Bic is back
“She sings the kind of beautiful, haunting songs that work their way into your subconscious and emerge when it’s raining and you can’t sleep.” Bic Runga’s new album Beautiful Collision (and her clothes) were…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Sporting success: air guitar and Scrabble
Hastings meatworker Toby Peneha took out second place at the 7th annual World Air Guitar Championship in Oulu, Finland. Narrowly beaten by two-time British winner Zac Munro, Toby “the Tobanator” achieved unofficial glory by…
The blink and you’ll miss him sex symbol
“Lord of the extras: Elfin charmer nets fans.” A pout like that and musical and comedic talent! Wellington musician Bret McKenzie (The Black Seeds, Flight of the Conchords) has found internet fame via…
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…
Heavenly pop hits
Aotearoa musical ambassador Neil Finn’s One Nil launched in the US as One All, and draws in at No.2 on Salon’s audio charts. New songs and collaborations with Wendy and Lisa of Prince…
Finn No Warbler
Chicago Tribune’s Kevin McKeough wonders “what kind of birds are fluttering around he sings melodies that are just plain gorgeous.” Finn’s performance before a packed Park West Stadium (Chicago)…
For those about to rock
“The greatest rock’n’roll band since the Rolling Stones.” Rave reviews like this have earned The Datsuns an unprecedented 200,000 pound one album deal with Britain’s V2 Records plus countless offers to tour. “If…
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…
One Giant Leap
“New Zealand newcomer Whiri Mako Black’s haunting and silken soulfulness” joins Robbie Williams, Horace Andy, Michael Stipe, Michael Franti, Nenah Cherry and Grant Lee Buffalo in a celebration of world music on the collection…
The Datsuns: the future of rock’n’roll?
dotmusic revs up Kiwi rockers The Datsuns. “four stick-thin, long-haired, fresh-faced, sinful-souled boys from Cambridge, New Zealand, and the latest genius rock’n’roll band to swarm on London”. Accompanied by the same feeding frenzy that…
Finn Family Fun
A laid back Tim Finn ponders his career, fatherhood, his NZ-homecoming, getting picked up by Iggy Pop, and more on the eve of an Aussie tour and muses on the power of song:…
Bryan Drake Remembered
New Zealand-born baritone Bryan Drake has died in London aged 76. A “fine musician with an equable temperament and warm personality”, Drake will be particularly remembered for his long association with Benjamin Britten and his…
Laid back Luna lover’s rock
Indie rock icon Dean Wareham (son of NYNZer businessman and author John Wareham) and lead singer of Luna (“they of the lovely and atmospheric guitar ballads and frontman Dean Wareham’s priceless, Ivy-grade lovelorn quibblings”)…
Don’t Dream it’s Over
7 Worlds Collide, Neil Finn’s acclaimed live album and testament to his “prodigious talent.” is also Finn’s statement of “relevance and intent. It’s one to believe in” with “7 Worlds” worth of guests: including…
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…
Pleasantly Rough: 7 Worlds Collide
Neil Finn’s latest album, 7 Worlds Collide brings together Pearl Jams’ Eddie Vedder, Tim Finn, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien and ex-Smith’s legend Johnny Marr. BBC: “Finn is a consumate master of his craft”.
Strutting in their genes
New Zealand’s “young kid band with famous fathers”, otherwise known as Betchadupa, tours Australia for the Big Day Out series. Frontman Liam Finn bears the iconic surname of Split Enz and Crowded House…
“Fair-dinkum” Kiwi tops the pops
NZ-born musician Daniel Bedingfield, 21, tops the UK pop charts with Gotta Get Thru This – recorded on rudimentary equipment and a computer in his south London bedroom. “The track is absurdly brilliant, as…
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…
Finn’s food for the gods
Tim Finn takes matters into his own hands with his sixth solo album, “Feeding the Gods. “I’m realising how much of a classicist I am,” he says. “For a long time experimentation with sound…
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…
Fur Patrol on patrol
Ex-Wellington band Fur Patrol build up a loyal fan base in Melbourne, their new home, clocking up 2 miles supporting acts like Neil Finn and Killing Heidi.
Six degrees of connection
Mark de Clive-Lowe, NZedged leading exponent of nu-jazz guides iJazz listeners through the musical territory and affirms his edge cultural vibe: “I grew up in a totally unique place – New Zealand. A gem…
In with their idols A-Z
Kiwi pin-up boys of rock Zed sign with Interscope for American release of Silencer. Interscope artists include Eminem, Dr Dre, Weezer and U2. “To be put in the same context as all our idols…
Advice to Note
Icon of NZ music remembered. Composer Douglas Lilburn, 85, found a “distinctive voice from his native New Zealand.” The Guardian praises the “strong emotional appeal” of his music, noting that Lilburn took to heart…
Try whistling happy birthday
Today in history: alongside the anniversary of the patenting of barbed wire and Custer’s last stand, it’s also the day Tim Finn was born in Te Awamutu.
Finn forum
Neil Finn at the Forum: “It was magic. It was intimate, it was funny. And above all, reverential”. Also, Finn in Sydney.
Godzone country
US-based Kiwi hunk Keith Urban keeps pulling the accolades, most recently, Best New Male Performer at the American Country Music Awards in Nashville.
Seven Worlds will Collide
“It’s like stumbling into your own birthday party – you don’t know where to look first. Centre stage is Neil Finn, hair greying but still a hint of that haphazard Crowded House quiff, a…
And to Finn-ish With
“The most prolific writer of quality songs around at the moment” says Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien. How about Finn as New Zealand’s Paul McCartney? Or Eddie Vedder singing backing at “a small club…
Just the ticket
mticket – (London-based kiwi entrepreneurs Tony Coyle, Nick Howard and Jason Cooper) is a revolutionary service taking advantage of the popularity of text messaging to help punters beat the rope into the club…
Finn and Games
Playing with Neil Finn: “It may well be hair-raising, disastrous, funny or sublime, but it will certainly be an adventure…” Finn on the Auckland all-star band: “The idea is that over the course of…
One Nil to Neil
Neil Finn speaks about his new-found love of the internet and his brilliant new album, One Nil.
Masterful pianist
Henry Wong-Doe demonstrates his “stylistic flexibility” at the 10th Arthur Rubenstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv. Search and pay to view
Savage thoughts
King Kapisi spins the crowd: “Taking the crowd through a full turntable tutorial, including “the crab” and other techniques, Kapisi has them in the palm of his hand”.
Musical score
“Pragmatic and visionary” New Zealander Grant Cooper scores a sugar plumb of a job, conducting New York’s Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.
Return to the scene
Despite facing the sixth anniversary of the day Neil Finn saved his life by pulling him from a Piha rip, Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder is preparing to return to New Zealand for the…
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.
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.”
ATC in Manila
German-based lolli-pop group ATC, including Kiwi member Joe, hit Manila with their Europop/R&B blend.
Singing High
New Zealand soprano soloist Rebecca Ryan sings world premier of re-discovered Handel work.
Garageland USA
Jeremy Eade, lead singer of New Zealand peppy-punkers Garageland, tours the US doing acoustic from latest release Do What You Want.
…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…
Lord of nations…
“Barton’s encore – her own variations on the New Zealand national anthem, inspired by a tour of that country made at the invitation of James Judd – was full of devilish pyrotechnics, skittery bowings…
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…
Garageland sale
Auckland indie-poppers Garageland team with UK distributors foodchainrecords to release Do What You Want Stateside. PDF Copy
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”.
Jazzy sound
New Zealand’s c.l. bob impress in Melbourne, “an inventive ensemble whose music ranges from AfroCaribbean shuffles to Hendrix-style mayhem”.
Luna Live!
New Zealand-born Luna lead Dean Wareham’s “uber-romantic, world-weary lyrics” feature on recent release Luna Live!
Tools out
Carving New Zealand jade is among the retirement pursuits under consideration by Australian songster Rolf Harris.
