Today, Tall Dwarfs—the prized New Zealand duo of Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate—share a complete video playlist ahead of the release of their new box set, Unravelled: 1981–2002 (out August 19), and in tandem with the full Tall Dwarfs discography newly available to stream for the first time ever. 

Of the videos, all designed and shot by Knox, Bathgate says:

The videos are all Chris’ work. I had virtually no input. I’m not even in many of them due to living in a different city to Chris. I loved the stop-start animation and willfully shonky production values. I often didn’t see them ‘til they were shown on NZ TV. It was outrageous to see them sandwiched between slick record company videos of the day—all messy, human and beautifully deranged.

Watch Tall Dwarfs’ complete video playlist

Unravelled: 1981–2002 is a 4-LP or 2-CD set compiling 55 songs from Tall Dwarfs’ two decades of recordings, shining a loving light on the lo-fi pioneers. The LP edition is pressed on 180g vinyl housed in two gatefold jackets and includes a 20-page collector’s booklet of photos, comics, posters, and other ephemera, all packaged in a slipcase. Pre-order Unravelled now in the Merge store as a 4-LP box set or 2-CD set that can be bundled with a rad new Tall Dwarfs t-shirt.

The songs on Unravelled: 1981–2002 were curated by Bathgate, who also designed the box set packaging; Chris Knox suffered a debilitating stroke in 2009 just as they had started work on a new album. Tall Dwarfs was meant to be a one-off, but after the founding of their New Zealand label Flying Nun, they continued to record music for the next 21 years, releasing seven EPs and six albums. Though the band was an excuse for two good friends who lived in different cities to get together, drink beer, watch shitty old movies, and do some recording and drawing, Tall Dwarfs created music unlike anyone else. Capturing the initial excitement of creation and taking pride in what they did, Knox and Bathgate showed a whole generation of musicians what could be done at home on a 4-track and what magic could be made if you mixed pop melodies and hooks galore with homemade sounds.