Music Review

From fluorescent adolescents to Britain's most revered indie rockers, Arctic Monkeys has proven no strangers to new directions.

If the ballad-heavy Human Performance (2016) found New York's Parquet Courts starting to cast off their lo-fi trappings, then the follow-up, their sixth album, takes their shuffle into commercialism several steps further.

Courtney Barnett makes lackadaisical-sounding music about being uptight.

Van Morrison is feeling frisky.

Tami Neilson's last two records, Dynamite and Don't Be Afraid, have largely reflected a soul-infused country sound. In Sassafrass the soul aspect is much more to the fore, and it works a treat.

Five years ago, Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite collaborated on 2013 Grammy-winning album Get Up, but I reckon that was just a warm-up for No Mercy In This Land.

Wellington's Darren Watson has unplugged for his sixth solo album after a barnstorming career with Chicago Smokeshop.

This members of this line-up have been serious contributors to the New Zealand rock scene for decades.

Supergroove's former horn section, Tim Stewart and Nick Atkinson, delivered an awesome Hopetoun Brown set at Womad this year, coinciding with the release of their new album.

The much-anticipated fourth LP for Ruban Nielson's psych-rock outfit is a genuinely international affair, recorded in Seoul, Hanoi, Reykjavik, Mexico City, Auckland and home base Portland, yet it's cohesive enough that you'd barely notice.