The Cakekitchen

Very smart clean vinyl with a good cover showing minor shelf wear.

Featuring the talents of many of Flying Nun's elder statesmen: Graeme Jefferies, Alastair Galbraith, Hamish Kilgour, as well as 'the only great French drummer' (according to their US label, Merge Records), Jean-Yves Douet.

Graeme Jefferies has made an indelible mark on New Zealand's fertile underground scene, most notably with The Cake Kitchen and his prior band, This Kind of Punishment, a collaboration with his equally influential brother Peter. Both men possess thick, deep voices which, along with their use of 4 and 8-track recording equipment, elemental sounds and non-traditional rock instrumentation (violin, recorder), distinguishes their music from that of their contemporaries.

Although billed as a solo record, 'Messages for the Cake Kitchen' is effectively the first Cake Kitchen album. Sparser and darker than the official band work to follow, it's more in keeping with the homemade recordings of his Xpressway label brethren. At times, his vocals sound vaguely gothic, while the music alternates between tension-filled electric guitar arrangements, deliberate acoustic ones and combinations of the two. Although not as fully realized as its immediate successor, Messages details Jefferies' signature elements and his keen, individual songwriting style.

Previewed on an eponymous 1989 four-song EP, 'Time Flowing Backwards' begins with the enormous guitar sound of 'Dave the Pimp', which sets the album's intense mood, washing over the droning melody and burly rhythm like a tidal wave. Though certainly intense, the rest of the album tucks Jefferies' delicious melodies into subtler settings. The drone remains crucial to 'One + One = One', while the noisy 'Walked Over Texas' boasts a 3Ds-like lurch (3Ds guitarist David Mitchell guests on the track). Surely one of Jefferies' most accomplished albums, 'Time Flowing Backwards' also introduces the Cake Kitchen's first solid lineup — a trio with bassist Rachael King and drummer Robert Key.

'World of Sand' ranges from sweet melodies drawn by Jefferies' subtle acoustic guitar playing and given depth by his guttural voice to vibrant displays of his electric six-string fury, with additional "noises" spicing up the mix. Noted NZ violinist Alastair Galbraith makes an appearance on the title track; the album is brought to a promising conclusion by a rousing duet with another 3Ds member, Denise Roughan, on 'Crimson to Gunmetal'.

Tracklist