Album of the Week: Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.

New Zealand Net Radio plays a song from our #albumoftheweek every hour from 9am to 12pm Monday to Friday. Listen in @tunein at https://tunein.com/radio/New-Zealand-Net-Radio-s305138/

Over the holiday period in the absence of major releases we’ll cast our eyes back over some classic releases. Bruce Springsteen’s album from 1984 became so ubiquitous that it possibly suffered from overexposure at the time. There is no doubt however that this is a superb collection of songs. With 19 million sales this landmark album is superbly realised. AllMusic as usual provide a good review.

Tracks of the Year

Whew, we made it through. As mentioned earlier it was devilishly hard choosing these Top 40 tracks of the year. We tried to pick ones that have had longevity and that we think will stick around for years to come. We limited ourselves generally to one track per artist – many of these had more than one deserving song. Here is the playlist – from 40 down to Maroon 5 at No. 1.

Tracks Of The Year

Normally on Friday morning New Zealand Net Radio plays fresh tracks we’ve noted – New Music Friday. This week however something different. Our top 40 tracks of 2018. After hours of gruelling work, we had it down to 130! Getting it to 40 required extraordinary grit. No doubt about it, unless you’ve been under a rock, 2018 has been a great year for music. Listen in @tunein at https://tunein.com/radio/New-Zealand-Net-Radio-s305138/ as we count down our Top 40 tracks of 2018.

Countdown

Janelle Monáe

Every weekday between 1 and 5pm we play tracks from our #spotlightartist. They’re an artist with a body of work which has stood the test of time. We’ll play the hits – but also some deep cuts. Listen ad-free through New Zealand via @tunein at https://goo.gl/VL6m3NS

Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Janelle Monáe can probably vie credibly for artist of 2018. She certainly isn’t a new artist. Her first (unofficial) album The Audition was released in 2003, and she has already released scores of great singles as well as albums like The ArchAndroid (2010) and The Electric Lady (2013). However this year’s Dirty Computer really captured the zeitgeist. Although the openness of her sexuality undoubtedly helped in raw commercial terms with the publicity regime the album fully deserved its commercial and critical success. It wasn’t the one we listened to the most necessarily, but it certainly stood out for its freshness, sexiness and incredible funk and new wave sounds. This week in our Spotlight Artist spot we’ll track back over some great songs from Monáe’s career, stretching from The ArchAndroid through to today.

Album of the Year: Kimbra – Primal Heart

New Zealand Net Radio plays a song from our #albumoftheweek every hour from 9am to 12pm Monday to Friday. Listen in @tunein at https://tunein.com/radio/New-Zealand-Net-Radio-s305138/

So many choices – we’ve had some real delights as albums of the week this year, and plenty of nice ones that have just missed out because of a plethora of albums at the same time. The 1975’s A Brief Enquiry Into Online Relationships, Ariana Grande’s Sweetener, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s Hope Downs, Beach House 7, A Star Is Born, The Greatest Showman: Reimagined and Parquet Courts Wide Awake spring to mind. In the world of the critics,
Janelle Monáe, Mitski, Robyn, Kasey Musgraves and Christine and the Queens seem to have triumphed frequently (https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/summary/2018/). We could have chosen any of those, but we decided to go with a Kiwi effort, an album we kept returning to through the year – Kimbra’s Primal Heart.

Look forward to featuring this fantastic album once again this week. On Friday, in place of New Music Friday, we’ll count down our top 40 songs of 2018 through the morning.

Spotlight Artist: The Beach Boys

Every weekday between 1 and 5pm we play tracks from our #spotlightartist. They’re an artist with a body of work which has stood the test of time. We’ll play the hits – but also some deep cuts. Listen ad-free through New Zealand via @tunein at https://goo.gl/VL6m3NS

Three brothers, their cousin and a friend put together a rock band in 1961. It went on to be legendary. From surf songs, they progressed to the incredible creativity of Pet Sounds before Brian Wilson’s attempt to create an even bigger album masterpiece (Smile) collapsed in acrimony and Wilson’s own unstable mental state. They still produced some good tracks after this time though, like “Do It Again” and “Bluebirds Over the Mountain”. With summer well and truly here, what better than the Beach Boys!

New Music Friday – 14th December 2018

Its Friday so its time for five brand new tracks to get their first spin on the hour every hour from 9am. We’ll keep playing these tracks on New Zealand Net Radio, home of streaming radio ad free 24/7 throughout New Zealand.

Its our last New Music Friday for the year. Next week we’ll round up our favourite tracks of 2018 (yes we try to wait for any last minute treasures!).

Toro Y Moi – Ordinary Pleasure

Baynk – Off Limits feat. Glades

ZAYN – There You Are

From his forthcoming album – this one should get some chart traction.

MorMor – Pass the Hours

Seeb – Grip feat Bastille

Spotlight Year: 1956

Every weekday between 1 and 5pm we play tracks from our #spotlightartist. They’re an artist with a body of work which has stood the test of time. We’ll play the hits – but also some deep cuts. Listen ad-free through New Zealand via @tunein at https://goo.gl/VL6m3NS

Something a bit different this week. We love contemporary music, but just lately have had a bit of a craving for some ‘savoury with the sweet’, good raw simple rock’n’roll with really simple production. This week we’ll Spotlight 1956 and some great pop music and Rock n’ Roll – artists like Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry and The Platters. Nothing like variety – in fact its our passion.

Album of the Week: Ziggy Alberts – Laps Around The Sun

New Zealand Net Radio plays a song from our #albumoftheweek every hour from 9am to 12pm Monday to Friday. Listen in @tunein at https://tunein.com/radio/New-Zealand-Net-Radio-s305138/

Well the music year is winding down, and everyone has already started trotting out the “Best Of” lists. Although new releases are quieting we’ll look back a few weeks to an album that got a bit crowded out (and didn’t get enough attention). Ziggy Alberts is an Australian folk musician who has put together a sweet and contemporary set of songs with great melody and singing. Enjoy!