RNZ: Music 101

Al Park has been a stalwart of the Christchurch music scene for a considerable number of years. Trevor Reekie sits down with Al and Adam McGrath to talk about the new tribute album Better Already - The Songs of Al Park.

Welsh musician Cate Le Bon live in session with Kiran Dass in RNZ's Auckland studios just after she arrived in the country.

The Song Crush team this week debrief on the Grammy Awards, country/pop artist Jamie McDell explains why Kacey Musgraves won album of the year, and there's new music from Jessica Pratt, Nakhane and local beatmaker Whyfisucks.

In this week's Pocket Edition we talk to Dr Kirsten Zemke about recent abuse allegations in the music industry, and catch up with Horace Panter from The Specials.

Teresa Paterson has been involved in the NZ music industry for more than two decades working in band management, PR and at record labels, including a stint as the head of Virgin Records NZ. She shares her all-female mixtape ahead of the inaugural Milk & Honey festival, which celebrates International Women's Day.

In 1993 Phil Bell AKA Sir Vere co-founded 95bFM's True School Hip Hop Show. Since then he's dabbled in TV and publishing, and is now Program and Content Director at Mai FM. Ahead of the True School reunion happening as part of bFM's 50th anniversary, Phil talked to us about five of his favourite songs, and what they mean to him.

Horace Panter talks to Trevor Reekie about his career in the band which he documented in his book 'Ska'd for Life: A Personal Journey with The Specials' published in 2008.

British singer Jorja Smith won the Critics Choice Prize at the 2018 Brit Awards, and scored a Grammy Nomination for Best New Artist on the strength of her debut album Lost & Found. Prior to her set at Auckland's Laneway Festival, she had a chat with Tony Stamp.

Electronic musician Jon Hopkins was in town last week to perform the closing slot at Auckland's Laneway festival. Tony Stamp caught up with him to chat about transcendental meditation and his surprise Grammy nomination.

With a rich discography that spans two decades of broken beat, jazz and Auckland's High Street scene, Mark de Clive Lowe has finally made an album that goes to his core. Heritage is a musical response to his Japanese ancestry and New Zealand upbringing.