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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The Bats - Raw Eggs (2006)

In 2006 the group stormed the North American shores for a brief tour. That's where Raw Eggs comes in. Sold in a limited run of *gulp* 100 copies at US shows, the 18-track CD was comprised of demos, outtakes and alternate versions from the National Grid sessions. By popular demand, the tour-only CD, was made available for online mailorder through the C86-friendly folks. Independently of the sound of the record, with a high quality but devoid of a good production, we can contemplate a first more authentic and primitive vision of the songs, which will grow after the listening, to get its definitive version. This Cd-R will help to those who welcomed At The National Grid with lukewarmness in appreciating the record, whereas it is possible that other ones can appreciate the freshness that is transmitted by the first versions that we have been able to listen here.

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The Bats - Volume 1 (2014)

This box set contains three reissues of New Zealand indie pop pioneers The Bats ranging from early original recordings to previously unheard studio out takes. Featuring tracks from 1984 to 1988, this compilation shows a group that has gone on to influence countless bands around the world with their jangling guitars that express both an optimism and deeper melancholy. Compiletely Bats, originally released in 1987, gathers together the four-piece band's first three EPs 'By Night' (1984), 'And Here is Music for the Fireside' (1985) and 'Made Up in Blue' (1986), along with bonus outages and demos from the period. Daddy's Highway, their 1987 debut, stands as one of the most outstanding New Zealand albums from the 1980's that glows throughout with shimmering harmonies, whispered vocals, reeling baselines and a sweet sense of despair that is as catchy as it is thought provoking. The Law Of Things, recorded in 1988 and released in 1990, was the The Bats follow up album and yet again showcased the band's knack for irrepressible indie pop songs. Re-issued this year again on 2xLP, this CD version also includes their 1988 EP 'Four Songs' as well as never heard before studio tracks from The Law Of Things sessions.

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The Bats - Thousands of Tiny Luminous Spheres (2000)

Like fellow New Zealanders the Chills, the Bats play magnificently hooky, heartfelt, and clever jangle pop that will have you humming along (Kiwi accent and all) by the second listen. This collection grants you 17 tunes from throughout the band's catalogue, and there's not a bad one in the bunch. If you're into smart-- and slightly arty, but never at the cost of melody-- pop music in the vein of the Go-Betweens, Smiths, Belle & Sebastian, etc., this will slide nicely into your bin (and brain).

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The Bats - Compiletely Bats (1987)

Originally released on cassette in 1987, Compiletely Bats gathers together this great New Zealand band’s first three EPs - ‘By Night’ (1984), ‘And Here Is “Music for the Fireside’ (1985) and 1986’s ‘Made Up in Blue’. These early tracks show a group that has gone on to influence countless bands around the world. And for good reason. From the opening ‘Made Up in Blue’ through to tracks like ‘Claudine’ the guitars jangle with both an optimism and a deeper melancholy that lurks just below the surface. While at times their offhand vocals and melodies tell tales of indecision and despair, The Bats also masters of a sound and feeling that can only be described as joy.

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The Bats - Silverbeet (1993)

Propulsive, driving, drony, chiming guitar rock which has the feel of a gebtly rolling ocean liner... All these songs are immediately catchy, although they do also sound a lot alike. Yummy stuff!

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The Bats - At The National Grid (2005)

At the National Grid, the Bats' sixth full-length in 23 years and first since 1995, is immediately inviting, opening with some barely comprehensible studio banter and slipping into the floating, percussion-less twee pop of "Western Isles" almost by accident. Robert Scott's guy-next-door vocals invite you in while bassist/guitarist Kaye Woodward sings little "doot-doo" backing vocals and Paul Kean's bass comes in to give the song a rhythmic nudge quite casually, as though it just stopped by for tea and decided to stay for a few songs. The album slips into its groove on "Horizon", a bouncy slice of jangling indie pop with some nice, subtly tricky stickwork by drummer Malcolm Grant. From there the album endears through a mixture of acoustic/electric jangle and friendly jamming, the latter of which contributes the album's only real low points. The band's almost off-handed interplay is one of their major strong points, but fuzzy instrumentals like "Hubert" are just a bit too stretched-out and meandering to complement their more tightly composed brethren. It's a small concern given how many songs go in the complete opposite direction. "Things" rides a surging rhythm section, nudging Scott's melancholy vocal forcefully into your memory banks, while "Single File" is the Bats at their most psychedelic, with garage organ piping tinnily in behind the bubbling guitars and harmonies.

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The Bats - The Guilty Office (2008)

7th studio album from New Zealand Jangle-Pop Overlords & Overlady, The Bats, led by Robert Scott from The Clean and members of Minisnap. Expect fragile but determined vocals, ringing guitars and chunky rhythms that seem quintessentially 'New Zealand Indie'; remote, cool, spacious, unusual but strangely familiar. Melancholy and joyous in turns, The Bats have a unique sound that has captured the imagination of multitudes.

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The Bats - By Night (1984)

When the Clean’s Robert Scott and Toy Love’s Paul Kean formed the Bats with Kaye Woodward and Malcolm Grant in 1982, the feats of each musician already warranted inclusion in New Zealand’s great pop canon revolving around Dunedin’s venerable Flying Nun imprint. But, Scott and Kean were pop journeymen simply not content with a career eulogy ending with tenures in their respective pioneering groups. The Bats’ debut EP By Night was released in 1984, two years after the group was formed, and it wasn’t until 1987 that their classic Daddy’s Highway LP arrived. The years between releases are telling. The Bats maintained an admirable allegiance to the original line-up, meaning that when a member’s obligations demanded absence, the group was unofficially put on hold. For over 30 years now, the Bats maintained this original line-up and ascended to flag-bearing champions of the so-called “Dunedin Sound”, across a remarkably consistent, albeit sparse discography, despite being from Christchurch.

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The Bats - Free All the Monsters (2011)

For over three decades, New Zealand rock pioneers The Bats have maintained their faith in simple, emphatic, guitar-based power-pop, crafting album after album of gauzy, melody-driven gems. This record is another winner, with a brace of alluring, half-droning, half-propulsive, kiwipop anthems, the kind of record that I, personally, enjoy cranking up to eleven, and letting the grooviness wash over me. Robert Scott's voice and the band's comfortable chorus, and especially the ease with which they collaborate and the clarity and simplicity of their songs... It's pure indiepop catnip! For a while there, a decade or two ago, the band got a little jittery sounding, but they have definitively retuned to the mellower, mystical, velvety hypnosis of their classic mid-'80s albums and with the exception of one woeful misfire, this record is another quiet masterpiece to notch on their belt. Skip track #5, pump up everything else, and you'll be in Batsy heaven.

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The Bats - Couchmaster (1995)

This, Couchmaster, is a terrific album, a really well crafted, non stop guitar, jangle-twang fest. It comes at you relentlessly, But probably less so energy wise and more atmospherically than before. Afternoon in Bed, Work it out, Land O lakes, Chain Home Low, it never ceases. With more intricate guitar parts than previously, sometimes a bit country, always pushing their barriers, but mostly great jangle guitar pop. Track 9 is "Shoeshine" and finally Kaye's lead vocal debut. Brilliant moody piece. The driving relentless "Just for the ride" just when you thought it couldn't get any better, but you know, its just the Bats doing what they've always done, but more mature and in better control of what they play. After all they're grown ups and they're even more relevant now, or is it just coincidence that I'm the same age?? Regardless, I firmly believe that the Bats are New Zealand's premium rock/alt/pop/whatever band. Absolutely brilliant.

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The Bats - Fear of God (1991)

New Zealand's The Bats play effortless pop with a winning combination of fetching melodies and great bass lines. This release showcases their strongest line-up and songwriting to date, especially "Straight Image" and "Jetsam". The latter has one of the most amazing bass passages I've ever heard in a pure-jangle pop song. This one is a must!

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The Bats - The Law of Things (1988)

By far the best of the Bats offerings, The Law of Things is both melancholy and melodious, complex and catchy. Well worth investing in if you're a fan of catchy folk-pop. This got me into the Bats, and they've been one of my favorite bands since. Every song's a gem. You'll be in a better mood when it's over.

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The Bats - Daddy's Highway (1987)

The Bats' first full album continues the early promise of their EPs and, with only the slightest deviations and changes since, established their sound for just about everything that followed. Scott and company may not be the most willfully experimental of musicians, but when they're on -- more often the case than not -- their lovely, melancholic songs simply hit the spot. Woodward forms the perfect singing partner for Scott, while guest violinist Alastair Galbraith brings his talent to the fore as he has for so many other New Zealand bands. "Treason" makes for a good start to the album, but the real standout on Daddy's Highway is the surging "North by North." Featuring a fantastic Galbraith violin solo, it gives the band the opportunity to show its sometime hidden strengths for more energetic, nervous material. Scott's vocal performance is one of his best, and the quick, on-edge pace seems to get even more so as the song continues. Quieter songs unsurprisingly abound as well, from the understated sweetness of "Sir Queen" to the gentle keyboard-touched "Candidate." "Tragedy" is one of the best in this vein, ending in a disturbing low drone (or at least as much of a drone as the generally quick-length songs by the Bats allow for). Though Daddy's Highway suffers a touch from the same problem that affects all Bats releases -- an increasing sameness, especially towards album's end -- it's still a great full album debut.

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The Bats - The Deep Set (2017)

Five years after the release of their last critically acclaimed album, The Bats return with album number nine, “The Deep Set”. With the title conveying the long established and firmly embedded, it’s notable that it’s thirty years since The Bats began recording their debut album, Daddy’s Highway, in the living room studio of a friend of a friend in Glasgow. This time around they recorded in The Sitting Room, the studio-sleep out-garage next to Ben Edward’s house in Lyttelton, following in the footsteps of Marlon Williams, Nadia Reid and many others. The songs remain reflective but that oft-expected sweet folksiness pops up less frequently. As the title suggests the music is richer, expansive, deeper. In their fourth decade as a band familiarity has come to mean a more careful treatment of each song. Is it maturity? It definitely translates into more depth and complexity but hey the songs are still as catchy as all hell. And as a lyricist, Robert Scott continues his mastery of the personal and pastoral, the landscape and longing. Taking us from the sun of Otago’s Taieri River to darkest Durkestan and apparently ending in the midst of contemporary New Zealand politics, “The Deep Set” continues the composed confidence of their recent albums with one of The Bats’ strongest sets of songs, fueled by ever-more powerful guitars. If you grew up with The Bats their early recordings will always pull at your emotions but while less vulnerable and immediate than on their classic debut album, The Bats of the 21st century somehow manage to be more intimate and urgent.

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