19/10/2022
Jenny Mitchell released her third, and surely best-yet album in mid-2022. Bringing a sense of peace amongst the chaos, ‘Tug Of War’ seems to have arrived with perfect timing. Both romantic and heartbreakingly melancholic, ...
19/08/2022
Skram is a magnetic new pop group from Lower Hutt, with sing-and-laugh along videos and a firecracker stage presence. Henry Ashby on lead vocals and guitar, Felix Nesbitt on drums and vocals, and Lee Pryor on keyboards and ...
27/07/2022
Five years since the release of their ‘Fabric’ album, The Black Seeds have emerged out of the bleak debris of the pandemic with multiple singles heralding their new album ‘Love & Fire’, dropping mid-June 2022 ...
05/07/2022
Dropping at the beginning of April, NOURI’s single No One Else heralded her debut EP ‘Handle With Care’ which followed at the end of that month. A heartfelt ballad, the single showcases the hard-working Kiwi/Kurdish ...
14/06/2022
Originating in Wellington as a schoolboy skater band back in 2009, Bakers Eddy have this March released a debut album that has drawn enthusiastic praise for its freewheeling blend of indie and punk, music that’s as exuberantly ...
17/07/2017
Just as I had finished writing about the mathematical complexities of Meshuggah and Tessaract in the last edition, the news came through of Chuck Berry’s passing. I thought that, given the huge musical legacy he left, and ...
03/05/2017
In this issue we are going to look at polymetric basslines and drum patterns that have been recorded by two bands described online as ‘progressive’ or ‘extreme’ metal. Whether those are accurate descriptions of them ...
15/03/2017
In this issue I am looking at a tune from a musical I saw when I was 15 years old. It was one of the reasons I became a professional musician in the ’70s, and it has been covered by some great people. The musical was called ...
21/12/2016
As it’s the Christmas period, I thought I would do some shameless marketing. There is a new album, ‘Dunedin Spleen’ from The Verlaines, a Dunedin band with which I play, that’s due for release in the new year. My ...
07/12/2016
This Deep Thinking bass lesson concerns how two sources of bass in a band can sound big and grunty (is that a word?). I did loads of adverts and television soundtracks between the 1970s and 1990s that combined a synth bass, ...
