Dunedin Double EP - Flying Nun Comp [1982]

Able Tasmans and 3Ds both inspired a Kiwi bent of late which led me to this incredible slice of early 80's Dunedin Sound. The pacing and indexing is outstanding for a comp, it really reads as an album instead of just a collection. Not much else need be said, if you don't have this it's sort of a must. I think this is still out of print, someone should rerelease this.

Fly with the Nun

Wookie sez:

The Dunedin Double EP was a seminal record in New Zealand music. An unusual format, it contain two 45rpm 12" discs, and at nearly 50 minutes length, it is longer than many albums.

Released in 1982, the compilation was one of the first releases from the newly formed Flying Nun Records label (catalogue number DUN-1), which over the course of the next ten years was to become the biggest independent record label in New Zealand. Many of the label's top groups came from the South Island city of Dunedin, and established that southern city's music scene as the leading source of guitar-based bands in New Zealand throughout much of the decade. The bands from the city which had music released on Flying Nun were grouped under the loose banner of Dunedin Sound, and several of them went on to not only national but also international success.

The Dunedin Double EP established the names of four of these groups, each of which was represented on the double EP by one side. The four bands concerned were The Chills, Sneaky Feelings, The Stones, and The Verlaines. The Chills' song Kaleidoscope World in particular became very popular, gaining considerable airplay for the band (It later provided the title for the band's first album, a compilation of their early singles and EP tracks.

Though the sound quality of the Dunedin Double EP was distinctly lo-fi (it was recorded on portable 4-track by Chris Knox), the release of this record provided a major impetus both for Flying Nun records and for the four bands involved, as well as providing inspiration and momentum to the music scene in Dunedin.

The Chills - Kaleidoscope World & Brave Words

Some serious, sublime, stripped down, reaffirming straight up pop music. This always falls in the "makes ya feel good" category. Maybe because it is what it is - some folks and basic intrumentation doing good, solid, well-written, well-arranged songs. Piece of friggin' cake. It's like when chefs eat they like really basic, well-prepared items: a good steak au'poivre, a stiff red, solid bread. Not that I'm a chef but when you get in nadsdeep with the free jazz, avante shit and the brain scrambling Pacific Rim noizzze it's nice to sit down to with a hearty pop number.

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Allmusic: The Chills were one of New Zealand's best and most popular bands of the '80s, making a small but consistent series of chiming, hook-laden guitar pop. Both the songs and the arrangements were constructed with interweaving guitar hooks and vocal harmonies, creating a pretty, almost lush, sound that never fell into cloying sentimentality. Throughout their existence, the band's personnel changed frequently — there were more than ten different lineups — with the only constant member being guitarist Martin Phillipps, the band's founder.

Phillipps began playing music with the New Zealand punk band the Same in 1978. Following in the footsteps of the Clean and the Enemy, the Same played mostly covers, creating a raw fusion of British Invasion and garage rock. However, the group never recorded. Phillipps applied the same approach for the Chills, the band he formed in 1980 with his sister Rachel and Jane Dodd (bass) after the Same fell apart.

In 1982, the Chills signed with Flying Nun, the influential New Zealand independent record label, and released several singles that were never widely distributed in America and Europe. During this time, the group went through an enormous amount of members: future-Great Unwashed bassist Peter Gutteridge, the Clean's David Kilgour, keyboardist Faser Batts, bassist Terry Moore, guitarist Martin Kean, keyboardist Peter Allison, drummer Martyn Bull, and drummer Alan Haig. While these incarnations of the Chills recorded plenty of singles, they never made an album. Released on the U.K. record label Creation, the group's first album, Kaleidoscope World (1986), was a collection of their early singles; it was later released in the U.S. on Homestead.

With the lineup of Phillipps, bassist Justin Harwood, keyboardist Andrew Todd, and drummer Caroline Easther — the group's tenth lineup — the Chills recorded their first proper album, Brave Worlds, in 1987. Produced by Mayo Thompson, the leading figure of the cult band the Red Crayola and a former member of Pere Ubu, the band wasn't satisfied with the final result, claiming it was too loose and under-produced. The group, particularly Phillipps, was more satisfied with their second full-length album, 1990's Submarine Bells, their first record released on an American major label. Submarine Bells was recorded with yet another version of the band, with Jimmy Stephenson replacing Easther, who was suffering from tinnitus. The album was well received by critics and college radio, yet it failed to break the band into the mainstream in either America or Britain. Two years later, they released Soft Bomb, which suffered the same fate as Submarine Bells. The following year, Martin Phillipps broke up the Chills again, yet the group reconvened in 1996 to release Sunburnt.

Hear Kaleidoscope

Hear Brave