Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe in the Interview Hot Seat
Zane Lowe talks like he’s rapping. No, really. The man’s words cascade from his mouth so quickly and smoothly that, at numerous points during our conversation, we expect him to slip into a full-on…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Dudley Benson “One of the Most Distinctive Musical Figures” to Emerge Within NZ
Although he’s relatively unknown outside of New Zealand, Dunedin-based avant-pop artist Dudley Benson, 35, is one of the most distinctive, singular, and divisive musical figures to emerge within his home country since the dawn…
Mark de Clive-Lowe Unlocks His Creativity
Auckland-born Mark de Clive-Lowe, 44, is “a jazz artist with both a visionary outlook and an old soul. As a concert pianist deeply steeped in the jazz tradition, he’s courageously committed himself to modern…
Hard-Rocking Band Like a Storm Tirelessly Touring
Known as one of the hardest working bands out there, Like A Storm fought hard to be heard. The three Auckland brothers who founded the group came to the United States knowing no one,…
Dallas Symphony Names Gemma New As First Female Principal Guest Conductor
“Inaugurating a program to appoint a succession of female principal guest conductors, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra has named New Zealander Gemma New the first woman to hold the revived title,” writes Scott Cantrell in…
Music’s Most Powerful Tastemaker Zane Lowe
Auckland-born, LA-based radio host Zane Lowe “has been in the thick of the music industry for nearly 20 years — first as a presenter for MTV, than as the 13-year host of BBC Radio…
DJ Christoph El Truento Announces New Album
New Zealand-born sound explorer, producer and DJ Christoph El Truento has just announced the release of his new album LWMP18 through Berlin-based record label/artist collective C O S M I C | C O…
Mind Altering Moments with Unknown Mortal Orchestra
“An hour-long set of psychedelic sonic explorations breathes fire into songs that can border on boring in their studio iterations,” the Sydney Morning Herald’s Matt Teffer writes in a review of a recent
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
“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
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’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
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
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”
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
“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
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
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
“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
“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
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
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
“ 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
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 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
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
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
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…
With The Adults Jon Toogood Forms Musical Union
“A set of eight songs inspired by the sounds he heard at his wedding in Sudan four years ago, Haja is unlike anything Jon Toogood, 46, has released to date,” according to The Australian’s…
Composer Gemma Peacocke Premieres Work in US
New Zealand-born, New Jersey-based composer Gemma Peacocke will premiere a piece called “Skirl” at this week’s Mizzou International Composers Festival in Missouri. The word “means both the shrill sound of a bagpipe and the keening…
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
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
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
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
“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
“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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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,…
Get Inspired by Brogan Kerrison as Glencoe
After being surrounded by music from a young age, New Zealand-born Brogan Kerrison started writing his own at age 14. Years later, in the tail end of 2016, he finally realised his dream of…
Singer Stan Walker Overhauls His Lifestyle
In the powerful documentary Stan Walker: The Fight of His Life, the New Zealand soul singer reveals his lengthy battle to get his strength back after a stomach cancer operation, and how at one…
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
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
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
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’
“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
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
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
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’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,…
