Its New Music Friday again and still it New Zealand Music Month. We’ve got one new Kiwi album to tell you about (maybe two) and the remainder from the rest of the world. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda picks these five new releases for your consideration: C. Zukey – Stone Fruut (Really Nice Records) Its the debut album from this Canadian-born Kiwi. C. Zukey shares; “This record for me is a journey through the grieving process. The ‘Grief Cycle’ isn’t like experiencing each stage until completion before moving onto the next stage. You might bounce from anger to bargaining, you might be in d ..read more

Bombastic British rockers, Nothing But Thieves made their New Zealand debut at Auckland’s Powerstation, proving that they are almost too big for the venerable venue to hold. Indeed, last night’s show was a sell-out, and when they return tonight, chances are that will be as well (just a few tickets available as of this writing). It’s no wonder, the band’s latest album, Dead Club City, hit number 1 on the UK album charts last year…only 25 in NZ…but I’m guessing the album may make resurgence after these two shows. The Daffodils Auckland’s own Daffodils had the unenviable task of opening for the ..read more

Aotearoa’s award-winning artist Georgia Lines has today returned with the powerful and astoundingly honest new single Wayside. This is the third and final single to be released ahead of Georgia’s upcoming debut record THE ROSE OF JERICHO, out June 7, 2024. Here is the blurb with more: A grand piano matched with a driving rhythm section opens up into an expansive chorus, with powerful vocals and stacked harmonies. Co-written with Grammy-nominated producer Leroy Clampitt (Justin Bieber, Madison Beer, Laufey), Georgia explains that “‘Wayside’ del ..read more

MACKLEMORE brought Spark Arena to a frenzy, delighting a massive, hyped-up crowd with a fast-paced run through of material from his latest album BEN, a very new (and political) release and favourites from his back catalogue. Carin Newbould was there on an unforgettable night. Following a warm-up set by friend and collaborator Nick Beeba, Macklemore took to the stage at the Spark Arena just after 9pm, launching straight into CHANT – the first single from his third studio album, last year’s release BEN. The Grammy and ARIA award winning rapper has impressive stats, with incredibly over 13.2 bil ..read more

AN IDEAL HUSBAND is a comedic play by Oscar Wilde first performed in London in 1895. A man must stop his wife from finding out that he’s built his entire career on selling out a political secret. The play exposes the problems with high society and deals with complex moral themes in a comic way. Well, it seems like the Pitt Street Theatre turned into a den of deception and bribery, but hey, isn’t that just the ideal setting for a Wilde play? With characters energetic butterflies and makeup heavier than a politician’s promises, it sounds like quite the spectacle!  Filled with deception, br ..read more

Twice (a sort of) Big Country came to Aotearoa, but never Skids, until now. Finally, 13th Floor Concert Reviewer Simon Coffey got to see (a sort of) the Skids and hear some of his favourite classic punk/post-punk tunes in the flesh.  Scottish punk rock group The Skids formed in Dunfermline in 1977 saw success with a run of fabulous singles (and album songs) in the late and early 1970s and 1980s. But it was 1979’s Into The Valley, that was the tune that ruled on student radio, was played on stereos at raucous parties. and home-recorded on mix tapes. They tried to make it here in thei ..read more

Award-winning Aotearoa-based Alt-Country and Contemporary Folk songwriter Holly Arrowsmith releases her mesmerising track ‘Neon Bright’, continuing to define the Americana landscape in Aotearoa through the beauty and excellence of her craft. Here is the blurb with more: Holly is a master at pairing dark and weighty topics with lighter, sometimes danceable music, and Neon Bright guides us through the gravity of depression with a toe-tapping, memorable tune. Holly says, “I like towing the line between serious and a little irreverent, and I think making fun of my own tendencies he ..read more

Steve Albini, the acclaimed front man of Shellac and Big Black and engineer/producer of Nirvana, PJ Harvey and The Pixies, has died of a heart attack at age 61 at his recording studio. Albini ran his Electrical Audio Studio in Chicago where he preferred to be called an engineer rather than a producer. No matter what you called him, his  work spoke for itself. Steve was known for his no-nonsense approach to recording and his distain for the music industry. His work on albums like Nirvana’s In Utero and The Pixies’ Surfer Rosa are notable for their aggressive, some would say, violent, soun ..read more

Mick Harvey is on a roll! Just months after releasing Phantasmagoria In Blue with Amanda Acevedo, here he is again with another album. Five Ways To Say Goodbye finds the former Bad Seed covering Neil Young and Lee Hazelwood alongside his own original compositions. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to Mick Harvey ahead of the release of Five Ways To Say Goodbye, which is due out on Friday. Mick was home in Melbourne with his cat Micah. Together they give us the inside story on how and why this new collection of songs became the fifth in a series that dates back to 2005. The post Mick Har ..read more

New Zealand-born, London-based electronic artist and producer, BAYNK, returns in 2024 with the announcement of his second album, SENESCENCE. Today sees the release of the first two tracks from SENESCENCE – Inches (Prelude) and Fool For You. Here’s the blurb with more: With the GRAMMY-nominated ADOLESCENCE exploring themes of growth, development and boundless possibilities of youth, SENESCENCE is the other side of the coin – about time and the passing of it and the realisations that physical life is not forever. Today sees the release of the fi ..read more