Bailter Space

Bailter Space (a.k.a. Bailterspace) is a New Zealand shoegaze and noise rock band that formed in Christchurch, in 1987 as Nelsh Bailter Space; they had previously recorded as The Gordons. Its members are Alister Parker (guitar, bass), John Halvorsen (bass, guitar), Brent McLachlan (drums/percussion, samples). After releasing seven studio albums, numerous EPs/singles and a career retrospective compilation, Bailter Space went on an extended hiatus in 2004. They returned in August 2008 to play the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan.

History

Halvorsen, Parker, and McLachlan were in a band called The Gordons formed by John Halvorsen in 1980.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 211 The Gordons released the three-song '' Future Shock'' EP in 1981, along with a video for the song "Adults and Children". Their debut self-titled LP The Gordons came out later that year. The band then released the '' Volume 2 LP'' in 1984, with Vince Pinker on bass in the absence of Alister, before disbanding circa 1985. Flying Nun Europe (and subsequently Flying Nun proper) reissued ''The Gordons'' and ''Future Shock'' on one CD, while ''Volume 2'' remains unavailable.

Nelsh Bailter Space was formed by Parker and former Clean drummer Hamish Kilgour in 1987, initially completing the line-up with Glenda Bills on keyboards and Ross Humphries (also of The Terminals, and formerly of The Pin Group), later shortening its name to Bailter Space.Thompson, Dave (2000) ''Alternative Rock'', Miller Freeman, , pp. 173–174 After a couple of singles, Bills and Humphreys left, with Halvorsen joining on bass, this line-up recording the ''Tanker'' album and the "Grader Spader" single, both produced by Brent McLachlan. The band travelled to the United States where they played at the New Music Seminar in 1988, and when they returned, Kilgour opted to stay there with his new wife and form a new band, The Mad Scene. Parker and Halvorsen recruited Mclachlan as the new drummer, recreating the original Gordons lineup. This line-up debuted with the ''Thermos'' album, recorded in 1989.Ankeny, Jason " Bailter Space Biography, '' AllMusic'', Macrovision Corporation

After several releases on Flying Nun, and after changing base several times between New Zealand, Germany, and the US, New York City indie label Matador Records signed them for release in the United States, in approximately 1990. The 1992 ''The Aim'' EP was the band's first official U.S. release, and was released as two separate 7-inch singles in the UK, with both awarded "Single of the Week" by ''Melody Maker''. The band moved to New York City during the 1993 ''Robot World'' sessions. The ''EIP'' EP was released, containing slightly-remixed versions of two ''Robot World'' tracks and two that would appear on the forthcoming ''Vortura''. ''Vortura'' would be followed a year later by ''Wammo''. In 1999 the band performed in Toronto as part of the Neon Palm Festival."Live Reviews: The Neon Palm Festival June 3, 1999 El Mocambo, Toronto, Ontario"
''Chart Attack'', Howard Druckman

After this, their U.S. releases came out on NYC-based label Turnbuckle Records, which folded circa 2002. In 2004, Matador Records deleted all Bailter Space releases from their catalog. The band's releases are now out of print, except for in New Zealand / Australia.

A career-spanning retrospective compilation, ''Bailterspace'' was issued in 2004.

In August 2008, Bailter Space emerged from a 4-year hiatus to perform live at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. They were joined by new recruit Ian Ljungquist filling in on the bass.

A new album entitled ''Strobosphere'' was released in New Zealand on 13 August 2012 and in the United States on 21 August 2012.

Musical style

The band have often been compared to Sonic Youth, and they were once described as "The Sonic Youth of the Southern Hemisphere",Jenkins, Mark (1994)
Bailter Space
. sonic Youth have acknowledge the Gordons in interviews and The Gordons predate Sonic Youth. '' Washington City Paper'', 18–24 November 1994 (Vol. 14, No. 47) with '' Trouser Press'' describing their early sound as "hard, droning, unforgiving guitar music with occasional lapses into verse/chorus regularity".Moon, Tom
Bailter Space
, '' Trouser Press'' By ''Tanker'' their sound had become more conventional. With their relocation to New York, their sound also shifted, with the band's next releases described as "an unholy collision between The Beatles harmonies and The Velvet Underground dissonance", with Parker stating at the time that the band were getting into "the harmonic value of distortion; we started to be very particular about where we set the instruments up and the angles the sounds were bouncing at. From these harmonic experiments I became more interested in the actual melodic content of the music". Pitchfork Media described them in 1999 as "a huge mess of sound that's simultaneously beautiful, jagged, atonal, and supremely melodic",Schneyer, Jeremy (1999)
Bailter Space ''Solar 3''
, Pitchfork Media, 23 March 1999 while another review in the same year described their sound as "one part Superchunk, one part Pixies, and one part Dinosaur Jr."Cuccaro, Mike (1999)
Bailter Space with 3D5SPD: The Point, Atlanta May 11, 1999
, Ink 19

Discography

As 'The Gordons'

;Studio albums
* '' The Gordons'' (1981, Gordons)
* ''Volume 2'' (1984, Gordons)

;EP
* '' Future Shock'' (1980, Gordons)

;Compilations
* ''The Gordons'' (1988, Flying Nun)

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

Compilation

References

External links

Biography page at Flying NunAudioCulture profile
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Information on The Gordons

{{Bailter Space

Noise rock groups
Shoegazing musical groups
Flying Nun Records artists
Matador Records artists
Musical groups established in 1986
Musical groups disestablished in 2004
Musical groups reestablished in 2008
Musical groups disestablished in 2008
Musical groups reestablished in 2012
New Zealand indie rock groups
Dunedin Sound musical groups
1986 establishments in New Zealand
Amphetamine Reptile Records artists