Music News

Weekly Roundup: Friday 15th February

Photo credit: Caitlin McKone / Friday 15th February, 2019 4:35PM

This week was literally all about mega-hot show announcements and on-point interviews as we melted into a puddle from the summer heat in our central city office headquarters. We also launched our much anticipated new UTR Monthly Playlist, your handy one stop shop to hear a carefully compiled selection of tunes from upcoming events, alongside a cross-section of crucial sounds bubbling up from New Zealand and beyond! Dive into the stream and smash that follow button to get your regular monthly dose of the good stuff here.

We paid tribute to Auckland's pivotal student radio station 95bFM, who are celebrating their jaw-dropping 50th Anniversary with a massive party tonight, via in-depth look back at the history of the hugely influential True School Hip Hop Show, with current and former hosts Ev Love, GetBan and Slave firing questions and illuminating answers back at each other. Congratulations and mad respect to the amazing team at bFM – New Zealand's musical landscape would totally suck without you!

Welsh avant-pop artist Cate Le Bon had an insightful conversation with Matthew Plunkett (of Oamaru no-fi legends The Trendees) ahead of her upcoming tour of Aotearoa, Scottish alt-rock legends Teenage Fanclub reflected on their 30th anniversary with Jerri-Rae Leef ahead of their first ever NZ headline event this coming Monday, and Hex's Kiki Van Newtown spoke with the organisers of the first ever LOUD and PROUD Queer Music Festival showcasing Auckland’s experimental & underground LGBTQIA community – kicking off tonight at the Audio Foundation. In our first Here's 5 feature for the year we caught up with visiting riff-wrangling psychonauts Earthless, who lifted the lid on their love of skateboarding, rattling off an awesome selection of skate vids to get you amped for their upcoming three date tour of New Zealand.

As mentioned above, tour announcements were off the chain this week. US indie songwriting icons Lucy Dacus and Sun Kil Moon are both heading to our shores in the coming months, Sydney tunesmith Jack Ladder is heading our way in May for an intimate pair of retrospective shows, fellow Sydneysiders Middle Kids will play their first ever New Zealand headline shows in April, Danish alt-pop star MØ is hitting NZ in April accompanied by US hip hop dynamo DUCKWRTH, Scottish indie-rockers Big Country are celebrating the 35th anniversary of their album Steeltown with a two date New Zealand tour, and Berlin-based electronic innovator Jasmine Guffond is visiting Aotearoa this March, with a special headline performance lined up for Auckland's Samoa House and an exhibition pencilled in for the Audio Foundation's gallery space.

On the local front, psychedelic Aucklanders Ounce are launching their debut album OZ with a nationwide tour in March, Christchurch rising star Ben Woods is taking his infectious tunes on the road with band for an extensive national tour in February and March, and last but certainly not least, the mysterious half-crab, half-man dance-pop artist known only as Crabman is finally coming out of his shell, making his hugely anticipated Auckland live musical debut this March.

Our Caught Live video for the week features amazing footage by AlC5 and Ira Heyder of Coco Solid's crucial early 2000's group The Pussies, tearing it up at Auckland's now closed Kings Arms Tavern. Coco Solid is performing tonight at The Powerstation as part of the kick ass lineup for 95bFM's 50th Anniversary party, alongside Beastwars, Miss June and a star-studded showcase for The Original World Famous True School Hip Hop Show. Get hyped with an essential dose of local music history (along with an awesome AltTV closer featuring Coco Solid and Erik Ultimate) below...