Drone - Drone (1989)

Debut album from late-80s Auckland minimalist avant-garde art schoolers Drone. Not what I expected when I discovered them around the turn of the century, my post-Free Noise sensibilities presuming heavy electric drunge.

This is not that: instead it's sombre and sober, astringent acoustic strings with vocal harmonies and scant samples, detuned chimings and chants braided into unison rhythms. Rich and thick (like good American ketchup or bad American presidents), sensitive and affecting, very smart yet from the gut.

The marching piano on second track 'Carcass' bounces like an obscurely perky This Kind of Punishment, while 'Music for Guitar + Piano' could be a Terry Riley-led Abel Tasmans painting a McCahon. Other tracks call to mind a synth-less Marie and the Atom, stripped down or vigorous as in knotty ‘pop’ tracks like ‘Lofty’ by Out of the Compost, or ‘Black Thoughts’ or ‘Ethiopian Dream’ by Thin Red Line. 

Get the whole story at AudioCulture, and pick up their first 7-inch here.


This Carcass I Beg To Slaughter

The Osterbergs - Freak Power (1990)

More licks from the unplumbed pockets of Mysterex maven Andrew Schmidt: the scritchy, shouty sounds of Detroit devotees The Osterbergs!

"The Osterbergs out of east Auckland were regulars at the Queen City's inner-city music dives in the late 1980s, and early 1990s, on the diverse bills of the time.

"Their wah-driven Stoogoid punk sound -- the guitar courtesy Mark Jones, anchored by drummer Shirley Charles and bass player/vocalist Paul E. Snake -- had an endearing, nagging charm, well captured on their only release for Auckland's Onslaught Records.

"The original trio of Shirley Charles (drums), Paul Edwards (bass/vocals) and Mark Jones (guitar) had been joined by Lance Strickland on second guitar, who broadened the songs and gave it an unscripted edge.

"Changing their name to Freak Power, the quartet would go on to support many like-minded touring groups, and release a ten-inch EP on Wildside Records."

The Osterbergs – Freak Power (Onslaught Records)

Side 1
Your Time
Saccharine
It Burns

Side 2
Everything
Strung Out

Rec’d by Matthew Heine at BFM in Auckland, 1990

Paul Edwards – bass/vocals
Lance Strickland – guitar
Mark Jones – guitar
Shirley James – drums


Borrowed Amps

Class Of 81 (1981)

Happy 2011! In a few days, the Class of 81 will be celebrating their 30th anniversary...

Simon Grigg put this out on Propeller, and over on his site he gives heaps of info on this comp, the neglected little brother of his massive AK79.

My copy has a small amount of surface noise, but there's a bit of popping particularly on the the first three tracks of side two. However, the Screaming Meemees track can be downloaded all clean and legit, and Blam Blam Blam's is on their 'Complete' CD; both can be purchased at Amplifier.co.nz

For fans of The Chills, The Clash, and the Cure.


Here We Go

We Still Hate The Spelling Mistakes

 

Ever expanding in the breadth of Switched Out's postings, (I reckon soon I'll even post some non-Zealandish stuff) here's a big fat dose of c1977-80 Auckland punk. 

This posting comes courtesy of the considerable closet of new contributor and old mate, Andrew Schmidt. Andy's been documenting NZ music since the early 1980s, producing exhaustive histories of NZ punk/pop/rock in 'zines Social End Product and Mysterex. As Andy is far more informed a writer than myself, I'll just cheat and quote him here: 

'We Still Hate The Spelling Mistakes [was] the first reunion show giveaway CD of live and studio tracks from the group's hey day.

All I Know How To Be alone justified a revisiting, but really this was a band with no shortage of quality songs. Ergophobia, X-Teenager, the misanthropic Anti-Social, their lost 1977 style snarler, Latest Photograph, What's Wrong With Me? and Nothing To Say all deserved the studio treatment.

They got it in November 1998 at Frisbee Studios in Auckland. Bob Frisbee recording. They scrubbed up well those old Spelling Mistakes gems. There's brash pop smarts and punk rock power all over this great lost album. X-Teenager is a Kiwi 1970s punk anthem in absentia. The relentlessly upbeat All I Know How To Be combines power pop Buzzcocks with the grander structures of early Magazine and a peerless Nick vocal. Latest Photograph is pure pop. Helium Head, written by Julian after The Spelling Mistakes demise, is spacey Beatles psych with Nigel Russel keyboards, druggy harmonies, and a stray Chuck Berry riff. An intriguing hint of where The Spelling Mistakes might have gone.

Ergophobia, Anti-Social, Nothing To Say, and What's Wrong With Me? crackle with punk's original electricity and hard humour. Warwick getting that Detroit amphetamine - Chuck Berry guitar sound down. Age has not wearied them nor the past condemned.'

Link to the full article is here.

Look for more posting from Andy's vast stash soon, and visit his blog, Mysterex, regularly. And whenever possible, buy his magazines. And books. Or buy him a beer. My man loves a beer.

Track Listing:

The Spelling Mistakes – We Still Hate The Spelling Mistakes (reunion show giveaway CD) - 1998

Stingy
Hate Me, Hate Me
No Contact (all recorded in December 1979 at Mascot Studios in Auckland with Steve Crane)

I Want You
Feels So Good
I Hate The Spelling Mistakes
Hate Me Hate Me (all recorded with Fane Flaws at Mandrill Studios in Auckland – April 1980)

The Ballad of Reena’s Piss Flaps (recorded by Bryan Staff at Mandrill Studios in Auckland – May 1980)

Live at Radio B at Mainstreet in Auckland – May 1980
No Contact
Germany
X Teenager
Moscow
I Want You

Live at XS Café in Auckland by Terry King – October 1980
Ergophobia
X Teenager
Nothing To Say
Stingy
All I Know How To Be
Shell Shock Victim

Hate Me Hate Me