This June 20th, Monkey Records and Banished from the Universe are proud to present Spring Summer Awesome Winter, the second album from Bond Street Bridge and the follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2008 debut The Mapmaker’s Art. Pre-order your copy here and be the first kid on the block to have it.

Bond Street Bridge is the solo project of Auckland-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Sam Prebble.  Since the release of The Mapamaker’s Art, Prebble has been busy, touring extensively in  New Zealand, Australia and Europe and playing shows everywhere from dive bars to art galleries and festival stages.  As well as his solo work as Bond Street Bridge, Prebble plays violin, mandolin and guitar for Reb Fountain and the Bandits and the Hannah Curwood Band, and is a long-standing member of Auckland folk-pop group The Broken Heartbreakers.  In 2010, he hit the road in Europe, touring first with Tim Guy and then as stand-in violinist for Berlin-based NZ psychedelic post-rock ensemble An Emerald City.  Along the way he has played shows alongside North American psychedelic heavyweights Black Mountain and the Black Angels, New York art-pop duo The Books, and Californian alt-folksters The Mountain Goats.

Despite his involvement in this range of other projects, Prebble kept Spring Summer Awesome Winter a resolutely solo affair. He worked on the album in spare moments over a period of two years in between stints of touring and recording projects with other bands, capturing the whole thing with one microphone on an old laptop in the lounge or bedroom of a succession of tumbledown central Auckland villas.  Crafting the record from the ground up, Prebble wrote the songs, played all the instruments, and engineered the  recordings, involving other people only at the mixing and mastering stages.  At that point Jamie Newman (Cinema 90) came on board as mixing engineer, and together they took the tracks to a studio in a barn north of Auckland, where Newman worked magic and made them sparkle.

The solo approach gave Prebble the freedom to experiment with sounds and arrangements, producing a collection of songs that is at once intimate and unique.  Using a sonic palette consisting of fingerpicked acoustic guitars, lush strings, chiming mandolins and glockenspiels, warm vocal harmonies and analogue synthesisers, antique organs and pianos, and found-sound beats from staple-guns and key-rings washed out with rich reverbs and tape delays, he created intricate soundscapes to surround his trademark wry observational lyrics.  These songs tell stories from the fantastical to the mundane: love and distance, storms at sea and the crying of the gulls, history, memory, loss and wasted youth, getting to bed on time so you won’t be tired in the morning, and the feeling that any minute now somebody’s going to realise you’re bluffing. As the title suggests, most of the songs on the album deal with the passing of time and the changing of seasons in various ways. The album is brought to life by superb hand-painted cover art by Emily Cater.

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.

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.

“Unique and bursting with creative genius” Presto Arts & Culture
“…Fresh…funky. Intricate, multi-layered works…dynamic solos” The Press

Prepare to be transported! With inspiration from as far afield as the deserts of North Africa to the Amazon basin and beyond Mundi takes you on an unforgettable journey…

Currently celebrating the release of their second album “In the Blink of an Eye”, Mundi has expanded to feature an exciting array of instruments including flute, sax, banjo, marimba, voice, bass and world percussion. This original world-jazz band is not to be missed!

A well travelled bunch, they have covered almost every continent on the globe between them, taking the pulse and flavour of some very exotic regions. Mundi has toured and performed widely including in Sri Lanka where they recorded part of their debut album in collaboration with traditional Sri Lankan artists and had a TV special devoted to them. Their music is often heard on National Radio, has been featured on the Air New Zealand play list and on Australia’s ABC network as well as being showcased on Concert FM’s hour long show “Global Sounds”.

Recently art became life for Mundi, as composer and flautist Tamara Smith explains when describing their new album : “I was intrigued by the small vignettes we see on a daily basis. Little fragments of another’s life; a small segment of a story about to unfold, captured like a still frame in the blink of an eye. In the time frame of the world, civilisations have risen and crumbled, and this too has been in just a “Blink of an Eye”. This became a little more real to us in the early hours of a Christchurch morning when the earth rumbled for less than a minute, but in that time, changed the face of our city and the lives of many people… “

Despite setbacks of an earth shaking variety, a birth and other life changing events, the new Mundi album is finally here! While utterly original, it is a synthesis of many global colours and influences. It takes the listener on a musical journey traversing landscapes rich with texture and surprise; allowing them to experience through their own imagination other vignettes of the world.

Reviews

“Every now and again New Zealand throws up a group which has a jazz/improv aspect but looks to diverse world music for influences.

Mundi — fronted by flute player Tamara Smith who writes their music — has enjoyed a longer life than many: they were founded in 2003, hit the festival circuit, went to Sri Lanka where they played with local musicians and recorded some material for their debut album Serendipity, received consistently good reviews from around their home-base of Christchurch . . . and in late 2010 were literally shaken by the big quake that hit the city.

Out of that experience Smith realised what can happen “in the blink of an eye” which gives the title to this wide-reaching 11 track album (all recorded before the big shake-up) and which features vocalist Roslen Langton in a couple of places — but is mostly a jazz jaunt around the globe stoppng off in India, parts of Africa and taking in a little Cuban music for good measure.

Berimbau is the first real attention-getter with its quietly urgent marimba, off-beat accents and gently probing flute and saxophone parts. It shifts from suggestions of West Africa to the Mediterranean with casual ease. The sprightly 10-minute The Travelling Song finds them really stretching as the music morphs through various rhythms and styles with juju guitar as the underpinning.

Their many diverse influences are melded into bright, sometimes a little light, jazzy world music which will keep you guessing as to where it might go next.

The seven-piece band let the sounds ebb and flow, nothing sounds forced or even artificial, and although you might wish for a little more fire from the belly (especially on Breath of the Amazon which edges close to Afrobeat in places) this serves very well as another calling card from a band that sounds entirely at home in whichever part of the planet inspires it.” – Elsewhere

“The self-described world jazz Kiwi collective’s second album uses a vast array of instruments – from flute and sax to marimba and banjo – and draws on many musical influences from around the globe. And they come up with a sound that can be noodly and nice soul jazz on Driftwood one minute, slightly crazed banjo riffing free jazz on Berimbau the next and then into an all-out, carefree jam on 10-minute epic The Travelling Song.” - TimeOut

Hailing from Christchurch, New Zealand, Factories (comprising of Matt Ragg and Sean Bennetts) have been creating squiggly, squeaky, curly-puff, crunchy-nut sounds since 2006.

Their first release, a limited 12″ titled ‘The Apology Line – A Symphony of Confession in Two Parts’ explored themes encompassing the full spectrum of human emotion, providing an entertaining and occasionally disturbing listen. This was followed a year later by the ‘Kwik Snax’ EP; five tracks crammed into nine frantic minutes.

Factories now return at the beginning of 2011 with Start Again, the first track from the forthcoming ‘Operator’s Service Handbook’ EP to be released in March. These tracks were created using electronic and organic instruments and also utilise the backdrop of both the digital and natural world. This record serves as a teaser to the band’s first full-length album, which will be released later in 2011.

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”?

Niko Ne Zna are New Zealand’s very own Balkan Gypsy brass extravaganza. Formed in Wellington five years ago, the band has been stunning audiences ever since with their exuberant, dynamic performances. Comprising trumpet, saxophone, accordion, trombone, sousaphone, drums and percussion, Niko Ne Zna are a truly authentic ensemble. They can roam while playing, and enchant the audience into dancing, singing, clapping and stomping all night long.

The band consists of some of Wellington’s finest instrumentalists who come from a wide array of musical backgrounds that unite together to produce a cocktail that will make your ears rise to attention and your feet move in a frenzy. Their music is high energy with dark undertones and sexy gypsy style. Niko Ne Zna are a world class act with exotic tunes, fantastic grooves and exciting solos.

The band have played extensively in Wellington with performances at The Wellington Fringe Festival, International Jazz Festival, Cuba Street Carnival, Wellington Summer City Festival to name a few and have been a staple of the Wellington music scene with regular performances all over city.

“It’s easy to forget where you are when you listen to these hypnotic melodies. It’s like being dropped amongst the hot and spicy lands of a country far away – to a place where you can free yourself with these infectious and wild beats that take their influence from the gypsy-soaked Balkan States.”  wellingtonlivemusic.com

In early 2008, The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band officially released their first ep, Danse Macabre. Since then they have been busy whipping audiences into frenzies with their crazed gypsy/east European sounds performing at Prana, Jambalaya, Parihaka, AK09, Cross St Carnival, Fleetwaters and Splore Festivals as well as undertaking three highly successful national tours which saw them playing to packed houses all over the country. During this time, the Benkas have also supported many popular NZ acts including The Hot Grits, The Mamaku Project, An Emerald City and The Jews Brothers and in March 2008 they had the honour of supporting international act Beirut in Auckland.

Polkapocalypse features four original songs, four traditionals and 2 covers by the Tiger Lillies and Dead Kennedys. Three of the tracks were recorded live by acclaimed engineer Andre Upston for Radio New Zealand at the Monkey Magic launch at Galatos, Auckland in May 2008. The other seven were recorded by Jamie Newman aka Cinema 90 at a remote studio north of Auckland over three hot steamy days in March this year.

Following release shows in Wellington and Auckland, the band are spreading the chaos further, heading Europe-wards to be based in Berlin from the end of May onwards… World Domination is just around the corner… The brothels shall be the parliament, the Graveyards the Houses of Commons…. a new era is upon us…

Review for Polkapocalypse

With a sound based around accordion, clarinet, electric guitar, and lashings of laughs (they do a beautifully inebriated cover of the Dead Kennedy’s Too Drunk To F***), Polkapocalypse is theatrical, rebellious and fun party music.
NZ Herald

Imagine Spike Milligan jamming with gypsies over a crate of vodka. That’s a vague approximation that really does the manic appeal of Polkapocalypse a disservice. The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band (from Auckland) marry whimsical traditional eastern European arrangements with the type of macabre, obscure and amusing lyricism that will either impress or repulse. Scare your neighbours, frighten the kids, and petrify the pets with a high-volume dose of Polkapocalypse. Bizarre Balkan beats, ruthless Russky rhythms and a Dead Kennedys cover.
Otago Daily Times

Cinema 90’s story begins in 1999, with Auckland based producer Jamie Newman creating electronic dance music on a basic tracker program on his home computer.  After having dj’d electronic dance music of every genre (house, techno, electro, breaks, trance, dnb, hip hop and downbeat) since 1996, his initial direction in writing music was very much four-to-the-floor focused.  In 2001, under the moniker ‘dj me’, he released an ep of tech-house and breaks entitled ‘Shake Your Shit’.

In 2003, after music equipment began to seriously dominate his apartment, Jamie set up a studio in central Auckland, under the fledgling community radio station Fleet FM.  With the constant thoroughfare of artists, musicians and creative types, Jamie fast began incorporating live recording into the mix.  With this change in process came a different style of music, heralding the beginnings of a sound now recognizable as Cinema 90.  Fusing elements of hip hop, electro, soul, electronica, house, downbeat and folk, Cinema 90’s focus is on quality music without the limitations of an umbrella genre.

Six years and three studios later, Cinema 90 is releasing his debut EP through Auckland based record label Monkey Records. The first single from the ep is the feel good summer song, Sunny Day Juice, featuring an outstanding main vocal/rap by T-Minus. Second single is ‘So Sweet’ featuring Karin Betley and Billy Fluid.

While references may be made to Massive Attack, Tricky and Moby and the ep exhibits an unabashed homage to 90’s trip hop (hence the 90 in the moniker perhaps), this is music for your heart, soul and ears and this release seems sure to mark Cinema 90 as an artist to watch.