Well, If I Get Drunk, Well That's Alright, If I Sleep On the Floor All Night

It's hard to believe those lyrics are the Verlaines, but it's a good reminder that even Graeme Downes is in fact one of us, if you know what I mean.

Here are their humble beginnings - before big arrangements and production, and even deep lyrics, but still the same great band. One of Flying Nun's first records, the Dunedin Double EPwas a lo-fi, creative format (2 45 RPM EPs) spotlighting the burgeoning talent of locals the CHiLLs, Sneaky Feelings, the Stones, and the Verlaines. Allof them were off to a great start. The CHiLLs tracks were wonderfully transferred onto the Kaleidoscope World LP, but unfortuantely the others were not put on similar compilations. The three songs Downes and company contribute are all great, and despite their many rough qiualities hint at the majesty of their later career. The similarities between "Crisis After Crisis" and their greatest all-time track "C.D.,Jimmy Jazz, and Me" are inmistakeable, proving this band always had it. I include only the Verlaines tracks because, I can't stand the way you need to file compilations to get them all up here together. The rest later?


The Verlaines - Dunedin Double EP (1982) (Side 4)

Hopefully I'll see you Angelinos this weekend!

Little I Need to Know and Little I Need to Find

The Bats are one of my absolute favorite bands and this record is, likewise, one of my all-time favorites.

It is pop perfection in every way by a band just as perfect. The songwriting is tight, the playing is tight, and the way every member works together is unparalleled. This is best seen in the vocals harmonies of guitarists Robert Scott and Kaye Woodward, who on their own are not remarkable vocalists but work together so well it is transcendent. Additionally, Paul Kean is one of my favorite bassists and his lyrical style really fits with the Bats' freewheeling sound, perhaps even more so than it did in his Toy Love days. However, instrumentally the album' secret weapon is Alastair Gilbraith (of the Rip) whose often-multi-tracked violin parts have a way of seeping into your brain and allowing the pure pop to shine though. This diverse geling is no more evident than on the opening track "Treason," which I would argue as the greatest pop song of all time - though it is surely up for debate.

Like anyone else from the Flying Nun roster, the Bats' influence on 90s US indie rock is unmissable - just check out the melancholy "Tragedy" for a large portion of Yo La Tengo's work. The record may not move beyond the realm of jangly pop, but why should it? It runs the gamut in terms of mood which the Bats really have a talent of expressing. It spans all the way from the happy-go-lucky tone of "Round and Down" to the dark and forboding "North By North" (the theme to Australian TV series The Hollow Men).

Also included are some early tracks (the magnificent "Trouble in This Town" through the classic "Made Up In Blue" which are as strong as the subsequent album. Also, it should be noted the Bats are still around putting out quality music, so all the more reason to check them out at their peak!


The Bats - Daddy's Highway (1987)

You Sure Know How To Make Things Hard

I thought I should put this up as it in quite hard to find (I've never seen it on CD, even at the absurd price at which I have seen Kaleidoscope World and Submarine Bells), but I somehow did. While it's not the CHiLLs' best, it is their debut and like all their records has its own sound that no fan of kiwi-pop should miss. Produced by Mayo Thomas, it has an atmospheric psychedelic sound in a way that is quite different from the follow-up album. The keys are mixed low in a very effective way and the most lovable things on this album are the same things to love about other CHiLLs releases. Plus, only a kiwi-pop album could have a record cover like this one (I hear the members are spelling out "COLD" (Flying Nun's code) in nautical language.)

I don't have the pride of my record collection (this LP) in hand right now so I won't distinguish original tracks from bonus tracks which are mixed in on the side, tastefully distinguishing the two original sides. The opening track "Push" is beautiful and really sets the tone for the rest of the album. "Rain," the next track keeps the energy up and is one of the catchiest songs and perhaps the best use of falsetto I have heard in rock music. The last three tracks are some of the best as well leaving you to want to jsut hear more and more CHiLLs and luckily their other stuff gets better from there. There are plenty of great tracks int he middle though, most notably "Party in My Heart," which you may think of when partying until you realize it is definitely not that much fun... lyrically.


The CHiLLs - Brave Words (1986)

Asked Me Why I Never Wrote You a Song When You Thought You'd Given Me Enough to Work On

In celebration of the long-awaited conclusion of my academic career I will write on the Verlaines...



This is, of course because leader Graeme Downes, if anyone, has academicized Rock 'n' Roll. Now, I am not sure if I can agree with that, and while I have not taken his program at the University of Otago (him being one of the few to remain in Dunedin today), I can only assume this kind of thing ends up harming the art much in the way of film school, which I have attended.

However, the Verlaines to rock, and while at times it can be a bit pretensious, it's still clever and sincere, and even better that other successful academia-rockers like Mission of Burma. MoB is a good comparison for the sound as well, and then of course the Wipers would be as well, along with the overall kiwi-pop sound. However, the Verlaines really do rock harder than most of the others, and not in a punky way like the Clean and Toy Love. These energetic songs are catchy, clever, and powerful, and Downes' arrangements often touch on brilliance. In fact, "C.D., Jimmy Jazz, & Me," re-definined perfection in the musical sense with it's flawless integration of strings and horns into epic rock. This along with their definitive "Death and the Maiden" and the acoustic punk of "Pyromaniac" are not only some of the group's best, but some of the movement's. While this is a compilation, it truly is the best place to start, and is the best source for their music even when you have their complete LPs. Notably, part of this is for including "Heavy 33," originially found exclusively on budget used section classic comp No Alternative (also featuring Soul Asylum and the Goo Goo Dolls when they were all about ripping off Soul Asylum). Unfortunately, though, it does not contain anything from the Dunedin Double EP, which was one of Flying Nun's first releases and also contained sides from The CHiLLs, The Stones, and Sneaky Feelings.


The Verlaines - You're Just Too Obscure For Me...

He's So Fine, He's Like Me...

The power of Chris Knox!

Toy Love was it in the way of kiwi pop. We all know the Clean, but Toy Love was first. The band marked, even more so the transition from imitating UK punk and featured both members of Tall Dwarfs as well as one of my favorite bassists Paul Kean, later of the Bats. They formed out of NZ's original punk band the enemy and were quite a show. After forming in Dunedin they relocated to Australia expecting it as a route for more success. Unfortunately they were wrong. They recorded one poorly mixed self-titled record which has been re-mastered and sounds pretty great on the first disc. However it is some of the earliest singles like "Rebel," "Squeeze" and "Sheep" that stand out the most. These songs can really speak to anyone, anywhere in the world who knows what being a hipster or a true rock 'n' roller is all about. If you are reading this I am sure they should connect with you. Frontman Chris Knox is an incredible performer and the whole band is really switched on as well. It's a whole lot of fun and if you are interested in the history of New Zealand rock this as just as, if not as important as "Tally Ho!," "Pink Frost," and The Dunedin Double EP.


Toy Love - Cuts (Disc 1)

She Was Looking for Change and So Was I

The title is in reference to this 70s hit I put up for fun. It's by Dean Friedman who was essentially Jersey's answer to Billy Joel. If you have Ariel Pink's EP with the cover of this song, please get it to me, I've been looking for it for a while.

The main article of the night goes to another great girl group as I was thinking about posting the Bangles' first album All Over the Place, which I recently acquired. I decided it better not to do two consecutive Paisley Underground posts, so that will have to wait. Tonight it's New Zealand's (yes, I know almsot everything I post is either from L.A. or New Zealand) Look Blue Go Purple. In a scene where many major artists, e.g. The Bats, the Verlaines, the Chills, and the Sneaky Feelings, had female members Look Blue Go Purple was the only all-female group. Their sound fits in quite well with the classic Flying Nun roster, yet they are as unique as any of the other groups. Their music is a well-layered swirl of psychedelic pop that could only come from Dunedin. While it's clear what side of the kiwi-pop scene they veer towards they are airier than the Bats, earthier than the Chills, and and stronger than 90s-era Clean. On top of that many of their songs have an eerily psychedelic flute that puts them in a place as otherworldly as any of their contemporaries. Though their name sites blue and purple, colors that come to mind more are the green of the hills in their Tolkein-esque homeland and the sea at its blackest raging against the cliffs of South Island. That in mind they could write some great pop songs like "I Don't Want You Anyway" and the New Zealand Top 20 Hit "Cactus Cat." However, I like their more distinctive flowing sound more in tracks like "Safety in Crosswords," "Winged Rumour," and "Hiawatha." Included in this compilation is, I believe everything they released. It is essentail for any fan of kiwi-pop.

The thing to wonder is if the vocals are mixed low out of some kind of insecurity/unsureness, or because someone just knew they sounded best that way...


Look Blue Go Purple - Look Blue Go Purple Compilation

What Jumpstarted My Kiwi-Pop Obsession

It was barely over a year ago that the Dunedin sound became more than just something I knew into my life. I had already gotten way into the Chills and the Clean, but had been meaning to catch up on the Bats, the Verlaines, and Tall Dwarfs. The first of those groups' work I managed to acquire was the Bats' The Law of Things, which while not as strong as the predecessor Daddy's Highway is also a remarkable pop album. Really, the only flaw is in the lessened presence of Kaye Woodward's airy voice which is much more prevalent on the group's other releases. As you can see below, the album art is almost as errily bizarre as on Daddy's Highway, but I think it captures the music accurately. While this record is often overshadowed by other Flying Nun releases it holds a special place for me as it began a life-altering obsession with that scene. It is refreshing to be rediscovering it now. The sound is a bit more laid back, but it has as much emotional power as ever. My favorite tracks include "The Other Side of You," "Mastery," and "Smoking Her Wings," though the quality of the others is not far behind.


The Bats - The Law of Things (1990)

The Genius of Martin Phillipps and Van Dyke Parks AT THE SAME TIME!

Sorry I stopped using this, just a little freaked out about the formatting error in the R.E.M. post. Stupid I know, but time to get back to business. Lately I've been all about Van Dyke Parks. My obsession (not to use the term lightly) with kiwipop hasn't waned so much though. I just noticed that Parks did an arrangement for the Chills on their Soft Bomb LP called "Water Wolves" - only fitting for a psych-pop group recording in LA, right? Well, I thought I would put that up.

It is a dark, swirling arrangement that has a real VDP feel to it, so if you were impressed by his darkly Disney-esque work with Joanna Newsom this is essential hearing. Phillipps is at his best too working with Parks to capture a truly vivid nightmare. It is a dark, chilling ode to the fear of impending doom, closing any doubt that Martin Phillipps is a truly tortured and troubled soul. Well, enough about one song. The album is pretty good, not one of the Chills' best, but I am still very glad I managed to find it at Hollywood's Amoeba on my first visit to L.A. It's got more of a modern rock feel, but that's okay, especially on opener "The Male Monster from the Id." Like on "Water Wolves," Phillipps takes a frightening look into his own psyche as the lyrics which are basically confession of ones own potential to rape. Yes. Enjoy.


The Chills - Soft Bomb (1992)