Bible Black is the solo project of Christchurch musician Brian Crook. Brian Crook is in my opinion the most underrated songwriter in New Zealand. He has played in The Max Block, The Renderers, Flies inside the Sun, Scorched Earth Policy, The Terminals and probably heaps of other bands over the years and consistently writes amazing songs. The name Brian Crook should really be associated with great New Zealand songwriters as much as Chris Knox, David Kilgour or Martin Phillips. In Bible Black he strips back the noise that usually accompanies his songs but keeps the awesomeness of them.
02- Doctors - Lifes Alright (Save No One/2010)
Doctors is the solo project of Rhett Copland from Christchurch with occasional help from friends. The live Doctors band is almost the same lineup as a local Brian Jonestown Massacre covers band which gives you a good idea of what Doctors sound like. Rhett has released a solid stream of free EPs and Albums on bandcamp but Save No One released in November 2010 is by far the best. http://doctors.bandcamp.com/
03- This Kind of Punishment - Although they appear (A Beard of Bees/1984)
This Kind of Punishment were amazing. Made up of the brothers Peter and Grahame Jefferies. There is heaps of info on them so I probably don't need to write anything more about them. Definitely check out their self titled album and the Beard of of Bees.
04- Stef Animal - Fantasy (single/unsure)
Stef Animal started out in the amazing Timaru band Mestar and makes beautiful ambient music. Stef is now in a shoegaze band The golden awesome based in Wellington. I don't think any Stef Animal tracks have had a proper release aside from the single Karl on the A Low Hum singles club.
05- Roy Montgomery - The Road to Diamond Harbour (Scenes from the South Island/1995)
I saw Roy Montgomery play with Grouper and Pumice in a church on Manchester st in early 2009 it was amazing, I've never been so impressed with the sounds one man can manke.Roy Montgomery is probably one of the most important guitarist from Christchurch, he was in the post punk band the Pin Group whose single Ambivalence was the first flying nun release. He was in Dadamah who made great ambient music, but out of everything he has done his solo stuff is my favourite. There is heaps of info on him out there so I won't write any more but pretty much everything he has done is worth a listen.
06- Demarnia Lloyd - Folding (Trace/2000)
Dermarnia Lloyd is probably most well known as the main songwriter of the ambient/triphop Dunedin band Cloud Boy. In her solo works she is far more minimal but keeps the beauty of it. Definitely check out both cloud boy and her solo stuff.
07- Peter Gutteridge - Chinese Garden (Pure/1989)
Peter Gutteridge was a founding member of both The Clean and The Chills and wrote most of Point that thing somewhere else. Most of his solo music is released under the name Snapper but this cassette of demos and home recordings of ideas pre-Snapper was released by the Xpressway label in 1989 under his own name. Well worth a listen to.
08- Jon Lemmon - The Inside of a Corner (Kindling EP/2010)
Jon Lemmon is originally from Thousand Oaks, California but has been residing in Wellington, New Zealand since 2007 working for Weta Digital, so I am going to claim him as a New Zealand artist. I could probably write about why I love this EP so much, it was number 3 in my top 25 New Zealand releases of 2010, but I don't think I would do it justice. Go and download the Kindling Ep at his bandcamp and you will see why it is so amazing. http://jonlemmonmusic.bandcamp.com/
09- Ejector - Motionless (Over the Atlantic Remix) (Two Thousand and Three/2006)
Ejector was Nik Brinkman from Over the Atlantic's teenage band. I got this EP free with an A Low Hum magazine in 2006. As much as the songs were great I'm not sure if they were pulled off completely well with an exception to this one song which in my opinion is better than anything either Ejector or Over the Atlantic have ever done. Bevin Smith (Signer/Over the Atlantic) is such a good producer.
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