Lil' Chief Records
Lil' Chief Records is a label that prides itself for releasing a consistent scope of "orchestrated pop music."
We at Lil' Chief Records are aware of the inherent inconsistencies in the pop marketplace and realize that the consumer must be confident they can rely on a company's guarantee of quality. Therefore, we are very careful in our sourcing and selection of pop music. Consequently all Lil' Chief products are guaranteed 100% pure pop. They contain no other additives or artificial sweeteners.
We take real pride in the quality of our produce and hand pick the best pop music while our trained staff handle it with expert care. All our pop music conforms to strict guidelines laid down by Wilson Quality Control Company (WQCC), an independent company with accredited pop laboratories situated throughout New Zealand, North America and The United Kingdom.
Lil' Chief Records was formed in 2001, although its first release was not until October 2002, with the Brunettes debut album Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks.
The name "Lil' Chief Records" came from the Brunettes front man and label co-founder, Jonathan Bree, and gives kudos to the Beach Boys record label, Brother Records (whose logo features a native American Indian riding horseback), and the Archie comic book character Lil Jinx. Jonathan formed the label with Scott Mannion, who also contributed his engineering knowledge to the recording of Holding Hands. The pair had a mutual respect for each other's music and shared a number of major influences.
Lil' Chief Records is based in a broken down old house in Sandringham, Auckland. Its kitchen doubles as practice room and sometime performance venue. Jonathan's dark and windowless bedroom is where all most of the recording takes place.
Official Site
Artists
Alec began his musical career in 1977 as the guitarist in 'The Enemy' who shocked audiences with their upfront punk rock. Alec provided the grating riffs, while fellow Enemy Chris... More
When you are putting together a recording on your own there's no feedback or dialogue to influence creative decisions. More
Little Pictures consists of Johanna (Yo-hun-a) Freeman and Mark Turner. More
Pie Warmer was named after Ed Cake's medication that he described
as being like,"...a pie warmer; my brain's not too hot, not too cold."
Princess Chelsea is part of this new breed of control-freak bedroom producers - presented to us in the form of a happy and bubbly young girl. More
The Brunettes play teen-melodrama pop songs More
Don't be fooled by their sweet exterior, the Gladeyes will creep under your skin and haunt you with nightmares of lost-loves. More
How long have you been collecting music? More
The Reduction Agents are an oddity in today's world of pop music: they play catchy songs but without resorting to clichéd lyrics and repetitive musical structures. More
From California but now residing in Auckland, New Zealand as a flightless native bird, Ryan drifted to these shores from Los Angeles after growing tired of coaxing his friends away... More
Tokey Tones from Lil Chief Records. Tracks from 2 album set: Caterpillar & Butterfly. Project of Scot Mannion and Li-Ming Hu. More
Releases
Butterfly tends to be upbeat, poppy, and full. More
The concept behind Caterpillar is more laid-back, organic, reflective, and less produced. More
The follow up to 2004's Open Sesame was recorded in June 2005 with overdub sessions spread throughout the rest of the year. More
Downtown Puff is the long-awaited release of former Bressa Creeting Cake member, Edmund Cake. More
Fight Softly is the new studio album by NZ's pop masters The Ruby Suns. More
With a huge back catalogue of demos created over years of jamming and lo-fi experimenting Voom's second album Hello, Are You There? is to be released in New Zealand this... More
The Brunette's debut album released in 2002 More
The new look Ruby Suns are back with this six track EP out through Lil' Chief, recorded at Sackville St in Grey Lynn, Auckland. More
Mars Loves Venus was the second album from New Zealand's favourite bubblegum pop band released in New Zealand on June 28th, 2004. More
Eleven gems from New Zealand's lil' chief records. More
Bob Cardy brought together a number of musicians to play on this album and all of them are past or present members of Shaft More
Owl + Owl is the simply gorgeous result of a pair of self-confessed nerds obsessed with pop culture and technology. More
The Brunettes have a meticulous craft in the studio. Writing pop songs, that most fickle of forms, requires a precision that comes naturally to the band, and their records ring... More
In their debut album, Psychosis Of Love, Jade and Gwen express, confess, and attempt to explain those things that in our own lives are often difficult to make sense of,... More
The latest release from the Lil' Chief empire. More
The Ruby Suns present their second full-length album. More
There's a story behind every Nudie Suits song. Like maybe it's not such a good idea to take a new girlfriend that you're still trying to impress to an annual... More
Structure & Cosmetics, is The Brunettes' third full length album. More
The second album from The Nudie Suits More
THIS ITEM IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT
This six track EP, released in March 2003, followed up the good work done on Holding Hands, Fedding Ducks.
More
The Dance Reduction Agents is a collection of rock songs in a classic vein. More
Ed Cake defines The Fearsome Feeling as love. More
Alec Bathgate draws on the last forty years of popular music in his latest release, The Indifferent Velvet Void. Sixties fuzz guitar and vocal melodies lie alongside thumping Casiotone rhythms... More
Hard on the heels of their stateside tour with The Shins comes the latest release from The Brunettes. More
