Future Jaw-Clap tells the story of a highly influential movement in New Zealand music: the self-made musicians of pioneering free jazz ensemble Primitive Art Group, who carved out their own radical musical language in the cold, hard reality of 1980s Wellington, and have gone on to richly diverse careers in music.

From their beginnings as ‘the punks of jazz’ in small clubs and the anti-nuclear and anti-apartheid protests of the early 1980s, through the heyday of the Braille Collective's many colourful groups, self-released records and intersections with dance, theatre and visual arts, to the Six Volts providing music for the iconic album Songs From the Front Lawn, and beyond, these musicians and the many others they have drawn into their orbit have done much to shape the music of Aotearoa.

Based on a deep oral history project and extensive archival research, and vividly illustrated with photographs and other items, Future Jaw-Clap is a portal into an extraordinary musical world, and a celebration of a vibrant living tradition.

‘astounding and illuminating’ —Thurston Moore

‘wonderful’ —Nick Bollinger

‘A must-read' —Mike Nock

‘Everyone who wants to start a band in Aotearoa should read this book’ —Don McGlashan

In October 2024, Primitive Art Group release a new double LP, 1981–1986, from Amish Records, available from Flying Out. This gatefold, 2XLP combines the group’s only two albums, consisting of one LP of Five Tread Drop Down cuts plus 'Cecil Likes to Dance', a never-before-released live recording from Thistle Hall (1984) and the full 1985 LP Future Jaw-Clap. Also available on Bandcamp

There is also a book soundtrack of live and previously unreleased archival recordings. Listen to both releases here:

Daniel Beban is a musician, sound artist and producer who lives in Wellington, New Zealand. He performs on a number of different instruments in groups including Orchestra of Spheres, Devils Gate Outfit, Imbogodom, the Stinging Nettles, Farewell Spit and UMU. With these groups he has released recordings and toured extensively. He builds sound sculptures and invented instruments out of found objects and recycled materials. Through his work as a radio sound engineer, Daniel has experimented at length with reel-to-reel tape machines, which forms the basis of much of his electronic work. In 2009 Daniel founded the Frederick Street Sound and Light Exploration Society and was director of the associated venue Fred’s, an important centre for creative music and arts from 2009–2012. Since 2013 he has managed Pyramid Club, Wellington’s home for experimental music, which hosts weekly performances, exhibitions, workshops and other activities. In 2019 Daniel was awarded the Lilburn Research Fellowship to research and write about improvised music in Wellington during the 1980s.

Cover photo: Primitive Art Group, c. 1983, clockwise from bottom: Stuart Porter, David Donaldson, David Watson, Neill Duncan, Anthony Donaldson. Stuart Porter collection
Cover design: Carla Schollum