Diana Anaid

"Diana Anaid is no stranger to us having released
four previous albums. It seems, however, with the new self-titled album, Diana is revealing her real self for the first time. Dark secrets and inner demons are laid bare in a passionate and cathartic manner. While the recording quality is top shelf, the production is quite unobtrusive allowing the voice and the tunes to shine. resisting the temptation to fill gaps with superfluous sounds,there's a rawness about the album which constantly directs your focus to the song.. Opening with acoustic/electric rocker 'Make Me Change My Name' , the themes of the album are quickly established. When an artist places this much heart and soul into their music, it deserves to be heard. " Greg Phillips - Australian Musician

If she hadn't been stranded in the burbs on an island all these years, Diana Anaid might be the cover girl for self-made, heartwarming, gut-vomiting indie chicks. She is the palindromic Aussie girl who did the crooked splits in the air in that not-quite-award-winning, nearly-an-MTV-hit "I Go Off" in 2000: "I go owooioff/And if you don't believe that/I'll go off . . . ," strum, " . . . right here . . . ," strum, " . . . right now."
With a guitar bigger than herself, she wears army shorts on the beaches of eastern Australia, and she was cooler than Ani from the beginning: her voice louder, guts redder, heart more Bangles than Gram Parsons. "I Go Off," once blasted at interviewers who commented on how short she was and bouncers who strong-armed her at the door to her own shows, is more venomously produced on Beautiful Obscene—her third album, but first to hit the States.
Anaid's voice, along with her image, have been layered and streaked since her second disc, I Don't Think I'm Pregnant, which bit the dust immediately in her motherland. But from the knees up, she's a metal girl. Beautiful Obscene is loaded with Pink-ishly athletic, personally political tracks. Really, it should be called I Don't Need a Boyfriend—she sings that line so stealthily and, clearly, she doesn't.
- Emma Pearse

"Diana Anaid has written a fantastic selection of emotive and biographical tracks.
Returning to a sound reminiscent of her 1997 debut album, Diana's
return marks the re-appearance of a truly talented singer / songwriter."
The Music Network, April 2010 - The Music Network

“You can keep your popstars, here’s an idea for a new reality TV show. Enlisting only the underprivileged and homeless, hand them nothing more than an n acoustic guitar and see how many of them can conjure up a song capable of capturing the spirit of a generation. This is exactly what Diana Anaid achieved with her debut single “I Go OFF” way back in 96.”
XPRESS magazine
- XPress

During Diana Anaid’s hiatus from making records, she read spiritual books, looked after her dying father and bonded with her son. So if you’re expecting some sappy New Age drooling about how good life is on her self-titled fourth album (out April 2010), you’ve caught the wrong train. As the new sinewy strumming single “Cynical On Waking” makes obvious, the earthgirl brat from Byron Bay has not shed the folk-punk attack of her first album over a decade ago.
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The album has even more pissed-off moments. Opening track “Make Me Change My Name” rails at her father’s absence during her teen days. Lines as “The drugs and the sex that you fed to me. Made me old too soon/ So I buried myself in music” are as compelling as they are disturbing.
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Over ten years ago, some dude told Anaid she didn’t have what it took to make it in music. On each of her albums, she has penned at least one song to kick him in the bollocks with. This album is no different. We’re never sure, though, it’s him, or some other miscreant in the line of fire, as she spits with ill-concealed malevolence, lines like “This mess you left for me” and “what about ‘friends forever?’”.
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But it’s not all days of whine and neuroses. “Diana Anaid” is her most radio-friendly, particularly on the poignant harmony-shrouded “Black Rainbow” and melodic “Peace”. Her strength always has been providing a voice to the tongue-tied and the truly disenchanted members of the ‘illing. The anthemic “Nothing Special”, for instance, strikes a chord when she advices, “Don’t worry about the things that they say/ You can’t please everyone all the time anyway.” On the singalong “Get Your Freak On” she scolds gently, “You missed a million opportunities/ I’m overcoming insecurities.” Her awkward love songs (“the tension in me is because of you”, “The riot you made in me”) make sense to people who are by nature awkward about love -and about love songs.
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Anaid’s well-documented childhood poverty and alienation continues to fuel her anguish and revenge. But she has developed as a tunesmith, as a communicator and as a confessor. Her voice has never been more expressive. This is her most “balanced” record to date. Or, maybe you’re drawn into her world because she’s learned new ways to piss off the people she wants to piss off, and new ways to embrace the people whom she wants to embrace.
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_ CHRISTIE ELIEZER, Pollstar magazine


- POLLSTAR MAGAZINE

“Hers is a story of affecting people with pure music, rather than media gymnastics. Her latest release, Beautiful Obscene, cuts right to listener’s soul with brave and unsparing views of everyday life.”
Michael Molenda, FRETS Magazine USA
- Frets Magazine

“This live acoustic recording demonstrates the honesty and enthusiasm of her stage persona and the appreciation by her audience. She shows her chick power with particular intimacy and endearment.”Carmine Pascuzzi/March ‘07
- mediasearch

“Hers is a story of affecting people with pure music, rather than media gymnastics. Her latest release, Beautiful Obscene, cuts right to listener’s soul with brave and unsparing views of everyday life.”
Michael Molenda, FRETS Magazine USA
- Frets Magazine

“Anaid is loved by fans for writing honest, emotional lyrics and this acoustic performance shows they’re right. With just her voice and an acoustic guitar, Anaid’s lyrics come to the fore in what can be raw, heart-felt songs. Go buy it.”
Glen Humphries, Illuwurra Mercury/March ‘07
- Illuwurra Mercury

“A stand out is “Last Thing” which will appeal to Avril fans who can’t stand her nasal singing. “Addiction” meanwhile is more of a fuzzfest with a great opening verse to stick in your head for hours”
Kathy McCabe DAILY TELEGRAPH
- The Daily Telegraph

“Anaid is loved by fans for writing honest, emotional lyrics and this acoustic performance shows they’re right. With just her voice and an acoustic guitar, Anaid’s lyrics come to the fore in what can be raw, heart-felt songs. Go buy it.”
Glen Humphries, Illuwurra Mercury/March ‘07
- Illuwurra Mercury

“This is her reality, still the heart and soul of a woman capable of “going off”.
No pretense, nothing to hide, take it or leave it. It’s obvious why the guy that helped put No Doubt on the map, Paul Palmer, picked up on her”.
Michael Smith Drum Media
- Drum Media

"The production is superb, the backing instruments finely tuned and Diana possesses the
ability to go from a whisper to a shout in the same breath."
Emily Watson, BRAG
- Brag

“This is her reality, still the heart and soul of a woman capable of “going off”.
No pretense, nothing to hide, take it or leave it. It’s obvious why the guy that helped put No Doubt on the map, Paul Palmer, picked up on her”.
Michael Smith Drum Media
- Drum Media

“Every now and again, a CD will find its way into my life and bowl me over. I become so entrenched in the music that random songs will pop into my head throughout the day for no apparent reason. I'm referring to the infectious music of Diana Anaid” Julie Kertes, R&R Mag, USA - R&R Mag

“Every now and again, a CD will find its way into my life and bowl me over. I become so entrenched in the music that random songs will pop into my head throughout the day for no apparent reason. I'm referring to the infectious music of Diana Anaid” Julie Kertes, R&R Mag, USA - R&R Mag