There's always been a brilliant underground scene in New Zealand for those who care to scrape below the surface. Many an indie fan will be aware of the excellent roster of Flying Nun records who've been providing us with a host of great bands for over thirty years, and continuing their fine work of tickling the country's alternative music underbelly to find more undiscovered gems are Fishrider Records who came into being in the mid 00s. Based in Dunedin, Fishrider specialise in psych, lo-fi and other unpolished guitar-pop exponents. For a taste of their work this year you can download a sampler featuring a brace of songs from three of their latest releases, all they ask in return is you sign up to their mailing list to receive updates. Sound like a ploy to fill your inbox with spam? Fear not. In six years the label has put out just eight records, so you're only looking at a couple of emails a year, and judging by these songs you could be on the way to discovering an untapped mine of decent music that might otherwise pass you buy.
First up are Opposite Sex, a C86-influenced group who make snappy indiepop of the variety that 80s Flying Nun fans will be familiar with. It's alternative pop stripped down to its core components, 'La Rat' in particular being a little bundle of energy that lo-fi lovers will instantly fall for. 'Master/Slave' also owes a debt to 80s indie as it clatters away for three-and-a-half minutes of shouty, high tempo thrills. The Shifting Sands offer up a cleaner sound and one that may be more of an instant hit with people less well versed in this corner of the music world. 'Pixies' is accessible (and sounds nothing like the band Pixies) but still wonderfully simplistic, relying on a decent song rather than studio trickery. The same goes for their other contribution, 'Tonight', which employs some lovely jangly guitars and almost ventures into psychedelic territories. Last but not least are The Puddle who sound willfully DIY, with 'The Vitalist' living on the edge of falling apart at the seams. But like the rest of this sampler it's great fun and full of melody. They wrap things up with 'Decline To Fall', a comparative marathon at over seven minutes long. It's all stuttering beats, occasional violin and organ that owes a debt to Syd Barrett. This neat, pocket sized briefing from down under tells us that all's well on the southern front.
Fishrider Records' website
Stream or download the EP
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