Intergalactic Gary a Visionary Selector
“Since the early 1980s, John Scheffer has established himself not only as an esteemed selector and master of his craft, but as an artist who has dedicated his life to weaving music…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Napalm Records Signs Speed Metal Band Stalker
“Fearless” Wellington three-piece Stalker, who have just signed to Austrian label Napalm Records, are set to release “a most sinister monster of an album” – Shadow Of The Sword – on 17 November, according…
Jordan Rakei’s New Album Gets Paste Excited
There’s so much good music slated to come out in September, according to Paste magazine, who list their top 15 artists, including New Zealander Jordan Rakei. Rakei’s new album Wallflower is out on 22 September. “As…
Legendary Reggae Stars Katchafire Play Sydney
They’re the band who have stamped themselves as pioneers of the reggae movement in New Zealand. And now Katchafire is set to show northern beaches music lovers what they’ve been missing out on when…
Neil Finn’s New Solo LP Contemplative and Tender
Neil Finn, the multi-talented Crowded House frontman, can make the most sophisticated pop music sound like the easiest thing in the world, according to freelance journalist Andrew Stafford, who reviews Finn’s fourth solo album,…
Pioneering Composer Annea Lockwood’s Common Ground
“New Zealand-born Annea Lockwood and the Brazilian Jocy de Oliveira are two composers separated by a distance that is geographical only,” Louise Gray writes for British music magazine The Wire. Their reissues, Lockwood’s Tiger…
Jamie McClennan Performs in Edinburgh
New Zealand-born Jamie McClennan and Scottish folksinger Emily Smith celebrate 15 years of making music together in 2017. The pair will be appearing at the Edinburgh Folk Club, Pleasance Cabaret Bar on 20 September. “Their…
Colorado Audience Crazy for Opiuo
New Zealander Oscar Davey-Wraight, aka Opiuo, and his band recently played at Colorado’s Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre. According to Denver-based online lifestyle site 303 Magazine, the group’s formation “was a bit more dramatic than…
Reasons Behind the China Girl in Top of the Lake
There’s certainly a great deal of thematic resonance in the first series of Top of the Lake and this one, beginning with women immersed in a body of water, a narrative of pregnancy secretly…
Sabryna’s the One in Los Angeles
New Zealand-born pop singer Sabrina Salmon, aka Sabryna, is giving fans the perfect summer sendoff with her song Be The One, which has just been released in the United States. Entertainment news site Hollywood Life…
Nadia Reid Keeps Right on to End Of The Road
New Zealand singer-songwriter Nadia Reid, 25, is jetting in to Europe for her big summer tour stopping off at End Of The Road Festival in Wiltshire, UK where she joins such luminaries of the…
Silver Scrolls Music Industry First
For the first time in its 52-year history, New Zealand’s Silver Scroll Awards feature an exclusively all-female shortlist, made up of Lorde, Bic Runga, Aldous Harding, Chelsea Jade and Nadia Reid, the Guardian reports. The…
Take a Sonic Journey in LA With Mark de Clive-Lowe
Auckland-born Mark de Clive-Lowe, who now calls Los Angeles home, juggles piano, synths and live sampling with effortless fluidity. De Clive-Lowe will perform Mirai No Rekishi (未来の歴史) / History of the Future, “a sonic…
Peter King’s is the Lathe Cutter’s Way
Mount Somers is famous for two things: its natural beauty, and being the home of Peter King Lathe Cut Records, Noel Meek writes in a feature for UK music magazine The Wire. King’s parents were…
NPR Calls On Aldous Harding for Tiny Desk Session
“Intensity in songs often expresses itself as volume – a loud guitar, a scream, a piercing synth line. But in the case of Aldous Harding it’s in the spaces, the pauses, and her unique…
Everything Old is New for Producer Lance Ferguson
Best known as the guitarist and leader of soul-funk band the Bamboos, New Zealand-born Lance Ferguson is a workaholic and one of Australia’s most prolific musicians. Ferguson also has a spread…
Lorde – “I Never Get To Take Off The Hat.”
New Zealand singer Lorde “became a household name after the release of her single Royals in 2013. Four years later, she is on the cover of Fashion Magazine’s September issue, where she talked about…
Electro-Pop Singer Theia Poised For Stardom
“Her name might not be that familiar around this part of the world just yet but things seem to be looking up for New Zealand singer Theia,” writes Suky Gill in an article for…
Norwegian-Kiwi Duo Anna of the North
The Norwegian-Kiwi duo “Anna of the North is a product of heartbreak, and the recovery that comes after,” writes Roisin O’Connor in an article for The Independent. “Anna Lotterud was working…
Lorde’s Pure Heroine Album One of the Best Albums Made by Teenagers
“The 21st century has spawned a whole host of stars who achieved global success before they were even legally allowed to toast it in America,” writes Jon O’Brien for Paste…
Producer Noah Slee’s Music Superbly Infectious
A New Zealander with Tongan heritage, soul singer and producer Noah Slee threw himself into underground music, using it as a means for him to piece together how he truly felt about himself, Robin…
Lost Gustav Holst Scores Turn Up in Tauranga
No one is sure how the handwritten scores of English composer Gustav Holst ended up in the archives of Tauranga’s Bay of Plenty Symphonia, Jason Daley writes for the Smithsonian magazine. A couple of years…
Hoseah Partsch to Tour With Boy George
Eighteen-year-old New Zealand-born Hoseah Partsch, who made it to The Voice Australia grand finale earlier this month, is preparing to tour with his mentor Boy George in Australia later this year. Partsch, who said he’s…
Arma Del Amor Take Back the Sea
New Zealand-born duo Arma Del Amor premiere their latest single Taking Back the Sea, “blending soulful bass with striking visuals,” EDM-culture blog Magnetic Magazine writes in a review. “Arma Del Amor is made up of…
Gin Wigmore’s Love Hate Relationship With Streaming
The New Zealander with the mighty voice Gin Wigmore is, like so many other recording artists, frustrated by the peanuts, which rain down from the world’s leading streaming service Spotify. Or let’s call it…
Style Icon Kimbra to Perform at Dior Event
Grammy Award-winning musician Kimbra, 27, will perform amongst a night of luxury food, wine and fashion at this year’s inaugural National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Gala in Australia to be held on 26 August. “Kimbra…
Fazerdaze Profile Grows Throughout Europe
Fazerdaze is New Zealand-based singer-songwriter Amelia Murray and her band who weave blissful, echo-drenched and semi-electronic production through bounding bedroom pop songs, Nick Linazasoro writes for Brighton & Hove News. Fazerdaze performs in Brighton…
Singer Nadia Reid Making Her Way to Ireland
New Zealand singer-songwriter Nadia Reid, 25, plays the second performance of her 34-date UK/European tour at Galway venue Róisín Dubh on 10 August. “ released the excellent Preservation this year, and is a name to…
Fat Freddy’s Drop Can’t Seem to Tour Enough
Arguably New Zealand’s most famous band, Fat Freddy’s Drop has just played another sold out show in Amsterdam. Communications strategist New Zealander Lucy von Sturmer talked with the band in the Netherlands’ capital where…
Producer Joel Little Dominates Billboard Charts
Auckland-born writer and producer Joel Little, 34, has his name in the Billboard music charts next to three different albums in the top 15, Stuff reports. Little worked on tracks on Lorde’s Melodrama album, Imagine…
Aldous Harding Making a Big Name for Herself
A lot of people are starting to talk about New Zealand singer-songwriter Aldous Harding. The 26-year-old talked to the San Francisco Chronicle on a stop in Brooklyn, New York on her current tour of…
Melodrama Debuts Atop Billboard 200 Chart
Lorde has notched her first No 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, with her second full-length album, Melodrama, debuting atop the list, Keith Caulfield reports for Billboard magazine. The Billboard 200 chart ranks the…
San Luis Obispo Symphony Appoints Andrew Sewell
Andrew Sewell brought his baton to the San Luis Obispo Symphony back in 2016 and now the New Zealand-born conductor is staying put in California. The Symphony recently announced the appointment of Sewell as its…
Singer Jon Stevens Hits the London Stage
“Aristocrat of Australian rock, five-date tour of London at the legendary 100 Club in Oxford Street,” Russell Higham reports for TNT Magazine. “The former front man of…
Melodrama Wins High Praise Across the Planet
Lorde’s sophomore studio album Melodrama has been released and critics throughout the world are singing the 20-year-old’s praises. In the New Yorker, reviewer Carrie Battan writes that it is “difficult to say whether Lorde…
How Lorde Became the Life of the Party
Playing to tens of thousands of people at the main stage of Coachella is a disquieting proposition for a self-described introvert, TIME magazine’s Sam Lansky writes. But Lorde is making some of the most…
Lorde’s New Songs Definitely About Personal Life
‘I’m really a shy, library person,” says Lorde, who adds, “I’m an introvert, a writer –just trying to translate what’s inside my chest.” The 20-year-old Auckland-born singer sits down with Vanity Fair’s Lisa Robinson…
Flying Nun’s Look Blue Go Purple Reissue Bewitched
Dunedin band Look Blue Go Purple’s 1985 Bewitched has just been re-released, and US online music magazine Pitchfork deems it one of the “best” recent reissues. “In the 1980s, the women of Look Blue Go…
Aldous Harding Review – A Star In The Making
“New Zealand’s latest export is a compellingly theatrical performer of her extraordinary songs,” writes Kitty Empire in an article for The Guardian. “Aldous Harding fixes a person in the front row of this tiny…
Pop’s Outsider Lorde Covers Rolling Stone
In a cover story for Rolling Stone magazine, Lorde talks about growing up in the spotlight following her hit debut Pure Heroine, and why her new Melodrama, out on 16 June, is the work…
Introducing Rousseau’s Dark Pop Identity
Independently released in April, Wellingtonian Clare Barrett Rousseau’s debut EP hello, i know you’re busy “is the ideal entrance, introducing the many shades of Rousseau’s dark pop identity while leaving us hungry for more,”…
Lorde is ELLE’s Dior Cover Girl
In the news yet again this week, just ahead of the release of her long-awaited second album Melodrama, Auckland-born mega star Lorde, 20, dresses up in a Dior jumpsuit for the cover of ELLE’s…
Aldous Harding’s Songs Won’t Be Pinned Down
Aldous Harding, 26, shies away from explaining the quiet, cryptic, utterly arresting songs on Party, her second album and first American release. Harding, who is from New Zealand, was in New York at the…
Christopher Marshall’s Cosmos on in Florida
New Zealand composer Christopher Marshall’s Cosmos, a 20-minute work highlighting the history of flight, will have its world premiere as part of the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra 2017-18 season on 27-28 May in Orlando,…
Robyn Loau Reunites With Her Girlfriends
Nineties Australian girl band Girlfriend, whose frontwoman was New Zealander Robyn Loau (pictured centre top), are reforming to mark the 25th anniversary of their No 1 hit Take it From Me. The band, which was…
Weissenborn Player Thomas Oliver Off on Tour
Wellington-based musician Thomas Oliver, 31, talks to Australian independent online music publication, The AU Review about the inspirations behind his new self-produced album Floating in the Darkness and his upcoming local tour followed by…
Soprano Natasha Wilson Sings With Acrobats
Acclaimed Australian Brandenburg Orchestra has teamed up with Auckland soprano Natasha Wilson and circus company Circa to present Spanish Baroque at the City Recital Hall in Sydney. Wilson, 23, was invited by Brandenburg artistic director…
Fazerdaze Releases Confident Dreamy Debut
Morningside, the “accomplished” debut album of Auckland’s Fazerdaze, aka Amelia Murray, “is like having the door to a house opened for you, casually strolling in and taking your own time to find a comfortable…
Kane Strang’s New Album Out in June
After sharing a string of ace singles over the last few months, New Zealander Kane Strang has announced that his new album, Two Hearts and No Brain will be out…
Fis Teams with Maori Sound Artist Rob Thorne
“Berlin-based producer Fis (aka Olly Peryman) shifts focus back to his home of New Zealand for Clear Stones, a collaborative album with veteran Maori sound artist Rob Thorne due on Subtext,” Miles…
Lorde Makes Sophisticated Return at Coachella
“Lorde used her late-evening (Coachella) slot to showcase material from her forthcoming album, Melodrama. Starting off with a portion of her lead single, Green Light, she performed staring straight down…
Lorde talks Melodrama at New York Diner
Lorde owns a house in Auckland, where she grew up, but for the better part of the last year she has been living at different hotels around New York, trying…
Soulful New Video for Singer Janine
New Zealand-born soul singer Janine, formerly known as Janine and the Mixtape, is back with a “heart-tugging visual for Don’t Love Me,” Adelle Platon reports for Billboard. “As previously heard on the emotional offerings like 2015’s…
Aldous Harding Announces Party and Tour Dates
New Zealand singer-songwriter Aldous Harding will release her sophomore album, Party on 19 May. After sharing the striking single Horizon, Harding has also revealed European and US tour dates, beginning with a performance at The…
Kane Strang Going on First European Tour
“New Zealander is currently in the midst of a huge tour of the United States, but that hasn’t stopped him announcing his first-ever European shows,” DIY magazine reports. “ was…
Online Star Dylan Rass Joins Australian Festival
At only 18, singer and social media star New Zealand-born Dylan Rass fits the bill for New South Wales’ Bring It On! Festival – young, ambitious and talented. Rass is the latest in a growing…
