Local music and pop culture website The Corner have announced their decision to shut down. Notorious for sometimes brutally honest reviews of local bands' singles, the site always inspired debate, as a lively comments section attested to. In addition to reviews, features and Q&As, The Corner felt like the spiritual successor to Real Groove and Volume when it took over releasing new installments of the local band compilation Awesome Feeling (check out our post and interview about the Awesome Feeling compilations over here) in mp3 format. In a fishbowl music scene, The Corner was notable in the way it was never beholden to advertisers, record companies or the bands themselves. As they put it themselves, The Corner tried to prioritise "quality music, quality writing and a loose unwritten philosophy of gentle agitation over appeasement, holding no cows sacred and avoiding assumed local critical convention wherever possible".

They posted something of an obituary to themselves today, and you can read the post (sadly for the last time) over at The Corner. You heard em, start your own website.

Here's a few more of our favourites to listen to in the month of May. Here are some thoughts:

1. this acoustic version of Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark) shows just how good of a guitarist Ruban Nielsen is. He's very, very good, right?

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This Saturday, May 24, Auckland Central Library is hosting a mini music festival for New Zealand Music Month from 11am-3pm. It's going to be quite a time. Here's what you're in for.

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A Broadway Musical inspired by the work of Tupac Shakur is on its way, and EW.com has posted a sneak peek video of work in progress. Although it's not a biographical tale of Tupac himself, the musical, titled Holler if Ya Hear Me, is inspired by his lyrics and music. Take a look a look at it over here.

New Zealand Music Month is great a reminder to discover new local music and revisit some old favourites. So with that in mind, we'll be uploading some Spotify playlists of our favourite tracks. Some of the songs are recent discoveries, while others have been around for quite some time. There's not really a theme, they're just tracks that I hold very dear! Click play on the Spotify widget below to listen, hope you enjoy.