The Terminals - Last Days of The Sun


After an 11 year recording absence, The Terminals, arguably one of the most under appreciated bands in the kiwi music scene, have returned with a new release... "The Last Days of The Sun". After having a steady stream of brilliant releases from the late 80's until the early 90's, it seemed that the Terminals had lost that spark by the time their last proper full-length "Little Things" came out. The main focus of Little Things seemed to be crafting sound scapes at the expense of the big hooks that made the previous album "Touch" so enjoyable. Thankfully, after 11 years of recording downtime, The Terminals are back and the results are much better than I think anyone could've imagined. Everything that was great about the old Terminals is here: The hooks, Stephen Coogle's amazing voice (sounding as confident and as assured as ever), the jangly-surf guitars, the atmosphere and the clever lyrics and word play of Brian Cook. The performances on this album are outstanding, every member of the band has matured significantly at their respective instrument. The playing feels very loose and organic and at the same time it feels very intentional. Where the Terminals of old sometimes muddied their songs with a lot of sounds, everything here is very stretched out and has a lot of room to breathe in it's sonic environment , a credit to both the performers and the production choices. It's far too early to say if this is the best Terminals album, but I can say for sure that this is the best Terminals album we could have hoped for given the circumstances. Let's just hope that it doesn't take 11 years to hear the next one!

Click here to purchase the album from Last Visible Dog
Click here to hear a sample track "Vertigo"

Axemen - Derry Legend

Wild Things - Wild Kiwi Garage 1966-1969


This stuff is very early NZ music as you can see. It pre-dates anything on this blog by a few decades. Not as distinctly NZ as what would come in the 80's and 90's, but a nice artifact nonetheless.