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Pictures from some recent gigs we've hosted:

29 March 2013 - Brixton, London

Viv Albertine, VuVuVultures, Left Leg, Mickey Gloss, Big Wave, No Cars, Arthur Gunn, Simon Love (Pictures)

8 March 2013 - Lexington, London

R.Ring, Golden Grrrls, Slushy Guts and Equinox (Pictures)

On Our iPod

Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold (album)

Hard Skin - Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear (album)

Black Angels - Indigo Meadow (album)

Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin (album)

R Ring - Fallout and Fire 7”

Royal Headache - self-titled (album)

The Mariner’s Children - Sycamore EP

Can’s Ege Bamyasi played by Stephen Malkmus and Friends(album)

The Fall - Sir William Wray 7"

Lord Huron - Lonesome Dreams (album)

Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds - Conjure Man 7”

Lightning Bolt - Oblivion Hunter

Robyn Hitchcock - There Goes The Ice (2x 12")

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Album Review

The Pin Group
Ambivalence Flying Nun Records

Article written by Ged M - Aug 30, 2012

Christchurch band The Pin Group were FN001 (‘Ambivalence’, backed with ‘Columbia’) - the first 7” on Roger Shepherd’s Flying Nun label. The single was released in 1981 and lit the fuse for an explosion of great New Zealand independent music in the 80s and 90s. This compilation collects the releases of this short-lived band (two 7”s, a 12” and reunion single), and adds a superb live show from 1981 (a rare thing; their live career was even shorter than their recorded one) - and it’s all high quality stuff. The band, led by Roy Montgomery (later an experimental avant/folk songwriter), has the rhythmic turbulence of the Velvet Underground and Joy Division (the latter especially vocally), while later songs reflect the shimmery jangle that Flying Nun is famous for. You can hear how they develop their sound from the sludgy, introspective original of ‘Ambivalence’ to ‘Ambivalence 2’, which has jangly guitars and is quite Bats-like. ‘When I Tell You’ is the killer though, a VU-inspired brooding guitar monster that pisses painful darkness. And on top of that there’s a psychedelic version of Red Crayola’s ‘Hurricane Fighter Plane’ and a throbbing run through of War’s ‘Low Rider’.

Though it’s available on CD, the best format is 12” vinyl (with free MP3s) for the cover alone, which is a superb black-on-black picture by Ronnie van Hout, as art-gallery good as some of the seminal 60s albums he was clearly inspired by. This is a great reissue of Southern Hemisphere pop that still sounds essential thirty years on.

Links:
http://flyingnun.bandcamp.com/
http://www.flyingnun.co.nz/artist/55/show_group