Release Roundup: Georgia Lines, Seth Frightening, Unsanitary Napkin, Benny Salvador, Arjuna Oakes + More

It's been a Friday of head-spinning announcements for Tāmaki Makaurau's live music community, both thrilling and tearful. Revisit our coverage this week of Memory Foam, Mel Parsons, Jason Parker and Christoph El Truento, then delve downwards with sword unsheathed for more new / recent local release highlights from Georgia Lines, Seth Frightening, Unsanitary Napkin, Benny Salvador, Arjuna Oakes, fern, Frau Knotz, and We Will Ride Fast.

Winner of Te Manu Taki Arotini o te Tau | Best Pop Artist at this year's Aotearoa Music Awards, Georgia Lines today completes the journey towards her debut album The Rose Of Jericho — including singles 'The Letter', 'Grow Old Without You', 'Wayside' and 'Grand Illusion' (with new accompanying video). "The Rose of Jericho is a flower that can survive in the desert; it can endure months of dehydration. However, when it is put back into water, it comes back to life. The name felt like the perfect way to signify my journey, one that I will look back on in 20 years' time and see the collection of songs, THE ROSE OF JERICHO, as the time when I wrote an album that helped me heal, process, and brought me back to life."

Making an auspicious return after nine years between releases, Aotearoa avant-songwriting figurehead Seth Frightening shares new album Fall Asleep in the Onion Weeds — his first long player since 2015's But We Love Out Brothers and Sisters — out today via the champions at Sonorous Circle. "Sorry it took so long. I moved away when everything started to fall apart. But I got myself together and I'm doing pretty well I guess.. Time does fly when you're moving and ageing but I got this done in various bedrooms and living rooms in NZ, Germany and the UK. Working all the time to pay the landlordz always chews away at life/time aswell. But here you go…"

Aotearoa anarcho-punk activists Unsanitary Napkin smash out six urgent tracks on a new split LP release with Australian / Indonesian collective Jalang — who also cover UN's sadly still timely 'TERF War' (they in turn reimagine Jalang's 'Cops N Klan'). It's out just three weeks following their digital-punk alter-ego Displeasure's walloping VORTEX OF SHIT II vinyl LP release.

Switching gears from aural abrasion to mind / body-immersing club grooves, Gumboot is a damn fine new four track EP from Aotearoa production don Benny Salvador and Aunty Records — "a collection of drawn out machine jams, best enjoyed with a cup of tea".

An Aotearoa artist who continuously moves from strength to strength, Arjuna Oakes has made a big leap abroad and is now based in the UK, teaming up with South East London's Albert's Favourites imprint for new jazz-soul-funk gem 'Motel'.

Tāmaki Makaurau underground club producer fern slams speaker cabinets with their new ten track collection heavy trax. "A compilation of hard techno / electro / rave type trax that've been kicking around for a while now, funnelled thru years of half finished + badly labelled projects and semi final bounces, these are mostly unreleased tracks all produced with a similar approach in mind".

A refreshingly avant-pop vision from Ngāmotu / New Plymouth, Frau Knotz's (Lauren Nottingham) 'Other Futures' is the sparkling and synthetic second single from her forthcoming debut EP Nextraterrestrial — out in full on 23rd August. Look out for Blue Hamel aka Halfofnothing's accompanying video launching this coming Wednesday.

Tauranga's heavy-psych synth-punks We Will Ride Fast reimagine the origins of space / time itself, via the macrocosmic musings of new single 'Born In The Heart Of The Universe'.