I was thoroughly intrigued when presented with the opportunity to review Sound Devices’ MixPre-6 Audio Recorder/ Audio Interface for NZMusician.co.nz. A quick read through the general product notes online ...
READ MORE >With more than 20 years and a range of albums already under their belt, Wellington four-piece Hobnail continue to inspire each other and make country-folk music they love. Their recently-released ‘Blue ...
READ MORE >Last Friday, the 10th annual Waiata Māori Music Awards took place in Hastings. The biggest winner of the night was artist Maisey Rika, who cleaned up with four wins. Rika's awards included Best Traditional Maori Album (Te Reo Māori), Best Female Solo Artist, Best Song by a Māori Artist and the Best Songwriter Award. Three iconic Māori artists were previously named recipients of posthumous awards. This included Bunny Walters, 1970s pop star who received the Music Industry Award, Canon ...
READ MORE >Over at Slate.com, Mark Joseph Stern wrote an interesting article about neural nostalgia. Credit for finding this article goes to the good people at Songbroker. "As I plod through my 20s, I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon: The music I loved as a teenager means more to me than ever—but with each passing year, the new songs on the radio sound like noisy nonsense. On an objective level, I know this makes no sense. I cannot seriously assert that Ludacris’ “Rollout” is artistically superior ...
READ MORE >Over the weekend, the finals for the 2017 Pacifica Beats and Rockquest high school band competitions took place in Auckland. The winner of Pacifica Beats' Best Band Award is Jubilee (pictured) from Aorere College in Auckland, followed by Blessed of Manuwera High School. The award for Best Soloist went to Rose Campbell of Wairoa College and the one for Best Musicianship went to Soakai Malamala of winning act Jubilee. The Best Song Award was won by Fuzhun of Shirley Boys' High School in ...
READ MORE >The finalists for the 2017 Silver Scrolls, Maioha Award for contemporary Māori songwriting, the Contemporary Award, as well as two Screen Music Awards have been announced. Though some of the songs were co-written by men, for the first time, all performers of the top five finalist songs are women, of which both Team Lorde and Team Runga have in the past taken home the main award. Silver Scroll Award Richard by Nadia Reid Horizon by Hannah Harding Close Your Eyes by Bic Runga and Kody ...
READ MORE >The local awards season is now in full swing (two down, two to go) and it’s proving to be a BIG year for the ladies. The Waiata Māori Music Awards turned 10 in Hastings mid-September. The night’s big winner was Maisey Rika who cleaned up with awards for Best Traditional Māori Album (‘Tira’), Best Female Solo Artist, Best Song by a Māori Artist (Taku Mana) and also the Best Songwriter Award. With her mantlepiece re-arranged, Maisey kindly talked with NZM about her now highly-awarded, Christmas-flavoured ...
READ MORE >Having worked his way up the musical (snakes and) ladders board since boyhood, Richard Ley-Hamilton is by now an integral part of Dunedin’s indie music scene. You might know him from Males (who are on extended hiatus) or Space Bats, Attack! Amanda Mills reached across the water to talk with him about his latest project, Asta Rangu. Richard Ley-Hamilton describes Asta Rangu as a right turn from what he was doing with Males. Ley-Hamilton has a long musical background, playing piano from childhood, ...
READ MORE >Em-Haley Walker first started creating a buzz with her 2015 track Silver Second, released under her then-moniker Plum. By the time her Josh Fountain-produced single Roam was released in late 2016, she was recording and performing as Theia, with a self-titled EP waiting in the wings. Alongside touches of electronica and RnB, Theia’s sound is described as ethereal, glitter-pop. She talked with Sam Vegar for NZM. “It’s ethereal and edgy and strong, and it’s kind of everything that I suppose ...
READ MORE >Listening to new music all day, picking out curiosities and favourites to show to the rest of the world - what a dream job! As Chief Curator at Bandcamp, Andrew Jervis is, among other things, in charge of label and artist outreach, and hosts the Bandcamp Weekly show. He will visit NZ as a speaker for the Going Global Music Summit on September 1-2 in Auckland. Anzel Singh got to quiz him about tips to get the most out of his Bandcamp. What advice would you give a musician wanting to get their song ...
READ MORE >Coming five years after his last album, Matt Langley ’s ‘Winterdust’ is a poetic solo release, stripped of any pretence. It’s a short, lyrically penetrating album of thoughtfully edited songs and recorded single takes wrapped around a sad, yet hopeful theme. Karin Vincent pulls back the curtain to reveal more about this pensive Dunedin songsmith. “I was coming out of a patch where I wanted to make some music again, and I’ve been waiting for a kind of change. I didn’t want to go ...
READ MORE >Newly arrived in Wellington for university studies, teenage music producer Miromiro already has a history of travel that affords him a wide world view and a sense of history that clearly influences the music he’s released online. Michael Hollywood caught up with Ashok Jacob to talk with him about his second album, mysteriously titled ‘Kembé Falls’. Wellington-based music producer Ashok Jacob is a firm believer in the notion that our surroundings are key to the type of music we make. That’s ...
READ MORE >New Dunedin electro pop duo Jaggers X Lines have recently released their debut EP ‘Letters’. Eliana Gray (27) and Morgan Smillie (35) met in Dunedin and despite coming from very different musical backgrounds decided to make music together. “I was really involved in theatre and musical theatre as a child and lots of choirs and speech and drama,” Gray recalls, “[Morgan’s] background really comes from DJ-ing and he’s an incredible DJ.” Smillie has also recently completed a Bachelor ...
READ MORE >The IMNZ-organised Going Global Music Summit reached new heights at the start of September, with a sold-out two-day seminar event held at Roundhead Studios in Auckland. Ahead of the event, NZMusician.co.nz ran a Q&A with one of the many interesting speakers, Bandcamp’s chief curator Andrew Jervis. As a follow-up, we asked local musician Simon Comber (Herriot Row) to give a quick precis of his Going Global 2017 experiences as an artist attendee. My band Herriot Row was lucky enough to be one ...
READ MORE >Molly & The Chromatics are taking their soulful grooves on a nationwide tour to celebrate the release of their new single Anubis. Silke Hartung caught up with frontwoman Molly Rowlandson a few days before. It's been almost a year since your 'Straight Lines' EP - what have you guys been up to? We've been writing music, playing a few gigs... and in between our drummer has been overseas for three months! But he's back, and we're back in the game. You've just released your new single Anubis – An ...
READ MORE >The Going Global Music Summit 2017 took place within Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios. The legendary venue and 30+ international music industry professionals from across the world combining to the annual event’s first ever complete sell out across Friday and Saturday sessions. Anzel Singh provided NZM with his outtakes from a busy couple of days. The two days of the seventh Going Global Music Summit comprised mostly of seminars, ranging from how to get scouted by A&R and getting on Spotify ...
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