Interview: Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls
The Dresden Dolls have reunited and are about to return to New Zealand for shows at the end of January. Lead singer and pianist Amanda Palmer is not a stranger to these shores, having toured here on her own just last year, narrowly missing the February Christchurch earthquake. The 13th Floor spoke to Amanda […]
Interview: Daryl Hall
Daryl Hall and John Oates will be performing in New Zealand for the first time in 30 years this month. The dates are: Saturday, January 28th at Church Road Winery, Napier and Sunday, January 29th at Villa Maria Estate, Auckland. As well as being one-half of the best selling duo in music history, Daryl […]
More New Leonard Cohen
Another track from Leonard Cohen’s upcoming new album, Old Ideas has been made available for streaming at the magazine The New Yorker’s website. Click here to listen to Going Home from Leonard Cohen’s Old Ideas.
Interview: Anna Calvi’s Long-Distance Whisper
Anna Calvi is one of the 13th Floor’s most eagerly-anticipated artists to be performing at this month’s Laneway Festival in Auckland. Her self-titled debut album was one of the best of 2011. As evidence of that fact, Anna was in The Netherlands after receiving an award there for her album when The 13th Floor […]
Download Justin Townes Earle
Justin Townes Earle is bust preparing his new album, Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now. Although the album isn’t due for release until March 27th, the title track is available as a free download right now. Click here to download the song. Or listen to it here on The 13th Floor:
The XX Share A Demo With The World
“Open Eyes is a demo we did whilst creating our new album, we just wanted to share it with you”. The XX It’s always nice to share… Save
Dum Dum Girls Disappoint
The Dum Dum Girls performed at Auckland’s Kings Arms this Friday night. Having been a big fan of their second album, Only In Dreams, I was looking forward to the show. Unfortunately, the band did not live up to expectations. Lead singer and guitarist Kristen Gundred, aka Dee Dee’s, vocals were buried in the mix, awash […]
Welcome to 2012…Oh, By The Way, Rock Is Dead
Describing 2011 as the “most numbing year for mainstream rock music in history”, Jon Caramanica, in the New York Times, claims that “rock is becoming a graveyard of aesthetic innovation and creativity”. While he doesn’t quite go as far as pronouncing the genre “dead”, he does describe it as “zombified”. Caramanica sites as examples the latest releases […]
Explosions In The Sky Meet Guitar Wolf – Concert Review/Opinion Piece, 17 December 2011
Explosions In The Sky is a four-piece “post-rock” band from Texas who play instrumental music. Guitar Wolf is a three-piece punk band from Japan who worship at the altar of The Ramones. Both bands played in Auckland last night and I saw most of both of their sets. While they sound like very different bands…there […]
Black Joe Lewis At The Powerstation
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears turned out a heady mix of Texas-style blues and soul last night at The Powerstation. The 7-piece band, complete with 3-man horn section helped the crowd work up the first serious sweat of the summer. Watch Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears perform at The Powerstation here: [wpvideo VRVo9OqN]
Pajama Club Play At Kings Arms
Well, better late than never. The Pajama Club (Neil & Sharon Finn, Sean Donnelly & Alana Skyring) finally performed at Auckland’s Kings Arms Sunday night (the original date was postponed because of illness). The band was sounding pretty loose, with Neil Finn obviously having fun stretching out on guitar. Other than Suffer Never (a Finn […]
Interview: Victoria Girling-Butcher Talks About Her First Solo Album Since Leaving Lucid 3
Summit Drive is the title of Victoria Girling-Butcher’s first solo album. The former Lucid 3 frontwoman has been through a lot since her band split up, most notably fighting a debilitating auto-immune disease. Victoria stopped by The 13th Floor to talk about her music and her life. Click here to listen to the interview: Click here […]
Jordie Lane Makes His NZ Debut
Australian folk singer Jordie Lane performed for the first time in New Zealand at Auckland’s Wine Cellar. He is here in support of his latest album, Blood Thinner. Joining him on his NZ tour are Kiwi singer-songwriters Mel Parsons and Matt Langley. Here is a taste of what went down at the Wine Cellar. Listen […]
Interview: The Damned’s Captain Sensible Talks Punk, Politics & Psychedelia
In anticipation of The Damned’s upcoming show at Auckland’s Powerstation on January 25th, The 13th Floor gave guitarist & founding member Captian Sensible a call to see what he and his band of merry pranksters have been up to. Click here to listen to the interview: Click here to listen to The Damned’s first […]
Interview: Mulatu Astatke Talks To The 13th Floor
Ethiopian jazz/funk pioneer Mulatu Astatke is due to perform his first concert in New Zealand at Auckland’s Powerstation on Friday, November 25th. The 13th Floor called him at his home in Ethiopia just as he was about to depart for his tour. Listen in as Mulatu discusses his 50-year career as a groundbreaking musician. […]
Jason Mraz – Civic Theatre, Auckland 15 November 2011
Internationally revered recording artist, Jason Mraz, has announced plans for a special international tour, an extraordinary itinerary that will see the Grammy Award-winning tunesmith visiting North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand with one very special show at the Civic Theatre, Auckland on Tuesday 15th November. This will be the only show in […]
Portishead – Vector Arena Nov. 10, 2011
The last time Portishead played in Auckland singer Beth Gibbons left the stage bleeding, but triumphant. That was in April of 1998. Since then, the band has released just one album, 2008’s Third, but what an album it is. Now, Gibbons, along with guitarist Adrian Utley and keyboard player/percussionist Geoff Barrow return to Auckland, this […]
Bic Runga – Kings Arms, Nov. 9, 2011
The last time I saw Bic Runga perform as a solo artist was November, 2005 just as her third studio album, Birds was released. Six years later and here she is on the relatively tiny stage of Auckland’s Kings Arms, just about to release her new album, Belle. Having been away for so long, Bic […]
Interview: Bic Runga – Just Like Starting Over
Bic Runga is just about to release her new album, Belle. It’s her first collection of new studio material since 2005’s Birds. Belle was produced by former Mint Chicks’ front man Kody Nielson and was recorded in Auckland and Los Angeles. The 13th Floor caught up with Bic at the Sony NZ offices, where […]
Steely Dan & Steve Winwood: Vector Arena, 4 November 2011
Steely Dan last played here in September of 2007. That show found the band concentrating on their later output (Aja and Gaucho) and eschewing many of their biggest hits. This time around was different. The evening started with a 30 minute set by Anika Moa and her band, although, sadly I missed all but her […]