With breath for peace 
Richard Nunns, an authority on Maori traditional instruments or taonga puoro, performed the Gillian Whitehead-composed "Hineputehue" at Luther College, Minnesota with the New Zealand String Quartet last month. Dunedin-based Whitehead wrote "Hineputehue" — the woman of the gourd, the Maori Goddess of Peace — on commission for the 2002 Wellington International Festival. The piece played with nearly a dozen traditional instruments, was performed in addition to Mendelssohn and Schubert. In 2008, Nunns was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Victoria University. Gillian Karawe Whitehead is one of the most acclaimed composers in Australasia.
(27 May 2009)

Dunedin's sound 
"There's something about the antipodes that irritates Britain," reckons Chills' frontman Martin Phillipps, on the phone from Dunedin to the Guardian's Martin Aston. Phillipps tries to explain why New Zealand's 1980s music scene, one of the most fertile and imaginative in the world, was all but ignored in Britain. This week's London shows by NZ folk-pop institution the Bats — their first UK trip in 15 years — wasn't heralded by a single press notice, let alone a fanfare. Yet it's a different story in the US. American alt.rock website Pitchfork is awash with references to New Zealand's vintage exponents of tenacious, yearning, lo-fi-fuzzy guitar-pop, and the debt owed to them by US musicians. When anyone writes about New Zealand music, they mean Flying Nun records. In its prime, Flying Nun's embrace of all post-punk's manifestations — exquisite psych-pop, cantankerous quasi-goth, warped folk, experimental synth warfare — meant it was New Zealand's Rough Trade, Factory, Postcard and Mute rolled into one. If geographical isolation was the salvation of New Zealand music, it also limited the bands' opportunities. "Flying Nun was the sound of people not being careful, because it really didn't matter," says Bored Games and Straitjacket Fits frontman Shayne Carter. But there are signs of a resurgence. The Bats reformed in 2004, and their new album, The Guilty Office, is about to be released in the UK. The Clean's new record, Mr Pop, arrives this summer. As for the Chills, they still exist and are recording their first new album in 13 years back in Dunedin.
(15 May 2009)

Robot rock 
Hamilton based rock band the Trons are appreciating a rapid ascent, despite the noted absence of any actual human members. The Hamilton based four-part robot rock band consists of Ham on vocals, Fifi on keyboards, Swamp on drums, and Wiggy on lead guitar, all robot composites made of old amplifiers, homemade instruments, computer parts and pieces of machinery. Created by musician Greg Locke, in less than a year of existence, they have quickly amassed a YouTube following, and recently played in New Zealand's biggest summer festival, Big Day Out. The Trons played alongside Neil Young and the Arctic Monkeys in the seventy band festival, part of a regular schedule of touring New Zealand and Australia. Upcoming shows include a gig at NZ Fringe in Wellington on the 19th of February, and the Hamilton Summer Festival, on the 22nd. More information is available at www.myspace.com/thtrons 
(18 January 2009)

Success on the periphery 
Dunedin noise-rock trio Dead C formed in 1987 and over the past two decades has made more of a reputation outside of New Zealand music circles. They're on the fringe, and they don't plan to leave it. A pop group the Dead C are not, but for an ensemble - made up of Bruce Russell, Michael Morley, and Robbie Yeats — so ardently free-form and unmarketable, they've done nicely. "The irony is, we've done very well in commercial terms by being 'uncommercial,'" Russell explained. "I don't know many of our contemporaries in New Zealand who are in better career positions than us. We make money. We can make any kind of record we like." Much of their international clout was forged in the nineties with the Siltbreeze label, run and recently revived by Tom Lax of Philadelphia, with whom they released some of their most acclaimed discs, including 1992's Harsh '70s Reality, 1995's White House, and 1997's Tusk. The Dead C has released over 20 albums and is cited as one of Sonic Youth's favourite bands. 
(15 October 2008)

With rapturous applause
Gisborne-born soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, 64, "came, sang and conquered" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at a Ravinia gala benefit concert. Looking every inch the beauteous diva in a stunning red-and-black ensemble, Te Kanawa was at her very best in three of Canteloube's 'Songs of the Auvergne', sustained in a pastel hush of sound that perfectly caught their dreamy, folk atmosphere. She softly traced the arching cantilena of two arias from Puccini's 'La Boheme', notes touched in lightly, pathos held at arm's length, as is the diva's expressive wont in Puccini. Te Kanawa ended her programme with three encores; roses were presented and standing O's ruled the night. 
(21 July 2008)

Scaling the opera ladder 
New Zealand tenor Geoffrey Knight is a versatile individual, a former member of motorbike gang Highway 61, a stuntman, actor and deep sea trawlerman, Knight is currently performing Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta Utopia Limited with the Rockdale Opera in Australia. Knight said the next step is work with one of the professional Australian companies. "I'm the last person that thought I'd be doing this, but I love it," he said. Knight graduated from the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art, where renowned international bass and visiting tutor Grant Dickson commented, "I believe you have the talent, intelligence, and the potential to be a highly sought after singer on the international stage." 
(21 April 2008)

Maconie explains Stockhausen on war
Composer and musicologist New Zealand-born Robin Maconie writes about celebrated German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen's controversial statement after September 9/11, in which he called the terrorist attacks "the greatest work of art" ever. Maconie writes: "Stockhausen's opinion deserves respect as the view of one who knows what war is about, has suffered and forgiven, and does not shrink from confronting the moral ambiguities of international conflict nor from recognizing that actions undertaken for a morally defensible cause can still inflict enormous cruelty on the innocent." Maconie joins American composer Morton Subotnick and Björk, in ultimately discussing Stockhausen's fame as an avant-garde composer of startlingly original and uncompromising music. The New Yorker music critic Alex Ross calls Maconie "Stockhausen's chief chronicler" and this article a "passionate defence". Robin Maconie is the author of Other Planets: The Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen. 
(14 March 2008)

The most popular 
Wellington comedy pair The Flight of the Conchords won best comedy album Grammy for their debut EP The Distant Future at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. The EP is a collection of six tracks written by the self-declared "Fourth most popular folk-comedy duo", Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie. Although neither was present to accept the award, Clement told The Dominion Post the announcement was made at a separate low-key event before the main ceremony. "We were with all the weirder colours of the spectrum - the best polka album and best Hawaiian album." McKenzie was enthusiastic about the win telling the Post it was a great day for New Zealand comedy. "I wish my grandmothers were still alive. They would be so proud and I could call them and say, 'Granny, I've won a Grammy'," he said. A Conchords full-length album will be released in April. 
(10 February 2008)

Cosmic pop 
One-woman Christchurch act Bachelorette is winning over Australian audiences with her "beautifully odd, inter-planetary pop". Annabel Alpers is currently touring Australia with her new album, Isolation Loops, which she recorded in a remote wooden hut near the mouth of Canterbury's Rakaia River. A review in the Melbourne Age describes the album as "lovingly kitsch space-pop", and likens Bachelorette to indie electro acts Stereolab and Broadcast. Alpers studied composition and computer-based sound design at Canterbury and Auckland universities after a brief stint in NZ psych-pop band Hawaii Five-O. "I had been playing more psychedelic rock/pop kind of music in bands," she says. "But once I was able to access computers with multi-tracking and electronic instrumentation, the more my solo stuff developed and the more fascinating it became. Bachelorette was really born out of computers." 
(26 October 2007)

Sellaband springboard for NZ rapper 
Christchurch rapper Maitreya has found international fame through sellaband.com, a new social networking site for entrepreneurial music lovers. Sellaband allows users to buy "shares" in acts they think have the potential for major chart success. When the amount invested in an act reaches the US $50,000 mark, Sellaband helps the musician record and globally release a studio album, the sales of which benefit the "believers" (fan investors). Maitreya, now based in New York, was sixth artist to break through the $50,000 barrier and is currently recording his debut album - One Love and Light. 
(9 June 2007)

Finn welcomes world to his kingdom 
Tim Finn has embarked on a tour of the UK and Europe to promote his latest solo album, Imaginary Kingdom. Finn wrote most of the album in NZ, which he says had a major influence on its sound. "Gertrude Stein said, 'People are the way their land and sky is.' I think that's true. Most of my writing was influenced by New Zealand's land, light, air and water." Imaginary Kingdom will be released in the US on April 24; a week before Finn joins brother Neil for a Crowded House reunion at California's Coachella Music Festival. 
(28 February 2007)

Chills still thrill 
Flying Nun legends the Chills are the unlikely inspiration behind up-and-coming Swedish band Peter, Bjorn and John. The indiepop trio pay tribute to Dunedin's finest with a song titled The Chills, on their third album Writer's Block. "First we took a beat from an old Dionne Warwick tune," says bassist Bjorn Yttling, "then we made this Pink Frost [the Chills' most loved song] chorus thing. It's like a homage to them." Martin Phillips formed the Chills as a 15-year-old in 1978. The band went on to become Flying Nun's most successful international act of the 80s and 90s. 
(7 July 2006)

Dusty Down Under 
Already triple platinum in NZ, Bic Runga's third album - Birds - is now making waves across the Tasman. The Age: "Dark and majestic … [Birds] is without a doubt Runga's best album - 11 eerie, atmospheric songs that sound somehow displaced, out of time, but classic." Sydney Morning Herald: "Gentle and lush, it features delicate melodies augmented by lavish backing vocals and occasional flourishes of harp and French horn. Held together by the lightness and agility of Runga's voice, the best songs evoke a smoky, retro cocktail bar - the sort of setting in which Runga made a cameo in the film Little Fish, as a 'Vietnamese lounge singer.'" Australian Vogue: "With Birds, her quietly devastating third album, Runga keeps the lights way down low while radiating a deep soulfulness that could transform her into the Antipodean Dusty Springfield … it's a contender for the first great album of 2006." 
(12 March 2006)

Hansen homeward bound?
MTV Europe’s head, New Zealander Brent Hansen has retired after nearly two decades with the company. Hansen joined MTV in 1987 as a news producer and soared through the ranks to become the President of Creative and Editor in Chief of MTV Networks International. “Brent’s strong, creative instincts have … helped us achieve a unique editorial voice and music credibility that will continue to lend integrity to our brands for years to come,” says MTV Networks International president Bill Roedy. Always maintaining he would retire from the top job at 50, and after 18 years in London, Hansen is looking forward to making “time for my relationship with New Zealand.” 
(17 February 2006)

Something old, something new 
The internationally acclaimed NZ String Quartet made an impressive debut in Minneapolis, performing as part of the annual Music in the Part Series in St Paul. The Quartet's program included the world premiere of NZ composer Gillian Whitehead's Hin-pu-te-hue, a work celebrating the Maori goddess of peace. Star Tribune: "The sense of quietude that might have been expected from a work commemorating peace seemed oddly lacking as sophisticated contemporary sonorities interwove with the ancient sounds. But together they created an eerily haunting and compelling aural landscape." The NZSQ comprises Helene Pohl, Douglas Beilman, Gillian Ansell and Rolf Gjelsten. 
(21 November 2005)

Datsuns in good company
The Datsuns have been invited to play on a tribute album for the late, great BBC DJ John Peel, alongside superstars Robert Plant, Roger Daltrey, Peter Shelley, David Gilmour and Peter Hook, and fellow bright young things The Futureheads and El Presidente. Peel’s son, Tom Ravenscroft, personally selected the bands and artists appearing on the album, which will be released on October 17 to mark the first anniversary of his father’s death. “All the artists on the record have at some time been played by Dad, whether recently or before I was born, and in some cases before they were really popular. It's unpredictable, and there's hopefully someone or something in it for every listener.”
(23 September 2005)
   

New wave jazz
Acclaimed Kiwi pianist Aron Ottignon launched his debut album, Culture Tunnels, with band Aronas in April. Inspired by Pacific log drumming, the Aronas sound is an innovative take on acoustic jazz. Sydney Morning Herald: “[Ottignon’s] own piano playing in Aronas sometimes also has a drum-like function. He tries to avoid falling into predictable piano grooves, such as Latin, reggae, shuffles or whatever, and the end effect is amazingly fresh, while still feeling familiar.”
(15 April 2005)

Finn-tastic
The Finn brothers’ headlining performance at Summerstage Central Park thrilled fans and critics alike. NY Times: “Rock bands of brothers aren't known for amity […] The Finn Brothers … set out to be the exception, as Neil and Tim Finn revelled in a fraternal bond both in and out of their songs.” Neil earned particularly high praise: “He is an unabashed heir of the mid-1960's Beatles, writing unhurried melodies that usually carry kindly sentiments about perseverance in the face of small and large disappointments.”
(3 August 2004)
 

Jews Brothers go global
The Naxos World Label’s Rhythm for Kids album received a glowing review in the Star: “[It’s] a neat grab for the pre-consumer demographic. There's 13 tracks of worldbeat from 12 countries […] a mix of young stuff and folk that's mostly very cheery, with obvious opportunity for clear-the-room sing-along choruses.” The album features NZ’s Jews Brothers doing Klezmer in Hebrew and English.
(10 April 2004)
  

Play it again, John
Auckland University student John Chen was the overall winner at the 8th Sydney International Piano Competition, held June 30 - July 17. The 18-year-old competed against 36 rigorously selected players from around the world, eventually walking away with $43,000 in prize money and the chance for international stardom. The Sydney event has been staged every 4 years since 1977 and is regarded as one of the most prestigious of its kind.
(19 July 2004)
 

Get real
Brent Hansen, NZ-born MTV Europe chief executive, criticises the current obsession with ready-made pop stars epitomised by hit reality Television show, American/Australian Idol: “These programs make good TV but from a musical point of view, they do not have any value … I totally believe they have devalued us, taken us back to light entertainment and voyeurism.” Despite this Hansen remains an industry optimist: “I think it will come right as long as there is confidence from the labels right through from the indies to the majors in signing new talent … [It is vital that] people don't lose their nerve and that the industry continues to be an art and not a science. It is not just about quick burns and quick returns.”
(6 November 2003)
    

Soul sister
NZ-born Carla Werner's debut album - Departure - proves a moving experience for New York Daily News reviewer, Jim Farber. "[The songs] have a compellingly confessional quality … Werner sounds most like a female Jeff Buckley, borrowing a few of his melodic lilts and vocal tics. But, ultimately, her sound, and her sorrow, are her own." Werner gives her own description of her sound in an interview with the New York Post: "I think of it as poetic descriptions of what I'm feeling at the moment […] A rainy day is the perfect environment to listen to it. Melancholy is really part of everyday life, and my music is a product of that."
(19 July 2003)
 

Nuns fly high in Seattle
Seattle Weekly chats with "one of New Zealand's coolest exports" - David Kilgour of The Clean. Kilgour answers questions on a musical career which spans 20 years; from 1981's "coughing, cursive, and practically perfect Boodle Boodle Boodle"  to the "every bit as urgent, acerbic, and exceptional" Getaway two decades later. Featured in a previous issue were Flying Nun stablemates The Tall Dwarves, whose latest CD - The Sky Above the Mud Below - was pronounced "maximally minimalist and cleverly cool."
(May-June 2003)

Rhodes steers latest hit
Kiwi singing star Teddy Tahu Rhodes has a lead role in the latest opera by Academy Award-winning composer Rachel Portman. Portman's adaptation of the classic French children's book The Little Prince premiered with the Houston Grand Opera on May 31st. Rhodes plays the part of the pilot.
(30 May 2003)
  

Variation the key to "Briwi's" success
NZ born popster Daniel Bedingfield profiled in the Philippine Star. "You know how an artist will go to great lengths to maintain his style and keep some elements of his first hit in all of his future releases? Well, not Bedingfield. Not only do his works vary in genre, he does each one exceptionally well." The 23-year-old has the UK and Asian charts in his thrall, and is now plotting his US takeover.
(2 May 2003)
 

Sweet as in South West
NZ sent its biggest contingent yet to the prestigious South By Southwest (SXSW) music festival and symposium in Texas. The talented line-up comprised The Datsuns, The D4, Goodshirt, 8 Foot Sativa, PanAm and Damien Binder. The Datsuns reportedly gave a "head-turning, ear-pounding performance in front of hundreds of music execs, fans and other musicians."
(8 January 2003)
 

Finn-spiration
Legendary Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr has nothing but praise for Neil Finn, who he collaborated with on Seven World's Collide. "That experience with Neil was one of the highlights of my musical life so far […] Because I had gone out and played to Neil's audience and with Neil, I then went back to my album with a slightly different perspective. I just finished the job off with a renewed enthusiasm." Keeping it in the family, Finn's son's band - Betchadupa - opened for Johnny Marr and the Healers in Sydney last month.
(24 January 2003)
  

Northern exposure
The Datsuns are taking their acclaimed brand of rock firepower to Canada, with shows scheduled for Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Their highly anticipated foray into North America precedes the release of their debut album there on March 4.
(29 January 2003)

Rebirth of Loop
2002 saw the highly successful reinvention of Wellington's Loop magazine as an independent recording label. With acts like The Black Seeds, Rhian Sheehan and 50HZ on the books, and albums which look as good as they sound, it's not hard to see why. Loop's Hannah Cornwell: "It's about NZ creative culture as a whole. For us to just go 'We're only about music,' we're cutting out a good 50% of our market which appreciates good quality design."
(4 December 2002)
 

 
Frodo's choice
American pop oddballs Elf Power have released a covers album featuring NZ's Tall Dwarf's - the now disbanded Chris Knox outfit. Nothing's Going to Happen also includes renditions of songs by Husker Du, T. Rex, and Jesus and Mary Chain.
(5 November 2002)

South Pacific sounds
NZ group Te Vaka has made the list of nominees for next year's BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music. The Polynesian ensemble, led by Opetaia Foa'i, describe their sound as "tribal, powerful and rootsy yet melodic, warm, earthy and atmospheric." Te Vaka means "the canoe" in Tokelau - the predominant language used in the songs. The winners will be announced in London on March 24.
(28 October 2002)
 

Psathas & Kiri
NZ composer John Psathas and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa provided some of the high points at Manchester's eclectic "Pulse Festival." The concert was the climax to a six month exploration of Commonwealth arts entitled "Spirit of Friendship," which merged classical, jazz and world music. Psathas' "colourful concerto for percussion, piano and orchestra" formed the evening's centerpiece, while Dame Kiri's encore of an unaccompanied Maori song "clearly touched a chord in the large audience ..." 
(1 August 2002)

Pacific mix
Jazz has been described as the "original dance music" and one of the genre's legendary labels, Verve, has dipped into its vaults and commissioned new mixes for contemporary dancefloors. Kiwi Mark de Clive Lowe joins MJ Cole, Thievery Corporation, Masters at Work, Tricky and Richard Dorfmeister in remixing the great vocalists of jazz, including Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie holliday and Nina Simone.
(June 2002)

Jihad ... whoops, I mean Shihad
NZ rockers Shihad undergo cosmetic change post-Sept 11 after concerns were raised about the band name's similarity to the word jihad, (meaning holy war). The name Shihad was taken from a mis-spelling of the word jihad in the sci-fi novel Dune. Now known as Pacifier, they are set play their first gig at the LA's hip Viper Room.
(15 March 2002) 
 

The Odder Rock Tour
Neil Finn has just completed one of rock's great experimental tours. He started off playing with friends from Radiohead and the Smiths in New Zealand, and ended up on stage with complete strangers in Britain. "There's a lot of memories that will stay with me," he says. "A thrash-metal version of Four Seasons in One Day, for starters."
(11 September 2001)

Pdf copy
Band of Strangers
Further adventures in just-in-time music: Neil Finn concocts bands on the fly to "put the cat among the pigeons" inviting complete strangers to play with him on his upcoming British tour.
(19 July 2001)
 

Neighbours no more: Kiwi pop culture export success reverses the flow
Aussie girl-group Bardot, the most manufactured band in the history of pop, have become a sensation. "Popstars", the hit TV show that followed their evolution from nobodies to Spice Girls, was born from a similar show, "True Bliss", conceived and screened in New Zealand last year. And, wait for it, the concept has also been sold to America, but this time with ... a boy band. 
(24 June 2000)
  

Kiwi blows her bassoon as single-sex barriers make the news
New Zealand woman Rosamund Allison became the first woman to be recruited to the previously all-male Scots Guards Band.
(10 April 2000)
           

They're rock n' roll 
The Flight of the Conchords near the end of their 2009 Spring US tour with a pit stop in Las Vegas, playing at The Joint and reviewed by the local paper, which says the pair turned in a "riotous 90-minute set of acoustic numbers about love, ladies and killer robots, culled from the two seasons of their hit HBO comedy series." Jemaine marveled about the 'so rock and roll' vibe of the Hard Rock, enamoured with the Bon Jovi jeans exhibit. Bret told the mostly-seated crowd to 'take a few deep breaths because everyone up front is getting crushed.' The audience loved it, throwing tighty whiteys to the band after the sensitive rocker 'I Got Hurt Feelings.' 'It's 51 minutes away until midnight,' Jemaine said afterward. 'That's how rock we are.'" 
(24 May 2009)

Sound stunts 
Cambridge-formed rockers The Datsuns have released their fourth album 'Head Stunts', an anagram of the group's name, in the United States where they are currently on tour. Writer Hannah John wrote at the online magazine Bearded: "One of The Datsuns' strengths has always been their ability to harness aspects of vintage '60s and '70s rock and wrap them around their frenzied party-time head-pummellers, and this is even more evident on this record. 'Eye of the Needle' takes a relentless bass drone and '60s style guitar twiddles, 'Highschool Hoodlums' is straight out of the T-Rex songbook, while swirling Hammond punches dominate the insanely catchy 'Cruel Cruel Fate.'" SoundProof, an online magazine, compares it to the sounds of the White Stripes and others. Overall, the straightforward rockers deliver best, and prove that the band once heralded as the 'future of rock' is not yet past its prime. Play it loud!" 
(6 May 2009)

Cheap sticks 
Wellington-based percussion group Strike is in Singapore to play as part of a New Zealand festival. Strike met at Victoria University, when they were mostly playing chamber music, and now are a group of eight looking to invent new instruments to thump. A recent concert used the "sonic power" of water, fire, earth and Bedford trucks. The band is trying to educate people about percussion by conducting workshops for students, both in New Zealand and around Asia. Strike believes the appeal of music is recession-proof, citing its recent performance at a festival in South Korea that it said attracted thousands of people a day despite the financial crisis. "Even more so in some ways — people turn toward music and arts in recessions. Music is essentially something everyone can do, and it's free," founding member and manager Murray Hickman said. "If you can afford a Playstation 3, you probably can still afford to get a pair of chopsticks and play on pots and pans at home." 
(8 April 2009)

Ladyhawke's in Vogue 
Pip Brown aka Ladyhawke, the former-Wellingtonian and undisputed queen of the synthpop revival, is profiled in the April issue of Teen Vogue, as one of "five musical acts who will be in heavy rotate this spring". "Although Ladyhawke's self-titled album adds a dose of originality to the electro-pop scene, the New Zealand native claims that nostalgia — particularly the grunge era — is her secret ingredient." Pip says that big influences on her songwriting are nineties bands like Nirvana and movies which when not on the road she watches five a week, "then injects the emotion she draws from the content back into her tunes." 
(April 2009)

Tackling genres 
New Zealand band Cut Off Your Hands is interviewed by American indie music publication Sentimentalist Magazine before the four-piece played the United States' largest music festival, Austin's South by Southwest (SXSW) 2009. Their debut album You & I is described in the article as "an amazing variety of sounds, from punk to 50's doo-wop." COYH singer Nick Johnston says the record is a melting point of influences. "From Buzzcocks-esque speed pop, and Smithsy guitar lines, to Roy Orbison ballads," Johnston says. In terms of "conquering" the United States he says: "It is nice to be kept busy, and that's the main thing on our mind in terms of coming to the States/UK etc. You can only tour for a week in NZ, then you run out of towns/cities … I never expected my music to get me through Europe, Iceland, Japan … in that regard, it's fun." 
(17 March 2009)

Not quite the end 
When Tim Finn and Split Enz supported Skyhooks and AC/DC at Sydney's Festival Hall in 1975, they were booed at by teenager Magda Szubanski. "Years later, Magda admitted that she was booing us — mainly so she wouldn't betray her Sharpie mates," Finn says. "But she was secretly loving us. That's a very Split Enz story: people who loved us but didn't want to show it." These days, Finn's fans are much less abashed in their enthusiasm. On Wednesday, he performed to a sold-out crowd at the Northcote Social Club, playing Split Enz and Crowded House classics and a few songs from his latest album, The Conversation. Finn wrote the music for the Matt Cameron play Poor Boy, now showing at the Melbourne Theatre Company, and will finish the rock musical January that he began co-writing with Australian poet Dorothy Porter. Split Enz will perform at the Sound Relief bushfire benefit concert at the MCG on March 14.
(27 February 2009)

Pianist in demand 
Award-winning New Zealand pianist and current associate professor of piano at Florida State University Read Gainsford has performed throughout the world as solo recitalist, concert soloist and chamber musician. Gainsford performs at Middle Tennessee State University where School of Music Director Dr George Riorden is excited at the prospect of Gainsford working with the students before becoming a household name. "From the level of his artistry we know he is going to be an artist much in demand in the very near future," Riorden said. "This will give the middle Tennessee public a chance to claim him before becoming famous." 
(4 February 2008)

Music that moves you 
The acclaimed NZ String Quartet is currently touring the United States' East Coast. Formed 20 years ago, the Wellington-based group consists of cellist Rolf Gjelsten, first violinist Helene Pohl, violinist Douglas Beilman and violist Gillian Ansell. Pohl and Beilman were born in the US and Gjelsten in Canada; co-founder Ansell is the only NZ-born member. Gjelsten explains why he joined the group in 1994, and became a citizen three years later, in an interview with the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. "The music of this medium is so profound they wanted to find musicians who would dedicate themselves to this music," he said. "A bonus is that it happened to be New Zealand - one of the most beautiful countries in the world that most people would move to without a job." 
(8 November 2007)

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Kora impress offshore

Emotions running high
Crowded House were praised for their "emotion-drenched performance" at The Greek Theatre in an LA Times review. LA Times: "[T]he group's exquisitely crafted songs are infinitely rich with melodic and harmonic invention but lyrically enigmatic enough to require fans to be active participants and fill in the missing puzzle pieces to reach their own conclusions. That gives the songs, mostly written by Finn, a deliciously long shelf life. And if you're going to be in a band, it might as well be one that's worth keeping around." Crowded House reformed early this year, with new drummer Matt Sherrod joining the line-up of Neil Finn, Nick Seymour and Mark Hart.
(30 August 2007)

Check one-two 
Auckland five-piece The Checks featured as the Guardian's New Band of the Day for August 22. Music critic Paul Lester: "These five New Zealanders may be teenagers, but they sound as old as the hills that garage bands have been slowly climbing in their rusty Transit vans since time immemorial. They play primal riff'n'roll influenced by early Beatles, Who, Led Zep, Free, Van Morrison and Rolling Stones, and they arrive clutching glowing testimonials from impressed, impressive fans." Based in London, The Checks have opened for REM, Oasis and the Hives and have received rave reviews in both NME and Rolling Stone. 
(22 August 2007)

Killer opportunity 
Annie Crummer has been handpicked by the surviving members of Queen to sing on the remake of their best-selling single Another One Bites the Dust. The NZ singer caught the attention of Brian May and Roger Taylor after they saw her performing in the hit Queen musical We Will Rock You in Japan and Australia. Crummer was flown to London to record the track at the pair's studio in a historic 400-year-old mill. "Annie is one hell of a singer! A voice in a million," May reportedly told friends after the session. May and Taylor were so impressed with Crummer's performance that they have signed her on for a percentage of the song's royalties - which could potentially earn her millions. Crummer played the lead character Killer Queen on the Australian and Japanese tours of We Will Rock You, and will repeat her performance in NZ in October. The Auckland-born singer is best known in NZ for her hit 80s and 90s singles For Today, Melting Pot and See What Love Can Do. 
(30 May 2007)

Finn spreads the word 
Tim Finn talks about future recordings with brother, Neil, being made an Officer of the British Empire, and the recent spate of band reunions (Spilt Enz and Crowded House included) in an interview with Pittsburgh's Observer-Reporter. He also discusses his musical tribute to former Crowded House band-mate Paul Hester, who passed away in 2005. "I wanted to remember and I wanted to honour him, and do something he would be proud of and feel good about," he said, of the song Salt to the Sea. "It's a way for me to go on stage and talk about it without talking about it, if you know what I mean." Finn is currently touring the US to promote his latest solo album, Imaginary Kingdom. The select series of radio appearances and small acoustic shows is intended to set the stage for a more comprehensive tour in the US summer. 
(18 May 2007)

Crowded House on love and loss
An LA Times review finds Time on Earth, the new album by the recently reformed Crowded House, to be a moving exploration of love and loss. "Pop music reunions are, more often than not, driven by commerce and/or nostalgia, so the fact that the resurrection of this wondrous pure-pop band from New Zealand grew out of shared personal loss gives this one a far richer subtext than most ... In Time on Earth, the melancholy is palpable and heavy, and although everything doesn't revolve directly around the loss of a loved one, that theme surfaces in several of these eminently hummable songs." Original Crowded House drummer Paul Hester committed suicide in 2005. His death compelled former bandmates Neil Finn and Nick Seymour to reform the band earlier this year, with new drummer Matt Sherrod. 
(8 July 2007)

Small fish hits big time 
Greymouth singer-songwriter Steve Edwards has become a star in the UK without even releasing an album. A copy of One By One, a song from his upcoming Fish out of Water album, was leaked to BBC Radio 2 by the London studio Edwards was recording at. Without the usual support of marketing and publicity, One By One was named album of the week and play-listed for over a month. "It was a very pleasant surprise and at first I felt a slight trepidation as we didn't have a video or touring set-up to support it but it was great news," said Edwards, who has just released One By One in NZ. "When people were hearing it on the radio they couldn't actually buy it and if they could it would have charted." Edwards has recently returned to NZ from London and hopes to become part of his country's flourishing music scene. 
(31 May 2007)

Don't dream it's over 
A new album and world tour by Crowded House, has made headlines across the globe. According to chief songwriter Neil Finn, he and bass player Nick Seymour have been considering regrouping since the tragic death of drummer Paul Hester in 2004. "It just feels like something good and true," says Finn, "We sought each other out in the shadow of Paul's passing. That helped us reconnect and gave me a reminder of what bands are and what they bring." The new album is titled Time on Earth and will be launched - along with the world tour - at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in California this April. Finn and Seymour will be joined by keyboardist Mark Hart and are currently auditioning for a new drummer in Melbourne. "It feels right to us that the band should re-emerge at this time and together with Mark Hart we look forward to reconnecting with the audience that we established and for whom we still hold a deep respect," says Finn. 
(26 January 2007)

Conchords take flight in US
America's HBO network has commissioned a 12-part series based on Kiwi folk music parody duo Flight of the Conchords. Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement are to star in the series, which will feature original songs from their award-winning comedy act. A pilot episode has already been shot, with the help of Ali G director James Bobin and Everybody Loves Raymond executive producer Stu Smiley. The Conchords have previously appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (NBC), The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson (CBS) and One Night Stand (HBO), and starred in their own BBC2 radio series. HBO is renowned for producing high-risk hits such as Sex & the City and The Sopranos. 
(11 September 2006)

Aotearoa meets Sao Paulo 
Six NZ musicians spent three weeks in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as part of the Bacardi B-Live OE, organised by Bacardi and Wellington's Loop Recordings. P Digsss (Shapeshifter), Barnaby Weir (Black Seeds, Fly My Pretties), Hollie Smith, Recloose, Maaka McGregor and Alda Rezende worked with 60 Brazilian musicians to create an album for Loop, which is due for release in October 2006. Singer/songwriter Hollie Smith spoke about the once in a lifetime experience in the NZ Herald: "The music is almost secondary to the experience ... but the music's still going fantastically well ... Like every musician says, music is an international language and once you start playing, the barriers break down and there's a lot of freedom there to talk to each other through song." The Herald describes Smith as "the voice of 2006," thanks to her work on Bathe in the River from the No.2 film soundtrack. 
(20 July 2006)

Keith gets the Grammy
Whangarei-born country music sensation, Keith Urban, has won his first Grammy Award. Urban was named best male country vocal performer ahead of Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Delbert McClinton and Brad Paisley. This follows his best entertainer and male vocalist trophies at last year's Country Music Awards. Urban's Grammy win was nearly overshadowed by his date to the awards - actress Nicole Kidman, the first public appearance by the couple.
(17 February 2006)

Hayley hits America 
NZ's popera diva, Hayley Westenra, has landed the coveted opening slot for Il Divo on their U.S tour early next year. Touring with the hit operatic boy band could provide the ideal opportunity for Westenra to break into the tough US market. She will mount her own headlining tour of North America in April 2006. 
(16 November 2005)

On living legends and future music
NZ composer and musicologist Robin Maconie has written a meticulously researched autobiography of the man many believe to be the world's greatest living composer, German electronic music pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Maconie is regarded as the world authority on Stockhausen, and his book Other Planets: The Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen is the result of 40 years of studying his work. As well as detailing the process of writing Other Planets, Maconie discusses the future of classical music in NZ in an article for the Listener: "[Although] we may not be able to compete with the artistic and intellectual resources of New York, London or Vienna, other areas of excellence that we can realistically aspire to are contemporary music, electronic music and computer music, expertise that is thin on the ground elsewhere in the world. Imagine developing music software to the level that Weta has achieved in computer animation. It can be done." 
(15 October 2005)

The new jazz order 
Stuart Nicholson, author of Is Jazz Dead (Or has it Moved to a new Address)?, names Kiwi Aron Ottignon as one of the six best new players on the international jazz scene. "Without anyone really noticing, jazz has become discreetly hip and these young musicians are part of the reason why. They represent a refreshing breeze of change blowing through a music that once sounded like a tormented brain puzzle … Ottignon's Australia debut, in 1999, was the stuff of legend. 'Aron was an unknown quantity when he made the finals of the National Jazz Awards here,' recalls Adrian Jackson, the Wangaratta festival's artistic director. 'Nobody expected a 16-year-old from NZ to play with such absolute confidence and energy and poise. I think it was obvious to everyone that a major new talent had arrived.' Six years on, Ottignon is serving notice that he is, potentially at least, one of the finest pianists in jazz."
(20 November 2005)

Fat Freddy's pick up 
Wellington dub and reggae band Fat Freddy's Drop took home four of the top Tuis at the New Zealand Music Awards. The band won best album and best roots album for Based on a True Story as well as best group and the people's choice award. Based on a True Story was released in May 2005 without the usual hype, marketing and support of a major record label. Produced independently, the album quietly went onto the shelves only to debut at #1 on the NZ music charts. "We wanted this record to kind of creep up on you" says band member Mu. "We all love records that slowly smoulder in your consciousness rather than making sense to you immediately. Most of the new songs have major rhythmic and melodic journeys within them, with a lot of different sections that go in different directions." The result is truly dubilicious.
(6 October 2005)

Four stars for Fat Freddy
Wellington groovers Fat Freddy’s Drop recently mounted a highly successful European tour. The Observer’s glowing review of their new album, Based on a True Story, proves the broad appeal of their distinctly Kiwi sound. “Restraint and poise aren't the only qualities they bring to a fusion scene inclined to cliche and over-egged production. They have a horn section that purrs and glides, a sweet-voiced frontman, one Joe Dukie, who can croon and ache, and a classy way of mixing sonic action and accomplished playing. From the deep-dub opener, Ernie, to the soulful closing number, Hope, the group's debut is a slow-burn winner.”
(16 June 2005)
   

On the edge of Country
New Zealand country music star Kylie Harris from Edendale Southland (pop 507), Timaru, Hamilton and Rotorua broadcasts to 34 million US homes daily on leading Nashville cable program On The Edge of Country, featuring performances and videos by Americana, bluegrass and alt country artists. The Gold Guitars (Gore, aged 17) award-winning singer made her Grand Ole Opry debut in 2001.

Down Under cowboy
Keith Urban took out the Best Male Vocalist category at this year’s Country Music Association awards in Nashville. Urban was the surprise winner in an all-star American field, which included Alan Jackson, George Strait, Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith. Urban’s first two albums have sold a million copies each and his third – Be Here – debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Country Albums Chart. A recent New York Times feature describes the NZ-born/Australian-raised singer as a self-made “country heartthrob.”
(30 October 2004)
 

Punk lives
Guardian names Selfish Cunt (made up of singer Martin Tomlinson and Kiwi guitarist Patrick Constable) one of the top 40 bands in Britain today, alongside Franz Ferdinand, Blur, The Darkness, and Radiohead. “Dividing the nervous few who have heard or seen them, art/punk duo Selfish Cunt aren't simply an in-joke too far perpetrated by the denizens of London's trendy Hoxton - more a malignancy at the heart of the fashionable life. [Tomlinson and Constable] create unruly anti-songs, angry unravellings of beatbox stuffer, garage noise and invective … [Their] genuinely menacing debut double A-side single Britain is Shit /Fuck the Poor is the most brutal state-of-the-national address since the Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen.”
(19 September 2004)

On the road again
Fresh from working with ex-Led Zeppelin John Paul Jones on their second album, Outta Sight/Outta Mind, the Datsuns are hooking up with another set of rock legends: The Pixies. The Cambridge-bred quartet will open 17 shows around North America for the iconic band in November/December. This comes after a typically busy month of touring in September, with concerts in Japan, New Zealand, and Australia.
(8 September 2004)

Making history with music
NZ composer John Psathas provided much of the music for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Athens Games, including the climactic moment when the Olympic flame was lit. Born in NZ to Greek parents, Psathas was not chosen for his heritage but for his ability, which Games organisers discovered on hearing the fanfare he wrote for the opening of Te Papa in 1997. “I don't think I have any idea just how I'm going to feel on the night,” Psathas told the NZ Herald shortly before leaving for Athens. “It's going to be incredible.” It was.
(14 August 2004)

The runaway returns
Boston Herald profiles 20-year-old singer/ songwriter Finn Andrews, son of XTC and Shriekback keyboardist Barry Andrews. Andrews left NZ at 16, formed his band The Veils in London, and spent 5 years recording an album – The Runaway Found - with Suede’s Bernard Butler. In a review of his solo show in Boston, the Herald describes his “soaring” voice as a cross between Jeff Buckley and Morrissey. Andrews recently returned home to put together a new Veils line-up.
(23 July 2004)
 

Puckish Psathas
NZ composer John Psathas applauded in the Guardian's review of his collaboration with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble in Bath. "This concert, entitled Zeibekiko, threw a puckish girdle round the world as ... John Psathas explored his Greek heritage ... This lively cultural exchange was in itself an ambitious undertaking, but Psathas further extended his parameters by spanning two-and-a-half-millennia: arranging fragments surviving from Greek antiquity, including a hymn to Apollo from Delphi, and, in his own piece, Maenads, conjuring the wild female Bacchantes worshipping the god Dionysius. It was an intoxicating collaboration."
(29 May 2004)
 

Metal, opera, and all that Jaz
Jaz Coleman - the legendary "madman" behind British industrial rock band, Killing Joke, and a recently naturalised Kiwi ("It's not safe to have a British or Australian passport, anyway, these days.") - held court with the Sydney Morning Herald while touring Australia. "He's barmy, a cracked genius who also is the resident composer for the Prague Symphony Orchestra, was resident composer of the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra (1992-95), wrote an opera ... and has earned a doctorate of theology in his adopted homeland of NZ ... [The new album] is full of fear and loathing, ecological philosophising, clenched fists and passionate belief. Good yummy gear, just like the early Killing Joke classics such as the magnificent single, Wardance, and their definitive self-titled debut." Coleman with with collaborator and Foo Fighter Dave Grohl above.
(14 November 2003)
   

Pure class
Promoting her international debut release on Decca, (the world's largest classical label) prodigious Christchurch singing talent 16-yr old Hayley Westenra continues to charm. The album mixes Westenra's sonorous voice with classical crossover pieces, choral, pop and Maori songs, and is co-produced by legendary Beatles' producer George Martin. Brisbane's Sunday Mail: "she has been blessed with a most beautiful pure soprano voice." Following a tour of Australia, Westenra tours South-East Asia, before singing with Bryn Terfel and Jose Carreras in Wales at the Faenol Festival. Malaysia's The Star: "Forget Avril Lavigne. Forget Charlotte Church. The latest teenage siren on the block is Hayley Westenra, who sings songs by classical music greats rather than self-penned, whimsical confessionals, and projects a voice that rivals Andrea Bocelli." 
(August 2003)
 

Aotearoa Ark
Auckland band Goodshirt get big ups in SMH's Metro: "irresistibly catchy, clever pop quirk that mixes up the laid-back idiosyncrasies of Pavement with classic melodic pop, new wave and retro synths. [...] It could be too cute - that is, if they weren't clever engouh to pull it off with humour, strong songwriting and great pop sensibilities that lift it well clear of kitsch." "The arty gimmick on video clips" (all their videos are shot in one take, ala Russian Ark) from the ex-art school lads rates a mention even if the reason is slyly as much good business sense than art, "because there's no editing costs and you don't use as much film." The promo for Blowing Dirt is currently getting airtime on MTV UK.
(29 August - 04 September 2003)

Central Park sounds from the edge
A diverse showcase of NZ music was held at New York's Central Park Summerstage on July 13. 'New Zealand Sounds' brought together the "catchy and hummable" tunes of Greg Johnson, lo-fi pop of Christchurch indie band Pine, celebrated Maori-language duo Wai, and King Kapisi's "soul-soaked" brand of Pacific hip hop.
(13 July 2003)
 

Tali tumeke
MC Tali, Roni Size's edge in the machine, profiled in Guardian review of the dance tent at mud/music fest Glastonbury: "The most notable is Tali, the female hotshot from New Zealand who rose to fame as Roni Size's MC. Her debut solo LP in the pipeline, she struts the stage in a tight red outfit with a wiggle to make the boys swoon. Or holler, as her lyrical ability also does." 
(29 June 2003)

The D4: up close and personal
They say the essence of rock and roll is live performance. It's a mantra for kiwi rockers D4, who are currently touring the US. Boston Daily Globe: "A knockout band from New Zealand, much better than its new album Get Loose would imply … The group's go-for-broke hard-rock energy was reminiscent of Australia's Angel City and also echoed the punk zenith of the Jam." Star Bulletin: "Short, sweet blasts of pure high octane r'n'r."
(25 April 2003)
 

On the move
Teenaged singer Hayley Westenra - "the next Charlotte Church" - is making her move on the UK market. The 15-year-old has based herself in Kensington, London, and is currently recording an album for Decca Music Group.
(9 February 2003)
 

D4 dee-light North America
The D4 have unleashed their distinctive sound on the North American market, gaining thumbs-up all round. Rolling Stone: "[The D4] blitz through their blues-punk-garage-rock playbook on hyperdrive." Chart Attack: "One of the few rock bands the editors of Chart universally agree rule, NZ's The D4 release 6Twenty, a terrific collection of songs that'll make you feel like running through the streets playing air guitar." And they also impress across the Atlantic at their Camden Electric Ballroom gig in London. "New Zealand rockers the D4 have stadium-sized ambition … [Lead guitarist Dion] is not concerned with being the next big colonial thing; he's too busy being Brian May."
(March 2003)
 

Wheels of steel
Aotearoa's premier hip-hop DJ P-Money aka Pete Wadhams wins 3rd place in the DMC World Championships at London's Apollo Theatre. "When he dropped his Dr Dre juggle played at 45 rpm tight!, from then on I knew he was some one to watch closely" - legend of the decks Cutmaster Swift. 
(December 2001)
                

Garageland USA
Jeremy Eade, lead singer of New Zealand peppy-punkers Garageland, tours the US doing acoustic from latest release Do What You Want.
(13 March 2001)
 

Topp Twins
The yodeling Topp Twins rock 25th Post Fairy Folk Festival in Melbourne. 
(14 March 2001)

Everywhere you go...
Neil Finn, international star and "nice guy" of New Zealand pop, has invited a few friends to perform his "unmistakable" sound in Auckland. 
(16 March 2001)
  

Musical extravaganza
"The concept for these shows is to invite friends whose music I admire to collaborate with me in presenting a week-long musical extravaganza which I optimistically expect to be a blast."
(16 March 2001)
 

One Neil
Neil Finn tours the UK and Ireland later this year in support of his album One Nil. His current mini-tour is rarking it up in London: "This one-off gig felt like a party where most of the guests already knew each other: every New Zealander in the northern hemisphere seemed to have turned out to see pop's most celebrated Kiwi."
(23 February 2001)

Luna Live!
New Zealand-born Luna lead Dean Wareham's "uber-romantic, world-weary lyrics" feature on recent release Luna Live!
(30 January 2001)
 

Jazz fest
"Cutting edge" jazzmen c.l bob to cross the Tasman for the Melbourne Jazz Festival.
(8 December 2000)
 

Mediaeval Baebes 
"Weren't they an ancient order of nubile nuns? Er no, the Baebes are a latter-day group of self-proclaimed temptresses from Britain, Belgium, New Zealand, Germany and Australia who perform 14th-century sacred and secular music in tight black dresses."
(3 December 2000)
 

NZ pop's work permit 
Auckland band Ruby Suns has the UK press "salivating" over its latest guitar-pop album Sea Lion, with other acts like the Brunettes, Connan and the Mockasins and Lawrence of Arabia proving to have just as tasty reputations in both Britain and the US. The Times discusses their influences and their foreign record deals. "[These acts have spent] 10 years building their blend of psychedelic, grunge and indie pop into a distinctive melodic sound. In part, this is down to that essential ingredient all strong music scenes require - isolation. The past 12 months have seen the musical contribution from the home of The Lord of the Rings grow from hobbit-sized to something as big as those walking trees that turned up in the second movie." 
(11 May 2008)

Sound system men 
Hamilton reggae group Katchafire are touring the US "spreading their Aotearoa Roots" to big crowds from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Hawaii, where the band headlines at the One Love Reggae Festival. Lead singer Logan Bell explains that even though New Zealand isn't traditionally considered a hotbed of reggae music, the country's homegrown variety has a deep and rich history. "There was a statistic I heard, that [New Zealanders] were the biggest buyers of Bob Marley records per capita in the world," Bell says. Katchafire was formed in 1997.
(26 March 2008)

Pacific mix 
Eleven-piece New Zealand band Te Vaka travelled to Macau where they enchanted the audience with the sound of the South Pacific, just as they have done at venues throughout the world for the past 11 years. Samoan-born, Tokelau-raised songwriter Opetaia Foai started the band in 1997. He saw music as the way of linking his culture with his new life in New Zealand. Band manager Julie Foai said the band is very proud of their Pacific heritage. "With a stage full of instruments from guitars and keyboards to more than five types of drums and a flute, Te Vaka has modernised the traditional South Pacific music while keeping with its roots," Foai said. Most recently, Te Vaka performed at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in Paris. 
(16 March 2008)

Promises reviewed 
Dunedin indie band Die! Die! Die! is currently touring Los Angeles and Austin, Texas to promote their latest album Promises, Promises released in the US in February. Die! Die! Die! may sound less like the Sex Pistols and more like Dookie-era Green Day according to the Santa-Fe Reporter, but at least they're not like the pseudo-punk bands that have "been tarnishing the radio for the last decade and a half." Popmatters says Promises "thrives on its own individual sense of confidence and youth, and the primitive sense of escapism that only loud, crashing rock music can bring." According to Popmatters you'll want to be amongst the fanbase. 
(5 March 2008)

Bursting into canzone 
New Zealand bass-baritone Paul Whelan stepped out of the audience and onto the stage to sing the part of Raimundo at a London Coliseum performance of Lucia di Lammermoor. Whelan, who is due to play the part in March, sang from the side of the stage while Clive Bayley stayed on to mime having lost his voice. Whelan made it to the stage before the second scene but did not have time to change into 19th Century costume. A spokesman for the English National Opera said: "It was an electric evening all round. There was such an enthusiastic response from the audience, and then when Paul stepped forward to take his bow, the house erupted." 
(19 February 2008)

Dazzling debut 
Liam Finn's solo debut, I'll Be Lightning, has received widespread praise in the US, where it was released this week. Paste magazine calls it "a dazzling solo debut" while The Wall Street Journal praises the "spare, melodic sound" that Finn has achieved by recording on an old-fashioned analogue tape. Finn, 24, is the eldest son of NZ music pioneer Neil Finn (Split Enz, Crowded House) and the front-man for Melbourne-based band Betchadupa. He begins a year-long US tour next month. 
(19 January 2008)

Nearing perfection 

Auckland band makes the cut 
Auckland power-punk quartet Cut Off Your Hands scored an invitation to play at New York's "suffocatingly cool" CMJ Music Marathon, one of the US indie scene's premiere events. Cut Off Your Hands was one of the bands to be selected from a pool of 4,000 applicants worldwide. "Coming from New Zealand there's two major festivals that you want to be involved with as an up and comer," said singer-songwriter Nick Johnston, referring to CMG and the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. Cut Off Your Hands recently signed with London label 679 Recordings, but is yet to snare an American distributor. 
(12 October 2007)

NZ blues great mourned
NZ blues and soul music great Sonny Day (Hone Wikaira) has died from respiratory complications aged 64. Day launched his career in the late 1950s with his band Sonny Day and the Sharks, which later became Sonny Day and the Sundowners. He went on to play with the All Stars, Crow, Caravan, Sonny Day and the Breeze, and Tall Dark and Out of It. "He was a gentleman and he was a party animal," said Day's good friend and promoter, John Dix. "You could say that at the end he died because of his lifestyle - all those smoky clubs." Sonny Day's tangi was held at Motukaraka Marae in Kohukohu, Hokianga. 
(10 August 2007)

The way of Music
The Way of Music by Robin Maconie (pictured), a New Zealand born composer and musicologist who studied with Olivier Messiaen and Karlheinz Stockhausen, is a listener's guide to the hidden meanings of western classical music, language and drawing on universal listening experiences and skills. It is a study guide in hearing and communication processes (using the example of a barking dog eg “In a bark, a dog exists”), acoustics and performance, a history of western music and culture through a survey of 100+ examples of recorded music, and class, gender, and cultural perspectives found in adult responses to the slow movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. Published by Maryland’s Scarecrow Press, The Way of Music is another instalment in Robin Maconie’s programme to provide New Zealand with a core classic music textbook collection.

(May 2007)

Piano plagiarism causes aesthetic dilemma 
Denis Dutton, Canterbury University professor and founding editor of Arts & Letters Daily, writes about a "scandal unparalleled in the annals of classical music" for the New York Times. Dutton's piece explores the implications for instrumental criticism caused by the recently-outed piano plagiarist, Joyce Hatto. Hatto was widely acclaimed for her late-life recordings before it was revealed that she had been passing off the work of upcoming pianists as her own. "I'm personally convinced that there is an authentic, objective maturity that I can hear in the later recordings of Rubinstein," writes Dutton. "This special quality of his is actually in the music, and is not just subjectively derived from seeing the wrinkles in the old man's face. But the Joyce Hatto episode shows that our expectations, our knowledge of a back story, can subtly, or perhaps even crudely, affect our aesthetic response." Dutton's piece was re-published on leading thinkers' website, the Edge Foundation. 
(20 March 2007)

Kilgour flies solo 
David Kilgour of seminal Flying Nun band the Clean has launched a new solo album entitled The Far Now. "The songs sprung into my lap and pretty much decided how they wanted to sound, and I followed their direction," says Kilgour, who recorded half of the LP with his new band the Heavy Eights and the other alone in his home studio. Kilgour's North American distributor, Merge Records, has released a companion digital-only album called The Before Now: A David Kilgour Retrospective, which is available for download now.
(17 January 2007)

Another outstanding achievement
NZ singer Hayley Westenra has been named one of the 10 outstanding young people in the world in the Junior Chamber International's prestigious annual awards (the Jaycees). The 19-year-old diva was selected from a pool of 150 nominees from 42 countries and is the first NZer ever to receive the honour. Junior Chamber International is a worldwide federation of young leaders and entrepreneurs with nearly a quarter of a million members. Its alumni include Kofi Annan and John Kennedy. "With my singing I'm always aware that young people are looking up to me," said Westenra in the NZ Herald. "Along the way I'm trying to make the world a better place by doing my bit."
(5 September 2006)

Big fish, little fish 
Bic Runga talks about her new album, Birds, her "secret little country," and being a big fish in a small pond in The Guardian. The biggest selling solo artist of all time in NZ, Runga recently moved to London in a bid to raise her international profile. "[Runga] was an instant hit at home, which says much about the adventurousness of Kiwi musical taste: the British equivalent would be Beth Orton becoming the UK's biggest solo star … Despite her European style and sensibility Runga seems very much a product of the place where she was born - 'a dark and mysterious place,' as she puts it." 
(7 June 2006)

Welcomed to the fold 
Wellington band Recloose earned a positive plug in the Hamstead & Highgate after a packed gig at the Jazz Café. Recloose was formed around the Detroit born producer/DJ of the same name, who relocated to Titahi Bay in 2003. His all-star NZ band includes Riki Gooch (ex Trinity Roots) on drums and Mike Fabulous (The Black Seeds) on guitar and bass. Recloose describes his latest album Hiatus on the Horizon (2005), which includes contributions from Dallas Tamaira (Fat Freddy's Drop) and Jonathan Crayford, as "really alive and loose and fun and playful. And I think how it sounds is totally to do with the calibre of the musicians that played on it. I didn't want to rely too heavily on samples like I did on the last one. I had access to great musicians and it made sense to get them in, rather than relying on luck when you're going through records and trying to find samples." 
(10 March 2006)

Brits back Fat Freddy 
Incessant European touring appear to have paid off for Wellington band Fat Freddy's Drop. The dub/reggae/roots collective won worldwide album of the year at the annual BBC Radio 1 Gilles Peterson Worldwide Music Awards for their 2005 release Based on a True Story (which also swept October's 2005 NZ Music Awards). After attending the Hammersmith Palais show, Guardian music critic Robin Denselow likens Dallas Tamaira's "easy-going soulful vocals" to Bill Withers and praises the band's "intriguing and unlikely" Pacific update on the Jamaican sound. 
(17 December 2005)

Keith Urban up for US music awards
Country music star Keith Urban has four nominations at this year's Country Music Association Awards. Urban is up for entertainer of the year, male vocalist of the year, album of the year for Be Here and Music Video of the Year for "Days Go By". Urban won his first CMA in 2001 when he picked up the Horizion award and in 2004 he won male vocalist of the year. On September 16, Urban's 2003 Golden Road album was certified triple platinum, having sold 3 million copies. The winners of the Country Music Association awards will be announced on November 15 in show broadcast live from Madison Square Garden in New York.
(8 September 2005)

Fans tickled pink
Stokes Valley tribute band, The Pink Floyd Experience, whipped South African fans into a frenzy with their recent tour of the country. “This was no second-string cover band: it was obviously a highly competent outfit, whose members love Pink Floyd and have taken great care to handle the material with the respect it deserves,” said Tonight reviewer Willem Steenkamp. “They are guaranteed to satisfy old fans - and capture more than a few new ones.” From Stewart and Tricia Macpherson's production company The Stetson Group, The Pink Floyd Experience comprises Rob Ju, Glen Ahearn, Stan Gratkowski, and Darren Whittaker.
(12 August 2005)
  

Revell in Sin City
New Zealand-born (1955) composer Graham Revell has scored the soundtrack of the new Robert Rodruguez film Sin City starring Bruce Willis. Revell graduated from the University of Auckland with degrees in economics and politics. He trained as a classical pianist and mastered the French horn in his early years. Revell worked for as an environmental planner for BHP in Australia and Indonesia, and as an orderly in an Australian psychiatric hospital. After recognizing the curious rhythms of various patients' vocal patterns, he began incorporating recordings of their ramblings into his music. His musical experimentation soon led him to join industrial rockers SPK. In 1989 Revell scored his first film, director Phillip Noyce's high seas thriller Dead Calm. He set himself apart with a willingness to subtly push boundaries with compositions that served to compliment rather than overwhelm. His 86 credits for film scores include Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Boxing Helena, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Blow, Until the End of the World, The Crow, The Basketball Diaries, The Negotiator, Collateral Damage, Daredevil, Freddy Vs. Jason, Catwoman, Miss Congeniality 2, Assault on Precinct 13, The Chronicles of Riddick, Open Water, The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3D - and the CSI: Miami series. He was honored as the Richard Kirk Award recipient at the 2005 BMI Film/TV Dinner held May 18 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles. The award is given annually to a composer for his outstanding work and contributions in motion picture and television music. 
(10 May 2005)

Rock solid
Kiwi rockers The Datsuns have a glowing review of their sophomore album Outta Sight/Outta Mind in the Indy Star. “While contemporaries such as the Strokes and the Vines stumbled with releases last year, the Datsuns continued to make strides forward. "Outta Sight/Outta Mind" serves up the group's signature music punch infused with influences ranging from hard rock and punk to '70s-era glam rock.”
(24 March 2005)
   

Zed in Oz
Kiwi boys Zed gig with Bon Jovi in Melbourne.
(28 March 2001)
 

Singing High 
New Zealand soprano soloist Rebecca Ryan sings world premier of  re-discovered Handel work.
(14 March 2001)

 
...you take Finn with you
One Nil  is the result of a musician "looking for collaborative work, where someone else is bringing something to the table", but it's still vintage Finn: still "rooted in the form and structure of the  best pop music recorded since The Beatles cut Rubber Soul".
(11 March 2001)
 

Musical score
"Pragmatic and visionary" New Zealander Grant Cooper scores a sugar plumb of a job, conducting New York's Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.
(22 March 2001)
  

ATC in Manila
German-based lolli-pop group ATC, including Kiwi member Joe, hit Manila with their Europop/R&B blend.
(16 March 2001)

Touch of Class
German band ATC's Around the World (La La La La La) is big in Germany, but hasn't hit New Zealand yet, home of singer "Joe".
PDF file
(February 2001)

   
INXS Movie
Kiwi singer Jon Stevens will feature in parts of the upcoming band bio-pic. Stevens replaced the late Hutchence, the only line-up change in fifteen years.
(17 November 2000)
 

Festival founding flutist celebrates the Hampton summer
Internationally acclaimed New Zealand-born flutist Marya Martin (Winner of the prestigious Young Concert Artists International Auditions) is the flute and artistic artistic director of the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival. Newsday talks to her about founding the popular festival, (now in its seventeenth season) with her husband, Manhattan businessman Ken Davidson, and her love for great music, good friends and summers in Bridgehampton.
(16 August 2000)

Firmly at the front of the nu-skool jazz and beats movement
On the verge in London, Mark de Clive-Lowe's album Six Degrees continues to spread the vibe. "[De Clive-Lowe] has assembled a collection of spacy tracks ornamented by his elegant Rhodes commentary. Popular on the club scene, this is another one of those impressive young musicians with a good jazz education, who warrant a wider audience."
(14 July 2000)

Heavenly pop hits 
Morr Music, an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany, has recently released "a double-disc salute to New Zealand's ever-influential '80s indie pop scene". The album, entitled Not Given Lightly – A Tribute To the Giant Golden Book Of New Zealand's Alternative Music Scene, "aims to capture the spirit of the subject, which in this case is the jangled-up, DIY pop of Flying Nun stalwarts such as the Chills, the Bats, the Clean and of course, Chris "Tall Dwarfs" Knox." Reviewer Brock Thiessen said this of the album: "Not Given Lightly is a must hear for anyone who's ever been swept up by New Zealand's heavenly pop hits." This is not the first time Morr Music has recorded tribute albums. In 2000 it released "Putting the Morr back into Morrissey" and in 2002 it released "Blue Skied An' Clear" — a homage to the British band Slowdive. 
(28 May 2009)

Professionally talking 
The Flight of the Conchords are touring the United States donning "unwieldy" robot costumes and "playfully insulting" their enthusiastic heckling audiences. At New York City's Radio City Music Hall by the end of Too Many D---s on the Dance Floor, Bret McKenzie had managed to knock over and destroy a toy piano. Looking fairly embarrassed, he and Jemaine Clement climbed out of their robot suits while a roadie brought out a replacement. "We spared no expense on tiny pianos," Clement explained. The comics spent the rest of the night cracking jokes about McKenzie's mishap, intermittently tossing detached keys from the broken instrument into the crowd. And after a performance at Boston's Agganis Arena, reviewer Jed Gottlieb wrote: "It's because their songs — and their quirky, genuine delivery — [that Flight of the Conchords] are so much funnier than other music comedians." 
(16 April 2009)

Love, hope and light
Whangarei-born, country music superstar Keith Urban, 41, is interviewed by The New York Times' Alan Light about his latest album, 'Defying Gravity' — his first since his admission to the Betty Ford Center. Urban, who is married to Australian actress Nicole Kidman, is happy with the new album and feels the break served him well, "I wanted to get back to the core of my earlier music," he said. "Simple odes to love, loss, longing — that's the stuff I naturally do, and instead of second-guessing it this time, I just went with it." It seems his fans are also happy with the new album because it went straight to #1 on the U.S. charts as soon as it was released. Urban will be promoting 'Defying Gravity' through a busy arena tour across the U.S. and Canada which starts in May. 
(25 March 2009)

Hands play San-Fran
Auckland-formed indie band Cut Off Your Hands are touring the United States promoting their 2008 debut album You and I. "Pause a minute while taking in the dreamy, vigorous Brit-pop of Cut Off Your Hands' new album, You and I, to consider two things. One: The band aren't British. Two: They started out as a punk band," writes Doug Wallen for Orange County Weekly. "The latter may explain the manic spirit of their songs and live shows. 'That's where we were coming from originally,' frontman Nick Johnston says, citing At the Drive-In and xbxrx as early influences. 'The aim of the band wasn't necessarily to create something brand-new or frighteningly original, which is obvious when you hear the songs, [but] more to capture the type of energy we were really interested in . . . that raw punk energy.'" On February 27 the band played a sold-out show with American bands Ra Ra Riot and Telekinesi at Detroit Bar in San-Francisco. 
(25 February 2009)

Full dance card 
New Zealand singer/songwriter Liam Finn is in Brooklyn, New York playing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg before an interview on Letterman and a tour as support act for Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder. Finn appears on David Letterman's Late Show, which airs in New Zealand on March 4, and will perform Second Chance from his latest album I'll Be Lightning. He then tours the United States' West Coast during April with Vedder. Of his performances, Finn said: "The way I do my live show is quite different and unique - I do guitar loops, get on the drums. It's really kind of gnarly and wild." 
(21 February 2008)

An appreciative audience 
The Telegraph describes Crowded House's performance as "just like old times" and Neil Finn's voice as "Lennonnish" in a review of their show at Manchester's MEN Arena. "There's a long tradition of audience participation at Crowded House gigs, and here it was honoured by the fans, who were word- and note-perfect (I'll swear that some of them were harmonising, too)," writes reviewer David Cheal. "The sound that swelled and rose across the hall was a sound pregnant with affection. Finn seemed genuinely taken aback, and the crowd gave themselves a cheer that, like the show itself, was big, warm and tingly." The recently reformed band is currently touring the UK in support of their new album, Time on Earth. 
(3 December 2007)

Home tour for Split Enz
Iconic NZ group Split Enz will tour their home country next year in support of their new live DVD/CD, One Out Of The Bag. Split Enz recorded One Out Of The Bag in 2006 while touring Australia, where they played to the largest audiences of their 36-year career. The group's current line up consists of Tim Finn, Neil Finn, Eddie Rayner, Noel Crombie and Nigel Griggs. Split Enz will play the Westpac Arena in Christchurch, TSB Bank Arena in Wellington and Auckland's Vector Arena in March 2008. 
(8 November 2007)

Queen of the South Pacific
Taumaranui-born soprano Rhonda Bryers has passed away aged 55 at her home in Hawaii. Bryers was one of NZ's best known singers in the late 1980s, when she won the country's Entertainer of the Year award four years in a row. "She was an incredible talent," said Aucklander John McGough, who toured with Bryers 25 years ago. "Classically trained, she sung mainly popular music, including a lot of her own songs." Bryers was one of a group of NZ entertainers, including Sir Howard Morrison and John Rowles, who developed a strong following in Hawaii. She made her Honolulu debut at the Monarch Room of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in 1989, and became known thereafter as the "Queen of the South Pacific". 
(4 October 2007)

Nerd chic in Seattle 
A San Diego entertainment guide has hailed NZ as "the new Seattle" for its flourishing alternative music scene. The article name-checks HBO show Flight of the Conchords, starring Wellington folk-comedy duo Brett McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, and Auckland band The Brunettes as leading examples of NZ nerd chic. The Brunettes have just released their third album, Structure & Cosmetics, on US indie label Sub Pop. 
(21 August 2007)

Big pond, big promise 
Wellington singer/songwriter Brooke Fraser relocated to Sydney three years ago, hoping to create an Australian following to rival the one she enjoys back home. In NZ, Fraser's first album - What to do with Daylight - debuted at number one and eventually achieved seven-times platinum status. Her sophomore effort, Albertine, went three-times platinum after debuting at number one on NZ charts in December last year. Albertine was released in Australia in this month and is the focal point for an ambitious national tour. "I went from being a big fish in a little pond, to being a small fish in a big pond," said Fraser in Sydney's Daily Telegraph. "The idea (back home) is that it's not easy for a New Zealander to make it here, which I think almost makes it easier, because there's no great expectation." Fraser will play seven dates in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide, from April 26 to May 5. 
(8 April 2007)

Lullabies and love songs 
Dean Wareham of Dean & Britta recently toured the US with a well-received new album, Back Numbers. Born in Wellington, Wareham first emerged on the New York indie scene in 1991 with the influential dream-pop band Luna (which also featured Justin Harwood of NZ band The Chills). At the height of Luna's fame, the band was seen as a successor to the Velvet Underground and Wareham was hailed as the next Lou Reed or Tom Verlaine. In 2003, Wareham formed the duo Dean & Britta with Luna bassist (and wife) Britta Phillips. A Washington Post review described them as a modern-day Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra or Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, while Nashville Scene praises Back Numbers as "dreamy, darkly melancholic pop." Wareham and Phillips also provided the score for the acclaimed 2005 independent film, The Squid and the Whale. 
(19 March 2007)

Westenra joins Celtic Woman 
NZ soprano Hayley Westenra is currently touring the US with Irish group Celtic Woman. The group of five women - four singers and a fiddler - shot to fame on the back of a PBS television special and accompanying album. Westenra, who is alternating slots with one of the singers, is enjoying being part of "Riverdance-style" stage show for the first time. "The music is fantastic. We've got great lights, we've got percussion, it's a big sound," she said. "It's a real kind of feast for the ears and the eyes." Westenra has just released a third album, Treasure, in which she covers well-known folk songs and classical pieces, as well as a couple of contemporary tracks. 
(14 March 2007)

Musical milestones 
The Guardian gives a whirlwind overview of NZ music history, from kapa haka to deep house. Milestones of note include the formation of Split Enz in 1971, Flying Nun in 1981, and hip hop artist Scribe becoming the first NZ artist to simultaneously top the single and album charts in 2004. Guardian: "To general irritation, the biggest New Zealand hit in the UK remains OMC's 1996 one-hit wonder 'How Bizarre'." 
(21 January 2007)

For those about to rock, we salute you 
Buskers Max Tetley (11) and Alex Philpott (10) opened the show for US rock-comedy duo Tenacious D, after impressing singer Jack Black with their performance in Christchurch's Cathedral Square. Black (School of Rock, King Kong) has been touring Australasia in support of his upcoming film Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny. "I felt like fainting," said Tetley after being approached by Black's agents, "It was the best feeling in the world." Tetley and Philpott, winners of last year's St Albans School talent quest, list their musical influences as AC/DC, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Led Zeppelin. Black played a teacher who turns his class into a rock band in the hit 2003 comedy School of Rock.
(12 January 2007)

No rocky road for Natasha
Natasha Bedingfield, has a cameo role in the sixth Rocky sequel, starring Sylvester Stallone. Originally asked to write and perform the film's theme tune, she was convinced to make her on-screen debut by Stallone, who is reportedly a huge fan. UK-based Bedingfield has already enjoyed considerable success in the US, after selling more than 1 million copies of her album (Unwritten) there. She was also recently made the face of US apparel giant, Gap. Born in the UK to NZ parents, Bedingfield spent her childhood between South London and NZ with her edge-born brother and fellow popstar Daniel Bedingfield. 
(23 August 2006)

All grown up 
Veils front man Finn Andrews is compared to Tom Waits, John Lennon and Nick Cave in a glowing Guardian review. "Andrews' voice is no longer that of an anguished child, but the trembling last gasp of a tormented soul … Playing his lead guitar hard and fast with a theatrical flourish, he is still the striking outsider, but he has found himself a perfect home." Andrews is the sole remaining member of the original Veils line up, which produced the acclaimed debut album The Runaway Found (2004). The sophomore album - the much darker Nux Vomica - features a new line-up of Andrews, Sophia Burn (bass) and Liam Gerard (keyboard). 
(31 July 2006)

Die! Die! Die! in Arizona
Auckland art punk trio Die! Die! Die! forms part of an impressive Australasian contingent heading to this year's South By Southwest music festival in Arizona. Tipped as one of NZ's most promising new bands, Die! Die! Die! hopes to land label and agency deals for both the US and Europe at the prestigious industry showcase event. "We've been talking to about 10 labels," says singer/guitarist Andrew Wilson. "So far, they haven't given us exactly what we want." Die! Die! Die! will tour Japan and Europe later this year. 
(10 March 2006)

Edge divas 
Maori language musician Hinewehi Mohi features in Adventure Divas, a best selling book by US writer/editor turned intrepid documentarian Holly Morris. A few years back Morris traded in her desk job in order to scour the world for "women of action," taking along a PBS film crew for the ride. The resulting series, Adventure Divas, profiled women from Cuba to New Delhi to Aotearoa. Morris interviewed an array of edgy divas including author Keri Hulme, PM Helen Clark, filmmakers Gaylene Preston and Sima Urale, and Mohi, who is described on the book's dust-jacket as "reinvigorating her native culture for a new generation." Adventure Divas was selected as an 'Editor's Choice' book for 2005 by the New York Times, who praised it as "A delightful triangulation of adventure travel, telecommuting and self-reinvention… [Morris] can be hilarious." 
(2005)

Urban philosophy 
Whangarei-born, Caboolture (Queensland)-raised, Keith Urban is the hottest country music sensation in the world. Urban won entertainer of the year and best male vocalist at the Country Music Association Awards broadcast from New York's Madison Square Garden. Urban's second consecutive CMA Male vocalist of the Year and his first Entertainer of the Year Award make him the only artist in CMA Awards history to win the Horizon, Entertainer and Male Vocalist of the Year Awards (Urban won the Horizon Award in 2001). Acclaimed for his high energy performances that often go in a more rock than country direction, Urban has earned a reputation as one of the best live performers around with shows that regularly sell out within minutes. Co-produced and co-written by Urban, his new album Be Here sums up his philosophy on life: making the most of every moment. "Time's so limited, you just don't know how long you'll be here for. So it seems to me that to make the most of every day is really crucial. The relationships you have with people are the only things that are going to matter in the end," he explains. "Being in the moment at any given time, that's the greatest achievement, that's where the balance is. That's where everything is. That's the goal." 
(16 November 2005)

Hayley goes to Hollywood
The career of Hayley Westenra seems set to scale further heights with the release of her second full-length album, Odyssey. In the first two weeks of its launch, Odyssey sales have surpassed international pop acts Gwen Stefani, Mariah Carey and the Black Eyed Peas to top both the NZ and Asian charts. 18-year-old Westenra has also been asked to provide vocals for the main theme song of an upcoming Hollywood blockbuster (rumoured to be The New World starring Colin Farrell) by acclaimed US composer James Horner. Westenra’s first album, Pure, is the fastest selling debut classical album of all time.
(6 September 2005)
   

Shark attack
“More than 14,000 fans screamed along to anthems from the Split Enz and Crowded House song books. There was no doubting the brothers' enduring relevance with songs from their latest album Everyone is Here receiving an equally huge reception. There was palpable anticipation for this beloved duo who have captivated hordes of fans on their current Australian sold-out tour.” Meanwhile the Bros, Eddie Rayner, Malcolm Green, Nigel Griggs and Noel Crombie were back together as Split Enz for the first time on an Australian stage since 1990 as part of their induction into the ARIA Icons Hall of Fame at Melbourne's Regent Theatre. 
(15 July 2005)

Brave new voice
Jonathan Lemalu’s debut album, Opera Arias, is bringing the already acclaimed singer further international praise. Chicago Tribune: “Lemalu shines particularly brightly in Mozart's music, bringing a disarming combination of voice, musicality and personality to [a range of] selections … His is a rich, ringing instrument, full-bodied, deeply resonant and winningly agile.”
(13 May 2005)
   

Kiwi Crusader
Having already cracked the Australian market, Kiwi hop hop superstar Scribe is now making himself heard in New York. NYT: “Scribe, 25, is at the forefront of the country's exploding hip-hop scene - a posse that includes the artists Che-Fu, Con Psy and P-Money. With American-like production values and tattoos that improve on the standard '’Brooklyn'’ rendered in olde English across a stomach, these Kiwi rappers mean business: it's suddenly possible that NZ could become known for more than just hobbits.” Read Scribe’s interview with Australian teen magazine Dolly.
(13 March 2005)
   

Country music’s saviour
Since winning Male Vocalist of the Year at the 2004 Country Music Awards, NZ-born Keith Urban has cemented his place as country’s best and brightest new star with a series of sell-out gigs. In March he sold out a three-night stand at Nashville’s renowned Ryman Auditorium – the first modern performer to do so in the venue’s history. “With nary a pause or misstep, Urban's career trajectory, though at times a mite slow, has been ever skyward and shows no sign of peaking.”
(29 March 2005)

Straight outta Cambridge
The Datsuns made Rolling Stone’s Critics Top Albums of 2003 list with their eponymous debut record: “This NZ four piece aped the Stooges and AC/DC and helped re-ignite the post-millennium garage, cock-rock flame.” The band’s follow-up album – due for release in May 2004 – is predicted to “conquer the world” by the Daily Telegraph, along with fellow Kiwi acts Betchadupa, who have just signed with Michael Gudinski’s Liberation label, and Carla Werner, soon to tour with The Pretenders.
(31 December 2003)
  

Listen up there, folks!
Jim Cuddy, one of the starring acts at the upcoming Ottawa Fol Festival, praises the depth of folk talent in New Zealand, but claims we’re not sufficiently proud of our "roots music".
(24 August 2000)
 

This is our music
"It pays my way and it corrodes my soul ... oh give us the money" sings Kiwi indie star Dean Wareham, ex-lead singer of Galaxie 500 has joined the list of college radio icons cashing in their indie cred by providing soundtracks to luxury car adverts.  Some analysts see it as a way of marketing to a generation which defines itself in opposition to the market, whereas Wareham says it straight up, "the motivating factor for me was cash".
(30 May 2000)