Day 17: New Zealand Rock

Pop Art Toasters
Pop Art Toasters EP

While the label New Zealand rock could theoretically be applied to any rock music originating in New Zealand, it is generally used to refer specifically to a set of groups from the late 1980s and early 90s whose melodicism, literate lyrics, and jangly guitars tied them closely to the college rock underground in America. In addition to the broad phrase New Zealand rock, the terms "kiwi rock" and the "Dunedin sound" have also been applied to music from the country. Whereas kiwi rock may be thought of as merely an informal phrasing synonymous with the more straightforward "New Zealand rock," nitpickers are quick to note that the Dunedin sound has a narrower application--it refers, specifically, to a sound born in the city of Dunedin that fused a minimalist, amateurish aesthetic drawn from punk with the jangly guitars and bright melodies of the Beatles and the Byrds. The best known New Zealand rock groups--Toy Love, the Tall Dwarfs, the Clean, the Chills, the Verlaines, the Bats--all either performed within or were heavily influenced by the Dunedin idiom and they all recorded at one time or another on the seminal independent label Flying Nun Records. For a broad smattering of the label and scene, consult the four-band compilation, Dunedin Double EP, or the Flying Nun sampler In Love With These Times. For a closer look at Flying Nun and the Dunedin sound, click here.

In 1994, Martin Phillips (of the Clean) and David Kilgour (of the Chills) collaborated with three other Dunedin sound musicians to create a short-lived supergroup called the Pop Art Toasters. The group recorded just one five-song covers EP of relatively obscure pop songs from the 1960s, but what an EP it was. From their sped-up take on the charming "What Am I Gonna Do," originally by Nuggets-vintage garage rockers the Dovers, to their slightly more modern sounding version of the West Coast Art Pop Experimental Band's "I Won't Hurt You," the Toasters show that they not only have impeccable taste, but also real interpretive talent. The EP is a true obscurity, so you're having trouble tracking down a copy, post a comment. I may be able to help you out.

Download "I Won't Hurt You" from Pop Art Toasters EP here.