The Clean - Selected Discography

Today is Tuesday and this week is going to be a theme week: Flying Nun and prominent NZ bands. After 30 years, The Clean are starting to get the recognition they deserve. A lot of modern bands are quoting them as influences (my old Roommates in LA, the up and coming band, The Soft Pack, being just one who appreciates, takes certain styles, and sometimes even covers their songs during sets). I've been meaning to write about these fellas for a while now, because alongside the Chills, and a few other Flying Nun acts, were really important in the underground Kiwi music scene during the 80's. Their debut release, the Tally Ho! single, was in fact the second record put out by Flying Nun, and played a major part in getting the gears turning for a unique style of pop that was entirely separate from what was going on elsewhere in the world. The most notable aspect of their early sound was the use of the the organ to create the main melodies in songs such as "Tally Ho!," "Whatever I do is Right," "Slug Song," and "Beatnik" with simple pop punk chord progressions backing them, as opposed to other bands of the era using the organ or keyboard to merely compliment the guitars and other more widely relied on instruments. This wasn't always the case such as songs like "Anything could Happen," "Point that Thing Somewhere Else" and a myriad of other guitar/bass/drum tracks, but organ was a instrument they did rely on quite occasionally at the forefront of their music. Definitively one of the best and most consistent pop bands to come out New Zealand, making music for the past 30 years, with their last album being released in 2009. Collection includes their early singles, early EPs, a live album, and a few anthologies, which are a great introduction to the band if you haven't heard them before.

What's included:

Tally Ho! (7" single, 1981)
Boodle Boodle Boodle (12" EP, 1981)
Getting Older (7" EP, 1982)
Great Sounds Great, Good Sounds Good, So-so Sounds So-so, Bad Sounds Bad, Rotten Sounds Rotten!! (12'' EP, 1982)
The Clean Compilation 1981-1982 (1985)
Live Dead Clean 1981-1982 (12" EP, 1986)
Anthology (2003)
Bonus album: David Kilgour - Sugar Mouth (1994)

Note: They have a plethora of other albums throughout the late 80s, 90s, and 2000s, but I chose to cherry pick the material they put out at their prime. If anyone would like to request some of their later albums, I'd gladly upload those as well, but disc 2 of Anthology does a pretty good job choosing the best from the mid 80's to the early 2000's.

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Martin Phillipps - Sketch Book: Volume One (2000)

Keeping with the tape trend, these are the home recordings of New Zealand pop lapidary, Martin Phillipps of the Chills. This is a very intimate work. Although the production quality is incredibly lo-fi and even shaky at times, the songs themselves are atmospheric and resonate with a certain campfire warmth and glow which really draws you into them. Despite these being rough sketches for Phillipps to show to his band mates to give them an idea of the sound he was going for, outside of a few brief instrumentals (which come off more as pieces of unfinished demos but still manage to be interesting), most the songs stand strong on their own, and I personally prefer the lack of a "decent" production. The song writing is simple enough, although layered adequately, constructed with electric guitars, synths, organs, and various other instruments over a drum machine. "Haunt Me" is a truly heart wrenching ballad and ranks up there on my list of all time favorite songs. Phillipps also plays the part of a storyteller with the tragedy of "Carabela," drawing sympathy for his character with his affecting narrative and tense musical complements. This album is quite different from what'd you expect from a Chills record. It's not as fully realized, but there's a definite affinity developed between the tape hiss and the general organic nature of bedroom recording, and this is a perfect example of the appeals of this type of production.

Rating: 8.5/10

DOWNLOAD [re-upped]: http://www.mediafire.com/?u9o25g8a1ubp1oh