“This nation’s Sonic Youth” is the best way to describe the aural orgasm that is the music of The 3Ds. You don’t get music like this anymore. It’s the kind of music that you feel wrong listening to through an iPod. There is a jagged raw edge to the music that has been missing from albums since the days of tape and vinyl. Half the appeal of these demos and outtakes is the raw gritty dirtiness of the tracks. There is nothing over produced about it. What you’re hearing is four people actually thrashing the living shit out of their instruments and pulling your heart strings as they do it.

We bury the living features a wealth of material from the bands early days most of which feature on their first two EP’s Fish Tales and Swarthy Swabs. The Twenty One tracks - one for every year since they were first recorded – are enough to satisfy any Flying Nun craving. Compared to the actual EPs these, often live, demo versions allow you back stage into the rehearsal rooms to hear the songs as a product of interactions between the live band as they feed of each other’s energies and rock the hell out.

Twenty One tracks sounds like a lot to get through but the realisation that most of these are double ups adds a whole new dimension to the record. It allows for the comparison between renditions as never before. With three instances of Meluzina man it is possible to say it’s a toss-up between the first Instance of Meluzina man (Pile-Up version), the demo version or the version from the second EP. Each variation has its attractiveness. The first starts off beautifully and builds itself up progressively like waves coming in to shore. The female vocals are ethereal, coming in softly with shivers and goosebumps. The peak is soft and clean in comparison to the other versions and has progressed naturally. The second version is a lot dirtier; a more live, under-produced rendition. The peak invokes the same natural high you get at a live gig when the band is peaking. The third is somewhere in-between the other two. The extra layers of guitar and accelerated tempo bring the peak in quicker. All three exhibit the adorable Kiwi accent that is sadly fading out of New Zealand music.

The short and sweet Ball of Purple Thread is as close to Sonic Youth as the album gets. It’s begins with the steady drum of Native American dancing across a plain accompanied by female spoken word reminiscent of Sonic Youth’s Karen. The drums swell and the guitar picks up, before abruptly fading out into the heavy bass and dissonance of Evil Kid.

As well as instance of Sonic Youthish dissonance there are a few Nirvana-esque moments, my favourite of these being the pounding drums, screaming cymbals and heavy riffage of ‘First Church’. But this is no Nirvana clone. The mix is coupled with an ambience that is terrifying in its subtlety. It’s the sound of Indy cars on an F1 circle, if those cars were driven by Satan.  

While the 3Ds are gone, their music lives on. I’ve listened to their remastered albums, but We bury the living settles some visceral sense of nostalgia that no other record can. If only it were an actual record. Then my life would truly be complete.

• 1
  Six60
• 2
  The Black Seeds
• 3
  Katchafire
• 4
  Tomorrow People
• 5
  Herbs
• 6
  Scribe
• 7
  John Rowles
• 8
  Nesian Mystik
• 9
  The Feelers
• 10
  Elemeno P

• Matt Langley
  HILLTOP TAVERN
• BBQ (CAN)
  DARK ROOM
• Secret Walls Aotearoa
  CASSETTE NUMBER NINE
• The Black Angels (USA)
  BODEGA
• Conch Records
  BRITOMART COUNTRY CLUB
• The Nark Collective
  1885 BRITOMART
• Parvyn and Josh
  FAIRFIELD HOUSE
• Tender Moonlight
  MIGHTY MIGHTY

• 
  Classic Hits Winery Tour 2013
• 
  Jim Beam Homegrown 2013
• 
  Parachute 2013
• 
  Vodafone NZ Music Awards 2012

• 1
  TENNIS COURT
  Lorde
• 2
  BLURRED LINES
  Robin Thicke feat. TI And Pharrell
• 3
  SKINNY LOVE
  Birdy
• 4
  GET LUCKY
  Daft Punk feat. Pharrell
• 5
  A LITTLE PARTY NEVER KILLED NOBODY (ALL WE GOT)
  Fergie, Q-Tip And GoonRock
• 6
  BULLETPROOF
  Stan Walker
• 7
  LET HER GO
  Passenger
• 8
  RADIOACTIVE
  Imagine Dragons
• 9
  TATTOO
  Titanium
• 10
  SWINGIN' PARTY
  Lorde

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