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Kids of 88 Sugarpills * Rattled by the sugar rush. This has to be a new low in New Zealand’s susceptibility to years-past-the-use-by-date bandwagon jumping and barrel-scraping from total chancers – as if we didn’t have access to the internet or television to tell what year it is. Pop-punk Parachute bros now in their 20s, dropping Es and feeling a bit naughty, have... More >

In the July issue of Real Groove, Stevie Kaye talks to New York author David Levithan, one of the brightest lights of teen/young adult fiction currently writing – and the co-author (with Rachel Cohn) of the music–savvy novel, Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Here’s some choice cuts from Stevie’s interview: On Real Groove: I really like the magazine, picked it... More >

Fittingly, it was a Christchurch artist who took home the 2009 Silver Scroll for the year's best song at the Christchurch Town Hall last night – Lawrence Arabia (James Milne) walked away with the prize for his Chant Darling track, the catchy Apple Pie Bed. Co-written with the Phoenix Foundation's Luke Buda, the track – more Of Montreal-ish than previous work of his – pinches... More >

After getting a last minute request to take on reviewing the night's MGMT show, I scrambled to the Powerstation only to encounter some classic "your name's not on the door, you're not coming in" doorperson interaction, and the half-hour-plus-ish attempts to get credit/call around seven-degrees-of-separation style to figure out what had happened (turns out my name was "Plus One",... More >

Real Groove chewed the fat with Basshunter (government name: Jonas Altberg) a few weeks ago - look for the interview in July's Real Groove - for a leisurely half hour or so. At home in Sweden relaxing and recording for the first time in over a year, he was knocking back some beers, watching a friend compete on Eurovision, and generous with advice – much like the KLF, the Knife... More >

It was with feelings of trepidation that I agreed to watch and write about the premiere of the new Iron Maiden documentary, Flight 666, at Skycity St Lukes. I mean, for one thing, I don't know shit about Iron Maiden (or St Lukes) – I'm false metal to the bone, whether at The Wire end of the spectrum (I could probably sing you some Striborg or Sleep's Dopesmoker, if you had... More >

It's been a great week for donk. Music's most onomatopoeically perfect genre (Say it out loud! Roll it round on yr tongue!), donk belongs to that long line of brutish British single-minded party/brawl music that runs from the stomping terrace glam of Slade to the no-nonsense punk of Oi! to the boshing perfection of happy hardcore. It kinda fits in to the British urban dance... More >