As a young New Zealand band, it must have been a thrill to have your music released with the Flying Nun label on it
Hey kiddos, were you too young to catch Hüsker Dü live and in the flesh? Were you just a glimmer in your parents’ eyes when the Pixies were dominating alternative rock in the late ‘80s? Didn’t get a chance to appreciate Nirvana before Kurt Cobain made a mess of his grey matter? Were clueless about My Bloody Valentine until well after the fact? Well, Generation Y, have I got the record for you! You see, there’s this three-piece band called Popstrangers out of New Zealand that is issuing its debut album after releasing several singles on the lauded Flying Nun label, and it’s a stunner. It’s called Antipodes and it should cement the group as a force in the noise pop spectrum and easily be their breakthrough album. Combining elements of all of the bands I’ve listed above, if not sounding like a scuzzier version of Australian cousins Tame Impala, Antipodes is one of those LPs that has a true sonic arc to it: it just gets better and better as it goes along, let alone the more you listen to it. There must be something in the water in New Zealand, as there’s some real talent coming out there nowadays: there’s another great band called Opposite Sex that released a self-titled debut album recently that’s probably a more poppier, yet just as arty affair as Popstranger’s debut. Take these two bands together, and you have something to really get excited about.