Music News

Weekly Roundup: Friday 3rd August

Friday 3rd August, 2018 6:21PM

What a musical rollercoaster ride of a week! Big touring news included Peter Murphy of legendary UK godfathers of goth Bauhaus will be returning to Aotearoa in October alongside co-founding member David J, to play their classic debut offering In The Flat Field in full, plus an encore of greatest hits. Auckland-based internet pop star Princess Chelsea announced a four date New Zealand tour in October and November to celebrate the release of her sparkling new album The Loneliest Girl, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra helmsman Ruban Nielson was announced as a keynote speaker at the upcoming Going Global Music Summit this month at Auckland's Roundhead Studios, to be followed by a thirteen artist showcase event at Whammy Bar.

More killer events to look forward to include Melbourne RnB / dance collective Sex On Toast are heading our way for shows with Sydney via Wellington future soul artist Wallace, Vancouver groove heavyweights Pender Street Steppers and Hashman Deejay are visiting Auckland in October, and long-running UK grime extravaganza Eskimo Dance announced the impeding arrival to Aotearoa of Wiley, Big Shaq, Lethal Bizzle and lots more. Lovers of exploratory sounds will be thrilled by the prospect of the upcoming Aotearoa Audio Arts festival of experimental audio-visual and sound works - they've just announced their lineup of international and local contributors for the performance & exhibition event to take place in Wellington over three days in September

We were stoked to premiere the mind-melting new album from Wellington genre-destroyers The All Seeing Hand, along with an insightful review of the record by Kristen Ng. We were also privileged to premiere the latest video from acclaimed Auckland-based songsmith Kane Strang, who kindly took time out to chat about about relocating from his Dunedin hometown, songwriting strategies, and plans for the future. Richard Dada (of Glass Vaults) premiered on the site a dreamy video for his tune ‘Pink Flamingos’, Dunedin trio Death And The Maiden shared their hypnotic visual offering ‘Mercury’ and announced a three date mini-tour, and South Auckland RnB / pop crew Vallkyrie dropped an audio-visual extravaganza for their song ‘Aztec Breath'. Liam Dargaville of Dbldbl and COOL TAN shot the breeze with IllBaz and Melodownz about their new mini-album with Raiza Biza High Beams in a hip hop meeting of minds, ahead of this weekend's release shows in Wellington and Auckland.

More excellent local releases included the new album from Dunedin guitar-pop crew Ha The Unclear, who also shared their five favourite "seasonally affected winter malaise hymns" ahead of this month's Australasian record release tour, a compilation of subterranean tunes titled Bad Taste II from a score of New Zealand sonic trailblazers issued by Sydney label Chemical Imbalance, Wellington death metal crew Scorn Of Creation dropped an intense monochrome clip for their song ‘Behold The Fallen’, and Aotearoa hip hop figurehead Tom Scott's new project Avantdale Bowling Club announced a three day exhibition of images that inspired and were inspired by Scott's star-studded upcoming album.

Our Caught Live video for the week features Melbourne alt-pop sensation Laura Jean, whose new album Devotion has captured the hearts of more than a few local listeners. They'll be performing at Auckland's multi-venue extravaganza The Others Way festival at the end of August, prep yourself for the show by vibing out to recent footage of the artist playing a superb rendition of 'Girls On The TV' from Devotion, for Melbourne community radio station 3RRR...