Search & Destroy: Flying Nun

johnny marr was on letterman last night, i think he is trying to be mistaken for noel gallagher. maybe flying nun will licence it for nz.

So this 3d's show, was it the one at City Limits on the Crooked Rain Tour? That was the last show I saw before moving away from Pittsburgh. And The 3d's destoryedPavement, they shouldn't have even played....

Destroy: Pretty much agree completely brg30's assessment.

uh, there aren't really any more things like that. the crude album that jack mentioned is good tho, if you liked those you'd prob. like that one

matt middleton (crude) has been prolific, and there's a sense of humour in his music lacking in most alt. rock -- and "all electric --the personal tragedy of flooding" and the crude cd "sax sothis" are fun non f.nun outings -- a matt middleton subscriber service & mailing list is needed here

f.nun is operating a bit differently to the south island based independent it used to be -- it belongs to a big multi-national now -- which seems to have produced a change of emphasis, or was it the change of emphasis that led to the need to up-size ?

judging a band on their fans is the lamest thing ever

HOWEVER i do know that when i used to go to their gigs at bodega (ahh bodega, how i miss you!) no one would dance except me. they were brillaint ambient rock attack when they were on. (and dullards elsewhere)

loudness is ones of those devices used to overcome listeners, give the impression there is 'something' /anything there -- maybe that 'anything' is what you mean when you say 'ambient', but hdu just use riffs that are loud, old, obvious, slow, vaguely retarded sounding yet h.d.u. try and hide the riffs under excruciatingly loud primitively melodic but excessively irrelevant noise -- the impression given is of a band of deaf drunk noisey mark pauline type industrial robots let loose on each other -- except you can't see robots, just bandmembers moving vaguely to their dopey riffs -- they look as if they're having as much fun as the night shift at some factory in siberia

h.d.u. are just one of a number of grunge-industrial slopover bands that shouldn't be allowed access to the sort of high power tools that allow them to permanently mess with peoples' hearing, as that noise of theirs speaks volumes about their respect for their own ears (so who cares about others, not them) -- (just my opinion, but) i think of them as a self-perpetuating cult industrial accident

Earplugs are important at any concert. Ears can be damaged with headphones too, so keep the level reasonable.

How seamlessly they were remixed into gentle tracks, and also the simple beauty, enjoyable at any volume level, of momento mori confirms them as ambient to me.

ambient and wall of sound are certainly not imcompatible as far as my understanding of the concepts go.

i completely disagree with this and yet i can't quite explain why..

&re: nz industrial uh I think HDU's moments of "beauty" etc don't fall into the eurotonic whatevah that industrial's moments of beauty do; I'd point more @ skeptics/foetusproductions/headlesschickens for that.

& uh this =>
f.nun is operating a bit differently to the south island based independent it used to be -- it belongs to a big multi-national now -- which seems to have produced a change of emphasis, or was it the change of emphasis that led to the need to up-size ?
=> is a straw man.

looking back at what i rather scathingly wrote about HDU, i think it's my way of addressing that serious pain consistent with their volume -- ok i'm biased or setting up a side complaint here, but since i can't get past the bodily reaction i have to their noise that's rock'n'roll

(oh, why do i have to get the earplugs ? protect myself, ensure that the environment i'm paying for is actually safe for humans ? if earplugs are mandatory at hdu, then there's a band seriousley out of touch with its audience, not listening)

and i haven't experienced the mixes you mention SK, and might eventually get around to their albums, but what volume and conditions should i set ? it would be nice to think they are a good band of course, but this high dependence thing is a serious credibility hike for some it would seem (i think that's their business, although i can see how pain threshold might be something the audience worries about, even if no-one else cares)

hmmn I always took the "High Dependency Unit" as (either) self-deflating or whatever re : taking their name from Shortland Street; didn't read anymore into it.

lately I've been using hdu as uh background music when reading janet frame etc in bed - at low volume it's ambient/new-age/dreamy/spacey etc; at high volumes it can be (insert-usual-descriptions-of-HDU-here) but that can be said of My Bloody Valentine or perhaps even Merzbow. There's actually a lot of SPACE (not-planetary-sense) in their music - i'd make connections with the uh nz dub consciousness, emptiness of the land, blah blah curnow 30s lit stuff & that - it's not as DENSE as perhaps portrayed. also their drummer is very moonman & interesting, like's he's drumming in zero-G or something. also i have not heard their early stuff.

my earlier comment about HDU not being wall-of-noise was when there were fairly stringent noise control restrictions => hdu's desire for MAX VOLUME are self-defeating sigh)

um & I haven't been to lots of rock gigs & stuff compared to say clubs (ie WHERE'S THE BASS?); & being young & (maybe) resilient the volume thing doesn't really affect me yet.

(uh apologies for incoherence)

earplugs = concerts are often loud = i believe i should protect my hearing

i completely disagree with this and yet i can't quite explain why..

although there are frequently associations of people and events when we think of music, and that helps make up our personal likes and dislikes. but if we're going to talk about the music, then that stuff is irrelevant.

ok, this sounds more difficult to back up the more i say anything. but, i could say something like... errr... i think that bob marley made some good records but i can't divorce his music from stoopid stoners so i don't like bob marley records.

01. The Clean - Anything Could Happen
02. Bored Games - Bridesmaid
03. Doublehappys - Needles And Plastic
04. Gordons - Adults And Children
05. Children's Hour - Carolines Dream
06. Verlaines - Death and the Maiden
07. The Great Unwashed - Neck Of The Woods
08. The Chills - Pink Frost
09. Sneaky Feelings - Husband House
10. Look Blue Go Purple - Cactus Cat
11. Bird Nest Roys - Alien
12. The Bats - North By North
13. Skeptics - Agitator
14. Snapper - Buddy
15. Tall Dwarfs - Nothing's Going To Happen
16. Straitjacket Fits - She Speeds
17. Able Tasmans - Hold Me 1
18. The Cakekitchen - Dave The Pimp
19. Headless Chickens - Gaskrankinstation
20. S.P.U.D. - Breakdown Town
21. David Kilgour - You Forget
22. Chris Knox - Not Given Lightly
23. The Renderers - Bigger Than Texas
24. J.P.S. Experience - Precious
25. 3Ds - Hey Seuss
26. Dribbling Darts Of Love - Hey Judith
27. Bailterspace - Splat
28. Bike - Save My Life
29. Garageland - Fingerpops
30. Solid Gold Hell - Bitter Nest
31. Superette - Touch Me
32. Loves Ugly Children - Voodoo Girl
33. Bressa Creeting Cake - Palm Singing
34. The Subliminals - The Crystal Chain
35. Betchadupa - Spill The Light
36. HDU - Schallblute
37. The D4 - Exit To The City
38. The Hasselhoff Experiment - Drag Racer
39. Stephen Malkmus - Death and the Maiden
40. PanAm - Interstate Boy
41. The Mint Chicks - Post No Bills

I'd be interested to read a complete videography for FN - I wonder if "Duane Eddy" had a video, &c&c&c.

haha thee Nun have been pursuing a few bands who would rather remain independent (& considering that's happened to the Munt Chux, I'm not surprised).

at least they're not the ch3cks, haha.

that song is a bit unique in their catalogue (it's pretty special) but there are a few on their first FN lp that are in the ballpark

Another amazing track from them is "Suck".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ceh4ZK5m6P4

Yeah, i need more of this. Gotta have more of that sorta Husker/MBV/Dino Jr guitar swirl and noise. Japandroids' "Younger Us" gets is right, too.

Also, Flying Nun doesn't have their shit on iTunes yet, fer some reason.

FLYING NUN TO PARTNER WITH CAPTURED TRACKS ON REISSUE PROGRAM

"Stoked" is the word I believe best describes how we feel about working on the Flying Nun back catalogue this year. Captured Tracks and Flying Nun have partnered up to manufacture and distribute the prestigious New Zealand label's back-catalog. Flying Nun began in 1981 in Christchurch, NZ and quickly established a roster of artists and DiY ethic that would go on to influence indie rock musicians and labels to the present day. Featuring such vanguard artists as The Chills, The Clean, Tall Dwarfs, The Verlaines, The Bats and countless others, the label made a huge impression on US and European underground music despite its geographically isolated locale. Original founder Roger Shepherd bought back the rights to the label from WB in late 2009 which has ultimately led to Brooklyn label Captured Tracks' involvement.

The partnership will release a slew of currently out of print titles, including many of the label's most prominent and most obscure releases. These will range from from their earliest releases through to their early 1990's material. Starting with the 2xLP Toy Love (pre-Tall Dwarfs/Bats) compilation that was recently issued in NZ, future projects include boxed sets, expanded reissues of 12" EP's, 7"s, LP's on all formats as well as posters, shirts and various other items from Flying Nun's deep archives.

"We at Captured Tracks are beyond ecstatic to work with Flying Nun Records for this series of reissues. As a young record collector, I always saw the label as a recommendation of quality and a constant source of inspiration. I would comb the shelves of every record store imaginable to secure anything and everything I could find. When I first heard the news that they'd bought back the rights, this partnership was something that was lingering in the back of my mind. I'm more than pleased that we can have any sort of involvement in revitalizing this amazing back catalog and returning it to record shelves the world over." -Mike Sniper (Captured Tracks Founder)

"We at Flying Nun are super pleased to be setting up shop with Captured Tracks, who have recently been releasing some of the most exciting new music around. We think this brilliantly compliments Flying Nun's 30 years of releasing some of the most interesting bands to come out of the remote south pacific. I can't wait to get my teeth into helping people discover and rediscover some of these records." -Ben Howe (Flying Nun Label Manager)

So is everything getting on iTunes, hopefully, right?

Did anyone pick up the "Tally Ho" and "Time To Go" compilations? Some stuff I don't have, lots that's overly familiar. What would y'all put on a rarities comp? I mean not just rare for rare's sake but genuinely great, overlooked tracks.

I saw Time To Go at a shop the other weekend and now I'm kicking myself over not buying it.

time to go looks cool. i think i have most if not all of tally ho on various other releases. i don't know how much there really is in the way of "great, overlooked" tracks but i always felt jean-paul sartre experience should get more retrospective attention and the vast swathe of uncomped FN 45s needs more love (which the wendy broccoli comp attempted to chip away at a little bit of)

time to go is pretty great. this was my fav song on it would love to hear more of this band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEc1awTPPyU

Time To Go is epic. I highly, highly recommend it. Mike Sniper posted about the tentative future plans for the FN reissues on Captured Tracks over at some other message board or something (he starts with referencing a Gordons 3x12" that is for RSD apparently:

Yeah, the RSD thing is just a one-off, it's not all going to be limited edition.
There'll be a Bats singles/unreleased multi-volume set. Snapper have no
extra material and we didn't want to pack out an LP with live cuts, so we thought
this was a good way of reissuing.

Toy Love: The NZ reissue was already doing $100 on eBay and was never properly
distro'ed in the 'States/UK/EU and it was ready, so it was a good first one for us to do.
It's still expensive because the booklet is crazy, it SHOULD be in stores for $25-$28 but
I can't control mark-ups above wholesale. Certain stores will obviously pay more in shipping and the cost will be reflected.

We are debating all kinds of ways to tackle the back-catalog.

It's true, certain bands have agreements with Flying Nun and some don't.
We're not really in the mix with those arrangements, but we're certainly encouraging.

To answer some of your questions, we are doing expanded reissues when the cost to the consumer
of three separate Look Blue Go Purple 12" EP's (an example, this isn't ready just yet, but it will happen) would run them $36 when we can do a 2xLP with extra
studio tracks and try to get it to them for $22-$25. The full art of each 12" will be included when that's the case.

We are definitely doing the "mainstream" acts like Verlaines, Bats, Chills, Clean but we're also doing stuff like Birds Nest Roys, Ballon D'Essai, etc.
It's a really long process and the reason why a lot of the stuff you'll see early on is "common" is because it's ready to release.

The revenue we draw in from those releases will really help do all the obscure stuff that I want to do as much as you.

We will be doing LP boxed sets, but no one will be "forced" to purchase the full boxed set. It'll be more "build your own" so you don't have to drop
$250 to get what you want on vinyl. This is the plan, at least. Especially when tackling the huge Tall Dwarfs/Chris Knox catalog. The man has tons of
tapes of his own recordings and recording other bands (and yes, The Enemy is definitely in the radar.)

Bored Games: Shayne is sitting on amazing unreleased songs he doesn't want to release, but we're planning on doing the 12" EP as is.

Time To Go : Crazy Good.

Time To Go is probably the most, uh, well-curated compilation Flying Nun have ever released at any point in their history, to be honest. Big fan of "Russian Rug" &c.

Any idea if those Captured Tracks releases will be available digitally?

Also, just ran across an article that said Ben Howe has taken over from Roger Shepard. Anyone know the scoop?

gotta get time to go!

Added it to my want list.

Aiieee, that tracklisting looks great

The Chills song is especially good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQmy1S-08kw

Ben Howe has taken over as 'General Manager' of Flying Nun - operations moved to AKL - sharing space or building with Arch Hill recordings - Roger Shephard still involved with label as 'consultant and shareholder' - whatever that means.

Info here: http://thecorner.co.nz/2012/09/19/changes-on-the-way-for-flying-nun-records/

Anyhow hopefully this means a smoother operation and more music. Sharpie Crows (on F Nun) and Street Chant (On Arch Hill) are pretty great. Popstrangers a bit of a rudux for my tastes but make pretty slick facsimilies of that 90's sound.

So.... they're not Flying Nun, but I thought this would be the best place to draw attention to the Popstrangers LP on Carpark. Plenty of NZers excited about this release.
Best NZ pop single since the Chills' Heavenly pop hit?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQs6rGE_1cc

Given that Popmatters (yeah...) shit themselves with excitement over this, I thought there'd at least be some discussion:

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/167655-popstrangers-antipodes/

I say: really really really good.

Looks like both the Clean's Vehicle and a Bird Nest Roys comp are out this week! Especially glad about the former cos I played my old copy a couple of months back and it skipped all over the place. Great album too!

Vehicle is one of the all-time great strummy guitar albums, up there with Wedding Present and Unrest.

I disagree! I strongly believe it pisses all over those guys

It's truly great...and forthcoming review somewhere soon.

good news - vehicle might be my fave clean release, even moreso than the early stuff. amazing guitar sound.

listening to it now, oh man, it is so good. best band.

Oh come on, those strummy Wedding Present and Unrest albums are awesome, there's room for everyone here.

pl don't bespoil this thread
w/ the wedding pres

(people don't like prime Wedding Present? Bizarro.)

Oh don't worry, there are plenty of WP fans who love the Clean too.

Personally, I found Vehicle not as compelling as the early stuff and have a real soft spot for Modern Rock!

Yep - agree with Gerald M-B. I like Vehicle of course but it does not have the dark, anarchic kind of vibe that early Clean has - would like to see Compilation reissued with this kind of lavish treatment personally.

Isn't the first disc of Anthology a complete set of early Clean? That's my go-to over Compilation.

Modern Rock has "Secret Place," right? That's a nice song. "Vehicle" I always thought was where Robert's Bats-y writing started to be just as prominent as Kilgour's writing, imo.

I find Anthology unwieldy - I like the more concise and more coherent nature of Compilation - I think most of the tracks from the earlier volume are on the latter though. Anthology has too many of those goofy song experiments on it for me.

Cosign on preferring Compilation to Anthology ("Art School"!); was a Singles Going Steady kinda comp for lots of Kiwis.

Anyway, new & v.v.v.good on F.Nun is the new Sharpie Crows, though it's more in the line of the Skeptics/Gordons end of the label's history. Also: Skeptics documentary, Sheen of Gold at this year's film festival!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PRHndjg2Fw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX2u7CQSQlU

Skeptics doco looks great. I didn't like that Sharpie Crows 'Spread' tune so much but the new one Bully 4 You is wicked amazingness.

http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/music/1084/Bully-4-U.utr

Also check new Chills - no longer with F Nun I think but always with them anyway.

https://soundcloud.com/#firerecords/the-chills-molten-gold

Promising signs I think - hopefully Martin can get his stuff togethor to actually release a proper album. Everyone else is doing it - why can't he?

Hinklepicker square otm here, only non Compilation Anthology track I really love is Platypus, but Art School/Hold Onto the Rail omissions are unforgivable.

Odditties version of Thums Off is p great imo though.

I love "Some Fantasy" by DoubleHappys.

So obviously not really Flying Nun, but there's no Toy Love specific thread so -- sad news to report about Jane Walker's passing:

https://www.facebook.com/AudioCultureNZ/photos/a.506398366094767/1934325256635397/?type=1&theater