One of the absolute highlights of the Auckland Folk Festival this year were Aro, the husband-and-wife team of Charles (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Te Ata, Te Ati Awa) and Emily Looker (nee Rice). At that event Charles provided vocals and guitar, while Emily “just”...

Bevan is a lo-fi alternative indie pop musician from Morrinsville, and Weekend is taken from his third full-length album, which is due out later this year. He says he is inspired by all forms of music from Fraggle Rock to Eminem, Crowded House to Pink, and it must be...

Just one look at the band name, song, and font, and one knows that here we have an act aiming to be on the heavy side. A quick look at Encylopaedia Metallum and one can see they have another nine bands listed with the same name, while this Lilith isn’t even the only...

The picture on the album cover is a picture, neat! That got me thinking the guys probably had a sense of humour and when I saw they describe themselves as a perfect fruit salad; filled with juicy melodies, tasty songs, and sweet, sweet harmonies, then I was sure of...

Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to see Sol3 Mio at Spark Arena, and I came away as suitably impressed as one would expect, not only from the main act, but also by the support who impressed everyone with her wonderful vocals and delicate touch on the piano....

Stephen Galvin is a multi-instrumentalist who was invited to teach at the New Zealand Guitar Academy at the tender age of 23, before opening his own teaching studio in 1984. Since then, he has performed in bands of different genres, as well as teaching music to...

I am not really sure what to say about Ed Palermo anymore, apart from that it is obvious to anyone who has ever listened to his music that he is an arranger par excellence. Once he manages to get an idea germinating, he brings in music from different sources and...

Brutal death metal act Focal Dystonia was only formed at the beginning of 2020 by multi-instrumentalist Floor van Kuijk (Korpse, Carnifloor) and drummer Florent Duployer (Anachronism, Kakothanasy), yet by the end of the year the duo had released their debut album...