April 17th is Record Store Day, an occasion for recognising and celebrating the role of (a diminishing number) of record shops in nurturing and championing music that you won't find on TV or commercial radio. In this episode I'm taking a look at Slow Boat Records in Wellington. By the way, I don't have any association with Slow Boat other than being a customer and fan, but it's a great shop and I make a special effort to visit each time I'm in Wellington. Download the Counting The Beat - Record Store Day podcast

I thought that I'd mark Easter with a special episode of Counting the Beat. No, it's not songs about bunnies, buns or chocolates, but songs about Jesus. Well, not strictly about Jesus, I've kept away from the Christian rock genre, and in fact many of these songs merely make reference to Jesus rather than being about him. Download the Counting The Beat - Easter podcast

I've always been a vinyl fan, and nowadays, when most of my music acquisitions are digital, I'm finding that when I do pick up music in hard copy the format is more likely than not a record. There are some really lovely releases about, and in this episode I highlight I few that I've recently picked up. Download the Counting The Beat - Vinyl Round Up

Welcome to the centennial episode of Counting the Beat. For 100 podcasts, over around 2 and a half years, I've been bringing you NZ music rarities, obscurities and new releases. To mark the 100th episode I thought I'd take a look back at some of my favourite features and tracks from the Counting The Beat back catalogue. Download the Counting The Beat - Episode 100 podcast

The Mint Chicks are an astounding band - over their eight years of existence they have been indie darlings, reached the finalists of the countries top song writing awards, and won a slew of Tuis. All the while they've been incredibly innovative and not afraid to try new things or turn expectations on their head. The Mint Chicks often have more ideas in one song than some bands do in an album. Download the Counting The Beat - Troublegum podcast

Bruce Blucher's name won't be known to many but to my mind he's a key New Zealand musician, having been in some of the best Dunedin bands of the 80s and 90s. Download the Counting The Beat - Bruce Blucher podcast

Late in 2008 I was emailed by a Scottish guy called Jason who runs a blog called Popcop. He had started up an international project called the Music Alliance Pact. The idea being that music bloggers from around the world would select a song from their country each month to contribute to an international on-line compilation. We each post all of the songs simultaneously on the 15th of each month with info on the artists and a link to their myspace page. This episode compiles the 1st year of Counting The Beat contributions to the Music Alliance Pact. Download the Counting The Beat - Putting NZ on the MAP podcast

I was pleased to hear that Flying Nun founder Roger Shepherd has recently bought back the label from Warners Music who acquired it in 2005 from Festival Mushroom who Shepherd originally sold it to in 1999. Under Warners the label has languished. There have been a handful of new bands released under the label such as the Mint Chicks and a pretty impressive 5 CD boxset but the rich back catalogue has been largely ignored. I'm hopeful that with Shepherd back at the helm some of the great music recorded and released, often in pretty short runs, will again see the light of day so I put my mind to some of the Flying Nun releases, long unavailable, that I'd like to see re-released Download the Counting The Beat - Nun Flies Home podcast

There's a new kiwi Christmas compilation out called Merry Christmas Baby. It features the likes of Jordan Luck, Jackie Clarke and Shona Laing and I won't be playing any of it in this Christmas episode of Counting the Beat (I do, however, support the cause it's raising money for - Plunket - and I suggest you make a donation). Instead I've dug around to find some my favourite, more interesting and obscure kiwi Christmas tracks. Download the Counting The Beat - Kiwi Christmas 2 podcast

Jordan Reyne has few peers in the New Zealand music scene. She brings together folk, sound collage, electronica and industrial noise in unique and haunting music that she describes as experimental folk/noir. Download the Counting The Beat - Jordan Reyne podcast