The best NZ album you never heard in your life – Spacesuit (1997)
In this occasional series, GARY STEEL pays tribute to lesser-known records that really rock. Today it's Spacesuit's turn.
The reluctant storyteller – Scheherazade like you’ve never heard her before
As the APO prepares to play a New Zealand premiere by the world’s leading composer, RICHARD BETTS looks at the many lives of Scheherazade,
1001 Albums You Must Die Before You Hear #18 – Echo by Gracious
Reunion albums often suck but they're rarely as godawful as this egg-on-face progressive rock travesty, writes MATT KELLY.
The resurrection of The Body Electric – NZ’s first all-electronic band
GARY STEEL was there when Wellington synth-pop band The Body Electric’s ‘Pulsing’ took off in 1982. Here’s his take on the phenomenon.
1001 Albums You Must Die Before Your Hear – Paul Lekakis’s Tattoo It
The 'Boom Boom Let's Go Back To My Room' guy didn't even have one entertaining album in him, MATT KELLY discovers.
Ragnarok’s 1970s NZ space-rock masterpiece reassessed
Kiwi space-rock band Ragnarok’s 1975 debut has been rediscovered and reissued. GARY STEEL with an in-depth assessment.
1001 Albums You Must Die Before You Hear #16 – Manic Street Preachers’ Resistance Is Futile
The Manic Street Preachers' depressing schtick gets well and truly tired on an album that MATT KELLY wished never existed.
1001 Albums You Must Die Before You Hear #15 – Nicky Wire’s I Killed The Zeitgeist
Why did the Manic Street Preachers let Nicky Wire out to sing so horrendously on his solo disc? MATT KELLY can only sigh.
1001 Albums You Must Die Before You Hear – The Fast Food Rockers’ diabetes-enhancer
MATT KELLY valiantly warns the unsuspecting music fan to stay away from the horrendous 2003 comeback of Stock (of Aitken Waterman).
Forty years ago… NZ post-punk band Rank And File
Back in 1982 GARY STEEL had a bit of a chat with Auckland post-punk group Rank And File.
1001 Albums You Must Die Before You Hear – The Stranglers’ 10
The last gasp of the original Stranglers lineup, 10 is an execrable, lame and indefensibly weak way to bid adieu, writes MAT KELLY.
1001 albums you must die before you hear – The Stranglers’ Feline
The bad boys of rock'n'roll complete an appallingly swift transformation into a bad pop band on Feline writes MATT KELLY.
Oddly alluring outing for former Muttonbirds guitarist
You can hear his music in Peter Jackson’s movies and he once played guitar for The Muttonbirds. GARY STEEL reviews David Long’s new album.
1001 Albums You Must Die Before You Hear – Florence Foster Jenkins
She sang so badly that people turned up in their droves to laugh at her sad attempts to "wow" New York. MATT KELLY on
A shot in the arm just when we really need it – Die! Die! Die!
GARY STEEL raves like a lunatic about a group whose new album is a real shot in the arm just when we need it.
1001 Albums You Must Die Before You Hear – Pink Floyd’s The Endless River
MATT KELLY has a big soft spot for "the Floyd" but the group's studio epilogue is more like an endless death rattle.
Recordings reassessed: AGF – Words Are Missing (2008)
Every week GARY STEEL pulls another random album from his bulging shelves to cast a critical eye over. It's your turn, AGF!
I woke. Now I must just be.
This time last year singer-songwriter JOHN HANLON was in Auckland ICU with toxic shock and expected not to survive. Here's what happened next.
Live shows from long ago… Shriekback
In 1987 Shriekback toured NZ in support of their fourth and biggest album. GARY STEEL reviewed their show in Christchurch.
1001 Albums You Must Die Before You Hear – #9: Paul Simon – Graceland (The Remixes) (2018)
Read on as Paul Simon allows his classic album to be totally fucked over by a bunch of EDM savages. MATT KELLY is not
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