Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Psychedelic rock band formed in 2010 by Ruban Nielson (ex-The Mint Chicks) in Portland, Oregon. Originally from Auckland, UMO rose to international acclaim through lo-fi home recordings and five studio albums on Jagjaguwar.
Lyttelton Coffee Company
The Lyttelton Coffee Company has occupied the heritage-listed J.D. Bundy building at 29 London Street since 2007, operating as a café, specialty coffee roastery, and intimate live music venue. Owner Stephen Mateer oversaw a painstaking 2.5-year restoration of the building after it was badly damaged in the February 2011 Canterbury earthquake.
Mestar
Biography Mëstar are a pop/rock trio formed in 1996 in Dunedin, New Zealand. The band came together after vocalist and guitarist John White and vocalist and bassist Stefan Bray first met in a high school maths class, where they noticed… Read More »Mestar
Transistors
The Transistors are a garage, punk and power-pop trio from Rangiora, Canterbury, New Zealand, active since the late 2000s and known for a prolific run of self-released and small-label vinyl, cassette and digital recordings across more than fifteen years.
Live Music: Dance Asthmatics and God Destroyer at Darkroom
FLASHBACK to July 2022 — Dance Asthmatics and God Destroyer at Darkroom, Christchurch.
The British
Basement bar in the former British Hotel at the corner of Oxford Street and Norwich Quay in Lyttelton, with a history stretching back to 1849. Known through several names including El Santo, it reopened as the Hellfire Club in 2017 after earthquake repairs and later became The Commoners.
Sandra Bell
Sandra Bell is a New Zealand experimental artist from the West Coast of the South Island whose career spans cassettes, vinyl, and CD releases from 1984 to the present, gaining international recognition through releases on Xpressway, Turbulence Records, and VHF Records.
Zen Mantra
Zen Mantra is a Christchurch-based project by Sam Perry (Yumi Zouma), releasing atmospheric recordings across underground labels before signing to Flying Nun Records for a self-titled vinyl album in 2016.
Double Happy
Double Happy was an upscale bar and club at 182 Cashel Street in Christchurch, operating from December 2006 until the 2011 earthquakes. With a capacity of 420, it was one of the city’s larger live music venues, booking local and international drum and bass, hip hop and electronic acts.
Doprah
Doprah were a Christchurch electronic outfit formed in 2013 by producer Steven John Marr and vocalist Indira Force, whose psychedelic trip-hop sound drew international attention via Billboard, CMJ New York, and a support slot for Lorde, before releasing their debut album Wasting in 2016.
His Lordship’s Tavern
His Lordship’s Hotel stood at 105 Lichfield Street from 1876 until an arson fire destroyed it in October 2000. Over more than a century it carried several names and many owners before becoming a live music venue through the 1990s, when Christchurch’s SOL Square precinct was at its most active.
Churchill’s Tavern
Churchill’s Tavern is a Sydenham live music pub operating on the site of the 1882 Club Hotel. One of the few live music rooms to survive the Canterbury earthquake sequence, it hosts international touring acts in rock, punk, and metal alongside local shows.
Golden Axe
Golden Axe are an Auckland duo — CJ Cudby and Daif King — whose keyboard synthesis, waveform manipulation, and saxophone created some of the most inventive electronic music in Aotearoa during the 2000s and early 2010s.
Mermaidens
Mermaidens are a Wellington trio formed in 2013 whose decade-long career has spanned self-released beginnings, two Taite Music Prize-nominated albums on Flying Nun Records, and a critically acclaimed self-titled 2023 album recorded independently with producer Samuel Flynn Scott.