I’m usually on RNZ once a month to have a chat about some new albums. But now and then I present features on the show too. Most recently I got to talk about George Harrison’s music for almost a whole hour!
And then the team behind the summer programming asked me along to chat about Damon Albarn.
Good times! Read More
It’s nearly time for St. Jerome’s Laneway for 2019. Mixing classic, dependable guests from previous events and/or regular visitor to New Zealand (Courtney Barnett, Florence + The Machine) with artists that have had a hell of a 2018 – their time is now (Jorja Smith, Mitski) an of course the classic “comeback / reunion” of a legendary local act (and this time it’s The Dead C) the Laneway line-up is both a curated triumph that speaks to taste – and very much so a case of the much admired (when done right) something for everyone. Read More
these scores are
really complicated,
the vision is
distressed, a murderous
ballet of the senses,
a world far outside
itself – far beyond what
one person could ever
know – the show is in
the tell. The way
back is by putting your
best foot forward and hoping
you don’t end up playing
your worst hand.
Best of luck. And good
night. I love you all.
It’s the first time for 2019 – it’s in its fifth year now too…yes, A Vinyl Affair – Wellington’s Record Fair will be back at its home, The Rogue & Vagabond, on Saturday, February 23.
It’s a day-time gig, 10am-4pm, no need to pack a lunch they make great food at the Rogue. There’s great beers too.
And to help you as you rummage for gold there’ll be a selection of DJs spinning tunes, providing you with the soundtrack. Read More
You arrive at The Young Gods due to name-drops and connections including David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails and Swans – and maybe they sound, at least a little bit anyway, like all three of those artists combined. Okay, you might have arrived at them back in the day without being prompted but for me it was David Bowie – his wonderful Outside album was one of my favourites from the “late-period” Bowie catalogue and I devoured the press surrounding that album. I couldn’t understand why it was something of a failure.
But The Young Gods remained, mostly, just a name. For me. So, now here I am with The Red Water as it translates from L’eau Rouge, a lean, mean, strange, baffling and quite brilliant album that – on first listen – freaked me out even. Playing it over and again I’ve found some love for it. But it’s a right time/right place album. And then, isn’t the best music always like that anyway? The really best music I mean.
I might not fall madly in love with this album – but it seemed important to get a handle on. To roll with for a bit. And I reckon it’ll become a favourite for a wee while at least..
Father Time
has never been
that kind – never
been the kind of
soul to figure it
was not right to
take a toll – you
pay in blood and
sweat and grit.
And these days you
pay an extra amount
from online shit, from
giving a shit about anything
you read or see or feel
or believe – it’s all there
to further deceive.
Whereas Father Time
is doing just fine – he
hasn’t aged since it
all iced over.
He’s letting you
make a mockery
of your life.
And you’re
letting him win. Read More
Not only is this the first time I’ve heard it – it’s also the first fIREHOSE album I’ve ever heard. But I was always interested in the band. Because I’m fairly interested in what Mike Watt gets up to with music. I remember reading about fIREHOSE in the music mags and from there I checked out the Watt solo album, Ball-Hog or Tugboat? This was a crucial thing, a staple for grunge-era music listeners because of its impressive guest-cast. It was like a who’s who of alternative music.
Anyway, I also love Minutemen and especially Double Nickels on the Dime which I had got to from reading some other list in some other book or magazine some other time. But that’s a classic. I’m not big on stuff from the hardcore and American punk scenes – but the stuff I like I really love. Read More
I met Steve Gadd.
He had
played on many of
the greatest songs ever.
And just in case
he’d forgotten
I reminded him.
I got him to sign
my records.
He was embarrassed –
And told me he liked
the fact that I was wearing
shorts.
It takes all sorts. And I was the
only one he’d seen not wearing
long pants. So that was a talking
point.
A local drummer-ape had been assigned
as his driver. When he wasn’t sitting
on Steve Gadd’s knee
he was picking the lice from his back and
swallowing swiftly as if it contained the
secret to the feather-touch triplet movement between
the hi-hat, the bass drum, the snare.
I didn’t dare tell Mr. Steve Gadd
that I was sure I could play 50 Ways long
before I could.
But as he looked at me with the eyes that had stared
at the back of Paul Simon’s head
I could tell that he knew I would not
have it right.
What’s left to say?
I told him that Late In The Evening was
some sort of secret pathway.
He told me he liked my hat.
A day later I would drive 200kms
to give him a hat – oh, and
to watch his gig.
I was blown away to see and hear the guy that
I had been aware of since I was seven or eight
years of age. His shuffle-feel intros, outros and bridging
fills for Paul and Carly Simon, for James Taylor and Steely
Dan, for Chick Corea and others all
dangled around him like dazzlers and chains.
He was blown away to see me in jandals – “you’re
wearing flip-flops?” he questioned – in the voice
that had told Rickie Lee Jones he “might have something”
for that bit during Chuck E.’s In Love.
The local drummer-turned-chauffeur
was crouched on the stage, later in
that evening, almost sitting
inside the pocket of the solo
to Aja.
Ready to pounce
at the drop of said hat. Read More
I was going to say that I was very much Team Neneh Cherry back in this day – but a) I still am. And b) it wasn’t about choosing sides. I just mean that – for whatever reason – I never listened to Queen Latifah. I was aware of her, heard a song or two, but I never heard this, her debut record. And I don’t think I’ve heard any of the others. She was – and is – a force though. That’s for sure. I remember enjoying bits and pieces of her music when I heard it. And knowing it was quality stuff with great names and players involved too. Years later I saw her on Sesame Street – watching archival stuff with my young son. And of course she ditched the music and became a successful actor and TV show host. Then returned, sporadically, to music. Read More
The other night I played a bunch of tunes at the San Fran, summer songs – Kiwi classic, a bit of 70s and 80s Yacht-Rock, some tunes I like…
I enjoyed this mix of tunes and thought you might too – so here’s a Spotify Playlist you can help yourself to; might work for you…
Not every song from the DJ set is here, but you’ll get the idea. Most of them made it/were found on Spotify…
Adapting. That’s the goal of the music and arts journo now. Has been the case for a few years. But never more so than right now. I started 2018 wondering if there was much point in writing or if there were any readers left for me at all even. I then decided it was about gathering experiences and enjoying them. I was no longer on the clock and forced to go to gigs – it was about choice. I still wrote a few reviews of course. Same deal with albums. I mostly hunted out records for myself, writing about them long after they were deemed “Brand New”. Or not writing about them at all, just enjoying them. Read More
I remember in the very early 1990s or possibly right at the end of the late 80s – might even have been New Year’s Eve programming – seeing a video clip from Dwight Yoakam and I thought it was cool. The rest of the family did not. They are not country music fans. At all. And that coloured my early music listening. No country music at all. All country was considered “Country ‘n’ Western”; was considered the music that the grandparents listened to, was naff, not cool, not worthy. But I remembered the name Dwight Yoakam and though it was a few years before I got into any of his music – and mostly the covers and compilation albums – I always wanted to like him. And I did. But there’s a lot of his stuff I haven’t heard. So here, with this, his third album – Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room – I might have eventually got to it but the challenge is the enabler. And I’m pleased to now have this in my collection. A lean, immaculate collection of top-quality songs from a class act. Read More