The Clean "Point That Thing Somewhere Else"

The Clean
Slush Fund
CD EP
(Arclife Records, 2001)

The Clean are yet another of my favorite bands. Yes, I have a lot; I'm such a slut. I first heard them on the Flying Nun Records sampler LP Tuatara. It was chock full of great music, and I ended up trying to get my hands on anything I could find by nine of the twelve bands represented.

Point That Thing Somewhere Else is a good candidate for The Clean's signature song. It originally appeared on their first 12" EP, Boodle Boodle Boodle, way back in 1982. Since then, at least eight more versions (see below) of it have been released. I say at least because that's how many I have. This particular version, recorded live at Marmalade in Wellington, NZ on February 28, 1999, is unique in that the guitar part has been transposed to piano. Its parent release, Slush Fund, was an eight song EP pressed up to sell on a tour in 2001. I believe it was limited to 500 copies, but don't hold me to that.

• Odditties
  
• Compilation
  
• In-a-Live
  
• Odditties 2 (split release with The Great Unwashed)
  
• KFJC 89.7 FM Presents The Dunedin Sound (dbl-CD compilation with other NZ bands)
  
• Slush Fund
  
• Syd's Pink Wiring System
  
• Mashed

Diocletian "Annihilation Ritual"

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Diocletian
Demo I : 2005
cassette
(self-released, 2005)

In my Vassafor post the other day, I mentioned they share members with Diocletian, right? Go check. I'll wait.

 

 

 

See, I was right! And . . . here's the first song from their first, and only, demo tape, which they released themselves in a numbered edition of 99 copies (mine is 44!). They re-recorded it for their split LP, Chaos Rising, with Denouncement Pyre, who are not Kiwis but, rather, Aussies.

Vassafor "Craft of Dissolution"

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Vassafor
Southern Vassaforian Hell
7" EP
(Drakkar Productions, 2006)

New Zealand is probably best known, musically, in the rest of the world for spawning Split Enz and Crowded House, who were both led by the brothers Finn. Not quite as well known is the indie pop/rock world of Flying Nun Records and the more dissonant sounds of the now defunct Xpressway label.

Much like France, though, I doubt most people think of NZ as a source of raw, blasting black metal. In this case in the form of Vassafor and Diocletian. Incest abounds, however, as they also share members, just like SE and CH.

Split Enz "Shark Attack"

Oh, dear! You must not have a compatible version of flash!

Split Enz
History Never Repeats
7" single
(A&M Records, 1981)

I bought Split Enz' fifth album, True Colours, when I was in high school, 'cause it had this awesome laser-etching thing going on. I'd long been aware of them, thanks to magazine adverts for their third album, Dizrythmia, but had no clue what they sounded like. Nonetheless, the laser thing was more than I could resist!

Bic Runga "Bursting Through"

Oh, dear! You must not have a compatible version of flash!

Bic Runga
Bursting Through
CD single
(Columbia, 1996)

I first heard Bic on the compilation CD Live At Helen's. I'd picked it up for the tracks by her fellow Kiwis, David Kilgour and Martin Phillipps, but Bic's song, a version of "Drive," blew me away. A couple years later, I came across a copy of her debut album, Drive, in the new arrivals bin at a local used CD store. I snapped it up and found that I could not stop listening to it. It's probably my favorite album of 1998, in fact.

Bailter Space "The Escalator Song"

Bailter Space
Grader·Spader
12" single
(Flying Nun Records, 1988)

Bailter Space are what became of the gordons, who split after their second album, 1984's Volume 2, was released.

It's a bit circuituous, really. The first gordons album was recorded by the trio of John Halvorsen (g/v), Alister Parker (g/v), and Brent McLachlan (d). After it was released, to much acclaim, they split up. They then regrouped with Vince Pinker replacing Parker, and recorded Volume 2, toured, then split again.

A couple of years later, Parker started a new group, Bailter Space, with Hamish Kilgour (ex-The Clean) on drums. They released an eponymous 12" EP and a 7" single of New Man. After that, half the band was replaced with Halvorsen, now on bass. That lineup recorded their debut LP, Tanker. The Grader·Spader single came from the album and featured two non-LP b-sides, the first of which is today's selection. It's also my favorite Bailter Space song and has not appeared on any of the reissues of Tanker or on any compilations, to the best of my knowledge.

After Tanker was released, they toured the USA with The Bats (I saw the two of them, and they were both amazing) then Kilgour left, to be replaced by Brent McLachlan, thus making Bailter Space now the same group as the original gordons.

Pretty twisted, huh?