One of the most admired yet paradoxically ignored NZ musicians is Alastair Galbraith. Starting out in Dunedin in the early 1980s Galbraith's first group The Rip recorded two EPs for Flying Nun, A Timeless Piece and Stormed Port. The first pretty much reflected the sounds defining South Island music at that time and Galbraith's singing and song writing, even at that young stage, had a big impact on those listening. Stormed Port was even more impressive. A change in line-up saw original members Galbraith and Robbie Muir joined by Peter Jefferies (This Kind of Punishment) and Galbraith began to really make explicit his song writing/performing skills. Unfortunately these EPs are long gone, only ever released in the typical miniscule Flying Nun quantities because really, who was listening back then?
Well, a few people luckily including Bruce Russell, a longtime champion of and co-performer with Galbraith in Russell's free noise unit A Handful of Dust. In fact I'm sure I remember a quote from Bruce from a long time back where he said the reason for the formation of the Xpressway label was primarily to document the music of Galbraith. I may be wrong here but Xpressway did in fact release a lot of Galbraith related material. First up was the "solo" Hurry On Down cassette made of live recordings and a bunch of studio material differing based on which of the two versions of the cassette you happen to hear. A lot of this material has been reprised on later releases and while I must admit to not being one of the lucky few to have heard this particular cassette, all reports say the music herein is as beautiful and powerful as anything Galbraith was to later release. Next up came the Timebomb/Bravely Bravely single with Graeme Jefferies (Peter's brother, co-This Kind of Punishment member) quite simply one of the best singles from Xpressway's formidable catalogue, twin guitar melodies encapsulating as well as anything the grace and sense of yearning at the center of Galbraith's music. While the single is gone you can hear it on the Making Losers Happy CD, a compilation of Xpressway singles from Drag City, or on Galbraith's Seely Girn release (Feel Good All Over), a compilation covering material from Stormed Port and the Xpressway years. Including of course the Plagal Grind material, Xpressway's "supergroup" made up of Galbraith, Muir, Peter Jefferies and David Mitchell of Goblin Mix and 3Ds fame. Sidetrack—The 3Ds were probably the last band to release anything decent on Flying Nun, and Mitchell was one guitarist/vocalist/songwriter/artist for this rather manic bunch. They made their first appearance on Xpressway, eventually getting signed to F. Nun, released two very good EPs, Swarthy Songs for Swabs and Fish Songs, both from 1990, and played live shows of barely restrained freaked-rock action where the music always seemed poised to tear your lips off. Other members of the 3Ds included Denise Roughan, she of the very melodic psychedelic pop group Look Blue Go Purple whose three releases from 1985 through 1988 are compiled on the F. Nun Look Blue Go Purple Compilation CD, yet another NZ group you should be listening to. But back to Plagal Grind—This was basically a vehicle for Galbraith's song writing in a sympathetic band setting. The songs the group recorded on their one EP Plagal Grind are quite different to the sparser solo recordings though still obviously Galbraith—denser settings, a more "rockist" orientation but tempered by his particular vision. The EP was issued in an edition of 500, it's unlikely you'll ever see an actual copy, but most of it has been reissued on the above-mentioned Seely Girn and Making Losers Happy CDs. The Plagal Grind EP was followed by the Gaudylight EP and the LP Morse (both on Siltbreeze/Xpressway). Both predominately solo Galbraith (there's one Plagal Grind recording on the LP and a few more with various members of that band and one with B. Russell), these two releases are a wonderful collection of sparse, spare songs, some of which would be little more than sound sketches if not for their resonance/power. Both the EP and LP are deleted now but they should be available as a CD reissue on the Emperor Jones label. The Seely Girn CD mentioned above also collects tracks from these two releases, being an anthology of tracks from Stormed Port and all the Xpressway releases (Hurry On Down tracks appeared in various versions across the later releases) though not complete. One of my favourite Galbraith releases, a result mainly of familiarity, it's sporadically available and should be heard.
Following the demise of Xpressway Galbraith released a second LP Talisman on his own Next Best Way label. This 1995 release sees even more brevity in the songs and I guess what could be described as a more explicit interest in sound. A handful of singles have continued this kind of sonic/melodic experimentation without messing with the immaculate focus of the music. The next (1998) solo Galbraith release was Mirrorwork on Emperor Jones, 24 tracks of rarefied melancholic bliss. Again Galbraith's performance, production and songwriting skills prove he is one of NZ's least-recognised talents; you'd have to be dead not to appreciate him. Meanwhile release number two on Next Best Way is a collection of recent Dunedin groups put together by Galbraith covering a broad range but looking more towards the improv/noise side of things; Runner is the name and it's as rewarding hearing what Galbraith likes as what he plays.
The year 2000 saw the release of Cry, once again on Emperor Jones. By this stage Galbraith has refined his use of the 4 track as an instrument to a fine art and here he sculpts his sound sources—layers of guitar, backwards tapes, snatches or loops of noise, violin drone and whispered lyrics—into unique, sharply-defined images of life at the end of the world. That of course being the deep south of New Zealand, and if Galbraith's evocation of place and time through sound and image doesn't make you want to be there—well, as I said you're probably dead.
As already mentioned, various Corpus Hermeticum releases document Galbraith's involvement in the free music environment of A Handful of Dust, quite a departure from his solo releases. This improvisatory exploration is continued on the Wire Music CD, a collaboration with Matt De Gennao. This release consists of recordings from a performance where the two "played" tensioned lengths of piano wire, positioned so as to turn the entire performance space into one large acoustic soundingbox. Galbraith also provides violin and a tape loop on various tracks. How you'll react to this depends obviously on your tolerence for drones and their perceived potential.
As a major footnote to all of this, in 2006 Galbraith was awarded an
Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award. Which, as well as obviously a well-earned validation of Galbraith's own work, goes a long way to show that those who went out of their way to promote and support Galbraith over the years really knew which way was up.
Birchville Cat Motel has to be one of the most exciting proponents of the NZ new thing, engaging the full spectrum of electro-acoustic sound exploration over numerous releases on such labels as Ecstatic Peace, Drunken Fish, Freedom From, Last Visible Dog, Celebrate Psi Phenomenon and Insample. The Insample CD starts off with a real blast, noise approaching Japanese standards or perhaps some of the most frightening moments from early Gate releases. Eventually this gives way to stark waves of feedback/electronic noise peaking with the almost half-hour "twelve roses high." An impressive ride, resumed on the DF release Siberian Earth Curve though here not so rough. Massive drones dominate, "carefully constucted layers of feedback and frozen sine waves...an article of terrifying beauty," says the publicity blurb, spot-on in the usual non-bullshit Drunken Fish way. Look out for a lathe-cut release of heavy electronics with the RH Band, and a cassette featuring the LP China Slope on one side and L.P. by Small Blue Torch on the other, another unit involving BCM member Campbell Kneale. Originally released a few years ago, these are excellent excursions into drone and noise. Small Blue Torch have another release available, a self-titled double CD-R, a joint release from Last Visible Dog and Kneale's own Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, 120-plus minutes of predominately guitar/amp sprawl clearly encapsulating the emoto-acoustic spectrum of the recent NZ scene. On the same label (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) we find a CD-R from Ohm, a group who apparently existed only for the forty minutes it took to play the outward-streaming Live at the Crown. Proving there's a place for free-pound rock flow in every decade. The Birchville Cat Motel CD Vespertine on Last Visible Dog continues with more horizontally-levelled electronic drone, along similar lines as the Blankangelspace CD-R on Celebrate Psi Phenomenon. From the latter label Swarming Tamagotchi Plague is harsh sax/dictaphone duos while Shapeshifter is minimalistic all-acoustic small sounds and sustained tones. These are just a few of my old favourites; Kneale is incredibly prolific and via Celebrate Psi Phenomenon has released a steady stream of his own exquisitely-packaged, highly-engaging cd-rs as well as releases from like-minded contemporaries. Random highlights include Shutupalreadydamn!, "a tribute 2 Prince", and the first CD proper on the label, a shimmering, pulsing collaboration between Kneale and Neil Campbell of Vibracathedral Orchestra, Sunroof, A Band, etc. There's more, too, as the people at Last Visible Dog have been good enough to release a triple CD-R compilation of out-of-print music from Celebrate Psi Phenomenon; you owe it to yourself to listen. And you can read an interview with Kneale here. [Since all this was written, Kneale has come up with a whole swag of new product, both as Birchville Cat Motel, his "Black Metal" project Black Boned Angel, and more. I don't have the time or energy to even begin to chronicle it here—these days isn't what Google is for? Do visit Kneale's label, though: Celebrate Psi Phenomenon; I'm sure he'll see you right.]
1/3 Octave Band is the solo project of Wellingtonian Bill Wood, sometimes-member of Birchville Cat Motel. He has a CD-R out Irregardless, "seamless combinations of drone, samples and feedback make this a stunning and relaxing listen." Try Unearth for more information. Another BCM contributor Richard Francis has a CD-R on Last Visible Dog under the name Eso Steel, pulsing electronics and layered floating noises make this a rather relaxing listen too. Francis, while living in Tokyo, ran his own label 20 City, another source of numerous fine forays into sound exploration on which there will be more information soon.
If heavy duty noise isn't your bag you might want to listen to RST. This is the project of Andrew Moon, once of the Auckland band Goblin Mix who released a couple of EPs of spikey shimmering pop/psych on Flying Nun way back when NZ bands did that sort of thing well. Since moved into the realm of the extemporaneous, RST works wonders with guitar noise, samples and your general sound manipulation. The Ecstatic Peace CD R136a is apparently material dating back from 1995/6 and covers a whole range of floating sound driftage and sonic disruption. I find it very relaxing.
Roslyn the first CD release from Witcyst comes packaged in a full-colour 8 page 7-inch booklet almost outdoing the music in terms of intensity. 44 forbidding, austere tracks make up the CD, short noise pieces mixed with distorted destroyed "songs" done with guitar and vocals. Not quite what I'd expected from the Witcyst heard on compilations...it's more like a dive into someone's psychopathologies. Kind of unique in the current crop of new NZ music, and there's a whole lot more of his music floating around out there.