Strangelove’s personal inventory of NZ 1980’s odd pop; ‘Kiwi Animals’ recasts the local charts in a parallel universe of misfit melodics, gonzo-tronics & strange waves. Channeling South Pacific voodoo and edge of world melancholia, the album highlights electronic tangents from iconic NZ groups Blam Blam Blam & Headless Chickens. It dredges the cassette revelations of art avante-gardists’ Drone & Kim Blackburn, alongside bittersweet moments from Rupert & Norma O’Malley. There’s the infectious minimal wave of Ballare and a reprised electro-boogie dance suite (?!) from Tom Ludvigson & Graeme Gash. The furthest depths of Flying Nun’s catalog are also plundered- a brilliant earworm from Stiff Herbert and a mysterious “Roger” Knox birthday promo. Mining disparate seams of a local indie label awakening, the various tangents of ‘Kiwi Animals’ congeal with a future/primitive sensibility and an underlying Antipodean mischievousness…
Tracklist:
1. Kim Blackburn – Lizards in love
2. The Kiwi Animal – Woman & Man Have Balance
3. Rupert – Soul Brothers
4. Stiff Herbert – I Could Hit the Ceiling
5. Drone – Nothing Dominant
6. Norma O’Malley – Some Tame Gazelle
7. Headless Chickens – Throwback
8. Blam Blam Blam – Respect
9. Roger Knox – Whole Weird World
10. Tom Ludvigson & Graeme Gash – Uallang Jnr
11. Ballare – Dancing
Format: 12-inch Vinyl LP
Label: Strangelove Music
Catalog: SL105
Released: June 2020
Genre: New Wave / Leftfield / Screwball
