DJ Toner Q4tet Blessed Are The Weird People VinDig DJ Toner is a Spanish DJ and producer and Blessed Are The Weird People sees him adding live musicians to the sound – Alfonso Alcalá (bass), Chick Juarez (piano) and Marc Ayza (drums) with some special guests, including flutist and saxophonist Jorge Pardo (Chick Corea) and […]
Nobody Director: Ilya Naishuller Perfect World Pictures / 87North Productions / Universal Pictures Nobody is everything great about Big Dumb Fucking Brutal Action Films wrapped up like a magic trick. And that magic trick is the casting of Bob Odenkirk. Bob is the saftest of safe hands and can seemingly do anything. He writes books […]
A little man climbs a big ladder to change the batteries in the week. You’ll notice yourself – or someone around you – feeling particularly flat on a Sunday, usually about 3 or 4pm. This is exactly when the batteries are changed. The little man does all he can to make it swift, puts the […]
Bonnie Raitt Rainbow Room Blues: Philly Broadcast ‘72 Smokin’ Badger Yet another in the tumbling pile of live bootlegs taken from radio station broadcasts. These unofficial albums sometimes feel truncated and have patchy sound – even then they’re interesting. But sometimes you really feel like a jackpot’s been hit – as with this brilliant live […]
The Archives Carry Me Home: A Reggae Tribute To Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson Monserrat House The Archives are a Washington D.C. reggae band that formed in 2011 – bandleader Darryl “Trane” Burke had worked with Culture, Moja Nya and a few other big names in reggae and he’s always been a fan of twisting […]
I’ve never understood all this chat about Wellington’s weather; I moved here over a quarter of a century ago and arrived in a car with a roof, to live in a series of flats and houses, each time with a roof; almost didn’t need to check – but did so instinctively. The way I’ve always […]
Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog What I Did On My Long Vacation Knockwurst Music / Preposterous Bee Music / Wazir & Malika Music A get back to the studio project, a just shut up and play project, a lockdown mini album – this EP by Marc and his Ceramic Dog is really the starting point for […]
Spines Backstory. Spines Live 1986. (Independent / Bandcamp) Celebrating their 40th anniversary as a band, Wellington’s Spines – still going, many different line-ups but always led by the mercurial songwriting of Jon McLeary – have dug deep into their archives to reveal a previously unreleased live album from 1986. It even features a few songs […]
Something about sitting at a beer-soaked table still gets me observing the world in a particular way. Haven’t had a drink in over a year, doubt I will again (though never say never). In the bar, with my pen and paper and whatever is around me; that’s always been one of my favourite places to […]
Scott DuBois Summer Water Sunnyside Like the water gently, softly and simply rippling in rock pools and the sun that catches the movement – so it is with these solo electric guitar pieces. Your mind cuts its own nature documentary to frame up alongside this soundtrack that’s already been created.
Ulysses Owens Jr. Soul Conversations Outside in Music Ulysses Owens Jr. is an exciting and in-demand drummer – he’s backed the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Elling and Christian McBride. He’s made a small handful of dynamic records as a leader – including the impressive, conceptual – political – statement Songs of Freedom and he […]
I was there mate, at the Gladstone, 1982 It was better than anything you ever saw, and most things you’ve gone on to do. I can tell you that right now. For free. We were up front and the microphone hit me in the face and when I tasted the sweat of the singer it […]