<p><span><span>- Depending on your particular taste, Bailter Space’s <em>Wammo</em> could either be viewed as their masterpiece or a retreat into ‘90's indie rock conventionalism. Formed in Christchurch in 1987, the New Zealand band appealed to noiseniks and fuzz pop aficionados equally; and it is the latter group of listeners who Bailter Space were apparently courting on this, their fifth album released in 1995.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The original tapes have been remastered and re-released as part of Matador’s self-described Revisionist History, which has also included re-releases of seminal works by <strong>Pavement</strong>, <strong>Yo La Tengo</strong> and <strong>Guided By Voices</strong>. After the more corrosive noise rock of their earlier works (which inspired some to dub them New Zealand’s answer to <strong>Sonic Youth</strong>), Bailter Space kept up some delightfully impolite bursts of guitar noise on this record. However, they were tempered with fuzz-drenched power chords and plenty of melodic hooks. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Gen X-er’s may even recall the single <em>Splat</em> which made national airwaves, thanks in no small part to its memorable refrain of “<em>stop wasting our time</em>”. Meanwhile, there are further rough pop nuggets to be found, including the motorik chug of album highlight<em> Colours</em> which could almost be a <strong>Chills</strong> song with its dreamy murmured vocals, though with noticeably more leaning on the distortion pedals. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It’s not a Bailter Space album without knottier territory, and we do go there in the form of the almost Middle Eastern atonalism of <em>Voltage</em> and the shoegaze turned nervy post-punk of <em>Zapped</em>. The band’s skill at hypnotic trance rock is highlighted in the expansive <em>D Thing</em>, six-and-a-half minutes of solid, mid-tempo drums, insistent bass pulses and, of course, the amps cranked to eleven. Even in a more exploratory track like this, however, the band can’t resist vocal refrains that bring some pop familiarity to the dense surroundings. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In short, <em>Wammo</em> is a definite product of the ‘90s – loud drums, even louder guitars and indie pop hooks that would have made it perfect for festival crowds of twenty-five years ago. However, as successive generations have since gone on to re-discover the delights of amps, pedals and grungy sound palettes, the re-release of this album couldn’t be timelier. Ten years ago, it might have sounded dated. Today, it sounds remarkably in step with the times. Which just goes to show the cyclical nature of music. Don’t throw out your noughties records just yet, because their time is next.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>- Matt Thrower.</span></span></p>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4011833317/size=large/bgcol=f…; seamless><a href="https://bailterspace.bandcamp.com/album/wammo">Wammo by Bailterspace</a></iframe>