Author Archives: Fraserhead

If 2011 was a culinary experience it was a shit sandwich.

For us anyway in Christchurch, New Zealand.

We thought we were doing quite well recovering from the big September 2010 earthquake and then the bigger February 22 earthquake hit. Hundreds of lives were lost, entire suburbs were rendered uninhabitable, and many people’s lives are in limbo while the recovery is being planned. I will be forever grateful that none of my family or friends were killed. A miracle really.

And then the June 13 aftershocks hit and then the December 23 aftershocks.

It’s like being served a shit sandwich and then being made to eat the leftovers every several months.

On a purely selfish note, many of my favourite shops, cafes, and music venues were destroyed. RIP places like the RDU studios, most of High Street, Galaxy Records, The Dux de Lux, Goodbye Blue Monday, The Media Club, and The Wunderbar.

But out of this disaster comes opportunity and creativity.

C1 and Alice in Videoland aim to reopen in the CBD early in 2012. James Scott reopened Embassy, Stencil, and SOS in Sydenham. Dave Imlay reopened Galaxy Records in St Asaph Street next door to the truly wonderful post-EQ Darkroom / The Archive. Kudos to these peeps for having the guts to stay and tough it out. Thank you for helping rebuild Christchurch from the ground up.

For much of 2011 music has been the last thing on my mind. I think I hardly listened to any music for several months after 22 February. Too mentally exhausted. And I never expected to hear any local music again in 2011, but as usual how wrong I was. Music and art may seem like a trivial luxury in these hard times but they are the things that will lift the spirits and help us feel optimistic about the future.

Andrew Dubber recently took a dig at music journalists decrying 2011 as a boring year in music in his blog Music journalism is the new boring. When I look back at 2011 I’m quite surprised how much music I ended up listening to and really enjoyed. And a lot of it is from Christchurch and New Zealand. All you’ve got to do is look in the right place.

So thank you to all the artists who contacted us through the year (via post, email, Facebook, and Twitter) and also to Chris Andrews of The Big City who put me on to some good local shit and RDU’s Bill Bird who never let earthquakes get in the way of good radio.

If you’re wanting a round up of 2011, here’s where to start…

Mulchzoid - http://mulchzoid.bandcamp.com/

Mmdelai - http://mmdelai.bandcamp.com/

Psych Tigers - http://psychtigers.bandcamp.com/

Spelunks (aka James Grant) - http://sleepoutrecordings.bandcamp.com/

Saturations (aka Blair Parkes) - http://saturations.bandcamp.com/

Doctors – http://doctors.bandcamp.com/

Ipswich - http://ipswich.bandcamp.com/

Dub Asylum – http://dubasylum.bandcamp.com/

Beastwars - http://beastwars.bandcamp.com/

Kerretta - http://kerretta.bandcamp.com/

“Sounding at odd times like a flying nun on drugs, a New Zealand punk rock garage band, or a psychotic turnbuckle gone AWOL, they can be jangly, grungy, or snot-nosed . . . very alternative pop.”
RAD magazine, November 1989

Our good buddy Peter McLennan) aka Dub Ayslum and former member of the Hallelujah Picassos) gave us the good news this week that the new retrospective Hallelujah Picassos album “Rewind the Hateman” is out now. Have a listen below.

First time I ever heard the Hallelujah Picassos was in 1989 on UFM (formerly Radio U and now RDU) with their track “Clap your hands”. Loved it so much I went out and bought the Pagan Records “Positive Vibrations” compilation.

At the time, with a lyric like “…clap your hands for Jesus…” I did wonder if they were a Christian band trying to put the “fun” back into “Christian Fundamentalism”, but a closer listen to the lyrics revealed that they probably weren’t.

The Hallelujah Picassos were active from 1988 through to 1996, and like contemporaries Salmonella Dub, Supergroove, and Head Like A Hole amongst others, brought some much needed colour to the local music scene.

I loved the Picassos because they crossed genres (garage, pop, reggae, dub), could be light and dark, and sounded like they were having a blast.

“Rewind the Hatemen” (the remastered 1993 album “Hateman in Love”) still sounds quite fresh. “Black Space Picasso Core” is still nutty sampledelic, “Bastardiser” still garage rocks, “Hello Pablo” still has sweet melodica action, and “Shivers” is still The Bats / Able Tasmans collaboration that never happened.

Here’s the track that (sort of) started it all…

More info:

• picassocore.blogspot.com
• Dub Asylum: Who were the Hallelujah Picassos?
• Wikipedia: Hallelujah Picassos
• Bandcamp: Hallelujah Picassos