Cairo Knife Fight have been busy rehearsing in preparation for their show with Heavy Metal Ninjas at The Powerstation on Friday, May 25th. But the band’s Nick Gaffaney wasn’t too busy to quickly drop a line to The 13th Floor and let us in on what he’s been listening to lately.

Click here to check out Nick Gaffaney’s Top 5 tracks.

Jennifer Zea has just released her debut album,The Latin Soul. It was produced by Nathan Haines and co-written by Kevin Field. Jennifer is a native of Venezuela who has brought her style of Latin Soul to the Auckland music scene. The 13th Floor spoke to Jennifer Zea just as her album is about to be released. Jennifer Zea performs live this Thursday, May 24th at The Nathan Club in Auckland’s CBD.

Listen to the Jennifer Zea interview here. 

Listen to Vacila fropm The Latin Soul here: 

THE WHISKEY bar owner, Andrew Bruce is excited to reveal the final roster of artists that complete the NZ Music Month celebrations:

“Our final two weeks line-up is absolutely mind blowing and with at least four acts on each night there is something for everyone.” says Bruce, “There is no excuse to not come down, check out the Vodafone Red Room where fans can mix and mingle with the bands and be a part of THE WHISKEY LIVE 2012 magic!”

Artists include: Ruby Frost, Che Fu, Cairo Knife Fight, Greg Johnson and Gin Wigmore

Tickets are on-sale at 6pm today via Ticketmaster – www.ticketmaster.co.nz  or phone 0800 111 999.  Full show info is available at www.whiskeybars.com and www.facebook.com/WHISKEYLIVE.

Click here to read the entire press release for a full listing of artists and dates.

Sheffield’s favourite son has abandoned the lush strings and twangy rockabilly of his previous work replacing them with wah wah pedals, Indian drones and psychedelic guitar freak-outs. It’s new musical ground for Hawley, but ground that has been walked on before by everyone from The Beatles and The Stones to Led Zeppelin and The Verve. Long-time fans should brace themselves.

Click here to read the entire review and listen to a track from the new album.

Bee Gee Robin Gibb has died after a long battle with cancer at age 62.

Click here to read the Guardian’s obituary.

Click here to listen to I Started A Joke released by The Bee Gees in 1969:

After a sell-out tour of Australia, singer-songwriter Missy Higgins will head to Auckland for her first New Zealand show in five years.  Missy and her Nashville based band will perform at new venue, The Rangatira at Q Theatre on Tuesday, August 7.

‘The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle’ Tour – On Sale  Monday 28 May

Click here to read the entire press release.

Last Friday The 13th Floor celebrated the release of two new albums,  Santana’s Shape Shifter and Tedeschi Trucks Band’s double live Everybody’s Talkin’ by giving away two copies of each album (courtesy Sony Music). We were looking for the first two people to correctly indentify classic 60s songs covered by each artist when they performed in Auckland last year.

The correct answers are: Sunshine Of Your Love (Santana) and either The Weight or Manic Depression (Tedischi Trucks Band). Our winners are: Steven McGrath and David Lloyd (Santana) and Steve Bone and Peter Harwood (Tedeschi Trucks Band). Thanks to everyone for participating.

As Beach House, Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand figured out what they wanted to sound like fairly early in the piece. The Baltimore duo laid down a spartan but alluring recipe for success – partly artful button-pushing (Legrand conjures up the eerie serenity of Judee Cruise in the Twin Peaks soundtrack), but also quite affecting all by itself – a haze of organs, the click of a drum machine and a vague sense of loss.

Click here to read the entire review and listen to a track from the new album.

Watch UrbanTramper perform at The Golden Dawn here:

Click here to read the CNN obituary.