as seen on under the radar, non stop pop, white light white heat and shoegazer alive !
I talk to 95bFM’s Hunter Keane about old plastic on the long player programme
time will stop all of its meaning / draw the line – out now
#1 Alt Airplay, Radio Scope, 160224
#5 te ahi top 10, RDU 98.5 fm, 300124
‘lush two pack of tunes‘ – under the radar, 090124
RadioActive FM ‘Hatched track ‘ 10 01 24
go baby go – new single out now
“Great song – I love what he does so much”
– Grant Smithies, RNZ nine to noon, 151223
breezy – album out now
breezy is a top-down, wind-in-your-face adventure set on getting
your senses working overtime “ – Bruce Novak, No Wristbands 160523
“hook -packed “ – under the radar
almost proud – new single out now
“I love it “ – Grant Smithies, nine to noon, RNZ, 240223
‘over bored ‘ out now on bandcamp
“overflows with fuzzy shoegazey / motorik grooves. A buoyantly and propulsive eight track collection ” – under the radar
“good news for fans of fuzzed-out, melodic guitar pop.Blair Parkes is writing songs as good as any in his 30+ year career. “ – Tony Stamp, The Sampler, RNZ, 180322
” Hits this impressive mix of unshakeable melody and distorted guitar noise that really works “
I talk to RNZ’s Tony Stamp about songwriting on Music101
I had a chat with Karyn Hay on RNZ about over bored, some old music and some new music
I had a chat with Geoff Sloan from Star Media
‘far’ – out now on bandcamp
‘no plans’ – out now on bandcamp
‘that’ll clear your chimney’ – Grant Smithies, Nine to Noon, RNZ 191121
‘a sweet blast of pure beguiling pop craft ‘
-track of the day on white light white heat
new building – new album is out now
new building – out now
“it has been a long time that I have nearly exhausted by the end of a record because as a melody obsessed music fan, the hooks never stop coming. They come at you in rapid succession for the full 30 minutes so the real question is, do your ears have the stamina for this much memorable material? ”
– Tracy Wilson, Turntable Report 032
“a collection of buzzing, dense pop-rock songs with the sometimes mesmerisingly melodic-drone vocals riding gritty guitars.” – Graham Reid, Music from Elsewher
Too Much is More than Enough Cassete :
3 and 4 track solo recordings from 1994/5
Lo-fi is back and how!!! True bedroomrock from NZ. 4 track twiddlings bringing back the memories of Boyracer, Simon Joyner, Will Simmons or even Casiotone For The Painfully Alone. Quite some gems to be found on these, apparantly lost, recordings from 1994-95. “ – Knotwilg records
edition of 20, out now on Independent Woman Records
I had a cheap audio technica mic.and three tracks left on my foster X15. My drums sat in the corner of the lounge in front of the stereo. The fostex was on a stool beside me, the mic out front. I taped the drums then wrote songs over the top.
My amp lived in town at the practice room, so acoustic guitar and acoustic bass were played in front of the mic. There’s some casiotone, tv and a dr rhythm. At some point I got a digital delay and moved up to four tracks. I got more gain recording through my hot cake, so that’s a big part of things.
1994 / 1995. Half my life ago.
“the perfect golden ration of melody to noise” – Grant Smithies, RNZ 061120
new single / video ‘maybe you heard’ out now on bandcamp
new album ‘never go‘ is out now
“Just awesome from beginning to end.”
– Grant Smithies reviewed ‘never go’ on RNZ’s ‘nine to noon’
“ a banger -perfectly distorted guitar- it just sounds so cool “
– Finn Johansson, music reviewer, on Karyn Hay Presents, RNZ
“An exciting, swirling collection .”
single – wobbly knees – is out now
#10 on 95bFM top ten – thanks bfm!
“..the collection’s rich sonics belie Liveable City’s home-recorded DIY roots, with dreamy reverbed vocals and intoxicating shoegazey guitars delivering the goods over propulsive rhythmic grooves.”
“..a formidable talent whose albums continually impress.”- Amanda MIlls, New Zealand Musician
‘reliably marvelous’ – Grant Smithies, Nine to Noon, RNZ
‘one of Otautahi’s finest’ – Niva Chittock, Salient
‘all the fuzzy shoe-gazed warmth and reverb you could want ‘ – thanks sweetsounds
‘habit to break’ #6 on RDU Te Ahi top10 June 20th 2019 – thanks RDU
‘habit to break’ #14 on Hot NZ Singles Chart
‘liveable city’ is included in Under the Radar’s July Playlist-thanks UTR
liveable city is reviewed on RNZ’s Nine to Noon by Grant Smithies
solo rehearsal, 240719
solo live to air and interview, RNZ’s NZ live
new album ‘liveable city’ out now
New video : habit to break
New Single : habit to break
blair parkes , ryan chin – drums , miss mercury – vocals.
New Album, ‘always running’ out now
Ryan Chin plays the drums, Miss Mercury does the backing vocals, I do the rest.
New Single, ‘Heavy Lifting’ out now
here is the first single ‘Heavy Lifting’ from my forthcoming album, ‘always running’.
Ryan Chin plays the drums, Miss Mercury does the backing vocals, I do the rest.
new album, ‘saturations’ out now.
“warm like a wood fire” – Russell Brown, Public Address
so very useful
‘run electro’
‘don’t worry baby’
‘we all need good’
‘no choice’
saturations
condensations
blair parkes [solo]
- Amanda Mills from NZ Musician interviewed me in June.
- Shinsu Fm has written about Cardigan Bay.
- Nick Bollinger spoke about my new album Cardigan Bay on RNZ ‘s The Sampler .
My album is spoken of from 6’21” into the audio piece, after Dunedin’s ‘The Prophet Hens‘.
You can listen to RNZ’s The Sampler here and Cardigan Bay in full, here.
frostfish from Cardigan Bay :
older releases:
- Black light, cassette album, blacklight, 1988
- The end, cd album. wrong records, 2000
- East coast, cd ep, wrong records, 2001
blair parkes 
