New Zealand Miscellany

A bunch of New Zealand acts where I don’t have the patience to review all their records. It’s a mixed bag. Supergroove probably deserve their own page, Fly My Pretties’ first record is the worst thing I’ve ever covered on this site.

Fat Freddy’s Drop

Based On A True Story

2005, 6/10
Polynesian dub band Fat Freddy’s Drop hit the mainstream in New Zealand in the early 21st century; their music becoming a favourite for live audiences who saw their spaced-out jams as high culture. Based On A True Story is intricately textured, soulfully sung and beautifully produced, but the songs are unexciting and sedate. If they’re creatively structured, often breaking away from the restraints of verse and chorus, they don’t have well-developed melodies and lyrics are a secondary focus at best (“I love it when you’re skanking with me”).

Based On A True Story has two great tracks; the softer ‘Del Fuego’, breaks out of the monotonous groove for a warm ballad, while the groove is irresistible on the eight minutes of ‘Ray Ray’.

It’s a shame that a record that’s so accomplished in terms of performance and arrangements is left underdone by such routine songs, a talented band pursuing one signature sound too far and not stepping outside of their comfort zone.

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Fly My Pretties

Live At Bats

2004, 1/10
Fly My Pretties have gained a major following in New Zealand for their live shows, which blend visual and musical elements. They’re the brainchild of Barnaby Weir from The Black Seeds, who recruits other popular New Zealand musicians for a quasi-super-group. While musicians I enjoy, like L.A. Mitchell and members of the Phoenix Foundation, have passed through the group’s rotating ranks, I’m bemused by their popularity which started with this debut album, recorded live.

Weir gets away with mediocre songs in The Black Seeds because of their arranging skills, but there’s nowhere to hide here. Fly My Pretties blend acoustic guitars and a rhythm section playing dub, with bland songs that sound like they took five minutes to write. “I’m not a Christian man… But I believe in angels. Ever since I met you girl. I believe in angels” is a particularly poor verse from ‘Lucky’, and the lack of musical interest puts the formulaic lyrics in plain sight, as do mindless vamps like ‘All The Goodness’. The one well-developed song, ‘Singing In My Soul’, is rendered intolerable by the guest singer’s lisp. Even bringing out more musicians for the lengthy ‘Let’s Roll’ doesn’t help, as the crunching guitar feels anti-climatic on an unmemorable composition.

Despite its formulaic songs Live At Bats launched Fly My Pretties’ career, and they’ve milked their audiences with five subsequent albums.

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Aldous Harding

Designer

2019, 7.5/10
Aldous Harding was born in Auckland, New Zealand, as Hannah Harding, the daughter of a blues singer father and a folk singer mother. Designer is Harding’s third album and, like her second album Party, it’s on the celebrated 4AD label and produced by John Parish. Parish has also worked with PJ Harvey, most visibly on 1996’s collaborative album Dance Hall at Louise Point.

Harding’s accompanied by classy, restrained arrangements – acoustic guitar picking, piano, and gentle rhythm sections. Her music’s simple; Harding operates in a different genre and is decidedly more niche, than her compatriot Lorde, but both artists are reliant on their imagery-laden lyrics and their distinctive vocal delivery for their appeal.

Harding’s imagery is particularly cryptic, with references to the “weight of the planets” and “zoo eyes”. I can live not understanding what these songs are about, other fans are less patient. Harding has said that “If people arrive at a place about it, I’m not going to tell them that’s not the right place, especially when I’m not gonna take them anywhere else.”1

Harding’s mannered vocals are both commanding and idiosyncratic – the same applies to her physical presence in her live performances and music videos – along with the imagery, they’re the key to the enjoyment of Designer.

The beautifully restrained arrangements allow Harding’s strengths as a cryptic lyricist and unique vocalist to shine. Ideally, there’d be more happening musically – in particular, the very similar vocal hooks of ‘Fixture Picture’ and ‘Zoo Eyes’ represent unnecessary repetition on a concise record.

Harding is a mesmerising whirling dervish at the centre of the calm of Designer, enough to make an enjoyable record.

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Kerry Logan

The Wolf, The Warrior, The Boy

2007, 8/10
*Disclosure – this is my friend’s album, so I might be a little biased…

Almost fifteen years after cutting his teeth with Hawera jam band Gypsys, Kerry Logan released his solo debut The Wolf, The Warrior, The Boy. Inspired by the synchronisation between Pink Floyd’s album The Dark Side Of The Moon and the movie The Wizard Of Oz, The Wolf, The Warrior, The Boy was constructed to fit with cult children’s movie The Neverending Story, with the lyrics also inspired partially by the movie.

As befits a solo album, Logan handles most of the instruments himself, joined by his brother Bobby on drums. Because it’s self-produced, and recorded in a makeshift studio, the sound quality and mixing is sometimes lacking, and sometimes Logan’s vocals aren’t strong enough to handle some of the more demanding songs, but his guitar playing is world-class.

The first side is weaker than the second, even if the bluesy guitar break before the second verse of ‘The Sadness’ is the most electrifying moment of the record. The Wolf, The Warrior, The Boy finishes extremely strongly with the melodic and acoustic guitar-driven groove of ‘The Princess’ and the aggressive ‘The End Comes’, while the closing instrumental ‘The Journey’ is downright triumphant.

Overall, The Wolf, The Warrior, The Boy was Logan’s strongest work to date – while the conceptual framework gives it a more constant feel, especially in the second half, it also is a stronger set of songs than anything on any individual Shift or Cynosure studio album.

https://therocklords.bandcamp.com/album/the-wolf-the-warrior-the-boy

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L.A. Mitchell

Live at the Matterhorn

2008, 8/10
Based in Christchurch, New Zealand, L.A. Mitchell works in an idiom where jazz, soul, and pop intersect. Live at the Matterhorn is her second release – it reprises songs from her first album, Debut, as well as some covers and unreleased tracks. I picked Live at the Matterhorn out of the dollar bin after reading a positive review, and I’ve enjoyed it ever since – with Mitchell’s Fender Rhodes and rich, smoky voice, Live at the Matterhorn has a classic soul feel.

On Live at the Matterhorn Mitchell is joined by a jazzy ensemble – and her backing band do a classy job, especially the rich harmony vocal arrangements from her backing singers. ‘Love Will Rain Down’ could have come straight from Carole King’s Tapestry, before it launches into a soul bridge, while the cover of Hall and Oates’ ‘Rich Girl’ adds some muscle to the original. Mitchell rides solid grooves from her rhythm section on songs like ‘Be Free’ and ‘We Could Be’, and showcases thoughtful, introspective lyrics on ‘Blessed Be’.

While Mitchell hasn’t produced much solo work since – she has kept busy with family and other musical projects – Live at the Matterhorn is a good showcase for her considerable talents.

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Supergroove

Postage – The Best of Supergroove

2003, 8.5/10
The compilation Postage distils the legacy of New Zealand’s Supergroove into one disc. Supergroove barely made an impact outside of their home country, but in 1994 they were inescapably huge in New Zealand. Their blend of hip hop, funk, and metal was arguably a little behind the curve by the time their first album, Traction, was released in 1994; bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, and Rage Against the Machine had enjoyed success with the template earlier in the decade.

But Supergroove bought enough originality and personality to stand out. Notable features of the band included strong musicianship; bassist Joe Lonie is particularly accomplished.  The group’s most successful line-up blended two vocalists with distinctive styles; the smooth Che Fu went on the enjoy solo success in hip hop and R&B, while Karl Steven is nervy and hyperactive. Supergroove unabashedly made party music, but without sacrificing intelligence; there’s enough substance it’s not surprising that group leader Steven went on to complete a Ph. D in Philosophy

The compilation covers their career from the early singles, their debut album Traction, their EP Traction, and 1996’s sophomore effort Backspacer, but the basis of their legacy is the run of early singles leading up to, and stemming from Traction. Songs like the metallic riffs of ‘Scorpio Girls’ and ‘You Freak Me’, ‘Sitting Inside My Head’, which uses the odd couple vocals of Che Fu and Karl Steven effectively, and the infectious ‘Can’t Get Enough’. The Tractor EP continued the excellence with ‘The Next Time’, but the group changed direction before their second album, dismissing Che Fu and morphing into a guitar-based alternative band.

1996’s Backspacer was a major disappointment, and the band broke up shortly afterwards. But Postage is a valuable summary of an act that could have easily blown up internationally.

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