Arclife Records was an excellent ‘home-grown’ independent label formed by the Arclife Trust, an arts organization that formed out of the Arc Cafe in central Dunedin.
The label had a strong, tight-knit community of local Dunedin groups on its roster – many of whom had moved on from the by-then Auckland based Flying Nun Records.
#nzmusic #arcliferecords
Auckland-born singer songwriter who made an impact in 2006 while studying a Bachelor of Music at the University of Otago in Dunedin, with several choice support slots and a mega-talented backing band. Self-released an EP produced by Arc Life Records Thomas Bell, utilising the Universities Albany Street Studio.
Moved to Auckland and formed The Sami Sisters, along with Priya and (comedic actress) Madeline Sami, then the 2012 Taite Music Prize nominated shoe-gaze group She’s So Rad.
#nzmusic #anjisami #shessorad #thesamisisters
Excellent Dunedin dream-pop group Cloudboy are reuniting for a national tour after more than 20 years away. What better time than to revisit their band profile!
Formed as a side-project by 3 members of the Dunedin art-pop collective Mink – Cloudboy put out an EP, a couple singles and a terrific album back int he late 1990’s / early 2000s before vocalist Demarnia Lloyd started producing her own solo material.
See UTR for tickets
#nzmusic #cloudboy
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
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 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.
2001, Arclife Records, 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
Biography Brian Crook spent 1997-2000 in Port Chalmers with his partner / Renderers band-mate Maryrose in a lovely house on the hills above Port Chalmers, creating a dark and brooding selection of songs in Crooks’ own home studio. Though Bible… Read More »Bible Black
2002, Arclife Records 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
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’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 Arclife Records, ARCLIFE014]… Read More »Valve
An interview I conducted with Michael Brassell, aka Mike Hex – at the time the creative force behind Hiss Explosion and a musical co-ordinator for Arc Life Cafe / records down in Dunedin. Sadly Mike passed away just a few months later.
Biography Demarnia Lloyd has been a particularly bright star in the Dunedin music scene in the mid 90s, forming her tenure performing alongside the likes of Alastair Galbraith, as well as forming the eclectic, dancy Mink, and their successor (whom… Read More »Demarnia Lloyd
The alias of Ingrid Ekdahl, a New Zealand born woman of diverse ancestry (Swedish, Danish, English, Scottish and Maori lineage) who creates folky, culturally spiked music with the help of multitudes of accompaning musicians. her debut release The Swing Festival… Read More »Sola Monday
Biography As a strong song-writer behind the seminal flying nun 3-piece the clean, david kilgour developed his own style of country tinged psychedilic rock-guitar playing, earnest vocals and a distinct kiwi sound that he made all his own. kilgour (and… Read More »David Kilgour