Dunedin is the site of New Zealand’s first University, Otago Polytechnic and is the second largest city in the South Island. 21% of the city’s population are students of some form or another, there is a higher than average rate of unemployment and there is a female skewed bias in the population. What this means is that there are heaps of young people with time on their hands and a whole bunch of chicks to come to your gigs. I’m no muso-sociologist, but this sounds like the perfect breeding ground for awesome musical groups and a thriving gig scene.
One such recent product of this garden of musical delights is Males, a surf/stoner pop three(ish?) piece who in November last year released their debut LP Run Run Run/MalesMalesMales. The Fishrider records signees know the happy medium between production polish and grit – like a good looking guitar, it needs to have a couple of bruises and colour blemishes but it still needs to sound good. With the majority of songs clocking in at just over 2 minutes long, this is pop music for you kids out there with a short attention span and a taste for interesting sonic textures. The brevity of the songs gives the whole album a schizophrenic feel, with songs taking sharp twists and turns into various choruses, pre-choruses and verses that don’t seem to repeat or return. The first taste is all you get, and if you miss it, you may never hear it again… until you listen to it again, which you will invariably find yourself doing.
Highlights include the gazey Madeline which reminds me of that pop / nu-gaze stuff that came out about seven or eight years ago – think School of Seven Bells meets Silversun Pickups and has a baby, but names the godfather Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. The rest of this album reminds me of Wavves, from the subtle, yet biting six string scuzz on opener Pre Roll to the fact that there is a song on the album called So High. What impresses me most is that the indie music nods here are within the time frame that the band have been alive, All Up From here gives a nod to early Arctic Monkeys while Over And Out is undeniably a rehashed Interpol song. Is it too early for an early 00’s indie revival? As long as we don’t see the White Stripes doing a $300 reunion stadium tour, this writer is all for it.
The band are still in their infancy, and to have a solid LP under their belts at such an early phase is a recipe for a great future from these guys. We’ll keep you posted on what their touring status is – having played shows all around the NZ islands, the next stop will probably have to be over here on our shores. Of course until then, I’ll just leave this link here…
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