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The Aesthetics

The Ho’ Dogs

Extremely wild Dunedin old-school rock’n’roll from a handful of underground experimental or lo-fi musicians. I managed to catch them once at the Provincial Lounge in Christchurch and was blown away by their stage antics; which included jumping on the Prov’s bar, kicking over drinks.

#nzmusic #thehodogs

Satan’s Pitbull

An experimental lo-fi/noise release from Lynton Denovan, recorded on a simple 4-track setup (with ‘Thanx tay Don Kebab fer ze teknickel assistance’ – presumably Donald Campbell of Thee Strapons) and released in a Peter King lathe cut 7″ format through Denovan’s one-off THE HITLIST label.

#nzmusic #experimentalmusic #satanspitbull #lyntondenovan

Thee Strapons

Long-running stylistically variant group based around the duo of Don Campbell (aka Don Gone) and Bev Greene (aka Anastasia Strapon / Nova Technova). Prolific during 2 distinct phases – based in Dunedin in the late 1980’s – early 1990s then in the mid 1990s to early 2000’s in Christchurch.

#nzmusic #undergroundmusic #theestrapons

Matt Alien

Matt Alien is the long-standing nom de plume of Matt Johnstone; a multi-instrumentalist born-frontman from the likes of Christchurch groups The Hitone Destroyers and The Black Panthers, Auckland group Slavetrader, and most recently Melbourne group Levitating Churches. Harnessing the swagger of early Aerosmith or AC/DC, but with a great deal more noise and the feeling that things might just fall apart at any moment.

#nzmusic #mattalien #hitonedestroyers

Gestalt Switch

(At the time) young and upcoming Dunedin rock act, forming in December 2001. Haven’t heard their 4 song debut ep, but they seem to be pushing a diverse sound – with loudness appearing to be key.

Casagrante Apparatus

Dunedin mid-90s experimental trio with a handful of impossible to find releases, including a lathe on Crawlspace, and 2 releases on drummer Stefan Neville’s own ‘A Stabbies and the Rocket Recording’ label.

Murdering Monsters

Dunedin-based outfit who released a split EP with Matt ‘Crude’ Middleton’s Aesthetics, along with a couple other Lo-Fi low-rent releases.

Cat! Cat! Cat!

Biography A band that never really got going. Cat! Cat! Cat! was formed by guitarists Brenda Dwayne and Stephanie Cook of Fake Purr with Xanadu drummer Bruce Wurr, playing a one-off gig in 1999. The trio re-appeared in 2002, then… Read More »Cat! Cat! Cat!

Crude

The one-man band that is Matt Middleton. Using a variety of instruments (all the usuals along with clarinet and studio buffoonery) Middleton produced a bunch of self-release tapes in the early 90s, before Flying Nun released the Inner City Guitar Perspectives compilation in 1996.

#nzmusic #crude #mattmiddleton

Montessouri

Nick Hodgson’s lo-fi free-noise recordings from 1996-7, with a line-up that included percussionist Kurt Dyer (Hodgson’s bandmate in the Soul-Funk group Solaa), brother Lynton and Kyle Denovan, Ryan Condon and long-time off-sider Tim Macdonald.

Released at least 5 cassette’s including ‘Ininityland’ on the influential US independent Shrimper.

#nzmusic #montessouri #nickhodgson

The Renderers

The Renderers are New Zealand’s prime example of southern-fried country, and are indeed one of our finest ever bands. Brian Crook formed the Renderers with his partner Maryrose in early 90’s Christchurch when The Max Block failed to go anywhere,… Read More »The Renderers

Matt Middleton

Biography Matt Middleton (otherwise known as Crude), is a founding member of The Aesthetics and later part of the live Space Dust ensemble. From the mid 1990s till the mid 00’s Middleton was an incredibly productive musician, with a distinct… Read More »Matt Middleton

Beautiful Losers

Biography A fine and surprisingly accessible collaborative band that featured the usually challenging Peter Wright (Guitar) and Dave Khan (Keyboards), with the ever-propulsive drumming of Rustle Covini. The band lasted throughout 2002 and 2003 before Wright relocated to London, though… Read More »Beautiful Losers