Led by the dynamic duo of Celia Mancini and Chris Heazlewood, New Zealand’s surf and noise guitar gods King Loser were one of the best local groups for much of the 1990’s with 3 terrific albums and a handful of singles and bootleg releases before their split in 1997.
#nzmusic #kingloser
Celebrate Psi Phenomenon is a drone, noise and experimental music-focused label from Upper Hutt’s Campbell Kneale, the prolific performer behind Birchville Cat Motel and Black Boned Angel. The label often utilises a distinctive wallpaper aesthetic to their cover designs.
The label was particularly prolific from the mid 1990s until around 2008.
#nzmusic #experimentalmusic #dronemusic #celebratepsiphenomenon
Christchurch free-noise group featuring future Breathing Cage bandmates Greg Malcolm and Michael Kime, plus Into the Void’s Paul Sutherland and the drums of John Kennedy.
#nzmusic #dontmakenoise
The Christchurch Media Club was a large building on Armagh Street, next to the notoriously seedy Centennial Pool. Broken up in to several parts – It had a mid-sized hall with hard-wood floors, a large performing stage and bar (used mostly for Media Club patrons, housing pool tables, darts etc), the smaller ‘Winter Garden’ ballroom where most live performances occurred – which was carpeted and decked out in ornate ceiling alcoves, plus a hallway, toilets and a small kitchen.
Not-quite defunct label based out of an Auckland record store that put out several limited edition underground releases in the 90s and early 00s. One compilation of this material (Fit for Kings) was actually issued on well-known US indie Drunken Fish.
Since the closure of the Crawlspace record store, Crawlspace have been limited to short one-off 7″ releases and casually distribution through mail-order and the K-road market. Truly worth visiting, the market is the place to go to find one-off Snapper and Victor Dimisich Band 7″s, and a variety of abstract low run vinyl releases and even imports.
An off-shoot of Sandoz Lab Technicians members Tim Cornelius and Nathan Thompson:
“Unspecified was recorded 94/95 by Sandoz Lab Technicians Nathan Thompson and Tim Cornelius. This prehistoric piece of grind and scrape shows the pair tip-toeing through a trough of strawberry shortcake on their way to a screaming mass extinction. edition of 50 lathe cut 7″ vinyl”
Nathan Thompson
Biography Drone-metal group from Birchville Cat Motel‘s Campbell Kneale, recordings feature contributions from Sandoz Lab Technicians‘ James Kirk, Antony Milton and 1/3 Octave Band‘s Jules Desmond. As is the case with all Kneale groups, incredibly prolific with a number of releases… Read More »Black Boned Angel
First off, describe your music in 10 words or less Antarcticish. Please substitute my use of the genre label ‘noise’, i’m not particularly fond of it myself.. Neither. ‘Noise’ is term usually used by Kylie fans to make generalizations about… Read More »Campbell Kneale [December 2002]
Fairly free-improv and underground Dunedin-based group comprised of James Kirk (one time King Loser member, along with the Glen Campbell Experience), Tim Cornelius, Nathan Thompson and occasionally Mark Curragh.
The Renderers are New Zealand’s prime example of southern-fried country, and are indeed one of our finest ever bands. Brian Crook formed the Renderers with his partner Maryrose in early 90’s Christchurch when The Max Block failed to go anywhere,… Read More »The Renderers
The Stumps are the New Zealand superspawn of Antony Milton (Pseudoarcana, The Nether Dawn, Etc), Stephen Clover (Seht), and James Kirk (Sandoz Lab Technicians, Gate etc). With a laundry list of individual accomplishments preceding them, “Lost Weekends” brings high expectations.… Read More »The Stumps
Biography What makes this album great is the aforementioned brevity of the pieces. Duncan spans all shapes of the volume curve, sliding through landscapes of barren glacial shifts, torn loudspeaker edits and ye olde drone, and letting the feedback go… Read More »Duncan Bruce
Flies Inside The Sun off-shoot featuring Kim Pieters and Peter Stapleton, along with Nathan Thompson (Sandoz Lab Technicians and their various off-shoots) and Bollard (Sferic Experiment). Discography Enfolded In Luxury [2000? Metonymic Met006] Ghostwriting [2002? Metonymic Met011] Links BandCamp Page… Read More »Sleep