Wow, this is loud, caustic stuff.
The 2nd album from the ever-changing Christchurch 3-piece The Incisions blow the current crop of rock’n’roll revivalists out of the water. Its pure fire in a recording, scratchy, loud, abrasive and rude – more in the style of Japanese noise merchants Guitar Wolf or (particularly) Teengenrate than The Datsuns (who seem positively polished in comparison).
My review of ‘Compilation’, the original retrospective of The Clean’s first phase releases. 2 singles and 2 EPs crammed into a brilliant album.
2001, Arc Life, ARC010 Demarnia Lloyd is something of an enigma in the Dunedin music scene. Over the past 7 years her involvement in former rock outfit mink and current band Cloudboy, as well as her solo material as cloud… Read More »Cloudboy – Down at the End of the Garden
2001, Flying Nun Records, FNCD456 After 20 years of continually releasing dynamic, independent and thoroughly inventive music – the Tall Dwarfs have released perhaps their most laid-back and restrained full length with ‘The Sky Above, The Mud Below’, their 13th… Read More »Tall Dwarfs – The Sky Above, The Mud Below
2002, Arc Life Oh how CD’s have changed the face of music! Where once a double-album ‘opus’ from the likes of Led Zeppelin barely scraped the 60-minute mark, we now expect our albums to be at least 45 minutes long,… Read More »Demarnia Lloyd – Set Upon a Curve
2001, She’ll Be Right, SBR98912 Six years is a long time to be waiting for a debut album. Christchurch, New Zealand hip-hop duo dark tower started strongly way back in 1995 with a killer lead single and subsequent EP entitled… Read More »Dark Tower – Canterbury Drafts
2005, Flying Nun Records, FNCD494 Mathematical Warfare is an album with a heavy back-story and variety of disclaimers. Almost completely removed stylistically from the sound the band became known for just last year, the Shocking Pinks have gone through so… Read More »Shocking Pinks – Mathematical Warefare
2002, Sugarlicks Recordings, SUGARCD002 Following on from Sugarlicks first compilation ‘Urban Soul Pollution’, comes ‘Pacific Soul Warriors’ — without quite the high-profile line-up that the first compilation had. This time the album focuses more on the more soulful end of… Read More »Styles Upon Styles 2: Pacific Soul Warriors
1998, Antenna Recordings, ANT012 Originally published as a retrospective feature review for Stylus Magazine There’s a distinct possibility that you may never see this album in even your most reliable of indie music stores. Darcy Clay was an unusual talent,… Read More »Darcy Clay – Songs for Beethoven
Self-Released [2002] Chirpy 3-minute pop melodies aplenty with Solo Bravo‘s debut ep ‘Action On The Highways’. Twin vocalists and the inclusion of trombone and organ make for a delightful mix of the whimsical (‘Mellow Life’, ‘In love With A Stranger’)… Read More »Solo Bravo – Action On Highways EP
2003 Reissue, Flying Nun, FNCD099 As part of Flying Nun’s initial installment of classic album reissues (celebrating the labels 21st birthday), The Gordons first album had otherwise been selling for astronomical figures in its rare original vinyl issue. The reissue brings… Read More »The Gordons – 1st Album And Future Shock EP [Reissue]
Self-Released, 2002 Self-releasing seems to be the way to go in New Zealand at the moment. Minisnap have finally put out their long awaited ‘In My Pocket’ EP, the title track of which has been garnishing RDU playtime for quite a… Read More »Minisnap – In My Pocket EP
2001, Flying Nun Records, FNCD459 The Clean are something of an enigma to me – i’ve just caught them live on the Getaway tour and they still show the qualities that hold them in my heart as perhaps the finest… Read More »The Clean – Getaway
2007, A Low Hum, HUM032 You ever play Q-Bert? How about Paper-Boy? Ever seen the hilarious end sequence from the Monkey Island games? I tell you what; Disasteradio! (affectionately known as D-Rad by his friends and Luke Rowell by his… Read More »Disasteradio! – Visions
2002, Arch Hill Christchurch, New Zealand’s Pine have been crowd and college radio favorites over the past 3 years, crafting simple, elegant and often catchy pop hit after pop hit. After 2000’s Speeding EP, expectations nationwide have been high for… Read More »Pine – Longplayer