"You hold in your hands a book crammed with blind prejudices, foggy memories, rash declarations, unsubstantiated assertions and, quite probably, lies." So begins Soundtrack, Grant Smithies's marvellously passionate, insightful, hilarious and always entertaining paean to New Zealand music.

Smithies has written about 118 albums that he personally loves, music that he believes rises above the background noise to say something significant about the musicians who made it, and the place and time from which they came. It is a highly subjective selection, which does not pretend to be exhaustive or definitive. Rather it has been driven by a desire to shine a light on many of the lesser-known treasures of New Zealand music; to uncover albums of equal power and cultural signifi cance to many of the better-known recordings that are traditionally held up as seminal New Zealand albums.

This remarkable collection of music is, not surprisingly, extremely diverse. It ranges from Flying Nun guitar bands to bedroom-studio techno, punk to folk, Maori showbands to metal, Polynesian hip hop to indie pop, and Auckland alt.country to Wellington soul. Whatever the genre, these albums are united by one thing - they are all superb.

In Soundtrack, the author has also enlisted the help of a range of other writers, as well as a scattering of musicians, designers, actors and academics, all of whom have contributed intriguing pieces about their own favourite New Zealand album.

Grant Smithies never strays from his mission to not just record who did what and when, but rather to celebrate, loudly and emotionally, some of the most important cultural artifacts that our musicians have produced. This is a highly signifi cant book about New Zealand music - read it, and feel lucky for the musical legacy we enjoy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Grant Smithies has written extensively on music, art and popular culture over the last fifteen years for most major magazines and newspapers in New Zealand, including the NZ Herald, the Dominion Post, Pavement and The Listener.

He currently writes for the Sunday Star Times, New Zealand's highest circulation weekend newspaper. He also appears as a weekly music commentator on NZ radio network, Radio Live, and on Christchurch bNet station, RDU, and makes regular appearances on TV and Radio New Zealand National.

With such exposure across all popular media, Smithies has become the best known music critic in New Zealand. In 2007 he won 'Best Reviewer in New Zealand' at the Qantas Media Awards. The judges noted: "Smithies combines a clear love of music, an impressive reservoir of knowledge and a lovely fluid writing style to produce his immensely enjoyable reviews."