An American journalist who now lives in New Zealand, Nik Dirga writes whenever the mood strikes him about books, music, movies, pop culture and more.
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Dark and brooding but filled with heartbreakingly gorgeous pop, The National's latest album soars.
The Afghan Whigs make a compelling case for their diverse, hard-edged rock in this look back at their 1990s heyday.
The Rough Guide explores the vast world of the blues in a new encyclopedic book and an excellent CD compilation
Brace yourself – for a movie about giant robots that turn into trucks and tanks, it's an amazing piece of summer entertainment.
Artists from Cat Power to the Pet Shop Boys remix Yoko Ono in two new CDs that offer a fresh look at her legacy
Is it necessary? Maybe not, but a new compilation of Jeff Buckley's work takes samples of his one album and scraps of the rest of his work to create a retrospective.
A remastered version of Lou Reed's once-reviled, now hailed dark 1973 album accompanies a new European stage show.
Finally – the two discs by the late great Traveling Wilburys super-group return to print, in a new collection by Rhino Records.
Forty years of Motown hits boiled down to two superb, concise compilation CDs, with barely a bad song on them.
It may be clutzy, it may be goofy, but the Stooges' first album in more than 30 years still kinda rocks