Able Tasmans - The Tired Sun EP (1985)

The Tired Sun is debut EP by New Zealand band Able Tasmans, released on Flying Nun Records in 1985.

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Able Tasmans - The Shape Of Dolls (1993)

The Shape of Dolls is an EP by New Zealand band Able Tasmans, released on Flying Nun Records in 1993.

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Able Tasmans - Songs From The Departure Lounge (1998)

For over a decade, the Able Tasmans were one of the most-loved New Zealand bands around. While that love never translated into the commercial success sometimes associated with this level of adoration, their fans knew why they made music and responded accordingly.Able Tasmans fans will be delighted with Songs From The Departure Lounge - a generous 20 track selection that picks out the best of their Flying Nun recordings with a couple of never-heard-before rarities thrown in for good measure. This album is a ticket to the Ables' world of baroque-and-roll adorned with rich melodies and huge, warm arrangements. It features some of the greatest songs ever written - tracks like "What Was That Thing", "Hold Me 1", "Shape Of Dolls", as well as "Michael Fay" - alongside those selected by the band as their more modest but highly significant musical achievements from the four albums, two EPs and a single they released.

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Able Tasmans - Store in a Cool Place (1995)

The New Zealanders Able Tasmans wear their influences on their down-under sleeves; their fourth album (and first in the U.S.) Store in a Cool Place blends British folk melodies, garage-band riffs, and Jefferson Airplane-style male-female harmonies. (Even their wistful love songs have American pop-culture titles like ''Mary Tyler Moore.'') What could have been derivative is, instead, a glorious sonic whirlwind ‚‚ one of the most bewitching rock albums of the year. And talk about wistful: The Tasmans disbanded shortly after releasing it.

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Able Tasmans - Somebody Ate My Planet (1992)

On this green-friendly album, the New Zealand rock group apply their Beach Boys- and Byrds-inspired adrenaline sound to the "save the planet" concept. A beautiful album of delicate and melodic folk rock, the Flying Nun group's second decade sees planetary concerns at the forefront of their glacial guitar pop and '60s-inspired sound. Able Tasmans work with the low-tech sound similar to the Bats and the Chills, and produce sublime pop results. Some of the edge is lost in an over-production that is very stylized and dating to this early-'90s work. Nonetheless, the songs seem to transcend such aesthetic trappings.

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Able Tasmans - Hey Spinner! (1990)

On this album, this obscure New Zealand group delivers some of their best upbeat Byrds-esque guitar pop on record. Of the five albums they produced in the late '80s/early '90s, the signature of their sound is the keyboard-driven melody, subtle acoustic arrangements, and propulsive rhythm section. The sound is quite close to a more folk-sounding Stereolab, with vocal harmonies from the Brian Wilson songbook.

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Able Tasmans - A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down (1987)

A major work from this New Zealand indie group, A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down comes highly recommended to those in love with the sophisticated and delicate arrangements of the New Zealand rock scene's Flying Nun label sound. While some of their peers in the productive period of '80s and '90s down under produced edgy, loud guitar music inside the framework of pop, Able Tasmans temper their largely acoustic sound with keyboards and acoustic arrangements in place of corrosive guitars. The songs are built on the delicate threshold of complexity/simplicity, filled out with lush arrangements and dreamy atmospheres that call to mind Fairport Convention. A great album filled with sweet and crafty pop songs that will hold much appeal to fans of intelligent guitar pop; Yo la Tengo, Belle & Sebastian, the Bats, and Television Personalities spring to mind.

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