Flying Nun: "Heavenly Pop Hits" documentary

There are several other Flying Nun bands who put out noteworthy releases in 1990 that I'm unable to find streaming media for, so while I put together a few Youtube videos of my own and circle back to the New Zealand scene later on down the line, here's an excellent, full length documentary on this influential kiwi label.

1990: "Uncoffined", The Terminals

One of the least characteristic Flying Nun bands, the Terminals were much darker and acid rock influenced, their vision of "pop" being somewhat more dissonant and obtuse. 1990 also saw the first Terminals album, Uncoffined, but unlike several of the previous Flying Nun groups who were still new to the album format at the turn of the decade, the Terminals were not a longstanding singles band, having only previously released one EP in 1988.

Uncoffined would be their final release for Flying Nun. They would go on to release several more albums for different labels before breaking up sometime after 1995's Little Things. A reunion record, Last Days of the Sun, was issued in 2007, but the band's current status is unknown.

1990: "Angry Martyr", Able Tasmans

Able Tasmans, named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who discovered the island of New Zealand, were another band that reveled in Flying Nun's production style and art pop aesthetic, though they brought more of a folksy jangle to the table... as witnessed on 1990's "Angry Martyr". The Tasmans would release several more albums of slightly diminishing returns before breaking up in 1996.

1990: "Log", Tall Dwarfs

Chris Knox' Tall Dwarfs (sic) were pioneers of the lo fi movement but still retained the pop enthusiasm that characterized their Flying Nun label mates. Many of their songs eschew percussion in favor of "found" sounds and non-traditional instrumentation, as "Log" epitomizes. 1990's Weeville was the first proper Tall Dwarfs album but, again, like many other Flying Nun bands they had released a wealth of singles throughout the prior decade.

1990: "Diamond Shine", The Clean

The Clean were the second band to record for NZ's Flying Nun (the first being the otherwise undistinguished Pin Group) and the label's first breakout hit, "Tally Ho" reaching #19 on the NZ pop charts in 1981. By 1990 the Clean had been around long enough to have broken up for several years, and Vehicle would be their first reunion album (the band have continued unabated ever since). Primarily a singles group in their early years, the Clean - even more so than most of their label mates - would remain an obscurity outside of New Zealand until prominent indie rock bands of the 90s (Pavement, Yo La Tengo, etc) began acknowledging them as an influence.

1990: "Heavenly Pop Hit", The Chills

Anchored by Flying Nun, one of the premier post-punk record labels of the 80s, the New Zealand indie pop scene flourished in the cities of Christchurch and Dunedin from the label's founding in 1981 up through the present. Nearly every NZ band of note recorded for Flying Nun at one point or another - their only real competition at the time being Propeller Records - and, though most of these bands would remain largely unknown to US audiences during that first decade, in hindsight the region was cultivating some of the most innovative, artistically successful neo-pop of the age (a loose international corollary would be Scotland's Postcard Records, another indie label whose bands mined a cohesive yet individualistic aesthetic).

The Chills were not the first group to record for Flying Nun - relatively speaking they were somewhat of a late arrival on the scene - but by 1990 they'd built up a large enough audience to jump ship to a major label for their third album, Submarine Bells (strictly speaking, it's their second actual album, Kaleidoscope Bells being a roundup of early singles). Fortunately the Chills suffered very little of the usual hurdles and misunderstandings that often befall major label signings, crafting what many consider to be the greatest effort of their career. "Heavenly Pop Hit", in particular, is one of their most beloved tunes for good reason.