Rhythms Magazine

Keeping a secret from Brian Wise is one thing. Getting Tim Finn through the door at precisely the right moment is another. In Episode 47 of On The Record, Andy White joins Wise and Michael Mackenzie to reveal the plotting behind Finn’s surprise appearance on Triple R’s Off The Record. What follows is a richly entertaining excursion through friendship, songwriting and a suburban Melbourne house wit...

You don’t need to understand every note to know you’ve heard something remarkable.  In Episode 46 of On The Record, Brian Wise returns from the Melbourne International Jazz Festival with an enthusiastic report on the Tomeka Reid Quartet—and a cassette player’s unexpected contribution to the proceedings. At the cinema, Mackenzie has encountered something considerably harder to recommend without qua...

A box set should tell a story, not merely find new ways to sell you the same songs. In Episode 45 of On The Record, Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie reckon Elvis Costello has delivered one worth hearing. The expanded My Aim Is True receives an enthusiastic assessment from both hosts, who hear its early recordings, alternate versions and live performances as a portrait of a songwriter becoming hims...

“I ain’t gonna drive in Maggie’s car no more.” Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm” gets an unlikely alternative lyric in Episode 44 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie, as the hosts consider its licensing to an Audi electric-vehicle ad. For Wise, the commercial’s invocation of Dylan’s electric breakthrough at Newport raises an uncomfortable question: what happens when a song’s cultural...

Brian Wise has reached a familiar collector’s reckoning: “I’m just rebuying my entire record collection.” In Episode 43 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie, the latest Rubber Soul box set provides both the evidence and a persuasive defence. Wise hasn’t exhausted every outtake, but the new stereo mix has renewed his enthusiasm for an album he first encountered in rather less reve...

What makes a great cover version? For Paul Dempsey, it is not fidelity. It is risk. In Episode 42 of On The Record, Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie welcome the Something for Kate frontman to discuss Shotgun Karaoke, his disarmingly loose—and increasingly popular—solo covers project.  Across two albums and a growing run of sold-out shows, Dempsey has turned the familiar songs of Cher, Bruce Spring...

What makes a rock star? It is not simply the hits, the haircut or the size of the crowd.  In Episode 41 of On The Record, Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie turn to a 2014 essay by Robert Forster for a more exacting test: a rock star, Forster argues, is one even when nobody is watching. Show Notes SPIT Trailer (2025) Comedy Movie HD https://youtu.be/7mPdrlAJOQ4 Robert Forster "What’s the difference...

The 25th Americana Honours & Awards at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium sits at the centre of Episode 40 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie. Though, as ever, the definition of “Americana” proves ripe for debate. Brian Wise watched the ceremony while keeping one eye on Hawthorn training, and salutes the Americana Music Association’s efforts to broaden its representation.  The ni...

Radiohead’s long-awaited return to Australian stages provides the spark for Episode 39 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie—and the hosts could scarcely have more divergent views. Plus new and old Richard Thompson, Cassandra Wilson and Bill Nye's latest performances. Show Notes Radiohead - Weird Fishes/Arpeggi [HD]   David Byrne - This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) | Prague |...

Episode 38 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie begins with welcome news for Australian audiences: Gillian Welch and David Rawlings will return in 2027, making it three visits in as many years. For a duo whose shows can feel like a form of secular communion, it is a remarkably generous run.  The episode also pauses to honour Dolly Parton, whose death at 80 has prompted an extraor...

In this encore episode of On The Record, we worship at the altar of Gillian Welch & David Rawlings with guest Andy White joining the chat.  The conversation widens into stagecraft: tuning mishaps, the art of filling dead air, and the delicate question of whether you should tell stories between songs or let the song do the work.  You’ll also hear Brian and Michael bickering over the relative me...

Episode 37 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie travels from Melbourne International Film Festival screenings to the changing state of music journalism, with a detour through elite sport, television drama and the strange joy of old-fashioned telephones. Show Notes CONGO BOY Trailer TOMORROW I'LL BE BRAVE trailer   Joy Bubbles KSTP  Dead Man's Wire Trailer #1 (2026)  Official prom...

Episode 36 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie moves from the car parks of a Grateful Dead revival to the piano stool of one of rock’s great behind-the-scenes players, with Don Walker’s new album providing the local centre of gravity. Show Notes Summer Tour At Miff  The Session Man | Nicky Hopkins: The Unsung Hero Behind Rock's Greatest Hits | Full Documentary  Sympathy for the...

Episode 35 of On The Record begins where last week’s conversation left off: with Glen Hansard.  Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie watch the Irish singer-songwriter’s funeral, a ceremony that made plain the depth of affection held for the Frames frontman, Once star and inveterate musical collaborator. Mackenzie was especially struck by the accounts of Hansard’s generosity, the presence of his batter...

Episode 34 of On The Record opens in sombre territory, with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie remembering Glen Hansard, the Irish singer-songwriter, Frames frontman and Once star who died aged 56 following a motorcycle accident outside Dublin. Hansard’s career stretched back to the formation of The Frames in 1990, before his work with Markéta Irglová as The Swell Season, and a substantial solo cata...

The episode opens with the passing of saxophonist Plas Johnson, 94, a player whose name might not mean much outside musician circles but whose sound is embedded in popular culture.  Johnson’s cool, slinking work on Henry Mancini’s Pink Panther theme is his best-known contribution, but the wider CV is properly formidable: Frank Sinatra, B.B. King, Joni Mitchell, Marvin Gaye, The Beach Boys, Nat Kin...

There are few things more reliable in popular culture than a World Cup penalty shootout inspiring arguments about fairness, a Rolling Stones album being handled carefully, or Bob Dylan inspiring precisely no usable information from anyone who has worked with him. Episode 32 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie covers all three, plus a handy mid-year listening list, a salute to tw...

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...