Sitemap - 2024 - Sounds Good!

Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 13: The Strokes, Is This It (2001)

Drummers You Just Can’t Beat: # 27 – Steve Jordan

Saturday Morning Records: #6 — Horizon by The Carpenters

Poem: When You Were Someone (Else)

Beyond Skin

Two Brilliant New Albums Buried In Different Ways

Playlist: The ‘Richard Poems’ Soundtrack

Poem: Aiming Low

August Poem Dump

“I’ll Fix This. I Can Make It Cool Again!” (Vol. 10)

It Was The Best Gig Ever # 31: Janet Jackson, Wellington 1998

Poem: The Late Nineties

Favourite Films of 1980

Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 12: The White Stripes, Get Behind Me Satan (2005)

Saturday Morning Records: #5 — Drama of Exile by Nico

Poem: Poverty Spiral

Todd Rundgren’s “Something/Anything”: One of the Most Memorable Record Store Recommendations

Don’t Look Back in Amber: The Instant Nostalgia of the Oasis Reunion Announcement

Playlist: Downbeat, Lowkey…

Poem: Aggregation

The Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame 2024

Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 11: The Finn Brothers, Everyone Is Here (2004)

Poem: They Used To Put Bells Inside Cofffins, Now They Just Put Doctors On Overtime

I Often Wonder What Dave Armstrong Is Thinking

“I’ll Fix This. I Can Make It Cool Again!” (Vol. 9)

Happy 80th Birthday Moe Tucker

Audio + Typed Short Story: Not Much Of A Bookstore Job

Poem: The Privilege of Time

Podcast: The Shining — We All Float Down Here

Three Seasons of The Bear

Gig Review: Wellington Raw Comedy Quest 2024 Final

Poetry Reading: National Poetry Day (Fri, Aug 23, 2024), Undercurrent Bookstore, Wellington

Saturday Morning Records: #4 — Blues & Roots by Charlie Mingus

Where Have All The Bands Gone?

Playlist: Taking Care of Business # 3

Poem: Unconnected, Of Course

Audio: Torch Song For My Father

Drummers You Just Can’t Beat: # 26 – Jaki Liebezeit

Poem: Nausicaa

What A Good Score! – #40: Stephen King’s “IT” (Soundtrack From The Television Motion Picture) by Richard Bellis

Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 10: The Orb, The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (1991)

R.I.P. Gena Rowlands — She Was Never Bad In A Movie Ever

Poem: The “Johnny, No!” Memorial Library

Saturday Morning Records: #3 — Real Life by Joan As Police Woman

“I’ll Fix This. I Can Make It Cool Again!” (Vol. 8)

The Police: Synchronicity - 40th Anniversary Edition/s

Fuck Yeah! Alison Moyet is Touring New Zealand!

Video Poems: Three 'Richard' Poems featuring musical references

Poem: Nautical by Nature

How Humpty Dumpty Is Going To Have The Very Best Autumn (Thanks To Poor People Being Lazy)

Micky Dolenz: Dolenz Sings R.E.M.

National Poetry Day: Friday, August 23, 2024

Poem: Why Not Both?

Paris Olympics 2024: That’s A Rap!

Playlist: My Meditation

Emil Amos: Zone Black

Poem: Reflection — What you are

Saturday Morning Records: #2 — The Best of Little Anthony & The Imperials

Casual Mid-Morning Group Sex

Do You Remember Those Classic Albums Docos?

Podcast: Salem’s Lot — We All Float Down Here

July Poem Dump

Poem: Hawke’s Bay in the 90s

The Best Selling Movie Soundtracks vs. The “Best” Sounding Movie Soundtracks…

What Did Prince and Morrissey Have In Common Besides Great Taste?

What A Good Score! – #39: Angel Heart by Trevor Jones & V/A

Poem: Grass Touched

Playlist: Five Hours of Blue-Eyed Blues and Jam Band Songs

Saturday Morning Records: #1 — Willie Nelson’s Teatro

Albums I Could Not Live Without (Part 4) - New Turntable/New Listening Room Edition!

Short Story: Muddy Waters Was The Inventor of Electricity

Poem: PUNctuate

“I’ll Fix This. I Can Make It Cool Again!” (Vol. 7) — Special Guest: Si White

Ten Songs I'd Still Like To Cover

Deadpool & Wolverine — The Soullessness of Immortality, In-Jokes and Multiverses

R.I.P. Martin Phillipps

Poem: True Sensations

What A Good Score! – #38: 1922 by Mike Patton

Final Tracks: An Epic and Ongoing Series of Playlists

Playlist: Taking Care of Business # 2

Sir Ian Had A Big Part!

Poem: How To Pick Up Women

R.I.P. Toumani Diabaté

Gratitude

“I’ll Fix This. I Can Make It Cool Again!” (Vol. 6)

A movie a day...

Poem: Paradise(s) Not Lost

Books That Blew My Mind # 11: “The Monster At The End of This Book” by Jon Stone and Michael Smollin

Podcast: Carrie — We All Float Down Here

The Best Guitarist in The World: # 14 – Sterling Morrison

Diamond Life

Poem: The Lower Classes Smell

“I’ll Fix This. I Can Make It Cool Again!” (Vol. 5)

Playlist: Good Kid A, m.A.A.d City

New Podcast, Who Dis?

Two Typewriters

Poem: We All Must Live In The Broken Poetry of This World

What A Good Score! – #37: The Day of the Dead by John Harrison

Playlist: The Jazz Fusion Contusion Comes From Cruising For Aural Bruising

X, Pearl, MaXXXine…A Trilogy Ruined

Poem: Vicious

R.I.P. Shelley Duvall

How One Song Saved Two Musical Acts

Playlist: Taking Care of Business # 1

Poem: It’s Implied

Little Richard: I Am Everything (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

“I’ll Fix This. I Can Make It Cool Again!” (Vol. 4)

Short Story: Only One Thing Was Off Limits

A Lifetime of Listening To Lou Reed

Poem: Threnody

Poem: The Banks of The River

Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 9: Smashing Pumpkins, Live/Unlicensed (1994)

Favourite Films of 1979

Poem: A Lifetime of Listening to Lou

Film: MaXXXine

We’re All Lucky To Be Alive…

In Love With It All

Poem: The Most Miserable Fucking Thing You’ve Ever Heard In Your Life — aka, Semantics

Playlist: Some Other 80s

John Cale: POPtical Illusion

June Poem Dump

I Will Dance On Your Grave While Spitting, Or Something!?

Poem: Chet Baker Since ‘88

Gig Review: All It Takes Is A Guitar, A Voice, Some Songs, Great Banter, Engaging Personality, And Heaps of Pure Talent, That’s All — Seeing Alain Johannes Live, Solo

R.I.P. Kinky Friedman

It Turns Out I Like TOOL (again)

Video Poem: The Billy Joel Madrigals

Short Story: Hastings, 1985

Poem: “That’s Incredible!”

“I’ll Fix This. I Can Make It Cool Again!” (Vol. 3)

A Diegesis

Playlist: Remember

Poem: Bucolic

Legally Binding And The Second DVD Player

It’s Often About The Steps You Don’t Take

Remembering The Great Donald Sutherland via 10 Favourite Film Performances

The Girls At School

Poem: Newtown Madrigal

How I Got My Start In Journalism

Playlist: The Beatles In New Zealand - 1964

It Was The Best Gig Ever # 30: TOOL, Wellington 2002

Reminded that Meshell Ndegeocello is The Greatest

A Burial

Ambient: Slow Ox

Poem: The Billy Joel Madrigals

Ambient: Half A Cookie

Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 56 – Sting, Ten Summoner’s Tales

Everything All Of The Time

Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 8: Lucinda Williams, Essence (2001)

The Old Haunts

Melvins: Tarantula Heart

“I’ll Fix This. I Can Make It Cool Again!” (Vol. 2)

What A Good Score! – #36: The Music of Red Dead Redemption II by Daniel Lanois and Various Artists

Monty Alexander: D-Day

Poem: Ry Cooder Making Music In His Own World

I’m Trying To Take A Break From TV

Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 7: The Beach Boys, Endless Summer (1974)

Playlist: Hands Together

So-So Udio...AI Music For All

AI Music Demo: "Urban Reflections"

Poem: No One Is Exactly Who They Say They Are

Gig Review: Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together at a Cave In Concert And Grooving in the Pit - Cave In Live in NZ for the first time!

New Series: I’ll Fix This. I Can Make It Cool Again! (Vol. 1)

Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 6: Rage Against The Machine, Evil Empire (1996)

Poem: Energy, Holding Tight

A Miscellany of Recent Reads

Playlist: It’s The 101

A New Career In Newtown

Poem: Small Talk

Gig Preview: Dirty Spoons on the bill for Folk-elmorn @ Vogelmorn, Friday, June 14, 2024

What A Good Score! – #35: Phantom Thread by Jonny Greenwood

Favourite Films of 1978

Poem: The Parable of The Man in The "Who Farted?" T-Shirt

Gig Review: Rapping, Producing, DJing, Often All At Once - Black Milk Delivers The Goods

Poetry Reading: Richard 3rd LIVE — aka even more ‘Richard Poems’, third time lucky

Short Story: In New Zealand More People Die From Potholes Than Cancer

Nancy Sinatra: Legend

Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 55 – Peter Frampton, Startrax

Poem: All Bearing Down On Me

Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 5: FREE CD! Celebrating Rip It Up Magazine Issue 200 (1994)

Roger Kellaway: Live at Mezzrow

They Say You Can Never Have Too Many Books Beside Your Bed…

Watching American History X as a Sunday night Family Movie

Sweetman Podcast # 276: Jon Ronson

Some things Old, some things from the News, some things Borrowed, and some Blues: (Take 5)

The True Story of the Failed Cider Playlist…

VIDEO: Dirty Spoons Live at Music Planet

Poem: Weather Report

Heroes Are Hard To Find

R.I.P. Rodger Fox

JOHN PRINE SHOWED ME HIS PUSSY ON INSTAGRAM!

Sweetman Podcast # 275: Henry Rollins

Poem: The Best Singers Are The Ones Most People Have Never Heard Of

Music Movies Aren’t Made For Me — And I Need To Remember That. Plus, They’re Getting Dumber…

Playlist: Sunday Chill, Monday’s All Good!

Film: Back to Black

Poem: Bloom Where You Are Planted

Film: The Beach Boys

Lenny Kravitz: Blue Electric Light

Poem: Working On It

Five Albums I'd Never Heard Before By Bands I'd Never Even Heard Of...

Playlist: Heading Out On The Highway

Drummers You Just Can’t Beat: # 25 – Roger Taylor (Queen)

Poem: The Universe Is Expanding Into Nothing, And What Does That Mean? I Could Tell You, But It Would Take All Day!

Poem: Collector

Tony Birch’s The White Girl (University of Queensland Press, 2019) and Laura Jean McKay’s The Animals In That Country (Scribe, 2020)

R.I.P. John Charles

Poem: Christopher Luxon Clears His Throat

Theatre Review: Transmission:Beta (Circa Theatre, Wellington, until June 15)

1994 Was The First Year of Tarantino

From The Archives: A Rick Wakeman Interview from 2012.

Poem: Cos Play...

Gig Review: Peter Still Hooked on the Feeling of Newly Ordering the Joy from the Divisions of his Old Bands

Hi! It’s Him. He’s The Greatest Coverer of Taylor Swift Songs.

Billie Holiday and Me Vs. ChatGPT

New Poems from April/May

Short Story: You Might Too

Poem: In Power

Gig Preview: Dirty Spoons, Songwriters' Showcase # 84, MOON, Sunday, May 19, 2024

I Know What Jennifer Did…And I Don’t Give A Shit!

Poem: Towards an Understanding of Humour in Poetry

Keith Jarrett: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

John Carpenter: Lost Themes IV - Noir

Poem: Regardless

In(side) A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Poem: Safe Steps

R.I.P. Steve Albini

Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 4: Crash Test Dummies, God Shuffled His Feet (1993)

Poem: American Scholar

Maybe getting a Dumbphone is the answer to everything?

Short Story: Or So It Seemed

Tape Me Back To The Future!

Poem: coda Coda CODA

Saito Kinen Orchestra / John Williams / Stéphane Denève: John Williams In Tokyo

Poem: I Never Did Get My Garfield Phone!

I Watched Baby Reindeer Just Like Everyone Said I Had To!

Poem: The Stain on the Floor at Taco Bell

Dirty Spoons Playing Live In Store at Music Planet, Sunday, May 19, 1pm

Happy 50th: I Want To See The Bright Lights

Poem: Caught by Crimson

Graeme Woller's Repetitions! Graeme Woller's Repetitions! Graeme Woller's Repetitions! Graeme Woller's Repetitions!

Poetry Reading: 3 More ‘Richard Poems’ — LIVE

Gig Review: James Taylor Is Sublime - Even If It Wasn't Quite As Good This Time, In Some Ways Still It Was Actually Even Better (Or It Wasn't)

Poem: Removing Triage

R.I..P. Paul Auster

Drums & Demons Is The Best Book I’ve Read About Something Utterly Tragic

Poem: Numbers

I Love (ALL!) Tennis Films

Poem: Final Lines As Cold As Winter

On The Pleasures of Someone Else’s Record Collection…

Dirty Spoons at The Next Big Thing, Saturday, April 27, Masterton

Poem: Immolations

Playlist: The Golden Fleece

Film: Challengers

Poem: I Use Adverbs, Gladly

Jon Ronson is coming to Wellington!

Gig Review: Chris Isaak Is The Last of the Truly Great All-Around Entertainers And That’s Just Facts.

Poem: DAMN

Poem: Please Give Generously

Gig Review: What The Fuck Happened To Beth Orton’s Voice? And Why Was It Still Such a Great Gig?

The Julia Roberts Theories

That Time I Wrote A Press-Quote To Order:

Poem: Gizzy

The Wonderful Oscar Peterson

Playlist: Funk You Up

Poem: In Another Life

The True Story of Why I Matter-of-Factly Hate Camping

R.I.P. Keith LeBlanc

Poem: Know Your Rites

Here's How Much Of A Soundtrack Lunatic I Am!

Playlist: Damn U! Filthy Apes

Poem: A Western Song from The Tibetan Singing Bowls

Some Favourite New Albums...

Gig Review: Metal on Metal with The Black Dahlia Murder and Carcass, Great Bands, Great Energy, Great Audience

Poem: Not A Lot Like You

New Poems (The Non-Richard Kind...)

Short Story: Ol’ Mate Luxxo!

Poem: His Only Proof

Tour Announcement: Bob Mould to play Three NZ Shows (November 2024)

Short Story: How Beyoncé Saved Country Music With Her Bottomless Resources

Best Westerns! Help me find some Winter Western Watching…

Poem: Faded Curtains

Senseless Apprentices: 30 Years since the death of Kurt Cobain

Short Story: Cooler

Getting Limbic: It's good to work outside of your comfort-zone

Poem: God Moved Through His Fingers

BEAT

Poetry Reading: 3 ‘Richard Poems’ — LIVE

R.I.P. Albert "Tootie" Heath

Poem: Herzog’s Dream

Stephen King Bookclub # 1: Carrie

Poem: The DJ Plays 'Fever'

Movies Of My Life # 33: Carrie

Poem: Diplomatic Transparency

Creed and King Crimson. Barry Lyndon and King Kong. Wrong. And Not Wrong. Snob. And Anti-Snob.

Film: Godzilla x Kong — The New Empire

Poem: Sheep In Wolf’s Clothing

Short Story: Oh, Well, You Had To Be There!

If I wrote a book about the movies…

Poem: Frost

So, I like Creed now?!

What A Long (Strange) Weekend It Will Be…

Poem: When The Music’s Over

I Am Exiting My Villain Era

Buying Books and Reading Books Are Two Different Things…

Poem: Hospitality

Winston Peters with a Phil Collins DEEP CUT!

Favourite Films of 1977

Poem: I Was (Friends With) A Teenage Psychopath

Neil Young and Joni Mitchell Came Back to Spotify

If The Drummer Is Great It Won’t Be Bad Music

Poem: Engaged

Gig Review: I Saw An Animal, But It Made Me Remember Hearing The Animals And That’s All That Matters

Poem: Panegyric

Drummers You Just Can’t Beat: # 24 – Sheila E.

The Lasting Impact of Once Were Warriors

Poem: No Answers

Movies Of My Life # 32: Once Were Warriors

Short Story: Chris Bishop Is Taking a Range of Advice on a Range of Matters

Poem: How It Ended?

What A Good Score! – #34: Blade Runner by Vangelis

The Apple of My TV Watching Habits Never Falls Far From The Tree of My Expectations

Poem: Not A Perfect Day

Some More Things For The Weekend…

Neil Young: Before and After

Poem: Re-Hosting

Drummers You Just Can’t Beat: # 23 – Alex Van Halen

Gig Reviewing In A Gig Economy

Gig Review: The Effortless Brilliance of Three Amazing Musicians Playing As One - Or, How Arooj Aftab (and Band) Subtly Blows Away Everything

Poem: Bad Sport

Recent DECENT (GOOD) Reads!

Richard IV

Poem: Immarcesible

What A Good Score! – #33: Subway by Éric Serra

Favourite Films of 1976

Poem: Truant

Gig Review: ヘイホー、レッツゴ Shonen Knife's Happy Pop-Punk Always Cuts Through

Happy 30th Birthday to a Beautifully Miserable Album

Poem: Listless

4 Gigs, 4 Nights

Invite your friends to read Sounds Good!

Gig Review: Weird, Wonderful, Silly, Sincere, Mesmeric, Mind-blowing: Mr Bungle/Melvins LIVE!

Poem: Customs

Always Changing The Channel

Gig Review: There You Been All This Time! Dinosaur Jr Plays “Where You Been” For Its (Belated) 30th Birthday…

Poem: Rumination

Gig Review: Nashing of Teeth - Graham Nash Sings The Songs And Tells The Stories Around Their Creation

Poem: Set For Life

Gig Review: Mogwai Returned, Took Me On A Journey, But Gave Me Back My Ears This Time!

1994 Was A Big Year For Women In Music For Me

Poem: More Sad

I Talked To An Animal: My chat with drummer John Steel (of The Animals)

Richard III

Poem: That’s The Ticket

Gig Review: The National Pushes Its Songs Through The Squall To Almost Delight All

The Best Villains Are Barely There

Poem: Finally Stop

Droppin’ Names Like Galileo Dropped The Orange

I Know Why I Love Soundtrack Music So Much...

Poem: John Convertino's Press Roll

Poetry Reading: Slam or Be Slammed

The Mate of the Nation

Poem: Shampoo in the Computer

Dominic Hoey / Trudi Hewitt: The Dead Are Always Laughing At Us

Gig Preview: The Offbeats Turn 30 - Win Tickets!

Poem: SummerSlam ‘88

John Carpenter: Anthology II - Movie Themes 1976–1988

I Ran Down Most Hurriedly And Joined The Wellington Film Society…

Poem: Twentyone

Playlist: DJ Take The Power Back — Set 17/02/24, Valhalla

A Theory About The Beatles…

It was Sixty Years Ago Today...Some Other Important Life-Changing Music From 1964

Poem: Father. Son. And The Holy Roast

Henry Winkler: Being Henry - The Fonz…and Beyond

Richard II

Three Years at Substack

Poem: Three Little Birds

Chris Isaak: One Night Stand

Favourite Films of 1975

Poem: Ricky

Gig Review: I Might Be Alone Again (In Thinking This), Or Calexico Is The Best Live Band You Can Still Regularly See

There Was A Time When CDs Were A Currency

Poem: WOLF CREEK

It Was 40 Years Ago Today/ish...Nostalgia Hits Hard, You C(90) There Were Tapes To Be Made...

It Was The Best Gig Ever # 29: PJ Harvey , Sydney 2004

An Unranked List of The Best (Recent/ish) Music Memoirs I Can Think of Right Now...

Poem: A Hack, Just Like The Rest of Them

Theatre Review: Lads on the Island (Circa Theatre, Wellington, until March 2)

Dirty Spoons to play Island Bay Festival, Sunday, February 11, 2024

Poem: Walk of Life

Ode To Curb

Gig Review: I Found Myself Lost In The Sound of Russian Circles Once Again

Poem: Clang

Gig Review: Don’t Just Snare - We’re Gong Have A Real Good Time Together! Solo Percussion Explorations at the Pyramid Club

Short Story: Remembering The Upper Hutt Soccer Clubrooms

Music Will Wait For You - There's No Rush

Poem: Passage / Time

Four Years Without A Drink

Counting The Ways I Read...

Poem: Richard plays Layla

2024 Oscar Nominations: Picks and Predictions

Playlist: BBQ Madness

Gig Review: Finally Finding Fun in the Foos - Dave Grohl’s Long-Running Project Rocks Wellington (Again!) And I Am There For It - In All Senses - This Time.

Pitchfork’s Dead. Thank god for that!

Poem: Listening to Elvis

Theatre Review: The Supper Club (Circa Theatre, Wellington, until February 17)

Remembering That Sonny Rollins Concert; That Sonny Rollins Interview...

Richard

Poem: The Blues is Alive…and… well?

The Iron Claw Will Hold You In Its Grip

The Fairweather Metal Fan Goes On Two-Week "Home Alone" Bender

Poem: The Last Time I Saw Richard

Allison Miller: Rivers In Our Veins

What A Good Score! – #32: Greenberg by James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem)

Poem: Sacrifice

Dirty Spoons' First Show of 2024: Common Room, Hastings, Saturday, January 20

A Ham Sandwich Walks Into A Bar

The 20 Gigs I Reviewed in 2023:

How Do You Even Film Buff?

Poem: Filtering

Playlist: What We Do

Movies Of My Life # 31: Wrestlemania III

Only CDs Is Sounding Like These # 3: Metallica, Master of Puppets (1986)

Poem: That Was Now & This Is Then

Self-Titled Debut Albums That Encapsulate An Entire Career

Playlist: Aspirational Drumming

Darren Pickering Small Worlds: Volume Two

Losing All My Excuses

Poem: A 95 Year Old Man Bleeding On The Side of The Road

Gig Review: Death To All But Death Metal, But Also Smiles All Around - Obituary Delivers The Goods, Looks Fucking Stoked About It And Everyone Generally Has A Very Good Time

IN and OUT - 2024 Edition

Playlist: Some of my Favourite Guitarists…

4 Reviews: 4 Movies, 4 Days...

Poem: Small Mercy

Gig Review: Going (to) OFF! - In which the American hardcore supergroup proves its no nostalgia act and weaves punk, jazz, experimental and classic rock into one

Albums I Could Not Live Without (Part 3) - Roadtrip Edition!

The Troubled Times: Another (Fucking) Sunday

Poem: My Hope For Everyone's New Year

Alan Brown: Ondulation

Boxing Day: A Fiction

How did Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais Get This Awful?