Release Roundup: Liam Finn, JessB, Violet Hirst, Joe Kaptein, Sewage + More

Highpoint of Tāmaki Makaurau's annual live music calendar, The Others Way multi-venue extravaganza has finally arrived — peep the official timetable HERE and catch you out and about tonight. A notably wacky few days in Aotearoa music journalism discourse, let's look back at this week's coverage of Grayson Gilmour, DARTZ, Bulletbelt, Delaney Davidson and Demons of Noon, then explore more local release highlights from Liam Finn, JessB, Violet Hirst, Raiza Biza, Joe Kaptein, Diggy Dupé, Admiral Drowsy and Sewage.

These days a core member of Crowded House, Liam Finn's ever-expanding Hyperverse Project has spat out his first official new solo single in over a decade 'I Just Want You To Be So Happy', plus a warped self-directed video that's sure to be a crowd pleaser. "At first I felt strange to be putting a new song out at such upsetting time in the world, but people keep reminding me that music is joy and that’s what we need right now. So I decided to release my most joyful song... It’s proclamation of love in a broken world. I hope you enjoy it".

Revving up for a big summer of festival appearances, Aotearoa rap star JessB embraces fresh sensations with smooth funk groover 'Hold Me Down'. “This song is essentially a manifestation for the type of (romantic) love that I want. Speaking it into existence! The beat was produced by Dera Meelan and has a laid back summer vibe to it which feels like a nice way to close out the year.”

Tāmaki Makaurau-based songwriter Violet Hirst shared sinuous choreographed visuals directed by Ana Arteaga for her dramatic ballad 'Descending Song' — featuring dancers Oli Mathiesen, Jess Crompton and Sahrvon Mortimer, plus bandmates Kane Strang (Office Dog), Reuben Scott, and Mitchell Innes.

Rwandan-New Zealand rapper Raiza Biza reemerges two years following his superb 2021 album A Summer In Retrograde with THE PREQUEL — bundling his on-point 2022 anthem 'Get Money' with five new tracks, including collaborations with Sol, Blaze The Emperor and Taku Paradza.

Currently touring the US as a member of Princess Chelsea's band, Joe Kaptein's perfectly timed new album Good Weather boasts nine tracks of instrumental goodness— utilising an assortment of vintage electronics to please the ears of waterfowls and non-avian listeners alike. "Good Weather has nine original compositions which I'd roughly describe as some bizarre bedroom-made electro-balearic-jazz business — sometimes synthed-out, sometimes loungey, sometimes full hoon. It features some mates contributing some sounds — Ben played some innovative percussion and added some majestic cymbals, Max hooned some drums and cymbals, and Kelso, Iggy, and Andrew were enlisted on assorted saxophone duties. The tunes were written over the last few years, but were mostly recorded and assembled in September '23 when the mates laid down some sounds and injected some new life into them; then the album was mixed, mastered and finished in October '23. It was partially inspired by the change of seasons and a run of particularly creativity-fuelling good weather here in Auckland, NZ, during this time. The ducks on the cover have been hanging around for the last few months and have been a recurring theme during the production of this album."

Tāmaki Makaurau hip hop artist Diggy Dupé celebrates his super city hometown with 'WE THE CITY', featuring Smokeygotbeatz's (SWIDT) production prowess, plus on-location visuals directed by Tom Grut — "same place where they made Poly Panthers and the same place where they made Brotown."

The project of Lyttelton songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Luke Scott, Admiral Drowsy shared a second single from forthcoming long player Industrial Consistency, out in full on 26th January — finding sonically swirling intersections between post-rock and trip hop atmospherics with 'ON!'

Ōtepoti noiseniks Sewage unleashed a self-titled double vinyl LP document of Ro Rushton-Green and Gabriel Griffin's high energy, mind-meld improvised performance at 2017's Lines of Flight festival. Te Ika-a-Māui dwellers can catch them alongside Sancti(t)y_ROMance and Tapioca Dragon at Pōneke's Pyramid Club this Saturday (tickets HERE), plus at Tāmaki Makaurau's Audio Foundation on 15th December with O/pus and Sam Longmore (tickets HERE).