The "Dunedin Sound" gets a lot of credit for creating a distinctive New Zealand rock and roll.
But at the same time, further north, a bunch of Wellingtonians were starting a revolution in kiwi jazz.
Now Daniel Beban, a child of that movement, has written a book about it.
Photo: Supplied
Future Jaw-Clap is the story of the free jazz ensemble Primitive Art Group, the Braille Collective which they were part of, and the record label that came out of it: Braille Records.
The musician, sound engineer, builder and now writer was able to complete the book thanks to financial support through a Lilburn Research Fellowship.
Future Jaw-Clap is more than a book. It comes with bookmarks which allow the reader to access recordings of Primitive Art Group and other Braille Collective outfits in action.
Ahead of the book's launch, Beban spoke with RNZ Concert host Bryan Crump about Primitive Art Group's birth in the late 1970s, its freewheeling ways (not just free of key signatures, not many time signatures either) and the groups that followed, loosely based around Braille Collective.
Beban's introduction to Braille Collective came during a 1993 school visit to Wellington from his home town, Levin.
In Cuba Street's Slow Boat Records, he happened across an album by the band Black Sheep.
Beban became not only a follower of the scene, he became part of it as a performer.
Photo: Supplied / Daniel Beban
While free jazz may seem a pretty niche market, its presence in Wellington made a huge contribution to the city's music scene - and beyond. One quarter of the Muttonbirds came out of the Braille world, and two thirds of the horn section of the pop band Fat Freddy's Drop have Braille connections.
Crump asks if the free jazz background added a bit of extra spice to the pop sensibilities of other more mainstream bands.
Beban has no doubt it did.
He probably would, but he's got six months of research and years of music making to back himself up.
Along with his book launch on 16 November, Beban will also return to Slow Boat Records, where it all began, for a chat about Future Jaw-Clap with fellow author and musician, Nick Bollinger, on Saturday 9 November as part of this year's LitCrawl Wellington.
