NZ singles

Rip It Up, Issue 241, 1 September 1997, Page 33

NZ singles

LOSTTRIBE Summer In The Winter CD Single (Urban Pacifika) Mai FM will most likely eat up the opening, designed-for-radio mix of ‘Summer...’ (that features Moizna), as it has that slick, laidback, easily digestible (ie. bland) swingbeat groove that so many Top 40 USA R&B groups are fond of. That said, Mai could be ‘scared off’ by the words ‘Samoa’ and ‘Aotearoa’ — ‘too hardcore and offensive, bro.’ More true to its roots is the funky phylpcyde video version of ‘Summer...’, that with its bed of scratching, staunch backbeat, and soulful rapping, sounds like a totally different song. Also making an impact is the groove laden Bu-nGa mix, featuring AKA Brown on lead rap. Ignore the lead track and you get the real deal, for it’s when Losttribe aren’t pandering to commercial radio that they truly succeed. THE NEW LOUNGEHEAD Cloth CD Single (Deepgrooves) Honestly, having seen them live on several occasions, I’m still waiting to discover why all the fuss about the New Lounge Head. The most appealing element of ‘Cloth’ is the intermittent soulful strains of Sulata, otherwise the moody, ‘aren’t-we-clever’ jazzy backing seems an all-out attempt at achieving sophistication and little else. There’s no funkiness to the rhythm section — certainly not in the down ‘n’ dirty sense of the word — and to these ears, an overall vibe of inner city style over substance. The ambient dub track, 'The Cradle Below’ (recorded live in Shadows Bar at Auckland Uni), boasts some tasty percussive touches, and in a blunted frame of mind its repetitive beat would be well suited. To close comes the mellow jazzy groove, ‘Seismic Lullaby’, that does zero to draw attention to itself. The New Lounge Head are indeed unique in make-up within the local scene, but that by itself, doesn’t make a band interesting.

DANCING AZIANS Elevator CD Single (Antenna) Hastings-born outfit the Dancing Azians walked away with the top prize at the 1995 Smokefree Rockquest final, and for the most part they’re still living in Rockquest land where most bands believe a song is something that consists of linked guitar riffs, and not melodies. With an identical drum sound (heavily reverbed) beneath all four tracks, the Dancing Azians leap from the pop metal of ‘Smile’, to the sinister metal of ‘Mindtime’, then shift gears for the grunge metal choruses of ‘Elevator #1 ’, and wind up with a flurry of lite-metal power chords on ‘Suspicious’. While they’ve chosen themes and styles that are obviously to their liking, the Dancing Azians are essentially indistinguishable from the dozens of tuneless, white-male dominated guitar bands that enter the Rockquest competition every year. BACONFOOT Live From Russia Seven Inch EP (Kato) Baconfoot’s contents is two parts Date and Tom from Head Like A Hole, and one part Craig of Scote. The six growlers on the Live From Russia EP displays them at the height of their 10-tech shambolic

glory, from the garage punk of ‘Punk Rockers’, to the snotty funk of 'Meathead’, and with plenty of Jon Spencerisims laid bare on their sleeves. Write to PO Box 11 672, Manners Street, Wellington. SKIN MACHINE Skin Machine CD EP (Rugge"d)fl©Bß©fl SHYLOCK Pound CD EP (Rugged) With a York Street-recorded EP each, Whangarei bands Skin Machine and Shylock are hoping to lift Northland music out of, ‘‘the netherworld.” Skin Machine’s late 80s-styled, hard edged rock/pop recalls moments of Inxs (‘Light Switch’) and Winger (‘Mrs Bia Bia’s Pussy’ — it’s about a cat), while the power ballad ‘Comfy Chair’ would sit alongside any USA AOR fare on Hauraki. Shylock, on the other hand, take a more direct approach to rockin’ out — fuck the melody! Shylock deliver frenzied , metal riffs, solid but groove-free drum patterns, and dramatic (occasionally bordering on hysterical) chest-pounding vocals, flavoured with shades of early Soundgarden, Korn, and Helmet. Both EPs are derivative as hell, and formulaic to the extreme, but that' only means that Skin Machine and Shylock have a lot of company in the world of ‘modern rock’. Write to 24 Memorial Drive, Whangarei.

JOHN RUSSELL