I have a correction to make. So, I wrote this whole post about Stornoway and how New Zealand was on the up. Which would have been clever enough if Stornoway was actually from New Zealand. They are not. I learned this, months later, the hard way - losing an argument with a complete stranger, who showed me up with one click on Google. Oxford!? Who knew...

So, to make it up to you, I offer two (2!) New Zealand gems, which have been thoroughly vetted for geographic authenticity. [Okay, UMO is from Portland, but their centerpiece is a Kiwi, I swear!]

Cut Off Your Hands is one of those bands that makes me wonder how they don't have a bandwagon the size of their country. What is not to like!?

They can write hooks for days.

Cut Off Your Hands - Oh Girl from NZ Beats on Vimeo.

They'll break it down for the ladies.

And now they've settled into a lean, mean, full-on Smiths impersonation. I would file that under That's A Good Thing.


Cut Off Your Hands - You Should Do Better by inertiamusic

And then there's Unknown Mortal Orchestra, one of - no, THE weirdest debut of the year, with a baffling cover shot of an alien fortress-looking complex, unnecessarily misspelled song titles, and a fuzzed out collection of unclassifiable guitar funk ditties. DB and I saw these dudes open for Yuck last week, and they played with little to (more often) no lights, all three lowriding their hats. Their whole operation is a mystery. What was obvious, though, was that that their frontman is an absolute criminal on the guitar, one of the best I've seen in a long time.

This one, 'How Can You Luv Me,' could be a Midnite Vultures-era Beck track, but these dudes are way deeper down the psych rock rabbit hole.



[Unrelated footnote: I wrote that line about the rabbit hole before I found the video. WTF.]