Release Roundup: Yon Loader, P.H.F, Jim Nothing, Georgia Gets By, Birdfeeder, Necropolis

Another concise roundup today, as there is a head cold going around town and this local music enjoyer's brain has been full of slime all week. Revisit our new release coverage of Fazerdaze, Wiri Donna, Theia and Jeiel, then explore more new / recent Aotearoa highlights below from Yon Loader, P.H.F, Jim Nothing, Georgia Gets By, Birdfeeder, and Necropolis.

A hydra-like project helmed by James Stuteley (Carb on Carb, HOW GET) and engineered / produced by Harry Lilley (who also played bass), Yon Loader's self-titled debut album helps fill the emo-punk gap in our hearts created by the announcement that Carb On Carb are wrapping up. It's out now via US indie imprint Tiny Engines and fans of Stuteley's Papaiti Records will find much to love within, although they may be shocked there is no song we can spot named 'Home Again'. Featuring collaborations with Tommy Wroe (Fouler), Olivia Grace Wilding (Recitals), Miles Sutton (Welcomer), William Roud (Model Home) and Victoria Chellew (Bad Friend), you can grab a copy of the limited vinyl LP edition via the Bandcamp link and / or friendly local record store.

Shortlisted for Aotearoa's prestigious songwriting accolade the 2024 Silver Scroll Award (although snubbed from the top five spot by ignoramus APRA voters), Joe Locke this week unveiled SUFFER, the twelfth and possibly last long player from his globally feted project P.H.F. If this is the final one it feels like a career high. Locke is at this point like a D.I.Y. olde master showing the new breed how it's done — emotionally blistering ballads, bone-pulverising distorted heaviness, almost annoyingly catchy garage-pop hooks and discombobulating electronics — once again the sharpest tack in the pack. 

Playing at Te Huhu's album release shindig at Tāmaki's Big Fan in November (nab tickets HERE), Jim Nothing opens up the songwriting vault to gift us rather catchy new single 'Wildflowers'. The production team of Brian Feary and James Sullivan are the secret sauce of timeless indie-pop, "Dreaming of the times / With nothing on our minds / When we tripped man / We fell / So well." Jim Nothing's album Grey Eyes, Grey Lynn is out on 1st October via Meritorio Records and Melted Ice Creamp, preorder the vinyl LP edition via the Bandcamp link. "This is the first song I wrote for JN back in 2012 / 2013 but has never been properly realised until now… It’s a song about walking home from literally any beach in NZ summer. The road gets really soft and you kind of just melt into it. It’s a really lovely feeling. Give it a spin, let it sink in. It’s sundown soon."

Transcending the dance-pop boundaries of her previous group Broods, Georgia Nott aka Georgia Gets By's debut Split Lip EP feels akin to an artistic rebirth. The six track collection embraces overdriven shoegazey textures, luminous Lynchian dream-pop and a smidge of alt-country with assured songcraft and adventurous spirit, elevated further by Nott's world-class vocals. Order the limited cassette edition via the Bandcamp link before it's too late. "When people don’t hold back in their art it’s really beautiful to me".

Rulers of their own sonic realm situated somewhere nearby Orchestra of Spheres and BLERTA, Pōneke's Birdfeeder return with the tumbling psychedelic rhythms and vivid lyrical storytelling of 'Castle', poised to bust down self-constructed psychic barriers. Check out the accompanying video — directed, shot and edited by Theo Taylor.

Occupying dark imposing fortresses of another kind, Prophecy Of Ruin proves to be a majestic debut album from Aotearoa medieval dungeon synth composer Necropolis. "With grimoires revealed, tombs cast wide, Spears raised, and swords aligned. / As unmartyred cravens arise in strife, And siege machines be primed, / An age of tyranny shall dawn, In depths of ancient memory consigned."