I've never heard the good Verlaines stuff. I've only heard Way Out Where which to me just sounded like bland alt-rock, apparently their early albums are good. But I love the Clean.
― I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO (Colonel Poo), Saturday, 11 October 2008 22:32 (fifteen years ago) link
'true love' is awesome, but the b-side 'first in line' is 10x better
the good verlaines stuff is bird dog and juvenilia
― thereminimum chips (electricsound), Sunday, 12 October 2008 10:30 (fifteen years ago) link
For something to be impossible to overrate, if that is possible at all, it would have to be staggeringly, world-dazzlingly good?
I think maybe one cannot overrate the Beatles, or the Magnetic Fields, or even MBV at their best. But the Clean don't really live on the same planet as them, in this regard.
I actually liked one or later Clean songs better than the early ones, though can't remember the names. Maybe I should find that CD again. I think that Dr C upthread also liked this later work.
― the pinefox, Sunday, 12 October 2008 10:39 (fifteen years ago) link
Logically, it's of course correct to point out that something would have to be ideal in order to avoid the chance of being overrated, but in the real world we have only real bands, some of them closer to perfection than others....
There's a pretty large territory between the ground claimed by the Beatles and that by the Magnetic Fields and My Bloody Valentine, respectively, at least when it comes to the question of being so close to world-dazzingly good as to beggar overrating. And I'm not even a big Beatles guy. Take the ten best songs by each band and the Beatles are well ahead, but the others are at about the same distance behind, allowing for personal taste. Your perhaps a case of the Clean undoing their own legend by going on too long while MBV had the grace (well, until this past year) to shut down at their peak. As for the MF comparison, I don't know how you'd even start, given how different the bands are, the one being essentially a one-man pop songwriting project and the other a post-VU guitar-rock band. Put the 1983 Clean on a stage just after the 2008 Magnetic Fields finish up a chamber pop set and you might feel differently. Which would be fine—the two groups are after different things, and there's room for both in the (demi-god) pantheon.
― Michael Train, Sunday, 12 October 2008 16:02 (fifteen years ago) link
There's a pretty large territory between the ground claimed by the Beatles and that by the Magnetic Fields and My Bloody Valentine, respectively, at least when it comes to the question of being so close to world-dazzingly good as to beggar overrating. And I'm not even a big Beatles guy. Take the ten best songs by each band and the Beatles are well ahead, but the others are at about the same distance behind, allowing for personal taste. Your judgement is perhaps a result of the Clean undoing their own legend by going on too long while MBV had the grace (well, until this past year) to shut down at their peak. As for the MF comparison, I don't know how you'd even start, given how different the bands are, the one being essentially a one-man pop songwriting project and the other a post-VU guitar-rock band. Put the 1983 Clean on a stage just after the 2008 Magnetic Fields finish up a chamber pop set and you might feel differently. Which would be fine—the two groups are after different things, and there's room for both in the (demi-god) pantheon.
― Michael Train, Sunday, 12 October 2008 16:04 (fifteen years ago) link
OK, I love a lot of this stuff too, but you're debating as if Clean/MBV/MF have something in common. They have their common decline in common, I guess.
MF and Clean fans alike know that their best days are behind 'em. Pete & the Pirates have filled the gap for a lot of Clean fans, not sure what MF fans do. Zombie Boy sure was bad.
On the mbv note:
MBV have responded to their obsolescence with a gimmick: we're the loudest. didn't sound all that great though. combined lack of onstage charisma with pre-sets. loveless as rote-noise-routine. and somehow managed to convince people that new material would be good. mbv were 4 years. 17 years have passed since.
― paulhw, Sunday, 12 October 2008 16:53 (fifteen years ago) link
Some of these Beat Rhythm Fashion songs are really good.and holy shit this videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1MfeLx6Uds
― Trip Maker, Tuesday, 14 December 2010 05:13 (thirteen years ago) link
duhhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSwvQsMY2Bs
No mention of Bachelorette on here? Surprising!
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 14 December 2010 05:15 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWViyhzLCPwtitle song of this album is amazing. boo youtube
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 30 September 2011 17:15 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wfocIcoXLs
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Friday, 30 September 2011 17:20 (twelve years ago) link
Flying Nun's got some new and old material brewing. A compilation tribute to The Clean's "Tally Ho" and a new retrospective comp due out in Nov.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 30 September 2011 17:30 (twelve years ago) link
Dearest ILMers. Incredibly, I'm going on tour to Auckland and Wellington in November. I'm doing what I can to find out about what might be happening there, and in NZ more generally, in terms of interesting and unusual musics but would welcome any thoughts you might have. Specifically in terms of bands/artists, venues, record shops and related things. Currently, my knowledge extends as far as a microscopic amount of the Flying Nun back catalogue and The D4, but I'm curious about anything that you are aware of and think is worthwhile. Any thoughts you have would be very greatly appreciated.
― neilasimpson, Monday, 19 August 2019 12:04 (four years ago) link
Oh, and Look Blue Go Purple, whom I absolutely love to bits.
― neilasimpson, Monday, 19 August 2019 12:09 (four years ago) link
My sister is a big fan of Aldous Harding, though I don't know if Harding identifies with any particular NZ scene or sound. I just read a comment describing her as "like if Feist was a sleep paralysis demon."
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 19 August 2019 12:15 (four years ago) link
There is a What’s New in New Zealand Music thread that’s regularly updated, but I can’t find it in Search somehow.
― breastcrawl, Monday, 19 August 2019 13:16 (four years ago) link
That'd be What's New in New Zealand Music? , which I've been a bit slack about posting in.
Just moved to Auckland from Wellington, so I can probably help out a little. If you're into marquee Flying Nun stuff, there's a David Kilgour show in early Nov and the Beths are playing a homecoming show mid November (though the first date has sold out). For record stores, Flying Out and Real Groovy in Auckland and Slow Boat in Wellington will probably have what you're after. For indie-ish stuff, there are venues like Whammy Bar/Wine Cellar in Auckland, and Caroline/Meow/SFBH in Wellington; for more experimental/noise stuff, the Audio Foundation in Auckland and Pyramid Club in Wellington are havens.
Aldous Harding I'd lump in with both the Christchurch/Lyttleton folk/country scene (Marlon Williams, Delaney Davidson etc) plus a more NZ-wide wave of stuff like Nadia Reid/Tiny Ruins.
― etc, Tuesday, 20 August 2019 03:32 (four years ago) link
― breastcrawl, maandag 19 augustus 2019 15:16 bookmarkflaglink
― etc, dinsdag 20 augustus 2019 5:32 bookmarkflaglink
lol, it's literally called that? I should have looked harder, I guess, but I assumed it was a recent-ish thread.
― breastcrawl, Tuesday, 20 August 2019 11:12 (four years ago) link
This is great advice and direction. Thank you so much!
― neilasimpson, Friday, 23 August 2019 13:47 (four years ago) link
This is an extremely useful thread. Many thanks sbahnhof for your diligence.
― neilasimpson, Saturday, August 24, 2019 1:49 AM
Cheers, Neil...
I'm not from here either.
When you first arrive, you hope life is all gonna be like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evx3J-bzNRQ
But then it turns out it's mostly like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxm-wutKi7k
― sbahnhof, Wednesday, 11 September 2019 08:47 (four years ago) link
HHAHAHAHAHAHAH
― clouds (peanutbuttereverysingleday), Wednesday, 11 September 2019 10:50 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS5fN9bo1Vc
"Blue Smoke" was the first ever single from New Zealand, here's the story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMBBttcTVwo
If Pixie Williams had done nothing else, she would still be in the history books for what happened on October 3, 1948 when she turned up at a makeshift recording studio in Wellington, New Zealand, still wearing her hockey uniform. ... It was a huge hit (and was covered by the likes of Dean Martin) and it would have seemed Williams -- then living in a hostel and working in a battery factory -- would have a wonderful career. It was, however, brief.
Pixie Williams: "Maori Land" (1949)https://www.elsewhere.co.nz/fromthevaults/4306/pixie-williams-maori-land-1949
https://www.audioculture.co.nz/content/images/857/hero_thumb_Blue_Smoke_Songsheet.jpg
― sbahnhof, Wednesday, 22 April 2020 22:53 (four years ago) link
That's pretty cool.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Friday, 24 April 2020 23:53 (four years ago) link
That RSA thing is great. And kinda topical today. I can see myself foisting it on others now.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, 25 April 2020 00:01 (four years ago) link
I've long been puzzled by the relative lack of chatter about Blam Blam Blam. Including here, apparently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HVogejKx_c
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, 25 April 2020 00:08 (four years ago) link
They would've achieved Nunnesque popularity, if only they'd had a sensible name like The Blams
Good band tho – this is their last live gig, on Radio with Pictures
- https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/rwp-live-at-mainstreet-blam-blam-blam-1984-
― sbahnhof, Tuesday, 5 May 2020 00:40 (four years ago) link
That RSA thing is great. And kinda topical today. I can see myself foisting it on others now.― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, April 25, 2020 12:01
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, April 25, 2020 12:01
OK, but
You must sign in
― sbahnhof, Tuesday, 5 May 2020 00:41 (four years ago) link
This may not be the right place to ask but an RFI question about NZ music scene...
I'm fairly familiar with the popular (and some fringe) releases of the Flying Nun/Xpressway catalogs, but something I've also been curious about: are/were there any indigenous/maori/polynesian members of any of the bands/scenes?
Living ~1/3 of the world away, my only exposure to crossover (non-traditional) NZ artists are like OMC or Jemaine Clement (or maybe Te Vaka counts?) which seems fairly scant, but maybe there could be other factors other than the obvious.
I should note that I'm fairly unfamiliar with the Urban Pasifika genre.
So there it is: RFI nontraditional NZ artists with indigenous/maori/polynesian roots.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 29 January 2021 19:08 (three years ago) link
(working through this thread backwards, that Pateo Maori Club - "Poi E" embed upthread is a jam)
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 29 January 2021 19:13 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8frPD7DgqI
OUT FRONT WITH THE KNOBZ
― lambert simnel (doo rag), Saturday, 1 October 2022 09:54 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKColaFHHg0
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Tuesday, 11 October 2022 08:46 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tDBjJGnfrY
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Tuesday, 11 October 2022 08:47 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiddntlexkY
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Tuesday, 11 October 2022 08:50 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQFI2yqyYO4
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Tuesday, 11 October 2022 08:56 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXxalI6Mg6w
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Tuesday, 11 October 2022 08:58 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tdOCYQo_qQ
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Tuesday, 11 October 2022 09:01 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdoNzewx3ko
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Tuesday, 11 October 2022 09:06 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB4zTSG7k1M
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Tuesday, 11 October 2022 19:35 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SGy4e_UZ9Y
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Saturday, 15 October 2022 00:50 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNoCuTMfJa8
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Saturday, 15 October 2022 01:08 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYAa09jIn0o
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Saturday, 15 October 2022 01:12 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erE7NYEZLYY
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Wednesday, 19 October 2022 03:00 (one year ago) link
These guys! From my 2008 Voice review, when they were coming to NYC:
..."Blue Skies" is the last stop on Die! Die! Die!'s second album, Promises, Promises. The Steve Albini–recorded, self-titled 2006 debut's flying shards of impulsive/compulsive encounters were caught by walls thrown up, tracks tightened till they imploded: 10 songs, in just over 20 minutes. But now, all through this Shayne (of Straitjacket Fits) Carter–produced set, walls are pushed out as inner space-junk expands; shards reappear as pieces of Andrew Wilson's personal blue skies, of old hopes and dreams. Breathing room is found, yes, though his shattered, scattered voice and guitar can't help planting some bizarre memory garden of l-o-v-e and more, despite it all. The eloquent guts of Lachlan Anderson's bass will never digest such seeds very easily, and drummer Michael Prain's Keith Moon-schooled soloing-as-accompaniment dents craters in today's glazed maze, where Wilson and "You!" grapple in reflective gear. Die! Die! Die! play the Music Hall of Williamsburg March 29 and Highline Ballroom March 30.
― dow, Wednesday, 19 October 2022 03:24 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhfU8YfzOi4
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Friday, 21 October 2022 02:02 (one year ago) link
https://soundcloud.com/ladi6/ladi6-guru-mp3?ref=clipboard&p=a&c=0&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Sunday, 23 October 2022 02:09 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20C19KmI03g
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Sunday, 23 October 2022 02:20 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWGoqsAoKvI
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Sunday, 23 October 2022 09:37 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siBurrXFJ3g
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Sunday, 23 October 2022 09:44 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGIbSdnbgOE
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Sunday, 23 October 2022 09:53 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9uru4LJkps
― donald wears yer troosers (doo rag), Friday, 28 October 2022 08:11 (one year ago) link