Noveller: The 13th Floor Interview
Noveller is the solo electric guitar project of American musician Sarah Lipstate. As is evidence on her new album, A Pink Sunset For No One, Noveller creates stunning soundscapes that are both cinematic and emotionally bracing. Noveller spent much of last year touring as the opening act with none other than Iggy Pop, who, it […]
Jim White: The 13th Floor Interview
You probably know him as the drummer for The Dirty Three. You’ve probably heard him playing with PJ Harvey, Cat Power or Marianne Faithfull. These days Jim White has teamed up with Greek musician George Xylouris in the appropriately-named band, Xylouris White. The duo will be performing at Auckland’s Tuning Fork on Wednesday, March 8th.
Midge Ure: The 13th Floor Interview
Midge Ure has worn many musical hats over the years, and he’ll be trying them all on during his upcoming, 7-date Something From Everything New Zealand tour. In addition to his own solo work, writing the Band-Aid anthem Do They Know It’s Christmas? and his band Ultravox, Ure was a member of Slik, The Rich […]
WOMAD 2017 Interview: Inna Modja
One of the bravest, most challenging artists coming to WOMAD in 2017 is rapper, soul artist, model and human right’s activist Inna Modja. Her music covers topics like the mutilation of young women in her home country, access to clean water and the politics of its management and the plight refugees fleeing war torn Africa. […]
Jens Lekman: The 13th Floor Interview
Today marks the release of Life Will See You Now, the fourth studio album by Swedish musician Jens Lekman.
The Delta Riggs: Active & Galactic (Interview)
The 13th Floor’s Tim Gruar talks to Aussie rockers The Delta Riggs ahead of their NZ tour… Following up on 2014′s excellent Dipz Zebazios Melbourne indie-pysche funk four The Delta Riggs dropped Active Galactic (their third album) which is oozing with pop nous, cosmic punk disco tunes (check out the mirror ball helmet in their […]
Womad 2017 Interview: BAYNK
This is the second in our series on upcoming artists performing at WOMAD 2017. This time, it’s BAYNK, aka Jock Nowell-Usticke, the Kiwi university student who chucked up a song up on SoundCloud back in early 2015 while travelling around Europe and scored himself an appearance at a major local music festival (St Jerome’s Laneway), […]
Tame Impala: The 13th Floor Interview – Part 2
Yesterday we brought you the first half of our exclusive interview with Tame Impala main man Kevin Parker in which he addressed the rumours about the band’s demise and his collaboration with Lady Gaga. (Click here to read Pt 1). Now, during the second half of the conversation between Parker and The 13th Floor’s Marty […]
Tame Impala: The 13th Floor Interview, Pt 1
The headliner at this year’s Laneway Festival is Tame Impala. There has been much speculation swirling around that these shows will be the last for Kevin Parker and company…or at least the last for a long while, with a hiatus planned for the forseeable future. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda sat down with Kevin Parker […]
John Doe: The 13th Floor Interview
Imagine our surprise when we discovered John Doe, founding member of legendary LA punk band X, had been nominated for a Grammy for his book Under The Big Black Sky: A Personal History Of LA Punk. The book is something of an oral history with chapters written by LA punksters such as Henry Rollins, Dave […]
The Restarts: The 13th Floor Interview
The 13th Floor’s Tim Gruar swaps texts with East London-based punk band The Restarts who are due to tour New Zealand in February… Hackney punks The Restarts are coming to our shores. Formed in 1995, they are a tight three piece, multi-genre punk outfit based in East London! They play thrashy, anarcho-power chord punk laced […]
Hex: The 13th Floor Interview
If you are planning to attend tonight’s Dinosaur Jr show tonight in Auckland, be sure to show up early. Wellington 3-piece Hex will be opening the show and they are not to be missed. With an EP out last year titled Calling To The Universe, these three heavy metal rockers plan to release their first […]
A Few Words With Maala
Intertwining soulful vocals with cool calm beats, MAALA has fast established himself as an indietronica wunderkid thanks to his critically acclaimed debut Composure. He is headlining Summer Sounds, presented by The Edge as part of Auckland Council’s summer series of free music in parks. Kicking off on Saturday 21 at Three Kings Reserve from 2pm, […]
Andrew Fagan: Bringing Back The Mockers (Interview)
After a 30 year hiatus, The Mockers are getting back together to play a series of New Zealand dates beginning this Thursday in Hamilton. The Mockers, fronted by Andrew Fagan, were one of the most successful Kiwi bands of the 1980s with hits such as Forever Tuesday Morning, Swear It’s True, One Black Friday, My Girl […]
WOMAD 2017 Report: Swamp Thing
Over the next couple of months 13th Floor will be running a series of articles and interviews about key artists and bands coming to WOMAD 2017 (New Plymouth, March 17-19). The Taranaki’s based world music festival is now in its 11th year, a 3-day celebration of musical and cultural diversity on every level. As always, […]
Lontalius Laneway Interview
The 13th Floor crew is out at Laneway bringing you interviews, reviews and photos throughout the day and into tomorrow. Our first bit of coverage starts with an interview with Kiwi musician Eddie Johnston who goes by the name Lontalius. He and his band were one of the first acts to perform during the afternoon. […]
Bassy Bob Brockmann on Bowie (Interview)
Grammy Award-winning mixer and producer “Bassy” Bob Brockmann was in Auckland recently and stopped by The 13th Floor for an interview with Marty Duda. Mr Brockmann is known for his work with the likes of The Fugees, Notorious BIG, Christina Aguilera, Mary J Blige and Faith Hill. As it turns out, Bassy Bob, who is […]
Watch Plum Green’s 13th Floor Video Session
Plum Green is a Kiwi singer-songwriter now based in Melbourne. She was in Auckland briefly to perform at The Wine Cellar as part of her Night Terrors tour with Jennifer Kingwell to promote her just-released EP Karma. Plum Green stopped by The 13th Floor studio to play a few songs…including two from the new EP…and […]
Dave Rawlings: Beautiful Obsolescence (Interview)
Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings are returning to Auckland in January for what is one of the most anticipated shows of the new year. It’s been over a decade since the duo last performed here and they’ve made a lot of great music since then. Their most recent collaboration is Nashville Obsolete, released under the […]
Watch Parabola West’s 13th Floor Video Session
Here’s one last video session before the end of the year, and one that sounds perfect for the festive season. Check out Parabola West as she performs three original compositions and chats with The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda. Parabola, an ex-pat American, now living in Raglan, has released an EP, titled Did You Hear?, and […]