No Skips: Liam K Swiggs on Sugar’s 'Copper Blue'
Big Fresh Collective Producer and RNZ Sports Jurno Liam K Swiggs sinks a few Häagen's and passionately presents Sugar’s 1992 'Copper Blue' to the 'No Skips' jury.
The premise of ‘No Skips’ is simple: I think the advent of music streaming/algorithms has inadvertently made our music tastes very insular. Personally, I’ve found it a lot harder to find new music to fall in love with that’s not just something an algorithm thinks I’d be keen on based on data it’s collected on me.
So to broaden my, and hopefully your, musical horizons, each week I reach out to musicians I love to get their recommendation on an album they believe deserves the title of 'No Skips'— one you can listen to front to back without wanting to skip a single track.
This week we are joined by Redwood’s finest son, Liam K. Swiggs, he’s a producer, DJ, and proud member of the Big Fresh Collective. He’s also a roving sports reporter for RNZ, where he puts his vast and passionate love for ball sports to great use. Liam combines his love for music and his passionate journalistic writing talents to put forward the case that Sugar’s 1992 album ‘Copper Blue’ should be in the No Skips Hall of legends…
This album is fucking ingrained into my very BEING - I literally shit you not dot co dot fucking NZ - it’s one of the earliest audible memories I have.
My super cool working-class bogan parents stumbled across this one in the early 1990s down in Ōtautahi, Canterbury - and it opened us to a world of cool new post-punk alternative music that was taking over the United States, Britannia, and the humble Christchurch suburb of Belfast - that’s right we were fucking cool before you even knew what it was people - read it and weep!
Anyways it also started a lifelong love affair me and my father have had with the incredibly talented Bob Mould - lead singer of this band Sugar and originally of Minnesota hardcore punk fame - you may have heard of his band Hüsker Dü - who’s fucking album Candy Apple Grey - would 100% be my choice if it wasn’t this one - dude is just the best musician of all time in my not so humble opinion and if you don’t agree that’s fucked (jokes - kinda) - yeah it’s all so good aye I love it - up the wahs.
Fuck if you want like a personal insight into my literal makings of a person - here’s the complete blueprint to it - I’m just an OG 90s emo guys I’m sorry if you hadn’t realised that already - it’s my secret to so much success.
Okay in my expert opinion which is based upon many years of experience listening to the finest music the world has to offer (debatable) - I’ve gotta say - this isn’t just a ‘no skip’ album people. No, it’s a fucking rewind that shit and put it on again album - DAD!
Are you kidding me! It’s fucking pure theatre - stick this on before a really big sports game you’ll be contemplating your fucking existence mate!
Two songs to hook you in? That’s like choosing two of my favorite Rugby League players of all time - it’s not fair!
So I’d chose “A Good Idea” - it’s literally the most powerful song ever it’s fucking out of it like it deals with some really depressing subject matter but it’s just so fucking jangly and poppy it’s just amazing like if you listen to anything from the album it’s gotta be that it’ll haunt you in a fucking good way.
Secondly (this is so hard dawg) - gotta be “Fortune Teller” for me dawg - I just CAN’T DAWG damn this is so good dawg - fucking - I only just learned what the term post-punk meant like fucking 3 years ago coz I just don’t care about buzzwords and shit but I guess this is it - this is literally the meaning of post-punk. Just shreddy but like - really fucking nice? A recurring theme throughout Bob Mould’s music and my life!
And lastly, I’d also like to choose 2011 Shaun Johnson and Feleti Mateo from the Warriors grand final team who went down to Manly - I fucking really dislike Manly.
God - no one has made depression seem so fucking cool!
That’s what it’s all about!
Punch a few cans, a few Dartz, a bit of Copper Blue and ya fucking on mate!
Yes deeply it’s helped me, it’s helped me a great deal. It’s helped me tap into my inner world champion professional wrestler alter ego - if I wasn’t a DJ/Sports journalist extraordinaire - I’d be the lead singer of some indie band because of this album (Unfortunately I can’t be though because of my crippling anxiety about singing in front of other people for fuck sakes)
It’s just the epitome of fucking cool for me it sets a true benchmark that I try and match in my own work. Even though it’s totally unrelated it’s just a feeling you’re searching for - I dunno man it’s all fucking dials and sliders to me at the end of the day - you learn that real fucking quickly in Papanui g you know what I’m saying - fuck around and find out an algebraic lesson you can apply to life in a garage drinking at 3pm on a Tuesday - again.
It’s like a giant release every time I don’t listen to it for a while - just like when The Warriors don’t win for a while - and then they do. Better than fucking Lego mate get one up ya, cheers.
My notes;
Watch this -
Maybe this -
Also, listen to the album Husker Du ‘Candy Apple Grey’ - Or I’ll fucking get ya!
A big thanks to Swiggs for his impassioned write-up, be sure to check out his work and all the local talent that falls under the Big Fresh Umbrella!