Music | Guardian (The)
24 May 2023
Hamilton punk band Half/Time recently performed alongside Welsh artists who sing in Cymraeg as part of a musical cultural exchange, which aimed to spark important conversations about what it means to create pop songs…
Music | Interview
19 May 2023
Auckland-born Gen Z leading light Benee, 23, who recently took the stage at Coachella – “a pretty surreal experience,” she says – spoke with Interview magazine from her new apartment in Los Angeles about festival…
Music | Guardian (The)
9 May 2023
“Twenty minutes into Aldous Harding’s set, after a spellbinding version of Treasure, from her 2019 breakthrough album Designer, has provoked a particularly vociferous response from the crowd, she speaks her first words…
Music | Stuff
4 May 2023
The favourite characters of SpongeBob’s underwater town Bikini Bottom are set to be given some Aotearoa flavours next year, Amberleigh Jack reports for Stuff. New Zealand-based artists award-winning Tami Neilson and The Phoenix Foundation…
Music | Billboard
11 April 2023
The self-styled “outsider” label Bad Habit, co-founded in 2015 by New Zealander Kirk Harding and Nigerian-American Matthew “Baus” Adesuyan, has added a live piece to its existing management, publishing and distribution activities, and re-upped…
Music | Guardian (The)
10 March 2023
With haka chants and ancient proverbs, Australian musician Jen Cloher connected deeply with Māori culture for their new album, I Am the River, The River Is Me – another personal reckoning after understanding their…
Music | Guardian (The)
1 March 2023
When the New Zealand indie label Flying Nun got a chance to record a live album by Manchester band the Fall, the tensions fraying the group almost destroyed the record company – as documented…
Music | American Songwriter
15 February 2023
“Crowded House is a band that initially won listeners over with their undeniable wit and oddball charm,” American Songwriter’s Alli Patton writes in an article, which recommends the band’s top ten best songs.
“The New…
Music | Guardian (The)
5 February 2023
“Cut off from the ‘swinging’ innovations of 60s London, a generation of New Zealand musicians forged an underground scene that propelled the nation’s modern identity,” Garth Cartwright writes for The Guardian.
“For a nation now…
Music | Rolling Stone
27 January 2023
In a new Rolling Stone AU/NZ series, the magazine takes a look at some rising Aotearoa artists who are looking to impress in 2023 and beyond. It may still be an uncertain time for…
Music | Guardian (The)
21 January 2023
At just 21, the New Zealand musician Kimbra became famous for her part in smash-hit duet Somebody That I Used to Know. So what happened after? The Guardian’s Katie Cunningham checks in with the…
Music | Boston Herald
5 January 2023
In a round-up of the year’s most outstanding albums, the Boston Herald’s Jed Gottlieb includes Auckland indie band The Beths’ Expert in a Dying Field in his top five.
Other albums making the cut are…
Music | Age (The)
14 December 2022
At 82, the exuberant Christchurch-born, Sydney-based pianist Mike Nock has a lifetime of stories to share, and an abundance of insights to accompany them, Jessica Nicholas writes for The Age. She speaks with Nock…
Music | Violin Channel (The)
14 December 2022
New Zealand-born violist Bryony Gibson-Cornish is one of five new professors appointed to the String Faculty at the Royal College of Music (RCM), London.
Gibson-Cornish, who performs as part of the Marmen Quartet, will…
Music | Rolling Stone
14 December 2022
Last month, a new indie pop star emerged – and she’s making the main character anthems of everyone’s dreams, according to Brittany Spanos writing for Rolling Stone. After nearly four years of writing, workshopping,…
Music | Guardian (The)
11 December 2022
Beloved by the likes of Dry Cleaning and Grouper, New Zealand guitarist Roy Montgomery’s life has been hit by more than one tragedy, stories he traces in meditative instrumentals, Stevie Chick writes in a…
Music | Houston Chronicle
22 November 2022
Gemma New has studied under conductors whose names are familiar well beyond the cloistered halls of classical music: Dudamel, Salonen, Michael Tilson Thomas. The 35-year-old New Zealand native, recently made her Houston Symphony debut,…
Music
22 October 2022
New Zealand-born composer Sally Gates, a member of New York experimental metal band Titan to Tachyons, has been described by renowned musician John Zorn as “a powerful young guitarist with a striking compositional…
Music | Scotsman (The)
19 October 2022
With the performing arts sector still impacted by the pandemic, The Scotsman is commissioning a series of short video performances from artists all around Scotland and releasing them online, with introductions from their critics. For…
Music | Folk Radio
13 October 2022
“Over a decade and four extraordinary albums, Maxine Funke has established herself as New Zealand’s premier purveyor of lightness, of songs whose beauty and mystery are only sharpened by their apparent ephemeral qualities,” Folk…
Music | Guardian (The)
11 October 2022
“Thanks in large part to an early 80s explosion of talent centred on Dunedin, and shared with the world via the Flying Nun label, New Zealand played a pivotal role in the evolution of…
Music | Guardian (The)
5 October 2022
Group singing has been central to New Zealander Marlon Williams’ life, journalist and author Jenny Valentish writes for The Guardian. He likens it to a spiritual practice, “without the theory or having to worry…
Music | Guitar
27 September 2022
Former Guns N’ Roses manager Wellington-born Alan Niven, who ushered the band through their Appetite for Destruction era, has shared his first thoughts on meeting the band in 1986, Scott Ng reports for Guitar…
Music | Pitchfork
26 September 2022
“The New Zealand duo of Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate have influenced generations of lo-fi rockers. This 55-track box set reminds us why,” Louis Pattison writes in a Pitchfork review of Unravelled:…
Music | New Yorker (The)
21 September 2022
On his new album My Boy, New Zealand singer-songwriter Marlon Williams experiments with electronic flourishes in search of a lighthearted groove, Rumaan Alam writes in an article published in The New Yorker.
“In 2018, Williams…
Music | Guardian (The)
31 August 2022
He has written duets for man and Muppet, parodied Morrissey in The Simpsons, and become Hollywood’s go-to for bringing ‘heart’ to the movies. Now Academy Award-winning Wellington musician Bret McKenzie, 46, is ready to…
Music | Dazed
29 July 2022
Fresh off a world tour, in an interview with Dazed magazine, New Zealand singer Benee, 22, opens up about her viral rise to fame on TikTok, writing about Gen Z anxieties via her 2022…
Music | Washington Post (The)
28 July 2022
New Zealand singer-songwriter Aldous Harding, who is currently on tour in the United States, performed songs from her latest album Warm Chris, to a capacity crowd at Washington D.C.’s Miracle Theatre. The show is…
Music | Guardian (The) | Observer (The)
23 July 2022
“She’s laden with every music award her adopted homeland New Zealand can muster, but the queen of Kiwi country deserves a wider audience,” The Observer’s Neil Spencer writes in a review…
Music | Toronto Star
20 July 2022
Canada-born, New Zealand-based singer and songwriter Tami Neilson is back in Ontario to tour new album Kingmaker, her first visit since the pandemic began. She talks to Toronto Star journalist Nick Krewen about being…
Music | American Songwriter
20 July 2022
The sea ballad, “The Wellerman”, the meaning of which is both curious and historical, was born in New Zealand 150 years ago. Jacob Uitti investigates its catchy origins for American Songwriter magazine.
“Known as ‘Soon…
Music | Wonderland
16 July 2022
New Zealand singer-songwriter and producer Finnegan Tui discusses his new nature-inspired EP Zephyr and how he developed his unique sound with Wonderland magazine journalist Britany Josephs.
“ a kind of meditation where I am…
Music | Guardian (The)
11 July 2022
Lorde is Kitty Empire’s ‘Artist of the Week’, The Guardian reviewer deeming the pop singer’s sold-out Alexandra Palace concert a “magnificent night out”.
“By turns tearful and rocking out, the New Zealand star is on…
Music | Deadline
29 May 2022
Paul McCartney and his late Beatles songwriting and singing partner John Lennon haven’t sung together in 53 years, but thanks to New Zealand film director Peter Jackson, they got the next best thing recently…
Music | Scotsman (The)
16 May 2022
The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has revealed it wants to attract more local audiences to and transform “elitist” perceptions under a new direction for the annual cultural showpiece, arts journalist Brian Ferguson reports for…
Music | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
15 May 2022
With her second album Soft Spot released, Chelsea Jade, 32, is firmly established as a bright star in a constellation of dazzling New Zealand musicians chasing pop careers far from home, Cat Woods reports…
Music | Mercury News (The)
11 May 2022
It’s been nearly a decade since New Zealand pop star Lorde rocketed to stardom at the age of 16, propelled initially by the chart-topping single “Royals” and then a steady stream of other terrific…
Music | Washington Post (The)
11 May 2022
When Covid-19 closed venues and cancelled concerts, Waikato-born Emma Ghaemmaghamy, like many of her peers, took to new avenues to connect with audiences, including live-streaming and podcasting, Chris Kelly writes in a story for…
Music | Variety Magazine
29 April 2022
Walk into the unembellished black building tucked away in Morningside, Auckland, later this year and there’s no telling what musical superstars one might find, Leena Tailor writes in an exclusive story for Variety. The…
Music | New York Times (The)
12 April 2022
New Zealand-born composer and academic musician Annea Lockwood features in American filmmaker Sam Green’s documentary about the physics and emotions attached to sound. The film, called 32 Sounds, recently screened at the Brooklyn Academy…
Music | New York Times (The) | Pitchfork
6 April 2022
“On her fourth album, Warm Chris, the New Zealand singer and songwriter delivers unpredictable but enchanting vocals and enigmatic lyrics that revel in simplicity,” Lindsay Zoladz writes in a music review for…
Music | NME
4 April 2022
Lorde’s ‘Solar Power’ has won Best Song In The World at the BandLab NME Awards 2022, with the title track of the New Zealand pop star’s latest album, beating nine other nominated songs by…
Music | DIY
1 April 2022
“Where 2020 debut album Hey U X saw Benee gather an impressive guest list (Lily Allen, Gus Dapperton, Bakar) to pepper her bedroom pop with outside influences, the seven-track Lychee sees the New Zealander…
Music | Pitchfork
30 March 2022
New Zealander Aldous Harding remains in an off-kilter space throughout Warm Chris, her third collaboration with producer John Parish, who’s worked alongside PJ Harvey and Jenny Hval, among others, Madison Bloom writes for online…
Music | Boston Herald
6 March 2022
As The Beths make their way across the United States for a sold-out gig in Boston, it’s a good time to celebrate a strange band on a normal rock ’n’ roll tour. Fronted by…
Music | NME
8 February 2022
Music magazine NME sits down with one of Australia’s biggest bands, Gang of Youths, in their adopted home of London to talk fame, grief and their powerful new album Angel In Realtime. In the…
Music | Global Citizen
3 February 2022
Grammy award-winning artist, New Zealand-born New York-based Kimbra, has released an original song to launch the Leave No Girl Behind initiative with the not-for-profit So They Can, Leah Rodriguez writes in a story…
Music | Notion
29 January 2022
New Zealand-born multi-instrumentalist and producer Finnegan Tui “has released a haunting electronica ballad, ‘Spring’, describing the search for hope at the darkest time of year,” the UK’s Notion magazine reports.
“Tui nurtured his own…
Music | Atlanta-Journal Constitution (The)
19 January 2022
The year in classical music was marked by challenge and determination as the pandemic continued its cultural stranglehold for much of 2021. But for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO), which Wellington-born Gemma New conducted…
Music | Dazed
10 January 2022
In podcast Aotearoa Hip Hop: The Music, The People, The History, Phil Bell aka DJ Sir-Vere talks to some of the genre’s most iconic figures and unsung heroes, exploring how music helped Māori and…
Music | Evening Standard
31 December 2021
Lorde was thinking the other day about the strange fact that she is a pop star. ‘I wonder if part of it is because pop happened to be the medium that I was interested…
Music | Daily Mail
16 December 2021
The story of the pioneering Dunedin-born surgeon Archibald McIndoe who developed a host of new treatments during the Second World War to help heal disfigured airmen and shaped the field of plastic surgery for…
Music | Sydney Morning Herald (The)
9 December 2021
Twenty-five years ago, much-loved band Crowded House bid farewell to the world, performing a free concert at the Sydney Opera House to a crowd of more than 100,000 people. The Sydney Morning Herald has…
Music | NME
8 December 2021
New Zealand dance pop artist Pip Brown, better known as Ladyhawke, talks to Belinda Quinn at NME about cancer, homophobia in the music industry and her new album Time Flies.
After a long history of…
Music | Radio New Zealand (RNZ)
2 December 2021
Ashburton-born tenor Simon O’Neill, 50, has snagged two Grammy nominations for Best Choral Performance and Best Engineered Album in Classical, Radio New Zealand reports.
“I’m really thrilled, that was great news to wake up to…
Music | NME
29 October 2021
KJ Apa’s new album Clocks, is a “folky collection that shows off his flair for breezy affairs and seriously impressive guitar skills”, Nick Levine writes for NME. It’s also a family affair.
He duets with…