Pink Frost
Back in the day, when I was a skinny teenager on the great pedestal of life, I had a real obsession for the understated, low-fi, deliciously melodic and somewhat blurry sounds of the New Zealand Flying Nun bands. I would pool my meagre savings and canvas the local record shops, scouring the racks for the latest cassettes from The Bats, The Chills, The Clean, and, later, The Straitjacket Fits. There was just something very romantic about the music that emanated from those permanently green hills of Dunedin. It seemed to resonate with a depth and a sense of integrity that only four chords and a Chris Knox four-track can provide. Despite the kitschness of some of the trends (Cabbage Patch Dolls, anyone?), the 1980s were wonderfully optimistic times. And, despite its minor key refrain, the Flying Nun ‘sound’ (which founder Roger Shepherd denies ever existed), was always exciting to me. It was unpretentious yet ambitious, as this track — Heavenly Pop Hit by The Chills — suggests.
Tagged: , Flying Nun bands, New Zealand, New Zealand music, pop music
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There was a time, many moons ago, when I would only listen to bands off New Zealand’s Flying Nun label. Yup, I would strap myself into a comfy chair, put my headphones on and, armed with a chunk of chocolate coated Peanut Slab and a can of L&P, soak up album after album of wonderfully self-indulgent low-fi melancholy. Read more
At first listen, The Chills were like nothing else when they burst out of the relatively cloistered confines of the Dunedin student set way back in the early 1980s. Only, in retrospect, they were kinda like so much of the rest of the Flying Nun roster: lo-fi, wearily melodic, understated, and joyously brash in their use of lush vocal harmonies and ringing guitar licks. It was simply divine. And the first time I heard this song, Heavenly Pop Hit, I thought it was exactly that: the most decadent single imaginable. Some twenty years later, it still sounds fresh. [Click here to listen to Heavenly Pop Hit]
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YOU'RE SAYING (3)
Brenda said | 29 June, 2010
See more Chills awesomeness here: http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/the-chills/artist as well as a heap of Flying Nun music videos.
alex kemp said | 2 August, 2010
Does anyone remember Able Tasmans? They made a record called Hey Spinner that I loved. There was something really magical about the music that was coming out of NZ back then.
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Dell said | 2 July, 2009
The Bats! Still going, still putting out records. Saw them in boston a couple years ago — crystalline pop perfection.