Stranded in Australia during the COVID pandemic. Stranded in the US after a coup in Niger. This week’s theme is dislocation, with the power pop of Charly Bliss and the guitar rock of Mdou Moctar both affected. Charly Bliss Forever…
The siren beats of Pasifika communities in Auckland made it to the top of the American charts, with some help from Jason Derulo and BTS. New Zealand in the US charts Historically, the top of the US charts has been…
It’s spring here in New Zealand, which means insanely high winds most of the time. It’s lovely when the winds stop though. This is one of the tougher Greatest Hits quizzes, at least for me. There weren’t many artists I’m…
Porter Robinson has added some swagger to his electro-pop. St. Vincent has added some industrial textures to her art-rock. Read on for details. Porter Robinson Smile! 😀 2024, 8.5/10Porter Robinson grew up in Chapel Hill, the same town in North…
Kate Bush exploded into popular music with her first single, 1978’s ‘Wuthering Heights’. The folk music from her Irish mother, the progressive rock that her older brothers listened to as teenagers, and radio-friendly pop like Elton John are all melded…
Before he became Patti Smith’s lead guitarist, Lenny Kaye compiled the 2 album set, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. Released in 1972, the two-LP set covered American garage rock and psychedelia from the years 1965-1968 and was…
Welcome to the future (if you’re reading this in the Americas). It’s already 29 August here, and it’s time for some quizzing. We’re up to #37 in this long-running series. This week you need to tell the difference between the…
Neil Finn grew up in Te Awamutu, a provincial town in New Zealand. As a teenage guitarist, he joined his brother Tim in the art-rock band Split Enz. When the Enz switched gears to new wave pop, Neil provided their…
Jackson topped the NZ charts eight times as a solo artist. Surprisingly, six of these were during the 1990s. Michael Jackson Michael Jackson was the eighth of ten children, growing up on Jackson Street in Gary, Indiana. He joined the…
The Decemberists rode the wave of early 21st-century Indie to success, attracting attention with their predilection for historical epics and olde English folk music. They hail from Portland, Oregon, but the band was named for the Decembrist Revolution in 19th-century…
