Finally, New Zealand's premiere pop guy is honored with a domestic CD of solo stuff. Knox, also one-half of Tall Dwarfs, makes a kind of fuzzy, infectious noise matched only in brilliance by acerbic, painfully clever lyrics. Pretty he's not. The voice grates, cutting through feedback, guitar distortion and the occasional organ cheese while his lo-fi production doesn't hide a thing. Stuff the talented listener will come to know and love.
Meat compiles most of the cuts from Knox's solo LP's Seizure and Croaker (plus one from an older LP). That makes 25 beauties and a strong document of NZ's hold on our land's collective pop conscience. (Carrie McLaren)