Having led the way into the challenging realm of online Kiwi music awards last year, with admirable success, in mid-April the Taite Music Prize returned to its much-preferred venue of Q Theatre on Auckland’s ...
Wellington-based artist Ezra Phoenix is on the rise, looking to share his soulful and heartfelt music with the world. Recently released, his self-titled debut album explores his pride in his identity as ...
Woolston, Christchurch. The home base of musician and songwriter Adam Hattaway of Adam Hattaway And The Haunters, the city’s most exciting – and only – alternative rock’n’roll band. Since their ...
Bedroom pop has proven to be the perfect music style for a pandemic. The affordable ease of recording from the confines of any small room at home makes the format appealing to up-and-coming musicians worldwide, ...
In 2019, before they'd even released anything officially, Ripple Effect were approached by Hawaiian group Rebel Souljahz with a support slot opportunity. “We grew up listening to this band, so for ...
When NZM last published a feature on Rattle Records, back in 2006, Kiran Dass reported that the three partners in the then 15 year-old label were still coming to grips with what was needed to make the ...
Best friends since high school, Ash Wallace and Gabriel Everett have found an inspiring creative duality within Foley. Now in its fourth year, the pop-funk act has just dropped sophomore EP ‘Vacation’. ...
In a scene inundated with talent it can often feel impossible for young artists to discover an effective creative process. Auckland’s Team Dynamite have been building their unique brand of hip hop for ...
Fiona Campbell - (Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairoa, Takatãpui, She/They) first established her drumming chops in the late ’90s with South Auckland grrrl punk band The Coolies. Living in the US since then she ...
Taonga pūoro are a range of musical instruments and other sound making devices indigenous to Aotearoa New Zealand. Back in the 1970s and ’80s, they were scarcely heard outside of just a few whānau ...
With the April release of ‘Dreamer’ Anna Hawkins has delivered four richly-voiced LPs since 2013. ‘Be it pop, show musical theatre, classical opera, folk, Celtic, her voice enfolds and enhances all ...
Had you asked a year ago, Mark Perkins was excited. His solo music project, Merk, had gained momentum, fast. So fast the musician had tickets booked for an overseas tour, Austin’s 2020 SXSW festival ...
Explaining the title of her newly-released debut solo album, Dianne Swann says it relates to the human condition; in a nutshell that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, that we cannot always feel happy, ...
It has been eight long years since Daniel McBride released music as Sheep, Dog & Wolf. His first album, 2013’s ‘Egospect’ won instant local acclaim on its release, earning the then 19-year old ...
After a mysterious two-year sojourn, Wurld Series burst back onto the student radio airwaves with their charismatic second full-album release. Songwriter and vocalist Luke Towart, and drummer Brian Feary, ...
West Auckland has been a proven breeding ground for musical talent over the years. Park Rd, the latest act to emerge out of the Titirangi hills, hadn’t released their first EP when they played a sold ...
On May 29 last year the Prime Minister (and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage) announced details of an arts and music sector recovery package. Part of a bigger initiative to aid the creative sector ...
Studying jazz piano, in the midst of falling in love with soul and RnB, has surprisingly led Christchurch artist Jack Page on a long musical trail – evidently straight into the arms of contemporary pop ...
One of the most exciting live bands in Auckland over the last few years has been Ripship. The duo/couple Callum Lincoln and Eva-Rae McLean are prolific performers and everything points to them not slowing ...
If you’re intrigued by the NZ Music Month advertisement this year, it’s Rodney Fisher’s graphic homage to 10 Kiwi-made pieces of NZ musical equipment. Some it would be hard for a Kiwi music aficionado ...
Hip hop is very much tied up in the geography of where it is made. In a NZ context, we tend to think of South Auckland, Avondale, Ponsonby, Christchurch, all places that have spurned burgeoning rap scenes ...
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 ...
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, ...