#peter gutteridge

The Great Unwashed - Can't Find Water (1984)

After the Clean disbanded in the early 80s, David and Hamish Kilgour formed the Great Unwashed as a side project with Peter Gutteridge (who was also once a member of the Clean). They released a five song double single which contained this discordant and desperate Peter Gutteridge track.

7/28/23.

This is one of those releases that will make many release an audible gasp of excitement. Peter Gutteridge's solo album - released in 1989 by Xpressway (New Zealand) - is again being reissued. This time by Bay Area label Superior Viaduct.

Gutteridge (Dunedin, New Zealand) is considered by many the "creator" or the Dunedin Sound. While he denied this, there's no denying that he was a member of both The Chills and The Clean. He later went onto to form Snapper, and was also part of The Puddle.

Peter GUTTERIDGE

"Pure"

(2LP. 540 rcds. 2013 / rec. 1986-87) [NZ]

“...Gutteridge and Snapper have produced some beautifully hypnotic records...” - DAN VALLOR

XPRESSWAY PILE=UP, PART 9 by DAN VALLOR

PART 1: Intro and The DEAD C. “Even at its most structured, The Dead C. consistently has a sound so involving that it has a meditative quality.”

PART 2: THIS KIND OF PUNISHMENT “There are some fine moments on this release, but this is not the place to start with this otherwise exceptional band.”

PART 3: WRECK SMALL SPEAKERS ON EXPENSIVE STEREOS: “…bits of psychedelia similar to the Television Personalities from that era, but more prominent are elements of early-80′s Pere Ubu…WSSOES used electronics while avoiding the techno-pop cliches so prevalent in NZ and the international music scene at the time.”

PART 4: ALASTAIR GALBRAITH “…this is all pretty much a major work of art…in fact is among the most beautiful music I know…”

PART 5: XPRESSWAY PILE=UP “Perhaps it took a while for Russell to secure the rights for some of the earlier material, but it’s a blessing that he was clear enough in vision to revise Pile=Up into the important work it became.”

PART 6: I HATE PAVEL TICHY’S GUTS “A tiny review in Forced Exposure might have caused something of a stir as it was one of the first X/Way tapes to garner press in the states.”

PART 7: THE DEAD C “The Dead C. has followed countless musical paths since the release of The Sun Stabbed, but the EP represents some of the most distinctive. It is the document that vividly defines their early work.”

PART 8: THE VICTOR DIMISICH BAND “...favored something of a denser and darker sound than their southern Dunedin neighbors, expressed through a bleak vision and Velvet Underground inspired abandon…even in those early years, the brilliance of this band shone blindingly…”

POPWATCH #9  Summer 1998 (page 50)

LESLIE GAFFNEY & MR. LESLIE GAFFNEY, Publishers & Editors

Previously on Fuckin’ Record Reviews:

Pure was reissued in 2013 on deluxe double vinyl by the Chaos In Tejas people, who also have something to do with the 540 Records label. Buy it here.

Gerard Cosloy’s review of Pure from CONFLICT #50 (Fall 1989): “Peter Gutteridge is a big deal Dunedin pop icon…[with] a knack for the grayer, more repetitive side of things that we haven’t heard previously…Marty rev counterpart, maybe, except there’s no phobia towards guitars or manually played percussion if need be…”

Farewell to Peter Gutteridge (5/19/61 – 9/15/14) fromhonor harger

The entirety of Dan Vallor’s Xpressway history is available in viewable form as a lovingly (i.e., much better than FRR’s) scanned PDF with one simple click…you’ll never believe what happens next!

DAN VALLOR is well regarded as a musician, archivist and all around good human by those who know. He’s the producer of those essential GAME THEORYreissues Omnivoreput out the past few years, but also works under the name CLARINETTE/KLARINETTE and has a brand new long player coming out on Feeding Tube Records on3/24/17!

Order CLARINETTE’s The Now Of Then at Feeding Tube or Forced Exposure; Byron Coley summarizes Dan Vallor’s work: “In the 15 years since Thurston and I released the first Clarinette LP, Haze (Ecstatic Yod), Dan Vallor has continued to produce music unabated. Most of it has been released in very limited editions (on CDRs, cassettes and lathes), but it has been a consistently cool flow of drone accrual and invention from a guy we still sorta think of as pop-oriented. Dan’s best known work probably remains his archival activities inside the archives of the late songwriting genius, Scott Miller, although others may know him from his efforts to catalog the output of the NZ lathe underground. Clarinette is a long running solo project that began in the ’80s, then went dormant until early in the 21st Century. The music is largely based on electric guitar huzz and hum, but there are plenty of sound events that pop up throughout the record, disturbing and enriching the surface with sproings, rasps and groons. The pieces on The Now of Then are all fairly reflective, and probably more suitable to stoned drifting than freak dancing, but hey — it never pays to second guess audience reaction. If you feel the urge to freak, so be it. Clarinette’s music definitely twangs the freak register. Who are we to say you should remain seated?”(2017)

4/21/20.

I posted about The Puddle way back in 2015.  Then I simply thought they were one of the earlier bands in the Fishrider (Dunedin, New Zealand) stable of musicians.  I had no idea that they were Flying Nun royalty.  The band has released this digital only (for now) live recording from 1985 when the band was supporting The Chills on a two-day gig to Invercargill, New Zealand.  The Puddle recorded “Pop Lib” the next week and Flying Nun released it (here is a link to some physical copies available on Bandcamp).

I heard the flute and thought of Look Blue Go Purple (lo and behold Norma O’Malley plays flute here).  Then I heard the motorik drive of Snapper and The Clean (not surprisingly Peter Gutteridge plays keys here).  The melodies and arrangements also recall the work of Sneaky Feelings, The Verlaines, and The Able Tasmans.

Peter GUTTERIDGE "Pure" (2LP. 540 rcds. 2013 / rec. 1986-87) [NZ]

Peter GUTTERIDGE

"Pure"

(2LP. 540 rcds. 2013 / rec. 1986-87) [NZ]