Release Roundup: Deadforest, Parasitic Infestation, Lori Watt, There's A Tuesday, Peter Jefferies + More

Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa / NZ Music Month traditionally means a lolly scramble of releases to feast your ears upon, and local artists have come through big time this week. Revisit our coverage of The Big Fresh Collective, Pickle Darling and Finn Johansson, then dive into an ocean of new and reemerged Aotearoa tunes below from deadforest, Parasitic Infestation, No Broadcast, Hermione Johnson, William Henry Meung, Lori Watt, Mo Etc., Muroki, Sofia Machray, There's A Tuesday and Peter Jefferies.

Bringing the party with FABLE and bbyfacekilla at Tāmaki Makaurau's Whammy Backroom next Friday (nab tickets HERE), deadforest dropped smoking collab with AP 'FOREST vs PURPOSE' late last week — slinging rhymes against booming backing courtesy of producer Dera Meelan.

The latest release from Tāmaki Makaurau dungeon dwellers Swamp Kult Records is a limited purple cassette edition of Aotearoa death metal maniacs Parasitic Infestation's brain-crushingly brutal '22 Intergalactic Harvest EP. Move fast to order your copy via the Bandcamp link then witness their ultra-aggressive fury on 2nd June, when they play with Kirikiriroa beatdown hardcore heavyweights Brawler and Villafied at Whammy Bar — get tickets HERE.

Helmed by songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Josh Braden with bandmates Ryan Fisherman, Tom Harris and Thomas Isbister, Otautahi post-rockers No Broadcast have returned with lush and expansive new nine track offering The Common Thread, their fourth official album. You can order the limited vinyl LP edition (their debut pressing to vinyl) via the Bandcamp link.

Making a welcome return following almost exactly two years since the last drop, Aotearoa experimental imprint mf/mp unveiled new releases from both Hermione Johnson and William Henry Meung, both available now on niftily packaged limited edition cassette. Acclaimed Tāmaki Makaurau pianist (and recent Grecco Romank collaborator) Hermione Johnson's collection Split was originally recorded in 2020 on the pipe organ at the MacLauren Chapel at Auckland University. "In focused explorations of tone and rhythm, she drew from the instrument broad malleable drones, rich pulses of sonic interference: tonal interactions in which two or more pitches – stable in their own right – are experienced in swells of varying speeds, beating in manners dependent on the combinations of frequencies at play".

Recorded in Ōtepoti's Allbell Chambers, William Henry Meung's A SPECTRUM OF ECSTASIES embraces a free-floating compositional approach, unearthing fresh rhythms, patterns and ear-tickling textures via overlapping layers of live electronics. "William would arrive early to his studio throughout 2020 and 2021, booting up an array of electronic devices – synthesisers and sequencers – in a ritualised act resembling some sort of pre-flight initiation. As if attending to a spaceship console, he would begin building “loose structures”, organising patterns from the flight deck until landing at something pleasing".

An underground hit when it first emerged online over a decade ago, Aotearoa songwriter and life coach Lori Watt's classic 'Chill In My Vein' is now available as an essential purchase vinyl 7" via the champs at Small Town Electron, backed with the equally incomparable 'Ex Boyfriend Collection'. There's only 100 available, so order your copy quick via the Bandcamp link. "It remains difficult to pinpoint exactly what it is about this video – this song – that causes such a reaction for myself and her myriad other fans but it is that mystery that is perhaps part of the magic itself." Can somebody please organise a Lori Watt live show?

Te Whanganui-a-Tara's Mo Etc. helped kick off Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa / NZ Music Month with gorgeous new five track EP Buoys, including an immersive 15 minute 'Guided Meditation for Clarity'.

Rising Pо̄neke dream-pop talent Sofia Machray today unveiled the uplifting and nostalgic 'Petals In The Rain' — the lead single from her forthcoming debut album Language Of Flowers. Hit play on the coastal accompanying clip, co-directed by the artist with Taylor Nixon.

Raglan songwriting star and cinema buff Muroki unveiled slinky new slice of funk 'Watching Movies' today, but which movies has he been watching?

Finalists for the 2022 Silver Scroll award and winners of Breakthrough Artist of the Year / Te Kaituhura Puoro Toa o te Tau at last year's Aotearoa Music Awards, There's A Tuesday bound into 2023 with new single 'Familiar'. "'Familiar' is about love and being human... we hope it’ll make people dance!"

Legendary co-founder of Nocturnal Projections and This Kind of Punishment, and collaborator with Shayne P. Carter on one of the finest tunes to emerge from Aotearoa's noisy underground 'Randolph's Going Home', Peter Jefferies' "somewhat lost to time until now" 2001 solo album Closed Circuit is being released on vinyl LP for the first time via New York's Ba Da Bing Records — order your copy via the Bandcamp link.