Noisy psych guitar pop is in abundance in New Zealand at the moment and the cream of the crop like Popstrangers, Surf City and these fine gentlemen, T54, are improving with each new release. Flying Nun is a natural home for the band as they deal equally and unassumingly in melody and adventurous sonics, soaking up the influence of their predecessors like 3Ds, JPS Experience … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: T54 | In Brush Park
Three years after their debut album, Surf City return with another batch of songs that maintain the dense, opulent melodies and archetypal kiwi indie sonics but now built around a more confident compositional core. From the outset the band fall straight back into the deep end of their hooky, slacker vocal delivery with oohs and doo doos aplenty. Their songs are deceptively simple, based around … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Surf City | We Knew It Was Not Going To Be Like This
When you first hear 12 Omeros you are immediately welcomed and drawn in by the beautiful meandering rhythms of ‘(You’ve Got Your) Face On Straight’. The song smoothes out the stress lines with its meandering slouch and slither approach, not dissimilar to dub in the hands of some neurotic city dwellers and they then cheekily set you up for more of the same hazy comfort music with … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Sharpie Crows | 12 Omeros
Wellington, NZ band The Golden Awesome are heading to Melbourne for a handful of shows in October after they support Beach Fossils in their hometown later this month. If you’re a fan of dense, layered hypnotic rock music then you’ll want to get along and check them out. They continue the same psych lineage of bands like MBV, Lush, Ride and JAMC while also tipping … Continue reading TOUR NEWS: The Golden Awesome announce Melbourne shows
by Chris Familton The years roll by but New Zealand seems to have the consistent knack for throwing up bands that continue the lineage that was formed in the early 80s while still carving out a niche for themselves in the overcrowded world of left-of-centre guitar rock. Popstrangers have already released a stellar record this year and now Ghost Wave have turned potential into an … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Ghost Wave | Ages
by Chris Familton Fat Freddy’s Drop don’t rush things with this only their third full length album in 14 years (excluding a pair of live albums). That steady approach is also one of the defining aspects of their sound and their propensity for slowly evolving electronic, soul, dub and funk workouts that equally nurture listener’s limbs and ears. Blackbird is without doubt their most cohesive … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Fat Freddy’s Drop | Blackbird
by Chris Familton This feels like the big one for the Wellington sextet, even before it was released there were ads and editorial appearing in international music magazines like Uncut and MOJO and a real sense of coming of age has been in the air. Not that they haven’t already arrived, their preceding albums all contain absolute gems of literate guitar pop (Hitchcock, 40 Years, … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: The Phoenix Foundation | Fandango
THE BLACK SEEDS ARE CELEBRATING FIFTEEN YEARS TOGETHER AND ON THE EVE OF ANOTHER AUSTRALIAN VISIT VOCALIST DANIEL WEETMAN SPOKE WITH CHRIS FAMILTON ABOUT THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE BAND. Maintaining and indeed growing an international profile can be a tricky exercise for bands from the Southern Hemisphere. The costs of touring and missed opportunities from not being on the ground in Europe … Continue reading INTERVIEW: The Black Seeds
by Chris Familton Beastwars are something of a musical anomaly in that a group of men in their late thirties arrived seemingly fully formed on the Wellington scene before releasing their debut self-titled LP and rapidly building a strong, nationwide fanbase. The musical allegiance of their fans in the metal scene isn’t a surprise as devotees of the hard, fast and heavy dictum are notoriously … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Beastwars | Blood Becomes Fire
by Chris Familton The term ‘Flying Nun sound’ gets bandied around a lot but in truth the acts on the New Zealand label’s roster were a diverse bunch. Popstrangers released an early single on the label and have been tagged with Flying Nun references but unlike usual suspects The Bats and The Clean, Popstrangers sit firmly in darker sonic corners where Gordons, JPS Experience and … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Popstrangers | Antipodes
by Chris Familton Popstrangers are the latest in a long line of New Zealand bands to emerge with a psychedelic and moody take on pop-tinged post punk. Their debut album Antipodes proves the band aren’t just riding on the hype of a few singles, instead it shows they have a strong idea of the sounds and ideas they want to capture, though Joel Flyger is … Continue reading INTERVIEW: Popstrangers
by Chris Familton Some bands sound like their names and in the case of Wellington duo Diving their chosen moniker makes sense as the point where you hit the water and enter a submerged world and an altered state. Your vision is altered, your ears hear things differently as sounds are filtered aquatically and the world on the surface feels like a distant place. Diving’s … Continue reading EP REVIEW: Diving | Synesthesia
Doubtful Sounds 