NEW Singles & Videos + Release Announcements + Brand New Signings
Alt-star ALDRCH collabs with Curtis Waters on new indie rock track | THE LABEL
the album has been remastered from the original analog tapes – previously thought to be lost – a process which also brought to light two unreleased tracks
BAR ITALIA announce new album & share video for new song |WATCH VIDEO FOR NEW SINGLE
HOT HOT HOT PICK! bar italia are the London based three-piece of Nina Cristante, Jezmi Tarik Fehmi and Sam Fenton. They will release their second full length of 2023, ‘The Twits’, on November 3rd, less than six months after their acclaimed Matador debut, Tracey Denim.
BIG THIEF share ‘Born For Loving You’ single | LISTEN / WATCH LYRIC VIDEO
Big Thief has shared a captivating new single, ‘Born For Loving You’. Recorded and produced by Dom Monksat Guissona, Spain’s Teatre de cal Eril Studio on a recent tour, ‘Born For Loving You’ finds Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, James Krivchenia and Max Oleartchik at their most earnest and unashamedly romantic–“I was born for loving you / Just something I was made to do” It follows the release of live fan favourite and viral anthem,‘Vampire Empire’! GORGEOUS! OF COURSE...
FAYE WEBSTER (Laneway 2024) shares new single & video for 'Lifetime' | CHECK OUT THE VID HERE
Faye Webster returns with ‘Lifetime,’ a stunning and sparse new single that comes with a companion music video directed by Kyle Ng of Brain Dead.
‘Lifetime’ comes on the heels of ‘But Not Kiss,’ another single released earlier this summer to wide critical praise, which the New York Times said “sounds like a strange, woozy dream,” and Vulture named one of the Best New Songs of 2023 So Far saying “all the usual hallmarks of Webster’s songs are still there, from her soft-spoken delivery to that sighing lap steel, just shaken up and rearranged into a song full of (and about) quiet thrills.”
And y'all know she's coming to Laneway in 2024 right?
Irishman GLEN HANSARD shares triumphant new song 'There's No Mountain' | Listen to ‘There’s No Mountain’
Irish musician Glen Hansard, whose music NPR has called “expansive without sacrificing intimacy,” is sharing the new song ‘There’s No Mountain’ today. The song points forward, to the virtue of simply pressing on, despite cataclysms global and personal that might challenge any stable orbit. It also calls to mind Dylan’s ‘Forever Young’ with the insightful line “when you go without, then you’ll go within,” and the power of positivity with the inspirational sentiment “there’s no mountain great or small that you can’t climb.”
THE DRUMS announce powerful new upcoming album & share new song 'Better' | Well Worth a Listen
The Drums have officially announced Jonny; founding- member Jonny Pierce’s forthcoming sixth studio album that will arrive October 13th, 2023 via ANTI- Records. Heartbreaking, playful, raucous, and serene all in turn, Jonny is a body of work confronts the deep-rooted childhood trauma Pierce experienced growing up in a cult-like religious community in upstate New York, and triumphs over the long shadow it cast on his life and relationships for years. Alongside the announcement today arrives ‘Better’: the latest song from the project, which drapes a glimmering hook over lyrics about lurching out of codependency and retreating back into reliable arms of loneliness.
Alt-Pop duo POPTROPICALSLUTZ! announce debut album & share lead single |What Would You Do to Get Ahead?
New York-based alt-pop duo poptropicaslutz! announce their debut album Face For The Radio out October 13 via Epitaph Records. As part of a new wave of Gen-Z musicians presenting their interpretation of the future of music, they infuse a versatile assortment of genres and decades into their genre-spanning sound.
New Albums & EPs Out Now
Reissue of the Week
THE BREEDERS release super fancy lush / analogue / classic Last Splash!
Can we all just take a moment please...... This special edition album spans two 12” 45rpm vinyl discs, plus an exclusive, one-sided etched 12” disc containing two forgotten tracks from the original Last Splash sessions: ‘Go Man Go’, a track that Kim co-wrote with Black Francis, and ‘Divine Mascis’, a version of ‘Divine Hammer’ with lead vocals provided courtesy of Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis.
A defining album of the 90s, Last Splash by The Breeders turns 30 this year. Recorded by the ‘classic’ Breeders line-up of Kim Deal (vocals, guitar), Kelley Deal (guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass, vocals) and Jim Macpherson (drums, vocals), and featuring the infectiously appealing ‘Cannonball’, Last Splash immediately became an alt-rock classic, achieving platinum status in the UK and US, and is ranked in Pitchfork’s Top 100 Records of the 1990s.
Dont dilly dally here! You can take it to eh shows - maybe they'll sign it? :-)
90's shoegazing legends LUSH announce Spooky, Split and Lovelife vinyl reissues | OUT NOW
The wait is over. All three studio albums by Lush are finally back in print on vinyl AND IN STORES NOW... honestly - its been ages!
Tours, Events and Festivals
Don McGlashan 2nd Auckland Show + Rescheduled Dates | THE LABEL
It’s been a big month for Don McGlashan; following the APRA AMCOS announcement to honour and celebrate McGlashan when he is inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame at the 2023 APRA Silver Scroll Awards in October, a 22-date sold-out tour around Aotearoa… and then he got covid!
But you can’t keep a songwriter down for long – McGlashan is now fighting fit and affected shows have all been rescheduled. And due to popular demand – a second show for Auckland has been announced and is On Sale Now:
Industry PSA for our musical friends - JICYMI
The problem with streaming music - witchdoctor.co.nz
GARY STEEL has come to the conclusion that people who collect records are meat-eaters and those who stream music are herbivores.
ERNY BELLE announces new album & shares new song + video - Stay Golden | WATCH HERE
Tāmaki Makaurau’s pacific-pop extraordinaire and double Taite Music Prize nominee Erny Belle has announced her highly anticipated sophomore album Not Your Cupid — out Friday 10th November 2023 via Flying Nun Records. The simplistically powerful video for ‘Stay Golden’ is a classic soundstage performance with an antipodean twist. Co-directed by Aimee Renata (Erny Belle) and Matt Hunter, it features a gilded Belle guided by two Tahitian dancers. “Remember me”, she croons atop the song’s unsettling chords. Made with the support of NZ On Air.
EBONY LAMB shares new single & video + announces spring album release tour | CHECK OUT THE LATEST GORGEOUS VIDEO
Pōneke/Wellington-based singer-songwriter Ebony Lamb shares her latest single ‘Drive Me Around’ from her upcoming debut self-titled solo album, due for release on October 20th. ‘Drive Me Around’, is an ode to friendship and the unvarnished realities, positive and negative, of living and working as an artist. Lounging against a spare marching drum rhythm, cinematic guitars and a haunting Mellotron flute.
SLEAFORD MODS announce new EP 'More UK Grim' + share lead single 'Big Pharma'
Recorded at the same time as their acclaimed 2023 album, UK GRIM, the freshly released songs not only continue Andrew Fearn and Jason Williamson’s current dancefloor dominance, but with a mix of insight and wit, outrage and compassion, they critique and celebrate our turbulent times.
Lead single ‘Big Pharma,’ shares a ‘take no prisoners‘ lyrical approach with the band’s recent album as it casts a doubtful eye down the ‘truther’ wormhole, although entwined around a slinky bass riff the track confirms the two-piece at their most dexterous musically. CHECK THE VIDEO AT ABOVE LINK...and brace yourself!
THE NATIONAL drop surprise new album 'Laugh Track' out now | CHECK OUT ‘Deep End’ (Pauls ‘n’ Pieces)
The National has released a surprise second album of 2023, Laugh Track, which the band announced Friday night while performing at its Homecoming Festival in Cincinnati. The 12-song Laugh Track is a companion to and features material originally started in the same sessions as First Two Pages of Frankenstein, which was released by 4AD in April. Laugh Track features guest appearances by Phoebe Bridgers and Rosanne Cash, as well as the Bon Iver collaboration ‘Weird Goodbyes'.
Love It Live
Concert Review: Don McGlashan, Napier New Zealand, 2023
HUGE NGA* MIHI to Ambeint Light mates....Don McGlashan: 16th September 2023. Paisley Stage, Napier, New Zealand. Review by Rob Harbers, photography by Andrew Caldwell.
Cheer Up, You've Got Fake Milk: A Vera Ellen Interview - Ambient Light
We LOVE Vera!! This show is tonight POneke best buds - GET IN!! VERA ELLEN chats to old mate Tim Gruar. Pōneke based indie pop singer/songwriter Vera Ellen will be re-uniting with her band for the first time since her ‘Ideal Home Noise’ release tour on Friday aka TONIGHT!
Golden Lights Festival 2024 - Peggy Gou!!!!!!!!!! FOALS, A-Trak + More - Music News at Undertheradar
Oh wait - WHAT!!!!! Peggy's coming - woohoo!!!.... Peggy is playing Golden Llight at Henderson's Outdoor Fields at Trusts Arena on 4th and 5th January. Not caught the Nanana bug yet?? Oh YOU WILL!
