Antipodean Urban Space

Three fucking great mental tripped out driving tunes. Psychedelic post-kraut/punk urban intensity that could have only come from one place and one time, New Zealand in the 80s.
*More on Scorched Earth Policy here.

Stereolab

Just been gettin reacquainted with Stereolab quite obsessively. At the moment the period of 1992 - 1996. What a run they had going. Space Age Bachelor Pad music, Refried Ectoplasm, Transient Random Noise Bursts With Announcements, Mars Audiac Quintet, Emperor Tomato Ketchup etc. Nothing to say that hasn't already been said by the groop themselves really. John Cage Bubblegum, French Disko, Nihilist Assault Group,Tomorrow is Already Here, Metronomic Underground, Avant Garde MOR, Analogue Rock, Tone Burst, Exploding Head Movie, International Colouring Contest, Farfisa etc. They made reviewers redundant. Pop perfection. I wasn't sure I would still dig. Me dig! Me dig more than ever, I do believe!

The long version of this still astounds me to this day 18
years or so later. A Mind blowing Peak!

It all started withe the reading of that Pulp book by Owen Hatherley. I went back to The Smiths, Sex Pistols, Roxy Music (first 3 LPs) and then onto at one time contemporaries to Pulp- Stereolab. In the early 90s they were using a similar sonic palette and funny archaic instruments which Pulp started to use less of later in the 90s which was kind of a shame. I mean they were still good and all but imagine if they'd gone more arcane and retro futuristic. Moot point really just a thought to entertain you know how it is? When I first heard, well I saw their video clip on Rage, Stereolab I thought man they Sound a bit like NZs Snapper who I knew were into Suicide, maybe Neu and The Velvets obviously but I thought that maybe for Stereolab they may have been inadvertent influences, know what I mean. I guess heaps of groups had that whole Velvets/Stooges/Roxy/ Kraut/Hawkwind/Suicide axis of influences at the time. Anyway they were much more than that. That was just one facet of a multifaceted band. I love that artwork too, the only others in the league of artwork being the equally fab Broadcast and the Ghostbox label. I think they are all in someway connected anyway, the Ghostbox guys were originally cover designers I'm pretty sure. It's been a surprise rediscovery.

feedtime - feedtime (1985)

GLARING OMISSIONS PART I

I don't know where to start with these guys, but this has to be one of the great unheralded classics in the history of Australian Rock ( the only time I've come across them being discussed is by Americans). I've been thinking how the hell am I going to describe this record and do it justice?  So it's been weeks since I was originally going to include it. Suffice to say I don't think I've come up with much apart from 'This is a truly fuckn' unique record!'  They could be influenced by X (the great Australian band) or Wire, but I don't know for sure.  So they were a 3 piece from Sydney in the Eighties and this record was their first LP.  feedtime's hypnotic harsh minimal approach could perhaps be considered post-punk but maybe not. I see them more on the outside of everything. By the sounds of stories I've heard they might have been. There is definitely something menacingly about feedtime's music and it could be one of the greatest drivin'/bikin' records ever made, along with Snapper's records, Loop's Fade Out or ZZ Top in their prime. Whereas Loop were hairily over the top psychedelia, feedtime were a tight monolithic machine of a band with tinges of psych and blues (bottleneck on the guitar). Sometimes their music reaches such machine-like states I wonder whether it's still music at all.  I can't not think of Chuck Berry when I hear the lyrical dexterity of a track like Fastbuck: "I got a Pontiac, gasoline, grab the cash, split the scene."  They also had that serious/funny thing goin' on too. This is an unrivalled original of an LP.  Let the good times roll!

The Great Unwashed

All you need!

Classic.

the best...

Buddy by Snapper

This is probably my favorite song of the 80s.

Their albums were good too.

Apparently there is unreleased material from this era.

I'd like to hear that.