NRG Rising - From Darkness to Light
27 Feb 2011 // review by BrendaF
This is the debut album for a hard working mother and daughter trio from Hamilton with their roots solidly grounded in reggae. Despite only being around for 18 months, they have crammed a lot in including gigs throughout the Auckland/Bay of Plenty/Gisborne/Hawkes Bay areas and headlining a number of festivals and now, an album.
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Joanne Chester - 'Where's The Time' EP Review
03 May 2010 // review by BrendaF
This is a 5 track EP from Joanne Chester is solely grounded in the Blues/Jazz genre.
While Joanne’s vocals lack the sultry power usually associated this genre and at times were just plain flat, the intention and emotion behind the lyrics is quite spectacular.
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Farmer Pimp - 'Sweet Hot Pepper Pop' album Review
04 Apr 2010 // review by BrendaF
When I saw the name Farmer Pimp, I had images of a prostitute sitting on a hay bale in red band gumboots and I expected the music to be the same – a bit of a mish mash of genres.
I wasn’t far wrong but what I found is that it worked really well.
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Electric Wire Hustle - Album Review: Electric Wire Hustle
29 Sep 2009 // review by BrendaF
I wasn’t too sure what to make of this self-titled album when I was asked to review it, I mean, how can you infuse hip hop with psychedelic and jazz but that is exactly what Electric Wire Hustle have managed to do – successfully.
This is their debut album and the Wellington trio certainly challenges your musical boundaries.
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Gimar - Album Review: Gimar – 'On My Own Buzz'
11 Aug 2009 // review by BrendaF
What a fantastic example of one of New Zealand’s up and coming hip-hop artists. While my strengths lie in other genres, I do quite like rap/hip hop if it is well presented with lyrics that are true to one’s self.
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Simon Spire - Album Review: Simon Spire – All or Nothing
21 May 2009 // review by BrendaF
Simon Spire’s debut album is an evocative album filled with different genres that seem to fit really well together.
The album starts with tracks ‘Inside Out’ and ‘More or Less’ which both have a rock n roll bass line which firstly I found quite off-putting as they just jump straight out at you but after listening to the album several times, I actually quite liked that about them.
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Miscreant - Album Review: Complicated Characters - Miscreant
16 Mar 2009 // review by BrendaF
I could hardly believe my luck when I was handed this album to review having heard the single ‘Fight For Me’ on the radio and becoming an instant fan.
This album is described as a rock album but don’t be fooled, songs like ‘Hey Mister’ and ‘Rhythm Child’ have a very blues/jazz style to them while songs ‘Still Frame’ and ‘Hard Act To Follow’ have a more ballad/slow rock bottom line.
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