Popstar export
Put it up there with kiwifruit and spreadable butter – the Popstars formula has become a unique New Zealand export success. Pop-packager extraordinaire David Foster will be involved in the US edition.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
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.
Out of flight juice
Kiwi music icons The Mutton Birds are due to tour the UK. They’re expecting a warm reception, but nervous they’ll be grounded if petrol shortages strike again.
Aria noms for Shihad
Shihad, hard edge rockers of Wellington, now Melbourne, have three nominations for the Australian Recording Industry Awards, the Arias: best group, best album and best rock album.
Menace Knox in Chicago
Truly edgey Chris Knox described as “an acerbic, forceful wit, accomplished tunesmith and almost menacingly extroverted showman.”
Post-punk Beat
“New Zealand post-punker Chris Knox and Austin, Texas-based cult figure Daniel Johnston are as indie as indie gets. Both write unflinching lyrics about love, life and madness. Both record their ditties on low-fidelity four-track…
High Dependency Unit and Loraxx play Chicago
The Chicago Independent Arts Festival begins in early October. New Zealand bands High Dependency Unit and Loraxx are going to be there, giving Chicagoites a taste of the Edge.
Musicking: an activity not a thing
New Zealander Christopher Small’s books have been paradigm-changing events. His latest “Musicking” focuses on what Small believes is music’s ultimate function: “to provide insight into relationships: between and among notes and chords and rhythms…
Striking a Cool Note
The arts festival running concurrently with the games in Sydney features Vaughan William’s Sinfonia Antarctica performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, with narration by Sir Edmund Hillary.
Listen up there, folks!
Jim Cuddy, one of the starring acts at the upcoming Ottawa Folk Festival, praises the depth of folk talent in New Zealand, but claims we’re not sufficiently proud of our “roots music”.
Chris Knox: Not the Hallmark variety
Rolling Stone praises Chris Knox’s latest effort: “You can always count on a rock eccentric to make you scratch your head – but touch your heart? That’s usually not the province of ordinary weirdos,…
Rock at Home
Alex Ross’ investigation of New Zealand music rock: “surface blips in the international musical marketplace give only a hint of an amazingly rich music…
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…
The Dunedin Sound #2
On August 9th, the 34th annual MacCrimmon Piobaireachd recital took place, as always, in the drawing room of Dunvegan Castle in Skye, Scotland, the seat of the 29th Chief of Clan MacLeod. It featured…
Lilith Lacroix Goes to the Olympics
Well she’ll be performing, but at the Opera House, not Stadium Australia. Lilith, aka New Zealand composer Gareth Farr, brings his percussion concertos, Hikoi and Wairua to the Sydney Olympics Arts Festival. He’ll need…
Kiwi singer new sensation in INXS
Two years after the death of Michael Hutchence, Australian rock legends INXS have announced that they will return with former Noiseworks lead-singer Kiwi Jon Stevens at the mike. “We’ve got to get on with…
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. ” has assembled a collection of spacy tracks ornamented by his elegant Rhodes commentary. Popular on the…
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…
Oceania Merge the Edges With Log Drums and Electro Beats
Former leader of Killing Joke Jaz Coleman joins Maori singer Hinewehi Mohi in a high-tech fusion on their eponymous debut. “This isn’t a fashion record for me, or a passing flirtation with another culture,” says Coleman, recently…
Kiwi Professor of Pop Crafts Summer Sounds from Nashville
“If there were advanced academic degrees for pop music, songwriter Tim Finn would have achieved professor emeritus status long ago. This Split Enz and Crowded House alum is a craftsman of the first order….
Masters class
Jazz legend Ian Chaplin was joined in concert by the Gerard Masters Trio. Young NZ pianist Masters was hailed as an “imaginative deconstructionist” and his trio “a highly individualistic unit.” The Trio released their…
Tim Finn Inspires Repeat of History in Boston
Finn’s Boston show prompts memories at Boston gig-guide Go!. Years ago, ” was introduced to an outstanding New Zealand pop outfit called the Split Enz. A friend’s older sister was showing off a sweat…
Courtney Love: Nelson Girls old-girl takes on Napster
As a user Courtney loves Napster, but it carries some risks and the Hole lead singer is wary of corporate relationships in general, “If you want some little obedient slave content provider, then fine….
Art Bin editor itches to be scratched
Auckland based Elam School of Fine Arts lecturer Phil Dadson’s innovative percussion group ‘From Scratch’ makes Art Bin editor’s “favourite things” list.
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…
Deep Forest Blends With Massive Attack in Oceanic Swirl
Oceania, with the release of its self-titled debut album and led by ex-Killing Joke frontman Jaz Coleman, makes a spirited and successful atempt to bring Maori music from New Zealand to a global stage. The result is…
Alt-rock poster boys Luna lose a little sheen
Founding bassist Justin Harwood has resigned his position behind the bass, and after eight years in the band, will return to his native New Zealand to raise his newborn baby girl.
Mr. Electric and the Superdudes body-rock at New Orleans Jazz Fest
Up and down South Peters Street, a group of fun-loving folk calling themselves the “Superdudes” led by Mr. Electric (a 30-year-old former model from New Zealand) danced, enlisting as many people as possible to…
Sounds of Oceania find home in Amazon
For much of last month Kiwi release Oceania was featured on the home page of AmazonMusic.com. “Exotic and mutable, the music of Oceania grounds itself in ancient culture while fully engaging in a modern…
Six degrees of connection for Mark de Clive-Lowe
London’s music press has connected with Clive-Lowe’s album Six Degrees. Already played on the main dance-floor at the Ministry of Sound and touted as a new step in “futurejazz” for its blending of jazz…
Malaysian crooner returns to charts with New Zealand edge
Malaysian singing star Kathy Ibrahim (who swayed hearts in the late 70’s with such classic as Oh Malaysia) returns to Malaysia to record after an eight year spell in New Zealand studying interior design…
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.
Theo Ray – Kiwi Indie singer hits LA
From Indie chart success in New Zealand and Australia, to a #2 single ‘Smell’ in Europe, to the darker side of Asia and beyond, Theo Ray is now based in Los Angeles, playing with…
Now, if we could just send some of those country singers to New Zealand
Tim Finn, Say It Is So (review). (1–16 March 2)
Piping up a storm down under
Cultural history was made as the massed bands of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo played in front of a sell-out crowd in New Zealand, the first time in its 50-year history that the event has…
