Spactious - "Vector 27" 7"

Spacious – “Vector 27” 7”

Flying Nun Records, 1995

Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2007

Price: $.25

The three songs on Spacious’ “Vector 27” 7” are the only three the band released. They’re of the solid, jangly indie pop variety you’d expect from Flying Nun. The group is comprised of David Saunders on guitar and vocals and Alan Haig on drums and, as expected, both guys were lifers in the Dunedin scene. Saunders most notably played with the 3Ds where Haig played with the Chills and the Verlaines. This 7-inch is great because it’s just some random-ass 7-inch I pulled out of Love Garden’s Shotgun Room and it enforces my belief that Flying Nun didn’t really have any weak links. There’s a joy to that label’s records you can’t really find anywhere else. Everyone was friends with everyone (or at least they all played in each others’ bands), the government money was flowing to keep everyone happy, and the result is a catalog of records that is pretty consistently great. I’ve yet to find a Flying Nun record that wasn’t at least a little rad. Another winner, no big surprise.

The Mad Scene - Falling Over, Spilling Over EP

The Mad Scene – Falling Over, Spilling Over EP

Homestead, 1992

Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2008

Price: $1

 

Odds are, if a band’s album’s cover art looks like it might be associated with Flying Nun Records, the band is probably affiliated with Flying Nun Records. Not only did the Mad Scene release their debut album A Trip Through Monsterland on Flying Nun, but founding member Hamish Kilgour is the same Hamish Kilgour from the Clean, which excites me to no end. I don’t know what it is about this album’s crude pastel image of a table spilling over a bunch of shit, but there’s something about the alluring amateurishness that matches the bands you typically found on Flying Nun. People who weren’t career musicians who made some of the most blissful alt-pop you’ve ever heard. I was just talking about Flying Nun with Jenny yesterday, as she just fell in love with Lorde and of course I had to get on my “You know what else is from New Zealand and paved the way for all kiwi pop?” soapbox which she has probably tuned out a hundred times. Oh, to live in New Zealand in the early 90s. Beautiful scenery, excellent weather, and a government that funds the countries arts and music scene.

Despite the New Zealand roots, the Mad Scene was based in NYC. In addition to Flying Nun, the band was signed by a veritable who’s who of fantastic indie rock labels throughout their career (Homestead, Merge, Siltbreeze). While the sparse, post-punk forward title track is a bit sloggish, the two tracks on this 7”s double A side are as joyful and pleasant as the album’s cerulean vinyl. The guitars on “People to Talk to” chime and jangle in that way that only guitars from Oceania seem to chime and jangle. There’s a post-punk backbone to that track, but the delicious sunny riff shines over everything. Vocal duties on the more indie-pop driven “Paper Plane” are handled by Kilgour’s foil Lisa Siegel, who delivers the vocals in way not dissimilar to Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley (who, by the by, has been part of the band’s revolving door lineup throughout the years). Wonderful stuff. Now excuse me while I try to track down their full-lengths.

Here's "Choose" from their Merge-released sophomore LP Sealight.

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Drill - "Happy Home" 7"

Drill – “Happy Home” 7”

Flying Nun, 1994

Acquired: Love Garden Shotgun Room, Used, 2008

Price: $.25

 

Sarah, Harriet, and Flying Nun. If a 7” is on that label, I’m going to buy it if it’s not too expensive. Even if it is too expensive, I’ll probably still buy it if I want it bad enough (See: That Brighter single I paid $12 for. $12! For a single! I hate to imagine what would happen if I came across a Sarah Records single I really loved). One of my favorite things about Flying Nun Records is the sort of quality guarantee you get from the crudely drawn logo on the back of the sleeve. It might not be great, but it will at least be worth a listen. The best government-backed alternative pop music you’re gonna find anywhere! With Drill, the guitars chime just the way you would expect the guitars on a Flying Nun release to chime (on the b-sides at least, the main riff sounds like hard rock played by a dude with a chin beard). They don’t rollick as much as, say, Abel Tasmans and they don’t even bother with the anthemic qualities of The Clean or the Chills. What they do is sound like is a first-generation post-grunge band pitting hard rock and indie pop against each other. “Happy Home” is tuneful, but the verses are a little menacing (with that aforementioned chin beard riff) but the choruses lighten up (with the aforementioned chiming of guitars). The end result is something dated, but also pretty good. It’s of the quality I was hoping for when I was buying 7”s for a quarter. From what I can tell, Drill released a 17 song full-length a year later which featured the three tracks here. Of the trio only vocalist/guitarist John Pitcairn released anything post-Drill (with the Letter 5 and Ballon D’Essai, both on Flying Nun natch). Finding info on Pitcairn is difficult as he shares a name with a decorated British Naval Officer who is also, I must assume, has something to do with the Pitcairn Islands (note: It was his son, Robert, who was involved with the islands. John Pitcairn was involved with the Revolutionary War! There is a famous painting of his demise!) My friend Chris got obsessed with the Pitcairn Islands many years ago. “Look!” he would say. “They had a civil war over who had the right to distill their national drink: Sweet Potato Liqueur!” “Look!” he would also say. “The internet is only available at the top of a mountain!”

Since I can't find a single Drill recording or video (their name is practically unGoogleable), here's that famous Death of Pitcairn painting. That's Johnny Pits right there, all dying and stuff.

Able Tasmans - A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down

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Able Tasmans – A Cuppa Tea and a Lie Down

Flying Nun Records, 1987

Acquired: Love Garden, Used, Alternative Section, 2008

Price: $10

Given that it’s the first record in my collection, it was one of the first records I spotted when I decided to go through the ENTIRE alternative used vinyl section at Love Garden one day. It was a process that took me nearly a month to complete. I saw this and got giddy, because I love New Zealand’s Flying Nun Records (for my money, one of the top 5 record labels in history), I’d heard the song “What Was That Thing” on a Flying Nun compilation and I thought the album title was too perfect because really, nothing sounds better than a cuppa tea and a lie down most of the time. This record isn’t as awesome as I expected it to be (based on “What Was That Thing”), but “Sour Queen” is a late album jam that I never really noticed before. It has the typical “New Zealand Sound,” whatever that means, it sounds like something you’d hear on Flying Nun Records and I guess Chris Knox of Tall Dwarfs is somehow involved (as he is involved in everything) based on his inclusion in the massive group photo on the back of the sleeve. It’s a really nice guitar pop record.