Tāmaki Makaurau-based duo Ersha Island launched their debut EP ‘Back To Our Roots’ in March 2024. Back To Our Roots by Ersha Island 二沙岛 Ersha Island are Chinese-Kiwi siblings Danielle and ...
Combining rock, electronic and acoustic sound palettes with an approachable, unpretentious persona, Tom Verberne brings a fresh perspective to music. Taken from ‘Don’t Walk’, his third album, recent ...
Under her indie-pop artist name Cloudy, Claudia Paine has shown us a unique talent as a songwriter with her debut EP titled ‘Good Grief’. The 5-track EP includes a mixture of heartfelt, softer songs, ...
These days living in Auckland, producer/rapper JosiahXVI (Josiah Ioane) grew up in Timaru, later heading north to Wellington in order to have a crack at Massey University’s Commercial Music course. Even ...
By now 15 years into a prolific and diverse career, Rei has captured the hearts of many with his smooth voice, ambitiously energetic performances and bilingual Māori wit. The Auckland urban/electronic ...
Nurtured as an artist in a small urban township, 25-year old country pop artist Jenni Smith is now a uni-graduated singer-songwriter who happily embraces the girl-next-door image with her straightforward, ...
Merv Pinny bought his first guitar at 10, and five decades on it’s evident that making music is still what he most loves to do. 2025 sees him releasing ‘Hard Road’, remarkably only his second album ...
Having not long settled into the Pōneke scene as a four-piece, alt-rock outfit Dropper released a striking debut album titled ‘Be a Little Kinder’ in November 2025. The album’s propulsive opening ...
Formed in 2023, Christchurch rock three-piece The Rainfall identify Blink-182 and Foo Fighters among inspirations for their evolving pop punk sound, delivering on the promise with high energy live performances ...
2025 has been a productive year for richly-voiced Tāmaki Makaurau pop artist Lottie, with four singles released and her first ever Australian show. Lottie has an extensive background in dance ...
Hiva Folau Vaka - Vaka Carrying Music is a legacy project for the Pacific Music Awards Trust, an album of songs developed to highlight and aid the revitalisation of at-risk Pacific languages. The ...
Hailing from the bush and black sand beaches of west Tāmaki Makaurau, Double Parked is a community – as the band like to describe it. The indie rock five-piece bring lost-in-the-groove post-surf tunes, ...
Shape-shifting Tāmaki Makaurau artist Goodspace has always been a project of multiple collaborations and forms, Jefferson Chen performing as a soloist or indie band, composing for immersive theatre and ...
From the glossy electropop of 2016 breakout single Roam to the sharp-edged hyperpop of ‘99% Angel’ EP, to the soft, organic reo Māori of her side project TE KAAHU, Em-Haley Walker’s artistry has ...
Added to successful tours of both the South and North Islands, Coast Arcade have in recent months played two showcases at Brisbane’s BIGSOUND industry event, along with headline shows in Melbourne and ...
The name will take many Kiwi readers back to 2021, and the NZ Popstars TV series that saw Christabel Williams announced as grand prize winner. Now recording as Christabel she released her debut album ...
Drawing threads from legend, current friendships and religion, the six songs on Michaela Tempers’ ‘Good Woman’ EP bridge contemporary and classic folk styles. Rich with meaning and coloured by excellent ...
In mid-October developing Ōtautahi-based dark pop artist Myah Eve released Layers, a haunting piano ballad that comes from a space where hurt and healing meet. The live music video that followed a few ...
Since first emerging in 2018, Aaliyah ‘Baby’ Zionov has been a growing and active presence in Aotearoa’s underground electronica scene. The Tāmaki Makaurau DJ and ‘happy-hardcore’ electronic ...
The artist known as PRINS, singer, dancer, actor and model, was formed in Christchurch. Developing as a big stage electro-pop performer after gaining a Performing Arts degree, her 2022 debut EP ‘Life ...
Goldsmith Baynes is a project combining the soulful vocals of Allana Goldsmith and jazz piano prowess of Dr. Mark Baynes, well known as a Tāmaki Makaurau-based musician, composer and educator. Critical ...
Make some room on the dance floor, Merv Pinny is back with Hold Me, Love Me, Tell Me, a tightly produced, feel-good track built on Pinny's soulful vocal delivery. With a message of love, connection and ...
The August 2025 release of first single Love Isn’t Always introduced Auckland four-piece Echomatica to an audience wider than those, fans of shoegaze and dream pop mostly, who had already discovered ...
Described by indie label Papaiti Records as a 'wilted-pop Wellington five-piece' centred around main songwriter Miles Sutton, Welcomer's Bandcamp brief reveals the band have 'feet on the ground in Paris, ...
In the same September week that the 2025 Rockquest national finals reinforced just how back-in-fashion guitar rock is among high school students, Wellington indie band Underwire released an album that ...
In early August Christchurch-grown band There’s A Tuesday spent 10 days in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, on a pioneering residency designed to bridge connections between South Korea and Aotearoa. Samantha ...
One of the world’s largest music streaming platforms is losing artists. The focus of artist concerns have shifted recently from abysmal payouts to now exiting Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s 600 million-Euro ...
When heartbreak hits, most of us unravel or simply hold on for dear life. Liv Jones, aka ives., the Auckland-born singer-songwriter, pianist and producer, pressed ‘record’. Pouring the last few years ...
As usual there are five songs chosen as finalists for the 2025 APRA Silver Scroll Award, as voted by New Zealand APRA members. We're into the final month run up to when the Silver Scroll trophy will ...
Yesterday When I Was Young by Suzanne Lynch, Karyn Hay Published by Bateman Books, rrp $45 Suzanne Lynch’s memoir is a NZ music history lesson I didn’t even realise I needed to be schooled in. ...
With little apparent background of single releases, and even less fanfare, Auckland singer-songwriter Ben Chavasse has delivered a self-assured debut album that delves into coming-of-age themes of institutional ...
Performing as Sahara, Cambridge High School student Sahara Stanton won first place in the Solo/duo category of the 2025 Smokefreerockquest in September, and the following night was called on to entertain ...
It takes time to become a cowboy, and the gentle, rolling ‘aotearoa americana’ songs of US-raised, but these days Wellington-based, singer-songwriter Sig Wilder ‘hold a cracked mirror to the long, ...
Happy to admit that he's still learning his way around pro recording studios, Gisborne singer-songwriter and guitarist Jed Skuse has long shown ample mastery of the loop pedal. At 16 he claimed first ...
‘Encircle’ is the second album renowned Auckland jazz pianist Alan Brown has produced, composed, recorded and mixed with the exotic Ondomo electronic instrument at its centre. Less compositions, these ...
The build towards Crystal Chen’s debut album began in early 2024 with the Valentine’s Day release of Love Letter, an over-subscribed Boosted campaign later in the year raising funds to help cover ...
In 2020 then London-based Anglo-Greco-Persian artist Lexytron released a debut album titled, ‘Something Blue’, not in reference to the genre but rather her concept of it as ‘an alternative girl’s ...
She's been releasing music since age 14, and less than a year ago 19-year old Niamh Crooks independently released her debut 7-track EP/album 'Blush'. There's been no easing off since, Niamh is an active ...
A former semifinalist on The Voice Australia, Ella Monnery is no stranger to big outdoor stages, or big streaming numbers for that matter, her 2022 collab single with Auckland DnB duo Sly Chaos is closing ...
‘Traces’, the collaborative album by Arli Liberman and Rhian Sheehan, is a cinematic journey that drifts between sci-fi dreamscapes and the raw beauty of natural environments. Infused with pulsing ...
Having returned to his homeland from Melbourne, after four decades as a working musician across the ditch, multi-talented Kiwi musician Brian Baker has hung out his shingle in Whanganui, with a newly ...
Living across the ditch for a decade, Julia Belle and her sister busked on the streets of Lismore, NSW, and when back home in Wellington for holidays, from her earliest teenage years. Way before then she ...
Pearly* are fast becoming one of the new faces of Ōtepoti Dunedin music. The alt-rock guitar band of Joel Field, Phaedra Love, Josh Nicholls and Ryan Hill formed in 2023, very quickly establishing themselves ...
You may remember Indira Force as the singer from Christchurch trip-hop group Doprah, or from her ethereally experimental solo project Indi. 2025 sees the Titirangi-raised, these days London-based songwriter, ...
child is a gritty alt-rock single from Auckland queer singer-songwriter arielwose, a track described as a reclaiming of power and an unfiltered release of everything left unsaid after a messy breakup, ...
These days happily Aotearoa-based, versatile Irish musician Dónal Gunning has been making waves in the Wellington music scene since moving from Dublin in 2022. He released an EP of his indie folk, tellingly ...
As the first release from the first artist signed to Southland’s first record label, Lachie Hayes’ album ‘Subsatellite’ already comes with its own legend attached. Add to that the production input ...
Songs From The Shaky Isles - A Short History of Popular Music in New Zealand by Gareth Shute Published by Bateman Books, rrp $40 Musician, journalist and author Gareth Shute brings strong research credentials ...
In the decade since first coming to national attention as the 2014 solo/duo winner of Smokefreerockquest, Georgia Lines has risen to a main stage position in the NZ music scene. Her debut album ‘The ...
Samuel Flynn Scott's musical output is prodigious, more than a dozen albums between his solo work, The Phoenix Foundation, Fly My Pretties, and then those he has produced for other acclaimed Kiwi acts. Along ...
In the years since her 2020 single, Small Ache, the musical output of Iris Zhang has been only occasional, but noteworthy for the excellence of production and delicacy of her songwriting. Supported through ...
Initially attracting the post-punk tag, these days Ōtautahi four-piece Marsha better deserve an indie rock label, or maybe experimental rock given their previous single Carpet ran a full seven minutes. ...
On his Spotify page Sam V describes himself with songwriter brevity as the ‘shyest RnB singer in the world’. Spotify also tells us that his songs enjoy over 100,000 listens a month, with a couple tracking ...
Two-time finalist, and winner of the Aotearoa Music Awards’ Tui for Country music with her ‘Wildfires’ album in 2019, Jenny Mitchell has been singing and loving country music her whole life, and ...
Booked to perform at London’s alternative music showcase venue Café OTO in July, Arts Laureate, vocalist and taonga puoro specialist Ariana Tikao commissioned two new works by another local legend, ...
Wellington hip hop fans especially will likely know him as rapper Just. D, perhaps as one half of rap duo Donbizzy and the UnderWelly Records label, but after a few years away from performing Donell Anae ...
Indy (Yelich-O’Connor) first made waves in 2022, with a flurry of singles later collated into the early 2023 EP ‘Threads’ showing the world that she’s got plenty more going on than just being Lorde’s ...
Renowned for their live performances, and particularly loved among Whangamata Beach Hop regulars, The Recliner Rockers bring high-energy blues and rockabilly to the stage. Vastly experienced musicians ...
Based in Christchurch, Midifex is the small company behind the recently launched Lujin, a premium quality MIDI controller that is finding a home on the recording desks of orchestral, cinematic and gaming ...
In the five years since her debut EP ‘Cider,’ Wellington singer-songwriter Danica Bryant has captivated audiences with her powerful, singular voice. She’s released numerous singles and a second EP, ...
Personal love songs aren't typically his thing, but sometimes they've just gotta be written, and for Tāmaki Makaurau RnB specialist HALES he probably wouldn't have it Any Other Way. The first released ...
Otaki-born Ari Leason brings a unique tenderness and soul to her folk music, shaped by a rich and extraordinary upbringing. The emerging artist poetically strings together stories and witnessings from ...
Hailing from Hawke’s Bay, Arahi is a musician with a soft spot for heartfelt folk. He had an early love for music, learning the guitar at just eight years old, and is now a talented musician and prolific ...
Blending thoughtful post-punk with their own new take on new wave, Auckland quartet Ringlets range from vibrantly bright to ragingly angry across their energetic and articulate second album, ‘The Lord ...
For the time being at least there's a blanket of obscurity over L!FE UNDERGROUND, much as if the threesome were indeed perpetrators of whatever fiendish heist the convincingly dark video to their new single I ...
Singer-songwriter and producer Emily C. Browning has been working up a head of steam over recent years, making creative waves in the Ōtautahi alternative music scene while building a powerful online presence ...
‘Diversity and Collaboration’ was the title of Michael Hollywood’s feature on then-emerging four-piece Yoko-Zuna for the Feb/March 2016 issue of NZM. Those concepts are obviously important to drummer ...
With a new single every few months, 2025 has been another productive year in the development of Tāmaki Makaurau singer-songwriter Emily Bateman. Her own Spotify artist description cuts to the chase ...
The first collection of music from Auckland singer-songwriter freya was an EP of songs written when she was 15. Now an eloquent young adult, releasing her debut album in the final stages of university ...
Extending a catalogue of diversely successful indie releases, Ōtepoti artist Neive Strang has returned with her third album. Compiled over a four year period, ‘Find Me in the Rabbit Hole’ is a collection ...
When Te Pūkenga dropped the bombshell news, early in 2023, that the flood-damaged Auckland MAINZ campus was not ever going to be re-opened, a group of dismayed MAINZ employees came together to mount a ...
Elysia Brontë’s Instagram bio reads ‘attempting to see the whole world’, and at 21 she’s doing a good job of that. Through Minerva University’s innovative global experience undergraduate programme ...
Inspired to build a legacy, Whanganui whānau band Come On Up perform a heartwarming fusion of reggae, gospel, R&B and soul. Rowie Martin is one of the founding members, and says Come On Up has ...
LEIGH is the art pop solo project of Cameron McCurdy (she/her), a trans musician, multi-instrumentalist, comic maker and animator from Tāmaki Makaurau. Her self-produced album titled ‘Empathy for My ...
Finishing 2024 on a high with the chart-topping success of Summer Won’t Be The Same, Bay of Plenty psychedelic indie act Mirage unveil an intimate new side of their artistry with their latest single Before ...
Dave Johnston is a music producer, mixing engineer, musician and educator. As the artist-producer behind n1ghtmar3cat he has adopted Substack as the online home for his n1ghtmar3cat Music Factory creative ...
Brooke x Starce are independent artists coming for the Aotearoa dance music scene, full throttle. These South Auckland twins form an unstoppable creative duo. From dancing, to lyricism, to beat production, ...
With a constant trickle of carefully-measured alt rock singles since 2021, Auckland-based four-piece Frank on Tap released a five-song EP titled 'Beside You' early in 2024, and are now shaping up for ...
Illustrating her developing songwriting pedigree as a finalist in the 2024 MLT Songwriting Award competition, Karra Rhodes is a natural storyteller, making country music that resonates with authenticity ...
Self-described garage rock upstarts Powder Chutes look to be carving a track towards Shihad’s just-vacated crown as the nation’s leading hard rock exponents. A band of their youthful calibre coming ...
Anna Robinson has a family history of moving around, and since her 2018 breakthrough single Nothing To Regret propelled her to international status the Greymouth-born pop artist has mostly made London ...
Her debut single15 Again includes the admission that she is now 23, and Lily Linscott promises she was when she wrote it - but had turned 24 a couple months before the song's release in April this ...
If you believe their (probably) tongue-in-cheek hype, Bub is probably your new favourite band. Mixing doo-wop harmonies with post-punk energy, they make songs that hit you right in the feelings while ...
The website banner describes Inward Bound as a ‘London-based community supporting Kiwis in music’. The inwardbound.uk site includes pages of online resources covering things like visas, grants, venues ...
There’s a certain otherworldly quality that drifts through the music of Phoebe Rings, but if their self-titled EP was up in space, their debut album has landed back on earth. The Tāmaki Makaurau four-piece ...
As one of six rangitahi who featured in the 2021 Crescendo Trust music mentoring docuseries The Collective, Iris G publicly revealed plenty of her back story, in particular the loss of her voice in 2017 ...
Released by Ōtautahi’s Winegum Records, the compelling debut album from newcomer rock outfit Velveteen blends ‘90s alternative rock with elements of punk, emo and electronica. Velveteen is the musical ...
Trusting his instincts, Manchester-born Jack Bromwich dropped engineering from his conjoint degree studies at Auckland University a few years ago, to dedicate his focus on gaining a Bachelor of Music. ...
Gordon Marr talks with NZM columnist Frank Gibson Jr... Longevity is not everything, but it's not difficult to comprehend that anyone who has been 'cutting it' since making his mark as a six-year-old ...
In February 2025 the Ministry for Culture & Heritage (MCH) released a discussion document outlining “five draft proposals to create modern media legislation for New Zealand’s media and content ...
Blending the worlds of Americana, rock and blues, Justin Devereux is an LA-based Kiwi musician with a powerful voice that's still early in development, despite a life already well-lived. Starring in ...
The 2025 Taite Music Prize ceremony held in Tāmaki Makaurau mid-April was memorable for several reasons. One of significance was the prevalence of Māori winners, with Mokotron taking out the night’s ...
In Aotearoa’s passionate, close-knit music scene, connection is everything. Our community is small - sometimes wonderfully so, sometimes painfully. It’s the kind of place where a former friend might ...
Glxria is the sonic persona of 23-year old Chinese-Kiwi artist Gloria, fusing dreamy indie, grunge, and cinematic textures into a beautifully immersive sound. Her music is cinematic, chaotic and vulnerable. ...
Shannon Fowler is somewhat of a musical chameleon, morphing his sounds to fit his musical surroundings. As Tom Lark, he has been on a continuum of sonic change since 2011, moving through indie pop before ...
With 2023 EP 'Empty Pockets' already in his catalogue George VILLA is maybe not new to fans of his mellow-as surf rock through-to psychedelic pop sounds, but the artist is taking a new, self-determined ...
Mylen began his musical journey in 2017, with his entre into the world of drum & bass production coming somewhat by chance a few years later. After a period of performing as a DJ all over Aotearoa, ...
With over seven million likes across Instagram and TikTok, singer-songwriter Liberty has a unique freewheeling pop style that caught the attention of UK record label, B-Unique Records, all the way ...
Formed by four worldly Kiwi metallers in Melbourne five years ago, EAST YORK still straddle the Pacific, though their most recent recording work has seen the heavy rock act become more Bay of Plenty-centric. ...
Ōtautahi singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer Will McGillivray has already had an impressive career. He fronted the internationally successful alt-pop trio Nomad and has since gone on become the ...
Ōtautahi singer-songwriter Miriam ‘Mim’ Jensen’s confessional indie rock songs manage to be both incisive and reflective, and since she first emerged in 2022 they’ve already taken her places. ...
File under Funk / Soul / Jazz. Highly versatile Wanaka-based guitarist and composer Henry Charles has just released his groove-filled debut album. In a nod to the music and movie culture that inspire ...
If you search ‘guitar lessons’ online something like hundreds of millions of guitar lessons come up! Almost all apply to physically playing the guitar – how to play different chords, songs, riffs, ...
Award-winning singer/songwriter Mel Parsons has developed a loyal fan base since releasing her debut album 'Over My Shoulder' in 2009. Her unique vocal tone, delicate guitar playing, and introspective ...
When I turned pro as a teenager, back in the mists of time, I was always a ‘pick’ player, i.e. I used a plectrum, or pick. It didn’t occur to me that it would become unfashionable as the ‘fusion’ ...
Hawkes Bay singer-songwriter Mahina Lawrence has ticked off some impressive accomplishments early into her career. She was a national finalist in the 2019 competition to take up lead vocal duties for reggae ...
Plenty of guitar players I come across complain about not being able to get ahead in their playing abilities, or wonder what it is that has been holding them back for years, so I have put together some ...
Like attracts like. That's what the Abraham-Hicks' Law of Attraction is all about. Their teachings can feel very pertinent and applicable to singing and songwriting. Here's a list with some basic principles... Our ...
Stan Walker has forged an impressive artistic path over the course of his career since winning Australian Idol in 2009. Numerous albums since have seen him continually develop a unique artistic voice, ...
I always used to say to bass students in the UK and here that two of Stevie Wonder's most challenging bass lines are from Sir Duke, with its Duke Ellington inspired line doubling the brass, and Masterblaster ...
Like attracts like. That's what the Abraham-Hicks' Law Of Attraction is all about. Their teachings can feel very pertinent and applicable to singing and songwriting. Here's a list with some basic principles... Our ...
Any creative person will at some point come up against that challenge commonly known as writer's block. People typically suggest that the best thing to do in that situation is to take a break, go for a ...
Come together over a classic. After a few Deep Thinking articles, in which I've talked about the theoretical issues of bassline building from scratch (i.e. new songs needing a bassline), I thought it might ...
‘Finding your voice' is just as much about what you're saying or singing, as what you sound like. I'd like to unpack the figurative notion of finding and having a voice. Intricately understanding the ...
Simple ways to harmonise guitar parts: The concept of instrumental harmonising is certainly not new, it has been a compositional technique in classical music for centuries. Harmonising of guitar parts ...
How to slay destination fixation and tame the fear-feeding beast of rejection: We've all learned that you need to have a tough hide to survive in this music business, but is skin thickening really the ...
An exercise for both hands with some sight reading thrown in! Over the last few NZM issues, we’ve been looking at building bass lines from modal scales and arpeggios (broken chords). This exercise is ...
Hans Pucket 's No Drama - an intelligent song. Intelligence comes in many forms, and with regards to music in particular, sources of musical intelligence are often hard to pin down. No Drama by Hans ...
Something profoundly shifted when I underwent tongue surgery – in the aftermath, I found my voice. The surgeon had told me on the table that the procedure (to remove a benign saliva gland stone) was ...
Social Media Sucks. It sucks your time, it sucks your energy, and it can suck all the fun out of being an independent musician if you're not careful. But social media also gives. It gives new friends, ...
Do what moves you. Tension is a singer's greatest enemy. It disables the very areas of the body we need open to resonate sound in. Tension is generated mentally; anticipating threat or danger, or unconsciously, ...
I'm not quite sure why but Kimbra hasn't really been on my radar before. We primarily listen to music to be moved emotionally, and our taste and intrigue is ultimately guided by personal aesthetics. Of ...
Popular learning mistakes - there are a few that guitar players commonly make that can quickly become habits, but are easily fixed if you are aware of them. Entrenched bad habits can take time to get rid ...
Following on from the last two Deep Thinking online columns here we continue the quest to build a unique bassline, whether from a chord chart or from a songwriter playing a chord sequence to you. We have ...
Ahhh, sweet sweet summertime! The cities are empty while people flock to beaches, rivers and tracks, as well as festivals big and small across the land over Xmas! If only they would listen to your brand-new ...
Hi songwriters. The title might sound a bit complex but this a relatively simple and cool idea to have in your songwriting tool belt - relative major & minor diatonic chord substitution. It’s a ...
I take it back. Last year I did successfully predict the winner of the Silver Scrolls 2021, which went to Troy Kingi. Good for me. Are the batteries in my crystal ball charged for this year? Well, I don’t ...
Here’s a question guitar students often ask; “How do I play a solo, or rhythm part, when tempos are going too fast for me to physically play what’s needed?” That’s a great question, and can ...
In this instalment of Deep Thinking we are looking at a way you can use different scales when confronted (or even challenged!) with some previously unheard music or a new song. As bass players, what's ...
Singing Through ’The Change’: The Effect Menopause Has On The Voice - After the 21st gig of a 22-date tour, I stayed with friends for a much-needed breather. As documented in a previous Finding Your ...
The Secret Sauce For Amplifying Your Audience: When I was 16 all I wanted in the world was to be Jaco Pastorius. I bought the fretless bass, wore the headband, and learned how to play Portrait Of Tracy, ...
The last couple of Deep Thinking columns that featured one of Jaco Pastorius’ best pieces (IMHO) have maybe made the learning too difficult for bassists, so in this column, I am going right back to some ...
Yes I know, I never seem to get it right. Even though every year I usually write an article for the X-Factory trying to predict the winner of the Silver Scrolls I haven’t quite managed it yet. Maybe ...
Lately it seems, the whole world is abuzz talking about NFTs and how they are going to change the world for artists across all mediums. From ‘VIP golden tickets’ sold with albums through to interactive ...
Many guitar players tend to overlook simple licks or riffs that come their way, not knowing that there is a lot of musical information that can be used to build technique, repertoire, solo ideas, and rhythm ...
The case for creative high-performance psychology. In the merry Music Month of May 2021, Brave Caitlin Smith’s Imaginary Band toured Aotearoa to promote my new album 'You Have Reached Your Destination'. ...
Admittedly it's been a while now, but in the last NZM issue we tackled one of Jaco Pastorius’ compositions for Weather Report, Teen Town. Having got to bar 20, there was a repeat to bar 5 but, when you ...
Keyboard specialist (now iPad music production enthusiast) Alan Brown has contributed a variety of informed and informative instrument features/lessons to NZM over the years. This seriously tip-filled ...
As a singer our body is our instrument. We must be entirely sovereign over how we take care of our inner landscape. If the cathedral that we are is filled with concrete, we cannot sing. Tension is that ...
This issue’s piece is a bit of a tough hombre. (See that, I used Spanish, not bad for a bassist!) I have transcribed one of Jaco Pastorius’ signature compositions, Teen Town from the Weather Report’s ...
Rosé, hyperreality, harmony and the pop-drop. The term hyperreality was coined by French theorist Jean Baudrillard to describe the postmodern, semiotic condition of society in which we are unable to distinguish ...
Ableton Live has long established its credibility as a powerhouse of a digital audio workstation (DAW), especially in the fields of electronic music production and particularly live performance. For those ...
There are a number of reasons why you might want to make some of your new music discretely available online – peer feedback, pre-release interviews, reviews and so on. If you’re wanting to get your ...
Whether your guitar performances stretch to playing solos or not, this article should be good reading and learning for you as sooner or later you will have to play one. The lists of what songs include ...
Growing your audience as a musician is all about attracting the right people to you, sharing your story to engage them, and then getting them to stick around with consistent content that inspires, informs, ...
Over the years my Building Blocks contributions to New Zealand Musician have focused mainly on sharing band management tips and working musician life skills. But there’s a whole other side to my online ...
Acclaimed musicologist Daniel Levitin has argued that songs can be split into six categories according to their evolutional, biological, and cultural purposes (Levitin, 2008). The categories are: Friendship ...
Dog whimpers and raspberry sirens: Ways to rebuild the voice from nodules. Late in 2019, Cailtin Smith was diagnosed with nodules on her vocal cords. ‘Singer’s nodules’ are calluses in the same ...
As we’ve spent the last few issues doing some tricky stuff more suited to solo bass performances, I thought that this issue’s tune should feature some straight–ahead rock. I’ve chosen one of my ...
Soloing With 4ths - Among the questions I get asked a lot is how do I make my solos, fills, or improvisations sound more modern or different? This is a very wide-ranging question that could easily have ...
In the interest of better promoting your music, let's learn how to trick the mighty algorithm together today! The screenshot below is taken straight from NZMusician.co.nz's backend on the day of writing ...
For some of us, self-promotion can feel silly and vain but, when used strategically, social media can be a powerful way to grow your community and boost your career. Follow this guide to build your Instagram ...
2020 hasn't been kind to many of us, but being locked down together as a nation has given some the rare luxury of time to reflect on what's working and what's not. Here at NZM we get an almost constant ...
You could look at 2020 as a terrible time to think about your music career. Tours are cancelled and venues either shut down completely or operating precariously between open and closed depending on local ...
Have you heard about a Wellington folk band called Boatshed Daydreams before? Neither had we until very recently. Late last month the duo of friends Abbie McKoy and Temuera Forbes released their debut ...
Hi everyone, for this lesson, I have taken the liberty of using a piece that I wrote as a study for my UK students before I came to New Zealand. It is a cross-hand tapping piece that I wrote after the ...
Occasionally, like once in a blue moon, when the conditions are just right, and the stars align for a nanosecond, maybe the impossible can become possible, and truly remarkable things can indeed happen. ...
Hi everyone! Many movies have a prequel delivered after the main feature has been released, but this article is the other (right) way around, a warmer up that will hopefully prepare you for the next Deep ...
It almost seems ritualistic now. I see the email announcing the five finalists for this year’s APRA Silver Scroll Award at 6am when I usually get up. I immediately check them all out, intuitively and ...
A complete guide for improving your ear, memory, technique, and music reading at home, right now. Use your practice time more effectively and become a better musician by trying these 10 things. 1. Practice ...
As of this writing, we are in the middle of the Covid-19 virus situation and everything is locked down, so why would I write something like "get out and jam"? Well, this lockdown is not going to last forever ...
Easy hacks for singer-songwriter guitarists - simple ways of making scales musical and creating hooklines: Hi there singer-songwriter types, I thought I’d like to show you some simple compositional ideas ...
Damn! Someone has beaten me to it! When listening to Digebasse by Chaii, arguably one of the most prominent features of the track is its use of rhythm, in particular the regular use of triplets, quavers/semiquavers, ...
As a musician you will almost certainly have heard the line “play what you hear” – but many find that doing so is way more difficult than the apparently simple theory behind it. No doubt it would ...
For years I’ve been saying I was too busy to get into home recording. True, there are times I’m on the road touring and I am actually too busy, but in the last few weeks of Corona-virus lockdown I’ve ...
Question: What do Finding Nemo, Taylor Swift and Aldous Harding have in common? Answer: Perhaps more than you might think. In October, Harding’s song The Barrel claimed the 2019 APRA Silver Scroll ...
Managing your band, part 3: Paying yourself. Thus far in this series, I’ve discussed the need for a band to have a manager within its ranks, and the basic duties that job entails. Before I go any further ...
2020 IRD Revisions: The Inland Revenue Department promised to make the claiming of motor vehicle usage much easier and so they came up with a range of solutions, all worse than the next and making it more ...
In this Deep Thinking session, we are going to look at a couple of tracks recorded by legendary US session bassist, Carol Kaye. Carol was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a team of recording musicians used ...
One of THE most debilitating mindsets, that destroys all enjoyment and ease, is perfectionism. Sure, it’s great to work hard, be diligent, discerning and conscientious, but when perfectionism takes hold, ...
Actively listening to music is one part of practising that many guitar players miss – in fact almost all musicians miss this point. This skill is necessary if you want to be a good musician, but is neglected ...
Soundcheck can be a confusing experience when you first start playing in venues, clubs, or heading out on tour. Until you start travelling with your own front of house engineer, you’re going to be meeting ...
2019 Silver Scroll Award finalists - Songs of the year gone by - Okay, I am biased. Straight up. No lies. Time to fess up. One of the five Silver Scroll Awards finalist songs has already been covered ...
Somewhere deep within the NZ music scene lies a musical entity called Sorrento. In the Top 20 shortlist for the 2019 Silver Scroll Award, Sorrento made an appearance with a track called Look Up (feat. ...
No one wants to make mistakes or look inept when up on stage in front of an audience, but I have seen it happen many times, and some of those have been with people you wouldn’t expect it to happen to. ...
For this issue, I have transcribed the opening bass part on the seminal Weather Report track Birdland from the band’s 1977 album ‘Heavy Weather‘. The transcription features the band’s bassist, ...
A few days ago I submitted a writing pitch to a women's business and lifestyle website and received a positive response, and their terms of publication. While reading the terms I discovered they not only ...
The Business End: In the first instalment of this Building Blocks mini-series of Managing Your Band, Pt 1 - Stepping Forward, I covered reasons why you might want to propose that you manage your band. ...
Just keep swimming: A hero's quest. ‘If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what good am I? If not now, when?’ – The Talmud One of our jobs as artists is to share ...
Most of the time it’s awesome to say yes. Being positive and curious leads to great experiences and emotional growth. Recently I’ve been reading a book by Baron Baptiste, who developed Baptiste Power ...
And the award goes to... Bene for the quickest earworm I have ever experienced – I think I may have even dreamt about this song last night! The number one New Zealand song (at time of press) is Soaked, ...
One of the most prevalent myths about singing is that singing high is difficult. As a consequence, we develop fears and dysfunctions around this that make singing high difficult. I'd like to debunk this ...
With over 25 years on the NZ music scene under his belt and a three-time NZ Music Awards finalist, Wellingtonian Rob Joass has experienced a thing or two. His music bio is very lengthy. He writes compulsively, ...
Wellington rockers Curlys Jewels have just come off the back of an eventful 2018, which saw them play four sold-out shows alongside The Feelers as well as a support slot for US band Living Colour. In celebration ...
Hi Everyone, this issue’s challenge is to play some Jimi Hendrix. I have transcribed the introduction to Purple Haze as Hendrix played it on a Strat but added a bass trick that will probably annoy your ...
Earlier this year I was in Los Angeles and caught up with the amazing guitarist Carl Verheyen (pronounced Ver-high-in) at Village Recorders in Santa Monica, where he was working on and producing an album ...
A singer/songwriter usually begins his or her career performing solo, accompanying themselves on piano or guitar, and eventually adding one or two side (wo)men as their sound and budget grows. It’s often ...
In the latest incarnation of A Star Is Born, we are presented with the tropes of self-destructive, addicted and tortured singer/songwriter (Jackson, played by Bradley Cooper) and up-and-coming, manipulated ...
The previous Building Blocks column was titled Self-Manage or Bust! In it, I pointed out that any professional musician’s life is comprised of a series of small challenges. When those challenges are ...
Nostalgia, Semiotics, and Drax Project: Nostalgia’s not what it used to be – perhaps an overly theatrical beginning to this X-Factory piece, but tongue-in-cheek usually gets a smile, or at least a ...
Have you ever wondered how someone with a big singing voice and a performance schedue to match looks after and maintains their vocal health? When she thinks huge vocals, singer and vocal coach Cherie ...
Combine a long-standing rock artist, some very current Kiwi vocalists, a rapper or two, a Sudanese culture and set it all in the sub-genre of electro dance, and what do you have? An awful lot of buzz about ...
The second published New Zealand Musician issue (with an orange-suited Dave Dobbyn gracing the cover in recognition of the release of his ‘Loyal’ album) was published back in October 1988 – 30 years ...
This Deep Thinking piece is a solo bass tune with a nod in the direction of Charles Dickens (a ‘nod’ being the important word…). I would like to say it is a ‘far, far’ harder piece than the last ...
Originally hailing from Blenheim, Rose Muollo-Gray, aka Hybrid Rose, is a musician, artist and producer who is keen to progress and make change. Having released her debut album 'Cosmic' last year, she ...
No matter what the accumulated critics’ choices or popular picks might leave us expecting on the night, the winner of the 2018 Silver Scrolls will be a surprise when announced on October 4. Last year ...
On first hearing Carnivorous Plant Society ’s Don’t Go Outside I felt transfixed by the performance, recorded live for RNZ in March. A seven-piece band packed the studio with vibraphone, keyboards, ...
Tattletale Saints’ bass player and singer Vanessa McGowan has previously provided NZM readers with insightful lessons and tips on working with session musicians and being a ‘badass’ backing vocalist. ...
Self-manage or bust: Ask the average working musician how they’re doing these days and they’ll likely shrug and tell you, “I’m managing.” In other words, they’re managing to make a career out ...
This Deep Thinking piece is a solo bass tune with a nod in the direction of Charles Dickens (a ‘nod’ being the important word…). I would like to say it is a ‘far, far’ harder piece than the last ...
