Snapper - Snapper EP (1988)

The Dunedin band’s debut was released in 1988 with the 12-inch quickly going out of print. This limited 12” vinyl re-issue is an exact replica of the release and comes with a copy of the original A3 Snapper EP poster. Snapper, the brainchild of Peter Gutteridge (founding member of The Clean, and The Chills), quickly became known for their swirling walls of distorted guitar and keyboards. Opening with the hypnotic organ jam "Buddy", the Snapper EP captures them in all their space-freak-out glory. Or as the original press release put it; “It’s bad guitars finding a groove and digging it deep as it’ll go. A big insistent beat that proves repetition ain’t always synonymous with monotony – all tempered with an ever-present pop sensibility.”

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Snapper - A.D.M. (1996)

Heroin's back in fashion again, but listening to Snapper's new album back to back with the band's other records could scare all but the truly death-obsessed away from the drug. Back in the late 80s, Snapper's debut EP was one of the most exciting things in the Flying Nun catalog; it crossed his facility at arranging colorfully distorted sounds with the full-on aggression derived from early Suicide, applying an irresistible sonic juggernaut to gorgeously catchy melodies. But even then, band-leader (and ex- Clean founder) Peter Gutteridge's substance abuse exploits weren't exactly secret around Dunedin. The quartet took 4 years to record a follow-up album, and by the time it was out his band had deserted him - they quit after he nodded out on stage. Gutteridge plays everything except for the drums, which are pounded by Toy Love veteran Mike Dooley. Pete's still a master at layering snaky tendrils of snarling distorted guitars and slaps buzzing keyboards over that monolithic beat. The hypnotic attack of every Snapper release has been greeted with acclaim, receiving rave reviews in the UK, US and NZ press and gaining a loyal following (including the likes of Stereolab and the Jesus and Mary Chain)

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Snapper - Shotgun Blossom (1990)

The tag that Snapper often got in retrospect was that they were the Stereolab before Stereolab, though that only captures part of what made them and the Shotgun Blossom album such a great listen. Certainly in an uncanny way the group musically found the feedback/organ drone/motorik drive combination that Stereolab had as an early calling card (the fact that the second song is called "Can" is also a fairly clear tip of the hat to a past inspiration). The fact that the glammy stomp of "What Are You Thinking" predates Stereolab's "Transona 5" by four years is even more striking in retrospect. Instead of sweet French singing or the like, though, Peter Gutteridge and Christine Voice's vocals were often lower-key purring, almost desperately whispered, drawing connections back to fellow Kiwi acts such as This Kind of Punishment (whose Peter Jefferies guests on drums for the concluding "Rain"). Also, Gutteridge and Dominic Stones' guitar work balanced between minimal obsessiveness and brawling, massive soloing, the latter kept as part of the mix instead of the standout element ("Eyes That Shine" is a perfect example of this, with its snarl/buzzsaw opening notes and almost liquid melodies flowing through the noise). The tension between overdrive and restraint on many levels recurs throughout Shotgun Blossom after being established with a bang on the opening "Pop Your Top." The soaring, meditative guitar lines cutting through the mayhem on "Hot Sun" is a prime example, as is the full-on space/motorik combination "Emmanuelle." The swagger on songs like "Telepod Fly" suggests even older rock roots -- the squeal/shout at the end of certain lines is a kick. When the band tries something different here and there, so established is the sonic template in general that the results are downright surprising, thus the sweet semi-Byrds jangle of "Dead Pictures" (immediately followed by "Snapper and the Ocean," which blends that with the usual sound in a perfect combination).

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Peter Gutteridge - Pure (1989)

1989 saw the release of Peter Gutteridge's Pure, the New Zealand resident's only solo LP recorded between 1986 and '87 to Fostex 4-track. Spanning more than twenty tracks, many of the songs are primitive/raw and created on the spot, though a few of these tracks even reappeared on a future Snapper 12". The former member of the Clean, the Chills and many other notable.

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The Great Unwashed - Collection (1992)

In the wake of the 1982 breakup of the legendary Clean, brothers David and Hamish Kilgour continued writing songs together; adopting the tongue-in-cheek name Great Unwashed, they released the 1983 LP Clean Out of Our Minds, a collection of primitive home recordings with a slightly experimental bent. The record was well received by steadfast Clean fans, and with bassist Peter Gutteridge in tow, the Kilgour brothers played a handful of live dates. A five-track double single subsequently appeared, and in mid-1984 the Great Unwashed swelled to a quartet with the addition of Ross Humphries; however, by the end of the year, the group disbanded.

One-stop shopping, New Zealand style. Collection puts together the Great Unwashed's one album, Clean out of Our Minds, with the following Singles EP, a handy and merry collection of what might have been a diversion at the start but still has its own worth. Richard Langston's liner notes give a brief potted history of the group's origins following the first collapse of the Clean, as David and Hamish Kilgour got together for a slew of random recording sessions that became the album and what followed. The Clean out of Our Minds tracks are in ways bedroom recordings, but unlike what the stereotype of that term became in the '90s, the feeling here is affable and gently goofy melancholia rather than acid-fried weirdness. The easy-blue groove of "Thru the Trees" mixes well with the instrumental shamble of "Hello Is Ray There?" and the at once creepy and merry celebration of wasting time, "It's a Day." Besides, any song which has what sounds like autoharp -- take "Yesterday Was" as an example -- has to have something going for it. The Singles tracks featured the more immediate and live-performance-oriented version of the band, though there's still the easy-enough feel of the album about it, even with the steady chug of songs like "Duane Eddy" and the scrabbling "Can't Find Water." "Born in the Wrong Time," with a particularly lovely lead guitar melody and some of the Kilgours' best harmonies, is the real winner from that bunch, and makes a fine almost-concluding song for the whole disc.

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The Clean/The Great Unwashed ‎- Odditties 2 (1988)

"Odditties 2" was a cassette-only compilation of unreleased recordings, mostly live, by both The Clean and The Great Unwashed. The respective track artists were not printed on the insert; the entire release was simply credited to "The Clean/Great Unwashed." The current data was deduced based on the performance dates below; The Clean disbanded by 1983, around the same time The Great Unwashed formed.

There is only one known issue of this release; track 8, "Small Girl," was apparently omitted on the cassette's insert due to a misprint. The insert has distinct "marker pen graphics" illustrated by Hamish Kilgour (credited as "HRK"). Recorded between 1979 and 1984.

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