I often wax lyrical about the Taranaki region and its evident abundance of musical talent. Amongst these, most deservedly so, sits MissCrystal Starr. From her fabbo EP Eyes To The Stars I am going to review the eponymously titled single. Firstly, when searching Spotify etc. make sure you search the full title MissCrystal Starr! Two…

Cry Wolf feels to me like a supergroup of acts I have reviewed over the past few years. And the sound of this single, Player One, certainly lives up to the term supergroup. Kevin Ashby, Josh Dillner, Nick Raven, James Porteous. A roll call of names from a list if heavyweight bands of recent times,…

What do you get when you cross The Undertones with The Jam, transport them to Aotearoa in 2026, and stick a Dublin-born, Wellington-based vocalist who’s Facebook says he’s from Helsinki, into the mix? You get the rather splendid Oven, by Dónal Gunning, that’s what. With an instantly attention-grabbing bass and drums intro straight out of…

AAAAAAAA, what a winner of a song! Play For Keeps, formerly monickered Ellie Oak, are a Christchurch-based five-piece indie band, and when I say indie I mean INDIE. This is totally up my street! I am going to gush. Play For Keeps single Handsome Boy gives us a light melody that’s catchy, swinging, commercial and…

I’ve been introduced to Christchurch hardcore 4-piece Crisis, and again I find myself happy with the intro. Consisting of vocalist Jack (that’s a great name to call your children), guitar/BVs from Nathan, drummer/BVs by Liam, and bass/BVs by Callum, the guys have released a demo recording of new single Bones. The demo allows us to…