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May 10, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

Five Songs For Friday: 29 – Dunedin 

A big week for Dunedin – for various reasons happy and sad. Shayne Carter’s excellent memoir is on the shelves. The Martin Phillipps and The Chills doco is out and about and worth seeing – but sadly it’s R.I.P Malcolm Black. So some tribute posts to some of my favourite Dunedin songs – or at least songs from artists connected to that city. 

1. Straitjacket Fits, A.P.S.

There’s not much better than Carter on his day – Straitjacket Fits perhaps particularly. And I’ve always had a, erm soft spot, for Melt – I remember a Friday night trip across to Napier from Hastings to buy it, well a friend was buying it. And I thought he was very cool for doing so. That was my introduction to this world. Been a fan every since. 

2. The Chills, Oncoming Day

When I really got hipped to The Chills they’d broken up, reformed, been reworked a few times already and though there were some “comeback” big singles and I loved them it was the earlier work that really seemed so compelling. As it is with so much of the “Dunedin Scene” – it’s about how this music seemed so perfectly formed and yet a little rough around the edges. Always in just the right way. 

3. The Netherworld Dancing Toys, For Today

Some people called them Dunedin’s Midnight Runners – and that seems fair enough all up, even though it was also a little cruel to say that. But everyone will change their tune now and tell you they always loved this song. I sure did. That’s no lie. I wrote about it in my book. And here too. It’s a sound-of-summer song for me. An early coming-of-age soundtrack. Part of the history of the country, part of my history. I’ve always loved it. And I’m sure I alway will. 

4. David Kilgour, You Forget

I love all of the David Kilgour stuff, and anything/everything by The Clean and it was one of the joys of early university life getting to see living legends like Kilgour – then on their second or third trip, music-wise. But this album is special to me. For sure. He’s a mercurial madman. Something so very special in what he does. 

5. Chris Knox, Liberal Backlash Angst

So it was with Chris Knox too – in fact I saw him on my first day at university (Sam Hunt that same week too – probably Kilgour as well I reckon…) What great times. And I saw Knox at as many of his memorable/ramshackle (old) Bodega gigs as I could. He was always great. Sometimes hit talk was shit. Too much. Too silly. But then he’d hit you with a song – something only he could have written, even if he’d borrowed the chords and was hacking down almost nonchalantly. And then there’d be a song so beautiful or harrowing (or both) and there was a real writer’s skill attached to everything he did. And that time I saw him at uni he played this song and he looked really nervous singing the line “fuck the maoris/flush the bastards down the drain” because a couple of maori dudes were right in his sightline – and they gave the bro-brows over their dark shades after he finished the song. A seal of approval. I’m sure I almost saw him wipe his brow. 

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Posted in Blog, Miscellany and tagged with 5, A.P.S., Chris Knox, David Kilgour, Dimmer, Dunedin, Five, Five Songs For A Friday, Five Songs For Friday, Five Songs For Friday:  29 – Dunedin, Five Songs For Friday: 29, For Today, Friday, Liberal Backlash Angst, Malcolm Black, Netherworld Dancing Toys, Oncoming Day, Shayne Carter, Straitjacket Fits, The Chills, The Clean, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, You Forget. RSS 2.0 feed.
« Gig Preview: Chris Cain at Wellington’s Blues Club, Jack Hackett’s, May 28, 2019
Luke Wright – Poet: Reading at Meow, Wellington, Monday, May 13, 2019 »

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