Winston Watusi Music Plus

I feel a sense of returning to normality with this column – for the past week I've been living with Tall Dwarfs.

To live with Tall Dwarfs – the New Zealand duo of Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate – for any length of time is to enter an alternative lo-fi universe, a world of catchy big bangs and chaotic intelligent design. It is an invigorating place and I feel richer and stranger for this vacation from the ordinary.

Tall Dwarfs was the project Knox and Bathgate embarked upon after a sensational, if ultimately unsuccessful, university tilt at punk-pop stardom with the ground-breaking ‘Toy Love'.

Planned as a one-off, their four-track reel-to-reel recordings – described by Knox as 'two minutes of song followed by five minutes of f****** around” – coincided with the founding of their New Zealand label Flying Nun, and they ended up recording music under the name for the next 21 years, releasing seven EPs and six albums.

Now they have lovingly assembled these into a set called ‘Unravelled: 1981-2002', curated by Bathgate who also designed the rather groovy packaging. It actually came out a month back but I'm running late as usual. It is available as a double CD set or as four LPs, each containing 55 songs and a sampling of distinctive Chris Knox artwork (sorry to all you vinyl lovers who have to pay $200 as opposed to $40 – hope it sounds five times better...).

Stroke

Alec has obviously done the work on this since Chris suffered a stroke in 2009, just as they'd started a new album, which has put him out of action ever since.

And it's as weird and wonderful as you could hope, a collision of catchy melodies – both are fans of The Beatles and ABBA – and extreme creativity. Since the band was largely an excuse for two friends who lived in different cities to get together and hang out, their approach was apparently spontaneous, with songs being recorded as they were written.

Sleeve notes describe the process: Bathgate would work up something on guitar while Knox provided vocals, lyrics and tape loops. Then they added any sounds that seemed necessary to finish a song, using whatever was lying around: pans, chairs, baby rattles...

I love it. It's a brilliant record of two extraordinarily creative people playing, having fun, messing around, showing that making music doesn't have to be a serious and disciplined affair but with the skill and intelligence, and songwriting chops to find the sweet spot between experimentation and order.

And on to upcoming live music. Looking ahead till next weekend, I have two very different slices of New Zealand nostalgia to offer. First though, it's not music, but these guys deserve support...

Coming up...

The group that call themselves Buskers on the Road is hitting the Tauranga Waterfront next Thursday afternoon, October 6, presenting circus routines, juggling, magic, comedy and acrobatics, led by international street performers Zaktakular and Kozo Kaos and featuring local guest acts.

I'm a sucker for street performers. I'm always blown away at how hard these guys work for our pleasure. It's free to attend but do take some cash to show your appreciation.

Then Saturday, October 8, there's some genuine Kiwi nostalgia going down at Totara Street as Garageland celebrate the 25th anniversary of their album ‘Last Exit to Garageland'. Take yourself back to 1996 and an album that NME described as having 'enough catchiness and sonic adrenaline to incite a teenage riot…” The band is promising the whole ‘Last Exit...' album, ‘Comeback Special' EP and then assorted favourites, all with their original 1996 line-up.

And on Sunday, October 9 – more nostalgia! At 5pm at the Citz Club on Cameron Rd the Entertainers Club presents Collision, the legendary seventies Kiwi funk band. Formed in Tokoroa, Collision released one album, in 1978, which the mists of time remember as a lost classic. Now, 40 years later, founding members have re-united along with second and third generation whanau musicians to create a powerhouse 11-piece band. Some may have caught them at last year's jazz festival. They seem to have grown even larger since then and will clearly be sensational. If you have any doubts check out this clip: https://fb.watch/fukpxFdG1c/

Photo: Tall Dwarfs