Harry Lyon: To The Sea
The first solo album from Harry Lyon is surprisingly good – by which I don’t mean to denigrate – but rather tell you that it is surprising, and good. Surprising in its entertaining versatility, and ...
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High Hoops: Shooting From Beyond The Key
Not only did Jordan Arts write, sing, record and produce his debut High Hoops album, he also self-shot the video for Madly and made all the artwork for ‘Seasons On Planet Earth’. This multi-talented ...
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News
2018 NZ Music Awards Winners
It was perhaps too much to wish for the headline, ‘Six60 Win SixTui’, but the Auckland five-piece came perilously close to pulling it off, claiming a five Tui trophy haul at the 2018 NZ Music Awards held in Auckland, November 15. The singles chart-dominating group again dominated the numbers-based categories, accepted the Best Group, Highest Selling Album, Highest Selling Single and NZ On Air Radio Airplay Record of the Year Award, that one presented by Dick Frizzell, the artist behind the 2018 ...
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Auckland Council Launches Auckland City of Music Strategy
Auckland was granted status as a UNESCO City of Music in January this year and the Auckland Council has today launched its strategy as Auckland City of Music (ACOM), for Auckland as a member of the UNESCO Creative City Network (UCCN). The idea of making an application to UNESCO was originally promoted to Council by Recorded Music NZ and APRA AMCOS, and the action plant that builds on the successful application has been endorsed by key music industry and creative sector stakeholders. To deliver ...
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NZ Music Foundation Rebrands to MusicHelps
The New Zealand Music Foundation has been renamed and is now known as MusicHelps, a name that's more direct and more impactful, according to the Auckland-based charity. Among other things, MusicHelps provides emergency assistance to Kiwi music people experiencing hardship and illness through its suite of services, including a professional online, on-the-phone and face-to-face counselling service tailored to those people who make live and recorded music possible. Are you a music person who’s ...
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2018 Artisan Awards Winners
The 2018 Artisan Awards took place in Wellington on Guy Fawkes night, November 5, with five new NZ Music Awards' Tuis given out for sound engineering and production, artwork design, music video direction and music teaching. Held at Massey University, the celebrations were MCed by Wellington Paranormal officers Karen O'Leary and Mike Minogue, who remarkably stayed in their bone-dry on-screen characters for the whole night, with live music provided by the Adults. It’s been a phenomenal year for ...
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Interviews
Q & A: Sola Rosa’s Andrew Spraggon Talks Cover
On November 5, Sola Rosa 's 2018 EP 'In Spaces' won a Tui for the Best Album Cover of the year at the Artisan Awards. Based on photography by German Matthias Heiderich and designed by Kiwi Jaime Robertson, the clear lines and nearly surreal architectural perspective wooed the judges over Tami Neilson's bright "forbidden fruit"-themed retro pop photo, and maestro Barny Bewick's eerily hot date for the cover of Cairo Knife Fight's latest. Silke Hartung quizzed Sola Rosa's Andrew Spraggon on his ...
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NewTracks New Artist: Nu
Born in the UK, Nefertiti Teare, aka Nu, crossed the world to first call NZ home aged 15, bringing with her the nickname-turned-stage name NÜ – a brand that may or may not be Teletubbies related. Her dance-pop music is influenced by her childhood love of musical theatre, refined through degree studies at MAINZ. Her debut single Run, co-written and produced by William Henderson (Theia, Thomston, Nakita), made it onto NZ On Air Music's NewTracks compilation for the first time this November. What ...
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Bad Sav: Naughty But Noise
October in Dunedin means spring is in the air. There is a shift in the weather – the sun comes out, and the puffer jackets retire (momentarily) back to the wardrobe. The season of rebirth is also a good time to release an album, and Dunedin noise guitar rock trio Bad Sav have done just that, making good on their reputation as one of Dunedin’s best-developing bands. Amanda Mills grilled guitarist Hope Robertson about the band’s eponymous debut album. Bad Sav by Bad Sav It’s somehow tempting ...
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Industry Types: Andrea Clark – Owner of Galatos
In this new series, Sam Smith talks to some of the people who work in the local music industry, discussing their role and some of the issues facing the music industry in New Zealand. These are the people who often work behind the scenes, who often do not get the publicity or coverage of their work. Just off Auckland's K'Rd, Galatos was built in the early 1900s. Originally a home for the United Ancient Order of Druids, it was soon turned into a dance venue and function centre ("Druid's Hall"). The ...
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NewTracks New Artist: Bene
In spite of her young age, Aucklander Bene, has already lined up the support of CRS Management (The Naked & Famous, Brooke Fraser), and alongside that some help to write songs and record with the tried-and-true might of Josh Fountain and Djeisan Suskov (both Leisure) at Golden Age studio. There are summer festival performances lined up and her second single, the poppy Soaked, featured on NZ On Air's NewTracks compilation in October. We asked Bene to tell us a little about herself. What ...
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NewTracks New Artist: Mixed Vege
His actual name is Rodney Fisher, but if that doesn't spark your neurons think about all those great fun Goodshirt songs you've danced around to since the early 2000s. Songs with names like Buck It Up, Fiji Baby, Green and everyone's sneaky thief fave, Sophie. Hailing originally from New Plymouth, Rodney's spent the most of his adult life in Auckland where, among other musical exploits, he was the guy behind the Kingsland Folk Club. Debut single Take Take Take of his new project, Mixed Vege, made ...
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Premiere: No Girl – Make It Easy
No Girl is an indie four-piece from Auckland made up of Seamus Maguire (3 Little Pubes, Wormfarm, Spektic Records), Louisa Nicklin (Moses), Charlotte Nicklin and Harry Falkiner. Blending punchy bass with dreamy-yet-grunge textures, pop synths and melodic vocals, they've just released Make It Easy, the debut single from their upcoming debut album 'Whelmed', due out in early 2019. Make it Easy by No Girl Make It Easy was written collaboratively by the band, around a framework created by ...
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Live Reviews
Elemeno P Live At Meow (WGT), November 3
Dave Gibson is on stage in a red bomber jacket and a hat that reads ‘Drop Out’, wiping away sweat and telling the crowd that it’s been 10 years since the last Elemeno P show in Wellington. In the song that follows he edits in a few Wellington-themed lyrics (“I met her at Fidel’s cafe”), just to prove that his references are 10 years old, too. The crowd love it, though. They remember. He tells us that there’s something special about the sweaty, messy setting of the mostly-crowded ...
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Auckland Folk Festival Full Line Up Announced
The team behind Auckland Folk Festival 2019 has announced the full line up for this summer - a diverse list of local and international artists, headlined by The Veils' Finn Andrews. New Zealand’s biggest annual grassroots folk music gathering will take place again at the Kumeu Showgrounds, over Auckland Anniversary Weekend, January 25-28, 2018. Finn Andrews (The Veils), Virelai (Denmark), Holly Arrowsmith (2016 Folk Tui), Lindsay Lou (USA),The Maes (Australia), Sophie & Fiachra (Ireland/Canada), ...
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Otium – Late Night Hype Tour 2018
Celebrating the release of their singles With You and For You, Whangarei funk-soul-jazz five-piece Otium will be hitting the roads of the North Island over the next few weeks. Since their establishment in 2014, Otium has developed a highly dynamic live show and an engaging, genre-merging style which continues to propel them through the New Zealand Music scene. Over time, the band has built a substantial following in their home region which started to spread across the country following the ...
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