Music News

Weekly Round Up: Friday 4th August

Friday 4th August, 2017 1:15PM

Tour news this week was a bit of a mix bag! It was revealed that eclectic NYC rapper Le1f is returning to our shores for two special shows as part of Red Bull Sound Select. Nineties hitmaker Alanis Morrisette will be here for a three-date summertime jaunt with George Thorogood & The Destroyers and Colin Hay of Men At Work. Auckland indie-pop outfit Balu Brigada lined up a handful of shows around the North Island for later this month. Rock 'n' rollers Racing let loose their new single 'The Bass' and announced a nationwide tour for late September and early October. And Auckland artist Herriot Row aka Simon Comber will be making tracks around the country in early Spring to celebrate the release of new record Lesser Stars. Australian artist Josh Pyke is jumping the ditch for two September shows which will be supported by Dictaphone Blues. And on the festival front, Rippon festival has been renamed Tuki and has a new lakeside home and a cracker line-up for 2018.

In terms of release highlights, Wellington's Moon Lander allowed us the privilege of previewing their self-titled debut album. We were stoked to finally wrap our ears around the highly-anticipated sophomore record Perfect Body from Wellington trio Mermaidens. Auckland based hip hop crew Team Dynamite lifted the lid off a straight-talking new single entitled 'Gossip'. Globally sprawling synth-pop darlings Yumi Zouma shared a new tune called 'December' as they announced the impending arrival of their second album Willowbank. The now Auckland-based house producer known as k2k shared her excellent four song EP, Sugar. Flamed-haired stoner sludge group Bloodnut let loose their second full-length offering, St. Ranga. And from further abroad we were delighted to stumble upon the new offering from Sydneysider Alex Cameron who managed to rope Angel Olsen in for a awesome duet.