Surprise Chef are Melbourne’s cinematic soul journeymen, pushing vivid shades of instrumental jazz-funk with a DIY mentality. The centrepiece of their self-run College Of Knowledge Records roster, Surprise Chef’s output reflects a meticulous education of 1970’s soul, touching on the legacies of composer/producers David Axelrod & Isaac Hayes, with cues also taken from the catalogues of Daptone and Truth & Soul.
Their debut LP All News Is Good News slipped rapidly into the collective consciousness of underground music lovers around the world, with the first pressing selling out worldwide within a week of its release. Following the release on College Of Knowledge Records, the record was quickly picked up for reissue by iconic UK label Mr Bongo.
Surprise Chef follow All News Is Good News in quick succession with their second album Daylight Savings, consolidating their deep cinematic instrumental soul sound. Surprise Chef’s live show is an odyssey through dark landscapes of analogue synth-laden funk and left-field library music esque scenes; a flowing, linear puzzle of vivid minor-key expressions.
