Biography
Hailing from New Zealand, siblings Ben and Louis Helliker-Hales operate under the name Chaos in the CBD and craft restrained house and techno laced with jazz touches. The pair issued early material throughout the initial years of the 2010s before achieving wider underground recognition via the 2015 EP Midnight in Peckham on Rhythm Section International, whose atmospheric, horn-led title track quickly gained traction in club circles. Further outings soon appeared on their own In Dust We Trust imprint, among them 2017’s Accidental Meetings and 2022’s Intimate Fantasy, while their debut official DJ mix for Fabric arrived in 2023.
The brothers, born in 1989, absorbed their parents’ rock collection during childhood before participating in jazz and indie groups as teenagers. By the mid-2000s they had gravitated toward electronic sounds and begun teaching themselves production and DJ techniques. A 2011 European tour prompted a permanent relocation from Auckland to Peckham, London the following year in order to remain closer to their growing audience.
During the subsequent three-year period they issued varied EPs on Amadeus Records run by Urulu, such as the jazz-and-disco-inflected 816 to Nunhead and the restrained techno of No Signal Found. Their profile rose sharply with the 2015 release Midnight in Peckham, which featured intricate percussion and trumpet contributions from Isaac Aesili and sold out inside two weeks. The follow-up records Constraints of Time Travel on Church and Global Erosion on YAM Recordings emphasized jazz elements further, after which Invisible Spectrum appeared on Rhythm Section International in 2016 alongside the EPs Digital Harmony and Subterranean Storm on Japan’s Mule Musiq.
Chaos in the CBD co-founded In Dust We Trust with Jon Sable in 2017, inaugurating the label with Accidental Meetings. Although most later material emerged on this imprint, Mule Musiq handled Comfort Zone in 2017 and Hydrate in 2019, while Neroli released the 2019 set Emotional Intelligence, which included guest spots from jazz players such as Nathan Haines and Joe Armon-Jones. The 2021 dub-tinged Te Puke Thunder was a joint effort with Sable, succeeded by the duo’s own Brainstorm and Intimate Fantasy in 2022. Fabric Presents Chaos in the CBD, the official Fabric mix containing their track “Higher Elevation,” surfaced in 2023.
The brothers, born in 1989, absorbed their parents’ rock collection during childhood before participating in jazz and indie groups as teenagers. By the mid-2000s they had gravitated toward electronic sounds and begun teaching themselves production and DJ techniques. A 2011 European tour prompted a permanent relocation from Auckland to Peckham, London the following year in order to remain closer to their growing audience.
During the subsequent three-year period they issued varied EPs on Amadeus Records run by Urulu, such as the jazz-and-disco-inflected 816 to Nunhead and the restrained techno of No Signal Found. Their profile rose sharply with the 2015 release Midnight in Peckham, which featured intricate percussion and trumpet contributions from Isaac Aesili and sold out inside two weeks. The follow-up records Constraints of Time Travel on Church and Global Erosion on YAM Recordings emphasized jazz elements further, after which Invisible Spectrum appeared on Rhythm Section International in 2016 alongside the EPs Digital Harmony and Subterranean Storm on Japan’s Mule Musiq.
Chaos in the CBD co-founded In Dust We Trust with Jon Sable in 2017, inaugurating the label with Accidental Meetings. Although most later material emerged on this imprint, Mule Musiq handled Comfort Zone in 2017 and Hydrate in 2019, while Neroli released the 2019 set Emotional Intelligence, which included guest spots from jazz players such as Nathan Haines and Joe Armon-Jones. The 2021 dub-tinged Te Puke Thunder was a joint effort with Sable, succeeded by the duo’s own Brainstorm and Intimate Fantasy in 2022. Fabric Presents Chaos in the CBD, the official Fabric mix containing their track “Higher Elevation,” surfaced in 2023.
Albums
Singles
