#bailter space

[rastronomicals]

8:45 PM EST February 4, 2024:

Bailter Space - “Hard Wired” From the album Thermos (1990)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

Originally issued on Flying Nun in 1990, then reissued in the States on Matador in 1995

File under: Southern (Hemispheric) Youth

–

#Bailter Space #Thermos #Hard Wired

[bandcampsnoop]

11/1/23.

John Halvorsen (Vorsen) was not part of the recent Bailter Space tour (Micah went to the SF show and said it was fantastic). But "A World On Fire" represents material from the early 1990s to the present. It definitely sounds like it was spawned from the sound of his three bands - The Gordons, Bailter Space and Skeptics. I would throw in Snapper as well.

But this really has an early to mid 1980s alternative sound too - think of The Chameleons UK, or early U2.

Leather Jacket Records is quickly earning a reputation as a label that brings us old New Zealand acts through reissues or new music. Halvorsen is from Wellington, New Zealand.

#John Halvorsen #Vorsen #Wellington #New Zealand #Skeptics #The Gordons #Bailter Space #U2 #The Chameleons UK #Leather Jacket Records #Bandcamp

[gotankgo]

Bailter Space “Get Lost”

• Robot World (1993)

#Bailter Space #robot world #audio #music #1993 #Bandcamp

[mack-anthology-mp3]

Music I have discovered thus far in the last week (recommendations, do what will with them)

Jonny Greenwood playing Steve Reich's 'Electric Counterpoint, I, II, III'. Steve Reich is an electronic composer who was hugely influential on Radiohead, and of course Jonny plays/programs most if not all of the electronic elements in Radiohead's work. He plays Electric Counterpoint on guitar, interestingly, with his own band, and several live versions are available on youtube. Jonny's film music is also fantastic. Electronic music as a whole is not something I know a lot about or listen to much of, as a genre it's kind of intimidating, but this is pretty cool.

'Peredam' by Soundwalk Collective and Patti Smith, remixed by Brian Eno. Patti and Soundwalk have released a trilogy of albums celebrating the lives and works of three French Symbolist poets, Rimbaud, Artaud, and Daumal, some of which has been remixed by a variety of people and released as a 'reworkings' album. Many of the Soundwalk collaboration also have videos, though I must admit I have not seen them, though I have seen a short film about Chornobyl with Patti reading over the top and it was pretty cool.

'Splat' by Bailter Space. Bailter Space are a band from my own home city, that my friends' dad / band mentor suggested we play, and it's pretty cool. The music video is played backwards and slightly slowed (I think). Sort of dreampoppy/shoegazey but with a New Zealand accent.

'Three Hours', John Parish and Aldous Harding covering Nick Drake. This is part of a larger project of Nick Drake songs by various artists whish has not all been released yet and I am very much looking forward to. It sort of sounds like Dean and Britta's '13 Most Beautiful', which I will write a separate post on later. Nick Drake is brilliant, Aldous Harding is completely bonkers (think indie folk Björk), and John Parish is an auteur of a producer who still allows the artist to create something unique.

Keep it Like a Secret (album) by Built to Spill. I actually discovered this a while ago, but I listened to it again the other day and just thought 'well fricken freakin hell this is brilliant'. Some of the best guitar playing I've heard in a while, that indie 90s charm of 'ok so what are they actually singing about here', emotional sounding music and slightly funny lyrics in some points. Closest comparable is Grandaddy, but more guitars. But like seriously, fantastic soloing here.

'Tarkovsky (the Second Stop is Jupiter)' by Patti Smith, from her 2012 album Banga. Tarkovsky is a Russian director who I understand has the kind of considerable cult following directors of European art films tend to get. Vaguely jam-band-ey in a cool, sort of late 60s way. It;s just got the kind of guitar sound. Has a little of that sound like the music's being played through a radio, sort of squashed.

She walks across a bridge of magpies...

#music recommendation #patti smith #soundwalk collective #jonny greenwood #steve reich #brian eno #nick drake #aldous harding #john parish #built to spill #andrei tarkovsky #bailter space #arthur rimbaud #dean and britta #bjork

[khrushchov]

#robot world #orbit #bailter space #albums that carried me through a shitty job

[dustedmagazine]

T54 — Drone Attacks: Expanded and Remastered (Ally)

Drone Attacks ~ Expanded and Remastered by T54

“Julie K” is, perhaps, the money track from this retrospective, capturing the droning buzz, the rocketing propulsion, the echoey romantic ache at the heart of this short-lived Bunnyman-into-Bailter Space-ish post-punk outfit. We get it twice, maybe three times on this expanded reissue, first as it appeared on the 2011 Drone Attacks EP, second in a rougher, more abrasive and distorted live studio version and third (possibly?) in a demo experiment in pure sonic texture called “Julie’s Last Wish” which may or may not be related to the EP cut. The song is a glorious, guitar-blaring grand gesture, touching Sonic Youth’s feedback-addled transcendence and cutting it with a 1980s new wave infusion of melody.

T54’s Joe Sampson would go on to found the jangle-popping Salad Boys, whose 2018 This Is Glue sat that year at #3 on my year-end list. I confessed, “Always weak for NZ lo-fi and equally a fan of the early R.E.M., so of course I fell for this buzzy daydream of a record.” But here, with bassist Sam Hood and drummer Matt Scobie, the noise is louder, the pop is shrouded shimmering layers of dissonance. T54 sounds like certain Clean songs, and so did the Salad Boys, but oh, my lord, they are different Clean songs. Think “Point That Thing” live, versus a nice, well-behaved “End of My Dream.”  

“CR Model” is, if anything, even more fuzz-crusted and frantic than “Julie K,” its soft, slanting vocals skittering uneasily over a roiling bed of clash and distortion. It also gets two airings, and the second is even more viciously serrated than the first.

A few of the songs that T54 tries out live in the studio appeared a couple of years later on the band’s sole Flying Nun record, In Brush Park from 2013. “Oh Nina” saunters fuzzy and unstrung through lyrical banks of jangling haze, a reasonable precursor for the Salad Boys sound that would emerge a few years later. “Life Is Swell,” too, has a noddy, hypnotic lilt to it, the drums gathering for a thundering gallop under fragile vocal melody.

The demos are, on balance, less concerned with song structure and more interested in sonics. “Le Snack” hazards some wild, spiraling guitar experiments. “House Music” is definitely not house music, in the Chicago dance sense, but a twitchy, narcotic exploration of two-note guitar licks and drifting abstract vocals.  

In Brush Park got a bit more attention than Drone Attacks, given its Flying Nun association, but even so, outside of New Zealand, most people missed T54. This expanded version of the debut EP is a fine way to catch up, and well worth your time if you like the harsher, dronier sounds of Bailter Space and Sonic Youth.

Jennifer Kelly

#t54 #drone attacks #ally #jennifer kelly #albumreview #dusted magazine #new zealand #drone #jangle #salad boys #the clean #bailter space

[nudesnoises]

#alternative #noise #noise rock #bailter space #bailterspace #Bandcamp

[spilladabalia]

Bailter Space - Wasn't The First Time

#bailter space #wasn't the first time #alister parker #john halvorsen #brent maclachlan #noise rock #concret #2020 #Youtube

[syrupyevenings]

#bailter space #music

[cerebremancer420]

bailter space

#bailter space #return to zero

[daggerzine]

My 10 favorite bands on Flying Nun Records! (circa 1980's)

the chills

the bats

the clean

look blue go purple

able tasmans

snapper

straightjacket fits

bird nest roys

the verlaines

bailter space

[rastronomicals]

11:25 PM EST January 30, 2024:

Bailter Space - "Your Invisible Life" From the album Tanker (1988)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under: Southern (Hemispheric) Youth

--

#Bailter Space #Tanker #Your Invisible Life

[bandcampsnoop]

10/23/23.

The Lewers is a supergroup made up of members of Orion, Diat, Itchy Bugger and Rapid Dye (two of those bands - Diat and Itchy Bugger - have been covered here). Some of the members are German, but this is being released on Australian label Lulu's Sonic Disc Club (Melbourne, Australia).

The Lewers sound nothing like either Diat or Itchy Bugger. This sounds like an amazing cross between Bailter Space, Exek, and The Clean. In fact, the Bandcamp write-up states, "the instruments weave in and out before building to an anti-climax and transforming into a washed out lament that wouldn’t be out of place on NZ’s legendary Xpressway label."

#The Lewers #Lulu's Sonic Disc Club #Melbourne #Australia #Germany #Exek #The Clean #Bailter Space #Orion #Diat #Itchy Bugger #Rapid Dye #Xpressway #Bandcamp

[gotankgo]

Bailter Space “Remain”

• Robot World (1993)

#Bailter Space #audio #music

[omegaremix]

Omega Radio for February 14, 2015; #77.

Diet Cig “Harvard”

Dum Dum Girls “Bhang Bhang, I’m a Burnout”

Pop.1280“Do The Anglefish”

TV Casualty “Children In Heat”

Restorations“Separate Songs”

Cribs, The “We Were Aborted”

Bailter Space “Get Lost”

PC Worship “It’s My Name”

FF “Caught In A Dream”

Women In Prison “Circles & Circles”

Former Ghosts “The Days Will Get Long Again”

Anthroprophh & Big Naturals “Establishment In Decline”

Silver Daggers “Not Spoiled By Modernity”

Criminal Code “Hollowed”

Eric Copeland “Grapes”

Sex Worker “Rhythm Of The Night”

Cassie Ramone “I’m A Freak”

Classic House “Larque #3”

Beech Creeps “Son Of Sud”

Fortune Howl “Standing Over Me”

Pup “Reservoir”

Courtney Barnett “Pedestrian At Best”

Cramps, The “New Kick”

Crass “Time Out”

LA Vampires “What Is Woman? Magnetic”

Teen Suicide “Original Same Things In Dreams” (demo)

Nisenenmondai “Souzousuru Neji”

Raveonettes, The “A Hell Below”

AIDS Wolf “Nothing But A Tape Recorder”

Heads, The & Big Naturals “Electronic Harvest”

Big Naturals “Krautpunk”

Nisennenmondai “富士の山 (Fuji Mountain)”

Tyondai Braxton “(A Sentence Worth A Thousand Words) Great Mass”

Drunk In Hell “Gag”

Dual Action “NC-17 Drive In”

Deluxe Valentine's Day broadcast. Non-Valentine's music including experimental sounds, garage, noise, and indie.

#omega #playlists #music #mixtapes #indie #experimental #garage #noise

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

The Clean - Live in Dunedin 1982

We've been losing great musicians at a painfully steady clip over the past couple weeks — Christine McVie, Angelo Badalamenti, and most wrenchingly Clean co-founder Hamish Kilgour. The outpouring of love and admiration for Hamish since the tragic news broke shows what a positive impact he had on so many people.

Robert Scott: “He was the yin and the yang, the sturm and the drang, the bucket, the glue, the whole shebang.”

I always kind of loved that even though they were one of the greatest rock bands of all time, the Clean rejected most of the trappings of careerism, disappearing for years at a time, staying off of the treadmill for the most part. I think I heard Hamish say in an interview that they were "the band without a plan." Of course, that kind of dedication to music/art/creativity above all else comes with its fair share of difficulties; you always hope that musicians of that ilk are able to carve out a life for themselves somehow. Even though he was obviously struggling, I'm grateful that Hamish shared what he could while he could.

And of course, the wondrous sounds he made with the Clean, with Bailter Space, with the Mad Scene, with Tiny Ruins, solo and with many many other bands live on. And it's literally impossible not to feel better listening to the Clean, whose music is as life-affirming as it comes. For a limited-time treat, dig into this rare audience tape of the band right towards the end of their first run. Lo-fi for sure, but absolutely beautiful. That Dunedin Sound, ringing out for eternity.

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#the clean