Gig Review: The Church Tour @ Chapel of Christ The King, Hamilton - 22/09/16
03 Oct 2016 // review by mciver29
As a 32 year old former Catholic the idea of going to a Church to see 4 artists that found recognition in the early 80's was a strange one, I had a few conflicting feelings but also knew that Churches quite often have fantastic acoustics and have often wondered about playing in grand cathedrals myself. I suppose my first feeling was a little disappointment when we arrived to the venue and it wasn't a cathedral, rather a large Church but still had the big pipe organs etc...
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Rebel Sound Radio - Single Review: Liberation
09 Jun 2016 // review by mciver29
Reviewing singles is often trickier than reviewing an EP or album as a body of work can help an overall sense of a band as opposed to just one song, in this case, it's the single Liberation by Hamilton based three-piece Rebel Sound Radio. This is all I have heard of the band, and as a first single it's on the right track, it has a hint of The Offspring in the frontman, Jessie Hanright's voice and a strong melodic hooky chorus.....
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Jason Kerrison - EP Review: JKEP2
02 Mar 2016 // review by mciver29
The second part to Jason's E.P set is definitely a stronger musical offering than JKEP1 which I found to be a over produced somewhat shallow offering from an otherwise gifted singer/songwriter.
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Seasons - Album Review: Patriarch
13 May 2015 // review by mciver29
The first thing I noticed when I graced my eyes upon Patriarch, by Auckland progressive metal band Seasons, is the cover... and as much as they say “don't judge a book by its cover” I judged it right, I love the artwork and the music meets the mark.
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Mahoney Harris - We Didn't Feel Alone Album Review
28 Sep 2014 // review by mciver29
I have to admit that it took far too long for me to get around to reviewing Mahoney Harris's newly released album, We Didn't Feel Alone. It kind of stared at me every day with a looming deadline staring me in the face, funnily enough it suited now more than it would have suited then.
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Jan Hellriegel - Because You Single Review
28 May 2014 // review by mciver29
I've been guilty of instantly cringing when hearing of artists that usually have guitars in front of them decide to delve into electronic music but as we all know many of these artists have come out the other side with an expansive body of work that transcends them into a new plain of song writing. My first memory of Jan Hellriegel was from Rip It Up magazine in the mid 90's while I was at High School, I always thought she had a underlying darkness to her and her music but some where along the line she stopped releasing music to have a family and settle down for a while.
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SHAYNA - The Day Is Young Album Review
13 Mar 2014 // review by mciver29
Shayna King is a Christchurch based singer/song writer though perhaps not in the most traditional sense, I was refreshed to find that she has a full backing band that helps add a little grit to the performances on the album.The opening tracks on her debut album, The Day Is Young, are your typical acoustic, melodic, pop songs, they are well written but didnt jump out at me, that being said the production is clear and well balanced, well achieved for a self funded album.
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Daniel Bedingfield - Stop the Traffik - Secret Fear (special edition) EP Review
26 Aug 2013 // review by mciver29
Here we have the third release by UK bred, Kiwi born singer/song writer Daniel Bedingfield titled Stop the Traffik - Secret Fear. We've seen him as a judge on NZ X-Factor and we've heard him crying in the rain on his #1 2001 single If You're Not The One.
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