The Chills - Scatterbrain (2021)

 

 

Since returning in 2015, Martin Phillipps and the Chills released two albums (Silver Bullets and Snow Bound) that not only reestablished the long-running band's place in the indie pop scene, but added some extra polish to their already-glittering legacy. 2021's Scatterbrain stays true to the big pop sound of their previous two albums while adding a little bit of prog rock-inspired trickery and some mystical lyrical concerns. From the opening track, the jumpy, synth-heavy rocker "Monolith," it's clear that Phillipps and the band are delivering another strong album. The room-filling drums, rumbling bass, swelling synths, and jangling guitars combine with Phillipps' vocals -- which are as strong as ever -- to create a sound that rocks pretty hard while still feeling nimble and light. The rest of the record takes a winding path sonically while allowing Phillipps space to meditate on aliens, magic, disappointment, and the slippery nature of time. More than many Chills records, there's some sonic diversity at play. "Hourglass" travels gently from introspective acoustic guitar backing to angular synths and comforting strings; "Caught in My Eye" balances stately piano with glitchy electronics and clomping drum machines; "You're Immortal" adds Morricone-esque horns and backing vocals to an arena-sized track that sounds like prime major-label Chills, and the title track is filled with ping-ponging electronics, howling guitars, and Phillipps' seething vocal delivery. Along with these sonically challenging tracks there are also a couple of knockout pop songs that make you remember that this is the guy who wrote "Heavenly Pop Hit." The rambling "Walls Beyond Abandon" is one; the wonderfully hooky "Little Alien" is the other. He also wrote a truly lovely anthem for the troubled times the album was created in with the sweet ode to staying home, "Safe and Sound." Overall, this wide range of styles makes for one of the most surprising and listenable albums they've done yet. It's dramatic, it's grand, and it proves yet again that Martin Phillipps hasn't lost a step and will hopefully go on for a long time making records as good as Scatterbrain.  

 

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The Bats - Foothills (2020)

  

The Bats have made a career of consistency, keeping the same lineup and not changing their sound too dramatically since forming in 1982. Their slow and steady approach has resulted in the straightforward presentation of countless wonderful songs, all quietly accumulating over the course of a nearly 40-year run that brings us to tenth album Foothills. As with everything that preceded it, Foothills is a no-frills collection of slightly melancholic but ever-upbeat pastoral pop songs written by guitarist/vocalist Robert Scott, and brought to life by the subtle touches added by the rest of the band. This takes the form of a few jaunty, uptempo rockers like "Warwick" and "Red Car," but sticks mainly to patiently paced jangly fare. The chiming guitars and simple shifts in dynamics between verses and choruses on album opener "Trade in Silence" all make for an incredibly direct tune, but it's the kind of less-is-more approach that has defined the band's best work over the years.

On more slow-moving tracks like gorgeous closer "Electric Sea View," the Bats' gifts for understated arrangement come through clearly, with gentle vocal harmonies and layers of tremolo-heavy keyboards and fuzz guitar adding depth and mystery to the sonic picture. Over the course of Foothills, incredibly small production choices like these make a huge impact. A single droning synthesizer note on "Warwick," the trembling guitar leads that meander throughout "Another Door," and barely there accordion tones on "As You Were" all expand the songs without overwhelming them. The rising waves of feedback and glockenspiel that show up for just a moment at the very end of the steady and wistful "Change Is All" instantly take the song to a different plane before quickly melting into the next track. Similar to the musical component, the lyrical content of Foothills is never too overt or heavy-handed. A band that's been active in relatively obscure circles for 38 years might be prone to tunes about growing older, nostalgia, or struggles with change, but if those expected themes appear, they come up more as emotional implications or nods to universal feelings instead of blunt statements. The Bats hold tightly to their time-tested sound on Foothills, producing another 12 songs of bright and wistful pop not quite like even their closest peers in the New Zealand indie pop scene. At this point, the standardization of their sound is the furthest thing from a criticism. The Bats' ability to achieve beautiful new results by returning time and again to the same specific set of sounds and inspirations remains one of the best things about the band.

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Chris Knox - Song For 1990 (1990)

A rather quickly-produced mini-album for the NZ sesquicentennial in 1990.

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The Weeds ‎– Wheatfields (1985)

Sometimes they played in their underwear and in 1985 they released the raucous folk-blues ‘Wheatfields’ as a one-off single, flipped with a live take on Elvis Presley’s ‘Trouble’ on Flying Nun Records.

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The Chills - Snow Bound (2018)

After coming back with 2015's Silver Bullets, an album that reasserted the genius of Martin Phillipps but sounded a little tentative at times, the Chills' second album of the 2010s is a brilliant pop hit that's bold, bright, and confident. Snow Bound is a big pop statement, overflowing with singalong choruses, ringing guitars, rich arrangements, and Phillipps' typically trenchant observations. It's reminiscent of the Go-Betweens' 16 Lovers Lane, Prefab Sprout's Steve McQueen, or the Chills' own Submarine Bells; albums that have ambition and reach but don't sacrifice an ounce of humanity in the process. Unlike those records, which were often tied to some questionable production techniques, Phillipps, his band (the same sympathetic lineup from Silver Bullets), and producer Greg Haver work together to make the album sound modern and spotlessly clean on the surface. They also give it a warmth that keeps it from sounding clinical. Phillipps' songs are witty and super hooky as usual; each one sounds like it could be extracted and called a single. Some of them are as good as any the band have released. Maybe not as timeless as "Heavenly Pop Hit," but the title track, the incessantly catchy "Bad Sugar," and the swinging indie rocker "Scarred" come close. There are political statements ("In Harmony"), introspective moments ("Complex"), and bittersweet love songs (Time to Atone"), all wrapped in sonic finery like sweeping Hammond organ, bubbling synths, piping oboe, and stately piano. The arrangements are full to bursting with sound, but it's never too much. The big hooks and weighty statements Phillipps put to paper needed impressive backing and that's exactly what they got. It may be a long way from the wooly, home-cooked sound of the early Chills, but times have changed, as has Phillipps, and this record is just about the best possible scenario for a Chills record in the late 2010s. The songs are definitely there, Phillipps' wonderfully light vocals are as strong as ever, and the sound is a perfect example of how to make a record that sounds as big as a stadium while still being driven by real emotion.

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This Sporting Life ‎- Show Me To The Bellrope (1982)

This Sporting Life was a souped up extension of Alms For Children, Auckland city boys with a cut down amped up sound who left their mark with a landmark indie single and minor chart hit on the truly independent REM Records in August 1981. Paul Fogarty (guitar), Ben Hayman (bass), Daron Johns (drums) and Gary “Rodent” Charlton (vocals) had been at the innovative edge of the early 1980s New Zealand indie boom for nearly two years by then. A great piece of NZ history right here.. Raw punk at it's finest! One of the lost treasures of Flying Nun!!

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Fatal Jelly Space - Hole (1990)

Fatal Jelly Space was a New Zealand band based in Auckland with an all female line up. The band existed from 1989 - 1994 and decided to cease when Jacinda (vocals) stated that she wasn't angry anymore and wanted to do something else.

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Chris Heazlewood - Surf's Up In Malibu 7'' (1993)

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Loves Ugly Children - Showered in Gold (1997)

RipItUp described Showered In Gold as, “a feast of furies, where heavenly melodies inhabit massive power-chord driven songs which alternately drift like enormous abandoned spaceships or rock like fission-powered missiles.” As for the album title? “Showered in Gold can mean showered in praise, pissed on from a great height or it could be a reference to a sexual act”.

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Loves Ugly Children - Cakehole (1995)

On January 20, the day after supporting Ministry at The Powerstation in Auckland, the group played the 1995 Big Day Out (they returned in 1996). Then it was back to Christchurch and Dunedin.  They went to Dunedin in April 1995 to record debut album Cakehole in Fish Street Studios with Tex Houston. “It’s a punk rock record,” Maclaren would later say. “I’m getting my attitudes from reality, from having a normal life. Having some punk rock element to our music is keeping our feet on the ground, staying down to earth.” “Cakehole was all personal politics, which was the kind of music I was listening to at the time, records that were naked, but honest. It was quite a difficult album to tour because it would put me into black moods doing the gigs.”

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Loves Ugly Children - Cold Water Surf (1994)

 t In the early to mid 1990s, Christchurch was a city flush with guitar-driven groups marshalled on record by the short-lived Flat City Records and more comprehensively by Failsafe Records. Despite the flurry of live activity and some enduring recordings, few of the active groups transcended their spirited beginnings. Fiery trio Loves Ugly Children, comprising Simon Maclaren (guitar, vocals), Angela “Floss” Leslie (bass, vocals) and Jason Young (drums, vocals), were the most prominent and enduring group on the rising scene. In 1994 Loves Ugly Children, having already established themselves as one of Christchurch’s biggest drawing groups (the Avalanche release party on April 26, 1993 attracted over 1,000 fans), signed to Flying Nun Records. Their first release for their new label was the Cold Water Surf CD EP from which ‘Senseless’ was extracted for a single and a video made.

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Dribbling Darts - Present Perfect (1993)

New Zealand folk-pop group Dribbling Darts was founded in 1989 by former Sneaky Feelings vocalist/guitarist Matthew Bannister, and was originally completed by ex-Remarkables bassist Alan Gregg and violinist Alice Bulmer. Originally dubbed the Dribbling Darts of Love, the trio debuted in 1991 with the EP Shoot; by the time of the follow-up EP, Florid Dabblers Voting, drummer Richard Foulkes, Jr. had been recruited, and was later replaced briefly by ex-Sneaky Feelings drummer Martin Durrant. The Dribbling Darts were silent for the next two years as Bannister and Bulmer focused on raising their child, but finally resurfaced in 1993 with the single "Hey Judith," quickly followed by the full-length Present Perfect.

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S.P.U.D. - Gnaw (1991)

The second and final album from this noisy New Zealand underground group saw them produced in a much cleaner fashion than on their debut. Giving their lurching Birthday Party-like sound a magnified sheen resulted in a sound akin to early Jesus Lizard; none of their energy and invention was lost in the graduation to high production values -- quite a feat for a post-punk noise group. The quintet builds a complex architecture of noise guitar textures over a propulsive rhythm section, providing dramatic tension to the instrumental arrangements, and giving vocalist Glen Campbell space enough to exercise one of the most unique vocal instruments. On "Recliner," the chaos of Sonic Youth circa EVOL meets speed metal precision; "Creep" is the most turgid riff the Melvins must wish they had written. Typical of Flying Nun groups, they seem to exist ten years ahead of their time. With this album they may have scored few fans outside of their home country, but among them are Sonic Youth and Steve Albini, both institutions who have cited this album as a noise rock classic of the highest caliber.

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S.P.U.D. ‎– Sour (1990)

This obscure New Zealand post-punk group were the young outsiders when they came to the legendary Flying Nun label in the late '80s. The previous decade has seen the label's identity bloom as the home of delicate and crafty songs, the Verlaines, Chills, and Chris Knox -- elegance was as far removed from the SPUD sound as guitars, bass, and drums can get. On their 1990 debut, a sound inspired by Black Sabbath and the Birthday Party saw the quintet thrashing feedback drenched dirges more akin to the Chicago post-punk sound of Touch and Go or Amphetamine Reptile. Scratch Acid, Jesus Lizard, or Halo of Flies may be good comparisons; fellow Kiwis Skeptics and the Dead C worked up a similar storm of guitar driven chaos as well. Ahead of its time, the group recorded a second stunning record "Gnaw" in the '90s and dissolved. Core member Mathew Heine later formed a similar ensemble, Solid Gold Hell.

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The Clean - Live at Fabrik, Hamburg (23-04-1990)

Another gem!!

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The Clean - Live in Dunedin (1982)

Super ultra rare -impossible to get nowadays- show by The Clean in Dunedin in 1982. One of the last shows before they broke up in the 80's. A forgotten not-of-this-world gem now rescued and shared for everyone!

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Solid Gold Hell - The Blood & The Pity (1996)

Well it ain't pop music, and it was never was meant to be. The now defunct Solid Gold Hell were pure southern gothic. Like their live shows, their recorded output is a combination of travelling medicine and old-time bare-knuckle boxing show: a sound that threatens to take on all-comers and sell you something for your soul. In the years since this band crawled out of an unholy alliance between Flying Nun's Spud and JPS Experience, Solid Gold Hell have taken on a string of challengers to the mantle of most out-there and fully rocking live group Auckland has to offer. Their live shows were a mixture of skewed musical precision and pure pathos - for every moment of sheer rocking exhilaration as rhythm section Gary Sullivan and Colleen Brennan duel with guitar maestro Matthew Heine, there's the sight and sound of singer Glen Lorne Campbell growling out a lungful of death-rattle over the mic. And the show finale, with Glen on trombone and Gary drumming with one hand and holding his trumpet in the other, while Colleen and Matthew play heads-down string-torture, is the kind of showbiz that sells snake oil to indians. Their album 'The Blood And The Pity' hits the same way. Musically, Solid Gold Hell have never given us anything as good as 'The Country Sow', a song that swings out like the arm of a punchdrunk Joe Louis. There's never been anything as hard-out as 'Heavenly Badness' or riffery as dynamic as the mini-album's title track or 'My Father Before Me' from this lot before either. This is music to put a little fear in your soul. And as the lady said, it also rocks. Beware.

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Solid Gold Hell - Swingin' Hot Murder (1994)

Formed in the wake of New Zealand noise rockers SPUD, Solid Gold Hell was a continuation of that group's lurching Birthday Party/Jesus Lizard sound with more garage punk kitsch and less avant sonics in the mix. Turgid swing beats and atonal blues draw comparisons to Killdozer and Australian pub crawlers the Scientists. Similarly, they take a lot from Captain Beefheart's magic band and filter it through punk and sarcastic bar-room jazz, resulting in a drunken mix of low-tech noise and reluctantly startling musicianship.

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Pop Art Toasters - Pop Art Toasters (1994)

With neither of their bands touring, or in the recording studio, New Zealand music scene veterans Martin Phillipps (guitar/vocals) of The Chills and David Kilgour (guitar/vocals) of The Clean,  bassist Noel Ward, keyboardist Alan Starrett and drummer Noel Ward joined forces to create perhaps the closest thing to a “super group” that New Zealand ever had, the one off group, Pop Art Toasters. Released in 1994 the group’s sole release, the self-titled Pop Art Toasters, proffer five fluffy covers of obscure and semi-obscure vintage pop gems.

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Ghost Club - Ghost Clubbing (2001)

Amidst the millennial guitar rawk revival, when Detroit was the new Detroit, and groups like The White Stripes and The Datsuns were shooting up the charts and shuffling on your iPod, a cadre of New Zealanders settled in London and wielded a Ghost Club, and the hard rock sound got roundly clocked. For most dedicated New Zealand music fans, these fellows need no introduction. David Mitchell has been melting down guitar amps since the 80s in many seminal New Zealand bands from Plagal Grind to The Exploding Budgies, Goblin Mix and Chug to The 3Ds. Denise Roughan is also no stranger to live audiences, serving us wonderments in Look Blue Go Purple and The 3Ds. Flying Nun newcomer Jim Abbott has been grounded in local NZ bands joining the now-london based Ghost Club full time. The band first caught our attention when David and Denise recorded two quiet, acoustic songs in January 1996 that were released by Flying Nun as a 7" single. The band have played sporadic live shows in London, as well as a couple of stunning solo efforts by David Mitchell (playing Ghost Club tunes) at the 2000 Dunedin Sound Festival & in Auckland with The Clean.

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