New Zealand has long been home to a remarkably diverse population of experimental musicians, and this excellent compilation collects tracks from some notable examples. While many of these names are doubtlessly familiar, this recording represents a significant break with New Zealand's past musical giants and instead looks boldly to the future.
Although this compilation consists of only ten tracks and even repeats a couple of artists, for what it lacks in numbers, it easily compensates in quality. Considering that it contains such a disparate selection of musicians, it maintains an admirable consistency. As different as they are, the selection and sequencing of tracks play to each other's strengths so well that it's not implausible that the songs all could have sprung from the same group. Patiently eclectic, the collection doesn’t try to forcibly shift the focus in any way but instead lets it unfold organically with each track.
Campbell Kneale's Birchville Cat Motel kicks things off with what is arguably the compilation's noisiest and most forceful track, "Skies Crimson Tears." The charged guitars, pulsing rhythm, and electric drones are more or less what I have come to expect, and this one doesn't disappoint. "Unknown Rembetika," Greg Malcolm's first of a pair of tracks, incorporates Eastern scales and multiple guitars with mystical results. While mostly instrumental, there are a couple of songs with vocals, the first being "Bold/Old" by Pumice. Another is GFrenzy's "Mouth of Bloody Vengeance," which uses distorted elements to great effect and is over much too soon. Antony Milton, who released a fantastically heavy double-disc album as Myrtu! last year, contributes a subterranean vibe with his riveting song, "Drawn Out Fighting." In contrast, Leighton Craig's "Hymn for Agnes Martin" is pleasantly soothing. Peter Wright closes the disc with "Another Gate," deftly combining his 12-string guitar with field recordings to end things on a contemplative yet inspired note. There is quite a bit of cross-pollination going on here, like when Stefan Neville of Pumice and Leighton Craig work together as Blowfly Saint, Pumice's recording of the GFrenzy-penned "Stars," or even the fact that Milton has previously released music by most of these artists on his label Pseudo Arcana. Still, there is no immediate commonality among them, and that this small group of musicians can come up with such distinctly different music is impressive.
Rarely do compilations hold up so well as this one does, and part of the reason may be because the inclusions here reflect a highly selective curatorial process at work, one that doesn't try to overwhelm or impress with sheer quantity. Since this is only a small sampling of the variety of unconventional music to be found in New Zealand, here's hoping that subsequent volumes aren't too far behind.
samples:
- Birchville Cat Motel - Skies Crimson Tears
- Greg Malcolm - Unknown Rembetika
- Leighton Craig - Hymn for Agnes Martin
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