New Zealand expatriates, Chloë Lewer and Elliott McKee are the indie-folk musical duo, ‘Charity Children Berlin’. After moving to Germany mid 2011, without speaking a dribble of German, they started busking around Berlin, as they couldn’t get any jobs and music was the only profession they could hold down. With their endearing, intimate style, they have managed to build up quite a following during summer from their busking sessions, most notably at the Mauerpark markets on Sundays. Their ukulele-driven sound also features harmonica, melodian, xylophone, hand percussion and anything else small enough to fit in their suitcase when they go busking. However, what really sets Charity Children Berlin apart from other acts in a similar vein are Chloe’s beautiful, ethereal vocals; their poetic, whimsical lyrics and the pairs strong onstage connection and rapport.

Charity Children Berlin recently signed to Monkey Records and are currently recording their first album in their living room which sees their sound suitably enhanced with the addition of horns, strings and a children’s choir.

Video for the second single from Chris Hurn’s debut album “Too Busy Dreamin” filmed during his album release tour around New Zealand in March 2011 by Aaron Ly.

Thick black smoke slowly dissipates from the towering chimneys. The quitting time whistle blows solemnly.  The Factory doors swing open. Sean and Matt stumble out into the cruel sunlight to present their latest work, the Operator’s Service Handbook. The Handbook distills problem-solving techniques into six distinct sonic passages.

What happens when your bark-stripping machine is misaligned on Arbor Day? Turn to the section labelled Peel Forest. What if, by some stroke of misfortune, the trajectory of your ball-bouncing gun is off by a few degrees? Ping-Pong has your answer. And if everything you’ve been working on diligently for an age blows up in your face and you just can’t handle the stress? Close the Maltworks and Start Again by moving to Corsica. The answers are all here.

These six tracks comprise a number of different approaches to making music; self-imposed time limits, challenging each other to record a certain instrument a certain way, or simply pure collaboration. Whether the instrument being used is a guitar or a ping-pong ball, the principle remains the same: a harmony of rhythm and melody is the constant element and common goal in these pieces.

When you write a track called “Ping Pong” and the beat is made up of ping pong ball sounds, then it’s probably a good idea to release a video that stars Factories’ Matt and Sean playing ping pong! Filmed by Factories’ graphic designer Sarah James, and painstakingly edited by Matt, the video was shot in Christchurch’s own pragmatically named “Table Tennis Stadium”, then sliced and slivered to smithereens and synced to the beat.

From Factories’ debut ep “Operator’s Services Handbook”.

Monkey Records is proud to present “Too Busy Dreamin”, the debut album from a major new song-writing talent, Chris Hurn.

Chris Hurn is a twenty-one year old folk-pop singer/songwriter from Lower Hutt, New Zealand.  After playing in various local bands, including Play it Strange 2007 winners “The Lunch Box Boys”, a 60’s style indie-pop band, he discovered a love for folk music and decided to go solo in late 2009.

Inspired by the likes of Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen he began to write a collection of songs that would soon become his first album.  Although heavily influenced by his folk heroes, he draws upon a wide range of genres and styles of music.  As well as having a soft spot for modern pop and rock, Chris has spent a considerable amount of time soaking up 60’s pop groups, notably The Mamas and the Papas, The Beatles and the Kinks.

Coming from a multi-instrumental background, Chris commenced his musical endeavours at a young age with the piano and a cheap plastic recorder.  His first album is heavily based around the acoustic guitar but whistles, clicks, claps, harmonica and harmonies also play a big part in the sound.  Astonishingly, Chris plays all the instruments on his debut as well as mixing and producing it himself.  His lyrics reveal a world-wise maturity far beyond his years and coupled with his knack for writing catchy melodies, he seems sure to secure himself a place amongst New Zealand’s fine new generation of singer/songwriters such as Liam Finn, James Milne and Connan Mockasin.

“Too Busy Dreamin” was recorded in 2010 in his Lower Hutt home studio, and mastered by Dave Cooley (Serge Gainsbourg, Polyphonic Spree, Opensouls) in LA. The suitably summery music video for the first single from the album “Whatcha Got” has also been released recently.

When not playing folk music, Chris works as a composer writing orchestral based scores for video games and films.

Whatcha Got is the first single from Chris Hurn’s debut album “Too Busy Dreamin” to be released early March 2011.

First impressions are everything; and there was a responsibility to not only properly encapsulate the essence of the song but to also properly introduce Chris Hurn in a simple and uniquely personal way.

Inspired by the song’s indelibly upbeat nature and its unique musical cues, director Aaron Ly felt nothing was more fitting than the image of a lemonade stand in the middle of nowhere. The idea was originally conceived during a random (but colourful) conversation with a friend about what it meant to make ones own money as a kid, than today as a young adult. Recounting the sight of seeing some kids set up a lemonade stand, during the drive back from Wainuiomata a week ago, director Aaron Ly immediately felt he had found the perfect fit for the song. The striking image and notion of a lemonade stand evoked the director’s own memories of youthful ambition and endeavours, and felt others would immediately relate. “I wanted to revisit the feeling of working towards something not for the result, but for that anticipation and what that feeling carries. As we grow older we lose sight of that.”

Coming from a film background, Aaron Ly was compelled to tell a simple and subtle story and thread the universal themes of Chris Hurn’s song and infuse it with his own vision of a travelling musician setting up his own lemonade stand in the idyllic heart of rural New Zealand. The musician sets up the lemonade stand in order to fuel his own ambitions and endeavours, only to realise and appreciate he doesn’t have to do it alone. And that there is more he has yet to discover closer to home.

The making of the ‘Whatcha Got’ music video was shot as quickly as it was conceived. Shot in Whiteman’s Valley, Upper Hutt ‘Whatcha Got’ was a no-budget production, shot over a couple afternoons with a small dedicated cast and crew of six. The video was shot in high definition to capture the glorious sunshine and the beautiful rural landscape.

The result is a whimsical and entertaining music video that disarmingly introduces Chris Hurn’s presence into the music scene.

Aaron Ly is a passionate twenty-one year old filmmaker, who is starting his own freelance film and video company called 3by5 Productions in Wellington. Mainly from a film background, this is Aaron’s first ever music video that he has ever directed, shot and edited. He is proud of the effort and absolutely honoured to have been asked to make it.

Monkey Records is proud to present “Whatcha Got”, the highly infectious first single from a major new songwriting talent – Chris Hurn.  In this song Chris reminds us that despite all our day to day problems and worries, it’s important to appreciate the little things in life and that quite often “you just don’t know whatcha got”.

Chris is a twenty-one year old folk-pop singer/songwriter from Lower Hutt, New Zealand.  After playing in various local bands, including Play it Strange 2007 winners “The Lunch Box Boys”, a 60’s style indie pop band, he discovered a love for folk music and decided to go solo in late 2009.

Inspired by the likes of Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen he began to write a collection of songs that would soon become his first album.  Although heavily influenced by his folk heroes, he draws upon a wide range of genres and styles of music.  As well as having a soft spot for modern pop and rock, Chris has spent a considerable amount of time soaking up 60’s pop groups, notably The Mamas and the Papas, The Beatles and the Kinks.

Coming from a multi-instrumental background, Chris commenced his musical endeavours at a young age with the piano and a cheap plastic recorder.  His first album is heavily based around the acoustic guitar but whistles, clicks, claps, harmonica and harmonies also play a big part in the sound.  Astonishingly, Chris plays all the instruments on his debut as well as mixing and producing it himself.  His lyrics reveal a world-wise maturity far beyond his years and coupled with his knack for writing catchy melodies, he seems sure to secure himself a place amongst New Zealand’s fine new generation of singer/songwriters such as Liam Finn, James Milne and Tim Guy.

When not playing folk music, Chris works as a composer writing orchestral based scores for video games and films.

His first album entitled “Too Busy Dreamin” was recorded in 2010 in his Lower Hutt home studio, and mastered by Dave Cooley (Serge Gainsbourg, Polyphonic Spree, Opensouls) in LA.

The album release is planned for March 2011, followed by an extensive New Zealand tour. Plans are also afoot to release and tour the album throughout Europe in 2012.  Check out the music video for Whatcha Got by Aaron Ly.

Distant Dreams and Morning Stars is the first music video from John White’s new album “Inkadies“. Made by Louise Clifton.

Inkadies is a new solo album by dream-pop folk artist John White. As a follow up to “Balloon Adventure”(2000) and “Mogwash”(2003), “The Inkadies” might be described as the third instalment of tales from a delicate otherland where little creatures called Inkadies come to save the day.

The album was recorded in Madison, Wisconsin by friend and fellow singer/songwriter, Tom Hanson. Gathering guest musician’s from Madison’s lush music scene, the album boasts chiming harmonies and dripping Synth accompaniments underneath John’s dreamily relaxed vocals and gently strummed acoustic guitar

John White is also the frontman for seminal Dunedin fuzz-pop band Mëstar and at one time toured extensively with now defunct avante-popsters Cloudboy.

Listen to the National Radio live to air and interview with John White recorded on October 21st 2010.

Review:

Cloudboy’s Demarnia Lloyd once upon a time said of him that she’d “discovered a boy who sings like an angel” – Dunedin’s best kept secret has to be John White. His tenure fronting fuzz-pop trio Mëstar established him as a well loved songwriter in knowing circles, while White’s previous two solo albums (2000’s “Balloon Adventure” and 2003’s “Mogwash”) were the stuff that dreams are made of. Recorded in Madison, Wisconsin by musician Tom Hanson, “The Inkadies” (White’s first release in too many years) is an unofficial ending to a trilogy begun all those years ago.

Steady strummed acoustic guitars open the record on the self-titled first single – with John conjuring fantastical images of the hidden Inkadies keeping us safe in the night. “Distant Dreams and Morning Stars” follows, with a droning distorted guitar providing the canvas for layers of White’s nearly child-like and gentle voice. While it is one of the prettiest songs on the album, “The Boy That I Saw On That Day” is a dark tale of slicing off hands, cutting off ears,  and plucking out eyeballs in frustration at not being believed – hinting at a more sinister side to the world of John White and his Inkadies. Clocking in at a brief twenty-three minutes across eleven songs, “The Inkadies” is the soundtrack to that glorious half-asleep period that we get before sleep – full of strange imaginations and warmth. Beautiful stuff, and an oh-so-welcome return from the talented Mr White.  – Matt Crawley

A true drifter, Tim Guy has always enjoyed writing on the run. His previous two albums were written during moves to Melbourne (2004’s Blazey) and then Auckland (2007’s Hummabyes), and established him as a talented songwriter with a slanted and romantic perspective. As if he could only develop further by moving farther, a shift to Barcelona for five months remarkably inspired an improvement in his writing. Deep and dreamy, the songs from this period make up the bulk of Big World, which was recorded when Tim returned to Auckland and co-produced the album at home throughout 2009 with his then-housemate Jeremy Toy (Opensouls) on bass, keys, and additional guitars. Mixed by Jol Mulholland (the Checks, Motocade) and mastered by Dave Cooley (the Polyphonic Spree, Serge Gainsbourg), Big World’s foundation is solid: drums (Julien Dyne) and bass glow in the dusk with a countrified-R&B feel like Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac or Big Pink Band, a bliss-bath of woozy Wurlitzers and aqueous Rhodes conjure silvery nights and blue mornings, and guitars like satellites dart across darkling skies.

These primary parts give Big World the satisfyingly thick texture of classic rock, and are what’s most noticeable and familiar about the album’s sleek surfaces. But they don’t wholly account for the music’s deepness. Emotional complexity occurs where classic poptimistic weft is warped with distantly murmuring synth-storms and feedback-clouds that evoke an individual trying to measure his own (in-)significance. These moments, such as the stoic refrain of “holding on… holding on,” amid washes of dissonant feedback and cascading glockenspiel in ‘70 Angels’, hint at a swamping randomness in the world, but their musical expression is extremely controlled: adult composure never gives way to despairing emotionalism, and the balance is bewitching.

But for all its instinctual (and never intellectual) foraging for answers, Big World is an exquisitely tuneful pop album that simply urges singing-along to. With backing vocals by Ben King (Goldenhorse), the relaxed groove and four playful key changes of ‘Love Pie’ recall Tim’s own recent contribution of ‘Love Turns Wild’ to the Motown-inspired Open Souls record (Standing in the Rain), and in terms of heart-swelling excitement, the memory-rush of ‘Rhythm of the River’ is perhaps surpassed only by the whirling heights that ‘Beatle’ reaches.

Musically luscious and lyrically illuminating, ‘Beatle’ defines the artistic growth necessary to making this, Tim’s third and best album. Instead of being a worshipful hat-tip to the Fab Four, it is a sobering reproof to the idleness of too much dreaming, which only leaves one “stuck in the ground.” The seriousness of this challenge to shape up is illustrated by violins that elevate and redouble the wake-up call: “You could live your life a Beatle… walk in somebody’s footsteps; [but] it’s dangerous to.” Taken as a self-reproach to find his own voice, it’s remarkable that Tim achieves his aim by the first gorgeous chorus. With a sharper sense of identity, he gains the confidence to make an album that should surprise anyone paying attention. It’s also a way of looking at and moving on from the past, which explains why, despite its childlike openness and interest in the world, this is not a nostalgic album. Why go backwards when, as Tim says himself, “It just gets better… It’s coming up”?