Jim Pinckney is an ex-pat Midlander, who has proudly made Auckland his home since 1989. He is the host of 95bFM’s long running Stinky Grooves show, and can also often be found spinning superior sounds out and about as DJ Stinky Jim. As well as writing for the Listener and various local and international music publications, he runs the Round Trip Mars record label, home to SJD, James Duncan, Jefferson Belt and Scratch 22, among others. Jim also records as part of Unitone HiFi and solo, and keeps his seemingly limitless musical obsession fresh by maintaining the credo “respect the unexpected”.
Jim Pinckney
Echoes of Silence by The Weeknd review
Abel Tesfaye appears to have crammed the creative arc of a career into little more than nine months. [more]
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry Presents Nu Sound & Version and If You Want Loyalty Buy a Dog by Little Axe review
Skip McDonald's seventh album is a genuine late-career surprise and a new album of Lee Scratch Perry tracks deserves big-speaker attention. [more]
The Original Sound of Cumbia review
The Original Sound of Cumbia is a remarkable compilation that has been put together with love. [more]
The best pop & rock CDs of 2011
Looking for a last-minute pressie? Listener reviewers Nick Bollinger and Jim Pinckney have the best pop and rock of the year. [more]
Bad Luck Man by Delaney Davidson review
Delaney Davidson is a master of magnificent miserablism. [more]
Damon Albarn and M83 album review
Seemingly unable to put a foot wrong no matter what he takes on, ex-Blur leader Damon Albarn has scooped up a mob of producers du jour (Actress, Kwes, Richard Russell, Dan the Automator, etc) and shipped them to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital to collaborate with contemporary domestic acts... [more]
Recent releases: 22 October
Despite being a notorious alcoholic and first-rate carouser and not being the world’s greatest tenor sax player, Charles “Packy” Axton presents a compelling musical story on LATE LATE PARTY 1965-67. His mother, Estelle Axton, and uncle Jim Stewart were co-originators of the Stax label and Packy found himself consorting with... [more]
Beautiful rivers and Mountains review
At 73, South Korea’s Shin Joong Hyun has released his first collection outside his homeland. [more]
Before the Fall: 24 Prelapsarian Cuts! Review
A quirky collection of originals as they were before the Fall got their hands on them. [more]
Recent albums releases – 10 September
Packing eight songs that actually wouldn’t sound out of place among the esteemed company of Before the Fall, EP No 3 from the Drab Doo-Riffs, A FISTFUL OF DOO-RIFFS (Liberation/Universal), is another welcome blast of fuss-free rock’n’roll that comes with all the pent-up energy of a sack of Mexican jumping... [more]
Anna Calvi and We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves by John Maus review
With more new music, worthwhile reissues and unearthed gems than ever before, it’s rare to be able to let albums grow on you over a period of months. Fortunately, in the case of the eponymous debut from ANNA CALVI (Domino/EMI), perseverance paid off with an album that initially failed to... [more]
Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Fowl Swoop by MarineVille review
Unmistakably a zeitgeist record that neatly ticks most of the boxes on the 2011 hipster’s list, the eponymous debut from UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA (Seeing Records) is a bit of a curate’s egg. Ex-Mint Chick Ruban Nielson demonstrates his strengths and exposes his frailties over the course of 10 songs that... [more]
Go Tell Fire to the Mountain by Wu Lyf and Harvey Presents Locussolus by DJ Harvey review
Emerging fully formed after the most impressive and hype-filled build-up since the xx, Manchester’s WU LYF (World Unite! Lucifer Youth Foundation) may well be at their peak with debut album GO TELL FIRE TO THE MOUNTAIN (Liberation/Universal), but what a peak! Vocalist Ellery Roberts boasts an unintelligible throaty growl that... [more]
Who Kill by Merrill Garbus and SBTRKT review
Veering between intriguing and irritating, WHO KILL (4AD/The Label), the sophomore album from Merrill Garbus, better known as tUnE-yArDs, offers more questions than it answers. It certainly is beautifully recorded and never dull, with instruments entering and leaving at will, zipping from side to side, and generally acting in a... [more]
