Best-selling author Jung Chang's latest book sheds light on a controversial concubine who became China's unofficial ruler. Shane Gilchrist reports.
Special forces? Satellite tracking? The playground that is Queenstown might be just around the corner from his business base, but Julian Grimmond deals in adventures on a rather larger scale, writes Shane Gilchrist.
Wellington outfit City Oh Sigh's debut album might delve into themes of love, loss and loneliness, but Fragments Fine is more joyous than mournful, albeit in a quiet, reflective way that follows on from the gentle promise of 2011 EP Like A Light.
The debut album from Los Angeles producer Lo-Fang, aka Matthew Hemerlein, has been a while in the making, the classically trained multi-instrumentalist (he plays violin, cello, bass, piano and guitar) writing much of the material while travelling around the world.
New Jersey indie-guitar outfit Real Estate's third album is an interesting mix of assured songwriting and almost understated performance, a place where a dreamy vocal approach means melodies are delicately poised atop a framework of clean electric guitars and a rhythm section seemingly intent on avoiding any fancy time signatures.
The third instalment in a collaboration that reaped rewards with the 2012 NZ Country Album of the Year Award again reveals that Delaney Davidson and Marlon Williams like to have a little fun, twist the truth and see who wants to come along for the ride.
American artist Beck might have first come to attention more than two decades ago for his space-funk and trippy electronic noodling, but his more laid-back moments have their place, too.
The fact the debut album from Temples drips with reverberation is fitting given the British guitar group's 12-song set holds strong echoes of the pop-psychedelia of various 1960s acts (from both sides of the Atlantic).
Apparently, Kim Dotcom was inspired by trance/dance tracks he listened to while roaring along the autobahns of his native Germany, yet if there's any excitement to be found in this musical foray then it's certainly well buried, way below the cliché burbling synths and plodding house/techno beats replete with a breakdown/build-up formula that is not so much stale as corpulent.
As another school year looms so, too, does the weekday routine of actually getting children to class. For some, that means going the distance, as Shane Gilchrist discovers.
Former Central Otago songwriter Hannah Curwood has enlisted some top-shelf help for her latest album, writes Shane Gilchrist.
Sharon Jones and her Dap-Kings crew were poised to release this effort last year.
The third album from the Kiwi outfit formerly known as Mamaku Project is, again, an eclectic mix.
Inspired by that advertising tourism campaign of the 1980s, ''Don't leave town 'til you've seen the country'', Shane Gilchrist takes a trip along the Southern Scenic Route and meets a few of the locals, including a couple of dogs, a fat cat and some whistling frogs ...
Heard the one about the dog that fell into the long-drop toilet? Shane Gilchrist goes digging at Tailings Hut ...
Recorded by legendary audio mixer Bob Clearmountain on April 18, between two Coachella appearances by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the group's fourth official live album features a stripped-down line-up performing some classic material (The Mercy Seat, Jack The Ripper) alongside four songs from latest album Push The Sky Away.
Functioning as a groove and textural canvas on which they invite others to paint vocals, Kiwi trio Abraham Kunin, Tom Broome and Marika Hodgson, collectively known as The Means, might not be household names but they've made music with a few more well-known types, including AnikaBoh&Hollie and Nathan Haines.
This retweaking of the full-length debut by Watford sisters Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor has to do with the ''live'' part of the album's title; in short, five tracks have been added to the original 12, making for a hefty sampling of bare-bones, vocal-centric folk.
According to the latest Census figures, Central Otago's population has grown by 7.5% in the past seven years. However, statistics don't reveal the reasons why people choose to move to the area, writes Shane Gilchrist.
Separating the arguments from the red herrings is proving as difficult as separating trucks and bicycles in Dunedin's cycle lanes debate. Shane Gilchrist navigates a few angles.