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December/January 2020

COVER STORY

Interviews

Mousey: While the Cat’s Away

How many artists can you think of whose first single made it right into the Silver Scroll Top 20? Here’s one! Until the release of her single Extreme Highs as Mousey in June this year, the biggest claim ...

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COVER STORY

Interviews

Troy Kingi: Triumphs Of Diversity

Troy Kingi is systematically establishing himself as a national treasure. Over the last few years, the Kerikeri resident singer/songwriter has risen in prominence thanks to some creative recordings, a ...

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FEATURES

Fresh Talent

Fresh Talent: Imugi 이무기

Carving out a path from modern pop-and-electronic-influence, Auckland duo Imugi cut through their tightly produced dreamscapes with honesty and insight. Combining passion and vision, and with a broad scope ...

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Interviews

Lontalius: In Search of Eddie J’s Pop DNA

It has been four years since NZM last caught up with Eddie Johnston, aka Lontalius, but one thing hasn’t changed – his music is still as honest as it gets, tapping right into his emotions – something ...

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Interviews

Dr. Reknaw: Wellington’s Magnificent Seven

With an intoxicating blend of reggae, dub, soul and funk, Wellington seven-piece Dr. Reknaw have developed a live show that fits perfectly with Aotearoa in summer. Bass player and singer Sophie Cooper ...

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Interviews

Marlin’s Dreaming: Bandwagon-esque

Formed by mates Semisi Maiai, Tim McNaught, Oscar Johns and Hamish Morgan, Marlin’s Dreaming has since been riding a fast-breaking wave into the limelight, at home and abroad. The Dunedin band’s dreamy ...

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Interviews

Makeshift Parachutes: Texas Rainbow Makers

Auckland four-piece Makeshift Parachutes have followed a trajectory that’s the complete opposite of most aspiring Kiwi bands. After forming in Austin, (yep, the one in Texas which annually hosts the ...

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Fresh Talent

Fresh Talent: Nat & Jono

Christchurch duo Nat & Jono have grown up together making music and worked for nearly 10 years to find their sound – a fusion of indie pop and indie folk that work perfectly together, enhancing youthful ...

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Interviews

Lake South: Capital Chap

Lake South is a musician, producer and a director. He makes most of his own music videos and was the director and writer of NZ Idle, a web-series about an artist on the dole. In 2019 he released an album ...

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Ex-Pat Files

Ex-Pat Files: Lemon Tree Music

As strong a year as 2019 may have been for various Kiwi acts around the globe, their achievements have been gazumped by the successes of a number of breakthrough Australian artists with evident worldwide ...

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Interviews

Edy: Counting On The Beat

When talent and hard work unify the result can be something special, a proposition well illustrated by Auckland producer-artist EDY. At the centre of an energised local urban music scene, the talented ...

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Interviews

Miss June: You Make Your Own Luck

It’s no stretch of the truth to say that Auckland punk rock act Miss June have had quite a year of it. Playing their first gigs outside of Australasia in Europe and the States, signing to Frenchkiss ...

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Interviews

Fresh Talent: Solomon Crook

Solomon Crook grew up in a small town in Coromandel – Opoutere which is around about halfway between Whangamata and Pauanui. With two older sisters he grew up for his first seven years, in the bedroom ...

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Interviews

JessB: Connecting Views

Intersecting between being Afro-Kiwi, female and queer makes Auckland MC JessB even more multi-faceted than many humans – importantly able to connect and offer a voice to some less visible communities. ...

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Interviews

Olivia Foa’i: Expressions of Candour

Olivia Foa’i possesses an angelic voice that has featured on many of Te Vaka’s nearly a dozen albums, and altogether more famously on the soundtrack of Disney’s Moana. With the release of ‘Candid’, ...

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On Foreign Soil: Mild Orange – European Foreplay

Dunedin’s Mild Orange have had a busy year. They spent most of May 2019 on tour in Europe and the UK, only to head off again for Mexico’s RadioBosque Festival in November. Now signed up with international ...

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Book Reviews

Wired For Sound: The Stebbing History of New Zealand Music

Setting out to document and pay tribute to the contribution Eldred Stebbing made to the NZ music scene over seven hard-working decades of the 20th century, the team writing this book discovered that their ...

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Gear Reviews

Amp Review: Fender Champion 50XL Guitar Amp

A confession first. I’m not really one for solid state amps, though I do have a little bit of an exception for my old Stage160 Fender solid state, which has held a special place in my heart since I was ...

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On Foreign Soil

On Foreign Soil: Sam Bartells in Nashville

Born in Hamilton, singer/songwriter Sam Bartells lives in Auckland these days and writes songs with his heart on the sleeve, being remarkably outspoken about past issues with alcohol and substance abuse. ...

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Interviews

Mermaidens: The Eyes Have It

How do you go about following up an album that was internationally acclaimed, Taite Prize-nominated and widely deemed influential? That was the task for Lily West (bass/vocals), Gussie Larkin (guitar/vocals), ...

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Gear Reviews

Guitar Review: Yamaha TransAcoustic FG Acoustic-Electric

Arriving in a sealed box, straight out of the warehouse so not set up since shipping, the Yamaha TransAcoustic FG took a little time for me to warm to. However once I ‘broke her in’ I found my initial ...

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Interviews

Rick Bryant: Time Is Precious

Renowned as a hard-driven, saxophone-wielding RnB/rock singer throughout the 1970s, 1980s and into the ‘90s, students of NZ’s musical history will know his name well. More recently his charismatic ...

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Interviews

Q & A: And$um

Well evidenced by the regular additions to playlists of the ChC and DND student radio stations, there are a number of South Island acts doing incredibly well locally, but yet to find support from programmers ...

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LESSONS

Guitar Cool

Guitar Cool: Play What You Hear

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 ...

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X-Factory

X-Factory: Aldous Harding – The Barrel

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 ...

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Building Blocks

Building Blocks: Managing Your Band Pt 3

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 ...

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Accounting Down

Accounting Down: 2020 IRD Revisions To Claiming Tax On Your Vehicle

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 ...

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Deep Thinking

Deep Thinking: Carol Kaye Of The Wrecking Crew

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 ...

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Finding Your Voice

Finding Your Voice: The Pitbulls of Perfectionism

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, ...

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MUSIC

Blair Parkes

Liveable City

30/01/2020

Miss June

Bad Luck Party

22/01/2020

Dudley Benson

Zealandia

12/12/2019

Lake South

Wellington - Te Upoko O Te Ika

09/12/2019