Country Music Artist at the 2018 NZ Music Awards. The song of the same name won the 2018 APRA AMCOS NZ Best Country Song. Over the last year, Fountain has roamed Europe, the UK and US, performing with Finn Andrews as well as sharing her solo work with the world.
Reb Fountain came together in the well-seasoned walls of Neil Finn’s iconic Roundhead Studios in Auckland, New Zealand. This arrangement came about after Fountain performed, recorded and toured with Finn through his ‘Out of Silence’ album cycle, and it seemed only natural. Long-time studio collaborator and head engineer at Roundhead, Simon Gooding, manned the helm of Fountain’s 3-week recording stint, alongside the legendary Dave Khan on producing duties and Chris Chetland (Kog Studios) who mastered the final result. The album features a range of musical cameos including Finn Andrews, Ben Woolley (The Yarra Benders), Elroy Finn and Logan Compain. The ten-track record features singles Faster, and her new single Samson which premiered worldwide on The FADER with a captivating video featuring kiwi drag-superstar Medulla Oblongata.
Over the span of her illustrious career as an independent singer-songwriter, Fountain has become well-known for her earnest and honest approach to storytelling, garnering a close following of fans around the world and in her home, New Zealand. While spearheading a career of her own, Reb has recorded and performed with the likes of Neil Finn, Tami Neilson, The Eastern, Don McGlashan, Marlon Williams, Steve Abel, and more. Her 2017 EP Hopeful & Hopeless saw Fountain awarded Best Country Music Artist at the 2018 NZ Music Awards. The song of the same name won the 2018 APRA AMCOS NZ Best Country Song. Over the last year, Fountain has roamed Europe, the UK and US, performing with Finn Andrews as well as sharing her solo work with the world.
VA - (2012) Time To Go - The Southern Psychedelic Moment: 1981-86 CD
Flying Nun Records – FNCD514
Journalists looking back at the early years of Flying Nun generally make two mistakes. One is to think that the main creative impetus came from Dunedin, when in reality there was as much if not more really memorable music coming from Christchurch, the town that actually gave birth to the label. The other mistake is to think that the music being made was simply a direct response to what was hip in the post-punk music of the day.
What really marked that music and set it apart from much that was happening elsewhere was that it was in a real sense ‘out of time’ – its crucial engagement was with the psychedelic tradition of the 60s. In the South Island there was a shared insight that cut across bands as diverse as the Gordons, the Clean and the Puddle: that punk’s Year Zero was a chance to wind back the clock and pick up again in 1967, and make it bad.
While in some cases this was clearly seen at the time (witness the overt California-isms of the Chills and Sneaky Feelings), in many cases the influence was more coded. While it may have been clearly understood by the musicians, it was not so widely comprehended outside the narrow confines of what was in media terms an underground scene.
This compilation seeks to draw representative tracks from all the key outfits active in Christchurch and Dunedin during the first heyday of Flying Nun, the ‘heroic period’ of lo-tech recording, handmade covers and ‘extended play’ 45s. This is not a ‘greatest hits’ of the label. Many of these tracks and some of the bands are relatively obscure. They have been chosen to highlight some aspect or other of counter-cultural psychedelia in the Muldoon era.
This was pop music that went ‘beyond the given’ and aspired to make or say something more, something real. 1981 was a time of riots and widespread unemployment. There was a feeling that things had to change. It was – as the Clean sang – ‘time to go’.
The Chills - (2021) Scatterbrain CD
Fire Records – FIRECD581
New studio album from the Dunedin (NZ) songsmiths helmed by the enigmatic Martin Phillipps with artwork by Trees’ David Costa.
Dunedin’s finest, The Chills release their seventh studio album ‘Scatterbrain’, a glorious self-examination of Martin Phillipps’ songwriting hot (ish) on the heels of the hugely successful ‘Snowbound’ (2018) and the critically-acclaimed movie ‘The Chills: The Triumph And Tragedy Of Martin Phillipps’ a year later.
“It’s about artistic integrity, self-realisation, self-acceptance and a reflection on mortality.” The Guardian
Now in 2021, Phillipps is now taking stock of things – everything. Yes, everything. The result is this triumphant new Chills’ album ‘Scatterbrain’, a thought-provoking and evocative take from a man who has lived through good times and bad.
A mature and honest reflection on life, destiny and the fate of our times delivered in beautiful melodies with Phillipps’ trademarked incisive turn of phrase.
Viewed from the perspective of a man understanding his age and indeed his own mortality, the new album takes a mature look at matters arising with a side order of perspective.
‘Scatterbrain’ is a life passing before your ears as uncertainty increases and fake news rumbles on; during which aliens invade, Phillipps scales the walls beyond abandon as he probes the minutiae of worlds within worlds and the hourglass fills.
A landmark album from one of the great modern song writers, it’s pure pop music for the new normal and we can’t wait to see how it ends…
Dunedin’s finest, The Chills release their seventh studio album ‘Scatterbrain’, a glorious self-examination of Martin Phillipps’ songwriting hot (ish) on the heels of the hugely successful ‘Snowbound’ (2018) and the critically-acclaimed movie ‘The Chills: The Triumph And Tragedy Of Martin Phillipps’ a year later.
“It’s about artistic integrity, self-realisation, self-acceptance and a reflection on mortality.” The Guardian
Now in 2021, Phillipps is now taking stock of things – everything. Yes, everything. The result is this triumphant new Chills’ album ‘Scatterbrain’, a thought-provoking and evocative take from a man who has lived through good times and bad.
A mature and honest reflection on life, destiny and the fate of our times delivered in beautiful melodies with Phillipps’ trademarked incisive turn of phrase.
Viewed from the perspective of a man understanding his age and indeed his own mortality, the new album takes a mature look at matters arising with a side order of perspective.
‘Scatterbrain’ is a life passing before your ears as uncertainty increases and fake news rumbles on; during which aliens invade, Phillipps scales the walls beyond abandon as he probes the minutiae of worlds within worlds and the hourglass fills.
A landmark album from one of the great modern song writers, it’s pure pop music for the new normal and we can’t wait to see how it ends…
The Chills - (2018) Snow Bound CD
The latest postcard from The Chills’ epic journey is an album about “consolidation, re-grouping, acceptance and mortality,” claims the chief Chill. “Hopefully a kind of Carole King ‘Tapestry’ for ageing punks.”
Wow! Are rock bands allowed to grow old gracefully and assess the world’s and their shortcomings in the process? Is it possible to swerve the obvious and make something that’s bittersweet in tone but harmonious on the ear? Of course it is.
On ‘Snow Bound’ lost heroes are lamented, relationships are re-evaluated, atonement is sought, mortality is mulled over and fake news is undercut. It’s serious stuff, the thoughts of a dysfunctional 50-something wrestling with maturity and discovering that their post-punk DIY beliefs still have a real voice that resonates between the fans of their early years and which can now pass down to the next generation.
Casting our minds back, we can recall that The Guardian mused, “They sound almost like the musical embodiment of autumn,” when confronted with ‘Silver Bullets’. Three years on, ‘Snow Bound’ nestles heartily in its own winter of discontent. And all this with a humalong melodic verve, Phillipps’ gift for the tempered dalliance of verse and chorus and those gorgeous euphoric organ fills. Let the soul-searching commence…
Wow! Are rock bands allowed to grow old gracefully and assess the world’s and their shortcomings in the process? Is it possible to swerve the obvious and make something that’s bittersweet in tone but harmonious on the ear? Of course it is.
On ‘Snow Bound’ lost heroes are lamented, relationships are re-evaluated, atonement is sought, mortality is mulled over and fake news is undercut. It’s serious stuff, the thoughts of a dysfunctional 50-something wrestling with maturity and discovering that their post-punk DIY beliefs still have a real voice that resonates between the fans of their early years and which can now pass down to the next generation.
Casting our minds back, we can recall that The Guardian mused, “They sound almost like the musical embodiment of autumn,” when confronted with ‘Silver Bullets’. Three years on, ‘Snow Bound’ nestles heartily in its own winter of discontent. And all this with a humalong melodic verve, Phillipps’ gift for the tempered dalliance of verse and chorus and those gorgeous euphoric organ fills. Let the soul-searching commence…
The Garbage and the Flowers - (2016) Blessed Are Thee Who Sail With Shnoolee CS
Grapefruit Records – GY6-9
Limited bonus cassette released in conjunction with The Deep Niche - contains live recordings of unreleased songs from the mid-nineties, the same time The Deep Niche was recorded.
Cowboy Machine - (2020) U Up?
Melted Ice Cream – MIC0090
‘U Up?’ is Cowboy Machine’s debut long-awaited album of feral indie rock, emerging from the swamp that the city of Ōtautahi (Christchurch) attempted to slide back into 10 years ago.
On ‘U Up?’, vocalist Mikey Summerfield inhabits a persona that is probably best described as half songbird, half redneck pest. I kiss you, I break your neck. He can be found gently cooing you into a false sense of ease one moment, then barking like a bitch on heat the next.
“The zone is out of bounds… does it make you feel you so proud to have been the only one?” from ‘To The Border’ is perhaps a good indication of the album’s themes. Tip-toeing on the knife edge of taboo, the album posesses the sound of a spirit exploring love, sex, and death.
‘To The Border’ could be asking an escaped refugee how they did it, what it was like. ‘Morning Glory’ examines love for the recently departed. ‘How Did It Feel’ asks a spirit about how it felt to die. ‘Nine Lives’ finds Summerfield indulging in a dose of spectrophilia, a frightening feline spirit entangling herself around his ego. And the emotional peak of the album, Sand Dunes, finds Summerfield apologising to his mum for events unclear.
The album was recorded by Brian Feary at a studio named the Dogshit Factory in the bad-smelling suburb of Woolston amongst a period of big blowouts in 2018. The first single, ‘To The Border’ was featured on Melted Ice Cream’s 2018 compilation, Sickest Smashes from Arson City which is something of a census of the Christchurch indie rock scene.
The songs of ‘U Up?’ could be compared to those of John Cale, Neutral Milk Hotel, Nick Cave and Tall Dwarfs. The band possesses a wild energy live, and can be seen on tour throughout New Zealand in the coming months.
On ‘U Up?’, vocalist Mikey Summerfield inhabits a persona that is probably best described as half songbird, half redneck pest. I kiss you, I break your neck. He can be found gently cooing you into a false sense of ease one moment, then barking like a bitch on heat the next.
“The zone is out of bounds… does it make you feel you so proud to have been the only one?” from ‘To The Border’ is perhaps a good indication of the album’s themes. Tip-toeing on the knife edge of taboo, the album posesses the sound of a spirit exploring love, sex, and death.
‘To The Border’ could be asking an escaped refugee how they did it, what it was like. ‘Morning Glory’ examines love for the recently departed. ‘How Did It Feel’ asks a spirit about how it felt to die. ‘Nine Lives’ finds Summerfield indulging in a dose of spectrophilia, a frightening feline spirit entangling herself around his ego. And the emotional peak of the album, Sand Dunes, finds Summerfield apologising to his mum for events unclear.
The album was recorded by Brian Feary at a studio named the Dogshit Factory in the bad-smelling suburb of Woolston amongst a period of big blowouts in 2018. The first single, ‘To The Border’ was featured on Melted Ice Cream’s 2018 compilation, Sickest Smashes from Arson City which is something of a census of the Christchurch indie rock scene.
The songs of ‘U Up?’ could be compared to those of John Cale, Neutral Milk Hotel, Nick Cave and Tall Dwarfs. The band possesses a wild energy live, and can be seen on tour throughout New Zealand in the coming months.
Brian Crook with The Renderers - (2019) This World Just Eats Me Up Alive LP
Ba Da Bing! – BING151
This album has been a slow build over the past eight years, and it is Brian’s first solo release in close to twenty years. The years in between have included a move to the other side of the world (Christchurch to Joshua Tree), and the loss of his brother, who was close in age. This World Just Eats Me Up Alive confronts these topics within Brian’s maelstroms of noise, with his scratchy vocals conveying stories of protagonists living in the gutters of society. It’s a shockingly honest release, featuring recording sessions done with both The Renderers and The Terminals, unifying in a satisfying and poetic display.
Blending stark emotion with surrealist narratives, the lyrics open windows into a psychic gloaming: this is Brian. Add a fevered nod to Joyce Carol Oates and you’re there. Brian’s record is a gem of rough beauty, and any fans of releases by Xpressway and Siltbreeze will feel warmly at home in the chaos.
Blending stark emotion with surrealist narratives, the lyrics open windows into a psychic gloaming: this is Brian. Add a fevered nod to Joyce Carol Oates and you’re there. Brian’s record is a gem of rough beauty, and any fans of releases by Xpressway and Siltbreeze will feel warmly at home in the chaos.
The Magick Heads - (1998) Transvection CD
Dark Beloved Cloud – dbc222
“Transvection” is the act of riding through the air on a stick or a broom, and The Magick Heads’ glorious ride spanned almost a decade. Natives of Dunedin, New Zealand, driven by the songwriting prowess of Robert Scott (of the Bats and the Clean) and the throbbingly gorgeous singing of Jane Sinnott, they released two exquisite albums on Flying Nun and a couple of EPs. Before they called it a day, they assembled this collection of levitational performances from their entire career: studio recordings, live tracks, radio sessions and 4-track demos–13 never-heard songs and three radically different versions of Magick Heads classics. Delicious he sang/she sang harmonies, the savory friction of acoustic guitars against electrics, backing by members of the 3Ds–it’s all here, and it’s all exquisite.
The Magick Heads - (1995) Before We Go Under CD
Flying Nun Records – FNCD290
Robert Scott of The Bats resurfaced with Electric Blood drummer Jimmy Strang on the Magick Heads' Before We Go Under. Vocalist Jane Sinnott takes the lead on most of the thirteen lovely songs, although Scott's voice and fluttery arrangements are integral to the group's sound. (Scott actually wrote the title song for Barbara Manning, who recorded it as "B4 We Go Under" with Bay Area band Flophouse and released it as a single on TeenBeat.) Fiery guitar playing by David Mitchell (who is also in the 3Ds) meshes surprisingly well, adding an extra dimension to the songs without overwhelming them with electricity. With all that and the Celtic accent coming from Alan Starrett's graceful violin, accordion and hammer dulcimer, the album positively soars.
The Magick Heads - (1992) The Back of Her Hand 7''
Flying Nun Records – FN224 |
Dunedin, New Zealand folk-pop group the Magick Heads was led by singer Jane Sinnott and guitarist Robert Scott, the latter the onetime bassist for the seminal Clean as well as the frontman for his own longstanding unit the Bats. 3D's guitarist David Mitchell played drums in the original Magick Heads lineup, which formed in 1991; other players floated in and out of the group's ranks, with Sinnott and Scott joined by drummer Jim Strang for their 1994 Flying Nun debut Before We Go Under.
The Escalation - (2021) The Escalation LP
Bunkland Records – blr23
An occasional project for two guys who lived in the same small town in New Zealand. Peter Wright has had a long career - emerging from the post-punk Industrial miasma of early '90s Christchurch into an open landscape of drone-based guitar improvisation. Bruce Russell's career is even longer, hobbled to the shadow of his eternal supergroup, the Dead C. His solo guitar playing is really the relevant touchstone here, starting as an experiment with the live support of pre-recorded analogue tape-loops, eventually he felt capable of defying a paying audience with just a guitar. Out of that tragic struggle he has emerged as a plausibly flexible improviser in duo settings.
This album documents a summer afternoon at the Lyttelton Coffee Company in 2014. Filmed for the 'speculative documentary' On an Unknown Beach (dir. Adam Luxton/Summer Agnew) - see it where you can. The session was also recorded by Peter Wright on a borrowed zoom recorder, and this LP is the eventual result. Frequencies hover, half-baked rhythms emerge and subside, riffs die in embryo and 'we all go home barefoot'. In the words of Thomas Pynchon - 'right fuckin' on!'
This album documents a summer afternoon at the Lyttelton Coffee Company in 2014. Filmed for the 'speculative documentary' On an Unknown Beach (dir. Adam Luxton/Summer Agnew) - see it where you can. The session was also recorded by Peter Wright on a borrowed zoom recorder, and this LP is the eventual result. Frequencies hover, half-baked rhythms emerge and subside, riffs die in embryo and 'we all go home barefoot'. In the words of Thomas Pynchon - 'right fuckin' on!'
Salad Boys - (2019) This Issue 7''
Self-Released – none
Ōtautahi garage rockers Salad Boys have re-emerged with a delightfully fuzzy double single released on Southbound and Canterbury imprint Melted Ice Cream. Fronted by prolific guitar guru Joe Sampson (T54), new tunes ‘The Issue’ and B-Side ‘Onwards and Downwards' feel clean and confident despite the progression to a noisier, lo-fi vibe since dropping their killer sophomore album This Is Glue in 2018. Although Sampson is the brain behind the vocals, guitar, bass and mixing, Christchurch local legend Brian Feary (Wurld Series, The Dance Asthmatics) hopped aboard for drums and sound engineering at Dog's Hit Factory studio. An appropriately warped Ben Dodd directed clip for 'The Issue' coincides with the release, filmed with full band who are barely perceivable as they perform in what looks like an oil slick in a petri dish.
Wax Chattels - (2020) Clot
Flying Nun Records – FN594
It is universally agreed that New Zealand’s Wax Chattels are a must-see live act; their hypnotically sinister debut captured this perfectly. Released in 2018 and supported by relentless touring, the eponymous album reached #7 on the Official New Zealand Album Charts, and release week saw the title feature as #1 in Rough Trade’s Top 20 New Releases. Tastemakers like NPR and A.V. Club came on as early champions. The album’s success at home and abroad led to the well-deserved nomination of Best Alternative Artist at the 2018 New Zealand Music Awards, as well as the band’s inclusion in the coveted shortlist of finalists for the Taite Music Prize and Auckland Live Best Independent Debut Award. After a knock-out entrée, the anticipation that surrounds their sophomore album, 'Clot', is immense.
Much like 'Wax Chattels', the writing process for 'Clot' took the best part of a year. While some songs were written on the road, the bulk of the album was workshopped throughout 2019 across bedrooms and storage containers. Demos were fine-tuned before taking them to the studio. Wax Chattels maintained the use of only the barest of ingredients — bass guitar, keyboard, and a two-piece drum kit — but the group spent more time experimenting with and finding new sounds. They wanted to maintain the same live element as in their debut, but, this time, heavier — for which they enlisted the help of mixing engineer, and fellow noise-maker, Ben Greenberg (Uniform, Destruction Unit, The Men). The keyboard sounds are noticeably thicker and the bass more intense. A marked step-up, this new record keeps the visceral energy of the debut, only this time they dig deeper into cathartic noise.
Clot’s inspiration — or, rather, frustration — came from the doomy, gloomy corners of Auckland’s underbelly, and the theme of confrontation is central. "Mindfulness" is about willingly tricking yourself into band-aid solutions; merely accepting the status quo rather than kicking up a fuss and forcing tangible change. The vitriolic choruses of "Cede" are in Cheng's native language — Taiwanese Hokkien — and are an indignant confrontation about Cross-Strait relations and self-determination. The experience of being a first generation immigrant and not having a personal relationship with extended family is expressed in the melodic single “No Ties”. The song touches on cultural differences and the parental sacrifice of careers and support systems to provide a “better” future for their children. The explosive arc of “Efficiency” describes knowing when to bide your time, and when to push, in which the band treads a line between the explicit and intuitive. “Less is More” fumes with the frustration caused by the selective memories of others. The violent fantasies in “Spanners & Implements” suggest a more literal interpretation of these themes. This is carried through “An Eye”, in which the band stresses the physical harm and psychological breakdown emanating from the escalating racial and political uproar throughout the world.
Still, though the band seethes and boils throughout, 'Clot' concludes with a message of hope. On the final track, “You Were Right”, Ruddell expresses an aspiration toward alternative viewpoints: wading through the noise and chatter, ultimately being able to accept the opinions of others, albeit after careful consideration. Perhaps it’s this capacity for self-awareness that makes Wax Chattels one of New Zealand’s most treasured independent exports.
Bailter Space - (2021) Wammo
Matador – OLE1698LP
Flying Nun Records and Bailter Space are proud to announce the vinyl reissue of their 1995 album Wammo, out on translucent green vinyl on 12th February 2021, with this special Flying Nun edition pressed here in New Zealand.
Wammo’s original session reels were dug up, baked, transferred and remastered for a refreshed vinyl reissue — the first time back on vinyl in 25 years, and the first time ever for Flying Nun Records.
Since 1987, Bailter Space have released some of the most compelling and innovative albums, EPs and singles of the late post-punk era. Revered as one of the loudest and most intense live bands of all-time, Bailter Space befittingly left behind their previous modus operandi of multi-layering and tracking, and instead recorded the takes live in studio; the result was Wammo, which was welcomed into our vinyl and CD collections in 1995, via both Matador and Flying Nun Records.
The Wammo sessions were engineered by the expert hand of Rod Hui, who has worked with the likes of Public Enemy, Aretha Franklin, Philip Glass, John Cale, George Benson and Brian Eno.
At the time, music scribes were a bit perplexed by the record’s “accessibility.” Looking back, however, we can recognize Wammo for the perfectly melancholy and drone-laced brain-zap that it is.
Formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1987, originally as Nelsh Bailter Space, the band’s musical family tree touches on some of the nation’s most revered weirdo luminaries – including Flying Nun stalwarts such as the Skeptics, The Clean, and The Gordons. This first incarnation of the band was formed when Alister Parker got together with former The Clean drummer Hamish Kilgour. Over time, and since shortening the band name and moving to and from New York City, the line-up eventually became the familiar faces behind Wammo; Alister Parker, John Halvorsen, and Brent McLachlan. This group won praise as “the Sonic Youth of the Southern Hemisphere”, and their Flying Nun and Matador releases established them as a distortion-led tour de force.
Wammo’s original session reels were dug up, baked, transferred and remastered for a refreshed vinyl reissue — the first time back on vinyl in 25 years, and the first time ever for Flying Nun Records.
Since 1987, Bailter Space have released some of the most compelling and innovative albums, EPs and singles of the late post-punk era. Revered as one of the loudest and most intense live bands of all-time, Bailter Space befittingly left behind their previous modus operandi of multi-layering and tracking, and instead recorded the takes live in studio; the result was Wammo, which was welcomed into our vinyl and CD collections in 1995, via both Matador and Flying Nun Records.
The Wammo sessions were engineered by the expert hand of Rod Hui, who has worked with the likes of Public Enemy, Aretha Franklin, Philip Glass, John Cale, George Benson and Brian Eno.
At the time, music scribes were a bit perplexed by the record’s “accessibility.” Looking back, however, we can recognize Wammo for the perfectly melancholy and drone-laced brain-zap that it is.
Formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1987, originally as Nelsh Bailter Space, the band’s musical family tree touches on some of the nation’s most revered weirdo luminaries – including Flying Nun stalwarts such as the Skeptics, The Clean, and The Gordons. This first incarnation of the band was formed when Alister Parker got together with former The Clean drummer Hamish Kilgour. Over time, and since shortening the band name and moving to and from New York City, the line-up eventually became the familiar faces behind Wammo; Alister Parker, John Halvorsen, and Brent McLachlan. This group won praise as “the Sonic Youth of the Southern Hemisphere”, and their Flying Nun and Matador releases established them as a distortion-led tour de force.
Sneaky Feelings - (2020) The Mercury Moment CD
Flying Nun Records – FN592CD
Following a rare performance on Waitangi Day (February 6), Sneaky Feelings announce their first new album since 2017’s critically acclaimed album Progress Junction. The Mercury Moment, the quartet’s new album due out April 17 on Flying Nun Records, is a potent exploration of extinction, redundancy and disappointed dreams as the four songwriters cast their attention on the current state of the world.
Over a songbook of twelve songs, Matthew Bannister, David Pine, Martin Durrant and John Kelcher ruminate on the “ludicrous hopes and bleak future” of humanity that is being avoided. As stark realities are shared, a nonchalant musical backdrop accompanies the songs with chilling indifference.
Since the band’s feature on the iconic Dunedin Double (1982), Sneaky Feelings have existed in a lane of their own design, adding a lush, harmony-infused ingredient to the sounds coming out of Dunedin throughout the 1980s and onwards. Their majestic single ‘Husband House’ climbed to #16 on the NZ chart in 1985, solidifying itself in the cultural canon of New Zealand as a staple.
Sneaky Feelings’ most recent album Progress Junction received wide praise from critics at home, including Sunday Star Time’s Jack Barlow who dubbed it “a vibrant and fresh offering from one of New Zealand’s finest” to William Dart (RNZ New Horizons) who referred to the album as “the unexpected renaissance of one of my favourite bands of all time.”
Over a songbook of twelve songs, Matthew Bannister, David Pine, Martin Durrant and John Kelcher ruminate on the “ludicrous hopes and bleak future” of humanity that is being avoided. As stark realities are shared, a nonchalant musical backdrop accompanies the songs with chilling indifference.
Since the band’s feature on the iconic Dunedin Double (1982), Sneaky Feelings have existed in a lane of their own design, adding a lush, harmony-infused ingredient to the sounds coming out of Dunedin throughout the 1980s and onwards. Their majestic single ‘Husband House’ climbed to #16 on the NZ chart in 1985, solidifying itself in the cultural canon of New Zealand as a staple.
Sneaky Feelings’ most recent album Progress Junction received wide praise from critics at home, including Sunday Star Time’s Jack Barlow who dubbed it “a vibrant and fresh offering from one of New Zealand’s finest” to William Dart (RNZ New Horizons) who referred to the album as “the unexpected renaissance of one of my favourite bands of all time.”
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)