The Sampler

This week, Nick Bollinger's been listening to a six-CD set of Bob Dylan's so-called 'Basement Tapes'; and an album called 'The New Basement', of unfinished Dylan songs fleshed out by other musicians.

Nick Bollinger reviews new albums by Taylor Swift, Darren Watson and Seun Kuti. Read more Audio

Nick Bollinger has a chat with legendary session guitarist James Burton, and reviews a new record from Phil Judd. Read more Audio

Nick Bollinger reviews new albums by French For Rabbits and Vashti Bunyan, plus the compilations Country Funk II and Master Mix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell. Read more Audio

Nick Bollinger reviews only the third albun in fourty-five years from freak-folk figurehead Vashti Bunyan. Audio

Nick Bollinger takes a listen to the quiet sighs of Wellington-based duo French for Rabbits on their debut LP Spirits. Audio

This week in The Sampler Nick Bollinger reviews a defining double live set by Texas bluesman Gary Clark Jr., and talks to Australian minstrel C.W. Stoneking about his unique fusion of jazz, gospel and… Read more Audio

In The Sampler this week Nick Bollinger reviews the second album from Mercury Music Prize-winning British indie rockers Alt J; a two-disc compendium of southern styles from Lucinda Williams; and a set… Read more Audio

In The Sampler this week Nick Bollinger reviews a double-disc set from father-and-son duo Jeff and Spencer Tweedy, a.k.a. Tweedy; the ecstatic pagan grooves of Swedish ensemble Goat; and a beginners… Read more Audio

Standing in for Nick Bollinger, Jim Pinckney reviews the retro rock styles of Wildest Dreams, the futuristic kiwi soul of Electric Wire Hustle, Robyn Hitchcock's gentle acoustic strummings and Brian… Read more Audio

Kiran Dass, sitting in for Nick Bollinger, reviews the swirling Southern Gothic of Christchurch's Dark Matter; the reverb-drenched melancholy of Roy Montgomery; and the literate post-punk of Josef K.