About
New Zealanders Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate started Tall Dwarfs in 1979, unwittingly blazing a trail in the aesthetics of Lo-Fi when they released their 1981 experimental debut Three Songs. Despite the primitive, DIY quality of the recordings, Tall Dwarfs scored a minor hit with the song, "Nothing's Going To Happen." The Lo-Fi zeitgeist made its presence felt as bands, following the lead ofTall Dwarfs, started to play original compositions with the same unpretentious earnestness. Bathgate moved from Dunedin to Christchurch in 1982, which relegated the band to side-project status, as Chris Knox kept busy with a solo career and countless production credits. But the two would meet once a year or so to record, releasing a string of inventive, noisy, pop-influenced EPs (and subsequent albums) throughout the 1980s and '90s, influencing even more bands in their wake.
- Linda Ryan
