13th Floor MusicTalk

Wanaka rockers Powder Chutes are celebrating the release of their self-titled debut album with a nation-wide tour. Marty Duda spoke to guitarist Clarke and bass player Otis to find out what these guys have up their sleeves when they make their way to the City Of Sails.

iwi Country singer Jenny Mitchell has just released her fourth album, Forest House ...recorded in recorded in a house in Pirinoa (Wairarapa), it explores all of the experiences that can happen within four walls; the welcoming, heartbreaking, healing and everything in between. Marty Duda found Jenny in her new home in Melbourne, taking a quick break from touring Australia with one of her heroes, Ka...

Petit Choux  is French-born, Wellington-based singer-songwriter  Sophie Sabri . The musical artist and therapist has just released her debut EP, titled,  Coule. Marty Duda  found  Petit Choux  at home on release day. According to the artist,  Coule , explores the idea of our “inner waters” — the deep, often unspoken currents of our being. The title, meaning “to f...

Translator was (and occasionally still is) a band based in San Francisco who put out 4 albums in the early 80s before calling it quits in 1986 with a 3-hour blow-out concert. Marty Duda spoke to Translator front man Steve Barton about how and why that show has just now been released as: Beyond Today - Live At The Farm San Francisco 1986 .

Voom has just released a new album on Flying Nun... Something Good Is Happening is the band's first in almost 20 years and third in as many decades. Marty Duda found bandleader Buzz Moller sitting in his garden shed where much of the new record was made and talked to him about the band's unusual career trajectory.

Robin Trower,  fresh from celebrating his 80th birthday, is about to release a new album titled  Come And Find Me . Marty Duda  did indeed find  Robin Trower  and spoke to him at length about making this new album, preparing his  For Earth Below  for a 50th Anniversary Edition, working with  Jack Bruce,  appearing on  Top Of The Pops  and his...

Jazz pianist, composer, educator, modular synthesist and session musician  Darren Pickering  and his Small Worlds have just release a new album,  Three,  on  Rattle Records . Marty Duda spoke to Darren, who was home in Christchurch where is is also a full-time tenured lecturer at Ara Music. Darren shared his valuable time to talk about the “vibrant” Christchurch jazz scene...

British punks  mclusky  have just released their first new album in 20 years and so bandleader  Andrew Falkous  fronts up to explain what took so long. Marty Duda  spoke to Andrew, who was in Bristol, to talk about making  The World Is Still Here And So Are We , and to talk about Chekhov, Kafka and  Steve Albini.

Justin Devereux is an ex-pat Kiwi, based in L.A. who has just released his debut album, Nickels&Dimes . Marty Duda spoke to Justin about his life in L.A. and why he chose to record his album back in New Zealand, at Neil Finn's Roundhead Studios in Auckland. Along the way the conversation turns to Tami Neilson, Seinfeld and his brand new video

TALL TALES  is the debut collaborative album and visual experience from Radiohead’s Thom Yorke , Electronica artist Mark Pritchard and film director Jonathan Zawada. Marty Duda goes deep into the making of the album and the film with Mark Pritchard who tells us, first how he and Thom Yorke created the album and then how Jonathan Zawada joined the team to create the stunning visuals...

Veteran funk-rockers Little Feat are about to release their 16th...or is it 17th...studio album. Strike Up The Band is classic Little Feat and here is vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Scott Sharrard to tell us how he fit into Feat. Marty Duda spoke to Scott, who at age 47, wasn't even thought of when the band formed in 1969. Now he's fronting this group of respected veterans and the band is sounding...

PUP , the pop-punk band based in Toronto, Canada has just released their fifth album, asking the musical question,  Who Will Look After The Dogs . Marty Duda  spoke to guitarist  Steve Sladkowski  just days before the album, “dropped”. Steve was in Toronto busy packing to head out on tour…they will be in New Zealand in August…but he wasn’t too bust to stop and talk about the se...

Dope Lemon (aka Angus Stone ) releases Golden Wolf . This is the fifth Dope Lemon album, one that will be followed by live shows coming in July. The 13th Floor's Marty Duda spoke to Angus about the concept of Golden Wolf  and the progression of Dope.

Craig Finn is the lead singer for The Hold Steady , but he also has a flourishing solo career, with a new album out called Always Been . Marty Duda found Craig at home in Brooklyn, NY, just as he was packing to head out on the road with The Hold Steady . He took a few moments to talk about his very well-received solo album which was produced by the War On Drugs' Adam Granuciel. Additionally, Craig...

Multi-disciplinary artist  Lonnie Holley  has released  Tonky , another collaboration with producer  Jacknife Lee  that breaks new ground while simultaneously mining the rich history of the blues and gospel. Marty Duda  spoke to Lonnie, who was in Atlanta, Georgia, decked out in jewelry he accumulated on his first trip to Africa. Here he is to tell us about his m...

Haiku Redo is an Auckland-based power pop quartet, led by Craig Horne and borne out of the ashes of Andrew Fagan's band LIG . The new album is called Disco Summer . Marty Duda spoke to Craig just after the band's record release show at Auckland's Ding Dong Lounge to find out how the project, including band member Dianne Swann , label Failsafe Records and JB HiFi all came together to make this thin...

Austin-based singer-songwriter  Taylor Rae  has just released her second album,  The Void  and we think she’s onto something special.  Marty Duda  spoke to Taylor just after release day to find her ready to talk about the 10 songs she wrote after feeling like ‘the last four years felt like staring into the void’.

At the tender age of 80, Detroit native and Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame member Mitch Ryder is still rocking like its was 1965. Marty Duda spoke to Mitch about his new album, With Love , produced by fellow Detroit rocker Don Was . Mitch was also in a reflective mood, remembering sharing the stage with Otis Redding , recording with Marianne Faithfull and having a "personal meeting" with Prince .

Dunedin artist  Neive Strang  has just released her new album,  Find Me In The Rabbit Hole , working for the first time with a producer… Sean James Donnelly …aka  SJD . Marty Duda  spoke to Neive about how she and Sean worked together in his basement studio to come up with this rich-sounding collection of original songs.

JD Clayton has just released his second album, titled Blue Sky Sundays . The son-of-Southern preacher man muses on the premise that, perhaps, " Rock is a sub-genre of Country, now". Marty Duda spoke to JD, who was in Nashville, where Blue Sky Sundays was recorded and where Rock lives comfortably next to Country, Bluegrass and Gospel music. 

Direct from Christchurch, it’s  Emma Dilemma , here to talk abut her new, “surprise” EP, titled  Ouch My Head Hurts. Marty Duda  spoke to Emma on release day, which also happened to be Good Friday, to talk about how and why these five tracks managed to surprise her.

A stalwart of the fertile North Carolina music scene that bred the likes of Don Dixon and Chris Stamey , Peter Holsapple is a founding member of The dBs and the Continental Drifters . His latest solo album is The Face Of 68.  Marty Duda found Peter at home in Durham, North Carolina where he has been contemplating his age and writing another batch of great songs that find him revisiting his "r...

jasmine.4.t is a trans woman who has just made an album with Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dackus and Julien Baker, aka boygenius. Marty Duda spoke to jasmine.4. t who was in Manchester having just played to a home town crowd after performing for the first time in the US...at SXSW in Austin, Texas, possibly not the most welcoming place after Trump declared that there were only two genders. Anyway, the alb...

Here is Austin-based singer/songwriter David Ramirez to fill us in on his new album, All The Not So Gentle Reminders and why he needed a break and a retreat to write and produce these 12 new songs. Marty Duda spoke to David just after release day about retreating to Waverly, Alabama (pop 150) to write 12 songs that "take his vulnerability to new heights".

5 years since the release of her 8th studio album  This Big Hush , Swedish born multi-instrumentalist and producer Sofia Härdig returns with Lighthouse Of Glass and we find Sofia in Stockholm on release day. Marty Duda spoke to Sofia about the creative process that led up to the writing and recording of the 10 very original tracks that make up Lighthouse Of Glass . And even though it was 11pm...