The Max Block - Air Ache In The Belly Of The Leech LP

For the majority of newbie Flying Nun collectors, The Max Block’s eponymous (and only) 12-inch release is more myth than fact. Few seemed to have been pressed, and even fewer were available in the brief window of time (mid-’80s) when it was “around.” Unknown until very recently was that a second EP had been recorded and slated for release by Flying Nun but never realized. Air Ache in the Belly of the Leech is a compendium of both, and thus the complete recorded works of The Max Block. You’re welcome.

Some background: The Max Block is where Maryrose (née Wilkinson) and Brian Crook—now the power couple behind The Renderers—joined forces for the first time. Maryrose was coming out of Above Ground, and Brian out of Scorched Earth Policy. With the enlisted talents of Rebecca Shanahan and Robbie Stowell, The Max Block pushed different boundaries than other active Christchurch bands at the time; they came out slinging a brain-splattering goo of art-spaced, Pere-Ubu-seared cerebellum, and frenetic, Mars-fried medula oblongata. Such tantalizing aromas! Pardon me, garçon, but make mine deux.