Grant Smithies

It's still five months away, but even so, Grant Smithies is already packing his bags to head north for Auckland City Limits music festival in March, 2018. The lineup has just been announced, and we… Audio

The news that Grace Jones is coming here in March hit the nation with considerable force. Fanboy Grant Smithies got to talk to her in 2011. She was 'utterly charming'. Video

A few months ago, Grant Smithies mouthed off on air about how crap most recent Australian bands were and RNZ listeners were quick to respond. Today he plays four ripper Australian bands. Video, Audio

Wellington band MarineVille's fourth album is such a ripper, a record company in Austria has just released it on vinyl. Grant Smithies gives his verdict. Video, Audio

Built around four feisty sisters, pioneering NYC punk-funk band ESG played live in punk dive bars while their records got a thrashing in early dance clubs Paradise Garage and Danceteria. We hear two… Audio

In the Music 101 Pocket Edition, occasional RNZ music critic Grant Smithies speaks with Alex Behan about his record store, Tony Stamp looks into the uncertain future of Soundcloud and metal rockers… Audio

Grant Smithies has opened a matryoshka-esque boutique record store inside a pub inside a church in Nelson. Audio

Sheffield synth-pop pioneers The Human League are on their way to New Zealand for the first time, and long-time fan Grant Smithies is chuffed. We revisit their extraordinary debut single from 1978 and… Audio

Recorded in Auckland's Herne Bay by three acid-addled loons, the first and only Space Farm album has just been reissued and Grant Smithies has been, you know… freaking out, man. We also hear from 60s… Audio

It must be cold, surely, moving from Auckland to Norway? But Ryan McPhun of The Ruby Suns has done just that, strapping together his fifth album Sprite Fountain in an old schoolhouse near Oslo, fueled… Audio

Grant Smithies continues his burgeoning love-affair with early Australia punk bands this week with a reissue from Perth swamp-rock legends The Scientists, then attempts to calm down again with Iowa… Audio

Thirty years on from their first spin 'round the block, Dunedin band Look Blue Go Purple are getting the deluxe reissue treatment on Flying Nun. Grant Smithies plays a few favourites from their new… Audio

Grant Smithies celebrates two records released this very day: the debut full-length album from Auckland's Fazerdaze and a new compilation of bleakly beautiful songs from articulate Aussie sinner, Nick… Audio

Now in its tenth year, tomorrow is Record Store Day. Grant Smithies checks out tasty new RSD vinyl releases from "pan-generational Wellington supergroup" Teeth, 60s psych-pop legends Count Five, UK… Audio

Grant Smithies gets an earful of Otago "gothtronica" care of Dunedin trio Elan Vital, dusts off a key tune from Jamaican rasta ambassador Johnny Clark and sings the praises of NZ post punk act, The… Audio