Yussef Dayes Trio Welcome To The Hills Cashmere Thoughts Take a look at that cover – the drum-kit on fire! – it’s either evocation of playing with such heat as to near fear for your life or a symbol of burning it all to the ground, either way it’s about leaving it all on the […]
Summer holiday writing block is the building block for the year. And from such terrible foundations all one can do is hope to build on it. Brick by brick you chip away at the task. You pile it up and hope it doesn’t come crashing down. If it does – and when it does – […]
Grand River Blink A Few Times To Clear Your Eyes Editions Mego Ambient, minimalist, new age, techno – these were the things, and in fact the blur of them all – that helped carry me through 2020. I’ve been listening to instrumental music as long as I’ve been listening to music. I’ve been listening to […]
Neal Page is a high-strung marketing executive. Del Griffith is goodhearted but he’s annoying. He sells shower curtain rings. Neal and Del spend three days together trying to make it home to their families for thanksgiving – they live in the same city, but ahead of a chance encounter, a taxi cab muck-up and then […]
Well, it took most of my life before I made it to Waiheke Island – and then only two years to get back there. Good time on the island for sure. We had a few days in Auckland and kicked it off with a stay in Waiheke – early flight to the big city and […]
Sympathy For The Drummer: Why Charlie Watts Matters Mike Edison Backbeat Most people know that Charlie Watts matters – most people that would read a book about how Charlie Watts matters would already know I reckon…hell, I already wrote my own piece arguing much the same ages ago – but that didn’t stop me lapping […]
Sleaford Mods All That Glue Rough Trade Granted, I was a little slow to the party with Sleaford Mods. I heard a few tracks and thought they were clever, biting, funny – but I couldn’t commit to the albums. That changed with 2019’s Eton Alive which I instantly thought was brilliant. Something clicked. It arrived […]
we softly die, each day it seems we fight quite hard for broken dreams
Khatia Buniatishvili Labyrinth Sony Classical By my count this is Khatia Buniastishvili’s eighth album for Sony Classical, her fifth solo piano recital – its title hinting at the twists and turns offered within, where previous records were often straight tributes to heroes (and strictly classical composers – Schubert, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Beethoven, Chopin) here she switches […]
Phil Spector high on coke, shoves his gun at Leonard Cohen’s throat, says “You know, I love you Leonard” Cohen says, “I hope so!” There are other great stories – Charlie Watts putting on a suit and punching Mick Jagger in the face after the singer had told someone to fetch his drummer. “I am […]
I’ve done a few Bowie tribute DJ sets over the years, including when he was alive. But last weekend marked the fifth year since his passing – so I rolled out another five-hour DJ set.
I’ve already shared the setlist but figured you might want to have a listen to these tunes in this order.
Someone said there were too many omissions to mention. Well, dur, it’s a finite list… Continue reading
Blanck Mass Calm With Horses (Original Score) INVADA Records When not one half of the group Fuck Buttons, Benjamin John Power has been making music as Blanck Mass. I never gelled with group work but love his solo electronica pursuits. So I was pleased to hear it was him behind the score to the movie […]