13th Floor MusicTalk

Peter Case has released a new live album, My Life To Live: Peter Case at McCabe's . And what a life he's lived! Marty Duda tracked Peter down to his home in San Francisco just as the 72 year-old "song performer" came off the road...but only briefly. Listen and watch as Peter talks about the fine art of talking to an audience, his days with The Nerves and The Plimsouls and how he has become a "full...

Austin psych-meisters The Black Angels are heading down under! The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to head Angel Alex Mass about celebrating 20 years of their debut album, Passover, and how they have become both afraid and powerful at the same time.

Matt Berninger , the voice of The National , is coming down under, playing solo shows at the Sydney Opera House and Auckland's Holy Trinity Cathedral. The 13th Floor's Marty Duda spoke to Matt, who was home in Connecticut, about what National fans can expect, why earplugs will not be necessary and what new songs we might be privy to.

ELskan FLY is Shelley Wya tt, a Canadian-born singer-songwriter now based in Kirwee, on New Zealand's South Island. The 13th Floor's Marty Duda spoke to Shelley about making her new album, Lion Den and what brought her from the "prairie seas" of Manitoba to the Canterbury plains.

Teddy Thompson has just released Never Be The Same , his first collection of new, original songs in six years. The 13th Floor's Marty Duda found Teddy at home in Brooklyn just as the new album was about to "drop". Watch and listen as Teddy talks about Crowded House, David Mansfield and...cake.

The 13th Floor's Marty Duda spoke to Suzanne about returning to Auckland, where she and her now-ex husband Mitchell Froom spent some quality time with Neil Finn years ago. Mitchell is now a member of Crowded House and Suzanne is preparing to make her way back to New Zealand. Marty touches on a number of topics with Suzanne including the time she was interviewed by Lou Reed on MTV (they talked abou...

London-based sonic outfit Public Service Broadcasting will enter New Zealand’s orbit, performing music from their latest album The Last Flight at Auckland's Powerstation. The 13th Floor's Marty Duda spoke to founding member J. Willgoose, Esq . about the band's exploits since they were last here in 2018 and what they have up their collective sleeves this time around. In this special tour, Public Se...

Direct from Nashville, by way of Sandy Hook, Kentucky (pop. 641)…here is Leah Blevins to talk about her new, Dan Auerbach -produced album, All Dressed Up . The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to Leah….who is now based in Nashville…just as All Dressed Up hit the streets. Watch and listen as she tells up about growing up in Sandy Hook, working with The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and opening for The Blac...

Gary Klebe is a founding member of power-pop pioneers, Shoes . Forty-nine years after their debut album was released, Gary has finally made his solo debut with a long-player called Out Loud . The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda found Gary at home in Zion, Illinois to find out why he went solo after all these years and what is the status of Shoes.

After just entering his 40s, Ali Whitton has released his debut solo album today, titled Between The Forest And The Stars …10 original songs co-produced by Dave Khan and Reb Fountain . The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to Ali from his home in Wellington, just before the big day, and found out that the Kiwi/Brit was thinking about throwing in the towel and concentrating on gardening. Fortuately for...

Sparks is coming to New Zealand for the first time in their 55+ year career...how and why have the Mael Brothers covered so much musical territory and managed to remain vital? Ron Mael tells all. The 13th Floor's Marty Duda has been a fan of Sparks since he saw them in concert in 1975. So he had a lot of questions for older Mael brother Ron. At age 80, and with no sign of slowing down, Ron fields...

With The Waterboys slated to start touring in May with dates throughout New Zealand and Australia, we figured it was time to catch up with head Waterboy Mike Scott. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda found Scott in Dublin where he had plenty to say….about Dennis Hopper, Steve Earle, Fisherman’s Blues and trolling through 80 reels of tape. Be sure to catch the band on tour…they are on fire!

Are you ready for Mogan David and The Winos ? The band was formed in LA over 50 years ago by a group of University students who would become movers and shakers and the music biz. Now, their own music is available on Liberation Hall and its called, Savage Young Winos . The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to Harold Bronson who, in addition to being a founding member of the Winos, co-founded Rhino Reco...

Coromandel-based electronic artist Matt Sephton has just released a new album titled, Vā , 11 tracks made from field recordings, found sounds, hydrophone experiments, collaborations with the land and people and bass heavy electronic production. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda found Matt at home on the eve of release day and talked to him about how he has become a “sound weaver”.

Veteran Dunedin artist J Callander (Jeremy to his friends) has just released Shadows In The Shade , an impressive collection of original music he calls, "Outlaw Space Rock". The 13th Floor's Marty Duda found Jeremy in his music room in Dunedin ready to talk about writing and recording Shadows In The Shade and how he turned Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel into Outlaw Space Rock.

Texas-based band Voxtrot is back with their second album in just two decades. What have they been doing all that time? Bandleader Ramesh Srivastava is here to explain all. The 13th Floor's Marty Duda spoke to Ramesh just as the new album, Dreamers In Exile , was due to be "dropped". Ramesh was home in Lockhart, Texas, the self-proclaimed "BBQ Capital Of Texas", where he opens up about how this lon...

Veteran Americana band The Long Ryders have just released their new studio album, High Noon Hymns. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to founding member Sid Griffin about a range of subjects…everything from politics to mortality to rock & roll cliches to becoming Vanilla Ice .

Em Beihold is finally about to release her debut album, Tales Of A Failed Shapeshifter , nine long years her debut EP. Along the way there have been some ups and downs. The 13th Floor's Marty Duda spoke to Em a few days before Tales Of A Failed Shsapeshifter was about to drop. Here she is explaing why the process took so long, how she dealt with writer's block and why she enjoys a bit of monobob.

Iron & Wine are about to release a new album titled Hen’s Teeth and play dates in Australia and New Zealand. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to Sam Beam about making Hen’s Teeth simultaneously with his previous album, about writing Grace Notes and what we can look forward to when the live show comes down under.

Ex-pat Kiwi singer/songwriter Hemi Hemingway has just released his second album, Wings Of Desire, and moved back to New Zealand after an extended stay in London. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to Hemi on release day and asked what brought him back, what inspired his musical evolution and what he plans next.

Bic Runga has just released her first new album in 15 years. It's called Red Sunset , and this time around the 20-time Tui Award winner has made a record with "modest expectations". The 13th Floor's Marty Duda spoke to Bic on the eve of release day and just after a Lorde concert. Listen as Bic reviews Lorde and tells us about her "new stage in life", her musical beginnings as a drummer and... Alic...

alayna , the critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter who hails from Rotorua, is preparing to release her highly-anticipated second album, Set Her Free. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to alayna in the middle of “Album Week” to find out more about this collection of original songs that she calls, “a series of love letters”.

Here is Six60 guitar and bass man Marlon Gerbes to tell us all about their new album, Right Here Right Now and how they are preparing to open Auckland’s newest venue, Te Paepae Theatre/NZICC. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to Marlon about how they recorded this new album, “live in the studio” in just three days, while breaking in new drummer Damian Graham . And why they choose to collaborate wi...

Louder Than You Think: A Lo-Fi History Of Gary Young & Pavement is a documentary film about the band’s “eccentric” first drummer, Gary Young . The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to two of the film’s producers, Jeffrey Clark and Brian Thalken , just as the Soundtrack album is released on Independent Project Records.

Her hometown is Los Angeles, but her musical heart is in Nashville...meet Natalie Del Carmen and hear about Pastures, her second album...the one she considers her real debut. The 13th Floor's Marty Duda spoke to the young singer/songwriter and talked to her about her great-grandad's banjo, her inability to whistle and her ability to write songs that address the unique trials of finding yourself in...