Arch Hill - NZ's last bastion of great indie

Y'all should check out Arch Hill records, a great NZ label. They've posted a free compilation which gives a great overview:

http://archhillrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/arch-hill-recordings-10th-anniversary-album

While I think The Bats have passed their sell-by date and The Clean are hit-and-miss on their latest (though the hits are great!), Don McGlashen (ex-Mutton Birds) continues to make amazing music and young bands like Surf City, Pine and Punches are keeping the old Flying Nun tradition alive.

Ugh

Street Chant Rules. Are they with Arch Hill?

surf city track is v good if a little self-conscious about its influences

hmm other than that, the mestar track and the last 3 tks are not bad, but the rest is really not the sort of music i want to be hearing.

Anyway. I haven't heard it all but I think a lot of the stuff on here is kind of like pale (mauve) imitations of F.Nun. I like Bachelorette though and if Street Chnat IS with Arch Hill then that would be a good step in the right direction.

Well, yeah, it ain't all gold but I thought there was some nifty stuff here. Frankly I was hoping someone would've chimed in with "You're wrong, such-and-such label is putting out the best stuff in NZ".

that would be nice. the nz bands i've dug the most in the last couple of years have either been on major labels or on non-nz labels...

now that FN is back in the hands of shepherd, could it return to former glories??

now that FN is back in the hands of shepherd, could it return to former glories??

That's a fervent hope of mine. At the very least let's hope he starts reissuing long-lost vinyl stuff!

reissuing long-lost vinyl stuff!

I've been told by a friend who used to work for FN here in Auckland that this isn't that likely.

no one really knows who owns what. few contracts were signed back in the days so there's all sorts of legal obligations which may mean this never happens..

Arch Hill is largely fairly terrible alt-country or um solo albums from "heritage" indie people; I know Bachelorette got away from them pretty swiftly after they lost a whole lot of copies of her EP (didn't bring more than a handful of copies to the Auckland launch, from memory) and I'm still baffled Mean Street - er, Street Chant - signed with them.

New on Flying Nun = Die! Die! Die! & Grayson Gilmour, from memory.

Sadly nobody's really started up a non-noise indie label-as-label in NZ in recent years - it's all labels to release yr own material. Since Arch Hill, there's been ... Lil' Chief?

New on Flying Nun = Die! Die! Die!

not a bad start

Yes. I was kind of disappointed that Street Chant didn't go with F.Nun if they have indeed signed with Arch Hill. Who else could F.Nun sign? Brains and / or Wilberforces seem like a natural fit.

I admit I still love the heritage acts: Kilgour, McGlashen, Clarkson still make music I want to hear. But Surf City, Punches and even Ghostplane to a lesser extent have been filling a void for me.

Agreed on Die Die Die, lurv their output so far. Curious to see where they go with their style...

Are Die! Die! Die! on the new FN? (and did they really name themselves after the font?) Kind of got bored of their Shellac by numbers stuff a while ago tbh, no idea what they sound like now but.
The Heritage acts make me want to puke. Esp. McGlashan (kids have a grunge band, worked with Hollie Smith, Front Lawn etc)

I reckon FN will just make alot of "archival" stuff available as download, would make a lot of sense $ wise. There is always going to be the issues of contracts etc though, WMG were pretty quick to take down FN stuff off Youtube etc.

Anybody heard the Grayson Gilmour yet?

Gotta say, the new Street Chant and Surf City albums are frickin' FANTASTIC. Fuzzy, propulsive guitar rock with dark undertones. Mmmmm...

the Surf City album is indeed great