New Zealand | Musicosity

New Zealand

Brooke Fraser

Held every year on verdant polo grounds in Indio, California, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is many things to many people: A way to hear the best alternative music, a giant lawn party of hipsters wearing hemp sunhats, or the one place you can gawk at members of super-bands as they ride around on golf carts. For Brooke Fraser, Coachella 2009 was the event that re-awakened her desire to make music. It was April and the New Zealand-born singer and songwriter was burnt out after completing a three-year tour supporting her second album, 2006’s Albertine, which debuted at No.

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Gate

There are multiple artists by the name of Gate: 1.) Michael Morley is a rock and experimental musician from New Zealand. Morley sings and plays guitar as a member of The Dead C, but also records on his own (and with collaborators) as Gate. Earlier, in the 1980's, Morley was a member of Wreck Small Speakers on Expensive Stereos. Morley founded the Precious Metal label sometime in the late 1980's to document, first on cassette and later LP and CD, his own work as Gate. Most of the releases on Precious Metal were limited to very small quantities.

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SIX60

Bonding over a shared love of NZ music and passion for making their own, Six60 formed after meeting at a Kora concert in 2006. Three members flatted together as Otago Uni students, spending countless hours in their recording studio (Eli's room) at number 660 on notorious Castle St.

The six60 sound is unique - a fresh Kiwi fusion of roots, reggae, hip hop, dubstep, and drum and bass. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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The Thomas Oliver Band

Wellington 5-piece The Thomas Oliver Band have spent the past few years touring and playing live throughout New Zealand with the likes of Fat Freddy’s Drop, Gin Wigmore and Britain’s Oli Brown. Within this time the band have also written and recorded their debut full-length album ‘Baby, I’ll Play’ to be released in early 2011.

“From the sexy, dirty blues/rock of ‘Nothing Left’ and ‘In My Bones’ to the glorious, perfect-pop balladry of ‘A Letter’, Every Penny is flawless.

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The Verlaines

The origins of New Zealand's Verlaines can be traced back as early as 1979, with the group's founder Graeme Downes took direct inspiration from fellow Dunedin group, the Clean to form a band of his own. It wasn't until 1981 that the group made their first public appearance with their initial five-piece line-up. The band have so far released seven full-length albums on three different labels, one mini album, three singles and two compilations.

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Batrider

Nomadic, hard to describe rock 'n' roll band originally from New Zealand, that moved to Melbourne, Australia, and then on to bigger and better things in London, England, now claim to live in Radelaide. Their music is a quasi-grunge, at times droning, atonal mess of heavily distorted guitars with the occasional tender, almost fragile, near-acoustic sound making it through the turbulence. Contender for the least pretentious band on earth and a powerhouse live.

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Tahuna Breaks

Tahuna Breaks are an uplifting reggae / funk / soul band based in Auckland. They formed following inspiring jams that stretched from a garage in Onehunga to the remoteness of Piha on Auckland’s west coast. With influences varying from the likes of Marvin Gaye, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, James Brown, UB40 and New Zealand’s very own dub and reggae movement, Tahuna Breaks are a fine tune roots blend of funk and reggae with that distinctive New Zealand summery sound.

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Shihad

Shihad are a four-piece band from New Zealand, comprising Jon Toogood (guitar/vocals), Tom Larkin (drums), Karl Kippenberger (bass) and Phil Knight (guitar). Their style is best described as "hard rock", although they were described as "metal" in their formative years. Shihad were formed in 1988 in Wellington, New Zealand. They were briefly known between 2002-2004 as "Pacifier". During this time the band was attempting to break into the US market and it was decided that Shihad sounded too much like the arabic word 'jihad', thus the name change. Their major albums and EPs include:

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