Biography
Golden Axe are an Auckland duo combining keyboard synthesis, waveform manipulation, and saxophone — a partnership between Daif King and CJ Cudby that produced some of the most distinctive electronic music to emerge from Tāmaki Makaurau in the 2000s and early 2010s. Cudby and King first met at Birkenhead College but only began making music together after Cudby left for university, bonding over a shared taste in noise-based and outsider music from Aotearoa, Japan, and the United States, cultivated through bFM’s Solar Furnace hour and the Crawlspace Records shop. They bought a Yamaha cassette four-track and began experimenting, eventually creating a Golden Axe zine — named after the arcade game — which included a CDR of their sonic experiments alongside drawings and collages.
The turning point came in 2002 when Cudby, working out of a downtown Auckland art studio shared with drummer Julien Dyne, switched from guitar to keyboards. “I realised that if we took a minimalist approach and leaned into sounding clunky, then it actually felt fresh and liberating,” he explained in an AudioCulture profile. Running the keys through distortion pedals unlocked the pair’s sound, and songs like ‘No Food’ and ‘Vacuum The Room’ followed quickly. They expanded the setup with a 707 drum machine and a Juno 6 synthesiser, and Cudby rigged a modified headphone as a mic that gave his vocals a robotic, distorted quality. Their live shows were equally inventive: the pair performed on Queen Street with battery-powered equipment and a loud hailer, played from inside the dancefloor at gallery events, and wore elaborate costumes including globe heads, neoprene hoods, and — on one occasion — a dead squid.
After releasing Golden Shakehands as a self-distributed CDR in 2004, Golden Axe connected with Dylan Herkes of Stink Magnetic during a residency at Wellington’s Enjoy Gallery. The resulting album, Party Alarm Bells (2006), collected 23 tracks summarising their development to that point — re-recorded live favourites alongside newer compositions. After a period of reduced activity while King was overseas, the duo returned in 2010 with their most pop-oriented work yet. Fantasy Footwork, released through Auckland’s Crystal Magic Records — a DIY label conceived by Fraser Austin — was supported by the single ‘Free Time’, whose music video drew significant attention online, and the song held the number one spot on bFM’s top ten for several weeks.
…it might even be the most perfect execution of their tangled vision yet. A coolly hypnotic synth line bubbles on over a feather-lite drum beat, while the cosmos oozes and belches ominously in the background. If Norwegian slo-mo master Lindstrøm had grown up op-shopping in Birkenhead he might sound like this — my only complaint would be that at five minutes it’s about half as long as it could be.
Duncan Greive, Volume/NZ Herald
The Czech label AMDISCS — affiliated with the Creepy Teepee festival and inspired by the Camp A Low Hum model — discovered Golden Axe through the ‘Free Time’ video and invited them to contribute to international compilations and eventually to an overseas showcase tour. In 2011, the label released Liquid Bacon (AMDD090), recorded during what Cudby described as their most focused creative period: “We were really in the zone for that one. I still don’t think there’s another Aotearoa release like it.” The album’s title was coined during a drinking session at El Santo in Lyttelton, where someone noted the smoky quality of the whiskey. The release was accompanied by an elaborate duck-head-shaped structure at the Audio Foundation launch, and toured with Dan Deacon. Internationally, the album received favourable blog coverage and led to shows at Berlin warehouse clubs, Belgian house parties, Portugal’s Riverside Festival, Fusion Festival in Germany, and Creepy Teepee in the Czech Republic.
Golden Axe channel a sort of Add N To (X) analogue vibe, finding the comfortable balance between sheer mania and rich, lush harmony… rather than crashing hard off the high of a track like ‘Fulltime Fun’, Golden Axe lead you gently into the winding, chilled out soundscape of ‘Circular Staircase’. Maybe it’s only relaxed by comparison, but the sudden breathing room makes Liquid Bacon‘s overall impact all the more impactful.
Mishka Bloglin, goldenaxeinfo.blogspot.com
Following the European tour, King relocated to Wellington, making collaboration increasingly difficult. The group’s final performance before going into hibernation was an A Low Hum New Year’s party held on a boat in Wellington Harbour. In 2020, Cudby shared over 100 previously unreleased and unavailable tracks on Bandcamp, described by Under the Radar as “a whopper of a drop.” Golden Axe reformed in August 2025 to support Princess Chelsea‘s Midwinter Ball. Cudby has since pursued the solo project Power Nap and become editor of Under the Radar, while King has played in Dorkwind and the metal act Stälker.
Members
- CJ Cudby (keyboards/vocals, Golden Axe, Power Nap)
- Daif King (bass/guitar, Golden Axe, Dorkwind, Stälker)
Discography
- Golden Shakehands CDr (2004, self-released)
- Party Alarm Bells LP (2006, Stink Magnetic)
- Peaceful Planet Cassette (2008, JFBS, JFBS005)
- Telephone EP (2010, self-released)
- Free Time EP (2010, self-released)
- Fantasy Footwork LP (2010, Crystal Magic Records)
- Liquid Bacon LP (2011, AMDISCS, AMDD090)
- Sexual Angel Single (2011, self-released)
- 2:40 Make A Sandwich And Drink Juice And Eat Chips Every Day Single (2012, Rose Quartz, RQ Mix 005)