Onanon
Dunedin 4-piece indie-rock outfit with a sound heavily indebted to the classic early Flying Nun groups. Self-released a couple albums and toured with support from A Low Hum before ending in 2009.
#nzmsuci #onanon
Arc Life
Maryrose and Brian Crook (April 2004)
The Renderers played Christchurch on Friday April 23rd, 2004 at Creation along with the Terminals and an acoustic performance from Hamish Kilgour (The Clean / Magick Heads etc). I conducted this interview with Brian and Maryrose Crook in the lead-up to the show.
The Clean
The Clean have left a giant stamp on New Zealand Independent Music. The group that came to define ‘The Dunedin Sound’ had a terrific topsy-turvy career that spanned 5 albums and a number of EPs, singles, compilations and live releases over a 31 year time-span.
Cloudboy – Down at the End of the Garden
2001, Arc Life, ARC010 Demarnia Lloyd is something of an enigma in the Dunedin music scene. Over the past 7 years her involvement in former rock outfit mink and current band Cloudboy, as well as her solo material as cloud… Read More »Cloudboy – Down at the End of the Garden
Demarnia Lloyd – Set Upon a Curve
2002, Arc Life Oh how CD’s have changed the face of music! Where once a double-album ‘opus’ from the likes of Led Zeppelin barely scraped the 60-minute mark, we now expect our albums to be at least 45 minutes long,… Read More »Demarnia Lloyd – Set Upon a Curve
Michael J. Brassell: A Memorial [Mar 2004]
A memorial I wrote for Michael J. Brassell after he sadly passed away from pneumonia in 2004. I helped organize a music tribute wake here in Christchurch to celebrate his life, whilst a similar event was also help in his then-current home of Dunedin.
Valve
Valve’s E Minor is a lovely slice of Dunedin pop from a fresh-faced band of scene-survivors. Comprised of Paul Winders (The Verlaines), Kiri Winders (My Deviant Daughter) and Jeff Harford (Bored Games, Doublehappys). Discography E Minor [2001 Arc Life Arclife014]… Read More »Valve
Pine – Longplayer
2002, Arch Hill Christchurch, New Zealand’s Pine have been crowd and college radio favorites over the past 3 years, crafting simple, elegant and often catchy pop hit after pop hit. After 2000’s Speeding EP, expectations nationwide have been high for… Read More »Pine – Longplayer
Mestar
chirpy pop trio who started out in dunedin and have since moved north to wellington. releasing albums through arc life and yellow-eye, they’ve had a distinctly independent approach to recording and distribution, despite significant popularity on the b-net stations across… Read More »Mestar
Squirm
Brilliant 90’s Christchurch sludge-rock outfit comprised of Brett Lupton, Daryl Kirk and Mike Brassell (Hiss Explosion).
Took a thoroughly DIY, low-budget approach to release a series of warped, discordant guitar albums, based around excellent guitar-work and an inventive, lo-fi and somewhat sloppy (in a good way) approach to recording songs.
Jay Clarkson
Biography Strong female vocalist and the front-woman of a number of dependable (if never successful) kiwi acts (They Were Expendable aka The Expendables, and the Rheineck award winning Breathing Cage), stretching right back to the mid 80’s. She’s since gone… Read More »Jay Clarkson
Brian Crook – Bible Black
2002, Arc Life, ARCLIFE019 As half of the writing force behind seminal Christchurch/Dunedin fuzz-country rockers The Renderers (with his wife Mary-Rose), Brian Crook [aka Bible Black] has been making dirty, downtrodden stories since the late 80’s. In 1997 The Renderers… Read More »Brian Crook – Bible Black
David Kilgour – A Feather in the Engine
2001, Arc Life, ARCLIFE016 The Clean seems to be drifting more towards lead guitarist David Kilgour’s now-prominent laid back sound. 2001’s reunion album ‘getaway’ was a refreshing slice of acoustic pop washed in feedback, all three members lazy vocals, mixed… Read More »David Kilgour – A Feather in the Engine
Hiss Explosion
Excellent two-man band that evolved out of old-school Christchurch Lo-Fi pioneers Squirm featuring Mike Hex (aka Mike Brassell, the head honcho of the Arc Life record label at the time) on guitar, backed by Peter Mitchell.
Hex moved the two-piece south to Dunedin in the early 00’s, and continued to be a pioneer of the south island Lo-Fi scene, incorporating simple delay techniques, open chords and melodic singing to create a beautifully sparse sound.
Arc Life
Excellent ‘home-grown’ indie formed by the arc life trust, an arts organization that formed out of the arc cafe in central dunedin. releasing a number of aptly titled compilations each year (usually with a specific focus, i.e. ‘arc life’ was… Read More »Arc Life