Sambanova is the debut album by Australian dance music

Electronic dance music

Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...

 duo, Pnau

Pnau

Pnau is an Australian dance music duo originating from Sydney, Australia. The duo consists of musicians Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes...

, it was released in 1999 on the independent Peking Duck label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

. However, the album was pulled from record stores due to uncleared samples, Warner Music Australasia

Warner Music Australasia

Warner Music Australasia is the Australian division of the Warner Music Group. The company's operations also include distribution to New Zealand.-History:In 1969, Warner Bros...

 re-released it in 2000 with a different tracklisting, and it peaked in the Top 40 on the ARIA Albums Chart in June. The album won an Australian Recording Industry Association

Australian Recording Industry Association

The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...

 (ARIA) Music Award

ARIA Music Awards

The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Recording Industry Association...

 for 'Best Dance Release' in 2000

ARIA Music Awards of 2000

The 14th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 24 October 2000 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre...

.

Background

Pnau released their debut album Sambanova in 1999 under the small independent Peking Duck label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

. It was recorded in a bedroom studio and they only expected to sell a few thousand copies. A week before winning the ARIA Award for Best Dance Release the album Sambanova was pulled from record stores for uncleared samples. In a 2003 interview with The Age

The Age

The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...

newspaper's Andrew Drever, Mayes recalled that they had no understanding of sample clearances due to their naivety in the music business. Mayes claimed that they had no inkling that they would win an ARIA award but that the album's recall did seriously affect their commercial sales. Warner Music Australasia

Warner Music Australasia

Warner Music Australasia is the Australian division of the Warner Music Group. The company's operations also include distribution to New Zealand.-History:In 1969, Warner Bros...

 re-released the album in 2000 with a different tracklisting, and it peaked in the Top 40 on the ARIA Albums Chart in June. Pnau toured nationally for the Big Day Out

Big Day Out

The Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...

 in 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2011.

Awards

• 2000
  ARIA Music Awards of 2000
  The 14th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards was held on 24 October 2000 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre...
  
   – Sambanova won an ARIA Award for 'Best Dance Release'.

Tracklisting

Three full length versions of Sambanova have been released to the public, one through the label Peking Duck and two through Warner Music Australasia

Warner Music Australasia

Warner Music Australasia is the Australian division of the Warner Music Group. The company's operations also include distribution to New Zealand.-History:In 1969, Warner Bros...

.

Peking Duck version

• Sambanova (1999, CD
  Compact Disc
  The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
  
   format, released by Peking Duck, DUCKCD001)

1. "Journey Agent" – 4:21
2. "Mellotron" – 6:48
3. "Keep on Truckin'" – 4:58
4. "Hard Biscuit" – 5:25
5. "To Hear Your Love (Jon Hardy's Tinted Mix)" – 5:06
6. "Sambanova" – 6:07
7. "Need Your Lovin' Baby" – 6:30
8. "Direct Drive" – 5:37
9. "Discone" – 4:40
10. "The Red Tapes" – 5:21
11. "Meshes of the Afternoon" – 3:47
12. "Arthur's Pizza" – 4:28
13. "The Last Track" – 10:19

2000 version

• Sambanova (2000, CD format, had video on it, rereleased by Warner Music Australasia, 8573831942)

1. "Journey Agent"
2. "Mellotron"
3. "Keep on Truckin'"
4. "Hard Biscuit"
5. "Sambanova"
6. "Need Your Lovin' Baby"
7. "Direct Drive"
8. "Discone"
9. "The Red Tapes"
10. "Meshes of the Afternoon"
11. "Arthur's Pizza"
12. "The Last Track"

2001 version

• Sambanova (July 2001, CD format, has 3 bonus tracks, released by Warner Music Australasia, 8573883392)

1. "Follow Me"
2. "Journey Agent"
3. "Mellotron"
4. "Keep on Truckin'"
5. "Hard Biscuit"
6. "Ordinary Day"
7. "Sambanova"
8. "Need Your Lovin' Baby"
9. "Direct Drive"
10. "The Red Tapes"
11. "Searchin'"
12. "Meshes of the Afternoon"
13. "The Last Track"

Personnel

Pnau members

• Nick Littlemore
  Nick Littlemore
  Nick Littlemore is an Australian musician and producer, known as frontman of electronic act Pnau and one part of electro pop-duo Empire of the Sun . He is also member of art-rock band Teenager Nick Littlemore is an Australian musician and producer, known as frontman of electronic act Pnau (with...
  
   – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  , synthesiser, keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  , trombone
  Trombone
  The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
  
  , melodica
  Melodica
  The melodica, also known as the "blow-organ" or "key-flute", is a free-reed instrument similar to the melodeon and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole,...
  
  , clavi
  Clavinet
  A Clavinet is an electrically amplified keyboard instrument manufactured by the Hohner company. It is essentially an electronically amplified clavichord, analogous to an electric guitar. Its distinctive bright staccato sound has appeared particularly in funk, disco, rock, and reggae songs.Various...
  
  
• Peter Mayes
  Peter Mayes
  Peter Mayes is an Australian musician and producer. He widely known for being a leading member of dance act Pnau. He is long time collaborator with Nick Littlemore and has produced and mixed many of his projects, most notably the platinum selling album Walking on a Dream for Empire of the Sun, and...
  
   – guitars, vocals, bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , synthesiser, keyboards, melodica, keytar
  Keytar
  A keytar is a relatively lightweight keyboard that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is supported by a strap. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement compared to conventional keyboards, which are placed on stands...
  
  

Additional musicians

• Paul Johannessen – electric piano
  Electric piano
  An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
  
   (Fender Rhodes)
• Gawain McGrath – guitar

Production details

• Producer – Nick Littlemore
• Mastering – Oscar Gaona
• Mixing, Engineer – Fraser Stuart (track 4), Peter Mayes (tracks 1–3, 5–13)
  • Remix – Jon Hardy (track 5)
• Studio – recorded & mixed at Cybersonic Studios, mastered at Studio 301.

Art work

• Artwork design – Sam Littlemore
  Sam Littlemore
  Sam Littlemore, also known as Sam La More, is an Australian record producer and recording artist working in Hollywood, Sydney and London. Littlemore is best known for his work with Tonite Only and his production work with Nellee Hooper and Gwen Stefani, including Gwen's debut solo hit "What You...
  
  

2001 version

• Jennifer Karr – vocals (track 6)
• Ashton Millard – vocals (track 1)
• Shep Soloman – vocals (track 6)
• Rob Woolf – vocals (track 11)