Rhythms Magazine

Episode 31 of On The Record ranges from Spielberg’s latest extraterrestrial spectacle to Icelandic cocktail jazz, via Australian festival programming, political songwriting, BBC football commentary and the fragile magic of shellac records.  It is a wide-ranging conversation, but not a random one. Beneath the digressions sits a recurring question: what makes art endure when fashion, technology and...

There are plenty of artists happy to spend their careers polishing yesterday's trophies. Tim Rogers isn't one of them. Appearing on Episode 30 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie, the You Am I frontman could easily have spent an hour reminiscing about the band's landmark 1996 album Hourly Daily, now celebrating its 30th anniversary.  Instead, Rogers repeatedly steers the convers...

Now and then, On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie wanders into territory that feels less like a podcast and more like the best conversation you've accidentally joined in the corner of a music festival bar. Returning Australian listeners may be forgiven for assuming Neil Young devotees are a niche tribe. Not so, according to Belfast singer-songwriter Andy White , who drops in from I...

Episode 28 of On The Record finds Michael broadcasting from the Greek island of Kefalonia, but the conversation itself travels much further afield—from the cosmic ambitions of Earth, Wind & Fire to Tim Rogers, the World Cup and the lyrical reflections of Bob Dylan on being 80.

This week’s On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie begins where most music chats don’t: with a gripe about what the ARIA charts don’t show. Wise is baffled that Emma Donovan’s Take Me to The River—an album he rates highly after seeing her preview it live at Port Fairy—can’t be found on the main chart or the Australian chart.  The question isn’t aesthetic; it’s structural. Where do “su...

Episode 26 of On The Record is the first fully international edition—Brian Wise filing from Melbourne, Michael Mackenzie beaming in from the ancient fortified town of Monemvasia, deep inside the Peloponnese. The contrast isn't just geographic: Wise is braving Melbourne winter; Mackenzie is swimming in warm salt water off Byzantine fortress walls.  The hate is, as he cheerfully acknowledges, entire...

Episode 25 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie begins where so many arguments in roots music eventually end up: Bob Dylan—specifically, the minor detail of him turning 85 (born 24 May 1941) and still looming over popular music like a sarcastic weather system. Plus two streaming recommendations, a bit of tech talk, and Brian’s fave Beach Boys album gets exposure on a new tour.

Episode 24 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie opens not in a record shop or a green room, but in the unglamorous reality of domestic collapse: Brian’s gas hot water service fails, leaving him hunting for a plumber and waiting five days for resolution. Musically, the emotional high point is a warm, informed appreciation of David Byrne.  The hosts tip their hats to Byrne’s wider...

On The Record’s Episode 23 leans in to great songs, better stories, and the strange afterlife of pop careers. Michael Mackenzie’s big night out is Split Enz at Rod Laver Arena, a reunion-sized crowd of “people in roughly our same demographic” packed into a venue that, he notes, holds 14,860.  The gig itself? A triumph. Plus UK crime reviews and the long overdue recognition of The Zombies. Show Not...

On his final night in New Orleans, Brian Wise files a slightly frayed dispatch that captures Jazz Fest’s defining tension: a festival big enough to feel infinite, and a schedule brutal enough to make you choose your regrets in advance. Episode 22 becomes a story about how festivals actually unfold—less like neat recaps and more like a sequence of weather calls, crowd-panics, and last-minute pivots...

By Episode 21, On The Record has moved beyond anticipation and into immersion. Brian Wise is no longer circling Jazz Fest—he’s in it, navigating its scale, its heat, and its constant, often punishing, decisions. Broadcasting from the French Quarter, Wise paints New Orleans as it always is: chaotic, convivial and faintly surreal. One moment it’s a communal gumbo dinner with locals and visiting frie...

Episode 20 of On The Record finds Brian Wise reporting in from the field—first Austin, then New Orleans—with the kind of on-the-ground detail that reminds you why festivals still matter, even as many struggle to survive. There’s even time for a detour through Austin’s bookstores in search of Dylan literature—because some habits travel well. Show Notes Railroad Earth - Been Down This Road   The Las...

Episode 19 of On The Record kicks off with one foot in the present and the other firmly planted on the long tail of rock history—touching on new Rolling Stones material before sliding into an excerpt from Brian Wise’s recent interview with Mike Mattison of Tedeschi Trucks Band. It’s a neat juxtaposition.  From there, the episode turns toward what’s ahead, with Wise preparing to head to Austin and...

There are episodes of On The Record that wander; Episode 18 plants its flag firmly in one year—1966—and dares you to argue it wasn’t the moment pop music grew up. Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie mark the 60th anniversary of Revolver not as a nostalgic exercise, but as a forensic examination of how four-track limitations, studio ingenuity and sheer artistic restlessness combined to reshape recorde...

If you want to know the exact moment legacy radio started to feel its age, it might have been when a major Australian station began giving away lacy doilies. In the latest episode of On The Record, Michael Mackenzie and Brian Wise—veterans with a combined 70 years behind the mic—stage a fascinating "in-house" intervention for the medium they love (and occasionally despair over). Joined by global "...

The long goodbye to Bluesfest continues in Episode 16 of On The Record, but this time the tone shifts from shock to something closer to forensic analysis. If last week was a reaction, this is reconstruction. If Bluesfest is a case study in organisational failure, Scarpetta is its televisual equivalent. The long-gestating adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s crime novels earns a near-unanimous drubbin...

Episode 15 of On The Record is the sound of a long-running Australian institution going quiet — followed by the louder, messier noise of what happens when a festival doesn’t just “take a break”, but goes into liquidation. Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie devote the bulk of the episode to the sudden demise of Bluesfest after 36 years, and they do it with a guest who knows the event from the inside:...

The latest episode of On The Record opens where any self-respecting Australian roots podcast should: the Port Fairy Folk Festival. It then takes a characteristic detour into aging payment technology, Formula One, Mick Turner guitar lines and the comedic chops of Steve Poltz. Show Notes Port Fairy Folk Festival   Queenie & Hank - Anyhow I Love You Video  ANNIE & THE CALDWELLS – Wrong feat....

If you ever needed proof that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is less a museum and more a cultural argument with a gift shop, Episode 13 of On The Record opens by doing what the institution does best: stretching the phrase “rock and roll” until it politely accommodates everyone from Wu‑Tang Clan to Shakira, with a quick stop at INXS (or, as Michael once heard on the BBC, the new Australian sensatio...

In this episode, roots music returns via the altar: Gillian Welch & David Rawlings live at Melbourne’s Forum, with guest Andy White joining the chat.  They describe the duo as deities in Australia, playing with disarming minimalism (mics on guitars, SM58s, no fancy DI wizardry), and drawing an audience so quiet it feels like church. Brian’s only complaint is the kind you’re only allowed after...

Episode 10 opens in the long-running genre they’ve accidentally perfected — two grown men versus consumer electronics — as Michael explains how he revived his ageing Samsung “smart TV” (now “a bit of a nuff-nuff”) with a cheap HDMI streaming box bought from an Australian online retailer that “rhymes with Hogan”.  The thrill here isn’t just 4K; it’s the moral victory of upgrading the brain while ke...

Episode 9 is the one where Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie briefly mistake themselves for an IT helpdesk, a sports panel, and a moral philosophy seminar—before landing, somewhat dazed, back in music. It opens with Wise declaring he “can’t stand” the sound of his own voice (a bold confession for a career built on talking), while Mackenzie offers the sort of praise that feels both affectionate and...

Episode 8 of On The Record opens with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie doing what many seasoned music listeners now do instinctively when the Grammys roll around: stare at the screen and wonder which planet they’ve accidentally landed on. Brian reminds us that the Grammys permanently lost their way the moment they abolished the polka category.  This wasn’t a niche concern, either. For years, Brian...

Lucinda Williams talks to Rhythms Editor Brian Wise about her new album World's Gone Wrong, a scathing commentary on current political events in the USA. 

Gillian Welch spoke to Rhythms Editor Brian Wise about her forthcoming Australian tour with her musical and life partner David Rawlings. David was set to join us but was held up in the studio mastering the vinyl version of the Time (The Revelator) album. Music included: Neil Young’s Albuquerque from the album Live & Obscure Vol. 1, Mavis Staples' version of Gillian’s ‘Hard Times', Emmylou Harr...