The very exciting news that the Clean are releasing their first album in 8 years is a nice excuse to talk about Flying Nun Records. Lets face it, no one knows who the Clean are, but those who do love them. More than that, they are one of the most culturally significant bands, thanks to their groundbreaking first single Tally Ho.

Quick history lesson: One of the greatest, most under-rated labels of the 80s was Flying Nun Records, from Dunedin, New Zealand. The label supported a small family of local bands, who created some of the greatest 80s indie songs ever – from jangle pop to post-rock. It was the New Zealand version of legendary labels like Postcard or Stiff.

The Clean released the second ever FNR release, and their first chart success, with a song called ‘Tally Ho‘. They were one of the tent pole bands for the label, and created some of the label’s most timless music. That music made a big impact in NZ and also overseas, where all the right indie kids found out about it. In fact, the easiest way to get music by some of these bands are through US compilations.

The Clean‘s Anthology – the best way to get the classic stuff, is on Merge Records. The fantastic North Carolina indie who brought the world bands like Neutral Milk Hotel, Spoon and Arcade Fire have now resigned the Clean for a brand new album.

Listening to the new track (wonderfully titled ‘In the Dreamtine You Need A Rubber Soul), they’ve lost none of their indie pop smarts. They’ve also not succumbed to new technology to clean up their lo fi sound. It sounds as groovy as their early work, mining the same space as early REM, the Go-Betweens and Orange Juice.

You can get the mp3 for ‘In the Dreamtime You Need A Rubber Soul‘ at the Merge Records site – http://www.mergerecords.com/blog/2009/06/the-clean-announce-mister-pop/