Trash - Mihiwaka - 1995

Trash - Mihiwaka - 1995

Third LP from these experimental, noisy slop-rockers from New Zealand. Though released on IMD instead of Flying Nun, they are still considered canonical to the silver age of kiwi rock. This is definitely their best release: though challenging in places, eventually the swathe of feedback and shouting peels off to reveal careful, narcotic pacing and an earnest expression of anxiety, boredom, and surrealism. Consider the lyrics: "Burnt on the bulb, I've been burnt on the bulb. When they turn on the railway floodlights, I became a moth to the flame, walking 'round under off-blue lights screaming 'My eyes...' Always held up into the bulb, into the naked flame, into the naked flame, into the naked flame..." ("Paper Part I"), and the subtly terrifying, "Left the bills on the table, I left the phone off the hook; good times please, no need to book" ("Good Times"). Poverty, partying, and anhedonia, all wrapped up in angry guitars.

preview

mihiwaka

(Video Post) - Archers of Loaf - Lowest Part is Free - 1994

(Video Post) - Archers of Loaf - Lowest Part is Free - 1994

AoL strikes me as a more venomous Pavement. Malkmus and Bachmann both seem to use their music as an outlet for brooding, but they accomplish this differently: Malkmus cracks wise and approaches his problems ironically, almost passive-aggressively; Bachmann is more confrontational about his social resentments and corporate frustrations.

This track is off their 1994 EP, Vs the Greatest of All Time, which was released in the interim between Icky Mettle and Vee Vee. The video editing is great, and so is the song, which makes fun of bands looking for record label attention: "Strike up the band, turn off the random, calling out to the A&R, A&R. So full of shit; let's write some hits, here come the A&R, A&R..."

I'll post links to Archers of Loaf records soon.

Alec Bathgate - Gold Lamé (1996)

Alec Bathgate - Gold Lamé

Alec Bathgate and Chris Knox were attached at the hip for a while: together, they made some of the best and most influential music to come out of New Zealand, well, ever (the Enemy, Tall Dwarfs, Toy Love). Here, Bathgate ventures out on his own for his first full-length solo release, and his immense influence on the Tall Dwarfs' sound becomes retrospectively clear. "Train to Skaville" is a Leonard Dillon cover and rocks, "Carl's Arrows" reminds us that we're listening to a New Zealand record, the title track (pronounced lah-'may) sounds much happier than its subject matter (selling out musically), "Happy Head" and "Happy Hound" pace their respective sides of the album well, it's impossible to hate "Love, Love, Love," and my personal favorite, "Win Your Love" is bittersweet, and my personal favorite can be heard by clicking the "preview!" button below.


preview!


download!

New Zealand Family Tree

I use "Family Tree" mostly as a pun: notice how incestuous NZ's post-punk scene was in the 70s-90s. From NoiZe (see what I did there?) to 4-track maniacs, as early as the Enemy and as late as King Loser, as celebrated as the Chills and as forgotten as the Phromes, this chart should give you at least an idea how connected the scene was to itself. If you're just tuning into the New Zealand rock scene, the scene is important because before these guys bands from NZ mostly played covers. There wasn't much original stuff unless it was rehashed garage rock (check out: Wild Things, it's not that bad). The sound they created was truly unique, one of the few instances that I believe merit the use of the word unique. The music is at times desolate and reminiscent of a sparesely-populated, often overcast but still beautiful periphery, and at other times charmingly silly and of the don't-take-yourself-too-seriously-school, which gives the scene a wonderful balance.

Stuff I want to draw attention to: Alastair Galbraith spent ten years recording with the father of Xpressway Records Bruce Russell as A Handful of Dust. Peter Gutteridge seems to be the forgotten member of the Clean even though he was in the Chills AND Snapper. Alec Bathgate's solo work is incredible (seriously, that might be my next post). The 3-D's were named after its three members: Denise, David, and Dominic. Wayne Elsey was somehow decapitated on a train (sounds like a drinking-related accident to me) and that's why they stopped being the Doublehappys and became the Straitjacket Fits. Ross Humphries was in the band that was Flying Nun's first release (The Pin Group), but he was also in the Terminals, the Great Unwashed with the Kilgour bros, and the Gordons/Bailter Space, all amazing bands (especially the Gordons in my opinion). The dotted lines on the chart don't mean anything different than a regular line, they are only dotted to prevent the lines from getting cluttered.

NOTE: I forgot to draw a line connecting Shayne Carter and Wayne Elsey to their terrific high school band, Bored Games. The Family Tree is imperfect. I might redraw it and include colors to indicate years of activity, would anyone be interested in that? Crickets, I'm sure.

better quality version of the chart

Haunted House - Untitled or Self-Titled EP - 2004

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Found this CD (aren't CD's beginning to feel outdated?) at the radio station, came cardboard-wrapped with only the words HAUNTED HOUSE literally crafted out of obnoxious glued-down glitter that drizzled onto my jeans when I handled it. Can't find any information about this anywhere. Almost certainly self-released noise pop.

preview

hh

-A

Dinosaur Jr - Just Like Heaven EP (1989)

Dinosaur Jr - Just Like Heaven EP (1989)

Robert Smith's favorite cover of his own classic song. I like it better than the original, though by a small margin. Gotta love the solo, the twangy guitar bridge, the abrupt "You!" in the chorus, the ending. Robert Smith cure-ated one of his shows, and chose Dinosaur Jr. to open for him. The other two tracks are fine; of the two, I prefer "Chunks," but the cover is obviously the point of this release.

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dino

The Wild Poppies - Heroine - 1987

The Wild Poppies - Heroine - 1987

Jangle pop, and from what I've gathered, pretty rare. Heroine is a gorgeous if subtle trip through the pastures New Zealand. Fans of Modern English need to hear "I Don't Need You." The highlight of the album for me is the guitar-work in "Walkabout." Fan-favorite is "This Person," which sounds too much like the Verlaines to me (see video below). Worth your time if you give it your attention.

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jangle-poppy

Christmas Island - Blackout Summer - 2009

Christmas Island - Blackout Summer - 2009

Repost from my old blog. Lo-fi garage rock with the Beach Boys occasionally poking through the tape hiss. The lyrics are often childish but might catch you off guard: "I don't know what the hell I'm doin' / I'm no good at being human" ("It's True"); "My baby, I miss you / In my dreams I still kiss you" ("My Baby"). In this case, B-Side stands for Better-Side.

for example

summer!

Duster - 1975 EP (1999)

Duster - 1975 EP (1999)

This is my second album posting with an album named "19x5" (see the Afghan Whigs below). The 1975 EP bridges the lo-fi shoegaze of 1998's Stratosphere LP (which was home-recorded on a 4-track) and the polished space rock of 2000's Contemporary Movement LP. This EP sounds like what would happen if the two full-lengths had a baby that grew up listening to Spacemen 3 through bad headphones. "August Relativity" is my personal favorite, and I think someone should sample those played-backward laser-sounding notes at the end. Great for a rainy spring day.

for example

spring!

90z indiofilez volume 1

90z indiofilez volume 1

This is the product of my spring-break slacking. This playlist has been growing for a long time, but I really put it together and made yea/nay decisions this week. Indie from the early 90s. Some is clearly influenced by the Stones (Royal Trux), some draws from the Beatles ("Hey Aardvark"). In places psychedelic (Mercury Rev), in others grungy (Grifters, Some Velvet Sidewalk, "Weedking"). Sometimes recorded well (Built to Spill, The Afghan Whigs), sometimes fuzzed out (Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, "Backwash"). The mix is primarily focused on the quirky slack of the underachieving musicians from the early 90s; I took pains to exclude shoegaze and hardcore/metal tracks.

for example

1. Built to Spill - Big Dipper
2. Eric's Trip - Girlfriend
3. Garageland - Fingerpops
4. Helium - Oh the Wind and Rain
5. Mercury Rev - Syringe Mouth
6. Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments - Is She Shy
7. Royal Trux - Move
8. Guided by Voices - Weedking
9. Monsterland - Insulation
10. Archers of Loaf - Backwash
11. The Folk Implosion - Waltzin' With Your Ego
12. Grifters - Maps of the Sun
13. Superchunk - Cast Iron
14. Beat Happening - You Turn Me On
15. Beatnik Filmstars - Diseaser
16. Sebadoh - Soulmate
17. Thinking Fellers Union Local #282 - The Piston and the Shaft
18. The Afghan Whigs - Debonair
19. Jawbreaker - Kiss the Bottle
20. Arab Strap - The First Big Weekend
21. Archers of Loaf - Underdogs of Nipomo
22. Some Velvet Sidewalk - Curiosity
23. Guided by Voices - Hey Aardvark
24. Jawbox - Savory
25. Pavement - Half a Canyon

slack trackz

-Andrew

Grails - Deep Politics - 2011

Grails - Deep Politics - 2011

New album from Grails. They nailed it. I guess you could call this post-rock, it's all instrumental and you can definitely hear moments of western-movie surf-rock soundtrack influence. This blog is gonna focus more on 80s/90s music in the future, but for now I wanna put something more current up. Also, check back for a lo-fi, epic-old-school-indie, and shoegaze playlists in the near-ish future.

Preview

Get deep down, deep down

-Andrew

kiwipedia: gems from nz: volume 1

kiwipedia: gems from nz: volume 1

If you love Pavement, Superchunk, or the Velvet Underground, check out these gems from Dunedin and Auckland’s underground music scene! Borrowing the urgency and DIY attitude from punk, the motorik and repetition from krautrock, the blue-collar storytelling from folk, and the art-damaged, brooding anxiety from post-punk, bands such as the Clean and Toy Love invented a sound that became highly influential on the lo-fi melodies of the 90s. This is a collection of my favorites; a second volume might be in the works.

For example

1. Toy Love - Don’t Catch Fire

2. The 3Ds - Hairs

3. The Chills - Pink Frost

4. Bored Games - Joe 90

5. The Bats - For the Ride

6. Tall Dwarfs - I’ve Left Memories Behind

7. The Clean - Point That Thing Somewhere Else

8. The Garbage and the Flowers - Catnip

9. Sneaky Feelings - Here’s to the Other Six

10. Headless Chickens - Do the Headless Chicken

11. The Max Block - Sonic Blur

12. Nocturnal Projections - Understanding

13. Goblin Mix - Venus Fleye Trap

14. Straitjacket Fits - She Speeds

15. Gordons - Sometimes

16.  Ballon D’essai - Artificial Romance

17. The Cake kitchen -  One + One = One

18. The Pin Group - Low Rider

19. The Great Unwashed - Boat With No Ocean

20. Trash - Good Times

kiwi fuzz!

-Andrew