Paulini has been heralded as one of the finest vocalists and performers to come out of Australia. This Fijian born songstress was barely in her 20’s as we watched her shine through the lens of the first series of Australian Idol (2003), thrust into the spotlight as the competition reached fever like pitch. Making it through to the final four, she won the hearts of a nation with her angelic, five octave range, and engaging personality.
Brisbane, Australia. Restream is a producer creating shoegaze lofi post-rock. Though there are ideas from laptop music, glitch and abstract hip hop, this album is about songs, epics more often than not, with a firm focus on harmonies and textures more than the intricacies of beat science. His debut release "Loopsforstereogram" corresponds to a computer artist wringing life out of computers, repeating the improvised, integrating the indie record collection with the electronic.
Indie rock band from melbourne.
Their drummer is fair gay.
They're all members of the Best Friends Club.
And they scrub up nice.
Phoenix, ashes, you know the story. Formerly members of Melbourne art-pop weirdos Psuche, Oscar Thorne and Martin King continue their former bands' sonic voraciousness (drum machines, synthesizers, children’s toys and Thorn’s tape loop experimentation), but add a swishy, concise pop sensibility and some hot new beats into the mix. The result: joy x1million.
In 2005 after being friends and associated production whores with Mikah Freeman, Vance Musgrove & Ross McGrath started their digital label project, dubbed The Aston Shuffle. What started off as a group effort to get their previously unreleased tunes to the masses has skyrocketed into 2007 with the group heavily in demand for their white hot remixes – a little electro, a little techno, but all house. When the swing on their tunes hits the dance floor you’ll be more than pleasantly surprised how hard it is keep your body from going retarded.
1990 was the year Dreamkillers busted their way onto the Aussie underground scene via the culmination of two local Brisbane punk outfits; “Mystery of Sixes” and “Insane Hombres”. The name Dreamkillers came after a conversation regarding the 1957 Williams Burrows classic, The Red Planet, where he refers to the “dream killers”. Disillusioned with the inferior commercial offerings of the time, Dreamkillers soon channelled this angst into a raunchy punk-inspired, hardrock / heavy-metal tour-de-force that became their trademark sound.
Crowded House is a rock group formed in 1985 in Melbourne, Australia and led by New Zealand musician and singer-songwriter Neil Finn. The band were originally active from 1986 to 1996 before deciding to split up. In 2007, the band reunited to record and tour again.
Neil Finn and Paul Hester decided to form a new band during the Split Enz farewell tour 'Enz with a Bang'. Nick Seymour approached Finn during the after party for the Melbourne show and asked if he could try out for this new band. The first incarnation of the band, The Mullanes, formed in Melbourne in 1985 and also included guitarist Craig Hooper, formerly of The Reels. They secured a record contract with Capitol Records and moved to Los Angeles, at which time Hooper left the band. At the label's behest, the band changed its name to "Crowded House," which alluded to the cramped quarters the three members shared at an apartment in North Sycamore Street in West Hollywood during the recording of the album. They also invited former Split Enz keyboard player Eddie Rayner to join, and he produced the track "Can't Carry On" for the debut self-titled album. He initially joined them on tour in 1988 on keyboards, but had to leave for family reasons before he could be made a full member.
Bursting onto the international scene in 1987 with Don't Dream It's Over from the album Crowded House, the band seemed destined for greatness. However, despite eking out one more hit from the album, Something So Strong, the follow up Temple of Low Men failed to repeat its commercial success, despite critical acclaim. Radio had a hard time categorizing them, but within the industry they quickly gained a stellar reputation as "musicians' musicians", and outside the industry as one of the best live acts, featuring mixed setlists and improvisations. A set of three shows at one venue would often feature less than half the the songs being played more than once.
It wasn't until 1991's Woodface that the band hit international success again, specifically with the jointly written Finn brothers track Weather With You.
In fact, the album that emerged wasn't the one originally proposed. Neil had been working on a side project with his brother Tim Finn, a solo artist in his own right and former Split Enz frontman (in fact, several members had a history in Split Enz - Tim formed the band and Neil was responsible for their biggest hit I Got You, while Paul Hester was the drummer during their final days). When the record company rejected the material he'd composed for the third Crowded House album Neil asked his brother if he could use some of their songs in their place. Tim agreed, allegedly joking he would only do so if he could join the band. Whether or not Neil took this literally, Tim did indeed become the fourth member of Crowded House during the Woodface phase.
Whilst Weather With You became an international hit, particularly in the UK (where it was followed by smaller chart successes for Four Seasons in One Day and It's Only Natural), in the US, at least, history didn't repeat - a situation some put down to the choice of Chocolate Cake - a scathing attack on the American lifestyle - as the first single.
During touring in the UK, Tim was asked to leave the band. Mark Hart joined the band for their next album. Together Alone was a similar international success and the band even managed to score a minor hit in the US with Locked Out after it featured on the soundtrack for the Winona Ryder flick Reality Bites.
Shortly after, Paul Hester decided to leave, although he did return to record three new tracks for a Best Of... compilation, Recurring Dream. By 1996, however, Neil decided to fold the band, choosing instead to focus on a solo career. The band's final concert, on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, was an emotional and memorable event, and has been captured on the DVD / CD Farewell to the World.
A B-sides compilation, entitled Afterglow, was released in 1999.
Paul Hester died tragically in 2005 when he committed suicide in Melbourne, Australia.
January 2007 brought a surprise announcement that Crowded House would be re-forming. Frontman Neil Finn once again linked up with Nick Seymour and Mark Hart and, after picking up Beck's drummer Matt Sherrod to replace Paul Hester, produced a new album entitled Time on Earth.
Members of the band include frontman and guitarist Neil Finn, bassist Nick Seymour (brother of Hunters and Collectors frontman Mark Seymour), drummer Paul Hester (1986-1994), Tim Finn (1990-91), multi-instrumentalist and Supertramp recruit Mark Hart (1993-), session drummer Peter Jones (1994-1996) and new drummer Matt Sherrod (2007-).
The Frenz web site launched a new Crowded House portal in 2007 where old and new fans of the band can keep up to date with news of new releases and tour plans. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
MICK THOMAS has been determined to reconfirm his standing as one of Australia's finest singer/songwriters - both solo and with his gun band THE SURE THING. Apart from the occasional one-off reformation show with the iconic WEDDINGS PARTIES ANYTHING, Mick has been busy with his own label, Croxton Records, and making the new MICK THOMAS AND THE SURE THING album. Produced by Mick with Craig Pilkington, PADDOCK BUDDY was recorded in the Northern Victorian Goldfields in May 2006.
The Optimen are an Australian hip hop group, originating from Brisbane, Queensland.
The crew consisting of Sammsonite, Datsun, K-West and DJ Damage released their first album "02 Breath Control" in 2002. The album 02 Breath Control is a solid Hip-Hop journey with little emphasis on the battle style that seems to be so prevalent in Aus releases. They tend to focus on entertaining picture painting style tracks with solid but not too technical flows.
Frenzal Rhomb is an Australian punk rock band that formed in 1992, in Sydney, Australia. A long-standing institution in Sydney music scene but with a national and international base of fans, Frenzal have consistently nurtured new generations of young fans through endless touring, festival appearances and all ages shows. With a sound that is most often characterized as 'California pop/punk', the band is overtly left-wing political and known for their humorous, savage and insightful lyrics.