Amanaki are back with the second single from their forthcoming EP, Tempest, and is a song which they say was incredibly difficult to record, and even harder to play live given the emotions behind it. During the […]

Some 40+ years ago David Coverdale sang the immortal words, “I love the blues, They tell my story, If you don’t feel it you can never understand” and they are as true today as they ever were. If you get the blu […]

I have always had a soft spot for folk music, and five years ago travelled to the other side of the world just for a folk festival (honest), but one instrument I did not come across a great deal in the UK was the […]

Baja Mexico.

Private Release 42mins

Rating 90/100

Not since the ‘Hampton Grease Band’s epic album ‘Music to Eat’ has any other recorded material come close to bursting forth and squeezing the brains […]

It is safe to say there is no other artist in New Zealand currently working at the pace of Troy Kingi. Earlier this year he released the te reo version of Holy Colony Burning Acres, Pū Whenua Hautapu, Eka Mumura, […]

Brutal death metal Auckland quintet have just released their debut 5-track EP, following on from the two singles which were released from it last year. I was lucky enough to see these guys when they supported Pale […]

Here we have the second single to be taken from Anthea’s forthcoming debut solo album, The Vicar’s Daughter, which will be out later this year. Hailing from Lyttleton, she used to spend her Wednesday nights wit […]

Here we have the latest single from Wellington-based indie-alternative band Vogel Town who feature Andrew Roberts is on the guitar, and Aaron Mody on drums/percussion. This instrumental track starts with some hand […]

This 13-minute-long 3-track instrumental album is by Lorenzo Vichi, an Italian who now lives in Aotearoa. Everything we hear on the EP was written, arranged, recorded, mixed, produced and edited by Lorenzo who […]

I was chatting with singer/guitarist Neill Fraser at a gig recently, and we agreed that the acoustic style gig they did with Dead Favours earlier in the year was fun, but we were both looking forward to having […]

When Lisa sent me this, she said to me that Broke reminded her of The Rabble. Now, although I am playing rapid catchup on NZ bands, that is a band I know as they were connected with Orewa College and one of my […]

There are few labels as important to metal as Neat Records, whose third release was Tygers of Pan Tang’s hugely influential “Don’t Touch Me There”. I saw them support Saxon on the Wheels of Steel tour, and like ma […]

When I reviewed John Blangero’s debut album as Sun King Rising, I said it would undoubtedly raise his profile within the music scene, which is exactly what happened. Now here he is back with the follow-up, and y […]

I was at a gig last week, and was really intrigued by the opening act, Glasshouse Keepers, very much enjoying their complex rock sound with female lead vocals, so when I realised they had released a four-track EP […]

I had to smile when I saw this single, as while melodic hardcore outfit Amanaki is new to me, on this release they have a guest in the form of Luke Manson, who I have seen in both Antagonist AD and Xile in recent […]

Last month a gig I was planning to attend fell through, so I looked around and ended up going to Wine Cellar, where the headline band that night was a group from Christchurch I had not previously come across, […]

In recent years I have been thoroughly enjoying the works of big band leader and arranger Ed Palermo as he has taken songs and turned them into jazz classics. The person getting the treatment this time is none […]

It is safe to say that I was not a fan of Ghost Bath’s last album, 2017’s ‘Starmourner’, and I said that by far the best thing about it was the artwork! The band were still hiding their identities at the time (a […]