Metamathics is quite simply stunning, but when i say stunning, I mean in a way that transcends the normal focus & tears a hole in the subconscious replacing it with some warped filthy undulating warmth, time twists in a euphoric drug like fashion, whilst driving i arrived at the place, unaware of the automation that steered me. This should be illegal.
Banner ads be damned, you should buy this. seriously.
quite simply one of the most stunning tracks I've ever heard... a swaying resonating rich soil sound sets your heart floating through our landscape... hdu are my sound track to paradise...
Hi
Who directed the HDU video? I would like to contact them, does anyone know? How did they get the footage? All these questions and no answers.
Mike D
try asking at the hdu website...
my guess is - it's by some young art student from kyoto art college or someplace
and they somehow scored a key to the lab with the electron microscope in it...
lucky bees turd
HDU were excellent in Wellington on the 8th! But i was more blown away by the wonder kids Carriage H before them!
But HDU is the Subject.
The Vid was done by the band wasn't it?
Oh everyone. the Fireworks stuff is amazing and will blow you away!
Fucking amazing live.
this band should be thought as the best band to come from New Zealand.
I have been to 5 shows and not once got bored. I feel asleep in Shihad's last concert! now thats saying something!
i've been listening to hdu for quiet some time now,i bought "sum of the few" in early 1997 and have been a huge fan ever since as hdu continue to get better and better.i can't wait to hear the new album "fire works" and see how well steve albini has made them sound (albinis production fuckin rules,jesus lizards "liar" is one of the best sounding guitar records ever!)
the live gigs in the wake of its release are looking awesome as well,playing at aucklands best venue galatos will be a big plus,as well as the support,DIMMER!(who absolutly blew me away the last time i saw them support hdu in october '98,and they pretty much haven't played live since.)
It would be nice to hear the production of Steve Albini (of big black/ rapeman/ shellac fame) on the new HDU album. Although, rumour has it he piked on producing fireworks- although his studio was used.
Oh well, it all remains to be seen when the album comes out... this week maybe?
Deffinitly The BEST EVER NZ BAND!
fireworks took a while to grow on me.
BUT NOW! look you guys should maybe leave NZ and try and make it over seas. You would!
Excellent video, pity it's not on primetime viewing slots. Just interviewed Carriage H for the marvellous bands.co.nz site. The most succinct, thoughtful, mature and down right rocking young musicians I've ever met. Hard to believe they're only 7th form, give them props at the Rockquest finals guys!
i think Stephen Downes (who cinematographed on Scarfies) directed this ... well I know he made one of their videos - would be cool to see which one he worked on.
Big ups to this band man!
They deserve to be put in the same box as all Great pioneering NZ Acts.
go hard at ATP's.
.
good to see you've influenced bands of the future too.
go dunedin bands you always seem to be the best!!
Dimmer
Snapper
Dead C
HDU
carriage H - my 5 favourite NZ bands
Played in Hastings/Havelock North as Eskimo Chain years ago...
I am pretty sure they would say they are from Hawkes Bay, rather than Dunedin....
But who cares where they are from, they will show the brits at ATP what kiwi guitar music is about.
I think we all should be fuking so proud of this band man.
a band from Dunedin/Hawkes Bay getting to play at the Worlds ultimate Alternative music festival is like a fucking amazing achievement.
It really shows who is boss eh?
In a less flippant vein than my previous posting...
I note that HDU are listed as playing in the UK in March as part of the 'All Tomorrows Parties' event, which this year is being curated by Shellac. The question of the day is, does anybody know whether HDU are playing any other northern hemisphere dates on the way?
Please please let it be NYC or Boston!!
btw the boys grew up in the Hawkes Bay, but formed the band in Dunedin.
fucking hell what a night tonight was
OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LAST NIGHT WAS GREAT!
HDU were as good as the first time i saw them.
Carriage H i have never seen so good.
There were a few moans going through the audience about HDU not being as good as they used to be at the start. But as soon as dale turned the sound up. Everyone there knew these guys are NZ's best rock band with carriage H not to far behind them now i feel.
Man i did NOT want that night to end! HDU YOU RULE!!!!!
Entirely bitchin' show all round - still buzzing & hyper & grinning stupidly. Stellar, stellar stuff - good vibe, almost the set-I-would-have-chosen for them to play. Posting vaguely formal "review" below because I'm a wanker.
R0kk3n r0kk3n r0kk3n! I love everything!
(Review of the HDU part of the gig - Carriage H review in CH section.)
"Last Night I Saw God And/Or HDU" (apologies to Lester Bangs)
HDU launched their set with the sculpted suggestiveness of Fire Work's "Giant Overpasses", a track that fully justifies use of the term "sonic architecture" . . . the live rendition a lot more taut and stretched, just teetering on the brink of structure. Superlative!
Second track, "Tagging", seemed to be new material - promising stuff, from memory all angular & swooshy.
They then launched into a crunching rendition of "Visionson" & maintained the assault with the punishing "Joyd". Some older material surfaced with Abstinence:Acrimony's "Usurper", before they sandblasted into Memento Mori's "Amino", sending the crowd into a (soporific Dunedin-style) frenzy - sounded a lot more Fire Works-y, and a lot less U2-esque - still with that spacey, watery sound, but rough, raw and pounding - whitewater rapids with rocks and drowned people styles. V.nice keening vox, too - "Into the sea past the sun . . . Into the sky beyond the staaaaarrrrsss . . .", *noise detonation*. "Parfum", "Salamander" (another A:A track) and MM's "Hold On" rounded off the set, followed eventually by an encore - didn't recognize it - new track? One of those magical long trance feedback shindigs, albiet with labyrinthine dynamics - no straightforward buildbuildbuildCLIMAX shite from these lads.
Jaw-droppingly good work behind the controls - Dale Cotton's mix was the clearest I've heard any band working the territory HDU traipse through - one of those things where he's so good you don't ever realise he's there.
So . . . easily the best HDU show I've seen, and one of those spine-shaking trancendent moments when you surrender yourself to the band for an hour or so (I was one of the dancers - the stupid looking unco one), wish the night would never end, & get your awareness/understanding translated through that epiphanous buzz - sure, I loved HDU before, but not in an I-want-to-have-your-abortion way. Must . . . track down . . . entire . . . back catalogue . . .
Also like to venture that Dino Karlis is one of NZ's most distinctive (and best, natch) drummers, both live and on record. His kit sounds like it's in a zero-G, atmosphereless bubble (that's a /good/ thing). And he also knows when /not/ to drum, & how to drum in that vaguely ambient, brink-of-awareness way; which are fairly rare & overlooked qualities. Yay Dino! Yay Dino's hair!
For those that don't read Splendid, an excerpt from their All Tomorrow's Parties review (follow the link for pictures, other bands etc) :
6:45 - High Dependency Unit
This band is from New Zealand but has a Brit-influenced space rock (shall I just say Spacemen 3?) sound. Throw in a pinch of emo vocals and a dash of Sonic Youth and you get the idea. That might not sound earth shattering, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable set and they even had some stage presence, something lacking in many indie rock bands.
thanks for the link ... a bit odd, wouldn't say they were Brit influenced so much as BailterSpace/Roy Montgomery ... their description is a little weird ... love Sonic Youth, but wouldn't say they sound a bit like them ... perhaps early in their career, maybe, but ... i guess it's all subjective but ... ? Spaceman 3 parallels i get, but they were a bit more sing-songy than HDU ever were/are ... mind you the Brits said they couldn't dance to HDU ... freaks!
. . . personally, I find the "emo vocals" thing hilarious. & saying something sounds like Sonic Youth falls into the same problems that comparing a band to a band with a decent career trajectory (saying something "sounds like the Beatles" has to be one of the most unhelpful statements a music reviewer can make, for example). And at least they didn't make the horrible Hawkwind comparison, like, say, Steve Albini did on the ATP website :
"High Dependency Unit - Dunedin, New Zealand
A roaring, enveloping psychedelic swirl of a propulsive hard rock band, New Zealand's High Dependency Unit are the missing link between Hawkwind and Hawkwind. Simultaneously driving and expansive, their music projects a wide-screen image of the onrushing of infinite landscapes as traversed from low orbit. Alternately terrifying and trance-inducing, HDU is best experienced at twilight-becoming-night on a barge floating down a great river, but it has the effect of evoking that environment anywhere."
. . . okay, I'm intrigued as to what band was supposed to replace one of the "Hawkwind"s in that sentence . . .
i'll go absolutely fuckin nuts. god it's been FAR TOO LONG. i saw Tristan in the Uni Link the other day, but didn't hound him, as subconciously i think i thought a gig wasn't far away.
HDu last night at bodega was unreal. For some reason or another it seemed even better than on Friday... maybe it was the people; the support band (pheonix rock!); or the set list... who knows?
Definatley a legendary gig... it was so f**kn satisfying.......
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Metamathics is quite simply
Metamathics is quite simply stunning, but when i say stunning, I mean in a way that transcends the normal focus & tears a hole in the subconscious replacing it with some warped filthy undulating warmth, time twists in a euphoric drug like fashion, whilst driving i arrived at the place, unaware of the automation that steered me. This should be illegal.
Banner ads be damned, you should buy this. seriously.
I see a new album is
I see a new album is expected sometime this (next?) year. How very exciting.
[decided to delete it]
[decided to delete it]
The download is very slow even on a fat ...
The download is very slow even on a fat connection. This must change :)
hdu's greatest? bring on the vid........
hdu's greatest? bring on the vid.....
quite simply one of the most stunning ...
quite simply one of the most stunning tracks I've ever heard... a swaying resonating rich soil sound sets your heart floating through our landscape... hdu are my sound track to paradise...
Amazing group. Fkn original talent. ...
Amazing group. Fkn original talent. Loving it.
Brilliant stuff! Sound better every ...
Brilliant stuff! Sound better every album!
Hi Who directed the HDU video? I would ...
Hi
Who directed the HDU video? I would like to contact them, does anyone know? How did they get the footage? All these questions and no answers.
Mike D
try asking at the hdu website... my ...
try asking at the hdu website...
my guess is - it's by some young art student from kyoto art college or someplace
and they somehow scored a key to the lab with the electron microscope in it...
lucky bees turd
[ http://www.hdu.co.nz ]
HDU were excellent in Wellington on the ...
HDU were excellent in Wellington on the 8th! But i was more blown away by the wonder kids Carriage H before them!
But HDU is the Subject.
The Vid was done by the band wasn't it?
Oh everyone. the Fireworks stuff is amazing and will blow you away!
[ www.carriageh.f2s.com ]
Fucking amazing live. this band should ...
Fucking amazing live.
this band should be thought as the best band to come from New Zealand.
I have been to 5 shows and not once got bored. I feel asleep in Shihad's last concert! now thats saying something!
i've been listening to hdu for quiet ...
i've been listening to hdu for quiet some time now,i bought "sum of the few" in early 1997 and have been a huge fan ever since as hdu continue to get better and better.i can't wait to hear the new album "fire works" and see how well steve albini has made them sound (albinis production fuckin rules,jesus lizards "liar" is one of the best sounding guitar records ever!)
the live gigs in the wake of its release are looking awesome as well,playing at aucklands best venue galatos will be a big plus,as well as the support,DIMMER!(who absolutly blew me away the last time i saw them support hdu in october '98,and they pretty much haven't played live since.)
It would be nice to hear the production ...
It would be nice to hear the production of Steve Albini (of big black/ rapeman/ shellac fame) on the new HDU album. Although, rumour has it he piked on producing fireworks- although his studio was used.
Oh well, it all remains to be seen when the album comes out... this week maybe?
You guys are great- don't ever ...
You guys are great- don't ever stop!
Carriage H are good 2
Great song! CARRIAGE H GOOD? MORE ...
Great song!
CARRIAGE H GOOD? MORE LIKE FUCKING EXCELLENT!
Deffinitly The BEST EVER NZ ...
Deffinitly The BEST EVER NZ BAND!
fireworks took a while to grow on me.
BUT NOW! look you guys should maybe leave NZ and try and make it over seas. You would!
Excellent video, pity it's not on ...
Excellent video, pity it's not on primetime viewing slots. Just interviewed Carriage H for the marvellous bands.co.nz site. The most succinct, thoughtful, mature and down right rocking young musicians I've ever met. Hard to believe they're only 7th form, give them props at the Rockquest finals guys!
[ www.bands.co.nz ]
How can this be the No. 1 Video, if you ...
How can this be the No. 1 Video, if you can't even play it (quicktime server down).
Makes me think there is a bit of vote fixing.
Im like this band, I like them alot.......
Im like this band, I like them alot....
i think Stephen Downes (who ...
i think Stephen Downes (who cinematographed on Scarfies) directed this ... well I know he made one of their videos - would be cool to see which one he worked on.
Does anyone know when HDU r coming up ...
Does anyone know when HDU r coming up to Welli?
Big ups to this band man! They deserve ...
Big ups to this band man!
They deserve to be put in the same box as all Great pioneering NZ Acts.
go hard at ATP's.
.
good to see you've influenced bands of the future too.
go dunedin bands you always seem to be the best!!
Dimmer
Snapper
Dead C
HDU
carriage H - my 5 favourite NZ bands
But isnt HDU a Hastings band? hehe...
But isnt HDU a Hastings band? hehe
Bro they are as Dunedin as it ...
Bro they are as Dunedin as it comes!
They formed in dunedin! So long live Dunedin bands!
Played in Hastings/Havelock North as ...
Played in Hastings/Havelock North as Eskimo Chain years ago...
I am pretty sure they would say they are from Hawkes Bay, rather than Dunedin....
But who cares where they are from, they will show the brits at ATP what kiwi guitar music is about.
[ http://www.cosmicroughriders.com ]
In their Interviews they say they are ...
In their Interviews they say they are from dunedin.
I think we all should be fuking so ...
I think we all should be fuking so proud of this band man.
a band from Dunedin/Hawkes Bay getting to play at the Worlds ultimate Alternative music festival is like a fucking amazing achievement.
It really shows who is boss eh?
In a less flippant vein than my ...
In a less flippant vein than my previous posting...
I note that HDU are listed as playing in the UK in March as part of the 'All Tomorrows Parties' event, which this year is being curated by Shellac. The question of the day is, does anybody know whether HDU are playing any other northern hemisphere dates on the way?
Please please let it be NYC or Boston!!
btw the boys grew up in the Hawkes Bay, but formed the band in Dunedin.
[ external link ]
I heard just a few gigs around the UK - ...
I heard just a few gigs around the UK - London, Glasgow and a couple of others I think.
Well, it looks like I'll just have to ...
Well, it looks like I'll just have to go and see them in the UK...the most I've ever paid for a NZ gig!!
[ external link ]
Yep, it was worth the cash. They ...
Yep, it was worth the cash. They played in a small and very hot venue (about Bodega size), with a VERY big sound. My ears are still ringing!!
Nice to see Dave and Denise (Ghost Club) after many years too.
Yeah, London, Nottingham and Glasgow in ...
Yeah, London, Nottingham and Glasgow in between the two All Tomorrows Parties weekends.
Cannot wait for the Glasgow gig with The Blimp!
[ http://www.theblimp.co.uk ]
fucking hell what a night tonight was ...
fucking hell what a night tonight was
OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yeah, it sure was (re: Arc 9th March) ...
yeah, it sure was (re: Arc 9th March) ... definitive versions of their tunes ... Visionson was ... absolutely incredible ...
they're so damn tight these days, and the mix was absolutely brilliant - you could hear everything at once
i'm actually a bit relieved about the noise restriction on Arc ... made HDU a lot more understandable, volume-wise ...
geez, i can't wait till i see them play again. so proud ... sob!
//the mix was absolutely brilliant - ...
//the mix was absolutely brilliant - you could hear everything at once
Thats because dale cotton is the fucking greatest sound man NZ has.
//i'm actually a bit relieved about the noise restriction on Arc ... made HDU a lot more understandable, volume-wise
I disagree i think it could have been louder at the start. But towards the end of the gig dale put the volume up to normal level!
FUCK WHAT A SHOW!
LAST NIGHT WAS GREAT! HDU were as ...
LAST NIGHT WAS GREAT!
HDU were as good as the first time i saw them.
Carriage H i have never seen so good.
There were a few moans going through the audience about HDU not being as good as they used to be at the start. But as soon as dale turned the sound up. Everyone there knew these guys are NZ's best rock band with carriage H not to far behind them now i feel.
Man i did NOT want that night to end! HDU YOU RULE!!!!!
Entirely bitchin' show all round - ...
Entirely bitchin' show all round - still buzzing & hyper & grinning stupidly. Stellar, stellar stuff - good vibe, almost the set-I-would-have-chosen for them to play. Posting vaguely formal "review" below because I'm a wanker.
R0kk3n r0kk3n r0kk3n! I love everything!
(Review of the HDU part of the gig - ...
(Review of the HDU part of the gig - Carriage H review in CH section.)
"Last Night I Saw God And/Or HDU" (apologies to Lester Bangs)
HDU launched their set with the sculpted suggestiveness of Fire Work's "Giant Overpasses", a track that fully justifies use of the term "sonic architecture" . . . the live rendition a lot more taut and stretched, just teetering on the brink of structure. Superlative!
Second track, "Tagging", seemed to be new material - promising stuff, from memory all angular & swooshy.
They then launched into a crunching rendition of "Visionson" & maintained the assault with the punishing "Joyd". Some older material surfaced with Abstinence:Acrimony's "Usurper", before they sandblasted into Memento Mori's "Amino", sending the crowd into a (soporific Dunedin-style) frenzy - sounded a lot more Fire Works-y, and a lot less U2-esque - still with that spacey, watery sound, but rough, raw and pounding - whitewater rapids with rocks and drowned people styles. V.nice keening vox, too - "Into the sea past the sun . . . Into the sky beyond the staaaaarrrrsss . . .", *noise detonation*. "Parfum", "Salamander" (another A:A track) and MM's "Hold On" rounded off the set, followed eventually by an encore - didn't recognize it - new track? One of those magical long trance feedback shindigs, albiet with labyrinthine dynamics - no straightforward buildbuildbuildCLIMAX shite from these lads.
Jaw-droppingly good work behind the controls - Dale Cotton's mix was the clearest I've heard any band working the territory HDU traipse through - one of those things where he's so good you don't ever realise he's there.
So . . . easily the best HDU show I've seen, and one of those spine-shaking trancendent moments when you surrender yourself to the band for an hour or so (I was one of the dancers - the stupid looking unco one), wish the night would never end, & get your awareness/understanding translated through that epiphanous buzz - sure, I loved HDU before, but not in an I-want-to-have-your-abortion way. Must . . . track down . . . entire . . . back catalogue . . .
Also like to venture that Dino Karlis is one of NZ's most distinctive (and best, natch) drummers, both live and on record. His kit sounds like it's in a zero-G, atmosphereless bubble (that's a /good/ thing). And he also knows when /not/ to drum, & how to drum in that vaguely ambient, brink-of-awareness way; which are fairly rare & overlooked qualities. Yay Dino! Yay Dino's hair!
For those that don't read Splendid, an ...
For those that don't read Splendid, an excerpt from their All Tomorrow's Parties review (follow the link for pictures, other bands etc) :
6:45 - High Dependency Unit
This band is from New Zealand but has a Brit-influenced space rock (shall I just say Spacemen 3?) sound. Throw in a pinch of emo vocals and a dash of Sonic Youth and you get the idea. That might not sound earth shattering, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable set and they even had some stage presence, something lacking in many indie rock bands.
[ external link ]
thanks for the link ... a bit odd, ...
thanks for the link ... a bit odd, wouldn't say they were Brit influenced so much as BailterSpace/Roy Montgomery ... their description is a little weird ... love Sonic Youth, but wouldn't say they sound a bit like them ... perhaps early in their career, maybe, but ... i guess it's all subjective but ... ? Spaceman 3 parallels i get, but they were a bit more sing-songy than HDU ever were/are ... mind you the Brits said they couldn't dance to HDU ... freaks!
. . . personally, I find the "emo ...
. . . personally, I find the "emo vocals" thing hilarious. & saying something sounds like Sonic Youth falls into the same problems that comparing a band to a band with a decent career trajectory (saying something "sounds like the Beatles" has to be one of the most unhelpful statements a music reviewer can make, for example). And at least they didn't make the horrible Hawkwind comparison, like, say, Steve Albini did on the ATP website :
"High Dependency Unit - Dunedin, New Zealand
A roaring, enveloping psychedelic swirl of a propulsive hard rock band, New Zealand's High Dependency Unit are the missing link between Hawkwind and Hawkwind. Simultaneously driving and expansive, their music projects a wide-screen image of the onrushing of infinite landscapes as traversed from low orbit. Alternately terrifying and trance-inducing, HDU is best experienced at twilight-becoming-night on a barge floating down a great river, but it has the effect of evoking that environment anywhere."
. . . okay, I'm intrigued as to what band was supposed to replace one of the "Hawkwind"s in that sentence . . .
[ external link ]
Has anyone heard when HDU are going to ...
Has anyone heard when HDU are going to return triumphantly to our shores for a welcome home gig?
I wanna see them at Bodega again...
Wish granted dude..... check the site ...
Wish granted dude.....
check the site all fans
[ http://www.hdu.co.nz ]
HDU.... so special to me.... ahhh...
HDU.... so special to me.... ahhh
HDU.... wellington...... gasp...... ...
HDU.... wellington...... gasp...... 28th and 29th........choke....... september....... new bodega...... final breath.... arghhh..... (silence)
whimper ... Dunedin? please? i'll ...
whimper ... Dunedin? please?
i'll go absolutely fuckin nuts. god it's been FAR TOO LONG. i saw Tristan in the Uni Link the other day, but didn't hound him, as subconciously i think i thought a gig wasn't far away.
fingers crossed.
MMMMmmmm HDU. After so much waiting... ...
MMMMmmmm HDU. After so much waiting... skate along to Bodega :)
why only wellington I wonders?...
why only wellington I wonders?
HDu last night at bodega was unreal. ...
HDu last night at bodega was unreal. For some reason or another it seemed even better than on Friday... maybe it was the people; the support band (pheonix rock!); or the set list... who knows?
Definatley a legendary gig... it was so f**kn satisfying.......