GOODSHIRT - Their slow-burning debut album, good
with its singalong number one Sophie, showed the Auckland band to be a canny bunch. A pop band with weird
ideas - some of them borrowed from the synth-rock end of the 80s - but a love for a well-turned hook of
lateral minded lyric. But, of course, having no bass player does tend to raise the average IQ of any group.
ON their second they repeat the trick nicely.
Goodshirt Website
STELLAR - Critical acclaim and commercial success in the rock business are seldom the cosiest of bedfellows. You more often find them glaring at each other from opposite sides of the room. If you've got one, you almost certainly wish you had the other, and to get these two seemingly mutually exclusive measures of an album's success to shake hands, let alone hop gleefully into bed together takes a rather special mix of elements. Stellar have that elusive mix, 'Mix' incidentally being the name of this multi-talented New Zealand four-piece's phenomenal debut album, released throughout Australasia back in August 1999.
Contact: Boh Runga (Auckland, NZ)
Stellar Website
THE MUTTON BIRDS -
The Mutton Birds formed in 1991 in New Zealand. Main songwriter Don McGlashan, guitarist David Long and drummer Ross Burge had made quite a few albums between them in the anti-Darwinian environment that makes New Zealand so unique in the musical world. Bands like Blam Blam Blam, The Front Lawn, (Don) The Six Volts, (David) The Spines, Sneaky Feelings, and The Dribbling Darts (Ross) had provided a testing ground for their ideas about songs and and how to play them.
Contact: Don McGlashan (Auckland, NZ)
The Mutton Birds Website
CHE-FU -
Congratulations go out to Che-Fu and the Krates for their six awards at the 2002 NZ Music Awards held in Auckland on Friday 10 May. Che won the award for Album of the Year for "Navigator", single of the year for "Fade Away", video of the year, also for "Fade Away", best male vocalist and the first Hip-Hop/R&B award. He also grabbed the TV2 "People's Choice" award, decided by public vote.
Contact: Che (Auckland, NZ)
Che-Fu Website
TROUBADOUR -
Ten years in the making, five-piece band Troubadour’s true journey began in late 2004. Troubadour plays original progressive acoustic rock with influences of folk that give the band a natural timeless sound. The song lyrics often tell stories such as a specific event or situation and sometimes philosophically exploring a thought or profundity. The music is melody driven by soulful grooves with intricate dynamics woven across. With three accomplished vocalists in the band, electric and acoustic instruments the flavour and variation of the Troubadour sound is wonderfully unique. Troubadour performs a professional, punchy and compelling live act that radiates energy. The professionalism and experience of Troubadour effortlessly convey the mood of each song to the audience with equal measure of flair and intimacy.
Contact: Baz Locke (Auckland, NZ)
Troubadour Website
NEIL FINN -
One of pop's most exquisite songwriters, Neil Finn is best remembered as the man behind Crowded House. In the
mid-80s the New Zealand band made listeners swoon with “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and “Something So Strong,”
two big chart scores that sounded both classic and novel. Or maybe you recall Finn's sojourn with the more
agitated new wavers Split Enz during the early part of that decade.....more
Neil Finn Website
TIM FINN -
In 1999, Finn completed work on his fifth solo album, Say It Is So, which was released early the following year.
Together in Concert: Live, a live album documenting his highly successful tour of New Zealand with Bic Runga and
Dave Dobbyn, was issued early 2001. Fall the same year, Finn released another full-length, Feeding the Gods. ~
Scott Bultman and Chris Woodstra, All Music Guide......more.
Tim Finn Website
NEW ZEALAND STRING QUARTET - Acclaimed for its powerful communication, dramatic energy,
and beauty of sound, the New Zealand String Quartet performs throughout New Zealand, North America,
Europe and Asia. "... impressive ...fluid and energetic."
Contact: Diana Marsh (Wellington, NZ)
New Zealand String Quartet Website
NEW ZEALAND SYMPHONY ORCHETRA -
Once described as a well-kept secret, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra has over the past few years won international acclaim through its CDs. Reviewing one recent release, David Denton (The Yorkshire Post) spoke of “a disc played to perfection by the fabulous New Zealand Symphony’ while Scott Morrison (writing for Amazon) wrote “…the New Zealanders who, while I wasn’t watching, have become a mojor orchestra, actually outplay the Israel Philharmonic (1977) and the New York Philharmonic [in Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony”.] Within New Zealand the NZSO is recognised as the country’s leading performing arts organisation.
Contact: Barbara George (Wellington, NZ)
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Website
BIC RUNGA - In late 1999, Bic began recording her
follow up to drive. Relishing the freedoms afforded by the digital format and by again self-producing,
Bic moved between studios in the USA and New Zealand, utilising the skills of many engineers and many more
musicians. Recording was undertaken to varying degrees in New York, Los Angeles, Auckland (including Bic's
home studio), Wellington and Christchurch.
Bic Runga Website
HAYLEY WESTENRA - Hayley smiles easily and her eyes
twinkle with enthusiasm as she talks of her passion for singing. "I always dreamed about being a singer but I
was quite realistic about what I hoped for. I thought, well, maybe when I'm older I could do part-time
professional singing and have a job too. Once I got to the stage of getting a record contract with Universal,
that's when things started to get exciting. Now I've got an international contract with the Decca Music Group
and I'm doing things like singing with Jose Carreras and Bryn Terfel- it's really exciting!". Watch an Exclusive
video about making the new album 'Pure'. Features studio footage with Sir George Martin and more.
Hayley Westenra Website
ZED -
Zed have lived a little. From recording their second album in the crystal-meth infested town of Weed, Northern California to touring with Coldplay and Robbie Williams – they’re more world-weary. You can tell too. Hell, front man Nathan King even sits on the other side of a café table – his hair a lot longer than when masses of screaming girls drowned out Zed at gigs – and admits with a smile that the band had one aborted attempt at recording an album after the triple platinum-selling Silencer from 2000. “I think it was a good thing to go through,” he says, “but
Contact: Andy Lynch (Christchurch, NZ)
Zed Website
|
