Ten years ago, Mint Chicks shredded the high-gloss sound that saw their sophomore LP go overground. The band tells Sam Wicks how they ripped up the rulebook on Screens. Surprising everyone, the band formerly known as The Mint Chicks won over a mainstream audience with Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!, scoring commercial radio play and five … Read more
Last week, APRA announced the five finalists for the 2017 Silver Scroll Award. Today, exclusively for The Spinoff, the five artists discuss each other’s nominated songs. Ruban Nielson of Unknown Mortal Orchestra on ‘Laugh It Off’ by Chelsea Jade My friend put me on to this song when it first came out and I love … Read more
After blowing up The Mint Chicks in spectacular fashion, the Nielson brothers are back together, with Kody recently joining Ruban’s acclaimed act Unknown Mortal Orchestra. “Brothers can have a volatile relationship,” he tells Hussein Moses, “but at the end of the day we’re still brothers.” The first time Kody Nielson heard a mysterious new band … Read more
Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new album Sex & Food is prompting RNZ’s Melody Thomas to think about the apocalypse. She asks the band’s founder and frontman Ruban Nielson if that’s what he intended. Sad lyrics over happy music. Gloomy cover art on a joyous album. Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson is fond of things that seem contradictory, but … Read more