Lucy Gray - Album Review: whole life waiting
24 Jul 2024 // review by Maggie Cocco
Seventeen year old singer-songwriter Lucy Gray from Otautahi, New Zealand has landed on the NZ Hot New Music Charts, and it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world hears. Gray’s whole life waiting EP is versatile and compelling.
Read More...

Sin City - Album Review: Another Round
19 Apr 2024 // review by Maggie Cocco
Sin City’s Another Round is new music for audiences who know that music’s best days are behind us. From first note to rock n’ roll lifestyle, Kiwi songwriting duo Nick Armstrong and Jack Beesley with Aussie musicians Christopher Hockey, Andrew Blackman, and Cameron Hicks embody a bygone era, channeling those influences into original songs that cozy comfortably alongside your nostalgic country, soul and rock 'n' roll bangers of the 1960's and 70's.
Read More...

Festival Review: Auckland Folk Festival 2024
02 Feb 2024 // review by Maggie Cocco
Auckland Folk Festival 2024 overcame the fallout from the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods of 2023 to deliver a successful marriage of folk and frivolity. Featuring five stages and a variety of international and local folky favourites from 9am - God's hour, the all ages and stages crowds had more than enough to entertain.
Read More...

Darren Pickering Small Worlds - Album Review: Volume Two
07 Dec 2023 // review by Maggie Cocco
Following their acclaimed debut, Volume One, Darren Pickering Small Worlds continues their investigation of the intersection between cinematic aesthetics and electronic textures within the framework of contemporary jazz. The Otautahi (Christchurch, New Zealand) based jazz quartet featuring Mitch Dwyer (guitar), Mitch Thomas (drums), Pete Fleming (bass), and Darren Pickering (piano), perform works composed by pianist Darren Pickering as well as re-imagined versions of select works.
Read More...