How to make a Sonic Kiwi Salad--Soundtrack: 118 New Zealand Albums by Grant Smithies

I was lucky enough to grab a copy of Grant Smithies' engaging book on New Zealand music. Turns out, the Flying Nun Records website had some for sale.

Basically its a list of 118 interesting and sometimes great albums by New Zealand musicians, covering a variety of genres, and covering the 1960's up to the late 2000's. Overall, most of the albums are from the 1980's forward. No doubt anyone who reads the book and follows the Kiwi music scene will have disagreements as to inclusions and omissions in the book. I would have preferred a book listing 218 albums. Overall, I think that he did a pretty fine job. If nothing else the book is gorgeous, with plenty of photos and album covers.

A labor of love.

I consider myself a bit of a enthusiast of music from New Zealand, but this book brought to light a lot of music I've never heard of, never listened to. So in one way, I got my ego deflated a bit (not the worst thing), but in another way the book got me excited about new artists and even new musical worlds I haven't ventured into yet.! I do the best I can considering I live on the complete opposite ends of the earth from New Zealand. I don't gush over every release that comes out from there. But I also find it pretty pretentious that artists doing terrific things don't get their due, and to a large extent because of their provenance. The reason for inclusion of artists, beyond being from New Zealand, is that they created something terrific, or at the very least very interesting or creative.

Smithies is a critic so the book is not a puff piece. And the author wisely includes contributions from numerous sources. There are pieces in the book by actors, musicians, jouralists, designers, poets, music industry executives, musicologists, describing albums that mean a lot to them. There are numerous anecdotes about bands, about seeing the groups perform in clubs.

There are some great pieces here on The Gordons, one of the loudest bands to ever walk the earth.
There are pieces on groups I am anxious to get albums of, like Fat Freddy's Drop, and Feelstyle. I just picked up a record by SJD who apparently is one of the most talented electronic artists in New Zealand. There is a lot on Shane Carter, Chris Knox, The 3D's, and other Flying Nun groups. There is a even a small section on Maori show bands and 60's garage groups, which was terribly interesting to me.




In the preface to the book, Smithies states that didn't really feel the need to include better known, popular artists, like Dave Dobbyn, Bic Runga, Crowded House, Mutton Birds. And I can understand this because this book was no doubt intended for home consumption (and a few musical freaks like myself). The reality is that there probably is no great international market for a book like this, which is too bad. But another reality is that while bands like the Mutton Birds might be a little better known today, surprisingly, they have never had any of their studio albums, much less a greatest hits compilation released in the U.S. As he says in his preface, he made some difficult choices when he was creating this book. But when you think about it, even taking the New Zealand market having some of these popular groups included in the book might have been a trojan horse of sorts. Somebody might pick the book up for Dave Dobbyn and wind up being turned on to Tama Waipara, Edmund Cake, Upper Hutt Posse, Humphreys and Keene, HDU or Coco Solid. Its no wonder why magazines like Mojo seem to have The Beatles and the Stones on their covers seemingly every other month--it's not usually because the bands are extra busy.




But for my own selfish purposes, I'm glad that he didn't do the complete kitchen sink approach when he put this collection together. There is a certain coherent musical integrity here rather playing musical politics. It really is a collection of people who love music sharing their favorite albums and memories with the world. Warm, funny, intelligent, enlightening. I really enjoyed this book a lot--I think Smithies has made a great musical contribution here. So if you love music I strongly recommend that you pick this book up. It was being sold at an affordable price on the Flying Nun Label. Shipping a book across so many time zones is usually a pretty expensive proposition. There is such a variety of music here that I can almost guarantee you will soon discover a few great new bands you might never have heard of otherwise.

You Want Me To Waltz but it Don't Feel Right---The Verlaines-Over The Moon

There was a time before New Zealand's, Flying Nun Records was sold to Mushroom records, when I would get occasional e-mails from the label. Prior to this, I would get their updated catalogs sent, where I could have purchased other NZ swag like Xpressway Cassettes. I remember getting a letter saying they found all this out-of-print stuff in some boxes, including Bill Direen albums on the South Sea Label. I didn't have a lot of money to buy very much of this. I should have known how scarce these things would be one day. I remember getting a tip from a music critic I met at the WFMU record fair about a Gordons album. I had no idea that they made a second album, but he told me to e-mail the label--they had a small stash of the second album apparently. Lucky me. He also happened to notice that a vendor there had a hand-painted copy of the Jono Lonie-Peter Jefferies album At Swim Two Birds, so it was a very lucky record show for me. Ultimately I bought a pile of cool records from him so I guess he did okay himself.

Take whatever bits of me Remain.....

But this post was about a pending album by one of my favorite bands at the time, The Verlaines. I was anticipating the new album, which was supposed to come out soon, on Sony/Columbia, after several albums on Slash. But then word was out that the label decided at the final hour not to release the album. I assumed that it was going to be released in some capacity, but I was wrong. Then I got a semi-miraculous e-mail from Flying Nun, stating that they had a few copies. The label had made thousands of copies, then decided to cut their losses, apparently. According to the folks at the Nunnery, the label was actually shredding copies of the recording. So I dug deep and paid the $30 and got myself a scarce copy of the Verlaines final album (until recently).

I was pretty dumbfounded as to why the label changed their mind about Over The Moon. No doubt there was some story behind it. Perhaps supporters of the band within the label were cut loose. I definitely know that at some point music industry insiders decided that Dunedin would not be the new Liverpool, or at least not the new lucrative scene that might penetrate the U.S. market. Other New Zealand bands were signed to American labels, and then were dropped. Such a short term relationship with the label must have been a bit of a shock to the band. When you see the song titles and the many references to falling on Over The Moon, you get an idea of the general mood at the time.

Sure, this album may not be the band's finest moment, but Over the Moon is pretty damned terrific. Perhaps a pretty dark even for Graeme Downes, but for a guy like me who has a deep appreciation for SadCore, and Big Star's Third, the album's tone is no obstacle for me. Certainly no one at the record label could have been too surprised with the recording. It is a Verlaines album through and through. Maybe like the Wilco Documentary, I am Trying to Break Your Heart, the media folk were looking for the big hit single with dance remix. From being a band moving up in the world with international recognition, they were suddenly shoved aside and dumped, as was Martin Phillips group, The Chills.


From the start of the first song, I knew there was some magic to be found in the album. Hanging By Strands is a gorgeous, fragile ballad, probably one of the better songs in the bands canon, which is saying something. It's one of the numbers included in the Flying Nun Verlaines retrospective, You're Just Too Obscure for Me. I would recommend looking into their early compilation Juvenilia, Bird Dog, and Hallelujah All the Way Home discs for starters, all now readily available.

The lineup for Over The Moon was:

Graeme Downes: guitar, vocals, keyboards, oboe, cheap shot cello ?
Darren Stedman: Drums
Russell Flemming: Bass
Paul Winders: Guitars, Backing Vocals

Another strong tune is the uptempo guitar pop 2nd track Bonfire, which sounds like an exhortation to burn out rather than fade away, as the old philosopher once said. I have a soft spot for happy sounding songs with lyrics that belie the tone. The third tune, Sky-Blue Window, however, combines downbeat with extremely dark lyrics.

Sun come up
Quite Vile and aimless
If a pilot in his cockpit over the earth
could wipe out all the refuse of the world
then he'd take my life cos nothing's all its worth...

But there are no shortage of strong tunes. Ballads like Dunderhead, When I Fall are absolutely sublime. You also have nice pop tunes like When I Fall, Dawdling at the Bridge, and in particular, Feather Fell. The album ends hugely with Coming Back to You, probably my favorite song here after the opener. Even though I deeply appreciate the song lyrics, Downes often finds really interesting song arrangements, using tempo changes and dynamics with great creativity. I always assumed somebody would put this record out eventually, but it certainly hasn't been the first time. The Hazy Janes have a similar problem with their 2nd album, and The Last also have a very great album that has never seen the light of day.....


It's going on 15 years now for Over The Moon. The album may not be Downes' Smile, but its a very good record. Maybe someday it will see the light of day. As far the Verlaines go, they have been very prolific lately, releasing three albums, Pot Boiler, Corporate Moronic and this year's Untimely Meditations, which there has been some positive buzz about. Haven't picked it up yet. Maybe next month. I like it when talented musicians persevere, making music despite lack of commercial success. Of course, a little commercial success would be a great thing. While Downes is a well known artist in New Zealand, its probably a good time for the rest of the world to get an earfull. Check out the videos and see if you agree with me.

Fifteenth and Final Round (Love Train Gone Askew on Treadle)----The Chills----New Zealand is a Tropical Loveland

Wet Blanket!
This is one of a multitude of great songs by Martin Phillips aka The Chills. Wet Blanket was originally from the Brave Words album. This is a remastered version, with new vocals that was included on the Heavenly Pop hits compilation. I love Brave Words, but if the whole album was remastered like this, it might very well be regarded as the best New Zealand album ever.

Pick up anything you can get your mitts on by Martin Phillips. He's one of the greats.

Toy Love----Before there were Tall Dwarfs...The Loving Finger Points At....Cuts!

Who's At the bottom of your Swimming Pool?

Been listening to the wonderful Cuts anthology by New Zealand's Toy Love all weekend, released by Flying Nun back in 2005. Was always a huge fan of Tall Dwarfs, Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate's fantastic lo-fi DIY collaboration, and also Chris Knox's solo work and Bathgate's Gold Lame album. But I didn't really know much about Toy Love until I bought Cuts.

Knox is one of the legends of the New Zealand music scene, and in a just world, his legacy ought to straddle continents. One of the wildest, most charismatic, and uniquely talented performers. Sadly, in 2009, he suffered a debilitating stroke, at a relatively young age. Friends and admirers came together and put out the tribute album Stroke in order to help cover extensive medical costs. When people come together like this, it is a testament to his musical legacy, and also the high regard people have for him as a person. Like the Por Su Vida album for Alejandro Escovedo. Some of the performers on Stroke are AC Newman of the New Pornographers, the late Jay Reatard, Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel, Portastatic,Yo La Tengo, Will Oldham, Lou Barlow, and the Mountain Goats, plus a veritable who's who of New Zealand artists like Alec Bathgate, David Kilgour of the Clean, The Bats, Don McGlashan, The Chills, Verlaines, Jay Clarkson,  Hamish Kilgour, and Shayne Carter of Straitjacket Fits.

Tall Dwarfs I think are an essential part of a good music collection, but dip your toe into any part of Chris Knox's career and you will discover great music. Toy Love, the band he was in after the punkier band The Enemy is an equally good place to start. Cuts is a 40 track 2 Cd collection, with the first disc comprising their recorded output, their singles and sole album. The second disc has studio demos of many of these recordings plus a few more treats. I think the music is a little hard to categorize beyond say, punk or new wave. They sounded like a band that did what they wanted to do, in some ways like Tall Dwarfs performed with a full band. Serious at times, and at other times irreverent, experimental, crazy, sarcastic, lots of energetic fun. Fronted by the madness that is Chris Knox.

I feel I'm an extremely lucky person, because I did see Chris Knox perform in NYC quite a few years ago at the Mercury Lounge, at about the time his Songs of You & Me came out. It was one of the best shows I've ever been to. It wasn't Tall Dwarfs. Just Chris Knox's one man and a headset musical onslaught. I can't even remember so much of the specifics. It's like a Marx brothers movie, where things occurred so quickly that you are always onto the next gag, and forget what just happened because you have to try to keep up with the narrative. I don't know if I laughed more at a gig in my life. He had this manic look on his face while performing, and I remember that the opening act was Lida Husik, and he was completely taken by her name... he kept saying it over and over again. Lida Husik!!, Hu-sik, Husikk, Hoosik. He chewed up the scenery like Robert DeNiro. He had on a tank top and shorts,tribal tattoo on his arm, and played guitar and keyboards with his microphone headset on. He did so much improvisation, doing the poignant ballad about the love he has for his partner Barbara, but he changed all the words, making the song completely insane! I remember him squeezing in lyrics into the song about projectile vomiting!!! We also got to hear an improvised song that never made it to one of his albums, entitled "could somebody please buy me a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale"?

It was a memorable concert that I'll never forget. Even my buddy, the world's most interesting man enjoyed himself that night. He didn't know the music at all, but I know he was glad I dragged him to the show that night. I got to hear him sing Nothing's Going to Happen!Like the WMIM, I didn't know what hit me that night, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I couldn't help but scratch my head, because Mercury Lounge is a pretty small venue for an artist traveling from halfway around the world. I don't even know if they have a capacity of 200 people there, but even before a small crowd, he gave his manic all, and he seemed to enjoy putting on the show as much as we did watching him. There's nobody out there like him. Came that close to getting an armband tattoo.

And the Tall Dwarfs? Probably to Knox's cover artistry, I always described them to people as if Lennon and McCartney were resurrected as Zombies. It doesn't make sense, but in my own twisted mind it seems apt. Maybe it's also the horror/B-Movie references scattered through their tracks.

Hunks of Cold Cold Meat

But as far as Toy Love goes, this was just more great Chris Knox/Tall Dwarfs music that magically appeared to me in reissue form, like if an unknown Who album from the 60's was recovered from a vault. I'm talking about a treasure trove here. Punk rock, but also music reflected through the prism of rock and roll's past, like the Beatles and 50's music. I can also see the formative influence these guys must have had on better known groups like The Clean, and The Chills. In addition to Knox and Bathgate, Toy Love included Paul Kean on Bass, Jane Walker on Keyboards and Mike Dooley on Drums. Though together only about 2 years (1979-1980), their influence on the New Zealand scene must have been significant.



Probably the song that stands out for me on this collection is Sheep, a straight forward anthemic punk tune, for me one of the great New Zealand rock standards. On the other hand, you have a song like Swimming Pool, with great harmonies, sounding like the Soft Boys doing a garage rock tune. And all about dead rock stars!Rebel sounds like a punk rock version of a 60's girl group tune. Bride of Frankenstein is a Toy Love take on Country music, about basically what the title says, Frankenstein's monster in need of a mate. Pull Down the Shades is another one of my favorites, and this is why!



The Crunch is another great tune, kind of like Pointed Sticks, and sounds like The Clean's Getting Older was a response to this tune. I don't know for sure, but it sounds that way, with the "Getting Older" chorus. Squeeze is another classic, a new wavy pop song with a very catchy guitar riff. Equally winning is Don't Ask, which sounds like a punked out Beatles song. Another favorite is the high energy stuttery vocalled I Don't Mind, which has a fantastic bass line by Paul Kean. You also get the macabre Death Rehearsal, which according to the copious liner notes are character sketches of people they knew. I'd also be extremely remiss in not mentioning the unique song Frogs, which seems to go in a new direction every few seconds, with crazy improvisational lyrics, Mozart, acoustic guitars, noise. What a ride!



I can't recommend this any more highly. If you are one of the people unfamiliar with Chris Knox, it's high time you joined the party. I think he is one of the most singular, unique artists out there. If nothing else, he has certainly influenced a few generations of musicians beyond New Zealand that you probably love, like Pavement and Guided By Voices. And certainly anyone who picks up the Stroke tribute album is contributing to a worthy cause. Burning Sky Records has also has put out a Toy Love tribute collection All Stitched Up---and three bucks from every Cd goes directly to Chris Knox and his family. Not a lot of familiar names, but Burning Sky seems to do a fine job with tributes. There's Shayne Carter, Don McGlashan, Hamish Kilgour and Proud Scum. And its not too much of a contribution to give for someone who I consider one of the greats. Listen up and you'll love him as much as I do.

Getting Even Olderer--Tally Ho!--Flying Nun's Greatest Bits--Happy 30th!

"Roger slings the hits"

So New Zealand's Flying Nun Records is 30 years old this year and is once more helmed by its original founding father, Roger Shepard. If you are paying attention to things, it seems as though they are sorting out their back catalogue and re releasing some superb music that has been out of print for many years. They also have been selling some pretty cool looking nostalgic T-Shirts on their website. So many great bands put out music on this label, like The Chills, Jean-Paul Sartre Experience, The Clean, Straitjacket Fits, Able Tasmans, The Bats, Pin Group, Bailter Space/Gordons, Tall Dwarfs, Verlaines, Cakekitchen, Look Blue Go Purple, The 3D's, Dead C, Sneaky Feeling and so on and so forth. Here's hoping that some great new artists will have their music released sooner than later.



Of course if you are unfamiliar with these names, or only the most notable in the bunch, you will be happy to know that after all these years, Flying Nun has released a 2 Cd Greatest Hits collection. If you want to dip your toe into the waters of the Kiwi rock scene, this would be a very logical place to start. Sure they have put numerous samplers out in the past, and they put out a big fat 25th Anniversary Box set which is a work of art (which unfortunately did not include rarities or anything too far off the beaten path). I don't own the new collection, but the tracks lean toward the earlier years, but as it is an overview includes more recent bands like High Depency Unit, The Subliminals, and Phoenix Foundation. The recording includes the classic Randolph's Coming Home, by Shayne Carter and Peter Jefferies, one of my favorite songs, a grand, moving elegy to Wayne Elsey, who played with Shane in Bored Games, who died in a train accident. One of the great New Zealand songs. Buddy by Peter Gutteridge's band Snapper is another great tune that more people should get to know.



But I don't want to over-dwell on things here. Unless you want to whole hog and start picking up legendary records like The Chill's Submarine Bells, give this collection a spin. I was fortunate to have seen a cross section of these groups when they toured the US, and I assure you that as far the quality of this music is, nobody has any right to put baby in a corner. Check out this new compilation and discover why I've devoted so much blogspace to the Dunedin sound. Happy Thanksgiving!

When Conversation is a Hand Grenade...and Laughter At Chaos! The Verlaines' Juvenilia

Long out of circulation but now readily available from the good people at Flying Nun Records, Juvenilia, a compilation of the early recordings of The Verlaines has been a Kiwi favorite of mine for years. Though Graeme Downes has made many recordings over the years, I still like this collection the best. The songs cut a fine balance between romanticism, tortured artiness and youthful energy. Until recently, you would expect to pay a premium to get this disc, even if you were a resident of their native country, New Zealand, much less the rest of the globe. Thankfully, that problem has been rectified, and this album and several others are available directly from the esteemed label, or from Smoke Cds, which is a good cyber outlet for Kiwi rock.

Life on a Knife's edge

One of the catchphrases of Downes' work are the poetic and classical music touches in his work, but I probably would never have noticed them unless some music critic said so. He did study classical music at Otago University after all. I just hear great inventive music here. This band, along with The Chills, and the Clean caught the attention of the Post-Nirvana music biz, when everyone was out seeking the next new music scene. The Verlaines spent time on Homestead and Slash records, but did not move enough product apparently. I managed to pick up the notorious Over The Moon album (back in the day I got an email from Flying Nun-a few must have fell off a truck), which was to be put out by Sony. The album completed, at the 11th hour the label decided to cut their losses and not release the album. They even began shredding the completed product! Seems a little strange, as the album is pretty good, though not their best.

Once I met a music critic at the WFMU record fair in New York who was a huge booster of music from New Zealand. And a Nice guy. Clued me into a hand painted copy of the Jono Lonie-Peter Jefferies "At Swim 2 Birds" that was floating around that day, and told me about Flying Nun finding a box of The Gordon's Second Album lying around. Thank you so much. He said he was at a music convention and was speaking to some people from Slash Records and at that point they simply said New Zealand is dead now. After touting album by The Verlaines and The Chills, they basically were writing the whole country off now. They probably got burned, people probably got canned from their positions. Music is a strange business.

That being said Juvenilia is some of the best New Zealand music of the era, part of the quintessential Dunedin music that is most associated with the Flying Nun label (though not a totally accurate assessment, just as Subpop is viewed as the "grunge" label). Their Hallelujah All The Way Home and Bird Dog (Slow Sad Love Song is like the NZ version of Day in the Life) albums are also pretty excellent. Juvenilia begins with the classic rollicking Death and The Maiden, whose opening lines "You're just too, too obscure for me" became the title of the Verlaines retrospective released on Flying Nun. If you have ever seen the charming low budget living room video from the Flying Nun dvd Very Short Films (not NTSC format), you will remember this one as video with the enormous bunny rabbit in it and the herky jerky waltz interlude.



Pyromaniac is another raucous number, though I'm not sure what shralak is in the lyric sheet. Maybe its supposed to be shellac? The number sounds almost like a jolly paean to arson, but I would guess that it is more of an analogy regarding living life. Downes' music can also be more quietly contemplative, as can be heard in the xylophone and oboe laden dirge Windsong. One of my favorites on this collection is in fact the blissful strummy ballad Joed Out. Downes is one remarkable songwriter.



But this just a very solid 15 song collection. The wonderful song Baud to Tears, is followed by the equally thrilling tune Crisis after Crisis. Angela alternates choppy  verses with a huge hooky chorus. "What am I supposed to do with you, When you get bored, there's no telling what you might do." You Cheat Yourself of Everything That Moves" is another monster of a song, as is the seven minute Clean-like, You Say You.



I actually did get to see Graeme Downes perform a few years ago, in-between the glory days of the 80's and the newest incarnation of the group who have released the well received Pot Boiler and the recent Corporate Moronic. It was just Graeme performing at Maxwell's in Hoboken solo. It wasn't such a good set, more of an afterthought. Apparently he was in New York on business I think, maybe trying to get signed. Unfortunately, he performed along to some pre-recorded music which I don't think worked too well. When he finally just strummed the guitar and sang, the set went much better. I was still glad that I went. I kind of felt like I was helping support a worthy artist.When these guys come from half way around the world to perform, you need to jump at the opportunity, because it may not happen again anytime soon.

In conclusion, this album is one of the essential New Zealand albums and one of my favorite Flying Nun albums of the era. This is cream of the crop stuff in my view. Don't deprive yourself, music fans.

The Return of Flying Nun Records!!! Reissues and more!!

You'll come for the Hobbits, but stay for the music

Flying Nun Records is back once again. Roger Sheperd, the former head of the New Zealand label bought back the company from Warner Music in 2009 and they are in the process of setting things back in order. As a subsidiary of a major label the label has been virtually nonexistent and their old classic records have become hard to impossible to find. At this point the revived label's first priority has been to restore this extensive back catalogue. They have signed some new artists, such as Die!Die!Die!, but the news I am trying to pass on her is that many important records that have been out of print and scarce for 20 years are now becoming available once again through their website.



C'mon Baby What's That Sound?
You Know It Couldn't Happen Here.

 One such important release is the Bat's Compiletely album, which is a collection of the Christchurch pop groups early vinyl eps from the mid-1980's. The music is fairly lo-fi, but extremely tuneful, with a particularly warm rustic charm. Only one song on the album is more than four minutes long. The band is comprised up of Clean bassist Robert Scott on rhythm guitar lead vocals, Kaye Woodward on lead, Paul Kean on bass, and Malcolm Grant on drums. They are one of the seminal New Zealand pop groups of the 80's and 90's and they still continue to put out records intermittently. Made Up In Blue is the first song on this album and it is a driving acoustic gem. You can get an idea of the music from the title of one of the eps this album is made up of; Here Is...Music For The Fireside. Following this up is a charming tune of small town mores Neighbors, featuring stellar fiddle work by Alastair Galbraith.

Overall the music has a very warm, live in the studio quality. Claudine is simply a classic kiwi tune with a very memorable bridge. Other great songs on this are the Beatleish Mad On You, the charming Chicken Bird Run, and the ascending/descending riffing of By Night. Trouble In This Town is another knowing slice of small time life, and Joe's Again is a nostalgic look at an old relationship. The disc ends with the wistful bittersweet Offside.

There are many other fantastic reissues out now from Flying Nun, including The Verlaines' Juvenilia, The Bats' Daddy's Highway and Couchmaster, the entire discography of the Jean Paul Sartre Experience, and the Chills' Kaleidescope World. Hopefully this is the just the beginning. It would be great if the Chills' Brave Words saw the light of day. I do think that before that happens a major remastering would probably have to be done. The album is chock full of great songs, but the recording has a very odd sound to it. On the Chills' Heavenly Pop Hits anthology there are a few of the songs from that album remastered with rerecorded vocals and they sound amazing. Other bands in need of reissue are Bird Nest Roys, Able Tasmans, and Snapper (and the Ep by the guys below) I have my fingers crossed and hope that some of the more obscure music that never made CD gets released too. The only thing better would be if the revival of this label promotes more great but currently unknown Kiwi bands.

The Misery of Money-The Money of Misery--Sir David Kilgour and The Clean

Tell The Monkeys In the Suits and the Monkeys On the Top
They're Doing Such A Wonderful Job
Squashing all the slobs--Twist Top

I drove down to Hoboken to see The Clean, the great on-again, off-again band from Dunedin on the South Isle of New Zealand. They were playing a gig at Maxwell's as part of their American tour. The previous two nights they were a supporting act for Teenage Fanclub in the Big Apple. This was the second time I've seen them, though I did see David Kilgour solo once also. About ten years ago I saw the band at the Knitting Factory, and just before I got out of my car a monsoon broke out. Even though I sprinted about six blocks, I was about as soaked as a human could get. When I walked into the front lobby of the club, people just stared at me as if I was from another planet. And to add insult to injury, the rain stopped about five minutes later. Eventually I was able to daub myself with paper towels and wring my clothes out sufficiently enough so I didn't feel like a complete slob. I was very happy that night as were the many other fans there. I knew that I would not get many opportunities to see these guys play--they are halfway around the world (except Hamish Kilgour who is a New Yorker) and they have there own projects, so every few years they get back together and put together an album.

I mean The Clean as a full-time functioning operation did not last too long, probably about 18 months in the early 80's. They put out a few eps and singles back in the days of vinyl and cassettes, and were one of the breakout acts for the fledgling label Flying Nun. The band is composed of David Kilgour on guitar, Robert Scott on bass, and Hamish Kilgour on drums (relation yes). Robert Scott is also a member of The Bats, another great New Zealand band that is also continuing to put out albums. Hamish had a brief stint in Bailter Space, and was in The Mad Scene. David has put out a number of solo recordings and after the first breakup of the Clean he put out music with his brother as The Great Unwashed. David, or Sir David I should say, was also awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2001, which though I may be exaggerating a little, should be considered a Knighthood. I'm still a bit disappointed that they are still holding out on Robert Scott. Maybe they should have a group knighthood--Oasis will probably get one someday.

An amazing thing about the Clean is that normally, when someone in a band wants to try do something a little bit different, they create a side band. But in this case the main band is like a side band, since each album that has come out since they began reuniting is stylistically different than the others. It's almost as though the Clean reconvenes just to try new stuff out. But from the start, they were an unusual band--for every poppy garagey song like Beatnik or Hold On To The Rail, there are the mostly instrumental smoldering freakouts like Point That Thing Somewhere Else or At The Bottom. And these guys were pretty young when they recorded these songs.

And the guitar work of David Kilgour is simply fantastic. He is one of my favorite guitarists and he has a pretty unique style. When I was growing up in the fat 70's, a big catchword for musicians was classically or conservatory trained. And if people work hard to become good musicians, kudos to them. But its what you do with it sometimes that is most important, how you incorporate your musical chops. I think the singular guitar skills of Sir David were hammered out in the garage and on stage. He ultimately came up with his own idiosyncratic way of playing through trial and error.



I think of places like Jamaica where poor people came up with innovative recording techniques using scrap materials; or Calypso music made with steel drums; or about the uses that Brian Eno and David Bowie made of synthesizers in the 70's. Throw the away the instructional manuals, forget about the ocarina sound--let's see if we can make the keyboard sound like shrapnel or a low end mudslide. There were instructions on Fender amps in the early days--be careful with volume, could cause distortion. And there you go--you tell a kid not to do something, and rock and roll is born!!  I read in Larry Crane's Tape-Op Magazine (a fantastic magazine for people interested in recording music) an interview with the Clean where Kilgour said he got his signature sound by turning up the volume on the treble and reverb to 11 or so. And I think that maybe being in that corner of the world, while being informed by popular music from overseas, you could come up with something a little singular, something part of you and the surroundings you grew up in.

The gig at Maxwell's was pretty similar to the prior one I saw at the Knitting Factory. They whipped through a bunch of songs in front of an appreciative, focusing mainly on their early material found on the first disc of their Anthology on Merge, and their underrated but infectiously poppy first album Vehicle, which goes down breezily like a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc on a sunny day. In the middle of the set they performed some songs from their latest album Mister Pop, in which David traded his guitar in for an organ. They did understated versions of Anything Can Happen and Hold Onto The Rail, but for the most part the set was exciting. Kilgour plays with some abandon once he gets on a roll and he almost goes into a trance staring down at his guitar strings, as though he's trying to figure it out as he goes along. Robert and Hamish were locked in a steady rhythmic groove backing him up. And they were having a nice shambolic time. Hamish was joking about how the room looked like a panorama. The atmosphere was friendly and loose and low key. But it still feels weird to me to see people all around me playing with their phones in the middle of a concert. It beats hearing people blab out loud--it took a while for texting to take root here, but it did. In Europe I guess they realized early on that yammering in a loud voice in public is rude. But while people complain that people are spending their lives between a computer at work and at home, now you can be isolated in room full of people.

Additionally they played the instrumental At The Bottom, Billy Two, and Whatever I Do is Right. They did the standard Getting Older, and the fired up singalong Oddity with a guest trumpeter from the audience. I missed my chance for glory when the band asked the audience if anyone played keyboard--I thought about raising my hand but chickened out. That would have been a real anecdote, playing Tally Ho with the Clean!!
Off of Vehicle, they did Drawing To A Whole, Someone, Diamond Shine, and The Blue. I think they also played Too Much Violence off of a more recent album. A good night for me.

Maxwell's is probably my favorite place to see a band. It's very very small, the sound quality is good, and they draw a lot of exceptional talent to their stage. And it is also a restaurant. With the demise of so many long standing music venues, and a lot of the music scene migrating to Brooklyn, this may be the closest thing left to a CBGB's. One drawback is if you have a car street parking is almost impossible in Hoboken.



The Drummer Said, She Is Not Very Clean



If you are uninitiated in The Clean, the best place to start is the two disc Anthology by Merge. The first disc covers the early years, before they initially split up. The second disc takes their careers up to Mister Pop. My only complaint is that the Anthology is inexplicably missing Hold On To The Rail (which is on the out of pring Flying Nun compilation of their early work), which I really like. I saw David performing solo at the Mercury Lounge many years ago--the singular thing I remember is the opening band. At the end of the set, Kilgour hopped up on stage and performed an energetic Hold On To The Rail with the band, who were obviously fans.

I wish that Vehicle was still in print--critics don't give it the credit it deserves. They see the album as being slight, but I find it very entertaining--it never fails to put a smile on my face when I am in a foul mood. And the remastered songs from Vehicle on the Anthology sound so much better than the Homestead Cd that I own. But if you get hooked, you will probably want to have the whole discography and want to learn about the other great bands from that era. And since the Flying Nun label has recently been bought back by its original head, Roger Shepherd, it looks like there will be a lot of classic New Zealand rock in print again.

Eat, Pray, Destroy--Bailter Space and the War on Eardrums



She's A Brickhouse

 A phenomenon I see more often these days is earplugs at shows by audience members. It probably makes a lot of sense in the long run. Playing in bands and going to shows over the years has taken its toll on my hearing, no doubt. Still, it doesn't feel proper to me somehow, on the same level as me actually asking for directions when I'm lost driving. I mean I do usually wear a blindfold when I go to any art museums but that's a little different. I guess its a guy thing. But certainly hearing loss due to loud music has been publicized in the world of Indie music by guitarists Bob Mould (Sugar, Husker Du) & Mission of Burma's Roger Miller and their plights with tinnitus. Apparently that is a symptom of hearing loss, hearing noises that aren't really there. From what I've read, you have notes or tones that you can get no short term relief from. Consequently, Mission of Burma broke up originally due to this problem, and today it can affect the sustainable length of tours and also limiting the use of guitar on the part of Mould. I've seen my share of loud groups in my day but I have to believe that New Zealand's Bailter Space take the cake. I saw them perhaps half a dozen times and they were definitely one of the great innovative noise bands--and they were doing their thing a lot longer than the bands they are accused of copying. They must have smoking craters where their ear holes used to be. And if you don't think they were all that noisy, it just means you need to turn it up. And that seemed to be the bands basic philosophy for their live shows.

In the beginning, there was Gordons. That was the original band from 1980 and their music was also poundingly loud, albeit more abrasive. The band broke up after an ep and 2 albums and Bailter Space was eventually formed of Gordons guitarist Alister Parker and bassist John Halvorsen along with Clean drummer Hamish Kilgour. Kilgour eventually dropped out of the mix and was replaced by Brent McLaughlin, the original drummer of the Gordons!! So same personnel with a new name, but an evolving new sound. And while they had influences, like all bands do, their end result is actually sui generis.

Vortura is the 4th album by Bailter Space and it is a powerful and dreamlike squall, with textures and tones as much as chords. Projects is a particularly fiery and aggressive throwdown of a song. As the album proceeds the songs have a cumulatively hypnotic effect on you. The vocal are often like background whispers, or like a muffled revealing of secrets behind the wall of sound. The musical tones on this album are extraordinary, often very low end--when I saw them for the first time one of my friends thought they sounded a bit like the British band Loop. Their sound fills the whole room like being underwater. That was at CBGB's--I had tickets to see Kitchens of Distinction--I forget where-- and we discovered the show was cancelled when we got there. So I had heard rumors of Bailter Space and saw that they were playing CBGB's, along with Poster Children, I think. Six bucks admission. Immediately liked them. They definitely sounded like no other band I know of. I got to see them a lot once they moved to New York.

And of course the stage presence. Most of the time they didn't say anything and it was not uncommon for long pauses between songs while they got the sonics right. They struck me as an arena band in a way, because the expansive sounds of their music could have benefited from having an entourage of guitar and sound techs. And it seemed like they would have been happier playing in front of no one, not much of that "thanks for coming out tonight, we love you guys" thing. They just played their stuff and got off. It was almost funny that I would be at a Dead C show, seeing Roy Montgomery, or the Bats, and I would look next to me and it was one of the guys from the band.  (At Dead C, they were on my left, Thurston Moore on my right). And usually I don't notice anything. That show was at Maxwell's--on another night they had a gig there and they were so loud that I think the cops came that night. Parker politely asked them to turn up the vocals. Ok, I thought, he can't hear himself. Then he asked them to turn up the guitar. Then he asked them to turn up the bass and the drums.

Another night I saw them at Brownie's and I they were so noisy I thought that the bricks were starting to pop out of the wall behind the bar. It was a small venue, and it was brutal. I was with a friend who was unfamiliar with the music, and I think the noise was a little too much for him. He cut out early. I saw them in mid-set during the Noizyland Tour for Flying Nun bands at Irving Plaza and Parker was playing the guitar by hammering the strings with the whammy bar. At some point I think the speaker on the bass blew, and they continued on with a loud flatulent hiss from the amp. The last time I saw them they were at the Knitting Factory and they wanted to play one more song. The club said no, that they used up their time. The band was insistent, and the club started playing recorded music over the PA. They broke into the song and started playing the song with the music going. Then the club turned off the PA, I think. Finally most of the people in the club made a ruckus, saying they would leave if they didn't let the band finish, and that included people who had not come to see Bailter Space. Finally the Knitting Factory gave in and let them finish. Never a dull moment with that band.

Vortura is strange because though it is in some ways melodic, it is also a cold shiny metallic beast of a record. And though loud throughout, it burns with a slow fuse. For every accessible song like X, there is a low-end dirty bomb like Reactor or the pounding maelstrom of Dark Blue. I'm not sure what they mumble about in their songs, but I always think about Spaceships, and a pessimistic non-Whig future. I got in an argument one holiday with a science buff who insisted that people were constantly evolving to better things, and that ultimately we would grow giant heads and lose our hair like the aliens you see in 50's films. But I think these guys may be envisioning a different future where things are as uncertain as today, and that maybe we won't find the answers to all the problems out there. But that's just my imagination barking--I don't really know what they were thinking.

The album is worth buying for the final song, Control, which is just amazing, starting loud and just building to huge sheet metal sonic shards and a skull crushing conclusion. I could compare it to maybe something off Primal Scream's XTERMINATR or Ministry doing Stigmata on In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up. I think that someday this band is going to get their just due, the sooner the better in my opinion. If you are into Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Chain I think you would like this band. And I can recommend their other albums as well, including their work as the Gordons.