Album of the Week: Years and Years – Palo Santo

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/

The second album from this British group lead singer Olly Alexander combines desire and shame in dance infused pop. The Guardian nicely described it as:

an electronic pop confection in giddy, layered debt to the transatlantic R&B of the 80s and 90s

Album of the Week: Florence + The Machine – High As Hope

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/

 

 

 

 

 

From The Telegraph:

Welch’s singing throughout is extraordinary, shifting gears effortlessly from melancholic softness to high-powered exultation, even ululation. Every gasp, growl and fluttery trill seems perfectly placed.

Say no more.

Album of the Week: 5 Seconds of Summer – Youngblood

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/

We’ve been playing the single which gave this album its name for a couple of months now, and the record lives up to the success of that single (still in the Top Ten in most places). After a break of three years (this is their third album) the pop-punk band have embraced a more straightforward sound with plenty of 80s synth influence. Youngblood is unarguably an excellent track but there are plenty of other gems here. Listen out for “Valentine” for example, brilliant sub twenty one pilots pop, complete with staccato delivery in the chorus and dabbing synth. Looking forward to checking out this brilliant pop record from the Aussie foursome.

Album of the Week: Shawn Mendes – Shawn Mendes

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/


The very popular Canadian songsmith strikes again with his self titled third album. You can get too much of a good thing but after our synth pop week with ChVrches last week we’re ready to enjoy these well written singer songwriter numbers, including the big lead single “In My Blood”.

Album of the Week: ChVrches – Love Is Dead

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/

We’ve been looking forward to this album from this Glaswegian band for months since their promising early singles “Miracle” and “My Enemy” were released. Lauren Mayberry’s vocals are incredible, and the band’s synth pop sound continues to evolve. The Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart gave some early inspiration. An interesting influence mentioned in an interview with Matt Waterman of Beats 1 was New Order’s track “Age of Consent”, with its loose, rough feel. They certainly have achieved a raw live feel with this great album. Can’t wait to play it to you!

The tracklist:

  1. Graffiti
  2. Get Out
  3. Deliverance
  4. My Enemy (feat. Matt Berninger)
  5. Forever
  6. Never Say Die
  7. Miracle
  8. Graves
  9. Heaven/Hell
  10. God’s Plan
  11. Really Gone
  12. ii
  13. Wonderland

 

Album of the Week: Jamie McDell – Extraordinary Girl

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/

May has been New Zealand Music Month since 2000, an opportunity to promote and celebrate New Zealand music. Check out the official website for all the great gigs and events going on. Great to be able to enjoy a quality New Zealand effort as our album of the week for the first full week of May. Jamie McDell is 25 years old and this is her third full length album, being accompanied by a tour. The album was recorded in the House of Blues in Nashville and has a real country feel. Well known Australian country singer Kasey Chambers features, and her brother Nash Chambers produced. Even their father Bill sings on the album! We think you’ll love these tracks – there is some great contemporary country music around and it seems to serve as a good palatte cleanser for some of the highly produced pop with lots of synth action (not that we don’t like it!).

Tracklist:

  1. Tori (feat. Kasey Chambers)
  2. Running Now
  3. Extraordinary Girl
  4. 3AM
  5. Paint On A Sign (feat. Bill Chambers)
  6. Under the Bonnet
  7. Be Mine
  8. Bad Attitude
  9. Slow Dream Boat
  10. Lady In Waiting
  11. No Womans Land (feat. Tami Neilson)
  12. A Liar Loves A Liar

Album of the Week: Keith Urban – Graffiti U

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/

This album continues Keith’s interest in combining different genre sounds with country. Its a winning combination – a fantastic set of songs including beautiful collaborations with Julia Michaels and Lindsay Ell. Some of the touches like Woman might jar slightly (the attempt to dial in to the #metoo mood of the year) but  this is just a good album of Country Pop.

The tracklist:

  1. Coming Home (feat. Julia Michaels)
  2. Never Comin Down
  3. Same Heart
  4. My Wave (Intro)
  5. My Wave (feat. Shy Carter)
  6. Parallel Line
  7. Drop Top (feat. Kassi Ashton)
  8. Way Too Long
  9. Horses (feat. Lindsay Ell)
  10. Gemini
  11. Texas Time (Intro)
  12. Texas time
  13. Love The Way It Hurts (So Good)
  14. Female
  15. Steal My Thunder

 

Album of the Week: 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/

This is Kiwi singer Kimbra’s third album (she’s from Hamilton), following on from 2014’s The Golden Echo. We’ve been playing several tracks over the past couple of months, and the album as a whole lives up to the expectations set by those tracks. This is a great collection of melodic pop but with an edge and inventiveness that take it beyond the ordinary. The critics have been complementary:

Primal Heart takes listeners on a smoother journey than The Golden Echo‘s wild ride, and if some of these tracks are a little more straightforward, they’re also great showcases for Kimbra‘s soul-baring. Her writing feels more personal than ever as she tackles getting older, wiser, and stronger on songs that range from “Lightyears”‘ soaring exuberance to the defiance of “Everybody Knows.” The album’s ballads are some of Kimbra‘s most compelling yet

The tracklist:

  1. The Good War
  2. Top of the World
  3. Everybody Knows
  4. Like They Do On the TV
  5. Recovery
  6. Human
  7. Lightyears
  8. Black Sky
  9. Past Love
  10. Right Direction
  11. Version of Me
  12. Real Life

Album of the Week: 30 Seconds To Mars – America

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/

Jared Leto started out as lead in My So Called Life (a forgettable 90s teen comedy) and founded 30 Seconds To Mars in 2002 to some fanfare. The band wasn’t a flash in the pan, and although his acting career has continued “Thirty Seconds” (the number turned to a word along the way) have now released six albums with this new effort. The album deals with US politics today without much subtlety. The reviews have been fairly cool – one compares this to the “tasteless gruel” of Imagine Dragons and Twenty One Pilots. Fortunately we (along with the people who have kept songs from Evolve in pretty much every top 20 since it was released, and those who saw this album selling more units than Cardi B’s unavoidable debut album) actually quite like this contemporary rock sound. Let’s work through the tracks this week. We’ll kick off with an instrumental called Monolith after 9 on Monday.

Featured Album: Elton John & Co – Revamped

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

Our #featuredalbum this week is Revamp: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin. Released to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their collaboration. And what a career they have had. It has already yielded a 25 year celebration (Two Rooms from 1993) but this incredible body of music is worth revisiting. Like the earlier effort it is really interesting hearing how contemporary pop artists have interpreted his songs. Watch the trailer for a bit more background from the contributors:

Less well publicised is another album Restoration which features interpretations by country artists. We’ll try and sneak on a few of those numbers this week as well. Listen every morning from 9am for an hourly track from Revamp.

And the track list:

  1. Bennie and the Jets (Elton John, P!nk and Logic)
  2. We All Fall In Love Sometimes (Coldplay)
  3. I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues (Alessia Cara)
  4. Candle In The Wind (Ed Sheeran)
  5. Tiny Dancer (Florence and the Machine)
  6. Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Mumford and Sons)
  7. Sorry Seems to Be The Hardest Word (Mary J. Blige)
  8. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (Q-Tip and Demi Lovato)
  9. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters (The Killers)
  10. Daniel (Sam Smith)
  11. Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (Miley Cyrus)
  12. Your Song (Lady Gaga)
  13. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Queens of the Stone Age)