Speaking of The Axemen I found this last night. It's 2 of the main 3 Axemen doing a fantastic sort of concept album from 1987 and it's more Axemen magic. I didn't even know this existed. How excitement! Ariel Pink must be a fan and Royal Trux too. The Axemen's (dis)organised chaos is truly fabulous. Many lo-fi/non musicians have tried to do this in the past and totally failed. The genius of The Axemen is that it sounds awesome and effortless at the same time. They are truly talented pioneers and funny too. Legends!
Axemen side projects, solo records, Sleek Bott Gang stuff available here
This I think was the last release on Xpressway and may even be the reason the label was halted. I was never able to track down X/Way 14 which was Sferic Experiment's Bunny Liver tape. Chris Heazlewood was a member of said band and later went on to form King Loser who I sometimes liked and sometimes didn't. This tape however is the shit! I've been avoiding writing a big piece on possibly my favourite NZ act of all time The Axemen because I can't think of how to describe them and the effect they have on me. Heazlewood is possibly influenced by them, well a lot of this tape is in similar spiritual territory anyway. The chaotic squalling psychedelic noise makes perfect sense to my brain. The guitars are mental and well the whole thing is a bit of fuzzed out dementia. If that sounds like your tea of cup track it down on the interweb. This is one of my favourite Xpressway releases ever!
I noticed Nite Jewel's new LP reviewed in this weeks Who Magazine as the main music article, thought that was weird. Then I heard the record. She's definitely cleaned up her act and is attempting a crossover. She's lost the strange bubbling off kilter pop that covered her previous record. That twerp who does the records in Who was right, it's reminiscent of Everything but The Girl and not in a good way. No I Don't is pretty bent though and the title track is great haunted synth pop. I have only listened to it once but I don't know if I can go back. It's like when the cool girls hang up their docs and start wearing Country Road, mistaking growing up with growing bland.
I can barely watch it, but he's a fucking trooper and he makes the best of a bad situation. If you're into schadenfreude you'll love it. This is a live clip from ABC's Recovery from the 90s. It's very strange and a bit awkward. Did this man have any luck in Australia? Toy Love his original punky band moved here got fucked over by a major record label and tanked. I reckon he must hate gettin on that plane with the the ticket that says destination Australia.
The below clip is even stranger. Someone has put some Manga film to go with the song. The original clip couldn't be found on the youtubes. Anyway it's all about the tune. Me love a lot, the song that is.
This is the most glaring omission of them all from that book and The Age Top 50 Australian Rock Albums! Why? Well because it should have been NO. 1! How can this record remain so overlooked? It totally baffles me. This is the rockinist rock ever from the Antipodes. It's likely to have influenced the most rockin' Aussie bands such as ACDC, Rose Tattoo, X, Radio Birdman, The Saints etc. Not many bands have been this on in the recording studio. They were at some kind of intuitive peak during the sessions for Ball Power. Proto-punk or proto-hard rock? Who really gives a fuck! It's got all you need from a rock record-mad grooves, slashing guitar, good times, speed, existential blues, experimental bits, a fuck you attitude and great songs. I can't believe every household doesn't have a copy. This record hasn't just transcended genre but time as well ie. It still sounds grouse as opposed to some of the other music made during this era. The All Time Ausralian Rock Stone Cold Classic.
R.I.P GOD (Lobby Loyde)
* The LP only made it to number 13 on the charts.
** Out of The Age top 50 Australian Albums Coloured Balls directly influenced at least 10 of those albums without getting their own placing (rock experts, please!).
This was a band Brian Crook was in after Scorched Earth Policy and fuck me they are just as brilliant! They recorded just the one Self titled EP for Flying Nun in 1986. Slow burning dark post punk psychedelia. 15 minutes of jolly urban intensity gone haywire. More girl/boy vocals and good guitaring. Also includes insidious organ (played by Maryrose Crook, Brian's wife) and crackin' rhythm section to help push things right over the edge. More Christchurch gold. A mini masterpiece!
The Max Block - The Max Block EP (1986)
The Max Block
Psychic Discharge
The Max Block
Burn David Burn
*Mr and Mrs Crook went on to form The Renderers who are quite possibly still around. Mr Crook also plays guitar/vox in the fabulous Terminals.
**I was over at Mess+Noise and Slazza alerted me to this compilation coming out on the reactivated Flying Nun label. It contains The Max Block, Scorched Earth Policy, The Victor Dimisich Band as well as other arcane legends like The Gordons and The Bilders. Plus the usual suspects The Chills, The Clean, Tall Dwarves etc. The Axemen however are absent once again. This would be a good guide to this sort of gear as it is compiled by an authority of the subject Mr Bruce Russell (of the band The Dead C and the head honcho of the Xpressway/Corpus Heremeticum record labels) There is even a couple of tunes I've not heard. Bruce's track record for compilations is an exemplary one so despite being familiar with most of the material it will probably be a (un)cohesive record like the two pictured below. Lookin' forward to the vinyl.
Masterpiece Compilation!
compiled by Bruce Russell.
One of the greatest compilations ever
compiled. Onya Bruce!
***Speaking of Flying Nun there is a 6 part documentary on Radio New Zealand which you can download on the interweb. Just finished the third part today. There is a little too much focus on the business side of things but otherwise some good interviews and insight into the milieu. I might even give Look Blue, Go Purple another chance.
****There was a dude in Melbourne whose name I've forgotten but he had a fanzine of his own and also wrote for Woozy in the early to mid nineties. Woozy was a load of crap really except for this guys knowledge on the NZ underground. Anyway he had me trackin down stuff like This Kind of Punishment, The Axemen, The Dead C, The Puddle, The Cake Kitchen and even non NZ stuff like This Heat. I used to wonder why there was hardly any NZ bands touring at that time. There would have been an audience for it, I guess there were no cluey promoter types around at the time. By the sounds of it from that doco, Mushroom seemed pretty clueless about the acts they got from signing a deal with Flying Nun. Even the well known Flying Nun bands rarely toured, it was weird. Xpressway stuff was all over 3PBS when I moved to Melbourne in early 91. It was the most exciting label to my ears at the time, I still love it. It lasted just 5 or 6 years then it shut up shop, perfect. There were even more underground labels I think. I have a vague recollection of a band called Muttongun who were maybe pretty good, never found their record though.
*****I don't know if I could bring myself to listen to anything Shane Carter was involved with ever again though.
I started watching the oscars then I stopped. It was bloody awful. That Billy Crystal Shstick came across as old, lifeless and well just plain horrorble. The banging on about movies touching us blah blah was just unconvincing and what, were we meant to be blown away by a montage of classic scenes/quotes (that climaxed, pardon the pun, with the "I'll have what she's having" quote.) that we'd seen and heard a hundred times before. Who fucking gives a shit! There is also some wanky american patriotic bad cheese thing that goes along with all of this blurrrgggghhhhh....
Oscar takes a speccy!
You acted, you dressed some actors, you filmed actors with a camera, you gave actors money, I've got a dress on, I've got a suit on, I'm wearing spectacles to look more intelligent, I made millions of dollars, I'm going to cry
