Another week, another batch of increasingly obscure artists. This lot’s particularly eclectic, with everything from Reba McEntire to Captain Beefheart. Can you differentiate between Coolio and Shaggy? Or between Snow Patrol and Milli Vanilli? I was surprisingly successful this…
Two short albums by American female solo artists this week. Maryland’s Maggie Rogers makes likeable roots-tinged pop. From Indianapolis, Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker recorded her fifth studio album in a backwoods cabin. Maggie Rogers Don’t Forget Me 2024, 8.5/10Rogers started…
Before he became Patti Smith’s lead guitarist, Lenny Kaye compiled 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 a major influence on…
Welcome back for another round of quizzing. It’s a little trickier this week in my opinion. Can you tell the difference between Cascada and Jessica Simpson? I scored 17/20, but I was a little lucky. Can you surpass me?…
Vampire Weekend were formed by students at Columbia University. Frontman Ezra Koenig named the project after a vampire movie he started making in college. The group were interested in African music and punk rock, influences that are clear on their…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 3 Paloma Blanca by George Baker Selection Topped the NZ chart: from 1 August 1975 for five non-consecutive weeks Dutch musician George Baker scored hits in three different decades. 1969’s ‘Little Green Bag’ is an…
You probably know the drill by now – match the artist to the greatest hits album. I found this week’s selection the easiest for a while, scoring 18 Guessing between Mis-Teeq and Eternal felt like a coin toss, though.…
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…
In 2021, I assembled a list of my ten favourite Billy Joel songs. It included big hits and deep cuts, taken from his 1976-1983 prime. There’s been a lot of Billy Joel discussion in my household recently. My nine-year-old daughter’s…
It’s ANZAC Day here in New Zealand, where we remember the Gallipoli campaign, a disastrous attack on a Turkish peninsula during World War 1. It also would have been my dad’s 80th birthday – he was born during World War…
