NEW ZEALAND

Rip It Up, Issue 212, 1 April 1995, Page 33

NEW ZEALAND

JAN HELLRIEGEL Manic (Is A State Of Mind) CD Single (Warners)

‘Manic’ is the type of menacing, pop chiller you can just imagine will be awesome live. The voice belonging to Jan Hellriegel has never sounded more full-bodied and in control. If the 12 songs on the forthcoming album Tremble are all of this class, it’s going to be a stunner.

DEAD FLOWERS Same Same CD Single (Wildside)

A personal favourite from the Dead Flowers’ second album Sweetfish, ‘Same Same’ is an epic pop track with a long fuse. Strung together with a simple but effective piano line, it chugs along with crashing choruses that drop midway through into a soaring guitar solo. Clever pop made to sound easy. Tracks two, three and four are acoustic renditions, recorded at York Street Studio for a bFM live-to-air. There’s a beautiful, raw version of the always awesome ‘Plastic’. ‘Home’ is transformed into a slow, reggae jam, and the punkish ‘What Do You Take Me For?’ gets an odd Mexican once-over, courtesy of Riqi Hadfield’s ad-libs. The jury’s still out on that one.

SHIHAD You Again CD Single (Wildside)

The opening track on Shihad’s forthcoming album Killjoy is an ominous, brooding monster. ‘You Again’ smashes and breaks into a mixture of explosive shards of angular bass and guitar, all laid under a series of sinister vocal interludes. ‘NIL’ provokes the opposite of a peaceful, easy feeling — using edgy, repetitive riffs to slowly drill its way into your head. Not at all pleasant. Shihad stay faithful to the Bowie/Eno tune ‘Boys Keep Swinging’, it bounces along just fine on Karl Kippenberger’s jolly bass line, and is the closest they’ll ever come to a party tune.

UPPER HUTT POSSE As The Blind See CD Single (Tangata/BMG)

Dean Hapeta, the man behind ‘Do It Like This’, ‘Against The Flow’ and ‘Ragga Girls’, is back with another Posse classic. ‘As The Blind See’ cruises by on a thick, slick, funky bass line and a clever, swirling slice of Hammond organ . Track three, the stuttering ‘Wise Up’, works brilliantly live, but on record sounds thin in the bottom-end department.

URBAN DISTURBANCE Robert Jane CD Single (Deepgrooves)

First up, ‘Robert Jane’ has the best cover art-

work ever seen on a Deepgrooves release — congrats to Oli Green. The song itself has immediate impact with a basic 4/4 drum pattern layed beneath the dreamy guitar track from Bob Dylan’s ‘Buckets Of Rain’.

While a clarinet twists its way in and out of the mix, Zhayne and Ollie rap tongue-in-cheek, about what I’m still not exactly sure. Superb. The funk-lite feel of ‘For Real’ flows into ‘Whack MC’, a tough sounding track featuring the sharp rhyme skills of Sonny Sagala (ex-Pacifican Descendants). The closer is the too-long-by-far ‘Listen’.

OTARA MILLIONAIRES CLUB We R The OMC (Remix) CD Single (Volition)

Originally on the Proud compilation, ‘We R The OMC’ gets the remix treatment four times here; twice by the Australian production team Boxcar, the heavy funk of ‘Remix Radio Edit’ being the top choice, while mixes three and four are handled by Proud producer Alan Jansson. The main appeal of the song still remains the rapping of Backstab and Payback and, in all honesty, the original version is all you need.

GRACE Desert Moon CD Single (Deepgrooves)

The choice of ‘Desert Moon’ as a single will easily please programme directors at the easy-listen-ing stations that playlist Grace. It’s nice and polite in a Cadbury Flake ad kind of way, but is not my choice. The second tune, the grand ‘Soldier Boy’, is a tension-filled, atmospheric epic, complete with intricate marching band drumming from Luke Casey.

KNIGHTSHADE Television Eyes Cassingle (Hark)

Knightshade’s first single in years is a very dated, blues influenced, fast-tempo rocker. This is nothing that hasn’t been heard a squillion times before. Its single saving grace is the fine voice of Wayne Elliot. The B-side is the 1995 remix of the likeable ‘Physical You’, Knightshade’s ode to getting your leg over with no strings attached.

THE BRAINCHILDS Thinking About You CD Single (Jayrem)

Groan. This sound could only take shape in the theatres and cafes of Wellington. Basically, intellectuals desperate to give pop music a go. JOHN RUSSELL