Shane Gilchrist

If you're prepared to enter a television music contest, you'd better be ready for attention both good and bad, The X-Factor Australia winner Reece Mastin tells Shane Gilchrist.

A British musician is about to embark on an extraordinary expedition - to perform his songs in the hut in the Antarctic where Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his team lived and worked before they set out for the South Pole. Shane Gilchrist reports.

Eminent and ever-busy New Zealand botanist Sir Alan Mark has completed a definitive guide to our alpine environment, the result of a passion for plants and wild places that has spanned more than half a century. Shane Gilchrist reports.

It might have started out as a bit of a frolic, but Anika Moa, Boh Runga and Hollie Smith's debut collaborative album, Peace Of Mind, is also the result of plenty of hard work, writes Shane Gilchrist.

A major retrospective exhibition of the jewellery of Kobi Bosshard opens in Gore on Saturday. Shane Gilchrist examines craft, pride and a pioneering spirit.

As a new school year looms, the parents of a certain sector of pupils will be hoping for a little understanding. Because being labelled gifted is not always easy. Shane Gilchrist reports.

Shane Gilchrist continues his rummage through his album collection. Today he hears the echoes of Flying Nun drone-pop, enjoys some strong lyricism and bathes in freshly crafted alt-pop gems.

Shane Gilchrist continues his rummage through his album collection. Today he enjoys compositional twists, some electronic noodling and stabs of guitar noise.

Shane Gilchrist continues his rummage through his album collection. Today he jumps from dark meditations to guitar experimentation to a dose of melancholy.

Shane Gilchrist continues his rummage through his album collection for 2012. Today he moves from lament to soul licks to tempestuous lyricism.

Continuing his rummage through his album collection Shane Gilchrist ponders the coolest of country. Today he ranges from Lyttelton to Nashville, with a stopover in Australia.

Shane Gilchrist rummages through his album collection and ponders the bright spots of 2012. Today he journeys through some folky yet widely varied terrain.

Colin Gibson, a man who has penned his fair share of Christmas carols, says it's important to add a fresh twist to old messages.

A New Zealand musicologist's collection of New Zealand-flavoured Christmas songs embraces the old and the new and includes more than a few curiosities. Oh, and Fred Dagg is in there, too, writes Shane Gilchrist.

A Dunedin artist's "full-on" commemoration of land girls was born out of respect for their wartime efforts, writes Shane Gilchrist.

Heath Franklin's portrayal of notorious criminal Chopper Read drips with f-words, including fiction. The Australian comedian swears it beats reality, writes Shane Gilchrist.

It seems every second day there is another headline announcing job losses and company closures. Things are particularly gloomy in the South, with hundreds of jobs under threat at Tiwai Point, Alliance's Mataura meat works and elsewhere. How would you cope with the blow of being made redundant? Shane Gilchrist reports.

Children again provide inspiration for one of the little gems at this year's Show Me Shorts Film Festival, writes Shane Gilchrist.

On tour with Dragon, veteran New Zealand band Hello Sailor has just released an album of new songs, though a few of them are old, writes Shane Gilchrist.

The Datsuns' days of relentless touring might now be a memory, but the songs keep coming hard and fast, writes Shane Gilchrist.