David Bowie Changed Geeling Ching’s Life
In 1983, Aucklander Geeling Ching was 23 years old and waiting tables at a Sydney café when she was chosen to play the lead role in David Bowie’s “China Girl,” Associated Press…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Everyone’s Listening to Nadia Reid’s Debut
Singer Nadia Reid’s highly rated debut,Listen to Formation, Look for the Signs is included in the Guardian’s annual roundup of “The Albums We Missed” column. Reviewer Michael Hann says: “It took 24-year-old New Zealander Reid seven…
Marlon Williams Debut a Rolling Stone Favourite
Marlon Williams’ solo debut was one of the albums that defined the year, according to Rolling Stone Australia, which includes the self-titled debut in their 50 Best Albums of the Year list. Rolling Stone writes: “The…
Kiwi Band ‘No Tag’ Reissue Classic 1982 Album ‘Oi, Oi, Oi’
Thirty years after its initial release, No Tag’s album ‘Oi, Oi, Oi’ – three tracks of burly and meaty street punk, has been re-issued by New York City label Radio Raheem. “Guitarist Andrew Boak, singer…
Ed Sheeran Pays Touching Tribute to Jonah Lomu
“Ed Sheeran has paid a touching tribute to All Blacks great Jonah Lomu by taking to the stage at his concert wearing the late rugby legend’s number 11 jersey”, writes Jenny Awford for
John Metcalfe Blends Influences on Sycamore
One-time member of post-punk band the Durutti Column, composer, arranger and viola player New Zealand-born John Metcalfe has written “Sycamore,” which draws on the disparate influences of minimalist composer Steve Reich and the electronic…
Compliments on Nadia Reid’s Extraordinary Debut
New Zealand singer-songwriter Nadia Reid’s Look for the Signs is an “extraordinarily assured debut”, Guardian reviewer Kitty Empire writes. The track Call the Days “suggests an Antipodean Laura Marling, a talented 24-year-old with a preternatural…
NZ Dancers and Choreographer Open AMAs With Jennifer Lopez
“Jennifer Lopez has blown away music fans and fellow performers with a show-stopping dance medley at the American Music Awards – and a Kiwi is getting the credit,” as reported in an article on the…
Fat Freddy’s Drop Go Techno on New Album
“Cult” New Zealand neo-dub outfit Fat Freddy’s Drop have released their fourth studio album, Bays, and according to News.com.au reviewer Cyclone Wehner, it is “more of an underground Berlin than Detroit vibe.” The septet, who…
Lorde Joins Disclosure For Saturday Night Live Performance
Together with Disclosure, Sam Smith and Lorde turned the Saturday Night Live studio “into an electric, colorful stage” when performing tracks off Disclosure’s latest album Caracal during last night’s episode hosted by Elizabeth Banks. Sam Smith…
The Chills Return with Melodic Gifts Intact
“It’s taken 19 years for Martin Phillipps to get round to releasing the fifth Chills album (and the previous four took 16 years to make), but his manifold troubles in the years since Sunburnt haven’t diminished his melodic…
Marlon Williams Earns ARIA Nomination
Marlon Williams is not the first New Zealander Australia has adopted and he won’t be the last, according to Simon Collins reporting for the West Australian. The charismatic 24-year-old country, blues and soul singer’s self-titled…
Farmer Plays Lorde’s Royals till the Cows Come Home
An American farmer and YouTube sensation plays a mesmerising video version of Lorde’s 2013 smash hit single “Royals” on his trombone whilst sitting in a deckchair overlooking a vast pasture. Soon, a herd of…
Fis Mixes an Eclectic Set for FACT Mag
New Zealand producer Olly Peryman aka Fis features in UK-based online music blog FACT Magazine’s regular “Mixes” category with one of the year’s weirdest picks, according to the site. “With his early releases on Samurai and…
Lorde’s Little Sister India Has Dreams of Her Own
In the past couple of years, India Yelich-O’Connor went to both her high school ball in Devonport and the 2014 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles – not the average itinerary for a 16-year-old, but…
The Chills Release First New Album in 19 Years
The Chills spearheaded by Martin Phillipps will release their first full length album – Silver Bullets, in 19 years on October 30. A full band tour is planned for 2016 and Martin Phillipps reportedly…
Organist Thomas Gaynor Wins Huge Prize
Wellington’s Thomas Gaynor, 24, who is currently studying in the United States, has won the prestigious 3rd Bach Liszt Organ competition, held in Weimar, Germany. The Wellington College graduate won the organ prize over 18…
Natalie Lin Does Away with the Conductor
New Zealand violinist Natalie Lin, 26, has created a 16-piece string ensemble called Kinetic, an unconducted chamber orchestra which recently made its debut at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Houston. “I lead the ensemble with…
Lorde One of Stardom’s Vengeful
Lorde joins the ranks of pop singers joyfully and brutally sidestepping tropes about victimhood in the music video for Disclosure’s “Magnets” which ends with the featured New Zealander tying a guy to a chair,…
Marlon Williams’ Live Act Is Quite Something
“So often Clash will troop along to watch a new band, and their fringes will droop down over their chins, eyes pointed to the floor. Not so, Marlon Williams,” the music magazine writes. “A…
Bret McKenzie Digs Himself Into a Big Hole
Starring Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords digging himself a massive, literal hole in the ground, the latest single by the New Zealand powerpop group Phoenix Foundation features on the Guardian’s music site. “If…
Lorde’s New Track With Disclosure
Lorde has released a new track together with Disclosure. The Kiwi singer “co-wrote the track with the electronic duo comprised of brothers Howard and Guy Lawrence” as reported in Rolling Stone Magazine. The…
New Music Platform STA Travel Sounds Will Showcase NZ Artists
SBTV, a digital music discovery and entertainment platform has partnered with STA Travel to curate artists for their new music platform, STA Travel Sounds. New Zealand artists will soon be showcased on the…
Writing New Album Therapeutic Says Gin Wigmore
Currently on tour in the US to great acclaim, Gin Wigmore, whose music has featured on the soundtrack to Pretty Little Liars and Grey’s Anatomy, pauses to talk with Marie Claire about her creative…
Forgotten Crowded House Song Helping Refugees
Songs can grow and assume new shapes with time, and pop’s power to engage people has taken Crowded House’s 16-year-old ballad Help is Coming and given it new life as a charitable ode to…
Stephen Taberner’s Choir a Bit on the Spooky Side
Georgian polyphonic singing enthusiast, Christchurch-born Stephen Taberner leads the 16-man Australian choir Spooky Men’s Chorale which recently performed in London at the Islington Assembly Hall. The Guardian’s Robin Denselow reviewed the evening. “It takes a…
Introverted Dancefloor’s Latest Effort Far from Shy
“Not nearly as introspective as the eponymous album title would have you believe, Bevan Smith’s latest project as Introverted Dancefloor is restrained, yes, but far from bashful,” UK arts magazine the Skinny…
Gin Wigmore Embodies Casual Tough Girl Style
New Zealand-born musician Gin Wigmore has a fashion sense equally eclectic as her sound, according to style site Paste Magazine. With unfussy platinum blonde locks, a beautifully detailed tattoo sleeve and rings for every…
Lips Argue Against Online Streaming
New Zealander Steph Brown and West Virginia-born multi-instrumentalist and producer Fen Ikner are Lips, an electronic pop act characterised by a girl with giant lips for a head. The duo has just relocated from…
Marlon Williams Has Had a Crazy Year
If the events of 2015 are anything to go by, New Zealander Marlon Williams could certainly say this has been his year, Jade Lazearevic writes in a profile of the singer for the Newcastle…
Singer Tamaryn Celebrating Unpredictable Potential
When a musician describes one of her tracks as “an early Madonna song if it was produced by My Bloody Valentine’, you know you’re in for something special,” online magazine PopMatters writes in a…
The Phoenix Foundation Give up Their Dreams
The sixth studio album by New Zealand band The Phoenix Foundation has been released and the Guardian offers up readers a track-by-track guide to the record provided by the band. “If the name [of the…
Rosie Langabeer Keeping Busy in Philadelphia
Composer and musician New Zealander Rosie Langabeer, who will perform as Diamond Blazer at the Double Decker Music series in Philadelphia where she lives, has also been working with esteemed American ballet choreographer Matthew…
New Zealand Girl Plays Piano While Sleepwalking
“Some people are so good at musical instruments they purport to be able to play it in their sleep. Yet for this one girl, it’s a reality”, writes Vin Shahrestani for The Telegraph. A video…
Flautist Marya Martin heads Bridgehampton Festival
Internationally acclaimed flutist Marya Martin heads the 26st season of the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival on New York’s Long Island with an 12-concert program featuring works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Schubert….
New Face of International Music Conducting
Gemma New, the 28-year-old native New Zealander violinist who became a professional conductor while still in her teens, has been named the music director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra’s in…
Tim Finn Loves Writing Songs More than Ever
Forty years in the music business, one of New Zealand’s most celebrated singer-songwriters, Tim Finn, 63, recently performed his new collaboration, White Cloud at the Galway International Arts festival. White Cloud may be derived from…
Marlon Williams’ Voice Skips Decades and Genres
Marlon Williams’ recent gig at Sydney’s Basement was “terrific”, according to music writer Bernard Zuel. “Williams is tall and good looking and charming and winning. That will get you far. He can write a…
New Jazz Album Two-Out Intensely Moving
New Zealand “jazz titans” pianist Mike Nock and saxophonist Roger Manins’ new album Two-Out features “11 well-known standards delivered in ways that are accessibly melodic, yet interpretative, and at times intensely moving,” reviewer John…
Lorde – a Force of Nature
Just a few weeks after having covered Vogue Australia, the New Zealand singer has been photographed by Ryan McGinley for the cover of Dazed Magazine’s Girls Rule the World issue. Dazed…
Mikey McCleary – “I Became a Part of Indian Music”
Mikey McCleary “has recreated some evergreen Bollywood tracks and infused youthfulness in them”. With his work on “Khoya khoya chand”, “Hawa hawai”, “Dhak Dhak” or the recent “Fifi– Jata kahan hai deewane” he has…
UMO Ringleader Ruban Nielson Gets Personal
Ruban Nielson’s private life provided the conditions under which Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s latest LP Multi-Love came together. But the album is much more than the sum of its body parts, the Guardian’s Kate Hutchinson…
Zane Lowe Traded Radio 1 for Apple’s Beats 1
Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe has been “lured away from the bright lights of London to help launch a new music platform” with Apple. Apple’s new free platform Beats 1, its first ever-live radio station,…
Sound Artist Honor Harger Listens in on Space
Sound artist Dunedin-born Honor Harger has spent the last few years listening to the stars and recording some of the sounds of space. One of Harger’s main projects was Radio Astronomy, a…
Lorde – the July Cover Star of Vogue Australia
New Zealand singer Lorde has been photographed for her first Vogue cover for Vogue Australia. The 18-year-old singer shared the gorgeous cover image and an additional shot from the issue with her…
Sarah Mary Chadwick Sits down at the Organ
It’s been over ten years since Sarah Mary Chadwick, 32, left New Zealand to pursue her music career, initially as the lead-singer of swamp-doom outfit, Batrider, and more recently with her own solo work….
UMO’s Third Effort Has Added Whoa Factor
“Oregon-based New Zealander Ruban Nielson is already known for being an offbeat operator, providing psychedelic takes on 70s soul and deeply fried 60s pop on two previous albums,” Guardian reviewer Kitty Empire writes. “For UMO’s…
Have Faith in Lorde She Knows What’s She’s Doing
Lorde’s “gender and her age – coupled with her self-assuredness – are both reasons” the 18-year-old singer “attracts perhaps more than her fair share of scrutiny, including from ‘truthers’ who maintain she’s at least…
Nielson Family Reunion Perfect Subtext for New UMO Album
“Visionary” New Zealander Ruban Nielson, frontman of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, has tightened up his songwriting, “with the added bonus of synths” on the band’s latest album Multi-Love. “Nielson’s favourite new toy is apparent from the…
Thomston Challenging Pop Conventions
Aucklander Thomas Stoneman, aka Thomston, who recently made his British debut at the Great Escape festival in Brighton, “is most certainly a talent to watch out for,” according to Clash magazine. The 19-year-old singer’s debut…
Lorde Immortalised in Wax at Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds in Hollywood has unveiled a wax figure of 18-year-old New Zealand singer Lorde. Human Lorde was quite excited when the wax museum’s Hollywood location revealed her figure. She tweeted out a photo of…
Billboard Gets a Rush on Gin Wigmore’s New Video
New Zealand singer-songwriter Gin Wigmore, 28, is preparing for the release of her third studio album Blood to Bone with the “intense and uninhibited” video, “New Rush,” Billboard reports. “ Wigmore is giving her…
Jess Cornelius Releases New Track Ahead of Courtney Barnett Tour
“New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Jess Cornelius is the tour de force behind Teeth & Tongue, and returns with a rollicking new track ‘Cupcake’,” Monica Tan writes for the Guardian’s weekly “Mixtape” column. “Although recorded in…
Country Star Marlon Williams Takes to the Road
New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Marlon Williams will tour Australia and his home country in support of his just-released, critically acclaimed self-titled debut album. “A free-ranging complement to the assured country weirdness of last year’s Sad…
Louis Baker Takes Flight with New EP Birds
The “impressive” New Zealand-born songwriter Louis Baker’s new EP Birds will be released in the United Kingdom on 29 June. Clash magazine premieres the title track. Continually observing the world around him, Baker…
Kimbra Plays at California’s Coachella
Singer Kimbra was a headline act at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California, included alongside big names like Florence and the Machine, Caribou, FKA Twigs and Father John Misty. For the…
