Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ score for the film The Proposition would have arrived in my letterbox; back when I inundated with CDs to review. It was a busy time. Reviewing on radio, TV, in the newspaper and for magazines. I’d also just finished a stint of music retail. And so the conditions were primed: […]
They say you hurt the ones you love but it’s just creating distance – like when you love to drink so much and it only makes you the funniest, best, smartest – I’ll never hurt the ones I love, I’ll only make spaces between myself and people I no longer agree with, values-wise. Like ordering […]
He’s been most places once and isn’t all that interested in going back for seconds. He lists them all like I might with the films I’ve seen. Collecting a set of experiences – but places change, places reflect the faces in them, the spaces that open up within them too. It’s all about change. Films […]
I’ve started listening to a lot of Thrash. I don’t usually listen to a lot of Thrash. Not since I was about 15 or 16. But, ever since then, it has been a component of my listening. I have my favourites. Metallica’s Ride The Lightning, Slayer’s Reign In Blood, the first few Megadeth albums…early Anthrax, […]
Lee Ranaldo In Virus Time [12 “ Single] Mute My favourite ex-member of Sonic Youth to check in on, always, is Lee Ranaldo. Because what he does never feels like posturing. And because you have to follow him across poetry and photographs, improv and band jamming, solo acoustic singer/songwritery pursuits and all manner of music. […]
In 2015 I started reviewing albums on RNZ – a quick chat, mentioning a couple of artists, playing a couple of songs. I loved it. I love talking on radio. Love the medium. Love the challenge of “reviewing” music that way. It’s different from writing about music – or should be. Some radio reviewers write […]
Little certain moments. You feel relief, you know it was the right call. You made it – because you had to. Needed it, for your sanity. Walked away in just the right way, at just the right time. A moment, although little, and you were certain. You were right to do it, it was right […]
I had a typewriter and a box of tapes and that was enough to get me started. Every night, in my room, after school, after sport, I’d write what I could. Not much has changed. I’ve blazed through formats – to CDs, and records, streaming, back to CDs and records, and so many computers. I […]
Nicholas Britell Don’t Look Up (Soundtrack From The Netflix Film) Maisie Music Publishing, LLC, under exclusive license to Republic Records, a division of UMG Recording, Inc. First off, I loved the film – good fun, sharp, cruel, cutting and above-all, disturbingly accurate. But this is a review of the film’s score. Something I can’t say […]
After interviewing Damon Albarn I knew I had to go to the Gorillaz concert. Before that I wanted to, sure. But Albarn’s interest in music – his dedication to recreating so much of the Plastic Beach album – made it impossible not to get caught up in the need to be there. So it was off on the plane to Auckland, overnight, for Gorillaz. I […]
Rest is what’s happening when you’re not being who you want to be – but you’re preparing for that role. Rest is that tension, that exhalation. Rest is a conversation between what you love to do and how you love to be. The rest is history.
Orrin Evans The Magic of Now Smoke Sessions Records Orrin Evans has released a bunch of albums as a leader – mostly of small combos but he’s also collaborated with big bands too, and there was a recent stint as the replacement for Ethan Iverson in The Bad Plus. An adaptable, charismatic pianist, Evans is […]