Three new CDs this week. You know where to go if you want to hear them; the library! And as always they are free to issue on your YA cards. Aren’t we kind?
3OH!3 deal in jokey electro-crunk chock full of tongue-in-cheek gangsterisms. Their album is titled Want and if you want (my tired attempt at punnery) some silliness in your ears, they will provide.
Return Of The Mack II serves up more classic R&B jams, in fact it says so right on the cover. Included on the 18 track comp are folks like Aaliyah, Coolio and The Fugees.
New Zealand Music Month may be drawing to a close, but there’s still time to slip a new compilation in isn’t there? There is? Oh good. Check out Ultimate Weekend Sessions, spread generously over its two discs are a whole bunch of local dub/R&B/hip hop tunes by Trinity Roots, Rhombus, Katchafire and all the other usual suspects.
The new music is coming in thick and fast these days. I’ve seldom seen it thicker or faster.
Keri Hilson is described by allmusic.com as a dynamic singer songwriter. These dynamic skills have been used to write songs for the likes of Usher, Ludacris and Kelly Rowland, and now on her own album In A Perfect World.
Destroy all lines : dance floor anthems is a compilation for all you cats out there who like dancing to anthemic hits on floors. If that’s you then you’re in luck, because it’s a whopping two-disc affair.
Remember Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad? Yes, of course you do. Well, now I’d like to introduce you to Good Girl Gone Bad: The Remixes. A good stop-gap between Rihanna albums proper.
Platinum emo-poppers Paramore have a new live album entitled The Final Riot. All your favorite Paramore tunes being sung along to by an arena full of kids. Close your eyes and pretend you’re there.
Local Hip-Hopper Savage is back in time for New Zealand Music Month with Savage Island. I can only assume that this is a concept album based on some sort of Survivor type show hosted by Savage. At least I hope so …
21st Century Breakdown is the new, soon-to-be inescapably huge album from Green Day. It’s divided into three acts because they’re so big and important they transcend the regular album format. Golly!
We’ve got a blog running for New Zealand Music Month here. Check out the reviews, the music news, and get info on the events we’ve got happening. Take a look!
ps: If you’re interested in music don’t forget the NZMM events at the Central Library – there’s ‘Dr’ Lee Prebble on the 26th of May and The Phoenix Foundation on the 28th (find out more).
It was a cold wintery night, but a small group of music fans braved the cold to see Brad Dring from Rapture Ruckus talk about his career path to becoming a famous musician at the Central Library on the 8th of May.

Don’t miss the next New Zealand Music Month session; Music Producer Lee Prebble, from The Surgery, and musician Age Pryor, from the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra and The Woolshed Sessions, will be at the Central Library on Tuesday 26th May at 4.30pm.
We have 6 new CDs, but more exciting than that (for me anyway) is the return of embedded playlists! This time we’re using deezer.com; it’s cool, stylish and most importantly it works with our firewalls. Anyway, on with the new music…
Evermore return with album number two, Truth of the world : welcome to the show. It’s a very grandiose title, perhaps befitting the ambitious sounds within.
Another New Zealand CD is Optimus Gryme’s Eclipse LP. Do you think Optimus Gryme is a rival of The Decepticonz? Do we have a local rap war on our hands ala West Coast vs East Coast circa mid-nineties US? Stay tuned, kids.
J. Dilla was a much beloved hip hop producer before his untimely passing in 2006. Dillanthology is a greatest hits of sorts featuring Common, Erykah Badu, Busta Rhymes and more.
The-Dream is one of those big, multi-platinum R&B types from the US. His album Love VS Money features other big, multi-platinum R&B types, such as Kanye West and Mariah Carey. If you are a fan of big, multi-platinum R&B types you know what to do.
Alter Ego is a new mixtape from Kanye West. On it are remixes, live versions and other little goodies not seen on albums prev. A Kanye completist’s dream.
Hip Hop: the 2009 collection has a rather self-explanatory title. Hip Hop from 1992-2009 spread across 2 discs. Includes Akon, LL Cool J, Rihanna and a whole lot more.
It’s been New Zealand Music Month for a week now, so what better time to post a list of the top 5 New Zealand music videos of all time?*
5. The Sneaks - I’m Lame
Never fails to make me chuckle… Read more…

‘Dr’ Lee Prebble is a musician’s dream come true. He is a music production guru, and he’s all ours! Well… for an hour or two anyway.
Lee Prebble has worked with top NZ bands like Trinity Roots, The Black Seeds, Twinset, The Phoenix Foundation, Fly My Pretties and Dave Dobbyn!
You can catch him at the Wellington Central Library on May 26th at 4.30pm. He’ll be giving you guys the tips and tricks about how to get your band recorded and anything else you want him to talk about (you could ask him about that ‘Dr’ title for a start…)
No bookings required!
Event alert! We’ve got another group of musos for NZ Music Month!
Samuel Scott and Luke Buda from The Phoenix Foundation will be at the Wellington Central Library on May 28th at 4.30pm. They’re taking a break from their national tour to visit and give you guys a chance to get up close and personal and ask them about whatever you want to know (like music and stuff).
The Phoenix Foundation did the theme song for that cool NZ Movie Eagle Vs. Shark! Here’s some of their work.
No bookings are required at this free event. Put it in your diaries!
… And we need your help!
If you could ask musicians some questions about their job, what would you want to know?
Post your awesome questions in the comment section below. We’re going to find some musos to quiz, so we need to know what to ask them.
We’ve got some really cool stuff planned for NZMM. First up is a talk by Brad Dring of Rapture Ruckus (pictured) on May 8, 4.30pm at the Central Library. It’s a FREE chance to get up close to a muso who has played all over the world. Check out his website, and also this previous post with a (very catchy) clip from a concert.
NZ Music Month is May (which is next month, like two weeks away), and as usual the library will hold NZ music-related events. On the 8th of May, Friday, at about 4.30pm, Wellington hip-hop artist Rapture Ruckus will be in to talk on ‘How to get somewhere as a muso’. Mark your calendars!
Check out a clip of him performing live:
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