Fantastic DIY record label formed by Dylan Herkes in 1999. Originating in small town Manawatu, Stink Magnetic released hand-made Cassette Tapes by a diverse array of underground New Zealand acts: “NZ garage, surf, Hawaiian industrial, experimental country disco, Spaghetti Western, esoteric trash, rap and stone-age punk bands”.
Tiny bar upstairs from the well-known Honeypot Cafe that functioned as a low-key performance space under the venue names Metropolis (1990s) and the Green Room (2000’s), before falling victim to the Christchurch Earthquakes of 2010/2011.
The Otautahi Social Centre was a mid-sized old hall on Barbados Street in Central Christchurch which ran for a couple of years as an All-Ages-Friendly live music venue.
Being an unlicensed youth center, there was no bar or much in the way of formal organization, just a space set up with a small PA system, a few couches and a small kitchen and toilets out back. On occasion some kids would bring alcohol to shows (it was even openly endorsed at some punk gigs), but generally things got along in a friendly, community-orientated kind of way.
The very wayward guitar/electronics duo that eventually gave birth to Birchville Cat Motel.
Beguiling atonal plonkery and profound multi-stringed shingle slides by two irrepressible young guns utterly oblivious to the fact that most people wanted to stone them to death with spare change. I can’t believe we did this in public.
Not to be confused with the Auckland punk venue of the late 70s, or the Suburban Reptiles song of the same name, Coup D’Etat were a tight trouser new wave outfit of the early 80s formed by Hello Sailor’s Harry Lyon.
Well-remembered for their catchy upstroke white-boy reggae-lite single ‘Doctor I like your medicine’ which got to number 9 on the NZ charts in 1981.
Paul Solly is one of a handful of mysterious individuals (along with Matt Lee, Lissa Mitchell and Douglas Bagnall), possibly all part of Fever Hospital that released a handful of lathe-cut singles on their own 8 Dec Records imprint, to startlingly low-key but enthusiastic acclaim.
Auckland trio Drill were formed in 1989, featured on the 1st ‘Freak the Sheep’ (bFM Kiwi radio station) compilation, put out the single ‘Happy Home’ and a self-titled album -all on Flying Nun Records in the mid 1990’s. The songs were collected from sessions going right back to 1990.
One of the lesser-known Flying Nun Records releases, young singer-songwriter Nick Smith put out a largely unremembered EP on the label in 1987 after appearing on the ‘Outnumbered by Sheep’ compilation.
He also recorded a preceding EP (with the help of Chris Knox), released on record store Real Groovy Records own imprint back in 1986.
Smith would go on to have a successful career as a journalist.
Internationally focused Auckland-based experimental / noise label run by Richard Francis (aka Eso Steel) as a sub-label of the now-defunct 20City label he created in the late 1990s.
Though only a total of 27 releases releases have seen the light of day so far (including Japanese experimental artist Kyoshi Mizutani, German visual / composition artist Marc Behrens and Francis’ own solo material), CMR looks to be succeeding the releases of his former label 20City with a professional approach to releasing far-reaching experimental music, so far of the laptop-drone persuasion.
Now defunct label run by Richard Francis – aka Eso Steel. 20City released a total of 4 albums and a handful of single-length releases before Francis re-established the sub-label CMR, distributing both through the Auckland-based Acroma mail-order website.
An experimental / noise label with releases from New Zealand, Japanese and American artists with Richard Francis central to most of the releases.
With the Mint Chicks breaking up in 2010 and Ruban Nielson going on to find success with Unknown Mortal Orchestra, former Mint Chicks vocalist Kody Nielson started recording new material as Opossom. The material seems to follow a fairly tight neo-psych-pop template popularized by the likes of Tame Impala and UMD, bouncy and catchy without setting the world on fire.
One off x-mas theme side-project (joke release?) from Toy Love’s Chris Knox and his soundman cohort Doug Hood (who both lived in Jessel Street in Grey Lynn, Auckland) featuring their partners Barbara Ward and Carol Hood. Sometimes credited to David Kilgour and Martin Phillips too.
Though lasting just 18 months, Toy Love were one of New Zealand’s most influential groups. Chris Knox, Alec Bathgate and Mike Dooley had come from The Enemy were joined by the Christchurch duo of Paul Kean and Kate Walker to form the most brilliantly dynamic new wave group.
Wonderful home-brewed recordings from Annabelle Alpers. Guitarist, keyboardist and singer-songwriter formerly of the supremely under-recognized Christchurch troop Hawaii Five-0. Her solo recordings are infused with electronic flourishes and wispy, emotive lyrics – but with a distinct and almost robotic approach to harmonic vocals.
Shaft is the long-standing vehicle of prominent song-writer Bob Cardy (aka Bob Brannigan), guitarist for the Axemen and a stalwart of the New Zealand underground scene. With a rotating cast of musicians backing him, Shaft always sounds like Shaft; a terrific band brimming with brilliant, dynamic and catchy songs.