Music News

Weekly Round Up: Friday 2nd March

Friday 2nd March, 2018 6:32PM

It's been a notable week of musical releases, tour news, and events, with pivotal Auckland venue The Kings Arms shutting up shop on Wednesday after decades of supporting local talent and providing a launchpad for multiple careers. Musical lovers of all stripes dropped by to pay their respects and share hazy memories of the good times, Auckland's live music scene won't be the same.

International tour highlights for the week included the announcement US actor/musician Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino is bringing his multisensory PHAROS festival to auckland for three nights this coming November. Sadly there was a flip side to this week's excitement, as rap superstar Young Thug cancelled his forthcoming Auckland City Limits appearance and Dunedin show for this weekend. UTR contributor Fluffy was stoked to chat with his musical heroes, Australian sample duo The Avalanches ahead of their ACL performance, you can read that conversation here.

Our tireless team of photographers were out in force this week, bringing home fab snaps of Auckland's three day Splore Festival, UK dance-rock trailblazers Primal Scream's triumphant return to Auckland, UK punk veterans Stiff Little Fingers' Wellington show, and black metal pioneers Venom Inc.'s brutal performance at Wellington's Valhalla.

Local sounds of note this week included the debut album from Wellington psychedelic trio Womb, Unknown Mortal Orchestra's soulful second single from his upcoming album Sex & Food, and an anarchic collection of tunes from Tauranga rockers Super Narco Man. We were stoked to premiere a tender collaborative single from Dominic 'Tourettes' Hoey with Gemma Syme (Intsant Fantasy) and Nick Harte (Shocking Pinks), and debut the last video from Die! Die! Die!'s latest album Charm. Offensive.

Our Caught Live video for this week features legendary NY musician and model Grace Jones, who will performing at Auckland City Limits 2018 this weekend. To help you get amped for the show, here's incredible footage of their artist hula hooping her way through her epic hit 'Slave To The Rhythm' at The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert outside Buckingham Palace in London in 2012...