By Jorge Casuso

July 15, 2010 -- The sounds from down under will rock the Santa Monica Pier as three Australian acts take the stage for the second Twilight Dance Series Concert of the summer.

Ben Lee, a Sydney-bred musician, caught the ear of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore when he was a teenager with the group Noise Addict. His music reached the mainstream when the song "How To Survive A Broken Heart" was featured in the 1998 soundtrack for "There's Something About Mary."

Lee's latest album, his seventh, is dedicated to Venus, the Goddess of Love and Beauty. The music, he says, has strong feminine qualities, "such as compassion, nurturing, creativity, spontaneity, intuition, playfulness, tenderness and warmth."

A portion of the proceeds made from "The Rebirth of Venus" will be donated to FINCA, a microfinance campaign providing work assistance for women in third-world countries.

Winner of four ARIA Awards (Australia's equivalent to the Grammy), Lee, who has moved to Los Angeles, has been making regular appearances with symphony orchestras throughout Australia, singing such hits as "Catch My Disease," "Cigarettes Will Kill You" and "We're All In This Together."

Also hitting the pier stage will be Brother, an Australian band that fuses vocals and guitar with indigenous instruments, such as the didgeridoo, the bagpipes, and tribal percussion to create an original blend of Celtic and Australian Rock that has been captivating audiences at home and abroad.

Since arriving in Los Angeles more than a decade ago, Brother has evolved a trademark sound that has been featured in more than a dozen albums.

The concert also will showcase the talents of Ry Cuming, a singing surfer who has won two Australian Dolphin Awards for Best Pop Song and Best New Artist with his sandy tenor and Beach Boys-like falsetto.