Review for Robo Distaste; (band) New Zealand on Ear (album) Dated 30th
July 2008
Truly a Home Made Milestone
in Alternative NZ Music History.
ACOUSTIC GUITARS, CHICKENS
& FEMALE ALIENS AT THE RIVERTON RACES. A critical review for ROBO
DISTASTE(band) New Zealand
On Ear,(album) by Grand Flash Jones. Inside a tenth month period, a living room band of unknown origin, named
Robo Distaste, have taken the
National download chart by storm. We have all become a push button
culture of instant gratification, “we want it now,” but good things can still
take time. As an alternative to the grey
download button on your computer Robo Distaste and their self released record ‘New Zealand on Ear’ can be purchased direct from the
artists and for that you get your very own little piece of cult history, a
complete cycle of recorded songs, artwork, and an insight into the perplexing
and alienated world of Robo Distaste as Mr Jones investigates...
The CD arrived one day in the mail.
The enigmatic package personally sent from the artists themselves and
delivered courtesy of New Zealand Post to my mail box at the front gate. Return address is noted as somewhere in
Outautau, (Southland). – a town noted
for chickens.
While there may be a tell tale signs of home based business shenanigans
in regards to this product it is fair to say that there is a huge amount of
mystique that surrounds this record. The fact is that it has a ..bootleg leg /
collectors item’ ambiance stamped all about it. As Miles Davis once advised to
his younger peers “Don’t Give too Much Away,” surely then, Robo Distaste are
the masters of this understated approach.
A black question mark hangs in the air, before us inviting us to proceed
further. A little back story is required, but we will get to that later.
So it came in the post wrapped in resplendent white newsprint. Like
sails on the Waitamata harbour on a spring morning. For your troubles you get a
CD R, - 13 tracks plus 5 Bonus tracks: packaging and artwork from hand
assembled artwork and manipulated photography / 1 jewel case. (Price $ 12 (NZ)
Trademe (Buy now) + $ 2:00 Delivered to your door). – As it stands in regards to a home
recording, it is of high production quality and atmosphere. In total a rather
immaculate little product, boasting the savvy title: “New Zealand on Ear,”
- a play on words not lost on this
reviewer – so weary of the state funded branding across all manner of inferior
rock quest product, and hyped by
smartarse music channel presenters signing all gangsta while grimacing at close
quarter studio cameras. Indeed, the
whole industry kit and caboodle is grievously ingenuine, forced tired and
airless. Not so with this record. This is fresh new and original and is utterly
absent of the usual music world suspects. If you were looking for the next new
thing this could well be it.
Least we forget. Music is also a
grass roots phenomena and the advent of home recording has made serious inroads
to representing the “band in a living room” phenomena. But this not strictly a
home recording either. It is something more. Robo Distaste: New Zealand
on Ear, by its sheer determination of will and its startling original
quality, is both disturbingly alien and ground breaking. It sparseness and
authenticity very much constitutes the notion of Original music. Drenched in
its own alternative atmosphere, it speaks of wisdom beyond its years. Cold
Spacey and Atmospheric. There is an airiness and natural reverb quality to this
recording - essentially acoustically derived drum tracks, a female voice, and
close miked guitar work: - aural frameworks and songs that within their
collective repetition induces trance like states in a willing and open
listener, while its brightness and indeed its sparse treatment, boarders on a
frosty hinterland of metallic dreamscape that is both curiously familiar, yet elusive.
In a word, this CD shines and it is refreshingly short of credits and
the usual thank yous,- the only give way is the artists’ online statement about
the ..poet pages’ of Quinton Baker ( lyrics ? ) and the female ..character voice’
of Shona May Alice ( singer ?) and
little else. One falls yet again, against the brick wall of its own mystery. In
total Robo Distaste purvey a product smacking of deep Intelligence, Artistic
Ambition, Literary Aspiration and Illegitimate Underground and avant-garde
status, pretty unusual for a banal pop obsessed world. And most unusual for Southland and its town
known for chickens. But Robo Distaste are very much gaining credentials as a
heavy weight contenders creeping in and out of the Amplifier charts as being in
the top downloads, with their single Yesteryear
had coming as high as No. 4 on the 6th of June and latterly coming
close to …. believe it or not … NO 1 Bro of the month Tiki Taane. This raises
an eyebrow and question in the mind of this reviewer. How the heck does a non
metal, non singer – songwriter, non solo guitar playing chick, non Polynesian,
non Roots, non No 1 shrieking soul sista, non hip hop crew, outfit, essentially
a bland anonymous morose un signed outfit originating from Riverton achieve
such National Status. ? Two words: ..Online Music,’ that, and the independent
sensibilities of a discerning market elsewhere. The genie in this bottle though
is surely the feminine mystique in the voice of Shona May Alice. For all intensive
purposes she may well be the dental nurse to our collective national sub
conscious.
You know if you really think about it we might all suffer from over
stimulation and if you are looking for an aural numb down or rub down these
guys might be your beef. Listening wise or history wise Robo Distaste might be
bit of a detective story but very much worth the trip. If they never play live,
no problemo, these are great songs and this is a great recording anyhow. Robo Distaste offer us a different kind of act:
hard to copy, hard to categorise, a hard to follow, hard to determine and can
only keep one guessing. On the basis of what is provided here these guys are
testament to the rule... ..A prophet has no honour in their hometown’. Robo
Distaste seem to work within this rarefied atmosphere. They believe in their
own voice and vision and it is not only authentic but startlingly original and
dare I say ..international’. It is as if they make records in a decompression
chamber of their own making. Outautau might do chickens, but clearly it also
boasts its own proficient home recording studio, and indeed its very own
independent art movement.
As the Southland Times rightfully pointed out they made the top ten
downloads reaching as high as No 4 then Dropping out to regaining no 11 within
the Amplifier ..Top 13’ as of 30th June 08. Last time I checked they were back
in at No. 8. Quinton Baker himself is at loss to explain where this listening
and download activity is coming from. But that is the nature of the cyber world
and vagaries of online music. Given the
mercurial powers of the world wide web and the home computer and online music,
your music can suddenly be in any ones headspace on their time, their space,
and on their schedule, regardless of the serge tide of solicited popularity
manipulated by the media marketing majors. What is more startling and disarming
is that in a recent National Online Music Competition (NZ) Robo Distaste were
the lone wolf oddity on the block. Their work did not look or sound like anybody
else’s. In terms of public voting and online popularity Robo Distaste barley
registered within their own region. Almost bottom of the rung. They weren’t
invited to play in the fast food outlet in South
Invercargill. And they
certainly weren’t invited to share in the ..biggest simultaneous music event’ to
celebrate the New Zealand
music month. Oh well. Its all been and gone. But this outfit, now based in
Otautau, I suspect have had bigger chickens to fry. Their product, as it stands, in weight and
significance, is a little longer lived and of greater artistic merit than some
popular SIT student with a sweating army of metal fist heads, or huggy kissy
classroom buddy networks, or some stars in your eyes wannabe singer with a
multi track and knitting needle brigade of cyber hens hauled in last minute to
vote. In regards to the opportunity to win a gig in your local fried chicken
outlet- most artists feel it was all a
cheaply solicited hornswoggle anyhow. Nobody was innocent & everybody
marred. Bands have since broken up. But
Robo Distaste, with integrity intact, have gained momentum. An indeed the moral
high ground. Thank god. Surely it’s the fable of the rabbit and tortoise here.
Robo Distaste armed with microphones and home recording recipes and its
catalogue of brooding songs, have been sweating over a deep fry vat of their
own making, inadvertently vying for National and International online success.
The secret recipe in their case is the sheer Mystery Enigma Factor, their
stripped down no-nonsense recording technique, and the cold and spacey
elocutions of Shona May Alice and their determination to produce work. Everything about this band begs the question
Who are they ? Where are they ? Where does it come from? How does it work ? What is it saying ? What is evident on a first listen is they are
walking a tightrope between borderline genius and sheer home made recording
tedium. Tedium, by the way, is also a statement about energy and persistence. It cuts through in terms of its quantity and
quiet meter and of its trance like repetitions and by its grand literary
pronunciations articulated in female voice. In fact you could call this
acoustic trance muzak for your soul, but its not a digital preset your are
likely to find on your 5.1 surround sound system or portastudio. Its
organically derived with ..handmade drum machines’ and all. Its scope exhibits a
determination of will and belief in its own voice and pretty soon its apparent
it warrants further inspection.
At the time of writing, Robo
Distaste on the Myspace site totals 1152 profile views, and it seems Robo
Distaste are in fine company. Their
..friends list’ boasts an array of Flying Nun village identities and the much
esteemed technocrat pioneers Kraftwerk and alt. college darlings
Portishead. As an aside Robo Distaste
are self described on Myspace as ‘…. NZ / Other / Experimental.’ Probably as good a peg as any to hang their
hail drenched woolies.
The Band: Who Are Robo Distaste ?
This product is the collective work of anti artist sound engineer
composer musician Quinton Baker and vocalist Shona May Alice, ( sometime known
only as SMA ) essentially the core of an outfit that had its genesis as a band
in Riverton as far back as grunge era 1992. Riverton may have been its own
Seattle, - with all its own its line up hassles no doubt,- we may never know for sure, but I am pleased to announce that something
of this outfit has finally surfaced in recorded form. And it is a highly
contemporary recording it is too. It exudes certain timelessness. And is well
on its way to becoming a home made Classic.
The Product: What does it
look like ? The cover artwork is appropriately enigmatic and
ambivalent. I would say from the outset
it is seemingly built by aliens or imbeciles, - truly a good sign of fine
artistic genius. (The contemporary world of modern art plays around with this
notion a lot). Here the primitive vs.
genius dynamic is a fine line boundary that is pushed, and it can flip either
way. Think Jean-Michel Basquiat. The colour key of the
artwork on the cover is reminiscent of the Greats. Joni Mitchell’s Blue, Lou
Reed’s Transformer, and Marianne Faithfuls’ Broken English. Obviously heavy
company in terms of album cover aesthetics. Sans Typeface and in primal Black
Blue and White colour key you see the diffused the aura nimbus of what I assume
to be the vocalist in white tee shirt captured in playback mode with
headphones. Open up the gatefold and you
look for any further visual cues you can get instead you find a handmade
collage somehow more enigmatic than Led Zeppelin IV (untitled). A naïve hand
painted Tarot style portrait with two
heads – what I assume is the closest one might ever get to a ..band photograph,’
- no doubt a collaborative artwork set against actual newspaper collage commenting
on sociological single parent realities found objects and cut up text lifted
from the local papers. Art lives in Defiance of everyday life. And Robo
Distaste despite hitherto disinterest and obscurity… live that ethos. However
here amongst the visual naiveté of this gatefold a prominently positioned
headline that simply features the singular word “perfect” ( it terms of art
project, one gets a sense that Yoko Ono might have been right at home here but
at least its Shona May Alice who can actually sing). In regards to print
quality; the black banding is a tell tale indication of a home computer print
out on paper, but the paper is of a high grain and pleasing to hold, a real wee
item to hold in your hand. The anti art,
anti major distribution, anti corporate sentiment, is further demonstrated in
the generic CD R disc on which the tracks are recorded, ( in my case a black
disc that raises further the notion of mystery). Note: My chief criticism is
while these things are not Dead Sea Scrolls, this thing will not play in my CD
player. It will only play on my DVD player over a television or on my bros
crappy laptop. (Each of these systems are not noted for their superior audio
quality.) And that could be a serious disadvantage
in regards to the democratic consumption of this product, or industry
showcases. It deserves to be Heard. Played and most of all Talked About. There are also criticisms regarding the
repetitive nature of the recording and the cycle of songs and the limitation of
their emotional range, but I say that these particular limitations are indeed
its own strengths. It carries its own momentum and lives and breaths within its
own metronome, and the hypnotic quality is gained by its simple repetitions and
by quality of its inflexion, overcomes the will of the listener and leaves you
free associate and to consider …well, … other things. As Jim Morrison did once argue.., “ Its about
the words Man. “
The product: What does it
sound Like ?
13 tracks along with 5 bonus tracks all consisting of chugging acoustic
guitars and close patterned percussions and drumming, elaborately layered to
form a simple structure against which the central female voice is set. Nothing
about this record is strained. Think cold spacey hallways. But if you insist on
overcooked overproduced spoon fed audio candy then you’re best sticking to the
Majors labels in the crowded isles of the Red Sheds. Yet I would defy anyone to
find a product quite like this in the NZ music section. Despite its home made
atmosphere, this sucker reeks of international intention and heavyweight indie
cred, simply because of its obvious allusions to other work and the alienating
quality of its lyric. To read their
influences list is to acknowledge Robo Distaste have truly done their home
work. Playing the disc one is treated to a multi levelled approach an aural
array of mantra like vocals, literary meditations, Imagism, and airiness.
I would say this stuff is ..contemplative’ rather than sheer depressing,
but if you are looking for upbeat time forget It. It’s unlikely this would play
on high rotation at Hairdresser Salon after parties. This stuff traffics in
heavy melancholic and contemplative broodings. This is not Golden Horse on
Helium either. No sound track for a maternity hospital. More like something
that could play ritualistically on the loudspeakers while they shoot horses at
the Riverton races on rainy Easter weekends. It wouldn’t sound entirely out of
place on the Riverton Camping ground PA in bleak winter months, think miserable
abandoned English seaside - with Kiwiana female communist party voiceovers
heard in rain squalls and wind gusts, - that is, when Riverton had a camping
ground. What I am saying is that this is Major Soundtrack material for your
headspace. And that surely that is a triumph in its own right. It does have
dark resigned melancholy about it, sure, - real English art school angst in
fact, - but I feel this is to do with climate and landscape placement. And its
sparse choice production and the seemingly bereft emotional voice. Indeed its
own marginalisation in regards to the disinterested region in which it is made.
(A voice crying in the wilderness. New Zealand do ya remember that
concept !?) That is what marks this product as Special. Like pearl hearted champagne grown in
marginal soil.
Track by track: Blow by Blow:
1) Music doesn’t Do What it Used
To. Lyrics are great. Clearly pronounced mantra like vocals. It’s clear
from the outset that these guys have thought about it. Like I say from the ..poet pages’ of Quinton Baker.
2) Contact with Martians: (this
song is sealed). This is one of my
particular favourites. Starts out with Bowie like ambience. Shone May Alice’s vocals filled with such
longing and brooding that it is on par with Cowboy Junkies Trinity sessions. The sound is bright and cold like a Southland
Winter. Timbral textures and meshing
rhythms. Shona May Alice’s vocals are
also reminiscent of Beth Gibbons (Portishead), though a shade lower I am told.
Again note the lyrics people. “ Like a
guitar hero…. Read the story of long ago… Contact with Martians… Contact with
isolated small tinsel towns way out West.” (Q. Baker et. al © 2007) It
could be the Californian high desert. It could be female aliens at Riverton
Races.” Damn genius lyric and vibe. Not wholly out of place in LANDFALL or the
world of Vincent Ward. Wear Black, and stand in rain filled gullies in the
middle of nowhere while listening to this !
3) Yesteryear: A top ten
download numerous times on Amplifier. If Robo Distaste have a single out this
would be it. A kind of healthy naiveté
tells you it’s recorded in situ. This is an honest and stripped down recording.
Phrasing like early U2, perhaps Otautau has its own female Bono Vox. Again
brooding vocals. You find yourself leaning with ear to speaker trying to figure
if SMA vocals are self confessional. It hangs upon simple coat hangers of
sparse guitar work. Funky root note progression with bassy guitar creates
shifts of interest and intensity.
4) The True Remedy. Well Not
a whisper & Not a shout. More mood enhancing songs for your blue stormy sea
days. The bell like percussions and guitar creates an almost world music, Indonesian gamelan vibe
undercurrent. All in all more moral worth than some empty self help affirmation
tape. Telephonic musings from your home plumbing system, or more
inappropriately the dominatrix dental nurse in your sub conscious world. Morose
but dreamy. The rhythm track proceeds like a Thomas De Quincey opium trip
conjuring mass processions of imagined architectures.
5) The Soul Mate Big Slow road songs of soulfulness memory and
longing addressed in long overdue female voice. Avant-garde. Wouldn’t sound
entirely out of place in the kitchens of Europe.
6) Tales of the Crypt Arguably creepy affirmation that perhaps that
Cold Play may have indeed lost the plot. (This how it should be done). Iconic
listening for further contemplation.
7) Blue Nose: Indirect suggestive reference to Southland cold climate
surely ??? Hmmm. Interesting quasi industrial rhythm loop opens this number.
Finished off with cold and twangy guitar work. Like a can of sardines.
8) Red Telephone Call is like A
Camping ground P.A. announcement from hell. “ Bohemian take a back Seat !” Evocative lyrics very literary and poetical
not unlike Joni Mitchell revisiting old music industry musings. Good soundtrack
for cutting out dress patterns or for slow cooking fruit cakes in brown paper
under 30 watt lamps, … angst ridden though.
9) Stars are Falling Spider like
words leave you hanging on a jaggedly web of acoustic guitar overlays. Cold and
Spacey surely this is the essence of Robo Distaste and their sound. Vocabulary
is challenging and demanding. The black hoodie brigade could learn a thing or
two from this,- that is if they ever
manage to graduate from the community funded tagging class on the disused
railway platform in Invercargill.
12) Hurt Talk is the most
like Radio head in sentiment on the record. Robotic and resigned. Female
Computer… Not Okay ! But the maybe the morbid fascination here is that you hang
on every word that comes out of her mouth.
13) Rock Star Love. To this
listener the most stringent lyric track. Good metallic rhythmic meshing. Her
phrasing contains space both beautiful & hypnotic inducing trance like
states, recline on your lazy boy turn out the lights and take the trip.
Flickering black and white television and cold turkey methadone program to
complete the experience.
14) Sad Man About Town has a certain Neil Young world
weariness about You might spend sleepless nights worrying about the
sociological phenomena that inspired this baby. Has a certain Simon and
Garfunkle vanity and coldness about it. The profound loneliness of Lennon
McCartney’s Eleanor Rigby comes to mind. Hang out in whatever vestige is left
of Wachner place Invercargill at judgement day/ soap box sermon lunch hour,
midweek in May June July and surely it would sound like this. To a hooting
cacophony of heckling smoking black hoodie teenage lowlifes. SMA entreats us to
see beauty in the most abject and alienated. Indeed Robo Distaste embrace this
feeling in recording.
15) You Little Doll Lets just
say the persistent guitar has a certain amount of chugging heavy handedness
about it, which either lends to the atmosphere or inhibits , depending on you
point of view.
BONUS TRACKS: ( I wouldn’t
consign these to ..b’ sides necessarily)
The LITTLE WE HAVE. The opening sequence is a ripper. Has background
noise on the recording suspiciously sounding like cold rain on a tin roof,
grand pronunciations Quasi religious contemplations inspired by the ole ..wolf
at the door’ poverty. Imagine that poverty and inclement weather firing in
unison on a home made record ! Yet in true rain squall fashion, light at the
end of the tunnel. The Jazzy passage has its most syncopated guitar passage.
Guitar heads, please note: - this could be the closest Quinton Baker gets to
shredding it.
LISTENING TO FRIGHTEND BOY
Joy Division Unplugged, meets developmental Psychology 101. If your
computer could sing you songs like druggy lullabies in female voice on laughing
gas this sucker would be the Mothership. Again surprisingly international in
outlook. Nothing here reeks of Kiwiana. Given the present state of the New
Zealand Music Industry maybe that’s part of the problem with a product like this,
- its not screaming for local attention. Vocally this work is snake bite
anti-venom to the scantily clad R & B shriekers of music videos. Also miles
above the Death Metal bleeding throats in terms of lyrical content and
intelligence. Great aural accompaniment to some obscure German Film Festival of
your making.
FASCINATE This song is a sleep inducer. By the way… that’s not boring
that’s a good thing.
THE CLOCK STOPS DEAD Hear her taste the words. Sensitive phrasing is all
the way through the space and sentiment of this song. As an alarm clock sounds
at the start of this track, it will attest to the only Pink Floyd moment on
record. Congratulations people. You have made to the end of the record. Go fill
your coal buckets. And put it on again.
Notes for Public
Consumption: Sit on your brown lazy boy in full
recline, wear your disco era stereo headphones and breath it in. This is
dentist music soundtrack for your soul, - a
dense and rewarding experience. Treat it a as symphony of songs. No
stand out tracks, per se, because of the whole product is of even production
and dynamics. The whole passage of songs act like a suite or cycle of
proceeding sound architecture. Listen to the literary aspiration taste the
words, visualise the places imagined or otherwise. You are in good
company. Welcome to the cold world of
Robo Distaste.
Messages and artists statements posted by the artists are both
intriguing and infuriating by nature. Like their cast of cited influences in
their complexity. That doesn’t mean the work of this group is not worth
knowing. If you have to work at something to understand it and then find
meaning then maybe that makes it all better for the experience. The TV series
LOST is case and point. You are set adrift in your very own rapidly deflating
life raft to make sense of this number. If you are looking for a 2 second
gratification or a horny ringtone go elsewhere.
This record is worthy of very serious consideration because it is
unlikely you would see these guys out playing April Sun in Cuba at your local anytime soon. Or
any fried chicken outlet either for that matter. It is also a home recording
artists’ record. For alternative connoisseurs and songwriters in general. Magnificent. Surely a cult classic. Just add
water.
Grand
Flash Jones.