Obsessive Beats
Auckland singer Zowie, “New Zealand pop phenom”, is touring the United States during October. Music blogger Arjan writes: “Zowie has already received a steady amount of buzz at home having performed at some of…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Gin and Stan’s night
Singers Gin Wigmore, 24, and Stan Walker, 19, earned four Tuis apiece at this year’s New Zealand Music Awards held at Auckland’s Vector Arena. Wigmore’s folky debut Holy Smoke won the album of the…
Musical portraiture
Photographic portraits of New Zealand musicians Bic Runga, Dave Dobbyn and Neil Finn are included in a new international coffee table book, called Music, shot by renowned New York photographer Andrew Zuckerman. Zuckerman flew…
Turning on the ignition
“You know what you’re going to get with Shihad — punchy hard rock, deep grooves, industrial riffing and Jon Toogood’s hypnotic vocals,” The Border Mail’s writes in a review of the band’s latest album,…
One of The Dudes
Singer/songwriter Ian Morris, the frontman of Th’ Dudes has died in Napier, aged 53. Morris formed the band with school friends Peter Urlich and Dave Dobbyn in 1975 but left the group in 1980…
Their Own chapter
Dunedin trio Die! Die! Die! is currently touring Australia and are profiled in The Sydney Morning Herald. “Die! Die! Die! is feeling right at home on seminal record label Flying Nun,” Craig Mathieson writes….
Clean Patience
“Legendary masters of pop” Dunedin band The Clean played Portland’s Holocene in October on the final stop of their seven-date US tour. “For all the waiting we’ve done for the band, the patience finally…
Aggressive and winsome
The Naked and Famous song “Young Blood, which recently became the first by a New Zealand band to reach No 1 in their home country for 2 years, is ecstatic, uplifting, thumping, pumping psych-dazed,…
Roundhouse drama
Wellington seven-piece dub/reggae group Fat Freddy’s Drop played a sold-out gig at the Bristol Academy and at Brighton’s Concorde2 in September on their European tour. Their live experience is now available in their latest…
Wild Frontier Music
New Zealand-born author Garth Cartwright’s More Miles Than Money: Journeys Through American Music has been released in the United States. Cartwright describes the inspiration for the book in the Wall Street Journal: “Growing up…
Return post-change
Crowded House head to South Africa in October performing concerts in Cape Town and Durban before ending their tour in Johannesburg on the 3th. Neil Finn said he and the band have fond memories…
Eclecticism for Finns
The one-woman band Annabel Alpers aka Bachelorette stopped off in Helsinki, Finland as part of her European tour playing at the city’s Club YK. The Helsinki Times wrote: “The live music scene of Helsinki…
Northern resonance
Northern resonance Musician Tim Finn is playing a “best-of” show in Cairns, his first show in the northern Australian city in nearly 3 years. Finn says he’ll be performing music from his 29 album…
Picnic in Boulder
New Zealand dance troupe EyeSoar Performance opened the second day of the weekend Boulder Fall Festival in Colorado with a 3-minute modern-day circus act called, “A Delightful Show”. Shown entirely through a narrative dance,…
From planet Wow
“Coming on like a teenage Joan Jett with a drum machine, all Pulp Fiction bangs and kaleidoscopic baton swinging, Zowie is a futuristic cheerleader from planet Wow,” writes US culture and entertainment site…
Worth the Wait
Wellington-based Maori electronic duo Wai has released their second international release Ora and Guardian reviewer Andy Childs gives it four out of five stars. “Ten years ago, singer Mina Ripia and her partner Maaka…
Funding local talent
New Zealand On Air is a “generous government-funded programme that’s fast-tracking New Zealand bands on the road to stardom and beyond,” writes Lars Brandle for Australian site The Music Network. “The likes of Kids…
Hottest tickets play NY
New Zealand artists Ruby Frost, winner of 42 Below’s 42Unheard competition, Zowie, Street Chant, Kids Of 88, Electric Wire Hustle and Lawrence Arabia performed at the CMJ Music Marathon festival in New York City…
Familial trail-blazer
New Zealand director Jane Campion’s daughter Alice Englert, 16, has her sights set firmly on a career in music rather than film writes Kristie Lau for The Sydney Morning Herald. “I love my mum…
Thunking Room
2 page spread in LA style barometer Flaunt for chanteuse Anika Moa, that explores the edge in the angst. “One of the things you will hear throughout Thinking Room is the same melancholy moodiness that infuses…
Urban cowboy
NZ-born Keith Urban was named Best New Artist in US Country Weekly magazine’s 2003 Fan Favourite Awards. More than 65,000 US country fans voted in this year’s poll.(23)
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…
South Pacific
“A major new talent destined for greatness”. Samoan Jonathan Lemalu, continues to stun the UK music scene. As well as featuring on the cover of the Sunday Times Magazine, the bass baritone received the Young Artist Award…
Wai 100%: Something Old, Something New
Wai 100% nominated in Asia/Pacific and Innovator categories of the BBC’s World Music Awards. Singer Mina Ripia and producer Maaka McGregor have created a sound described as a “startlingly original combination of the ancient and the…
Edge Quake
Salmonella Dub’s epoynmous DVD reviewed in The Weekend Australian. With a large Australian following and formidable live reputation Elizabeth Coleman finds the Kaikoura dub waves don’t disappoint: “from the animated single Platectonics through to the exhilarating Push…
Home and away
The latest work by acclaimed ex-pat composer Lyell Cresswell is, appropriately enough, about exile. Shadows Without Sun, which premieres with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in mid-December, fuses the voices of a bigoted 19th century Highland preacher and…
Rhombus nices it up
Wellington-based musical collective Rhombus headline at Mullumbimby’s Mullum Music Festival in late November, having this month released their third full-length self-titled album. Initiated in 21, Rhombus presents a seamless blend of hip-hop, soul, funk, dub and bass…
Blue-eyed soul brother
Brit-based Kiwi-born Daniel Bedingfield continues his assault on the U.K pop charts with a second No.1 hit, “If You’re Not the One.” Bedingfield’s album, Gotta Get Thru This, has seen him compared to Craig David and…
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…
On the edge of Country
New Zealand country music star Kylie Harris from Edendale Southland (pop 57), Timaru, Hamilton and Rotorua broadcasts to 34 million US homes daily on leading Nashville cable program On The Edge of…
Girl From Invercargill
“Helen Henderson mines her New Zealand heritage, creating music with a unique blend of folk, rock, blues and country sounds, along with her own provocative “Down Under” attitude.” (Dec 2)
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” …
Sneaker tapping tunes
Auckland electro-dance duo Kids of 88 has released their debut album Sugarpills. “Kids of 88 show Flight of the Conchords how to get it done, and done,” Brandon Diaz writes for American music…
Song from both worlds
New Zealand singer-songwriter Maisey Rika is currently touring Australia performing songs from her debut album Tohu. Often compared to Indie Arie and Sade, Rika sings in both Maori and English because she was brought…
Don and his euphonium
Singer Don McGlashan, 51, performed at San Francisco’s Café Du Nord ahead of a “songwriting train trip” from Chicago to Oakland. Former Muttonbirds frontman, Auckland-born McGlashan, learnt the French horn at school before settling…
Default pop accent
Auckland University of Technology University culture, discourse and communication masters student Andy Gibson has found that an American-influenced accent is the default when singing pop music. Gibson studied three New Zealand singers and looked…
Gifted with melody
Wellington jazz vocalist Tessa Quayle’s self-produced album Whisper Not — a selection of ten jazz and American Songbook standards — is reviewed by US music site All About Jazz, which describes Quayle as a…
Second wave cohesion
Crowded House performed with Lawrence Arabia July 13 at Montreal’s Metropolis as part of the band’s North American tour promoting Intriguer, the second album of the “second wave”. Frontman Neil Finn says the band’s…
Restless creativity
Wellington’s beloved Fat Freddy’s Drop perform in Hawaii at the Maui Arts & Cultural Centre this month ahead of major gigs in Europe in September. According to DJ Fitchie, bandleader and producer, Fat Freddy’s…
Roots and culture
Reggae groups The Black Seeds and Katchafire recently played at Whistler’s Garibaldi Lift Co. (GLC) as part of a two-day New Zealand showcase. Both Wellington-based bands are among the most celebrated reggae acts in…
Sweetheart sings
Christchurch-born singer Hayley Westenra, 23, is performing with the College Band of the RAF at Blackburn’s King George’s Hall for the Battle of Britain 7th Anniversary Tour on July 12, “furthering her status as…
Unique appeal
The Topp Twins continue their tour of the United States with a performance at Portland’s Mission Theatre, where producer of the Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls Arani Cuthbert will also be in attendance. The documentary…
Good investment
Crowded House, “the biggest thing from New Zealand until the Lord Of The Rings films shows no sign of flagging”, according to the UK’s News of the World reviewer Dave Freak after the band’s…
Wacky Winter Stunts
Queenstown’s Winter Festival hits the southern town for the 35th year this June with an estimated 6, revellers expected to attend the week-long festivities. While there are big-ticket items — free concerts (Dragon headline…
Shticking it to them
“The pretence of amateurism was always underpinned by consummate musicianship, and the range of styles they ape is breathtaking, from rap to my favourite new song, a madrigal called…
Celebrating the man
“Stay obscure long enough, and people might just cry when they finally hear you play”. This was one lesson learnt from the recent benefit concert at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge, for “the beloved,…
NY sell outs
Flying Nun band Dimmer, fronted by former Straitjacket Fits frontman Shayne Carter, recently played to sold-out shows in New York. “While still including the indie guitar heroics of Straitjacket Fits, Dimmer are a groovier…
Fame becomes them
Tickets for The Flight of the Conchords’ two May shows at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre sold out in a record 12 seconds. “It’s all just weird,” Bret McKenzie says. But then he finds a lot…
Power of Passion
Auckland born singer Gin Wigmore, 23, has been described by PBS Melbourne music manager Peter Merrett as a “waif-sized girl” with “indefinable power and passion combined”. Wigmore says if she were to compare her…
MTV’s Guide to NZ
New Zealand musicians Liam Finn, Scribe and The Mint Chicks feature in three four-minute Tourism New Zealand documentaries created with MTV describing their favourite dim sum restaurants, music studios and corner pubs. Called ‘MTV’s…
Seattle tie tightens
“The unlikely New Zealand-Sup Pop connection just keeps getting stronger,” writes Anand Balasubrahmanyan for Seattle news site Publicola. “First, the label that once brought you Mudhoney’s Superfuzz/Bigmuff and doom/drone masterpiece, Earth 2, went and…
Voice like hot treacle
New Zealand-raised jazz sensation Leila Adu is returning home to perform a series of nationwide concerts throughout May, her first in five years. Of Ghanian descent, Adu is touring to support her most recent…
Taite for Milne
Lawrence Arabia has been crowned the first winner of New Zealand’s equivalent to the annual UK Mercury Prize, the Taite Music Prize. UK-based Lawrence Arabia ó whose real name is James Milne picked up…
Not twee in Sydney
New Zealand popsters The Brunettes — that’s Heather Mansfield and Jonathan Bree — dress up in vintage at iconic Sydney store Grandma Takes A Trip for Australia’s Yen magazine. When a band is described…
Mangum for Knox
As part of a benefit for musician Chris Knox, who suffered a stroke last June, indie’s “reclusive demigod” Neutral Milk Hotel frontman Jeff Mangum will perform a very rare acoustic set at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge…
Compelling qualities
Crowded House will release their first studio album Intriguer in June through Universal Music worldwide. The ten-track album Intriguer, recorded in Auckland, is the follow-up to Time on Earth, which hit No. 1 in Australia and New…
