We thought that we'd celebrate NZ Music month by highlighting some of our favourite Wellington music. Here's my top 5, veering between the obscure and the downright mainstream.

Aspen, Are you that retail snob?. This was the album that got me back into making music. It's somewhere between ambient, glitch and early 90s IDM, but all you need to know is that it's dripping with gorgeous textures and melodies.

Rhian Sheehan, Tiny Blue Biosphere. I know, I know: it's over-produced coffee table music for yuppies, but hell, maybe that's what I am (even though I don't own a coffee table). And any album that samples Carl Sagan not once but twice has to get bonus geek points.

Disasteradio, Synthtease. Damn, this guy's ransacked my childhood! Yazoo with a VIC 20, Kraftwerk playing Asteroids, 8-bit beats and viral melodies.

Rhombus, Future Reference. Yep, it's a Welly list, so there had to be some dub somewhere. But Rhombus' influences range far wider than most, and touches of funk, hip-hop, electronica and jazz give their sound an infectious enthusiasm. "Scorching Bay" has to be an instant Wellington classic.

Twinset and friends, Christmas Puddin'. The only Christmas album that doesn't make me want to stick Rudolph's antlers where the sun don't shine. They know that you can't take carols too seriously, but while Benj Berryman injects some swingin' cheese into 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen', there are some surprisingly straight jazz treatments and delicate moments. As you can probably tell, I'm still hanging out for the lounge revival revival.