Music News

Weekly Round-Up: Friday 1st March

Friday 1st March, 2013 12:02PM

It may be time to farewell summer but an ambush of tour announcements on Monday has assured that the touring season is far from over. Yes the week started off with the exciting announcement that Killing Joke will finally play New Zealand in June, frontman of stoner/desert rock pioneers Kyuss, John Garcia, is bringing his follow-up project Unida to New Zealand in May, Beth Orton announced her return for two intimate shows in Auckland and Wellington and classic rockers Aerosmith announced a one off show in Dunedin in April with support from Wolfmother and Head Like A Hole.

In other tour news, yesterday one of the most excititng names in hip hop currently, A$AP Rocky, was announced to play his first New Zealand show in June, this morning British folk/pop singer songwriter Passenger announced two all ages shows later this month, and on Tuesday we were treated to an incredible performance by The Stone Roses who drew one of the most enthusiastic and energising crowds of the year so far - here are our photos.

In release news, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs finally dropped the first single - 'Sacrilege' - from their eagerly awaited new album Mosquito; David Bowie released second single 'The Stars (Are Out Tonight)' from his new album The Next Day along with an excellent clip starring actress Tilda Swinton; Camera Obscura have announced the release of new album Desire Lines in June, following up 2009's My Maudlin Career which saw them tour here in 2010; The Jesus and Mary Chain are releasing a re-issue of their debut album on vinyl for Record Store Day; sludge-metal band Kylesa have announced the release of new album Ultraviolet in June along with first single 'Unspoken'; and locally, the finalists for the annual Taite Music Prize were announced this week and included Lawrence Arabia, Collapsing Cities, Home Brew and four more.

Controversy of the week goes to Morrissey...ever the staunch animal rights activist, he was supposed to be performing on US talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live this week but pulled out because the cast of a tv show called Duck Dynasty, which follows a family behind a successful company that produces duck hunting paraphernalia, were also booked to appear on the same episode. On the night Morrissey was supposed to appear Kimmell produced this clip mocking the situation, leaving the musician outraged.