Emerging from Melbourne’s potent music scene, have built a global following with their epic, outrageously infectious grooves. Working continuously, they’ve moved from a DIY outfit to become much more established, culminating in last year’s aptly-titled 2025 album ‘Superb’.

A sonic brew that ranges from cult production auteur through to and beyond, there’s always been a song cinematic aspect to their sound – perhaps it’s all those years in record shops looking for deleted soundtracks on vinyl.

New album ‘Frogs In A Pond’ is out now, and it finds Surprise Chef doing what they do best – there’s grooves for days, of course, but also a deep sense of world-building that borders on the narrative.

CLASH linked up with Surprise Chef to discuss some of their favourite film scores, and the deep grooves that underpin their new album.

Italian composer Piero Piccioni’s late 60s /early 70s scores were a great source of inspiration for ‘Frogs In A Pond’.

Piccioni was probably the greatest single influence on the album as a whole. We looked to many of his scores for inspiration – Camille 2000 was specifically helpful in leading us to the tender moments and romantic sincerity that we wanted to evoke at times on ‘Frogs…’.

Whilst the film is primarily a romance, or perhaps more accurately erotica, there’s plenty of Piccioni’s classic dark, ominous funk in the mix. Piccioni himself is particularly slick on the organ on this one; the man uses the instrument like a paintbrush to colour the compositions. 

Puppet On A Chain (Piero Piccioni, 1971)

This record got me into Piero Piccioni’s music after I found it at Northside Records, the shop I work at in Melbourne, a few years ago. The flick is about a DEA agent pursuing drug dealers on speedboat chases through the canals of Amsterdam, which should help one deduce what the score sounds like.

I love the main theme, which rests on some super funky picked-bass riffs that will titillate fans of Carol Kaye (such as myself). They must have had a little bit of budget for this flick, as unlike many’s Piccioni’s giallo scores that primarily utilise small jazz combos led by Piccioni at the organ, ‘Puppet On A Chain’ features an orchestra on parts of the score.

The rhythm section, tragically but predictably uncredited, shines most brightly on this recording.

Colpo Rovente is classic Giallo business from the jump, featuring the most unbelievably cold ‘main titles’ music. Like so many within the idiom, the score is primarily played by a rhythm section, which makes it particularly relevant to Surprise Chef’s music.

Colpo Rovente has all the neck-snapping funk (‘Kintabu’) and sinister grooves (‘Black Flower’) you want to hear from Piccioni, as well as a fair helping of the blissful, intoxicating romance (‘Endless Love’) that he does so well too. 

These days, Sven Libaek is probably the biggest name in Australian library / funky soundtrack music, even if he wasn’t recognised as such during his heyday in the 60s-70s.

The Norwegian migrated to Australia in the early 60s and spent the ensuing years writing for film and TV in Sydney, during which time he contributed many great projects to what we now see as the Aussie rare groove melange.

Inner Space, one such nugget, was a marine documentary created by husband and wife duo Ron and Valerie Taylor. Like much of Libaek’s work at the time, the album leans heavily on the vibraphone of John Sangster and flute of Don Burrows, two equally pivotal Australian jazzers of the time.

To my ears, Inner Space finds Libaek approaching modal jazz-esque compositions from a distinctly psychedelic angle, with verbed out wah guitar and hazy, undulating vibes lines.

This one may be considered low-hanging fruit on account of it being, for my money, the most recognisable of all funky European soundtracks, but it’s too dope and influential to leave out. Those who haven’t yet experienced this wonderful surrealist animated film should do so at their earliest possible convenience. If you don’t speak French, watching it in the original French language without subtitles is advisable, as it serves to heighten the psychedelic, discombobulating experience of the film.

Goraguer does a lot with a little on this one; there’s very little material across the record, the use of interpolation and arrangement to stretch the main theme across the score makes the music feel like a world unto itself. 

‘Frogs In A Pond’ is out now.