Two solidly enjoyable albums this week. Twenty years after his breakthrough album, Greetings from Michigan, The Great Lake State, Sufjan Stevens is back with an especially forlorn record. Meanwhile, UK band The Tubs deliver their debut, energetic and concise. Enjoy!…
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…
Congratulations to last week’s contestants. It looks like the fastest time came from Jamie from The Music In My Ears This week your challenge is to link albums to bands starting with A. I’m not intimately acquainted with the…
Musicians used synthesizers before Kraftwerk. Karlheinz Stockhausen experimented with them in the 1950s, while Switched-On Bach reached the top ten in 1968. Synths popped up on 1960s rock records by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, while Stevie Wonder also…
Justin Bieber dominated the NZ charts during the final quarter of 2015. This Ed Sheeran-written song took the top spot for 10 weeks. Justin Bieber Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber was discovered via YouTube. His mother had uploaded videos of…
Congratulations to Tony, who joined me on 18/20 in last week’s Album Covers III quiz. This week your challenge is to identify the correctly spelled band names. As a web editor, looking for spelling mistakes is my job, so…
Two female solo artists this week. But they’re drastically different. Kara Jackson is a bluesy singer-songwriter, brutally honest on her debut album. Cleo Sol’s back with her second album in a month, her smooth R&B as warm and comforting as…
Philadelphia vocal harmony group Boyz II Men unleashed this epic breakup tearjerker in 1992. Boyz II Men Philadelphia vocal harmony quartet Boyz II Men were successful on the New Zealand single charts during the 1990s. They enjoyed the third-most number-one…
Welcome back to another week of quizzing. Tony just pipped James Kalyn for bragging rights in last week’s 2000s adjectives quiz. This week your challenge is to name the album when given its cover. It features a fun mix of…
Acts from both sides of this pond this week. It’s easy to tell which artist is from which side. Blake Mills evokes Laurel Canyon, with traces of country and psychedelia. Tirzah has a more modern sheen. Tirzah Trip9love…??? 2023, 9/10As…
