Kaleidoscope World is an early song by

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

band

The Chills The Chills are a New Zealand rock band that formed in Dunedin in 1980. The band is essentially the continuing project of singer/songwriter Martin Phillipps, who is the group's sole constant member. For a time in the 1990s, the act was billed a ...

. It appeared as the first track on the '' Dunedin Double'', a seminal EP shared between four bands, which launched those bands' careers nationally and internationally (the other bands were

Sneaky Feelings Sneaky Feelings are a New Zealand pop rock band which releases on the Flying Nun Records music label. The band formed in 1980 with the line-up of Matthew Bannister (guitar & vocals), David Pine (guitar & vocals), Kat Tyrie (bass guitar & vocal ...

The Verlaines The Verlaines are a New Zealand rock band from Dunedin. Formed in 1981 by Graeme Downes, Craig Easton, Anita Pillai, Phillip Higham and Greg Kerr, the band went through multiple line-ups. History The band was named after French poet Paul Ver ...

, and The Stones). While not strictly a single, and never released as such, ''Kaleidoscope World'' is regarded as an early Chills manifesto. Written by Chills frontman

Martin Phillipps Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

, "Kaleidoscope World" was, like many other early releases from the

Flying Nun ''The Flying Nun'' is an American sitcom about a community of nuns which included one who could fly when the wind caught her cornette. It was produced by Screen Gems for ABC based on the 1965 book ''The Fifteenth Pelican,'' written by Tere Rio ...

label, recorded in very

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

surroundings, on

Chris Knox Chris Knox (born 2 September 1952) is a New Zealand rock and roll musician, cartoonist and movie reviewer who emerged during the punk rock era with his bands The Enemy and Toy Love. After Toy Love disbanded in the early 1980s, he formed the g ...

's four-track tape by

Doug Hood Doug is a male personal name (or, depending on which definition of "personal name" one uses, part of a personal name). It is sometimes a given name (or "first name"), but more often it is hypocorism (affectionate variation of a personal name) which ...

in a room at

Paul Kean Toy Love was a New Zealand new wave and punk rock band that originated in Dunedin and was active from 1978 to 1980. Members included Chris Knox, Alec Bathgate and Paul Kean. History Chris Knox was the band's front man and other members wer ...

's house. The line-up of the Chills that recorded the song consisted of Martin Phillipps (guitar/vocals), Alan Haig (guitar), Frazer Batts (keyboards) and Terry Moore (bass). The song features a swirl of jingle-jangle guitar over a background bass pulse and quiet synth, and is a prototype and epitome of what came to be known as the "

Dunedin sound The Dunedin sound was a style of indie pop music created in the southern New Zealand university city of Dunedin in the early 1980s. Characteristics According to Matthew Bannister, Dunedin sound "was typically marked by the use of droning or j ...

". The EP, and "Kaleidoscope World" in particular, were the launching pad for Dunedin's acceptance as an important source of New Zealand music. As engineer Doug Hood said of the track: "It was the one that made you think, boy, there's really something special happening here."Quoted in Eggleton, D. (2003) ''Ready to fly: The story of New Zealand rock music.'' Nelson, NZ: Craig Potton Publishing. . p. 107. The song became the title track of The Chills' 1986 compilation '' Kaleidoscope World'', which collated all the band's early single and EP releases.

References

Flying Nun Records The Chills songs {{NewZealand-stub