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...Of New Zealand's Alternative Music Scene. Gatefold triple LP version. ...Of New Zealand's Alternative Music Scene. Morr Music presents a compilation paying tribute to the great, highly-influential New Zealand indie-pop bands of the 1980s, whose steadfast DIY aesthetic paved the way internationally for the future development of all modern indie bands to follow. In New Zealand, the archetype of what was called indie-pop was established. Labels such as Flying Nun, Xpressway, IMD and Corpus Hermeticum rose up in response to punk, and bands such as The Clean, The Chills and Tall Dwarfs helped forge what would be called the "Dunedin Sound," characterized by jangly guitar, straight-ahead bass lines and no-nonsense drums. Because of New Zealand's isolation, new music from the UK and U.S. only trickled in sometimes years after the fact, and out of the earnest desire of a passionate few to create an autonomous Kiwi scene (and the disinterest of overseas major labels), punk, pop, etc., was born in garages and pressed on screen-printed 7"s out of ingenuity and necessity. Everyone knew each other, everyone played in each other's bands, and everyone was influenced by each other's sound -- simple, lo-fi, untouched and singular, and completely apart from the rest of the world. There was promise in songs like "Not Given Lightly" by legendary scenester and The Enemy and Toy Love founding member, Chris Knox or "Pink Frost" by The Chills, and it was eventually heard by compatriots in the U.S. -- Pavement, Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth referred to New Zealand's alternative music scene directly. In Germany, artists as well as heads of labels adapted a similar DIY model. Markus Acher, who is part of this compilation with Lali Puna, played together with Graeme Jefferies (Nocturnal Projections, This Kind Of Punishment, The Cakekitchen). Suddenly, lo-fi was everywhere. The Morr Music label would not have been thinkable without this DIY-idea. Not Given Lightly features modern-day reinterpretations of seminal tracks from Jean Paul Sartre Experience, The Chills, The Verlaines, Tall Dwarfs, Chris Knox, The Bats, Graeme Jeffries, The Clean, Peter Jefferies, Robert Scott, and David Kilgour, played by Lali Puna, People Press Play, Tarwater, It's A Musical, B.Fleischmann, The Go Find, Guther, The Wooden Birds, Butcher The Bar, Sin Fang Bous, Borko, Masha Qrella, Saroos, American Analog Set, Bobby & Blumm, Contriva, Isan, and Electric President. Other artists include: Benni Hemm Hemm, Radical Face, Seabear, Surf City, Seafault, and Populous.
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