Born in Darwin, Australia, to a Hawaiian mother and a Māori father, Nielson was raised in Orewa, Auckland in a musical family. Nielson attended Elam, and graduated in 2002 as a recipient of the Sir James Wallace art award, one year after forming The Mint Chicks with Paul Roper, Michael Logie and his brother Kody Nielson. The four members met at Orewa College, although the band started moving between Portland, Oregon, where Nielson would later be based, and Auckland. The band, known for its nihilistic ideology, disorderly behaviour and neo-punk elements, broke up following Ruban's departure. Nielson subsequently formed a more experimental and psychedelic band, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, with musician Jake Portrait. His brother Kody also has performed drums on almost every Unknown Mortal Orchestra album.
Nielson achieved critical acclaim and success worldwide with the band's self-titled debut album Unknown Mortal Orchestra, released in 2011. The album won the Taite Music Prize the following year. Further success came with II, released in 2013.[1] Nielson's third album Multi-Love, which made it high onto lists by The Guardian, NME and Consequence of Sound for the best albums of 2015. Singles "Multi-Love" and "Can't Keep Checking My Phone" were both A-listed at BBC's 6 Music.[2] Two more albums, Sex + Food, and the instrumental IC-01 Hanoi, followed in 2018.
Nielson lives in the United States with his family. He has become a symbol of the rejuvenation of psychedelic music in Australasia, alongside the likes of Tame Impala, Connan Mockasin, LEISURE and Pond.[3]NME has summed up Nielson as a master in creating "works of warm, fuzzy beauty."[4] Nielson said in response to being described as a musical provocateur; "No, I don't purposefully go out to try and do that......but it is really fun."[5]
Early life
Nielson was born in Darwin, Australia on 20 February 1980. His mother is an American hula dancer from Oahu, Hawaii and his father is New Zealand Māori brass player and Elam School of Fine Arts alumni, Chris Nielson, who toured with lounge singer John Rowles in the 1970s and has played in New Zealand bands such as Katchafire. With his mother being a Native Hawaiian woman (Kānaka Maoli), there was an instant cultural connection with Nielson's Māori father; the two ethnic groups are closely connected, and the ancestral Māori homeland is known as Hawaiki. The two met on tour in Los Angeles, and later had another son, Kody (born 9 May 1982), who later became a musician alongside Nielson.[6] The transpacific couple moved to Auckland when Nielson was young, where he grew up and regards as his home. Chris Nielson collaborated with his sons on Unknown Mortal Orchestra's 2018 album, IC-01 Hanoi, playing the flügelhorn and saxophone.[7]
Nielson grew up in Orewa. Home life was difficult due to his father's chronic alcoholism and heroin addiction, and the fallout from his parents' separation. As a teenager, Nielson developed insomnia, and was unable to sleep at night; this affected his academic performance. Despite his addictions, his father cared for his children, and felt guilty about his illnesses and choices affecting them. As he weaned himself off heroin and alcohol, he made amends with his son by buying him his first guitar and getting recommendations from his Orewa College teachers to get him into Elam School of Fine Arts, New Zealand's most prestigious art school.[8] He graduated in 2002 with distinction, winning a Sir James Wallace art award. When listed in the University of Auckland's 40 under 40 list in 2020, Nielson said of his father and Elam:
"His stories of Elam when I was a kid really stoked my desire to be there. He helped me get into Elam and negotiate what was originally a kind of ‘probational situation’ with my acceptance. Being at Elam really fulfilled a childhood dream and people like Nuala Gregory, Peter Shand, Jim Speers, Leigh Martin, Judy Millar and Denys Watkins as well as many others all had a huge impact on the way I see the world and creativity.”[9]
He maintains an interest in the visual arts, and says that if he had not entered music as a profession he would have become a visual artist.[1]
The Mint Chicks (2001–10)
The Nielson brothers, Ruban and Kody, enjoyed making music together from a young age, despite their sibling rivalry and difficult home life. Ruban found it as a way to cope with his worsening insomnia, while the younger Kody enjoyed daredevil stunts and being a loud and anarchic frontman.[8] The brothers formed the band in high school in 2001, alongside two friends, Michael Logie and Paul Roper. They began by playing punk house parties and low profile shows before being discovered by the internationally acclaimed New Zealand independent record label Flying Nun Records. The Mint Chicks, a neo-punk and "shit-gaze" band, were famed for their noisy, rowdy shows (with Kody Nielson often hanging himself upside down from the stage).They released two EPs and three albums under the Flying Nun Records banner: Octagon, Octagon, Octagon EP (2003), Anti-Tiger EP (2004), Fuck the Golden Youth (2005), Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! (2006) and Screens (2009), as well as one EP on a minor label, Bad Buzz (2010). All were produced and recorded by the band's core members Ruban and Kody Nielson, with the exception of Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! which was produced by the Nielson brothers and their father Chris Nielson at two different home studios.
All four original band members met at Orewa College in Orewa, New Zealand, although the band starting moving between Portland, Oregon and Auckland, as the Nielson brothers have dual citizenship in New Zealand and the U.S.
The Mint Chicks, the Nielson brothers' first band, quickly reached stardom. The band was also known for younger brother Kody's daredevil nature when performing, which included destroying their corporate sponsor's sign on stage hanging upside down from the stage (pictured).
At the 2007 New Zealand Music Awards the band won five Tui awards including best rock group, best album, best rock album[12] as well as winning best album cover and best music video for the single "Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!".[13]
On 24 October 2007, it was announced on the band's website that their bassist Michael Logie would leave the band when they relocated to Portland.[14] The group continued as a trio, with Logie relocating to London, England. The band played a free show in Portland on 29 June 2008, in which they played their then-upcoming third album from beginning to end live. The band later supported Shihad on the July 2008 Beautiful Machine Tour and tested their new songs in front of a home audience. As a result of their bass player having left the band, the Mint Chicks weren't able to play hits from earlier songs, angering some fans. To counter this Shihad's bass player, Karl Kippenberger, filled in for several more popular songs.
On 25 December 2008, The Mint Chicks released the Mintunes EP consisting of "8-bit versions" of both previously released songs and tracks from the upcoming album. The band also released an iTunes-only single during 2008, "Life Will Get Better Some Day", a teaser for the album "Screens", which was released in New Zealand on 16 March 2009 after having been recorded sporadically over the preceding two years.
In October 2009 the Mint Chicks performed a rendition of Ray Columbus and the Invaders' classic hit She's a Mod at the New Zealand Music awards as a four-piece band, later released as a standalone single. Shortly afterwards on 16 October 2009, it was announced Michael Logie would be rejoining the band in a post on the band's Twitter. The band joined with New Zealand music website MusicHy.pe to promote their next record, the Bad Buzz EP, released in February 2010.
Shortly after the release of the EP, the band played their final show on 12 March 2010. The show, originally a fundraiser for MusicHy.pe, ended in chaos after Kody Nielson destroyed the two drumkits and equipment, imploring the crowd to 'start your own fucking band'.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Nielson left The Mint Chicks in the beginning of 2010, citing a loss of interest in the group's music. Following an incident during one of the band's live performances and Nielson's subsequent departure, The Mint Chicks broke up. Nielson had already returned to Portland, Oregon, where he began working at a film production company as an illustrator. He quickly found himself wanting to write and record music again and began searching for "psychedelic records with lost tunes" for inspiration. Nielson had become very specific about what type of record he wanted to find for inspiration and, with that specificity, began making that record himself instead.[15] Once he had finished writing and recording the first song, Nielson uploaded it anonymously on May 17, 2010, onto Bandcamp under the name "Ffunny Ffrends".[16] Within a day, the song had received significant coverage from independent music blogs such as Pitchfork.[15][17][18]
Nielson maintained the band's anonymity as he was not sure what he wanted the band to be and did not want to "face up to Mint Chicks fans and to people who were looking forward to a new Mint Chicks record."[15] Nielson eventually claimed the track under the band name Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
The band's debut self-titled album was released June 21, 2011 on Fat Possum Records. The album quickly received critical acclaim. Pitchfork gave the album an 8.1, describing that with "an expert use of space rare for such a lo-fi record, UMO manages a unique immersive and psychedelic quality without relying on the usual array of bong-ripping effects."[19]
Personal life
Nielson is married to Jenny Nielson, with whom he was previously in a polyamorous relationship with alongside another woman; this courtship was the main inspiration for Multi-Love. He met Jenny during his time at the Elam School of Fine Arts, and the couple moved in together within a few months of their first date.[8] They have two children, Moe and Iris.[20] The family continued to live in Portland, Oregon, and Nielson, despite being a New Zealander, has said living in the country has added to a feeling of American identity.[5] Nielson later moved with his family to Palm Springs, California. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ruban began dividing his time between Palm Springs and Hilo, Hawaii, to be close to his mother and uncles.[21]
Jagjaguwar is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Mint Chicks were a New Zealand noise rock and art punk group (the band began to refer to their style of music as "troublegum" and have been referred to as anything from neo-punk to schizo-pop to the only half-serious genre definition of shit-gaze. The band is originally from Auckland and relocated to Portland, Oregon, USA in 2007.
Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! is the second full-length album released by The Mint Chicks and was originally released in New Zealand on the Flying Nun label. The album was produced by singer Kody, guitarist Ruban Nielson, and their father Chris Nielson. Despite its humble beginnings the album dominated the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards 2007, earning five awards as well as achieving Gold status in the Chicks' home country of New Zealand. The album was also released in the US through Milan Records on September 9, 2008.
Fuck the Golden Youth is the first full-length album released by The Mint Chicks on the Flying Nun label. The album was produced by singer Kody and Guitarist Ruban Nielson and recorded by the band in total isolation in a house on a beach in Northland, New Zealand which was inaccessible except at low tide.
Octagon, Octagon, Octagon is the first recorded release by The Mint Chicks on Flying Nun Records, and is their first officially released CD-EP. Recorded in Chris Nielson's bedroom, the EP led to critical acclaim and the release of a follow-up, Anti-Tiger in 2004. Two of the tracks, "Licking Letters" and "Fat Gut Strut" were re-recorded for the Mint Chicks' first full-length, Fuck the Golden Youth in 2005.
Anti-Tiger is the second release by The Mint Chicks on Flying Nun Records and is their follow-up to the well-received Octagon, Octagon, Octagon. Anti-Tiger was issued in three formats: a 2-track 7"-single, a 6-track 10"-EP and a 6-track CD-EP. One of the EP-tracks, "Opium Of The People", was re-recorded for the Mint Chicks' first full-length, Fuck the Golden Youth, in 2005. It developed the Mint Chicks' sound while keeping the intensity of their previous work.
Screens is the third and final studio album from Auckland-based "troublegum" group The Mint Chicks and thus far the only Mint Chicks release not to feature bassist Michael Logie. It was released on March 16, 2009 in New Zealand, The Mint Chicks' homeland on Flying Nun Records. It was mixed in Portland, Oregon by the Nielson brothers and Jacob Portrait, with additional mixing by Chris Nielson in Auckland, New Zealand.
Bad Buzz is the third EP by The Mint Chicks, released in February 2010 by MusicHy.pe. Title track "Bad Buzz" was featured on 95bfm's "Newsgood" segment co-hosted by guitarist Ruban Nielson in January 2010, and it was revealed by website MusicHy.pe that the EP will be released on a limited edition USB stick. The USB, designed by Ruban Nielson, was sent out to fans from the 15th of February, 2010.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra (UMO) is a New Zealand psychedelic rock band formed in Auckland, primarily composed of singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ruban Nielson, and bassist Jacob Portrait. The band is based in Portland, Oregon, US. Nielson started the band in 2009. The band's first album was released in 2011 on Fat Possum Records; four subsequent studio albums have been released on Jagjaguwar, the most recent being V (2023).
Unknown Mortal Orchestra is the debut album by the New Zealand rock band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, released on 21 June 2011 on Fat Possum Records.
The bNet NZ Music Awards was an annual New Zealand music award presentation organised by New Zealand student radio network bNet from 1998 to 2007.
The Taite Music Prize is an annual New Zealand music award event. It features the same-named prize awarded for the best album from New Zealand.
The Adults is a "collaborative name" used for two different recording projects led by New Zealand musician and Shihad frontman Jon Toogood. The first iteration of the Adults was a New Zealand rock supergroup that released a self-titled album in 2011. In 2018 a completely different set of musicians performed on Haja, an album that blended Aghani Al-Banat with New Zealand hip hop.
II is the second studio album from the band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, released in February 2013. A 15-track Deluxe Edition was released in October, along with the EP Blue Record. A 10th anniversary special vinyl reissue was released on 17 November 2023.
The 2011 APRA Silver Scroll Awards were held on Tuesday 13 September 2011 at the Auckland Town Hall, celebrating excellence in New Zealand songwriting. The Silver Scroll Award was presented to Dave Baxter of Avalanche City for the song "Love Love Love", and pop-rock band Hello Sailor were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.
Multi-Love is the third studio album from the New Zealand band Unknown Mortal Orchestra. It was released on 26 May 2015. Frontman and primary contributor Ruban Nielson produced, mixed, and engineered the entirety of Multi-Love. He explored themes such as euphoria, loneliness, existentialism and emotional exhaustion. The title Multi-Love is a reference to the intense polyamorous relationship which Ruban Nielson had with his wife and a younger woman for a year, before her visa expired and the relationship ended. The topic is a prevalent theme in the album's lyrics, and Nielson has won acclaim for how he made such topics into music form, and portraying sexual experimentation in a positive light. The fallout from the relationship and subsequent personal transformations for Ruban, his wife Jenny, and the younger woman is the basis of the album's existential themes, and contributes to an eventual catharsis and reckoning with the past Ruban had, once he could finally let go from his bygone "multi-love".
Jacob Martin Portrait is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He is the bassist of the New Zealand psychedelic rock band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and a current member of the Portland-based alternative rock band Blouse.
Sex & Food is the fourth studio album by New Zealand band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, released on 6 April 2018 through Jagjaguwar. According to leader of UMO Ruban Nielson, the album features a more expansive and eclectic sound than previous records, inspired by the international locations where it was recorded, including Mexico City, Seoul, Hanoi and Reykjavík, as well as Nielson's native Auckland and home Portland.
IC-01 Hanoi is an instrumental album by New Zealand band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, released on 26 October 2018 through Jagjaguwar. It is the group's second album of 2018 after Sex & Food, released in April, and their first instrumental album. The album was recorded entirely in the city of Hanoi, Vietnam, and originated from sessions for Sex & Food, with frontman Ruban Nielson's father, Chris Nielson, also contributing instrumentation to the record.
V is the fifth studio album by New Zealand band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, released on 17 March 2023 through Jagjaguwar. It is a double album.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
