Bailter Space Is The Place
Clangoring presents NZ noise-gaze legends in Durham, NC
Sept 16, 2024: Some bummer news from Bailter Space's booking agent just came across the wire this afternoon: “I was just notified by Bailterspace that they have to cancel all their upcoming shows including Rubies, The Earl and Gonerfest due to a serious health issue with one of their band members. They wanted to let everyone know that the decision to cancel was not made lightly and how disappointed they are in the whole situation. They hope they'll be able to make it up in the near future once everyone is healthy, but they're not ready to re-schedule just yet.”
I’ve been a Bailter Space fan ever since a Kiwi rock digging tape trading compatriot sent a me cassette decades ago with a note. It “Remember that tape I sent a few years ago with the Gordons on it? They’ve got a new thing and have released two records so far.”
The sounds on it were clattery and nervy. A bit like the Gordons but also something very different. Much more cerebral than off the cuff. Not in a calculated manner but still very locked in on in a claret smeared and chrome plated battering ram kind of way. My headspace at the time was dazzling with the likes of Sonic Youth, Loop and some of the more agitated fringes of Krautrock (as well as parts of my brain already being branded by the Velvets, JAMC, Spacemen 3 and Swell Maps a few years earlier), Bailter Space immediately took a prime spot of a gallery wall in my mind.
At the time, Baiter Space’s first two albums, Tanker and Thermos, weren’t readily available in North America. None of the stuff coming out on Flying Nun was really save for what Homestead had licensed for the US (which, along with the aforementioned tape trader, is what turned my ear on to that whole scene initially) so I truly wore the tape out way before their third album, Robot World came out a couple years later. It was their first album on a US label, Matador and is where I got really, really deep into the band.
Matador would go on to release two more albums from them (including their most accessible blast of bliss shoegaze adjacent classic Wammo) as well as allowing me to get proper replacements for the first two albums when they reissued them in 1995. Following their time at Matador, Bailter Space released five more albums, including their return to the fore record, 2021’s Concret. With each of those releases, I sought them out to bask in the sounds they were making.
So, yeah, to repeat saying I am a Bailter Space fan is pretty obvious. I was lucky enough to see them once “back in the day” and had never expected a chance of ever seeing them again. Then I see they’re playing Gonerfest 2024 and, as usual, making it to that just ain’t in the cards again for me this year.
”Damn! They’d would be awesome to see again.” I thought to myself.
A few days later I got a message from Tony B out in California. He tells me he’s helping Baiter Space get some shows on their way to Memphis and could I set something up in the Triangle.
”Wait? Is this for real” was my first thought but Tony is not a dude who would pull a leg. “Yes, of course, I’ll make it happen” was my response.
So on Wednesday, September 25th at Rubies On Five Points in downtown Durham, NC, Clangoring presents Bailter Space. This is one of the only 5 shows the band planned in the US in 2024. I also believe this is the first time in decades (if at all really, my digging has not brought up a previous time) they’ve played near North Carolina. I am so honored to be able to make this rare opportunity happen.
Also on the bill are Verity Den, who are a perfect match not just locally but pretty much anywhere for such a night of kaleidoscopic sonancy. Read my take on Verity Den’s album here.
Tickets for this show are on sale now at Rubies On Five Points website.