Author Archive
April 19, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 315
Bob Dylan, Good As I Been To You (1992) Last year was a big year for me reconnecting with Bob Dylan – he’s always there of course. But the gig last year (which was great) had me going back through everything. Everything! I was in deep – going through the podcasts (many) and all the albums and Dylan’s own radio show archive […]
April 18, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast: Episode 164 – Heather O’Carroll
Welcome to episode 164 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and La Petite Chocolat. Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify– follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library. This was recorded just last week. We rushed […]
April 18, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: # 224 – Cigna Saints, Wellington, 2019
I had a really great chat with a Facebook friend the other day. We had never met. But he recognised me and got chatting about things I’d written and from there we had a huge conversation about the arts and culture and content and contributing and how being an audience member, a consumer, is part of the […]
April 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Phil Judd: Flightless Bird
Phil Judd Flightless Bird (Independent/Bandcamp) For the last decade and a half Phil Judd’s musical voice has been sneaking out into the world via a handful of idiosyncratic solo releases – you know that voice, instantly. And vocally there’s still every power in it, reminders of all that was always great. There are musical motifs – and the […]
April 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Hedvig Mollestad Trio: Smells Funny
Hedvig Mollestad Trio Smells Funny Rune Grammofon I like to check in with the Hedvig Mollestad Trio for every second album. Otherwise it can feel like the same line-up doing the same things. Which it still kinda does…but with a bit of breathing space you can see some new things, you can hear some slight variation. Where Black Stabat Mater was proto-Hendrix-hurricane at least Enfant Terrible had something of the […]
April 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Now We’re Getting Somewhere
I’ve only just learned – from Billy Collins no less! – that poems often have two subjects. Commiserations…
April 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
RNZ Reviews: March 2019
Once a month or so I have a chat on RNZ on their Afternoons show with Jesse Mulligan. These things start – randomly and stop in much the same way. I hope to keep doing this. For a while at least. I think I started in December of 2015, so now four years into it or so… For […]
April 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 316
V/A, Office Space [OST] (1999) I was so hooked on Office Space as soon as I saw it. Watched it at the movie theatre twice – then it was a flat-staple on DVD and VOD-services – back in the days of “Saturn” as I recall…and the music was always a crucial component, but I never thought to hunt […]
April 16, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Norah Jones: Begin Again
Norah Jones Begin Again Blue Note Somehow Norah Jones has survived. That might seem a funny thing to say for someone that burst on to the scene with one of the biggest surprise debut hits of the modern era. And has been in favour almost ever since and always…but it took a few years for Jones to […]
April 16, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Playlist: MOJO Magazine’s 50 Greatest Fleetwood Mac Songs
The latest issue of MOJO magazine features a list of the 50 greatest Fleetwood Mac songs. It’s a pretty great list – taking in all versions of the band and cherry-picking from pretty much every album. So I decided to make a copy of the list for anyone that wanted to hear it – in the order […]
April 16, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
I Wrote The Foreword For Jan Hellriegel’s New Book/Album – Sportsman Of The Year
I wrote the foreword to Jan Hellriegel’s new book/album – in my defense I thought I was writing ‘Liner Notes’ – which is fine, the foreword to the book is still part of the liner-notes to the album…you see Jan contacted me and told me she wanted to send me her new album. I think I […]
April 16, 2019 by Simon Sweetman