The Necks are an ambient 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 lengthy improvisational pieces that explore repeating musical figures. As well as jazz, they are strongly influenced by Krautrock.

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).

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, 1994) - six tracks: "Carl'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.

External links

• The Necks home page http://www.thenecks.com/