Rnz: Music 101

Some veterans of music are back in fine form, and The Song Crush team are here for it. 

The Woodstock Festival took place between August 15 and 17 1969 attracting a crowd of over 400,000 people and wrote itself into the history of music. For Bobbi & Nick Ercoline Woodstock became a defining moment in their lives - They featured in an iconic photo taken by photographer Burk Uzzle which was included on the cover of the triple Woodstock album. Trevor Reekie talked to the couple 50 years after that iconic photo was taken.

Americana/roots musician Justin Townes Earle is visiting New Zealand next week. He talked guns, police and the POTUS with RNZ Music's Kirsten Johnstone.

Comedian, musician and former Saturday Night Live star Fred Armisen brings his new show Comedy For Musicians But Everyone Is Welcome, to Auckland in September. He spoke to Elliott Childs about the similarities and differences between comedy and music.

Samoan-Aotearoa hip hop artists Anonymouz and Tha Movement tell RNZ Music how chance email saw their song MASTA included on the Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw soundtrack

Wellington four-piece DOONS share their song 'Won't You Come Through.

Australian indie-rock surrealist Kirin J Callinan is touring NZ this month. He joined us to explain how Hollywood actress Andie MacDowell ended up staring in his latest music video 'You Weren’t In Love With Me'.

Why is Chance The Rapper’s album getting such terrible reviews? We find out, and hear some new goth-pop from Angel Olsen, a banger from newcomer Georgia, something special from Race Banyon and more. 

Woodstock '99 is remembered as a violent, fiery disaster. The media blamed the bands for the mess, but did they really cause the riot? In his new podcast Break Stuff, author and music journalist Steven Hyden tries to find out. He tells RNZ Music how the chaos unfolded.

Grey Lynn hip-hop duo Eno x Dirty perform new songs and talk about some of the inspirations behind their high energy party raps

SIX60 have just released a new song 'The Greatest'. One of Aotearoa's most loved bands also want to prove that selling out Western Springs wasn't a fluke, so they've annouced a another open air concert for February 2020.

Song Crush this week has songs about self-empowerment and drowning in sorrow, in equal measure.

Mark Vanilau is this week's mixtape selector. A keyboardist and singer in his own right, Mark has work with Dave Dobbyn, Warren Maxwell, Hollie Smith and Ladi6. He shares his songs and stories with Yadana Saw.

The Song Crush team play remedies for your mid-winter maladies, including songs from Thelma Plum, Bob Dylan and David Kilgour.  

Tim Finn's 21-year-old son Harper is the latest to join the family songwriting business. He's just released two piano-pop songs that might have him swatting away comparisons to his dad, but also show his own emerging style. He speaks with RNZ Music's Kirsten Johnstone.

A new documentary Mystify: Michael Hutchence, currently showing at the NZ International Film Festival, seeks to reveal the truth about the late INXS singer. Director Richard Lowenstein speaks to RNZ Music about Hutchence and what it's like to make a film about a lost friend.

A new documentary playing at the NZ Film Festival called The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash is a sensitive and compelling portrait of the man and the artist. As film-maker Thom Zimny tells Kirsten Johnstone, it was a completely different documentary until a remarkable discovery in the archives.

He Waka Kōtuia are a Ōtepoti/Dunedin kapa haka roopu who have just released an album with Mara TK and Troy Kingi. The rangatahi join Yadana Saw to talk about the process of songwriting.

Elliott Childs talks to New York based guitar builders Rick Kelly and Cindy Hulej, the subjects of Carmine Street Guitars, a documentary which is playing at the New Zealand International Film Festival.

In his only New Zealand interview, Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist James Blake tells RNZ Music why concertgoers need to "shut up" and "just listen to the person play".