From: ben@athena.mit.edu (Ben)
Newsgroups: alt.music.alternative
Subject: Re: Flying Nun bands
Date: 29 Aug 92 19:52:01 GMT
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Sean's paragraph was sort of accurate. Basically, most Flying Nun records are 
some variation of guitar-jangle-pop, and most are good; some are one but not 
the other (not janglepop but good, or janglepop but bad) and a few are 
neither janglepop nor good. Fortunately the lousy Flying Nun records-- 
defunct bands like the Fold (Cure wannabes from Wellington) and Fetus 
Productions (bad industrial music, NOT the Jim Thirlwell outfit with the same 
name) basically never turn up in record stores in the Western Hemisphere, so 
if that's where you happen to live, buying almost anything on FN or X/Way 
is a fairly good bet.
	Chainsaw Masochist, however, suck. 
	I wish to contribute to the Straitjacket Fits debate by agreeing that 
"Down In Splendor" was a great song, but wondering whether the next SJF 
will be any good, seeing as how most of Melt was so damned slick. And 
"Randolph's Going Home" was the best song Shayne Carter has ever been 
involved with, beating out even "Some Fantasy."
	As for the Headless Chickens, I'm told that their last record, 
Cruise Control, was a #1 dance hit in NZ- is this true? Yes, as of now 
they are a rote-industrial-dance outfit and I can't stand 'em. However,
their first (self-titled) EP was genuinely interesting synth-plus-guitar 
experimental rock- put me in mind of Recommended Records- with at least 
one great tune, "Totalling Dad's Car." After they recorded this EP and 
began work on their next one, chief songwriter Johnny Pierce died, and 
they slowly became a dance group. Johnny Pierce also played on at least 
one This Kind of Punishment record, along with group mainstays Peter and 
Graeme Jeffries. And anyone who hasn't heard the new Peter Jeffries and 
Robbie Muir double 7" on Ajax should shut off her modem right now and 
mail Ajax Records a check for $3.50 plus postage, because it may well be 
the 7" record of the year. Which in turn allows me to ask all of you to 
whom this is not news: What band was Robbie Muir in? I have no idea.
	Whew! 
	To the guy who hates FN jangle music- 1. If you take all the bands 
you named as good (which, for you, seems to mean harsh'n'loud) in NZ and 
divide by the population, that's still a pretty good music-to-people 
ratio relative to any other country I can think of. 2. Do you like the
Dead C? 3. How can you reconcile your love for Bailterspace/Gordons, your
hatred of the Clean and everything derived from them, and the fact that 
Hamish Kilgour used to play in Bailterspace? 4. And what about the 3Ds?
	Has anyone seen those Flying Nun trading cards?
	Still waiting for Able Tasmans LP review and/or Bilderine discography.
	To the person (I forget your name) who owned only one Verlaines CD 
and thought the Chills and the Bats were a lot better- WHICH ONE WAS IT? 
They've all got excellent songs somewhere on 'em, but by far the most 
consistent is the Juvenilia LP (homestead, 1987) which collects their early 
singles and the 10:00 in the Afternoon EP, as far as I'm concerned among the 
top 3 or 4 records ever to emerge from the South Island-- maybe "ever to 
emerge," period.
	The new Dead C live LP is called Clyma Est Mort (It's Never )Live, and 
I like it, or parts of it, more than any other Dead C I've heard.

I think that about wraps it up.

steve burt
c/o ben@athena.mit.edu

	
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