Renderizors - Vivid Cloud/Lucky Din LP

GRAPEFRUIT YEAR THREE SERIES, RECORD TWO (2013, GY3-2)   The Renderizors is an off-shoot project from The Renderers, a New Zealand alt country/rock/psych noisy band that emerged in the early 1990′s based around the songwriting husband wife team of Brian and Maryrose Crook. Together they have released 7 albums and numerous singles and compilation tracks over the 20 something years. The Renderizors first came into being to describe a project with Nathan Thompson and James (T) Kirk of Sandoz Lab Technicians, one of the best experimental free noise exponents NZ offered at the time. They (The friends) recorded the album between 2000 and 2001 and played 5-6 shows including the big Dunedin Sound festival recorded by KFJC and broadcast by KFJC and WFMU, a triple CD was issued by KFJC which featured several songs by each band (Plagal Grind, Dead C, Snapper, etc). Unfortunately at final preparation time for the album it was found that the the file to one of the longest tracks hadn’t saved properly, and it wasn’t until 2007 that a usable rough mix of the song Twister was found, allowing the group to go ahead and release the album, “Submarine,” on Last Visible Dog. The band went into hiatus when James left for Wellington and then Nathan went to Sydney.  They didn’t play together until 2007. In 2008 whilst in Berlin, The Crooks were playing more improv-based tunes and decided to revive the name to keep that side of things separate from the Renderers. They also played in L.A. using that name in 2009 at Echo Curio with Metal Rouge and so it made sense to call this LP a Renderizors one as well. This album was recorded with Sha Nonn and iRory (Creche) up at the old, now destroyed, High Street Project building in Christchurch in 2010, after playing support to Pink Reason on their NZ tour. The “Vivid Cloud / Lucky Din” name comes from the Crook’s stay in Beijing and the pieces are thematically linked … and includes street recordings and a song responding to the massive Sichuan earthquake which struck while Brian and Maryrose were there. This song was also played in Christchurch after one of the big quakes there. The album also includes a cover of a song written by friend, Charles Lieurance. “The Chinese Seas” is a song recorded by his band the Black Dahlias (not the big Canadian band of the same name) in the 1990s and is an undiscovered gem.