Monkey Records presents: Tim Guy & Bond Street Bridge European Tour

Two of New Zealand’s most unique and talented independent singer/songwriters, Tim Guy and Bond Street, tour Europe for the first time, bringing their music to intimate venues in the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and Czech Republic.

Tim Guy (dreamy folk pop)

Born in Australia, Tim Guy spent time living in Papua New Guinea as a child, but these days resides in Auckland, NZ. He is an ever-changing, evolving songwriter, constantly pushing the boundaries of his craft whilst remaining within the parameters of traditional song structure. Tim has 3 albums to his name, 2004’s Blazey (produced by Bic Runga), 2007’s self-produced and fast becoming lo-fi classic ‘Hummabyes’ and 2010’s ‘Big World’, a lush production as the antithesis of the previous release.

Tim has toured New Zealand many times over the last few years building up a loyal fanbase and developing into a consummate performer and entertainer. Following the release of his latest album ‘Big World’ in May 2010, Tim is taking it to the world on a tour throughout NZ, Australia and Europe.

“Memorable, compelling melodies…” – NZ Musician
“Gentle mature heavenly pop.” – Elsewhere
“It all sounds effortless and the songs roll along like some kind of blissed out Sunday afternoon.” – Eavesdrop

Bond Street Bridge (cinematic folk noir)

Bond Street Bridge is the solo project of New Zealander Sam Prebble, who has become a fixture of the Auckland indie-folk scene over the past few years, playing mandolin, fiddle and guitar in a wide range of up-and-coming bands.

The live set is a solo show in which Sam uses loop pedals and tape echoes to build up layers of guitar, violin, minimalistic beats and vocals to produce a hypnotic, compelling and original sound.  Audiences are drawn in to the strange world Bond Street Bridge conjours up with a combination of evocative, poetic lyrics and sonically lush instrumental arrangements.

In 2008, Bond Street Bridge released his debut album ‘The Mapmakers’ Art’ on Monkey Records, and since then has toured extensively around New Zealand and  Australia.

‘The Mapmaker’s Art is one of the finest collections of homegrown music to cross this desk in a while… a joyously cinematic listening experience’ Real Groove
‘Very different and very good indeed’ Graham Reid (top 40 albums 2008)
‘Darkly beautiful in it’s ingenuity.’ Cheese on Toast

Bond Street Bridge

Wed 28 July – Schokoladen, Berlin, Germany w/ The Mamaku Project
Fri 6 Aug – Klaus Abendbrot, Berlin, Germany
Sun 8 Aug – Lewes Arms, Lewes, East Sussex, UK

Tim Guy & Bond Street Bridge
Tue 10 Aug – The Windmill, Brixton, London, UK w/ Hannah Curwood
Thu 12 Aug – Portobello Acoustic Sessions, Notting Hill, London, UK
Fri 13 Aug – The Spice of Life, Soho, London, UK w/ Hannah Curwood
Sat 14 Aug – Inspiral Lounge, Camden, London, UK w/ DJ Balkanetic
Mon 16 Aug – Halfmoon Unplugged, Putney, London, UK
Tue 17 Aug – Jingle Jangle, Steeles, Chalk Farm, London, UK
Thu 19 Aug – Espace B, Paris, France
Thu 26 Aug – Café Kairo, Bern, Switzerland
Sat 28 Aug – Café Galao, Stuttgart, Germany
Thu 2 Sep – Hafen 2, Offenbach, Germany
Thu 9 Sep – POPKOMM, Berlin, Germany
Tue 14 Sep – East of Eden, Berlin, Germany
Sat 18 Sep The Royal Oak, Prague, Czech Republic

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

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. Recently they undertook their first national tour to promote the release of their debut ep.

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.

SUMONE PRODUCTIONS presents the epic music video for Polkapocalyptic featuring The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band. Filmed in Berlin 2009. Written produced and directed by Nathan Taare and Dylan Bakker. Music from The Benkas debut album ‘Polkapocalypse‘.

A psychedelic Afro-Soul explosion in 12 parts, The Hot Grits cover the stylistic ground between deep Funk, Soul and Afrobeat. From Meters-style struts superfast deep funk assaults to churning Afrobeat Soul. This music is designed to hit you in your soul, your face and your dancing equipment. My Rites is the third single (and video) from The Hot Grits’ debut album ‘It’s Too Drunk To Be This Early‘.

‘Too Drunk to F**k’ is the second single to be released from The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band’s debut album ‘Polkapocalypse’ and is their version of the much loved Dead Kennedy’s song.

Hailing from the slums and ghettos of Auckland, New Zealand (the Prague of the South), The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band bring their unique brand of highly theatrically East-European Apocalyptic Debauchery to those in need, wherever they may be. At a live performance one can expect spontaneous combustion in the audience, clothes thrown off in frivolous rampage, macabre stories, legs turning into snakes, much musical and physical inebriation, and dancing, dancing, dancing…
Having just returned from neing based in Berlin for five months, the band will be returning to NZ in December for an epic 30 date ‘Gypsy Fever’ summer tour before touring Australia and Europe in 2010 to promote the release of their album in those territories.

Their previous music video for the song ‘Dance of Death’ stayed in the top 5 most watched videos for over a year on NZ music website Amplifier.

The live segments in this clip were filmed during a frenzied Gypsy Fever gig at the Kings Arms in May 2009.

Director Campbell Farquhar has been working as a freelance editor since he left film school. He’s worked on TV programmes, short films and three digital feature films. he also makes his own films, mostly abstract experimental pieces featuring animation, dance and explorations of movement. This is his third music video.

Lorazopam is the fourth single from Renee-Louise Carafice’s debut album ‘Renee-Louise Carafice Tells You to Fight’ which was recently included in Nick Bollinger’s new book 100 Essential New Zealand Albums.

The video for Lorazopam is by Chicago-based director Israel Alpizar, who also directed the acclaimed clip for Renee’s first single, Bodhisattva.

Says Carafice -”This song was originally intended to be so melodramatic that it was funny. ‘Sometimes everything in you tells you to break out into the night’… come on really! But as the song got heard by more and more people, people’s response to it was quite different, they found it very sad, some people even cried listening to it. This interpretation is okay too. I hold a firm belief that life is a very funny and very sad thing.”

Renee-Louise Carafice is a dark-folk-pop songstress born in New Zealand, based in Chicago. With a bitingly honest and brutally fragile voice, she sings of her ‘messy rollercoaster ride’ of a life, over rich and complex melodic structures. She sings with an alarming openness about desperation, love, loss, homelessness and longing, all the while maintaining a sense of glorious hope at the end of the road.

‘Silver’ is the second single from Bond Street Bridge’s critically acclaimed debut album ‘The Mapmaker’s Art.’

The song and the video tell an epic story of folly, adventure, and eventual insanity.  A well-dressed but confused-looking young man pushes a mannequin in a post-apocalyptic shopping trolley through a desert populated by dessicated skulls, poisonous snakes, and cantankerous alchemists. With only a deck of cards for guidance, he’s searching for a mysterious potion – presumably he’ll know it when he sees it.  As in most ill-conceived endeavours, things go wrong quite quickly.

The video was shot in lush black and white by Briar March, and directed by Nigel Braddock.  Sam Prebble, the one-man multi-instrumentaliser behind the Bond Street Bridge project, wrote the script and provided art direction.  He explains ‘the logistics of the shoot were a bit of a nightmare, but since it was my idea, I couldn’t really complain about having to push a severely distressed shopping trolley up a sixty-foot sand dune.  At least, that’s what Briar and Nigel reckoned – I decided to complain anyway.’

The bulk of the shooting was completed in one very long day at Bethell’s Beach, on Auckland’s west coast.  Racing to fit so much action into one day of shooting gave the finished product exactly the epic qualtiy the team was aiming for.  ‘I wasn’t acting by the end of the day,’ says Sam. ‘All that rolling around and falling over towards the end of the video was a pretty good reflection of my state of mind by that stage.’

The video was edited by Campbell Farquar and features Sam Prebble and Derek March.