Estelle Clifford: Chaos in the CBD - A Deeper Life

After a decade of making music, Chaos in the CBD has finally released their debut album. 

‘A Deeper Life’ is a labour of love from brothers Louis and Ben Helliker-Hale, a house album that pays tribute to their lives growing up in Aotearoa.  

Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her thoughts on the release. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at B.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is Cherlay. Does it remind you of anywhere? The
song is called? Or Tucky? It's by Chaos in the CBD,
featuring fin Ree's Steele Clifford has been listening to Chaos
in the CBD's first ever album, A Deeper Life, and
she's with this good morning.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, something a little different for us, with a bit
of a chill. I think maybe I'm just trying to
cling to summer. Yes, like a sunny this album. Actually,
Chaos and the CBD kind of is like you're like
a slow Sunday brewing the coffee, reading the paper when
you didn't have to do things before nine because you
didn't have small humans in.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Your Yes, it's sort of an irony because you hear
Chaos and the CBD in anticipating some like either hip
hop or death metal or something. You know, are you
some Chaos and madness exactly?

Speaker 3 (01:09):
And so the name of them is like quite a
different thing of where this album is. And I think
because some of their music, look, they have been on
that house House e beetha kind of.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Party zone, haven't we all right?

Speaker 3 (01:23):
But I think also they're kind of part of the
chill zone, you know, the Colmdown. I think that they
actually supply the music for the Comdown, one of the
one of their co lebt and this is the first
time on their music and it's also their debut album.
So they've been doing this for like over a decade,
but this is the first time they've put a body
of work together into an album. So this has got

(01:44):
a lot of featured artists, one being Nathan Haynes, which
is pretty awesome, and he plays sex on one of
the songs, He's in another one with his help write
and all the rest of it too. He's actually playing
at the Stables and Mutakhana tonight if anyone needs a
little drive somewhere north. I saw that on the bathroom
door when I was at a wedding there in the week.

(02:06):
But he's one of those artists that kind of pops
up and open Haynes, that people do some cool work
with and I think absolutely and this album is a
bit of that too. Actually. It's yeah, it's clever, and
it's kind of because I don't know if I've necessarily
listened to a lot of house music, but this is
one of those ones that you can easily just either

(02:26):
you're needing a bit of a day dream and a
chill out, but there's also enough of a beat to
not completely make it sleep, you know. Like they sort
of said they wanted this album to be something that
actually makes us all to slow down a little bit,
take a breath, take it easy. They're really embraced because
these guys have been living over in London, I believe

(02:47):
for like the last ten years, but definitely well and
truly entrenched in their Keiwi upbringing on the North Shore
in Auckland, and so this has got quite a lot
of ambiance of beautiful birds the ocean, like it really
takes you to a place, and I think that's quite
clever when you then still also have these really rhythm
mac sounds and beats and instruments that go through your music.

(03:11):
They've also named a lot of the tracks, which I think,
because they're quite big on the international scene, will be
interesting for an international audience. Or tucky tongue lied or crossing.
One's called Marlborough but more like the Siggi's. It's spelt
like the siggis as opposed to the Just to make
sure you.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Know some marlbur Blue.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
One of those uncles, used to me, you go the
dairy get those. And actually Louis who he's said about
this that it is a real love letter to home
for them, which makes me think maybe they're a bit
homestick and they need to come back and sit on
a beach and listen to some birds and stuff. But yeah,
I think it's going to be a really interesting thing
for an international audience to hear some of these tunes,
I think. So it starts with an opener that just

(03:56):
it's called down by the Cove, and it's exactly that.
It's got this tranquil hypnotic start or tucky features Finnree's
so little shout out there to the kap of the
Horror Final in mates. But it's got a somber beats underneath,
and again I think that's the thing you'll find. You'll
be able to chill out with this album. But again
it's still got that rhythm you know when you walk

(04:17):
into like a cool gallery or a cafe, you know
those kind of come on.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
No, I'm teasing. It was merely intimating that I'm knowing
near call enough. Do you ever have time to go
to a call out and get a cafe. But no,
I know exactly what you mean.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah, like it really it's kind of a cool scene
and it's it's really kind of Actually, it gave me
a real excuse to sort of just relax and let
go a little bit.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
So I'm going to throw out a genre that I
haven't heard anyone reference in about twenty years, urban jazz.
Do you remember that urban jazz? It is kind of
like a little bit dancy, a little bit jazzy, a
little bit like kind of chancy, you know, like.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
Yeah, actually, you know what, that's actually probably a really
good way to put it. It's got the ambient stuff,
it's got a bit of soul jazz. Some of the
featured singers probably bring a little bit of that as well.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yeah, true, So yeah, urban.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Urban to put it.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
I mean, I listened to the album, so I'm very
much putting words. But the way that you're kind of
describing this confluence of different musical genres, I think.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah, I think I think it probably is there. I think,
and also just embracing that real sort of energy that
summer in the sun breazer. Yeah, if you're needing to
embrace a bit of that this weekend. Maybe this is
your your good one for that. The track you're going
to play after this is called Tears, and it features
Saucy Lady, which I just I love her alter ego

(05:34):
names The Ladder. She is a funk soul artist, so
you know that urbane funk soul thing definitely sort of
exists with her. She really is embracing that seventies eighties
era her style and also her voice. But it just
goes so good with what they've created on the track
with her, So maybe this is where they're heading. Like
some more featured artists bring some extra sort of layers

(05:57):
onto it, you know, some voice stuff, but there's also
lots of instrumental.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, so you've got the voice sometimes and then ow
other times that there's no kind of there no yeah right, yeah,
and you.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
Know sometimes people are wanting an album missing along, so
it's probably not there so much.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
No, yeah, no, no, no. That sounds great though. Okay,
so what did you give it? A deeper life by
cows CBD.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
I've really enjoyed this. It's an eight out of team
for me. Done boys.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah great, it sounds like a good little weekend listener. Reckon, Hey,
thank you so much as Stelle, Like you said, we'll
play a little bit more in a couple of minutes.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
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