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Lorde Trumps the Big Guns to Take MTV Best Rock Video
Lorde has become the first female artist to win in the category Best Rock Video at the MTV Video Music Awards, beating Arctic Monkeys, Linkin Park, The Black Keys…
Laurence Larson Blends Language Wooing Millions of Chinese Fans
Auckland University student Laurence Larson, 20, is generating a big following on social media where his music videos sung in the unusual blend of Mandarin and English have been…
Guardian Declares Kimbra’s Latest a Masterclass in Sheer Pop Joy
“The Golden Echo is less of a sophomoric follow-up and more of a bona fide pop classic from singer Kimbra …”, in fact declares the Guardian, it’s…
Bluegrass Singer Marlon Williams Touring Australia
Christchurch-born bluegrass singer-songwriter Marlon Williams, 24, made a good impression when he played Mullum Music Festival in New South Wales last year, claiming the title as one of the…
Kimbra’s Princely Potential Lands Her Major Label Resources
Kimbra only intended to stay in Los Angeles for a month, but after she saw an online listing for an urban farm in Silverlake – “20 chickens, eight sheep,…
Growing up in NZ Public, Broods Now Hitting the Big Time
Broods only started writing music together last year, but the Nelson brother-sister duo, Caleb and Georgia Nott, aged 21 and 19, are being tipped as New Zealand’s next big…
Lorde Adds to Already High-Profile Catalogue with Hunger Games Deal
Lorde will pen a new lead single for the latest installment of the popular film franchise, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, also overseeing the selections for the…
Broods Setting Hearts Alight – Make Hype Machine’s One to Watch List
Broods make Hype Machine’s Ones To Watch feature for the second half of 2014, selected under the qualifiers, that it’s their first time on the most-blogged list, and they’ve…
Kiwi Directs New Katy Perry Video
Joel Kefali has directed music videos for Lorde, The Naked and Famous and David Dallas – but he’s just released his biggest one yet.
The Kiwi director is the man…
Weird Al Yankovic Rethinks Lorde’s Royals
Lorde should feel honoured, according to Billboard magazine, because on Weird Al Yankovic’s new album Mandatory Fun, Royals is the only song the professional parodist reimagines as a song…
Kimbra Challenging Musical Genres
Over the course of The Vine’s 20 minute telephone interview with Grammy winner New Zealand singer Kimbra, 24, her “voice changes shape, tone, and accent, like an opalescent sheen…
Pilot’s Exploits Inspire Music for US Dance Company
Auckland-raised award-winning composer Rosie Langabeer, 34, has been working on the music for Philadelphia dance company BalletX’s production, Sunset, o639 Hours, which was inspired by the true story of…
Effortless New Zealand Electro Making Waves
Electro-pop duo Broods, comprised of brother and sister Georgia and Caleb Nott, have helped draw the eyes of the music industry to a country that had only rarely troubled…
Lorde Reminds Us of the Intensity of Being a Teen
Grammy winner 17-year-old Lorde, who has urged people to believe that teenagers are wiser than adults think, has made the Telegraph’s Radhika Sanghani pine for the passion of her…
Melbourne Singer Organises Her Artistic Impulses
“If you believe in the nurturing influence of parents upon their children, then Jess Cornelius is a worthy example,” says the Sydney Morning Herald’s Craig Mathieson.
“The Melbourne-based…
Hell Is Love Now Sleeve Catches Grouper’s Eye
New Zealand rockers Dead C are rated highly by Portland musician Grouper in his Inner Sleeve column for Wire magazine.
“I bought this 7” because it was by Dead C, whose…
Lorde Mesmerises Sold-Out London Crowd
Teenage pop star Lorde reminded the Telegraph’s entertainment writer Alice Vincent of a young Kate Bush at her Shepherd’s Bush Empire show last week – a five star review.
“Despite…
Making Music with Sustenance and Soul
Blair Jollands, who is signed to Boy George’s label More Protein, “is a real songwriter’s songwriter with sustenance and soul”, according to Contactmusic, who talked recently with the London-based…
Kilgour Adds to His Unimpeachable Catalogue
David Kilgour’s 1990 solo debut album, Here Come the Cars is about as good as guitar-based pop music gets, according to Peter Krbavac at the Age, and “in a…
Kimbra on Why Women in Music Are Seen as Sex Symbols
From Grammy winner to production whizz, Kimbra is breaking new ground.
Kimbra Lee Johnson turned 24 in March this year, and while she didn’t have a party she still had…
NZ’s Finest Underground Acts Partner with US Labels
PopMatters has selected a sampling of essential tracks by 15 of New Zealand’s finest underground pop acts in anticipation of a forthcoming Bats reissue and a Clean anthology –…
Sound Artist Releases Ground of Being
Christchurch-born composer and sound artist Annea Lockwood, who is perhaps best known for her Glass Concerts, in which she made use of the sonic and physical characteristics of glass,…
Sorceress Releases Another Dose of Soul
Among New Zealand’s fervent soul underground, which has produced such musicians as Ladi6, Electric Wire Hustle and Benny Tone, is another contemporary soul outfit, Sorceress.
“ Dose,…
Lorde Compares Notes with Conor Oberst
Teenage pop star Lorde, who has just won two Billboard music awards at a ceremony in Las Vegas and is in the midst of a sold-out world tour, talks…
Special Night for Dubai’s Neil Finn Fans
Neil Finn thrilled fans in the United Arab Emirates on stage at the Dubai Tennis Stadium last week “demonstrating why he is regarded as the songwriters’ songwriter”, according to…
Lorde Visits Helen in New York
Lorde has visited former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark in New York – all in between winning Billboard awards and launching her own make-up line with…
Four Prestigious US Music Schools Excited about Sylvia
Eighteen-year-old Auckland pianist Sylvia Jiang has been offered full scholarships to four prestigious American music school: Juilliard School, Yale School of Music, Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and…
New Release Incredibly Impressive Mix of Genres
Grammy award-winning Kimbra, 24, is “no flash in the pan”, says Slate blogger Sharan Shetty. The Hamilton-born singer is currently working on the follow-up to her 2011 album, Vows,…
Broods Embark on a Dream Adventure
From New York on the eve of Broods’ first full tour of the United States, the Nelson-born brother sister act, Georgia and Caleb Nott, talk with Vancouver’s Straight about…
Right at Home in Manchester
Now on a UK and European tour promoting his third solo album Dizzy Heights, Neil Finn, 55, talks with the Manchester Evening News about why the British city has…
Young Conductor Earns Place at Royal Academy of Music
Aucklander Ray Chan, 23, has become one of only two students in the world to be accepted into a prestigious conducting programme at the Royal Academy of Music in…
Singer Is Just a Well-Adjusted Non-Jaded Teen
Yet another magazine cover for Lorde; this time the 17-year-old singer graces the front of Teen Vogue, sporting a giant Marc Jacobs bowtie. The Aucklander admits that her life…
Lorde Gives Foo-Fighter Dave Grohl Hope for Music
Music legend Dave Grohl, founder of the Foo Fighters and member of Nirvana, has told Rolling Stone magazine that Lorde gives him hope for the future of music. Dismissing…
Burn up the Road Premieres on Billboard
Liam Finn’s new album The Nihilist navigates “through deliciously chilly soundscapes that oscillate tantalizingly into the warmth of big semi-processed drumbeats and his fuzzy guitars,” Jessica Letkemann writes for…
Conductor Gives It All for Canadian Music Director Role
New York-based conductor New Zealander Gemma New, 27, makes her debut conducting Canada’s Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra on 26 April, her “one and only shot” for the position of HPO…
Nirvana Collaboration Masterful Stroke of Musicianship
Lorde, who performed Nirvana’s All Apologies at the band’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, may not have seemed like an immediate choice for the evening, but then…
Indie Star Moves Cross Country to LA
Musician (and occasional actor) New Zealand-born Dean Wareham moved to Los Angeles last year after nearly a quarter-century in New York. Wareham, a permanent fixture in the indie rock…
Kiwi Royalty Thrills Chicago
21 March 2014 – The long and the short of it is if you’re a Kiwi in America you support one another. New Zealand’s two most famous US exports…
Yumi Zouma Instantly Poignant and Placeless
“Assembled via email, at night, from far-flung corners of the globe is the debut EP from these ex-pat New Zealanders,” Guardian reviewer Paul Lester writes, including Yumi Zouma in…
Echo Park Band Gets It Right in Los Angeles
New Zealand singer-songwriter, Bradley Hanan Carter (pictured second from left), 33, is founder of Los Angeles sextet, NO which is celebrating the launch of its debut album El Prado…
Brooklyn DIY Drummer on her Influences
New Zealand-born Fiona Campbell, a long-time participant in the Brooklyn DIY music scene, discusses her admiration for late-00s noise-pop New York band Vivian Girls, for whom Campbell drummed in…
Springsteen Covers Royals at Mt Smart Stadium
According to Rolling Stone, Bruce Springsteen made the most surprising cover choice of his career when he played an acoustic rendition of teenage Grammy award-winner Lorde’s song Royals during…
Finn’s NY-Inspired Third Album a Whirlwind of Weirdness
This coming May, New Zealand singer-songwriter Liam Finn, 30, will release his third full-length album, The Nihilist, on which Finn plays 67 instruments. Vice magazine’s music channel…
Miami Concert a Fine Showcase for Young Conductor
The “clear beat and enthusiasm” of New Jersey Symphony’s assistant conductor New Zealand-born Gemma New, “charged up the Miami Symphony’s crackling brass and percussion sections”, at the orchestra’s “Valentine…
Debut Radio Single Heavy Seas Rolling out in UK
With a voice described as “Bowie meets Bono”, New Zealand-born Thom Cross will release his debut radio single Heavy Sea, mixed by Grammy Award-winning producer Guy Massey of Manic…
Lorde & the Perfectly Formed Sentence
Ella Yellich-O’Connor stares at the reader from the pages of Vogue magazine looking wraithlike, almost like another famous alien fallen to earth. This Lorde looks quite unlike the girl…
Lorde Scoops Best International Female Solo Artist at The Brit Awards 2014
Lorde has overcome the odds and won the best International Female Solo Artist prize at the Brit Awards 2014.
Despite going into the show as a huge underdog, the 17…
Cover Duties for Our Own Alternative Pop Voice
Lorde takes one of four covers for fashion magazine V’s music special as part of a feature on the “next wave of alternative pop voices,” starring alongside HAIM, Say…
Neil Finn’s Latest Solo Album His Funkiest
“Neil Finn makes pop music, and good pop music at that. He can’t help it,” espouses the Sydney Morning Herald’s senior music writer Bernard Zuel, and he “makes the…
Other Pop Riches Doing Us Proud in the US
While Lorde is New Zealand’s biggest success story at the moment, she’s far from all we have to offer in terms of pop riches. Billboard’s Andrew Unterberger looks at…
Shepherd’s Bush Gig a Trip down the Rabbit Hole
Eccentric Connan Mockasin may be, but it’s his wayward musicianship that has won over famous fans like Radiohead, Beck and rapper Tyler, according to the London Evening Standard, which…
Finn to Release Third Studio Album The Nihilist
Liam Finn has announced the release of his first full-length studio album in three years, titled The Nihilist. The Melbourne-based singer-songwriter has also unveiled the album’s first…
Lorde Wins Two Grammys
Lorde looked stunned upon hearing her name being called as she won her first Grammy of the night for Best Pop Solo Performance at last night’s Grammy Awards, the…
Lorde Makes the Cover of Rolling Stone
“The thrill that’ll getcha when you get your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone,” sang Dr Hook in 1972, a blatant but ultimately successful act of musical…
Mockasin’s UK Tour Begins in Glasgow at King Tut’s
New Zealand musician Connan Mockasin is kicking off his UK tour in Glasgow on 22 January at King Tut’s promoting Caramel, ahead of the February release of his second…
Brooding Synth-Pop Makes Sadness Sound Lovely
Auckland brother-sister duo Broods, aka Georgia, 19, and Caleb Nott, 21, “make, ahem, brooding synth-pop that makes sadness sound quite lovely,” according to the Guardian’s Michael Cragg writing for…
