Primitive Art Group - 1981-1986 2xLP

Wellington’s free music outfit Primitive Art Group were true outliers, even by New Zealand standards. Formed in the early 1980s by a ragtag group of misfits—Anthony Donaldson (drums), David Donaldson (bass), Neil Duncan (sax), Stuart Porter (sax), David Watson (guitar), and for a time, Pam Grey (cello)—Primitive Art Group were at right angles to the dominant forms of cultural creation in underground New Zealand at the time: this was no Flying Nun indie rock trip, no psychedelic post-punk exploration, though there may have been some umbilical connections through adoption of a similar DIY ethos. Instead, Primitive Art Group were informed by the free jazz and improvised music they’d read about, and heard, throughout the 1970s. In Daniel Beban’s recently published book about the group and their scene, Future Jaw-Clap: The Primitive Art Group And Braille Collective Story, the author documents the various members of the group’s fortuitous encounters: stumbling upon early ECM titles at a loca