Music News

Weekly Roundup: Friday 11th January

Friday 11th January, 2019 3:57PM

We're back in the office, fresh from our brief break catching summer rays and psyched to get stuck into the latest musical news and views for 2019! Exciting announcements from the holiday period including the inaugural Milk & Honey Festival is taking place in celebration of International Women's Day this March, featuring a lineup predominantly comprised of female artists and crew from throughout Aotearoa, Seattle cowpunk veterans Supersuckers are returning to New Zealand for a three date North Island tour this February, Wellington's annual Waitangi Waste Fest revealed an ear-bleeding lineup of subterranean acts primed to crush skulls in February, Wellington post-punk pioneers Beat Rhythm Fashion are embarking on a nationwide album release tour in March, German prog-metal virtuosos Obscura are playing their first ever local headline show at Wellington's Valhalla this April, and Brisbane alt-pop unit Cub Sport are visiting our shores for shows in Auckland and Wellington. Lovers of out-there sounds were stoked to hear Los Angeles-based composer Tashi Wada's group featuring US avant-pop artist Julia Holter and percussionist Cory Fogel is playing a can't-miss headline event at Auckland Unitarian Church in late January.

We started the year strong with a pair of incendiary dance-focussed video premieres, one from Auckland party-starters Spring Break (who also kindly took time out to for a quick e-chat about their clip) and another by enigmatic electronic producer Body Beat Ritual, whose energising new clip celebrates the liberating spirit of underground club culture.

More thrilling local sounds released between Christmas and today included the highly anticipated debut single from Auckland electronic duo Bib Kids, a sports-loving collection of banging tracks from Auckland hip hop adventurers Shiraz & LSJ, a hook packed six song collection from Dunedin "anxious polka-punk" trio Negative Nancies, Christchurch bedroom-pop star Pickle Darling unveiled his debut album Bigness, Auckland pop sophisticate Jonathan Bree shared a haunting video for his song 'Fuck It', Oamaru noise-punks The Trendees treated fans with a self-created clip, and Christchurch guitar innovator Roy Montgomery shared an expansive two track EP featuring a cover of a song by Leonard Cohen. On top of all that, just before the end of the year Kody Neilson dropped a visual feast in the form of a twelve part film work created to accompany every track from his superb 2018 solo album Birthday Suite. Not bad for what's traditionally a quiet time of year for musical releases.

Our first Caught Live clip for 2019 features ultra-hot Auckland hip hop duo Church & AP, who are just about to hit a run of North Island venues for their summer tour kicking off this Wednesday in Kaitaia. Buzz out to superb recent footage of the teen team laying down their instant hit 'Ready Or Not' live in the studios of BASE FM...