At 10pm The Whammy bar is crowded and when Dual come on stage just before 10.20pm it is clear they have evolved since I last saw them. They have added live drums to support Maurice Miller’s vocals and electronics, and Jamie Pyne’s guitar.
American bluegrass musician Chris Thile has just released his new album, Laysongs…a truly solo effort. The 13th Floor checks it out.
Since 2015 Flamingo Pier have been running dance parties in London and, more recently, an annual boutique event on Waiheke Island. To coincide with the 2019 Waiheke Island event they released their self titled debut EP and this was followed a year later by a second EP, Indigo. These eight tracks showed that they could […]
In February 2020 the Auckland based Swallow The Rat and the Brooklyn based Clone were both on the east coast of the USA. The bands were touring and going to share the stage at the SXSW festival but the pandemic meant all their plans were abruptly halted. Despite this setback the bands established a strong […]
2015’s album Silver Bullets was a good start for The Chills second career and 2018’s Snowbound was very well received. We are now at the difficult third album stage for a band whose first career was all about making things difficult for themselves.
Malcolm Black is best known to most of us for the 1985 Netherworld Dancing Toys anthem For Today but in the years since his has significantly contributed to NZ music as a A&R director, Entertainment Director, Manager of Neil Finn, label co-owner and more. This album was born from a rush of creativity in 2018 […]
There is research that shows that people driving and listening to techno music drive a bit faster, and that people driving most safely are probably listening to Norah Jones. If you notice a driver near you spin into reverse, turn on all their lights, speed up and overtake you before slamming on the brakes and […]
In the nineteen years since the release of his first album The Creek That Drank The Cradle, Sam Beam, better known as Iron and Wine, has moved from his neo folk beginnings to incorporate elements of R&B, Jazz and Electronica. He has also released collaborations with Jessica Hoop, Calexico and Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses).
By the time you are in your fifties it’s good to have been shortlisted for the Mercury prize, appeared on Top of the Pops and written a critically praised autobiography. Luke Haines has done all of these, he was the lead singer of The Auters, who missed out on the Mercury Prize to Suede in […]
This is an album that begins and ends with a dance. This may be surprising as Julia Stone is most well known as half of the folk pop duo with her brother Angus Stone and her outstanding ability to play the trumpet one handed whilst holding a guitar. The folk lyrics of love, the trumpet, […]
