News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Marlon Williams Pops Up in Lady Gaga Film

Marlon Williams Pops Up in Lady Gaga Film

Oscar-nominated Hollywood actor Bradley Cooper’s film, A Star Is Born, featuring Lady Gaga in the lead female role, has been generating steady awards buzz since debuting at the Venice Film Festival last month and…

NZ’s Best Live Music Venues

NZ’s Best Live Music Venues

“Having just returned from a trip across the pond I can safely say New Zealand is like no other,” writes Jareth Leslie-Evans in an article in Australian based online music and youth culture magazine…

Musician Julien Dyne Ups the Tempo on Teal

Musician Julien Dyne Ups the Tempo on Teal

New Zealander Julien Dyne’s forthcoming album Teal is “a joyful exploration of afro-influenced percussive house and electronic soul”, according to Anton Spice writing for Britain’s music and arts enterprise, The Vinyl Factory. “Dyne, whose CV…

Robinson Releases Heartachingly Honest “Medicine”

Robinson Releases Heartachingly Honest “Medicine”

“Robinson’s upbeat electronic pop anthem ‘Nothing To Regret,’ has over 50 million streams online, and went gold in her home of New Zealand. Now, she’s seeking global stardom with ‘Medicine,”…

Rosé a New Zealand-Born K-Pop Idol

Rosé a New Zealand-Born K-Pop Idol

A member of one of the most popular female K-pop girl groups, Auckland-born Park Chae Young, aka Rosé, 21, is gaining popularity in her own right for the sweet timbre of her voice. Since the…

Gemma New Leads St. Louis Symphony Opener

Gemma New Leads St. Louis Symphony Opener

This month, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) opens its 2018/2019 season on 22 and 23 September, at Powell Hall. Resident conductor, New Zealander Gemma New will lead the orchestra,…

Broods Release “Lovably Bizarre” Video for “Peach”

Broods Release “Lovably Bizarre” Video for “Peach”

Brother-sister duo “Broods are back with a new music video for ‘Peach,’ marking the first visuals for their upcoming album, which is slated to release in…

Lorde Is an Author of Adolescent Evolution

Lorde Is an Author of Adolescent Evolution

“You could drink the water content out of the air the first time I heard Lorde on the radio,” according to South Florida-based NPR journalist Cyrena Touros. “Spun between Imagine Dragons’ speaker-shaking ‘Radioactive’ and…

Superorganism Adapts to Remixes and Popularity

Superorganism Adapts to Remixes and Popularity

The press has embraced Superorganism not just for its cuddly psychedelia, but also for its story – eight members, including a fresh-out-of-high-school Japanese-American lead singer, who have come together from points as diverse as…

Rising Star Robinson Hits Huge Streaming Figures

Rising Star Robinson Hits Huge Streaming Figures

Young New Zealand singer-songwriter who goes by just her surname, Robinson, has had a lot to get excited about recently, NME reports. Her latest tune “Nothing to Regret” has totally blown up. It’s gone…

Neil Finn and Son Liam Get Dreamy on Lightsleeper

Neil Finn and Son Liam Get Dreamy on Lightsleeper

“Lightsleeper is the result of another crowded house at the Finn residence. The album principals, father Neil and son Liam, get the rest of the family involved – mother Sharon, son Elroy, nephew Harper…

Connan Mockasin Announces LP and Film Project

Connan Mockasin Announces LP and Film Project

“It’s been a little while since we’ve heard from he has emerged with no small amount of ambitious projects,” Rob Hakimian writes for online music and culture…

Michael Brett Draws on Bram Stoker for Ballet Score

Michael Brett Draws on Bram Stoker for Ballet Score

The task of piecing together the music for the West Australian Ballet production of Dracula has fallen to the company’s Auckland-born music coordinator, Michael Brett. The assignment extended to Brett watching the movies Polish composer…

Neil and Liam Finn Video Premieres

Neil and Liam Finn Video Premieres

Despite its young cast, Neil and Liam Finn’s new video for guitar ballad “Anger Plays a Part” deals with grown-up problems in the real world. The single is on the duo’s new album, Lightsleeper, which is out now. In the…

2008 Ladyhawke Debut Still Resounds

2008 Ladyhawke Debut Still Resounds

“ Barack Obama became the first African-American to be elected President of the United States (which was great),…

Get to Know the Brother-Sister Duo Broods

Get to Know the Brother-Sister Duo Broods

New Zealand duo Broods, comprised of Georgia and Caleb Nott, explain to Billboard magazine that they were born in Blenheim, but grew up in a town called Nelson. The name Broods was actually suggested…

Smokescreens Blend NZ Pop and NY Art Rock

Smokescreens Blend NZ Pop and NY Art Rock

Smokescreens is a New Zealand band currently based in Los Angeles. Founded by Chris Rosi following the demise of his previous band, Plateaus, the group recently performed at the Hotel Congress in Tucson, Arizona….

Conductor Gemma New Expands Her Horizons in Boston

Conductor Gemma New Expands Her Horizons in Boston

It’s been a summer of unicorns and rainbows for New Zealand-born Gemma New, according to the Hamilton Spectator’s Leonard Turnevicius. For the second summer in a row, New, music director of the Hamilton Philharmonic…

Rolling Stone Loves The Beths’ Future Me

Rolling Stone Loves The Beths’ Future Me

This spring, Elizabeth Stokes, 27, quit her day job teaching trumpet to kids in Auckland. The reason: She was ready to tour the world with The Beths, the exuberant pop-punk band she’d started with…

Royals Makes Top Best Female Songs of the Century

Royals Makes Top Best Female Songs of the Century

An NPR Music list of the 200 Greatest Songs by 21st Century Women has put Lorde’s debut smash hit, the 2013 “Royals”, in the top 10. According to NPR, the songs are by artists whose…

Wax Chattels Pursue Post-Punk with Manic Fervour

Wax Chattels Pursue Post-Punk with Manic Fervour

“There are few record labels out there that have come to define an entire country’s quality independent music output. Flying Nun Records did that for New Zealand,” Adam McKinney writes for Washington-based entertainment newspaper…

Marlon Williams on His Writing Process

Marlon Williams on His Writing Process

The most popular and persistent myth attached to the songwriting process is that artists are driven by an absolute, desperate need to do it. As cliché has it, there’s never much choice involved in…

How Lorde Defied Misogyny and Expectations

How Lorde Defied Misogyny and Expectations

It is a just over a year ago since the release of Lorde’s second album, Melodrama. Ordinarily, a retrospective would be premature, but Melodrama already merits one, according to Brian O’Flynn writing for The…

Ruban Nielson Talks Music & NZ Artists

Ruban Nielson Talks Music & NZ Artists

Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s “lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Ruban Nielson takes influence from a diverse group of artists ranging from Stevie Wonder to punk act the Buzzcocks to musical iconoclast Frank Zappa,” writes Carlos De Loera in…

Cellist Yuuki Bouterey-Ishido Exhilarates

Cellist Yuuki Bouterey-Ishido Exhilarates

“On the last flaming day of June, a packed Lancaster Town Hall stood at the end to acclaim another Haffner Orchestra’s triumphant summer concert. The star of the show was a new up-and-coming young…

Kimbra & DAWN’s ‘Version of Me’ A Vision of Solidarity

Kimbra & DAWN’s ‘Version of Me’ A Vision of Solidarity

“When New Zealand singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Kimbra dropped her third album, Primal Heart this past spring, it proved to be a cohesive marriage of her best ideas to-date,” writes Michael Love Michael in…

Bassist Matt Penman’s Collection Balanced and Fluid

Bassist Matt Penman’s Collection Balanced and Fluid

Originally from New Zealand, bassist Matt Penman has lived in New York since 1995. His new collection, Good Question is reviewed by Mike Hobart for the Financial Times. According to Hobart, Good Question “features a mix…

On Stage at London’s All Points East with Lorde

On Stage at London’s All Points East with Lorde

New Zealand super star Lorde’s recent performance at London’s inaugural All Points East festival incited “sheer pandemonium”, according to DIY magazine. “Lorde follows on the North Stage, and proceeds to provide an…

UMO Frontman Ruban Nielson on Musical Eclecticism

UMO Frontman Ruban Nielson on Musical Eclecticism

In search of a new direction after three critically acclaimed psychedelic indie rock records, 38-year-old New Zealander Ruban Nielson, frontman of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, took to the road to write and record album No…

Folk Singer Mel Parsons Touring US

Folk Singer Mel Parsons Touring US

Award-winning singer-songwriter New Zealander Mel Parsons, 36, recently performed as part of the Concerts in the Woods series in Coyle, Washington. “We are very lucky to have Mel Parsons make a stop in Coyle on…

Pop Singer Robinson Has Nothing to Regret

Pop Singer Robinson Has Nothing to Regret

New Zealand singer-songwriter Robinson, 21, has been likened to other local trailblazers who are known for leading fans along a pathway set out by their own standards while exploring and showcasing their art, Fiona…

Marlon Williams Offers Something for Everyone

Marlon Williams Offers Something for Everyone

Christchurch-born singer-songwriter Marlon Williams is currently touring New Zealand promoting his second studio album Make Way for Love. His recent performance in Melbourne is reviewed by Eve Fisher for The Canberra Times. “The sold-out crowd…

Ngā Parirau o te Kārearea a Spectacular EP

Ngā Parirau o te Kārearea a Spectacular EP

New Zealand-born experimental producer Fis and sound artist Rob Thorne’s collaborative EP Ngā Parirau o te Kārearea, a follow up to last year’s acclaimed Clear Stones, is included in Fact magazine’s 25 best albums…

Genre-Defying Kimbra Traverses New Territory

Genre-Defying Kimbra Traverses New Territory

There’s something that connects the music of Skrillex and Paul Simon – some place where these opposite ends of the musical spectrum meet. New Zealander Kimbra, 28, is sure of that. As for what…

Brazil Readies for Connan Mockasin

Brazil Readies for Connan Mockasin

New Zealand singer-songwriter Connan Mockasin will head to Brazil in November after the release of two new albums in October. “There were some invitations to go, some almost came to fruition,…

The Beths Look to the Future

The Beths Look to the Future

The Beths is an Auckland guitar pop group who recently signed to Washington DC-based Carpark Records for the release of their debut album Future Me Hates Me, due out 10 August. The band has…

Gang of Youths’ Max Dunn Talks to Rolling Stone

Gang of Youths’ Max Dunn Talks to Rolling Stone

Founded in Sydney six years ago, Gang of Youths, which includes New Zealander Max Dunn on bass, are getting their share of attention in America after releasing two hit albums in Australia: 2015’s The…

Marlon Williams Accompanies Wild Wild Country

Marlon Williams Accompanies Wild Wild Country

Despite working with a “micro-budget”, music supervisor Chris Swanson weaves an inspired sonic accompaniment to the Netflix hit Wild Wild Country, a documentary about the controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers….

DIY Picks Matthew Young’s New Single

DIY Picks Matthew Young’s New Single

Every weekday, Britain’s DIY magazine brings you one essential new release to get obsessed with. This recent ‘Neu Pick’ comes from Auckland-based Matthew Young. Young is releasing new EP Fruit on 25 May, and its…

Kimbra Displays Impressive Range On ‘Primal Heart’

Kimbra Displays Impressive Range On ‘Primal Heart’

“If there’s any musical justice, Kimbra’s third studio album should be the one that finally catapults the New Zealander to the acclaim she deserves,” writes Mark Kennedy in a review of her latest album…

UMO Frontman Ruban Nielson Keeps it Dumb

UMO Frontman Ruban Nielson Keeps it Dumb

On 2015’s Multi-Love, New Zealand-born Ruban Nielson, 38, frontman of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, saw his personal life laid out and analysed. Now, on the band’s fourth LP Sex & Food, he’s trying to keep…

Jamie McClennan Takes His Family on Tour

Jamie McClennan Takes His Family on Tour

New Zealand-born songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jamie McClennan and Scottish singer Emily Smith have been making country folk music together for 15 years. Now they tour for the first time with their two young children…

Neil Finn to Join Fleetwood Mac

Neil Finn to Join Fleetwood Mac

Legendary band Fleetwood Mac has announced that Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers will replace departing guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. The band’s firing of Buckingham over the group’s…

Lorde Scripts a Party and Then Brings It

Lorde Scripts a Party and Then Brings It

Lorde’s “fast-paced, yet emotionally resonant show at TD Garden” in Boston “was a superlative showcase” for her second album Melodrama, Maura Johnston writes in a review of the recent concert for The Boston Globe. “Lorde,…

Ruban Nielson and Taika Waititi Talk NZ Roots

Ruban Nielson and Taika Waititi Talk NZ Roots

Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson and filmmaker Taika Waititi come together over Skype to talk #PolynesianExcellence, and how their New Zealand roots help them keep it real, with Dazed magazine’s…

Tami Neilson Drops New “Sassy, brassy soul number” ‘Stay Outta My Business’

Tami Neilson Drops New “Sassy, brassy soul number” ‘Stay Outta My Business’

“Silver Scroll-winning soul artist Tami Neilson has shared a brassy new tune Stay Outta My Business and announced her forthcoming album Sassafrass! will be dropping this June ahead of a…

Opiuo to Take 20-Piece Syzygy Orchestra to Colorado

Opiuo to Take 20-Piece Syzygy Orchestra to Colorado

New Zealand-born, Australian-based electro-funk DJ Opiuo (Oscar Davey-Wraight) will travel to Colorado for a headlining show at Red Rocks on 21 April. After last year’s Red Rocks performance before Emancipator, where it was hard to…

Soul Singer Jordan Rakei Caters Directly to Fans

Soul Singer Jordan Rakei Caters Directly to Fans

Jordan Rakei’s first SXSW appearance was also his first time setting foot in the state of Texas, one of the few areas of the world he had yet to visit. Born in New Zealand,…

Alien Weaponry’s Furious Debut Tū Out in June

Alien Weaponry’s Furious Debut Tū Out in June

Three teenagers from the tiny Northland town of Waipu have managed to capture imaginations with their unique thrash metal sound and commanding live performances. Now, Alien Weaponry is ready to release…

Kimbra Finds New Version of Self in Primal Heart

Kimbra Finds New Version of Self in Primal Heart

New York-based New Zealand-born “self-actualised star and feminist pop warrior” Kimbra, 27, is back with a new album and another version of herself, according to Interview magazine’s Erica Russell. The glossy, neon sheen of Primal…

Lorde’s Portland Performance “As Intimate as Her Dinner Table”

Lorde’s Portland Performance “As Intimate as Her Dinner Table”

New Zealand pop poet Lorde, born Ella Yelich-O’Connor, manages to make even the largest venues feel intimate, writes Sararosa Davies in a review of the singer’s Portland concert in The…

Broods’ Georgia Nott Talks The Venus Project

Broods’ Georgia Nott Talks The Venus Project

In response to a lack of female representation on stage and in the studio, Georgia Nott – who most people will know as part of the New Zealand music duo Broods – has released…

Witch Rockers HEX Are Here to Curse the Patriarchy

Witch Rockers HEX Are Here to Curse the Patriarchy

Wellington folk metal band HEX have “got the ‘slightly spooky dark rock’ formula down pat, but aren’t afraid to mix it up with a bit of sneering garage rock, down-tempo riot grrrl, or big,…

Producer Obeisant Busy at His Catalogue

Producer Obeisant Busy at His Catalogue

Music producer Sebastian Gawlik, aka Obeisant, is an artist from New Zealand who got a mighty push in 2017 when he was discovered by the Critical label and included in their Binary series, electronic music site Your…

Keala Settle Praised for Oscars Performance

Keala Settle Praised for Oscars Performance

“When she found herself center stage at the Oscars Sunday night” Singer Keala Settle “brought down the house with” her performance of ‘This Is Me’, “bringing an entire theater of Hollywood luminaries to their…

Jon Stevens Takes Best Of Tour to NSW

Jon Stevens Takes Best Of Tour to NSW

“After a career spanning decades, rock musician Jon Stevens has finally taken time to reflect on his greatest hits — and take them on the road” with his ‘best of tour’ around Australia. The…