This short-lived band from New Zealand recorded two records for Ecstatic Peace, and then went the way of the dodo. Which is almost funny, because the dodo was native to some Indian Ocean island off the coast of Madagascar, which is…about as far from New Zealand as Los Angeles is from Paris. Oh well. It was a terrible idea that sounded funnier in my head.
In early 1992 Dean Roberts, Dion Workman and Paul Douglas formed Thela. They were living in Aukland, which isn’t an area that is traditionally known for innovative music. They kind of existed in what passed for a free-music scene in that part of New Zealand. Their first three self-released recordings were so limited its hard to fathom anyone outside of NZ hearing them. There was a self-titled cassette in an edition of about 50 copies, a self-titled twelve-inch lathe that was made in an unknown limited edition, and a self-titled trip 8″ lathe that was made in an edition of 20 copies.
The self-titled album came in 1995, it was recorded on the 13th of April in Auckland, contains five untitled tracks, and was engineered by David Coventry.
Both Thela and its follow-up Argentina are combinations of improvised guitar (lots of drones and a-musical sounds) and percussion (which has a tendency to veer off into the realm of overwhelming). It kind of reminds me of a minimalist take on dark ambient (only with a guitar and drums, no synths or anything), or what Jandek could record with a drummer who was equally as out there as him. It’s not an easy listen, but for fans of free music or avant-garde rock, this might be up your alley.
Thela
Thela
(Ecstatic Peace, 1995)
MediaFire DL Link
01. Untitled
02. Untitled
03. Untitled
04. Untitled [MP3]
05. Untitled
