Things I know about New Zealand:

• Kiwis
• Sheep
• Peter Jackson movies
• Steriogram (New Zealand’s Sum 41)
• Sheep
• That fucking OMC song
• Split Enz/Crowded House
• Sheep
• Kiwis

And sadly, I’d venture to say that I know more about the tiny island country than most. Let’s be honest, New Zealand is mostly known for…not being Australia. And that’s too bad, because I’ve recently discovered that a hell of a lot of great rock has come out of kiwi country, far more than enough to make up for “How Bizarre.”

From what I’ve read about New Zealand rock music, it seemed to have really hit its stride in the early 80s, and even grew enough to have cultivated it’s own scene dubbed the “Dunedin Sound,” an indie/jangle pop sound with a lo-fi bent. If the Wiki is anything to be trusted (and why not), the Dunedin Sound was a direct influence on R.E.M., Pavement and Mudhoney. Those bands, of course, laid much of the groundwork for what became the indie rock sound of the late-80s and early-90s, which in turn became the alternative rock sound of the mid-90s that absolutely dominated the cultural landscape for a few brief and wonderful years. I don’t know if it’s fair to say that without the Dunedin Sound we wouldn’t have had Nirvana, but it probably didn’t hurt.

In the world of New Zealand indie-rock, the big record label was/is Flying Nun. From what I can tell, if any Americans in the 80s and 90s were exposed to any New Zealand rock at all, it was because of that label and its efforts to promote their acts overseas via compilation albums. The first of these compilations was Tuatara, and it came to the US via the indie label Strange Weekend in 1985.

But Flying Nun weren’t the only label in town (which amazes me, because I thought there only 28 people in New Zealand), and Strange Weekend must’ve thought those other labels had talent worth promoting because just a year after the release of Tuatara they put out Unexplored, which focused more on even smaller labels from the small country.

Most of the acts on Unexplored were on Propeller Records, a label that was mostly known for it’s post-punk bands. The label apparently quite well-regarded at the time, but it didn’t last long. In fact, by the time Unexplored came out, Propeller had already shuttered. Its founder, Simon Grigg, went on to run a couple high-profile concert venues in the country before giving it another go with a second record label called Huh! Records. One of their first releases was the debut album by OMC. Which just fucking figures.

I thought I’d be able to connect OMC to this record if I tried hard enough, but I didn’t expect I’d be able to do it so easily and with so few degrees of separation.

But let’s not hold OMC against him (and honestly, OMC were better than “How Bizarre”) because if this album is any indication, he discovered some downright amazing talent during Propeller Records’ short time, and it’s a pity that most of it has been lost to the ages.

Lot of highlights here, pretty much every song on this album is worth a listen. It all really reminds me of the post-punk Liverpool scene of the late 70s. If you dig on Echo And The Bunnymen, Joy Division, The Sound and Comsat Angels, then you’ll probably eat this stuff up big time.

Complete tracklisting (download link)

1. Marsha – Blam Blam Blam
2. Falling – Johnny Bongo
3. Scarred – Car Crash Set
4. Dancing With Stars In My Eyes – Screaming Meemees
5. Grey Rooms – Sonya Waters
6. Auckland Tonight – The Androidss
7. Queen St. – The Posonbys D.C.’s
8. Conversation With A Machine – Big Sideways
9. I Like To Drive – Scott Calhoun
10. Strange Weekend – Martial Law

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015 at 9:30 pm and is filed under Complete Albums. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.