Music News

Weekly Roundup: Friday 15th June

Friday 15th June, 2018 4:00PM

It's been a wintery week of balancing cold-addled brains with the flood of musical releases and extremely exciting tour announcements, including the news that Talking Heads frontman and all-around pop innovator David Byrne is returning to Aotearoa for three shows in November!

More tour highlights included Taite-nominated songwriter Julia Deans is hitting the road in August for a nationwide tour in celebration of her new solo album We Light Fire, US R’n’B superstar Jhené Aiko is playing at Auckland’s Logan Campbell Centre with homegrown hero Ladi6 in September, ex-pat hardcore crew Antagonist AD are heading home for a one off show at Auckland's Whammy Bar, Norwegian / French experimental all-stars Dans Les Arbres playing at the Audio Foundation in June, US emo rapper Lil Xan will play his debut New Zealand shows in July, and iconic New York songwriter Suzanne Vega is bringing her fab tunes back to our shores for a pair of North Island shows in August. Wellington alt-folk artists French For Rabbits announced Away With The Ferries, an intimate one-day winter festival of "quieter music" to take place at Wellington's seaside Breaker Bay Hall.

We were thrilled to present Lydia Jenkin's interview with NZ via Canada soul star Tami Neilson about her latest album Sassafrass! ahead of her forthcoming nationwide tour this July and August. We also hosted an insightful conversation between Wellington’s Mermaidens and Sydney post-punks Mere Women, who are joining forces for a double-headline extravaganza at windy city venue San Fran this coming Saturday.

Local release highlights for the week included hip hop rising stars IllBaz, MELODOWNZ, and Raiza Biza came together for a fresh single called ‘Live Stream’ feat. TEEKS, family rap ensemble Fanau Spa shared powerful and dancey tune titled ‘Glitch’, Tauranga post-punks Threat.Meet.Protocol headed in a mature new direction with their latest collection Where Did You Put My Marbles?, and hardcore Auckland punks Dud unleashed their four-track Demo EP. There were surprise drops from office faves, punk-noise legends Coolies and Dunedin's The Futurians shared a split collection on new local label Uniform, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra busted out an interstellar rendition of David Bowie's ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’.

This week's Caught Live video features legendary Canadian extreme metal artists Blasphemy, who have touched down in Aotearoa to blacken your weekend with their brutally unsparing sonic assault, playing shows at Auckland's Whammy Bar tonight and Wellington's Valhalla on Saturday. Check out recent live footage of the band in full metal regalia going berserk on stage at Gazgaz Club Valdivia in Chile...