Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Song(s) of the Day # 2,197 Kiwi Jr.

More Flying Nun inspired fun, second day in a row. Remarkable how much modern Indie music can be traced back to that scene.



Kiwi Jr. hail from Toronto, not from New Zealand as you might imagine. They could easily be proper kiwis, so precisely does their latest album, Football Money replicate the rhythms, melodies and momentum of bands old and new from that part of the world.



Stephen Malkmus was famously a big fan of all things Flying Nun and carried its flame onward into the Nineties. He and Pavement are the big daddies of what's going on here along with that record label of course. This isn't an original record at all but that doesn't stop it being hugely enjoyable from start to finish.



Most of all it sounds the band is just having enormous fun here and that kind of thing can be mighty infectious if done properly. There are any number of bands doing this kind of thing nowadays; Twerps, Zebra Hunt, Stevens, Parquet Courts to name just the first few that come to my mind.



Kiwi Jr. do something not that different from what any of those bands do and this record is neither better nor worse than any of these. Some of the free-form Malkmus beatnik lyrics are quite inspired. 'Last night your dreams were broadcast. But no-one you know has a television.' To quote just one.  The guitars jangle with fabulous spirit throughout. A couple of the songs break out of the pack and forge all of the band's obvious influences perfectly to achieve minor classic status for themselves. It's just great that they're doing this. Lovely record.



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