Kiwipop! Music from New Zealand

Kiwipop! Music from New Zealand - Slipcue E-Zine

It's so easy to tease kiwis... New Zealand is, after all, just a couple of little rocks in the middle of nowhere, surrounded on either side by sharks or Australians. But, oh! their music!

My infatuation with kiwipop goes back to when I first started working at KALX, back in (ulp!)1986. Kiwipop was a big thing on our station. American college rock was rather dreary at the time, mainly packed with endless turgid "postpunk" guitar bands that couldn't decide whether they wanted to "rock out" or try something more complex (which usually meant something awful.) Along with a handful of European and American power pop bands, the lilting, off-kilter kiwi bands were a nice bit of fresh air. With an artless, just-plain-folks charm crossbred with the easygoing, dark humour that only these Scots-Irish Commonwealth refugees can seem to muster, kiwipop has a lot going for it, in my book.

Gradually, the New Zealand scene became sombre and artsy, and my interest started to drift, so this section of Slipcue (like many others) is mostly just me living in the past. Still, if you look some of these records up, you may find them as alluring as the day they were made.

Favorite Artists

Recommended Records

Chris Knox - see: Tall Dwarfs

Look Blue, Go Purple "Compilation" (Flying Nun, 1999)
I'm not a runaway, crazy-wild fan for these folks, but "Cactus Cat" is a great twee pop song. Nice stuff, typical of the unassuming approach of early Flying Nun albums -- this CD collects all their early EPs in one nice little package...

Barbara Manning "In New Zealand" (Communion, 1998)
Northern California's indiepop darling, Barbara Manning, has long had a sweet-tooth for all things kiwi, and over the years has recorded more than her fair share of Bats covers, etc... Here she hangs around with the cream of New Zealand's indie elite, coauthoring and covering songs galore. David Kilgour, Robert Scott, Graeme Downes, Chris Knox and others all pitch in... and it's all quite nice. For more info on this indiepop homegirl, check out this website....

Roy Montgomery
One of the more enigmatic, and heavier-sounding, New Zealand artists, guitarist Roy Montgomery specializes in dolorous, dreamy, spectral electric guitar instrumentals... like stuff you might have expected John Fahey to make when he was really down in the dumps. I don't have specific recommendations to make, just at the moment, but when I do, I'll let you know.

Martin Phillipps - see: The Chills

The Pin Group "The Pin Group" (Siltbreeze, 1998)
Guitar whiz Roy Montgomery's first band, The Pin Group, had an almost embarrassing debt to Joy Division, but that's understandable, all things considered. This CD collects several of their 7" singles from the early 1980s (some of the first records out on the Flying Nun label) and reprints some contemporary record reviews which are charmingly askance about the whole thing. In some of the undertones (and undertow) you can sense Montgomery's darker, more fluid leanings, and can hear the basis for his later, moodier instrumental work. A period piece, but certainly worth checking out.

Stephen "Dumb" (Flying Nun, 1988)
Stephen "Radar Of Small Dogs" (Flying Nun, 1999)
Sure, this is really just a spin-off of David Kilgour and The Clean, but this EP is nice enough to mention on its own. Just in case you've ever stumbled across it and wondered if it was worth checking out... why, yes, it most emphatically is! The Small Dogs CD has all the material on the original EP, as well as some other groovy stuff. Recommended!

The Verlaines "Juvenelia" (Flying Nun, 1988)
Classically trained guitarist Graeme Downes and his band, the Verlaines, generated several of the most magical moments of the early kiwipop scene, including the doleful "Joed Out" and the irresistable "Death And The Maiden," with its sweeping chorus of, "Verlaine, Verlaine, Verlaine, Verlaine..." Both songs are collected on the original Juvenelia LP, as well as on the remastered, expanded CD version. With tighter compositions and loftier, more poetical lyrics than many of his contemporaries, Downes' work later became a bit dense (impenetrable, almost...) but these early records were pretty sweet.

The Verlaines "10 O'Clock In The Afternoon" EP (Flying Nun, 1984)
All this stuff is collected on the CD/LP above, but if you're a vinyl junkie, this is a really nice record to have around. Just thought I'd mention it.

Collections

Various Artists "WILD THINGS: WYLD KIWI GARAGE 1966-1969" (Flying Nun, 1992)
The kiwi equivalent of Australia's legendary UGLY THINGS '60s garage-pop comps... this is a pretty tasty set of rare New Zealand garage-psychedelia by bands such as The La De Das, The Action, The Bluestars, The Pleazers, etc. Since this is a Flying Nun production, attentive listeners may spot a musical "through-line" between some of these tracks and the later kiwipop of the '80s... But pretty much anyone is guaranteed to enjoy this collection -- it's all top-notch! Great liner notes, too.

Various Artists "WILD THINGS, v.2" (Zerophonic, 1996)
On a different label, but with an equally high level of quality, and only a couple of bands that overlap. As with the first collection, this has a great mix of original material and cover tunes, but the best news is that nothing on here is subpar. This disc may have a bit more of a poppy, teenybopper vibe... Tracks like "Go Go" and "One Track Mind" by the Four Fours are pretty irresistible, as are the "chick" rockers such as, well, The Chicks, who have the dazzling anti-conformity anthem, "Rebel Kind," and the Clevedonaires, who chirp "He's Ready" with all the adolescent lust they can muster. Also has spiffy liner notes... Recommended!

Various Artists "No. 8 WIRE" (1998)
A more mysterious bootleg, apparently only out on LP, but also first-rate material, collected from various impossible-to-find kiwi oldies. This has a more typical garage rock feel to it -- less poppy and immediately catchy, more into trippiness and distortion, less into infectious pop hooks and teen cutesiness. It's also a smidge uneven, though certainly above average as far as your typical NUGGETS knockoff goes, and definitely worth checking out.

Links

Flying Nun home page -- Band profiles, discographies and general gossip from the world's best-known kiwi label.
There used to be a great website called Kiwi Rock is a music obsessive's dream site -- almost scarier than my site, even! It greatly grieves me that the author decided to take it down, 'cause my site can hardly do justice to the kiwi scene the way that one did. Kiwi Rock included biographical essays for dozens of bands, as well as old press clippings, etc, as well as discographies and links-a-plenty. We can only hope it will go up again some day! (Sigh...)
Aquarius Records in San Francisco has long catered and cozied up to all things New Zealand. Aquarius regularly posts their recent recommendations, which are well worth checking into, especially if you want information on kiwi artists like the Pop Group or Roy Montgomery who are a little more challenging (or more contemporary) than the bands I talk about on my site.
Sergent's New Zealand Music Page has an awesome listing of dozens of bands from the '60s and '70s, with as much information and as many archival images as possible. Cool beans!

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