Monthly Feature by Tim Gruar, Bridget Herlihy & Doug Peters.
Welcome to April, whanau. Time once again for your monthly dose of singular slices of musical goodness. The good news is that the MIQ’s and P’s are gone and overseas acts are starting to drop new touring dates on us. Our calendars will slowly be filling back up and about time, too.
Also, local acts are starting to emerge out of hibernation, too. Many are making up for lost summers and heading back out – like Luke Buda, who features below. This is new material that just can’t wait for NZ Music Month!
We have a bit of noise from the Sonic Youth archives, we have a new rap tune from A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, and there’s a return to form from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. There’s some crazy Death Metal from Christchurch’s Plague Of The Fallen, a ‘coming out’ from Angel Olsen and some catchy hip-hop from Kiwi up-and-comer Silas Futura. Other newcomers include Auckland based soul-pop duo Ersha Island and hard rock solo artist Lorenzo Hazelwood, both with great new tracks.
It’s award season. So, this month we feature a single from one of the Taite Music Prize nominees, Lips and we have a classic cut from the Classic Record, ‘PROUD – An Urban-Pacific Streetsoul Compilation’, to get down to. Good luck to all of the Taite nominees, including our journo friends who are up for the inaugural NZ On Air Outstanding Music Journalism Award.
Now, enough of the blah, blah. Strap on your ear goggles, it’s time to shut up and play the hits…
Silas Futura – ‘Coastin’
Returning with his first new track for 2022, Tamaki-Makarau based hip-hop artist and producer Silas Futura (aka Silas McClintock) delivers yet another undeniably catchy, melodic tune. Juxtaposed against more serious and dark lyrics about the realities of navigating day-to-day life and personal development, ‘Coastin’’ is a deeply personal track.
Silas is set to release his new EP RĀ this Friday 8th April, which will be followed by the flip-side EP PŌ just one week later on Friday 15th April; evidence that even the most trying of times has inspired an abundance of creativity for this artist.
Plague of The Fallen – ‘Spiritual Emptiness’
Hot on the heels of last year’s e.p ‘Bleeding and Vehement’, Christchurch Death Metal outfit, Plague of The Fallen have released a second blistering track ‘Spiritual Emptiness’.
Formed in the same year as Canterbury’s devastating 6.3 magnitude earthquake, the band, consisting of Vin Minchington (bass, vocals), Bow Messiah (ex-Organectomy), Stuart Henley-Minchington (drums), S. McRobert (guitars) and M. Bolch (guitars) deliver an onslaught of seismic proportions.
On this new tune the guitars, once again blistering, boiling over in truly heavy riffage and spluttering bursts of high tremolos. Melody is repetitive and driving. Minchington’s vocals are beastly to say the least, although diction is virtually indecipherable. Comprehending the lyrics is virtually impossible without a separate print out. No matter if all you need is a dose of heavy cathartic metal to cleanse your soul.
Sonic Youth – ‘In & Out’
November ’21 marked the 10th anniversary of Sonic Youth’s farewell show, following Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore’s personal split as a married couple. But for fans, Sonic Youth never really left the building.
This single comes from a release which has just surfaced called ‘In/Out/In’, a five-track compilation of rare instrumental jams cut between 2000 and 2010, in the early days of recording albums like ‘Murray Street’ and ‘Rather Ripped’. Parts of this particular single, ‘In & Out’, come from a soundcheck during a California show performed in 2010, and is quite possibly one of the band’s last ever recordings.
I’ve always maintained that Sonic Youth’s ‘superpower’ was the ability to take a perfectly good pop song and completely deconstruct it, rough it up, smash it against a wall of feedback and stab it in the heart with a spike of shimmering No-Wave. This single is one of the times when the band must have been in a distracted mood, leaving the jam to find its sweet own way, more a groove trail than their usual application of art-rock hyperbole. That aside, a quick listen will no doubt make you nostalgic again for their earlier material. Even now they’re still ‘Kool Things,’ in this reviewer’s opinion!
Luke Buda with Anita Clark – ‘Flying Out Virtual In-Store’
This week we heard that vaccine restrictions and Red Light settings were reducing. But that came too late for Taite music Prize nominee, Luke Buda, who should have been whipping around the motu right now, playing some in-stores and live gigs to promote his new disc ‘BUDA’. So, he had to get a little bit creative by heading into his garage to make a special video of the gig you should be seeing on the stage.
He’s invited his super talented pal Anita “Motte” Clark along, too and together they recorded a few numbers for Flying Out Records. They do three numbers from the new album: the witty slacker-gloomy ‘Brain Jail’, a contemplative ironic version of ‘Candy’, and a poignant closer called ‘Don’t Think In Bed’.
The benefit to us is a special private performance that we can enjoy anywhere. OK, it’s not the same as a real live gig but it’s the next best thing – and a great taster for those contemplating buying the album.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Let ‘Em Cry’
After a long hiatus the Chilis are back, strapping back on their Californicating mojo for a spot of ‘Unlimited Love’.
The band has already dropped a number of singles from this stonking double album, the latest being a cruisy Pacific Coast funk-number, ‘Let ‘Em Cry’. With hints of reggae and 60’s Soul behind Flea’s bass it’s a positive earworm. But what makes the jam perfect is Frusciante’s solo work in the bridge and the outro. Sure, it’s not the strongest tune on the collection but it is still a winner for your chicken dinner!
Ersha Island – ‘Gut Feeling’
Newcomers Ersha Island, comprised of Auckland-based sibling duo Dani and Tee Hao-Aickin, have recently dropped an alluring debut single, ‘Gut Feeling’. Having studied Classical Performance at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the sisters have moved towards a more contemporary sound; one founded in soul-pop stylings infused with piano and violin.
Ersha Island are also the first musical artists to release material through the newly established Pan-Asian focused artist and label service initiative Where The Asians At?! (Aotearoa), which focuses on Asian representation within the Aotearoa music industry.
Angel Olsen – ‘All The Good Times’
Everyone’s favourite moody chanteuse is back! Missouri born, North Carolina resident, Angel Olsen (born Angelina Maria Carroll) has just announced her 6th studio album ‘Big Time’, which is due out on June 3. The new single follows last years 80’s covers EP, ‘Aisles’. Big Time was written during a period of time when Olsen was coming out as queer – “Finally, at the ripe age of 34, I was free to be me,” she quips.
As an aside, instead of the usual pre-order fare, every CD and LP copy of ‘Big Time’ ordered directly from the artist or her label will include an additional charge to offset the carbon emissions of each piece. The record company Jagjaguwar, in partnership with Terra Lumina Consulting, has calculated emissions and costs to achieve a carbon-negative product for “cradle-to-grave” use of each physical piece: from the mining of materials to pressing and shipping, to the electricity consumed by your stereo at home, to end of life disposal. Carbon offsets will be purchased through Native, supporting the Medford Spring Grassland project. We think that’s pretty cool!
Lips – ‘Not Today’
Recently announced 2022 Taite Music Prize finalists, Lips, have just released a new video. ‘Not Today’ comes from their highly praised debut album ‘I Don’t Know Why I Do Anything’, which popped up just over 8-and-a-half months ago.
‘Not Today’ has already come to the attention of influential LA radio station KCRW (featuring in their top 21 songs of ’21 list). The video is directed by Lips drummer Fen Ikner and sees the character of Lips following a rope on a pointless, flawed journey around Tāmaki Makaurau. A metaphor no doubt for many things we can name.
Not one but two new remixes of tracks from the album will also be released across the course of the next week: ‘Heave Ho!’ by DJ Sweat, and ‘What The Hell’ by the band’s very own spacemaude. The tracks will be released at random intervals on Lips’ social media channels, along with inside scoops and special giveaways.
Winners of the Taite Music Prize will be announced on 20 April.
Classic Cut: Sisters Underground – ‘In The Neighbourhood’
This year’s Taite Music Prize judging panel recognised the 1994 New Zealand album; ‘PROUD – An Urban-Pacific Streetsoul Compilation’, which featured young, up and coming artists from South and West Auckland, with the help of producer Alan Jansson, Tim Mahon (from Otara Music Arts Centre/Blam Blam Blam) and Phil Fuemana.
The aim was to bring bring in a range of artists representing the contemporary Māori and Pacifica music of the time. The result was the hugely influential 1994 compilation PROUD, featuring Sisters Underground, Pacifican Descendants, Semi MCs, MC Slam, Radio Backstab, DJ Payback, and Otara Millionaires Club.
The most successful tunes off the compilation was Sisters Underground’s ‘In The Neighbourhood’ and ‘We R The OMC’ by The Otara Millionaires Club. To celebrate, we are bringing back the Sisters’ classic cut for your retro ears to groove out on.
Lorenzo Hazelwood – ‘Shadows’
Frontman for hard-rock outfit Close To The Bone Lorenzo Hazelwood has recently released his latest solo track, the sombre balladeque ‘Shadows’.
One could be forgiven for thinking that Hazelwood has time-travelled from the early 2000s, as the Auckland musician channels some of the most prolific hard-rock elements of renowned acts such as Seether, Live and Metallica. His rugged yet warm vocals are well suited to this genre of music, and he delivers another hard-edged track brimming with heavy riffs and catchy hooks.
A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie – ‘Playa’ (feat. H.E.R)
Finally, we check out with multiplatinum recording artist and recent Laneway / FOMO Festival headliner ‘A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’, who has just served up his latest single, ‘Playa’; featuring Grammy-award winning R&B singer H.E.R.
This follows Mr Boogie’s recent drop ‘Hit Different’ featuring B-Lovee. The new track proceeds ‘A Boogie’s B4 AVA’ and highly praised, third LP ‘Artist 2.0’, which boasts a star-studded tracklist including performances from Young Thug, Roddy Ricch, Summer Walker, Khalid, Lil Uzi Vert, Gunna, London On Da Track, Trap Manny and more.
So, whanau, there we have it. The third Singles Club for the year. We’ve tried to add a bit of everything. But, as is the way, we always miss something, so we’d be keen to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Have you heard a new track this month that needs to be bought to our attention? Tell us all about it in the comments below, and we’ll see you all with another instalment next month!
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