Music scenes don’t just go through their natural peaks and valleys but also change in energy and direction.
4EPs captures on hard copy the current trajectory in a youthful, independent Ōtepoti music scene, featuring musicians aged from 16 to 22 years old who regularly play live gigs at old faithful establishments and booming all-ages venues.
As its name suggests, 4EPs features four bands each with their own sides of a double-vinyl release. The acts are Sivle Talk, Sogg, U-No Juno and Vagina Dry, a refreshing cross-section of alternative music founded in DIY ethos, composed by students of their craft and delivered loudly with attitude and aggression.
There’s no inaccessible arty pretension here, nor street-punk odes to booze and cigarettes. There are, of course, still familiar inspirations. The bands of 4EPs draw on a range of alternative strands — punk rock grounded in the politics and cultural struggles of the day, studious post-punk made in damp bedrooms or the sludgy noise that plays as a soundtrack for the wrong side of the tracks.
There are influences close to home. Auckland band Die! Die! Die!, an oft-cited guiding hand for this generation, has certainly left its mark on Sivle Talk and U-No Juno. Dunedin’s current crop of creative rangatahi have certainly taken up that flavour of 2000s-10s post-punk over the hip electronica or R&B that shared the student radiowaves in the same period. The international influences of American noise rock legends Sonic Youth or British post-punk (from Public Image Ltd to millennial revivals) are also unmistakable. Enthusiasts and punters will be quick to cite the Dunedin Sound too and pay lip service to its inescapable grasp on anything coming out of Ōtepoti.
But the current scene have created something that feels more personal, relevant and honest, rather than a rendition of the last lot.
The bands of 4EPs are blazing new trails. And by publishing on physical media, these bands — which seem to play live gigs at an exhausting frequency — are leaving a literal imprint of those trails.
Sivle Talk. CRYBABY.
Crybaby stands out as 4EPs’ most intriguing side.
Sivle Talk is the one-man project of Tane Cotton, although you’ll find him accompanied by a band at live shows. With its singular creative force — a certified jack of all trades — it is no surprise then that CRYBABY is jammed with personality. Sivle Talk makes the most of multiple instruments to produce walls of sound and distorted vocals, broken up by careful choruses. Its well-crafted production and seamless track transitions create a full sonic narrative. And it doesn’t shy away from poppy hooks, despite its punk foundations.
It’s also really funny and enjoyable. CRYBABY feels cheeky. It plays out with a grin on its face.
Bottom Feeder indulges in off-the-wall lyrics and ironic caricatures — "I’m just a bottom feeder, scum of the earth, and I’m cursed with the burden of empathy". The well-rounded 100 Different People is equally keen to create lyrical characters for its catchy soundscape.
Cotton’s vocals are crowded, distorted and layered. But a very distinct baritone is given the most important moments, at times reminiscent of Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, especially in the sailing vocal melodies of Bottom Feeder and 100 Different People. The final track, Sisterhood, balances this with the energy of a barking punk frontman and chanting gang vocals, proving Sivle Talk a total package.
Sogg. Freezer Thaw.
What a great evocative band name. A winter release is fitting for this band, who deliver the darkest of the four EPs. Title track Freezer Thaw builds brooding intensity, culminating in guitarist and vocalist Ollie Kemmett’s pained, prolonged words of doom.
There’s obvious allusions to bands like the United States’ Big Black and at times the abrasive attitude reminds me of 1990s Kiwi band S.P.U.D.
Like any good sludgy noise, the pregnant silences are just as important as the wall of noise, and Sogg make good use of abrupt quiet-to-loud-to-quiet progression.
The talisman of the EP is Argument, with a catchy and distinct bass line from Noelle Hill and a hair-raising, spiky breakdown.
Rue Tulloch’s frenetic drumming opens Zeitoun, which again makes use of the changes in intensity common to the genre, as Kemmett picks his slower moments to belt out a yelling-talking announcement of sogginess.
U-No Juno. you know?
U-No Juno feel the more hopeful of the four acts. There’s a bit of sunshine — "Stay away from skyscrapers," their crowd-pleasing single Skyscrapers declares — in their songs, which otherwise feel like tales of love and loss.
Bassist and vocalist Ramona Mahutte channels the raw power of Kim Gordon and the sing-song sweetness of Kim Deal in the first track, Frown.
Guitarist Stefan Keller leads the vocals on other tracks. Violent Sweater changes gears to distorted hardcore and deeebeee feels like a good excuse to unleash Jack Ingram’s steady blast of drumming, and play out some catchiness.
The moody vocals of Mahutte and Keller join in unison for Fall Down, a brooding melody that knows when to play on the asymmetry of their two styles.
The final track of you know? is crumbz, a return to the at-their-limit lungs of Keller, his cracking yells adding a heartbreaking quality. It makes even the most pedestrian of lyrics — "my house is on the corner of the street" — feel like a panicked appeal to nostalgia.
Vagina Dry. Vagina Dry
Vagina Dry’s self-titled EP pumps out fast, rolling punk rock for the down-trodden. Firmly standing in the traditions of grunge and riot grrl, vocalist and guitarist El Checkets, bassist Reef Brazendale (by my count, bringing his relentless enthusiasm to about 100 local bands) and drummer Caleb Tulloch put a culture of misogyny and oppression firmly in their sights.
The trio are well in control of this undertaking, too. As the track Victim declares, "I’m not just a victim". They launch short, sharp attacks. The no-frills, bounding punk rock is punctuated by Checkets’ polemical denunciations and more guttural metal-tinged accents.
The energy of Vagina Dry is hard to convey in full through studio recording. What they represent is a massive surge in interest by young folk for loud, live gigs. And all-ages venues — Yours or Pioneer Hall — have allowed this to blossom. They and their comrades regularly pack out these venues, all ages shoving and pogoing around in riotous assembly. But their pointed political message is still heard loud and clear on this record.
Release gig
• The four bands of 4EPs play the Crown Hotel tonight.
Give away
• The Weekend Mix has a copy of 4EPs, in vinyl, to give away. To enter the draw, email your name, address and daytime phone number to odt.features@odt.co.nz.
