Cuticles - Major Works

New Zealand's shitgaze aesthetic, following The Midnight Steppers, is alive with Cuticles making uneasy listening essential listening. Cuticles aren't at all cute - feeding corrosive tunes through a charity shop amp and beating them to a bloody pulp is far too caustic for that.

NZ antecedents might be Shoes This High and the 3Ds, although Cheese In My Brain and Steal My Statue reveal a familiarity with The Verlaines. But I hear more Sonic Youth distortion, Pavement atonal tunes, Swell Maps chaos and lyrical ranting by way of The Fall.

18 songs in 41 minutes. They say: "We are not able to be composed at all times and try to accept this state without guilt...parcel up some cracks." No kidding. All the songs are short and all of them are vital.