Neilson Gets ‘Better and Better’

New Zealander Ruban Neilson’s playing and song writing just gets ‘better and better’, according to The Observer. Reviewing his group’s latest CD. Unknown Mortal Orchestra II, The Observer’s Kitty Empire praises the bands songs as ‘gently lysergic’, ‘intimate’ and ‘quite beatific’.  Neilson’s playing and song writing is highlighted as ‘intimate’, ‘whimsical’ and ‘uncommonly pristine’. The album is described as ‘neo-psychedelia at its most blissed-out.  Neilson is, undoubtedly, a time-lagged child of the psychedelic era; a mind-alteration lifer.’ Empire also praises Neilson’s earlier work, summing up the band’s 2011 debut album as “dazed, raw and melodic’. Neilson was a guitarist and singer for The Mint Chicks (2001-2007), a New Zealand punk band.  The Mint Chicks were winners of five New Zealand music awards.


Tags: Kitty Empire  Mint Chicks (The)  New Zealand Music Awards  Observer (The)  Ruban Neilson  Unknown Mortal Orchestra II  

Amy Brown’s New Novel Inspired by Women and Art

Amy Brown’s New Novel Inspired by Women and Art

Like many writers before her, New Zealand-born Amy Brown takes inspiration from the Australian feminist icon Stella Maria Miles Franklin in her captivating debut novel My Brilliant Sister – but instead…