Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra & Wynton Marsalis
Jazz For Kids
Blue Engine Records
Wynton Marsalis has given much to the world of music but in his role as educator and leader of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra he is continuing to build a world of music; to entertain and educate in equal measures. It’s an astonishing legacy being built brick by brick. Read More
Bob Gaulke
Obsessives
Bob Gaulke / Robert C Gaulke
New York-based poet and musician Bob Gaulke is a prolific force. I loved his Transportation album of less than a couple of years ago – and now, already, he’s followed it with Obsessives – a mini-album really, 8 songs, 22 minutes (as I like to say, EP-length but LP-quality).
I hear a touch of 80s Lou Reed to his voice (Questionnaire) and a nice line in Tropicalia-infused adult pop music (Traffic Islands). Here he has a couple of guest vocalists to assist him in writing for different voices than his own. Opener, Greatness, features Vivian Benford and Peri Mason doing their read on a Wendy & Lisa vibe over slinky saxes (Matt Carrillo) and Gaulke’s own warm, empathetic, guiding bass. Emilia Cataldo also assists with lead vocals on the title track and harmonies for Traffic Islands.
Where this album really succeeds is in the lounge-y feels (Ohmyfatherfatherfather) where a samba sway is conveyed across the meter of a pop song; the integration of ideas is seamless, never jarring.
Gil Oliveira and Kevin Gerovich’s subtle, controlled drumming sets up the framework for the waft of Carrillo’s saxophones (My Favela is a standout) and some of the more ‘pop’ music shapes take me back to the music Laurie Anderson was making in the 1980s (Excellent Birds).
This is yet another charming, intriguing set of songs from a restless creative spirit.
Huey Lewis & The News
Weather
BMG Rights Management (US) LLC
It’s interesting enough that Huey Lewis & The News has just released its first new set of original tunes in close to two decades. But it’s bittersweet too – as the frontman’s diagnosis of Meniere’s disease has come to a point where he can no longer hear the music he’s making. Huey’s latest news is that this is quite possibly the last album from him and The News. Read More
The Stranglers w/ Mi-Sex
Opera House, Wellington
Friday, February 14
I saw The Stranglers in 2016 – this version of the band. And it was superb. So much so I wasn’t sure I needed to see the band again (they’ve been back twice since) but then something made me think that it wouldn’t at all hurt to see them again. Those songs, man. They pack in the songs. I saw Buzzcocks twice within a few years, and yes they delivered similar sets but both were great. Read More
Wonderful
Direction: Conrad Newport (written by Dean Parker)
Circa Theatre; Circa Two (February 12 – March 7)
Wonderful is exactly that – a thrill to sit through, 80 minutes of focussed, virtuoso-level performance from actor Andrew Laing; utterly in service to the words of playwright Dean Parker. The direction from Conrad Newport is subtle and assured – but in the end, given it is a one-person-play, it lives or dies because of the performance at the centre. Parker’s script and Newport’s direction are resources for Laing to draw from. They are tools that assist. But it’s his deep dig into his own soul as well as his actor’s toolbox, of course, that makes Wonderful the thing that it is. Read More
David Gray
White Ladder (20th Anniversary Edition)
Iht Records
White Ladder was actually released in 1998. But no one gave a fuck. No one gave a shit about David Gray. He’d been stagnating, releasing middling-af albums across the middling-af 1990s; his pained bleat, his lack of interest in a melody, or in anything especially necessary to say, his rudimentary guitar skills, perfunctory arrangements…a recipe for failing upwards. Read More
Rob Hirst + Sean Sennett
Driver Reviver (ep)
Rob Hirst & Sean Sennett
Rob Hirst, erstwhile drummer for Midnight Oil, has kept busy in the wake (Ghostwriters, Backsliders) and is singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist too. But also he’s just a kick-ass rock drummer, really drives the songs – passionate in his playing, inventive and never ever showy at the expense of the tune; in short he’s a safe, safe pair of hands and the sort of super-sub you’d want on your team. Sean Sennett is a musician, songwriter and music journalist and he’s collaborated with Kate Cebrano and Steve Kilbey as well as various other projects. Read More
Brad Mehldau
Mon chien Stupide (Bande originale du film)
Same Player
Sign me up for the film straight away: A French translation of the John Fante novella (My Dog Stupid from the posthumous collection West of Rome in which a middle-aged couple with marriage troubles have a big ‘Stupid’ dog come between them – written, directed by and starring Yvan Attal and his real-life partner Charlotte Gainsbourg. Read More
Bryan Ferry
Live At The Royal Albert Hall 1974
BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd
Bryan Ferry was one of the coolest people on the planet in 1974. He was also this in 1973. He is also this – to many people – now. And certainly there’s plenty of evidence here and across 73/74 when he was simultaneously the front-man of a prolific, established Roxy Music and announcing himself as a solo star. Read More
Bob Mould
Sunshine Rock
Merge Records
A few short years ago I thought Beauty & Ruin was one of the best things Bob Mould had ever done – and I’d hope that was saying something given the bands he made and played in ahead of his busy-enough, solid-af solo career. Read More
Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets
Walkabout
Yep Roc
With Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets heading to NZ and Aussie the good folk at Yep Rock put together this compilation which showcases some of the tunes from them collaborative EPs and some of Los Straitjackets’ instrumental takes on Nick Lowe classics from their album. Read More
J.J. Cale
Jan Douwe Kroeske Presents: 2 Meter Sessions # 461 – J.J. Cale
2 Meter Sessies
Alright, so 2 Meter Sessies (or 2 Meter Sessions) is a Dutch radio and TV show that, beginning in 1987, is an antecedent of MTV Unplugged. Did you know that? I didn’t. Not until I heard this – one of a series of new archival releases. Read More