Tapes

Rip It Up, Issue 136, 1 November 1988, Page 32

Tapes

VARIOUS NZ ARTISTS An Interesting Matter (Loaded) Loaded Tapes is the latest step on The Beads' road to world domination. This compilation presents a good selection of the label's bands, from the authentic garage grunge of the Osterburgs to the semi-acoustic avant-garde of Perkin's Mauve. All the songs were recorded on a Fostex four-track, with the exceptions of Skeletal Froth, recorded at BFM, and Silver Dream Rocket, captured live at Knox Hall. This band has since mutated into a multi-coloured ten-piece named Weta-A-Go-Go. The highlight of this tape comes from the classic love triangle of boy, guitar and drum machine. 'Repo Man' by Captain Racket! and the Dream Machine is a raw piece of junk art in the spirit of its cinematic namesake. An Interesting Matter'mdeed; a wide-ranging factory sampler promising an extremely bright future. MATTHEW HYLAND

LOUDLOUNGE Nine Songs (Loaded) Formerly the Big Bad Bastid Band, this Auckland three-piece are not so much loud as relentlessly inventive, with each of the nine songs sounding quite distinctive. Among the highlights are 'Long Way', a witty perspective on not doing the shopping, and 'Sandcastles', a vaguely industrial song featuring two guitars and no bass. The dark forces that have thus far kept the group out of more sophisticated studios must be curbed at once, as the low budegt recording of this tape, while clear enough, doesn't really do justice to the quality of the songs. Until the 48-track megamix hits the shop floor, though, this collection of infectious pop observations will do nicely, thank you. MATTHEW HYLAND