Flying Nun Records...Where to begin?
 

So I've noticed a lot of my favorite bands like neutral milk hotel and pavement cite this label as a huge influence but i don't know where to begin. I checked out toy love and really enjoyed it but the whole flying nun roster is overwhelming. what else is really good on the label? I kinda want the more noisy experimental side but im open to anything if its a good song

1995.

If you like the noisy more experimental side, The Dead C providing you are not aware of them are awesome. Eusa Kills which was released on FN is excellent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MVxKyj0wfM

There is also The Gordons who would become Bailter space later on. They released some great noisy post-punk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDKGkWU0lWQ

Then the Axemen who were a lo-fi/noise rock group from Christchurch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv-iM_1h5uA

In terms of songwriting you can't really beat the Clean or the Verlaines who just made great pop music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ8C-ndyFXk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eeuy8PD0bFM

I apologies for the link overload but there really is a huge amount of great stuff on the label.

all brilliant stuff. the latter two were some of the finest pop songwriters around, whereas the first three are just fucking ridiculously good, the dead c being easily one of the finest bands in history. I'd assume they were the impetus for SY's mid-90s creative revival.

also good:
straightjacket fits, wreck small speakers on expensive stereos, bailter space, headless chickens, bilders, the renderers, the skeptics....


this here is an absolute classic. for fans of neu!, spacemen 3, suicide etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epx2J_UZVf4
it's getting a limited vinyl reissue for record store day via captured tracks.

this succinctly encapsulates the beauty of the dead c. it wasn't released on flying nun, but it needs to be posted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbyYzyUPGs8
personal favourites include eusa kills, harsh 70s reality, patience, the damned and new electric music.

Flying Nun put out an amazing compilation last year that was put together by Bruce Russell of the Dead C, it rounds up the more psychedelic moments of 80s Flying Nun, it's called Time To Go, link:
http://flyingnun.bandcamp.com/album/time-to-go

Anywho, my favourite of the Flying Nun bands is The Pin Group. Dead C are amazing but I wouldn't call them a Flying Nun band as only one of their 20 or so albums came out on that label.

that comp looks good, will have to check it out. what I liked about flying nun was that a lot of the bands on their roster could conjure up these beautifully poppy melodies and whatnot but they were tempered by how gloriously rough and psychedelic they were, and in that avoided succumbing to that decidedly twee sound which plagued so much british indie pop at the time.

completely forgot about pin group (never even realised they were on flying nun!) which is stupid as I'm a huge fan of roy's work. forgetting the rip and the stones too.... unforgivable.

I don't consider the dead c to be a flying nun band either, I just take whatever opportunity I can to bring them up because I love them so fucking much.

Captured Tracks apparently will reissue a good chunk of FN's back catalogue soon.

http://pitchfork.com/news/49042-capt...eissue-series/

Yeah, the Captured Tracks deal rules. The Toy Love re-issue is great, I wrote about it on my blog:

http://thedeclarationofmusicalindependence.com/

Yeah, the Captured Tracks deal rules. The Toy Love re-issue is great, I wrote about it on my blog:

http://thedeclarationofmusicalindependence.com/

From what I've been reading on the internet it seems that the Blank Dog man is doing a good job the best he can.

yeah it's awesome!

I've been listening to the compilation of everything Wreck Small Speakers done recently, Michael Morley's band before the Dead C - weird as fuck, and of course not well recorded, but it's well worth a listen for Dead C fans I think.

Pin Group are really great, at first I thought they were a bit too similar to Joy Division but repeated listens blew that out the water, much more to them than that. I think Dadamah, though, is probably my favourite thing that in any way involves Roy Montgomery. http://www.kranky.net/artists/dadamah.html

As for where to begin, the first bands I heard on this label were Bailter Space and The Gordons, although they're not really representative of the "Dunedin Sound" the label is known for. I'd just start with The Clean's Anthology, one of the best fucking things ever.

Oh man - Amalgam is a fucking exellent record!

That Snapper song is amazing too. Great band, this is my favourite by them - hooked me so much when I first heard it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE6DDesbhbs

Many great names mentionend here. One more: This Kind of Punishment. Cat Power covered one of their songs (The Sleepwalker).

the gordons - future shock and first LP. classic shit right there. same with bailter space

Tall Dwarfs Fork Songs is essential.