Heavy rock four-piece Silcrow have a discography dating back to 2020, but have been noticeably quiet on the singles front since releasing their self-titled debut album in 2024. They put that down to international ...
READ MORE >Growing up in a small coastal farming community just outside of Raglan, fledgling indie pop artist Star says she’s been singing for as long as she can remember. By the age of 15 Star Knuiman knew music ...
READ MORE >UNIFIED Music Group has announced its expansion into NZ with the appointment of veteran musician and artist manager Matt Harvey in the role of Senior Artist Manager. UNIFIED is an independently owned Australian multi-service music company, with offices in Melbourne, Sydney, USA, Toronto and London. The NZ connection signals a commitment to the local music industry, focused on providing infrastructure and development opportunities to help local artists grow and thrive on a global scale. First ...
READ MORE >Finalists have been announced for the 2026 Country Music Honours, celebrating the best in original Aotearoa country music. Presented in Gore on Friday May 22, as part of Tussock Country Festival week, the event will feature performances and award presentations for APRA Best Country Music Song and the MLT Songwriting Award. APRA Best Country Music Song finalists: Dive Bar, written by Aaron Pulemagafa, Jeremiah Jayden Fale, Edward Liu, Christian Tjandrawinata, performed by TheWesternGuide Moonlight ...
READ MORE >The Global Music Awards competition results announced in April 2026 included just one New Zealand entrant, with silver medal recognition for Christchurch country artist Steffany Beck with her song Country Strong. Released in May 2025 her single was acknowledged for both country rock and music video content. The California-based Global Music Awards is an international music competition celebrating independent musicians. The Lost Melody were awarded Global Music Award’s Best in Show honours for ...
READ MORE >NZ On Air Music have announced results of the April 2026 New Music Single funding round, with 30 songs by local artists receiving grants of up to $11,000 to support the singles' recording, video and promotion costs. 149 eligible applications were considered for the April round, and there are eight first-time NZ On Air New Music Single recipients included. The judging panel members were: Cushla Aston - Aston Road Management; Greg Prebble - NZME; Karl Lock - JB Hi-Fi; Lani Purkis - artist; So'omālō ...
READ MORE >Shaun Garea was born in Cornwall, England some 40-odd years ago, moved to Aotearoa as a youngster and has since lived in Christchurch, Auckland and the Manawatū, where he has a small home studio. His musician aptitude is mainly synths and piano, but he also has experience as an indie filmmaker plus lots of other artistic, academic and professional skills. Shaun recently completed composing a soundtrack to a new board game called Dark Dungeons, part of the Advanced Fighting Fantasy franchise. The ...
READ MORE >Their band photos are blurred and the online description helpfully starts, ‘The loa loa is a filarial nematode…’, indicating Loa Loa are quite private types and happy to keep the Dunedin band’s identity a little obscure for now. Jamming ‘some sort of post rock shoegaze’, most of their songs are EP length, however new 2026 single Always wriggled its way onto the NZ On Air Music May NewTracks compilation. Who is Loa Loa and where do you hail from? The Loa Loa members are George ...
READ MORE >In an era when so much buying and selling takes place online, it sounds almost fanciful to describe a local second-hand musical instrument store as jaw-dropping shopping, but Newmarket’s Gokula Music in central Tāmaki Makaurau well fits that description. Occupying a semi-basement space down a sloping driveway on the ‘wrong side’ of the inner-city suburb’s main drag, Gokula provides a rock’n’roll contrast to the glitz and glamour of the premium Westfield Newmarket shopping mall opposite. With ...
READ MORE >There’s something about a neighbourhood street party that makes you feel like a kid again, like you’ve wandered into something you weren’t necessarily invited to, but somehow still belong in. That’s what Morningside Mixtape, staged in late April by Auckland studio/venue Big Fan, in collaboration with the Albert-Eden Local Board, felt like. Not overly polished, not trying too hard. Just people showing up for each other, and for the music. From the jump, the crowd looked like they’d all ...
READ MORE >Aotearoa-adoptive American/Spanish citizen of the world, Anderson Rocio has worked in various aspects of the music industry since heading to Los Angeles in 2017. Success arrived in 2020 with a song she’d written being heavily used on the Netflix series Lucifer, which opened up different opportunities and drew her to create music for her other passion, ocean conservation. Returning home to Te Waipounamu in 2025, she also that year launched Riverine Records, her own independent record label. Amanda ...
READ MORE >Indie-folk singer Ali Whitton’s journey to his debut album has incorporated beginner bands, solo stints in London and Paris, romance and heartbreak, relocation to Aotearoa and an assignment from superstar Ed Sheeran. Kiwi music stars Reb Fountain and Dave Khan feature too, his album ‘Between the Forest and the Stars’ coloured in by each of them. He talked about the album with Richard Thorne. Aotearoa-born before growing up in the UK, Ali Whitton’s music career has been punctuated with ...
READ MORE >Mostly school teachers, hailing from a variety of southern hemisphere backgrounds, and aged around the 40 mark, The Mentalist Collective are a musically eclectic Ōtepoti songwriter five-piece, with roots going back almost two decades now. With a repertoire stretching from alternative rock across folk, blues and country, their recent single E Rere extends the band’s musical vocabulary into te reo Māori pop, in telling a very personal story. NZ On Air Music included the reo journey waiata ...
READ MORE >West Auckland organisation The Trusts (Portage Licensing Trust and Waitākere Licensing Trust), are joining in NZ Music Month with The Trusts Live!, five Saturday nights of live music in the intimate wine cellar at Corban Estate Arts Centre, Henderson. With a diverse line-up of local artists across funk, soul, electronic, hip hop, indie and more, The Trusts Live! programme will also shine a light on the emerging artists and sound engineers from Crescendo (the Henderson-based music programme supporting ...
READ MORE >The 2026 Official New Zealand Music Month Summit will be held on Saturday May 2nd, at The Tuning Fork in Parnell, Tāmaki Makaurau. Presented by MMF Aotearoa and the NZ Music Commission with support from other industry organisations, this year's summit centres on the theme of NZ Music Month 2026 ‘Our Sounds, Our Spaces’, celebrating our music and all the places it's made and enjoyed across Aotearoa - live music venues, community halls, schools, libraries, marae, public parks and all ages ...
READ MORE >The Mount Maunganui music community will come together in a show of unity late April, with a landmark fundraising concert set to raise money for families affected by the tragic Mauao landslide. The event will be hosted by Totara Street live music venue in Mount Maunganui, and run from midday to 11pm on Sunday 26 April, 2026. Spanning two live stages and a DJ courtyard, the Mauao Landslide Fundraiser event will feature more than 25 local artists and acts. Tiki Taane headlines a bill that includes ...
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