Caroles, Te Kooti Brotherhood, Graves, Parents – Lucha Lounge (Concert Review)
What better venue for a hardcore punk show than Newmarket’s Lucha Lounge, where pictures of masked Mexican wrestlers glare threateningly from the walls. The evening opens with Caroles, a heavy three-piece whose primarily instrumental sound ranges from film track gorgeousness to tightly controlled chaos. Their moody set is both sublime and deranged, traversing everything from […]
Don McGlashan – Hopetoun Alpha
Don McGlashan quickly warmed up the chilly Hopetoun Alpha by playing his stunning new album, Lucky Stars, in its entirety, then treating the sold-out crowd to a second set of old favourites. The Hopetoun Alpha is a lovely little venue, but it only holds about 300 or so people for a sit-down concert, so […]
RIP: Ornette Coleman
Jazz great Ornette Colemnan has passed away at the age of 85. His contribution to music was immeaasurable. For more information, read this obituary from The New York Times. Click here to listen to Ornette Coleman’s recording of Lonely Woman from the 1959 album The Shape Of Jazz To Come:
Watch AC/DC Concert Promoter Garry Van Edmond
Yesterday, promoter Garry Van Egmond announced two AC/DC New Zealand tour dates. The veteran promoter also sat down with The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda to talk about the ins and louts of the concert promotion business. The Australian-based promoter has been putting on shows since the mid-1970s…one of his first tours was The Bee Gees. […]
Johnny Marr Winner!
Congratulations go out to Paul Douglas who named The The as one of the many bands Johnny Marr has played with other than The Smiths. Paul has won a double pass to see Johnny Marr perform at Auckland’s Powerstation on Thursday, July 16th. See you there!
Yngwie Malmsteen – Powerstation
Swedish guitar shredder Yngwie Malmsteen posed and preened his way through a thunderous set of generic metal tunes…using a wall of Marshall amps as his backdrop. It was certainly an impressive sight…a wall of Marshall stacks lined up to cover most of the Powerstation stage and towering at about 8 feet. I felt bad for […]
Watch Shaun Kirk’s 13th Floor Video Session
Australian blues man Shaun Kirk kicked off his 2015 New Zealand tour with a show at Auckland’s Tuning Fork last night. A day earlier he stopped by The 13th Floor studio to play a couple of songs and talk to Marty Duda. Shaun played a rousing version of Two Hands On The Wheel and then […]
Josh Rennie-Hynes – Wine Cellar
Auckland greeted the young Australian singer-songwriter with a cold, wet slap in the face. The weather may have kept patrons away from K’Road on this blustery Wednesday night, but those few who braved the elements were treated to a beautifully-nuanced performance. The evening marked the return of Josh Rennie-Hynes, who first toured New Zealand last […]
Watch Shaun Kirk perform ‘Two Hands On The Wheel’ at The 13th Floor
Australian blues man Shaun Kirk braved the wind and rain to make his way to The 13th Floor tonight to play a couple of tunes and chat with Marty Duda. We’ll have the entire session ready for you soon, but in the mean time, here’s Shaun singing a special version of Two Hands On The […]
Watch Josh Rennie-Hynes at The 13th Floor
Here’s Australian singer-songwriter Josh Rennie-Hynes at The 13th Floor on the eve of his latest New Zealand tour. Josh talks to Marty Duda about the writing of his new song, Land Of Clouds, inspired by his previous trip to NZ, then Josh and Reb Fountain perform the song exclusively for The 13th Floor. Both Josh […]
Watch Tiny Ruins at The 13th Floor
Tiny Ruins’ Hollie Fullbrook stopped in to The 13th Floor to talk about her upcoming tour with Bic Runga and to play a few songs. The songs she choice are particularly exciting…a never-recorded (by her) version of John Cale’s Andalucia, a beautiful WB Yeats poem set to music and a rarely-performed original composition from Brightly […]
Bad Manners – Kings Arms
If you saw Douglas Trendle sitting and having a pint at the King’s Arms, you’d likely write him off at the nutter down the pub you’d rather avoid, the UKIP voter with a pitbull under a corner table and a half-looked-at copy of The Sun by his beer tankard. But on stage, Trendle becomes Buster […]
Chick Corea & Herbie Hancock – Civic Theatre
If ever there was needed any evidence to prove the power of music as a real-life fountain of youth, you only needed to watch these two jazz giants, both in their mid-seventies. The more they played together, the faster the years seemed to disappear.
Watch Tiny Ruins perform Andalucia at The 13th Floor
Tiny Ruins, aka Hollie Fullbrook stopped by The 13th Floor earlier this week to talk about her upcoming tour with Bic Runga. While she was there she performed a few songs for us. We’ll have the entire video session ready for you in a few days, but in the mean time, check out this exquisite […]
Che "Rhymefest" Smith: Rebuilding His Father’s House (Interview)
Che Smith, aka Rhymefest, is a Grammy and Oscar-winning hip-hop artist and songwriter. He is also the driving force behind the documentary In My Father’s House. The film finds Rhymefest on the Chicago’s South Side, where he and his family buy a house that turns out to be the childhood home of his father. Che […]
Anika Moa – The Powerstation
Sure, Anika Moa has performed at The Powerstation before, but on this, her first show in support of her latest album, Queen At The Table, we heard an Anika we never heard before in a Powerstation that looked vastly different that it has in the past. I arrived at the venerable venue just as She’s […]
Meet Cairo Knife Fight
Nick Gaffaney has been helming Cairo Knife Fight for several years now. With the help of friends like Joel Haines, Mark Lanegan and Aaron Tokona he has finally released his first full-length album, entitled The Colossus. With the new album comes a new tour and…a new guitarist. Nick has recruited former Black-Eyed Peas guitarist George […]
Nikolas Rossi: Making Heaven Adores You (Interview)
Heaven Adores You explores the life of singer/songewiter Elliott Smith who died tragically in 2003. The film is being featured at this year’s Documentary Edge Festival taking place now in Auckland and moving on to Wellington in June. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to Nikolas Rossi, the director of Heaven Adores You, about his […]
Watch Anthonie Tonnon’s 13th Floor Video Session
Anthonie Tonnon helps celebrate New Zealand Music Month with a visit to The 13th Floor where he talks to Marty Duda and performs three songs from his latest album, Successor. Be sure to catch Anthonie’s vinyl release show at Freida Margolis in Grey Lynn, Auckland on Sunday, June 7th.
Lydia Lunch: I Was A Teen Terrorist (Interview -Pt2)
(This is Part Two of a two-part interview. For Part One, click here.) Lydia Lunch is many things…musician, poet, conceptualist, photographer…basically a walking work of art. Lydia was at the cutting edge of New York City’s No Wave movement when her band Teenage Jesus & The Jerks first began recording and performing in the late […]