NEW ZEALAND

Rip It Up, Issue 181, 1 August 1992, Page 21

NEW ZEALAND

BAILTER SPACE The Aim (Flying Nun EP) The infinite and ineffable imbecility (copyright Ezra Pound, 1917) of major label “alternative” departments is an a priori scientific fact, but it looks like just for once the sad little men in the big high building have got their shit together, because rumour more or less insists that Bailter Space are about to take over the English-speaking world and America as well. So this must be some sort of parting gift: a four song EP . sumptuously packaged in a luminous blue photograph by John Halvorsen. .‘The Aim’ is a re-write of 'Our Aim’ from Nelsh Bailter Space, ‘Shine’ sees spectral samples infilterating the usual heavenly host of , guitars, and ‘We Know’ and ‘Unseen’ exude the same abstract-political rage that powered ‘The State’on Thermos. Send them victorious et cetera . . . ■ MATTHEW HYLAND

3DS ♦ ’ •" ‘ Outer Space/Baby’s On Fire (Flying Nun) All the elements that make the 3Ds wonderful are rolled into one perfect pop song — big, bad guitars with a carousel lead line over the top, sing-song verses and a huge chorus, and dumb/fun lyrics. Some have said that this sounds like the Pixies, and maybe it does, but this is so much more alive, good humoured and real. Look out Black Francis. The B-side’s cover of Brian Eno’s ‘Baby’s On Fire’ almost doesn’t include the 3D s trademarks — the guitars sit back as D Roughan’s voice rides ■ atop a driving bass and drums beat, providing the song’s melodic through-line. The guitars are briefly unleashed, before they’re pushed back — it’s the restraint, the suggsted wildness, that makes this so cool. JONATHAN KING THESE WILDING WAYS Set Love A Sail (Tall Poppy) . Three tracks, the title one could be These Wilding Ways answer to Rod’s ‘Sailing’. Well, it’s not that good but it’s pretty and limpid. ‘Carousel’ kicks off with a Jesus Jones type busy beginning but soon kicks back (rather than butt), as does ‘Precious Thing’. Well crafted, sincerely sung and all that jazz. - - s . , DONNA YUZWALK STRAITJACKET FITS Done The long-awaited new recordings from SJF have followed up on the promise of recent live shows. ‘Done’, a stand-out live, opens the EP, driving guitar line and a vocal line that has Shayne Carter’s voice leaping breath-takingly up and down the scale. ‘Spacing’ keeps up the ‘quiet ' song’ quotient, a big 'un that starts restarined and builds to a big end. ‘Solid’ is kinds wierd in a kinda neat way. A mixed-back pretty vocal, over a quietly chaotic base . . . that is given free reign on ‘White Out’ — guitars, reverby explosions and venomous vocals (I). Wild. Andrew Brough’s absence is filled with three times as much guitar, and - Carter’s voice works three times as hard, covering ground that neither had walked before. All through the record the guitars are roaming free, noisy lines weave texture into the songs, over some often subtly preverse drumming. At first it’s hard to relate to this as a Straitjacket Fits recording — it’s certainly not another Life In One Chord EP — you almost feel as if you might have stumbled across demo recordings — just becuase of the freshness of the sound, and adventurous, unselfconcious, un-tidied up singing and guitaring ... an album that follows this path in songs and sounds could be awesome. JONATHAN KING THE EXPONENTS Five Song CD (Polygram) Wow, Jordan Luck looks like Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange on the cover of this special CD (with his signature on the back, yeah, right).' But we know Jordan is really a nice person and he sounds nice here on songs from Something Beginning With C like ‘Who Loves Who . The Most’ and ‘Sink Like A Stone’. . Also, ‘lnteresting Thing’, ‘Close’ and a song called ‘Fuck’ which is not another word for ‘Erotic’. DONNA YUZWALK