Release Roundup: Aaradhna, P.H.F, CARU & ANDWAHN, Lontalius, Theia, BURDENZ, Bear Cat

The weekend calleth — you can join "Aotearoa's most moderately busy music person" (I already regret this gag) attending tonight's Outlier Festival of electronic innovators at Hollywood Avondale. Revisit this week's coverage of MOKOTRON, Threat.Meet.Protocol, WAIWHAI. and Soft Plastics, then scroll down for more new / recent local release highlights from Aaradhna, P.H.F, CARU & ANDWAHN, Lontalius, Theia featuring Bobby Sanchez, BURDENZ, and the welcome return of Bear Cat.

Icon of Aotearoa R&B and hip hop, Aaradhna casually unveiled Sweet Surrender late last week, her first new album since 2016's Brown Girl. "I've been sitting on this album since 2017 it was finally finished early 2021. Since then I've been getting in my own way ..stopping, starting, questioning, trying to get things done perfectly but I've already lost the idea of what I thought perfect was I'm at a place where I just wanna do this shit and get on with it now. So I'm just gonna let it go now.. A real sweet surrender isn't it lol. This album means a lot to me still. I hope you can appreciate the heart that's in it".

Shortlisted for the 2024 APRA Silver Scroll Award, Tāmaki Makaurau's P.H.F. contributes to a new collection of Brutus VIII (Jackson Katz of Slow Hollows) remixes, also featuring reworks from US superstars Xiu Xiu and Current Joys.

On the prestigious, all-indigenous Māori bill for this Saturday's Boiler Room Aotearoa party in Tāmaki Makaurau — and playing The 95bFM Christmas Party next month — CARU teams up with electronic production dynamo ANDWAHN on the pumping lead cut from their forthcoming collaborative HAUNTER EP.

Lontalius announced his aptly titled fifth album How Can We Lose If We’re So Sincere?! will be out ahead of Christmas on 12th December — feel the pensive grooves of third single from the record 'Come Straight To Me'.

Theia dropped a timely remix of her scorching critique of our Beehive numbskulls 'BALDH3AD!', bringing on board trans poet / musician / model / visual artist Bobby Sanchez, for a booming new version of the decolonial protest anthem.

The project that famously foisted Alex Freer aka A.C. Freazy upon Aotearoa's music community, Bear Cat are now based in Naarm / Melbourne and have unveiled their first new jangle-pop tune in a dog's age 'A Spooky Situation', "with additional instrumentation, mixing and production" via Mark David Perkins aka Merk. Soak up the DIY video below — content warning: spooky.