The band from Dunedin is Dimmer. Formed by Straitjacket Fits songwriter Shayne P Carter in mid-1994, Dimmer has burst into life in a couple of mutant musical forms as a vehicle for Shayne's twisted pop songwriting and increasingly powerful guitaring. The first line-up of the group saw Shayne joined by drummer Peter Jefferies and bassist Lou Allison. After capturing a couple of sonic blasts of song on tape in Dunedin, this Dimmer were thrown into disarray when Lou announced she was pregnant and heading home to England to raise her child and Peter resumed his own solo career with a tour of America. What was a lonely guy to do? Well lonely guys were thick on the ground and Shayne soon enlisted drummer Dean and bassist Heazlewood for Dimmer 95's live activities. But those guys lived in Auckland, which is more than a bike ride away from the Dimmer practice room... so despite a few fiery turns at places like Strawberry Fields, Big Day Out and the Orientation circuit, Dimmer were back in hiding. And there Shayne has been for the past few months, writing furiously and playing bedroom rock with a handful of the Dunedin alumni and a couple of promising newcomers.

Those two record labels -- New Zealand's Flying Nun and Seattle's Sub Pop, once home of Nirvana, Mudhoney and the dreaded G word, now using their clout as possibly the world's most influential indie to spread a gospel based on talents as diverse as arch-angsters Sebadoh, retro-cowpokes Supersuckers and lounge lizards Combustible Edison. Meeting at Austin music-fest, SouthxSouthwest, Flying Nun slipped Sub Pop a tape and the Americans were hooked.

What hooked them? "Crystalator", an instrumental electro-blender named after a stripper. Its needle-like guitar hook rips paint off walls and the song swings with the rhythmic thunder that made Jefferies his name. "Dawn's Coming In", a sparser ache that breathes up close in your ear.

This fits the ultimate rock'n'roll format of seven inch vinyl single too perfectly. The intensity is palpable yet complementary on both sides of the disc. Out on both sides of the world -- Sub Pop handling the top half, Flying Nun the bottom corner, the Brazilians left to their football...

And a classic it is too.