Blur – The Ballad Of Darren (Parlophone) (Album Review)
Blur follow up their triumphant two-night stand at Wembley Stadium with an equally triumphant new album.
Will McClean – Don’t Forget To Breathe (Album Review)
Wellington hip-hop artist Will McClean warns us Don’t Forget To Breathe releasing today an album that is, ’diving into the depths of vulnerability’.
PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying (Partisan/Liberator)
PJ Harvey takes us back and forward while worshipping at the feet of Wyman-Elvis. Confused? So am I, but hang in there.
Join Us at The 13th Floor Fund-raising Event!!!
The 13th Floor is still raising money to keep our video sessions alive! We loved having so many amazing local artists up to The 13th floor for NZ Music Month, and we want to keep it going all year round. But to do that, we need your help! So we’ve rounded up our friends: Geoff […]
Lucinda Williams – Stories From A Rock N Roll Heart (Highway 20/Thirty Tigers)
Lucinda Williams has made the comeback album of the year with her Stories From A Rock N Roll Heart.
Swans – Beggar (Mute/Young God) Album Review
SWANS, the formidable American group formed in the early 1980s, that survived the No Wave label, have reinvented themselves multiple times.
John Mellencamp Orpheus Descending (Republic)
John Mellencamp releases his 25th studio album. The Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer coming off a previous album that, depending who you talk, to was either a triumph or a disaster.
The Hard-Ons – Ripper ’23 (Cheersquad) (Album Review)
The Hard-Ons circa the first phase (mid80 to early ’90s) were an underground punk favourite in Aotearoa/New Zealand, with their take on Ramones punk and quirky cover artwork by Ray Ahn (bassist in the band).
Pickle Darling – Laundromat (Father/ Daughter)
There’s a sparkling magic in Pickle Darling songs. The project of Ōtautahi songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Lukas Mayo, this latest collection comprises wry reflections on everyday encounters and experiences.
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit Weathervanes (Southeastern)
Jason Isbell takes over production duties on this 6th album with the 400 Unit, resulting in one of this year’s finest albums, in a year that’s been full of them.
Tanya Tucker – Sweet Western Sound (Fantasy)
Tanya Tucker follows up her Grammy Award winning 2019 album, While I’m Livin’, with another set of classic country tunes that is pure Tanya.
Jazmine Mary – Dog (13th Floor Album Review)
Jazmine Mary releases their second long-player, titled Dog, and it’s a beauty.
Sin City – Something’s Cookin’ (EP Review)
Sin City are no strangers to Aotearoa/New Zealand, having been Covid refugees, a time which they put to good use to establish themselves with a strew of magnificent live performances and the release of their well-received debut album Welcome to Sin City last year.
No Broadcast – The Common Thread (Album Review)
No Broadcast Their fourth album The Common Thread is awash in floating, dreamy ambient pop. Multi-layered like a Glass Onion, and the hooks come camouflaged in velvet.
Alison Goldfrapp – The Love Invention (Skint/BMG) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Alison Goldfrapp, as one half of electro-pop duo Goldfrapp, has released seven albums that have traversed across multiple genres including glam, folk, dance, disco and trip-hop, producing some memorable dancefloor bangers.
Pacific Avenue – Flowers (BMG) (Album Review) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pacific Avenue, a shoal of friends originating in 2017 from a NSW idyllic coastal surf town of Gerringong, focussed around two failed buskers heavily influenced by their contemporary Australian Indie Rock sound, the likes of Jet, Powderfinger and Silverchair, rooted in the history of The Rolling Stones, The Stooges and not forgetting Aussie past heavyweights […]
Dictaphone Blues – Greetings from Glen Eden (EP Review) ⭐⭐⭐
Dictaphone Blues is multi-instrumentalist Edward Castelow’s main vehicle for his retro rock’n’roll. He describes Greetings from Glen Eden as a throw-back to the Nineties dirty garage guitar sound.
Tiny Ruins – Ceremony (Ursa Minor) (Album Review) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tiny Ruins has released Ceremony, 11 songs that are “set on the shores of Tāmaki Makaurau’s Manukau Harbour, known to locals as Old Murky,” or so the PR tells me.
The Damned – Darkadelic (Ear Music) Album Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Damned, The Stranglers, and The Buzzcocks are, or were, all punk rock survivors because of their ability to reinvent themselves, to tangent onto differing musical paths and stay relevant to not just their fans, but to also hook into greater masses.
The National – First Two Pages of Frankenstein (4AD): Album Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The National The title of their ninth studio album, First Two Pages of Frankenstein alerts us to their literary and art-as-rock’n’roll sensibilities. This aligns them with Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen. And Nick Cave if you insist.