It's officially 15 years and one day... to the day that Lil' Chief released our first album 'The Brunettes - Holding Hands Feeding Ducks". To celebrate we have pressed it on vinyl - there are 150 copies hand numbered available from our webstore. The vinyl is blue and white splatter and looks amazing.
Lil' Chief was founded in 2002 by Jonathan Bree and Scott Mannion. They essentially founded the label to release their own albums - but it soon grew into a pop collective that has gone on to create some of the coolest albums of the last fifteen years.
Jonathan will be playing his first live show at Others Way Festival on Sep 1, with a twelve piece orchestrette (two members admittedly just groove around dancing the entire time).
Fans of the fourth Brunettes lineup class of 2003 will be pleased to see him and James Milne playing live together again.
You're So Cool is from Jonathan's forthcoming third album scheduled to drop in February 2018.
The Ruby Suns' latest album, Sprite Fountain, is a culmination of over a decade of making music for songwriter, Ryan McPhun. From the first track 'Waterslide', we get an indication of what is to come - propulsive off-kilter rhythms, sweet melodic vocals and trickles of psychedelic guitar. Ryan is a magpie of music, equally adept at swiping a pop synth sound as he is at incorporating a Club Tropicana shuffle, all while his upbringing in California is ever-present in his multi-layered vocal harmonies.
For the past few years, Ryan has been a resident of Norway, where he's created a new line-up of The Ruby Suns to play shows in Europe. Though he also takes time out to tour as drummer for Lawrence Arabia...
His new surroundings are evident on the album, with first single 'Pram Gang' capturing his trepidation at walking the streets as a stay-at-home dad while fast-speaking clusters of local mums crowd past (as he sings, 'I don't speak the language, I don't even try...'). Norway is also a clear inspiration on the wonderfully laidback track 'Blåhvalene' (what a chorus!), while we get a hint of his homelife on 'Tilt of His Hat' (with the lyric, 'let your mother sleep darling). Though he hasn't forgotten New Zealand, as is apparent on the quirky 'K Rd Woody' (about on a rough night on Auckland's Karangahape Road).
The album was recorded at a new studio that Ryan has set-up on the outskirts of Oslo, where he tracked live drums, percussion, and guitar. Yet, his interest in digital experimentation also remains and the album is rife with manipulated samples, effects, and programmed synths. The final mixes were done while Ryan was visiting Lil Chief owner, Scott Mannion (Tokey Tones), in Chelva, Spain and longtime collaborator Bevan Smith (Signer) then helped with the mixing/mastering (Smith has played live in The Ruby Suns since 2009 and joined the band for an NZ tour earlier this year).
The result is an album that sounds uniquely like The Ruby Suns that fans have grown to love over the last decade. Check out the links below to hear/read more!
2016 really has been a weird year. To mark the passing of it the Eversons have spent the last few weeks writing, recording and making a video for their first harebrained novelty single in ages. Check out 'Weird Year' on bandcamp, soundcloud and youtube
After a slight delay we are very happy to finally be releasing the Eversons second full length album "Stuck In New Zealand"
It's an eclectic mix of New Wave, 60s pop, and rock 'n’ roll with in your face psychedelic production Available now on LP, CD and all your favourite digital services...
Today the Eversons release their new single, "Good at Making
Enemies" on all digital services. It comes with two B-Sides: a Japanese language
version of "Good at Making Enemies" and a rock n' roll number called "Sell It To
Me" that would make Mick's lips quiver. The song, recorded and mixed from the band's
own living room, is a '90s indie rock shredder about having the kind of personality some
people just love to hate.
The single is from the forthcoming album, Stuck in New Zealand, coming to you this November 18th.
Lil' Chief Records is a boutique New Zealand based indie pop record label and musical collective, formed in 2002, and releasing the best music in that genre from these here shores. Our HQ is in Auckland, a city built on a dormant volcanic field...
This blog is where a bunch of our artists will post stories, pictures, videos and mp3s. Join in and say hi!
