Album Stream: Skeptics - III (Remastered)

Worlds apart from the suburban psych-pop of Surf City, who's album we featured last week, is the ever unique provincial industrial punk of Skeptics.  Formed in Palmerston North in 1979 whilst at high school, Skeptics always strove to push boundaries - Nick Roughan explains...

"The Skeptics have always tried to do something substantial, something that goes deeper. There are enough bands that just skate on the surface, pop music . . . a lot of music without substance. We don't want to be like that. We want to make music that stays around. We're always trying to capture a feeling as well as the enjoyment (of playing)." (from an interview by Matthew Hyland for Stamp magazine)

Indeed, Skeptics early exploration into electronic music and samples combined with their layered, complex song writing, leaves their music feeling as fresh and powerful today as it ever did.   This is more than evident on their extraordinary third album, simply titled III,  released in 1987 via Flying Nun which we have the great honour of streaming this week.

Not only are we streaming III online for the first time but we have an unreleased remastered version from founding member Nick Roughan who, along with with band members Robin Gauld, Don White, John Halverson and Brent McLaughlin, feature in an excellent documentary about the band currently in the final stages of production and pegged for release this year.

So expect to hear much more about Skeptics in the months to come but for now tuck into the epic listening experience that is III available all week below and hopefully in future as part of the Flying Nun and Captured tracks reissue series.  (Album highlight: 'Agitator')