Jonathan Charles Toogood is the frontman of the New Zealand rock band Shihad. He formed the band in 1988 with fellow Wellingtonian Tom Larkin. Toogood and Larkin met as teenage fans of AC/DC and Metallica.
The Mint Chicks were a New Zealand noise rock/art punk group (the band began to refer to their style of music as "troublegum" and have been referred to as anything from neo-punk to schizo-pop to the only half-serious genre definition of shit-gaze. The band is originally from Auckland and relocated to Portland, Oregon, USA in 2007.
Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No! is the second full-length album released by The Mint Chicks and was originally released in New Zealand on the Flying Nun label. The album was produced by singer Kody, guitarist Ruban Nielson, and their father Chris Nielson. Despite its humble beginnings the album dominated the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards 2007, earning five awards as well as achieving Gold status in the Chicks' home country of New Zealand. The album was also released in the US through Milan Records on September 9, 2008.
Fuck the Golden Youth is the first full-length album released by The Mint Chicks on the Flying Nun label. The album was produced by singer Kody and Guitarist Ruban Nielson and recorded by the band in total isolation in a house on a beach in Northland, New Zealand which was inaccessible except at low tide.
Octagon, Octagon, Octagon is the first recorded release by The Mint Chicks on Flying Nun Records, and is their first officially released CD-EP. Recorded in Chris Nielson's bedroom, the EP led to critical acclaim and the release of a follow-up, Anti-Tiger in 2004. Two of the tracks, "Licking Letters" and "Fat Gut Strut" were re-recorded for the Mint Chicks' first full-length, Fuck the Golden Youth in 2005.
Screens is the third and final studio album from Auckland-based "troublegum" group The Mint Chicks and thus far the only Mint Chicks release not to feature bassist Michael Logie. It was released on March 16, 2009 in New Zealand, The Mint Chicks' homeland on Flying Nun Records. It was mixed in Portland, Oregon by the Nielson brothers and Jacob Portrait, with additional mixing by Chris Nielson in Auckland, New Zealand.
Bad Buzz is the third EP by The Mint Chicks, released in February 2010 by MusicHy.pe. Title track "Bad Buzz" was featured on 95bfm's "Newsgood" segment co-hosted by guitarist Ruban Nielson in January 2010, and it was revealed by website MusicHy.pe that the EP will be released on a limited edition USB stick. The USB, designed by Ruban Nielson, was sent out to fans from the 15th of February, 2010.
Belle is the fourth studio album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Bic Runga.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra (UMO) is a New Zealand psychedelic rock band formed in Auckland, primarily composed of singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ruban Nielson, and bassist Jacob Portrait. The band is based in Portland, Oregon, US. Nielson started the band in 2009. The band's first album was released in 2011 on Fat Possum Records; four subsequent studio albums have been released on Jagjaguwar, the most recent being V (2023).
Unknown Mortal Orchestra is the debut album by the New Zealand rock band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, released on 21 June 2011 on Fat Possum Records.
The bNet NZ Music Awards was an annual New Zealand music award presentation organised by New Zealand student radio network bNet from 1998 to 2007.
The Taite Music Prize is an annual New Zealand music award event. It features the same-named prize awarded for the best album from New Zealand.
The Adults is a "collaborative name" used for two different recording projects led by New Zealand musician and Shihad frontman Jon Toogood. The first iteration of the Adults was a New Zealand rock supergroup that released a self-titled album in 2011. In 2018 a completely different set of musicians performed on Haja, an album that blended Aghani Al-Banat with New Zealand hip hop.
II is the second studio album from the band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, released in February 2013. A 15-track Deluxe Edition was released in October, along with the EP Blue Record. A 10th anniversary special vinyl reissue was released on 17 November 2023.
Multi-Love is the third studio album from the New Zealand band Unknown Mortal Orchestra. It was released on 26 May 2015. Frontman and primary contributor Ruban Nielson produced, mixed, and engineered the entirety of Multi-Love. He explored themes such as euphoria, loneliness, existentialism and emotional exhaustion. The title Multi-Love is a reference to the intense polyamorous relationship which Ruban Nielson had with his wife and a younger woman for a year, before her visa expired and the relationship ended. The topic is a prevalent theme in the album's lyrics, and Nielson has won acclaim for how he made such topics into music form, and portraying sexual experimentation in a positive light. The fallout from the relationship and subsequent personal transformations for Ruban, his wife Jenny, and the younger woman is the basis of the album's existential themes, and contributes to an eventual catharsis and reckoning with the past Ruban had, once he could finally let go from his bygone "multi-love".
Ruban Nielson is a New Zealand musician, singer and songwriter, and the frontman of the psychedelic rock band Unknown Mortal Orchestra. He has won two Aotearoa Music Awards and an APRA Silver Scroll, over the course of his band's five studio albums and one extended play.
Close Your Eyes is the fifth studio album by New Zealand singer-song writer Bic Runga. The album is made up of ten covers and two original tracks. Upon announcement of the album in October, Runga said: "There are so many songs I've always wanted to cover. I wanted to see if I could not just be a singer-songwriter, but someone who could also interpret songs. In the process, I found there are so many reasons why a cover version wouldn't work, perhaps because the lyrics were not something I could relate to first hand, because technically I wasn't ready or because the original was too iconic. But the songs that all made it on the record specifically say something about where I'm at in my life, better than if I'd written it myself. It was a challenging process, I'm really proud of the singing and the production and the statement".
Sex & Food is the fourth studio album by New Zealand band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, released on 6 April 2018 through Jagjaguwar. According to leader of UMO Ruban Nielson, the album features a more expansive and eclectic sound than previous records, inspired by the international locations where it was recorded, including Mexico City, Seoul, Hanoi and Reykjavík, as well as Nielson's native Auckland and home Portland.
IC-01 Hanoi is an instrumental album by New Zealand band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, released on 26 October 2018 through Jagjaguwar. It is the group's second album of 2018 after Sex & Food, released in April, and their first instrumental album. The album was recorded entirely in the city of Hanoi, Vietnam, and originated from sessions for Sex & Food, with frontman Ruban Nielson's father, Chris Nielson, also contributing instrumentation to the record.
V is the fifth studio album by New Zealand band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, released on 17 March 2023 through Jagjaguwar. It is a double album.
