Marty Duda's artist of the week: Mick Harvey

Mick Harvey is, without a doubt, one of the most important figures to emerge from the Australian music scene. He was a founding member of The Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Crime & The City Solution. He has also made important contributions to the music of PJ Harvey (no relation) and These Immortal Souls. His solo career began in the mid-1990s with two albums worth of Sergie Gainsbourg tunes that Mick translated into English. In 2005 he released his first album or original material and a few years later he was out of The Bad Seeds and on his own entirely. Since then he has produced a series of records that, while somewhat low-key, are extremely satisfying. Mick Harvey and his band, The Intoxicated Men, will play four shows in New Zealand this week beginning Wednesday at Auckland's Tuning Fork.