On their sole Flying Nun album, the avant- punk trio Alpaca Brothers created a paranoid and edgy brand of rock similar to labelmates The Gordons and Bill Direen. This recording from '84 is a precursor to their later incarnation in the '90s as Trash, where they continued to sound like a combination of The Velvet Underground and Motorhead as they had defined it a decade earlier. 'Legless' is antipodean slang for drunkenness, and the wall of Joy Division-like guitar noise cascade and skittering propulsive rhythm is certainly intoxicating. A post-punk obscurity that holds up over time as one of the more muscular releases on the Flying Nun label, a stable where delicacy and sophistication flourishes in the indie guitar world, it is curious that throughout the years would throw out wild card like this. Having the angular energy of Gang of Four style art punk, this is anomaly in the catalog along with The Dead C's 'D.R.503'. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
The link between the two bands is guitarist David Mitchell (who went on to play in the truly wonderful 3D's and Ghost Club).
Exploding Budgies were quite insane in a lot of ways (not that you'd pick up on that from these recordings). They split toward the end of 1984. David Mitchell then joined Goblin Mix, visually quite confusing. Whereas The Budgies had the standard 'back-to-the-dolequeue-on-Monday' look of many of their contemporaries, each member of Goblin Mix sported a distinctive image. Dave Mitchell had the dishevelled drunken slob look and a rather frightening afro, the other guitarist looked like he was about to drop his guitar mid song and head off night-clubbing with his trendy clothes and perfectly coiffed haircut. The bass player had a sort of Teddy Boy look, but with an outrageous mulleted hairstyle and biker jacket. He also constantly looked like he was about to burst into tears. The drummer was a Robert Smith type goth who looked sorta furtive and embarrassed to be there.
Musically they ranged from Mitchell's Dinosaur Jr'ish thrashes like "Venus Flye Trap" and "The Travelling Grave", to the other guys folk rocky fare with rather flowery romantic Blakes'ian prose (lots of 'Thy's, Thee's, 'Thou's' etc...) and violins. He may have also been a bit of a Pogues fan 'cos he sounded a lot like Shane McGowan.
The Budgies were a really good forgotten band from a time (1983-85) when Auckland had very few decent ones. They knock it up a notch. [SOURCE: RATE YOUR MUSIC]
Label:
Flying Nun Records – FNCD193
Format:
CD, Compilation
Country:
New Zealand
Released:
1991
Style:
Indie Rock, Dunedin Sound, Indie Pop
Tracklist:
1 – The Exploding Budgies Thornfield
2 – The Exploding Budgies Kenneth Anger
3 – The Exploding Budgies Hank Marvin
4 – The Exploding Budgies See You Around The Stones
5 – The Exploding Budgies Sunflower
6 – Goblin Mix Lament
7 – Goblin Mix The Water
8 – Goblin Mix Time Away
9 – Goblin Mix Unusual Wish
10 – Goblin Mix Travelling Grave
11 – Goblin Mix Venus Fleye Trap
12 – Goblin Mix The Winter Song
13 – Goblin Mix The Drinking Mans Curse
14 – Goblin Mix Coleridge / Up From The Sink I Spy
15 – Goblin Mix Fruit Of The Womb
Notes:
Sixteen tracks are listed on the rear tray card but only 15 tracks are on the disc. Track 14 is made up of two songs. The back of the CD booklet also lists a 17th title "Ely's On Smack" which doesn't appear on the disc.
The Rip is a notoriously (lyrically) morose and musically upbeat second wave Dunedin post-punk group with one EP, the thrashy and melodic 'A Timeless Peace' to their name. In 1987, The Rip will add another record, the 'Stormed Port' EP. More a solo Alastair Galbraith project than a group effort, the second record has classic Rip tracks such as ‘Entropic Carol’ joining the more challenging and impressionistic work that anticipates the composer’s solo years. [SOURCE: AUDIOCULTURE]
Dunedin supergroup The Weeds were Michael Morley (bass, vocals), Shayne Carter (guitar, vocals), Robert Scott (guitar, bass, vocals) and on drums, Jeff Harford, Chris Healey or John Collie. Sometimes they played in their underwear and in 1985 they released the raucous folk-blues ‘Wheatfields’ as a one-off single, flipped with a live take on Elvis Presley’s "Trouble" on Flying Nun Records. [SOURCE: AUDIOCULTURE]
Label:
Flying Nun Records – WEEDO1, Flying Nun Records – WEED OO1
Format:
Vinyl, 7"
Country:
New Zealand
Released:
1985
Style:
Blues Rock, Dunedin Sound
Tracklist:
eh! Wheatfields
be Trouble
Notes:
"Wheatfields" recorded 3rd June 1985 at Dockside Studios.
"Trouble" recorded live 8th August 1985 at Chippendale House.
The Bats' second EP kept the jaunty, homespun pop vein that Clean bassist Robert Scott's other band opened with their 'By Night' debut the year before. The seven songs here all ring with organic hooks and simple phrases. Scott's naiively fragile voice floats along like a beautiful cloud on songs like "Chicken Bird Run," the propulsive "Joes Again," "Claudine," and "Neighbours." Another classic, flawless piece of the stunning mid-'80s Flying Nun pop puzzle. Six of this EP's seven tracks appear on the 1987 compilation 'Compiletely Bats'. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Label:
Flying Nun Records – FN 031, Flying Nun Records – F.N. 031
This mini-album made legend in the '80s to followers of the sophisticated pop movement coming from the small country of New Zealand during that decade. The Flying Nun label was the epicenter for this scene, and The Verlaines were arguably the most eloquent animators of this jangle pop sensibility. While they produced very fine albums for the label, such as the 1987 masterpiece 'Bird Dog' and its sister album 'Halelujah All the Way Home', this EP is considered by many to be their defining document. It's post-punk Baroque pop; what appears to be a simple formulaic indie sound in retrospect, one must consider that in the era 1983 to 1986, this would have sounded fresh if not revolutionary. All time considered, 'Ten O'clock in the Afternoon' still sounds as vibrant as the day it was recorded. While main man Graham Dowenes' songwriting became more complex on subsequent recordings, the simplicity of "Death and the Maiden" is the song that put them on the map. As their fans Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, and Pavement have all attested to, The Verlaines were not simply onto something new, they wrote the book for the ensuing two decades of guitar pop. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
