Balloon d'Essai - Grow Up 12" EP (1983)

This is a request I've been sitting on for a while. Ballon d'Essai recorded two EPs for Flying Nun in the early eighties; 1981's 'This is the Level Crossing' and 1983's 'Grow Up' are not always successful in their art-damaged punk stylings, but there are enough worthwhile ideas and sheer exuberence on hand to make up for it over the course of a record. They're very of their time, for good and ill. Comics were included with each release, scanned here for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy. - Ariel

Download

Scorched Earth Policy - Keep Away from the Wires (2000)

Never has a name been so apt. A cauldron of prairie fire and brimstone, the sweltering beauty of Peter Stapleton's Scorched Earth Policy lies in their ability to conjure visions of austere desolation, sun-drenched despair, and loves lost and buried with a raucous, tumbling fury not found in the subdued murmurings of the Victor Dimisich Band. While those were delivered in the hushed tones of quiet desperation, these are the tortured cries of a soul slowly succumbing to the hypnotizing lull of insanity. It is the creeping, lingering shadow of the mid-afternoon sun as it tantalizes and mocks, an intangible harbinger of the darkness to come. Rising from the ashes of Victor Dimisich, Scorched Earth Policy was active from 1982 to 1986; during that time they released two EPs on Flying Nun, 1984's 'Dust to Dust' and 1985's 'Going thru' a Hole in the Back of Your Head.' Two live cassettes followed, one a posthumous Xpressway release. 'Keep Away from the Wires,' a collection released on Stapleton's Medication label in 2000, compiles the two EPs in their entirety along with outtakes and live selections. The main separating factor between Victor Dimisich and Scorched Earth--aside from Stephen Cogle's imitable baritone--was undoubtedly the contributions of guitarist Brian Crook to the latter. A spine-tingling blend of poetic menace and bite defines Crook's playing; it is impossible to imagine either Scorched Earth Policy or the Renderers without it. Enjoy this one. - Ariel

Download

Victor Dimisich Band - My Name is K (1997)

Few musical family trees within New Zealand music are as artistically rewarding as the Victor Dimisich Band/Scorched Earth Policy/Terminals trifecta, and that's not even mentioning the psychedelic twang of Brian Crook's Renderers. The Victor Dimisich Band was the first, releasing a single 12" EP within its lifetime. Containing the spellbinding, swirling intensity of "Native Waiter," the 1982 self-titled release remains a classic of the brooding Christchurch scene that counted the Pin Group and Bill Direen's Bilders among its legendary roster. The Victor Dimisich Band featured Stephen Cogle and Peter Stapleton in their earliest recorded partnership; the haunted baritone of the former is unmistakable, while the propulsive, thundering drums of the latter offer a perfect accompaniment to Victor Dimisich's tales of quiet, droning desperation. In 1988, Xpressway released a live Victor Dimisich cassette called 'The Mekong Delta Blues.' 'My Name is K' collects select tracks from this profoundly lo-fi document and the original EP in its entirety. I've included notes on the exact details of recording. Enjoy! - Ariel

Download

Graeme Jefferies - Messages for the Cakekitchen (1988)

'Messages for the Cakekitchen' was the first and last Graeme Jefferies album to be released under his own name. With songs reminiscent of his work in This Kind of Punishment, 'Cakekitchen' announces itself with quiet urgency, but the facade is transparent; under the surface of its baroquely textured beauty lies a palpable menace. On those few occasions that Jefferies invites this ferocity to the forefront, the result is a cacophonous transcendence. Jefferies' baritone, subdued and emotionally evocative, propels the album forward to an unknown end; subject to the hypnotic intensity of its droning lull, the listener has no choice but to continue on. "All the Colours Run Dry," "The Cardhouse," and "Is the Timing Wrong?" are all among this listener's favorites, and I feel that this album, along with Peter's 'The Last Great Challenge in a Dull World,' evokes and equals the brothers' time spent in This Kind of Punishment; the same peculiar sense of humanistic surrealism permeates each. Don't miss this one. - Ariel

Download

The Garbage and the Flowers - Catnip b/w Carousel 7" (1992)

I apologize for the severe lack of updates lately. To tide you over until the next post--up by the end of the week, I promise--I thought I'd offer one of my favorite New Zealand singles as a peace offering. The Garbage and the Flowers released this cacophonous gem of a 7" in 1992 on the Twisted Village imprint; the band has continued to record, and if you're enticed by the sounds here, a 1997 collection of their material entitled 'Eyes Rind as if Beggars' can be found on the Allegory of Allergies blog. Dusted aptly described the Garbage and the Flowers' sound as "raw gobbets of gray matter, filthy drone, and vintage ennui," and while I think that the band's lo-fi charms begin to wear in the long-player format, this is a near-perfect realization of harsh, dissonant beauty; Helen Johnstone's strong vocals, alternatively defiant and wearied, are the real draw here, anchoring the recordings as they threaten to spiral out of control and collapse in their frenzied rush. The propulsive, feedback-drenched "Catnip" and its counterpart, the austere, resigned "Carousel," offer a bleak vision of modern humanity that is inescapable in its hypnotizing lull. Enjoy! - Ariel

Download

The Complete Exploding Budgies and Goblin Mix (1985-86)

Introducing the collected works of the Exploding Budgies and Goblin Mix, the most well-known of David Mitchell's (the 3D's, Plagal Grind) early projects. The two Auckland outfits released EPs on Flying Nun in the mid-eighties; these were collected on an excellent but now out-of-print 1991 archival compilation. The Budgies pre-date Goblin Mix, first appearing on the 1983 Flying Nun compilation 'The Last Rumba,' which also featured early luminaries such as the Children's Hour and the Stones. 'The Grotesque Singers' EP offers a nice bit of pleasant kiwi jangle, including the heady rush of "Kenneth Anger" and the quietly lilting"Sunflower," but I've always preferred the Goblin Mix's two releases. Their self-titled debut and 1986's 'The Birth and Death of Goblin Mix' (released as Son of Goblin Mix) are at once more assured, confident recordings and less musically restrained than the Exploding Budgies. "The Water" and "Unusual Wish" from the debut EP are vintage slices of mid-eighties Flying Nun, while the subdued melancholy of "The Winter Song" and the raucous, tumbling "Fruit of the Womb" on 'Birth and Death...' point the way towards Mitchell's work in the 3D's. You can safely file away the Budgies and Goblin Mix next to the Stones in the unfairly underrated department. - Ariel

The Exploding Budgies - The Grotesque Singers (1985)
- Thornfield
- Kenneth Anger
- Hank Marvin
- See You Around the Stones
- Sunflower

Goblin Mix - Goblin Mix (1985)
- Lament
- The Water
- Time Away
- Unusual Wish

(Son of) Goblin Mix - The Birth and Death of Goblin Mix (1986)
- Venus Fleye Trap
- The Winter Song
- The Drinking Man's Curse
- Coleridge
- Up from the Sink
- Ely's on Smack
- Fruit of the Womb

Peter Jefferies - The Last Great Challenge in a Dull World (1991)

Peter Jefferies' debut solo outing, 'The Last Great Challenge in a Dull World,' was originally a Xpressway cassette release in 1990; the album was reissued on CD by Ajax in 1991 and fortuitously featured the classic 7" single "The Fate of the Human Carbine." That song, telling the sparse, surreal, and strangely poignant tale of its titular figure, and its B-side, the propulsive, dynamic "Catapult," are among the best work of Jefferies' career. The album employs a characteristically primitive recording aesthetic, lending such tracks as the relentlessly bleak "On an Unknown Beach" an air of austere intimacy. This is an impeccably crafted wonder of restrained beauty that is laced with a distinct sense of tension; it is an album perpetually poised before an intangible abyss. If you love This Kind of Punishment as much as I do, this is essential listening. - Ariel

Download

This Kind of Punishment - Live '85

This final (cassette!) artifact from This Kind of Punishment comes courtesy of the Xpressway imprint; it was the legendary label's second release and showcases the sheer force of Graeme and Peter Jefferies' creation live. Some of my favorites are represented here, including "After the Fact," "The Sleepwalker," and "Two Minutes Drowning." I love this band, and you should too. Enjoy! - Ariel

Download

This Kind of Punishment - In the Same Room / 5 By Four (1993)

As the abrasive, uncompromising chords of "Immigration Song" fade to reveal the subdued, meditative textures of "Overground in China," it becomes clear to the listener that the final release from This Kind of Punishment will be a jarring listening experience; it is an album not content to sit still. This particular release from 1993 combines 1987's 'In the Same Room' with 1985's '5 By Four' EP; the latter's rough-hewn experimentalism compliments the more fully-developed sounds of the main album while recalling the quiet harshness of This Kind of Punishment's debut. Lyrically, the album is characteristically vague and composed of fragmentary, impressionistic narratives; despite the inherent disconnect of the album's stylistic meanderings, the album ultimately assumes closure with the decidedly Nocturnal Projections-esque "Words Fail Me." Along with the aforementioned tracks, "Don't Go," "The Men By the Pool," and the unusually anthemic "Holding," are among This Kind of Punishment's finest efforts; this is an excellent album from one of New Zealand's most rightfully exalted bands, and you would be truly remiss to pass up 'In the Same Room' or 'A Beard of Bees.' - Ariel

Download

"Immigration Song"

This Kind of Punishment - A Beard of Bees (1984)

'A Beard of Bees,' an album recorded in various bedrooms, lounges, and halls, belies its four-track origins more fully than its predecessor, the Jefferies brothers' hauntingly stark self-titled debut. Self-released in 1984 on vinyl, reissued on cassette in 1990 by the Xpressway imprint, and finally re-released on CD by the Ajax label in 1993, 'A Beard of Bees' is, in this listener's highly subjective opinion, the finest encapsulation of the quietly transcendent, somber majesty of This Kind of Punishment. A feast of minimalist instrumentation punctuated by the piercing tones of Peter Jefferies' piano, it is an album that enlarges on the artistic scope of its predecessor whilst retaining that album's contained, claustrophobic paranoia; This Kind of Punishment is the sense of desolate beauty that accompanies the passing of a storm. "Trepidation," "Turning to Stone," Chris Matthews' "The Sleepwalker," and "An Open Denial" are all pieces of an exquisitely fractured puzzle; the Jefferies brothers' existential meditations, delivered in Peter Jefferies' subdued, austere vocals, never trade pathos in for sentimentality. It is a cathartic, powerful listening experience and truly a record ahead of its time; this is Graeme and Peter Jefferies' unquestioned masterpiece. - Ariel

Download