The Puddle album No Love - No hate is the NZ psych-pop pioneers first album of new recordings in over 15 years. The Puddle, a revolving line-up of musicians assembled around the unstable core of George D. Henderson, have been around, in one form or another, since 1984. Three albums and a 7” single on Flying Nun between 1986 and 1993 attracted critical appreciation and notoriety in equal measures for “pop as shambling and sweet as you could possibly imagine”. In 1993 The Puddle toughened up and recorded the definitive brainy outsider rock album, “Songs for Emily Valentine”, but, apart from a 1995 single on a French label, the SFEV recordings were not released until 2005. In late in 2005 The Puddle recorded 25 tracks at Inca studio in Wellington, the best dozen or so of which are planned for release in 2008 as an album called Playboys in the Bush. But George continued to write even more new songs. Recording these at his brother’s home studio in Dunedin in 2007. The resulting album - "No Love - No Hate" - has little in common with the full band Puddle album recorded in Wellington; if that’s a turbocharged Ferrari, this is a three speed bike with a basket and a bell that rings, of mainly sentimental value. That said, No Love – No Hate is the perfect prequel to their next great album and adds a further unexpected twist in the long, strange and frequently derailed odyssey of this unique NZ musical institution. "No Love No Hate is Henderson’s great leap forward. This shockingly confident album retains The Puddle’s idiosyncratic character without Henderson trading in a jot of his mastery of pop form." Dusted Magazine http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/3953 "Packed full of laid back catchiness and super-smart lyrical wordplay, it’s a worthy addition to The Puddle’s minimal back catalogue." * * * * Real Groove Magazine “Henderson sounds like a man out of time but somehow also perfectly in place;… the wry, fuzzy delivery is infectious… his future cult status has probably been preserved.” The Wire magazine "surreal and tender, capturing the black humour of the Silver Jews, the experimental garage rock of The Clean and Pavement’s crooked post-punk in an elusive, subtly psychedelic vision." Fire Escape Talking http://fireescapetalking.blogspot.com “the good stuff here is intensely rewarding, principally because of Henderson's refusal to adhere to the pop rule book. No matter how unfocussed a song may seem, it's invariably built around a cunning hook that makes itself felt after three or four plays, and the lyrics here are a good deal darker, wiser and more thought-provoking than most…” Grant Smithies - Sunday Star Times "In much the same way that Mssrs. Kilgour, Forster and even Nick Cave tweaked the perspectives of those listening to their music, Henderson has done the same thing and if you’d listen to this you’d find out." Dagger zine (www.daggerzine.com)