The Necks

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The Necks are an experimental jazz trio from Sydney, Australia, comprising Chris Abrahams on piano and Hammond organ, Tony Buck on drums and Lloyd Swanton on bass guitar and double bass. The band plays improvisational pieces of up to an hour in length that explore repeating musical figures. As well as jazz, they are strongly influenced by Krautrock.

Typically a live performance will begin very quietly with one of the musicians playing something very simple. One by one, the other two will join with their own melodies, all three independent yet intertwined. A piece of music usually lasts about 45 minutes and over this time grows in volume and pace and complexity before petering out.

The Necks are also well known in Europe. Their soundtrack for The Boys was nominated for ARIA Best Soundtrack Album, AFI Best Musical Score and Australian Guild of Screen Composers Award. They have also recorded soundtracks for What's The Deal? (1997) and In the Mind of the Architect (three one-hour ABC-TV documentaries, 2000).

Venues played in Sydney include The Basement, the Harbourside Brasserie, and the Vanguard in Newtown. A performance at the Sydney Opera House in 2003 was interrupted by the venue management due to a minor technical problem, to the obvious dissatisfaction of band and audience.

Discography

Sex (Spiral Scratch, 1989) - a single hour-long track of a two-bar motif with variations. This album was notable for the instrumentation being restricted to piano, bass and drums, unlike later works
Next (Spiral Scratch, 1990) - six tracks: "Garl's", "Nice Policeman Nasty Policeman", "Pele", "Next", "Jazz Cancer" and "World At War"
Aquatic (Fish Of Milk/Shock, 1994) - two tracks, both titled "Aquatic". Additional musician Steve Wishart on hurdy gurdy
Silent Night (Fish Of Milk/Shock, 1996) - a double CD featuring two disc-length tracks, "Black" and "White"
The Boys (original soundtrack) (Wild Sound/MDS, 1998)
Piano Bass Drums (Fish Of Milk/Shock, 1998) - a single fifty-three minute track, "Unheard", recorded live at the Basement, Sydney, with instrumentation restricted to piano, bass and drums. Nominated Jazz Recording of the Year, ABC Classic FM Awards
Hanging Gardens (1999) - a single disc-length track of the same name
Aether (ReR, 2001) - a single disc-length track of the same name. Notably more ambient than their other works
Athenaeum, Homebush, Quay & Raab (Fish Of Milk/Shock, 2002) - four-CD box of four live performances, three in Australia and one in Austria in January and March 2001
Photosynthetic (Long Arms, 2003) - live in Moscow, 2002
Drive By (Fish Of Milk/Shock, 2003) - a single disc-length track
Mosquito/See Through (Fish of Milk, 2004) - double album with two tracks
Chemist (Fish Of Milk/Shock, 2006) - three tracks: "Fatal", "Buoyant" and "Abillera"

External links

[The Necks home page]
[The Necks on Set] - 25 minute performance for ABC television in 2006. Includes MP3 and streams.

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