30TH SEPTEMBER 2022

Welcome to the weekly Flying Nun vinyl and records selection. Here we feature albums from the last 7 days.

See below for the Flying Nun record store's top selling album of the week, new release album of the week, Flying Nun record of the week, local record and interesting vinyl. Also - check out 'Going Up' and 'Going Down' 

TOP SELLING ALBUM OF THE WEEK: 

THE BETHS - EXPERT IN A DYING FIELD
On The Beths’ third studio album, Expert In A Dying Field, Elizabeth Stokes’ songwriting places her somewhere between being a novelist and a documentarian. The songs are autobiographical, but they’re also character sketches of relationships and, more importantly, their aftermaths. The question that hangs in the air: What do you do with how intimately versed you’ve become in a person once they’re gone from your life? ‘How does it feel to be an expert in a dying field? How do you know it’s over when you can’t let go?’ Stokes asks on the album’s title track. ‘Love is learned over time ‘til you’re an expert in a dying field.’ 

Listen & Buy It Here

NEW RELEASE ALBUM OF THE WEEK

AVANTDALE BOWLING CLUB - TREES
Four years on from the award-winning (Album of the Year, Best Hip Hop Artist at the Aotearoa Music Awards 2019, Taite Music Prize 2019) debut by Avantdale Bowling Club, Tom Scott has released TREES, the new album by ABC produced by Christoph El Truento
"Don’t expect the same thing. This one’s simpler. It might be the most political thing I’ve ever written,. But it’s not about politics, exactly. And it’s not as personal as the last one. Or maybe it’s the most personal. I don’t know. It’s a new one. I hope this one still surprises you." - Tom Scott

Listen & Buy It Here

FLYING NUN RECORD OF THE WEEK

DOUBLEHAPPYS - NERVES
DoubleHappys’ newly touched up Nerves on vinyl LP for the first time — 30 years after its initial release, and many more after the original tracks were originally conceived. The master tapes, sourced from the Alexander Turnbull Library, were remastered by local stalwart Tex Houston — a name you’ll find among the credits on many of the notable records associated with Dunedin and Flying Nun. Nerves (2022 Reissue) is out on neon coral or black vinyl on the 30th September via Flying Nun Records.

Listen & Buy It Here

LOCAL RECORD OF THE WEEK

SODA BOYZ - FAREWELL SPIT
SODA BOYZ are New Zealand's premier proponents of slowcore, having honed their delivery to emphasise the negative space, leaving audiences hanging on every note, and their album Farewell Spit is the product of two and a half years of writing and unfolding. It was recorded and mixed by quintessential Wellington engineer/producer James Goldsmith at his studio Blue Barn, as well as The Surgery.  

Listen and Buy it Here

INTERESTING RECORD OF THE WEEK

HIROSHI SATO - ORIENT
If you like synth-pop, you’ll love this obscure, cult-ish, previously hard to find treat. Actually, 'Orient' is synth-pop meets jazz-funk with more than a touch of exotica and Oriental proto-electronica. Originally released in 1979 in Japan only, it was a distant Japanese relation of M, Flying Lizards, Buggles, Gary Numan, The Human League et al. It is now being made widely available six years after the death of its creator, Hiroshi Sato, a keyboardist, composer, arranger, producer, sound engineer and – some say – near-member of Yellow Magic Orchestra. This is the best Oriental jazz funk, synth-pop, electro soul, album you’re likely to hear all year!

Listen and Buy it Here

It's The What's Going Up and What's Going Down section. Here we offer our opinion on what we think is going up, and what we think might be going down. Sometimes we could be wrong. Usually related to music. 

GOING UP!

Laneway Festival selling out in a couple of days - bring on the summer festivals.

The large number of excellent and very popular/commercially successful local albums the last few months - The Beths, Marlon Williams, Avantdale Bowling Club, Troy Kingi and many others...

GOING DOWN!

The NZ dollar tanking against the US - vinyl (and everything) could get more expensive. 

The music industry imagining TikTok is our saviour.