Pnau formed in Sydney , New South Wales by Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes . The two met at secondary school and began performing together in the mid-1990s , initially playing acid , house music , and trance music . Littlemore recalled meeting Mayes when he was 10 ; " He tripped me over . We hated each other for a couple years and then we started sneaking out and going to raves when we were about 13 and we formed a bond over intense music . " Littlemore and Mayes created their first album when they were in their mid-teens . " It was called Fractal Geometric Spaces Made of Light , " Littlemore remembers , " Which is probably why it was never picked up . " In July 1999 , Pnau officially released their debut album '' Sambanova '' under the independent label Peking Duck . It was recorded in a bedroom studio and they state they only expected it to sell " a few thousand copies " . The album was pulled from record stores for using uncleared samples , but re-released in June 2000 and peaked inside the ARIA top 40 . In October 2000 , at the ARIA Music Awards of 2000 , the album won Best Dance Release . In a 2003 interview with '' The Age '' , Mayes said that they had no understanding of sample clearances due to their naïveté in the music business . Mayes claimed that the album 's recall did seriously affect their commercial sales . Littlemore later contested " They screwed us over for $ 300,000 . Warners did n't ; another third party did . But that happens . We 're still here , we 're still doing it . " Pnau went on to make many live appearances at music festivals like Big Day Out in 2001 and Homebake in 2002 . During this time , they garnered a reputation for their lively performances
ARIA Music Awards of 2000
ARIA Music Awards of 2000
Pnau