Blam Blam Blam made two videos for their 1981 hit, ‘There is No Depression in New Zealand’. Their best-known clip draws on the underlying disquiet of the political climate of the time, with mimed beat...

Between the self-titled debut album by Dr Tree in the mid 1970s to the hip-hop influenced jazz of Nathan Haines two decades later, jazz albums in Aotearoa New Zealand have shown an unexpected breadth ...

Jesse Mulligan presents an upbeat mix of the curious and the compelling, ranging from the stories of the day to the great questions of our time.

Welcome to the weekly AudioCulture Quiz. Clue: answers are on the site or, for those in a hurry, at the link below. AudioCulture Quiz, 5 October 2026 Coconut Rough, May 1983 (L-R): Dennis Tuwhare, St...

Welcome to the weekly AudioCulture Quiz. Clue: answers are on the site or, for those in a hurry, at the link below. AudioCulture Quiz, 5 October 2026 Coconut Rough, May 1983 (L-R): Dennis Tuwhare, St...

Their long career has not been without crises. Early triumphs were overshadowed by the drug-related death of their manager and mentor Gerald Dwyer, while their name – adapted from the Islamic word "ji...

Hogsnort Rupert’s Original Flagon Band topped the NZ Listener’s chart in late August that year, ahead of Cliff Richard, The Beatles, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. But at No.5 was an artist who dif...

The trio of Home Brew were led by Tom Scott, with Lui Gumaka and beatmaker Haz Beats (Haz Huavi), and were joined onstage by a full live band. They established themselves off the back of a series of d...

July 1980 You entered the Turquoise Room, the Hillcrest’s live band venue, by skirting down the side at the back of the modern, asymmetrical, single storey, concrete block tavern. Then it was right in...

July 1980 You entered the Turquoise Room, the Hillcrest’s live band venue, by skirting down the side at the back of the modern, asymmetrical, single storey, concrete block tavern. Then it was right in...

In the early 2000s, he took the sound of New Zealand drum and bass to the world as one-half of Bulletproof, the production duo he shared with his friend Josh Lees, before turning his skills towards du...

In the early 2000s, he took the sound of New Zealand drum and bass to the world as one-half of Bulletproof, the production duo he shared with his friend Josh Lees, before turning his skills towards du...

Welcome to the weekly AudioCulture Quiz. Clue: answers are on the site or, for those in a hurry, at the link below. AudioCulture Quiz, 28 September 2026  Ardijah

Welcome to the weekly AudioCulture Quiz. Clue: answers are on the site or, for those in a hurry, at the link below. AudioCulture Quiz, 28 September 2026  Ardijah

Continued from part 2 – HMV NZ: radio and records From its earliest days as a company, HMV had most of the New Zealand recorded music market to itself. By the middle of the 1930s, with a catalogue tha...

Continued from part 2 – HMV NZ: radio and records From its earliest days as a company, HMV had most of the New Zealand recorded music market to itself. By the middle of the 1930s, with a catalogue tha...

Continued from part 1 – HMV NZ: birth of an empire Prior to the incorporation of His Master’s Voice in 1926, Hyams’s Gramophonium operated retail premises at 120 Victoria Street in Wellington, but the...

Continued from part 1 – HMV NZ: birth of an empire Prior to the incorporation of His Master’s Voice in 1926, Hyams’s Gramophonium operated retail premises at 120 Victoria Street in Wellington, but the...

Who would have guessed that a rather drab-looking two-storey construction, designed for a tea merchant in 1907, would go on to play a significant role in Wellington’s alternative music culture? By the...

Who would have guessed that a rather drab-looking two-storey construction, designed for a tea merchant in 1907, would go on to play a significant role in Wellington’s alternative music culture? By the...

Little known in his own country, de Castro captivated Australian audiences throughout the 1970s. He attracted some of the best musicians to support him and was sought after for a range of session work...

Little known in his own country, de Castro captivated Australian audiences throughout the 1970s. He attracted some of the best musicians to support him and was sought after for a range of session work...

The Rebels were Auckland’s first great homegrown pop band of the modern pop era; hard working and electrifying live. Their cover versions nipped at the heels of the originals. Few bands could re-bore ...

The Rebels were Auckland’s first great homegrown pop band of the modern pop era; hard working and electrifying live. Their cover versions nipped at the heels of the originals. Few bands could re-bore ...

Behind the cash register at The Sound of Music, Upper Hutt, 1967, are Bob Batenburg and his assistant Stephanie Wimms. - Revelle Jackson collection, Upper Hutt City Library Every rising pop star aspir...