For NZ Music Month, we're asking local musicians to tell us about the New Zealand songs they love the most. Today, Christchurch group Wurld Series pick and choose five local classics.
Photo: Supplied
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Alastair Galbraith - As In A Blender
Luke Towart: This song has an eerie joy that is hard to find anywhere else. When I first listened to it I think I stopped whatever I was doing and listened maybe 10 times over. I love how distinct the instruments sound from one another, like they all have their own separate personalities and have just been thrown in a weird room to live together. It's on a compilation album called Seely Girn which I highly recommend.
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Jim Nothing - Fall Back Down
Luke: This song is off a split tape we did with Jim Nothing last year and is probably my favourite song of his. Everything about it is pretty bang on what I'm into with regards to writing a pop song - it strikes a good balance between a kind of no-fucks-given primitive garage and a genuine heartfelt sincerity. A potent brew! Two EPs so far but I'm hanging out for a full-length eventually.
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Terror of the Deep - One In a Zillion (Codeine Rock)
Luke: Everyone in Wurld Series loves the Deep (I admit it we're Deepheads!) and this song is a stone-cold classic. We got to do a little mini-tour of the South Island supporting them late last year and I felt like they were our cool prog-dads. I'm a big fan of extended outros and this one is a goodie.
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The Jean-Paul Sartre Experience - Own Two Feet
Adam Hattaway: When I was about 14, my Dad had a Flying Nun compilation and I soaked that up pretty quick. The track Shadows was included from The Size of Food and I was particularly fond of that number, but Dad told me their first EP was far superior. I listened to that eponymous first EP and totally loved it from start to finish.
Although they’re almost all perfect songs, I’d have to choose this as my number 1. It encompasses all the band’s strengths in the sensitivity of the playing, the velvety guitar tone, the subtlety of the interplay and how unified its sound is. The production of the album is a lovely atmospheric but overall simple sound, and the lyrics in this track correlate with the moodiness of the instruments so well.
I also love the fact that they sing in their own accents - something that New Zealand musicians hadn’t realised was important to their own artistic integrity so much up to this point. They make the accent sound particularly cool, something which doesn’t strike me often with New Zealand music.
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The 3Ds - The Golden Grove
Luke: The 3Ds have probably been the most influential New Zealand band for us I guess - well for me at least. The songs with Denise singing are the best.
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