Release Roundup: Pony Baby, Reb Fountain, Bog Wolf, Imperial Slave, Ov Pain + More

Tis the season of unhinged office parties and pre-Christmas burnout, but don't fret because we've got your back (Aotearoa music release-wise at least). Rewind to this week's coverage of Voom, Bad Taste, Varda, Adam Hattaway & The Haunters and the new Grayson Gilmour remixes collection, then delve downward for handpicked local highlights from Pony Baby, Bog Wolf, Imperial Slave, Plague of the Fallen, Ov Pain, Capsul & You Could Talk, Reb Fountain and Miriam Clancy.

Finally sharing their first release after winning hearts together on-stage earlier this year, Pony Baby are the musical mind-meld of 2021 Best Independent Debut Award winner Jazmine Mary and ARAHI. 'I Think I'm Falling In Love' is their infectious folk strumming debut single, complemented by cosy footage shot in-studio by Annabel Kean (Sports Team).

Another synergistic Aotearoa pair who unleashed their debut release this week are Bog Wolf ("a duo of instantaneous magnetism and hit making conjurance"), whose animalistic rockin' mantra 'Don't Bog Me Down' is out on slime green lathe cut disc via the legendary Stink Magnetic imprint — backed with 'Outhouse Steakhouse' and 'Dunnydin', nab-able exclusively irl at Ōtautahi's Ride On Super Sound. Fortunately for local music website editors, there is also a monstrous online video for the title track. Plumb the depths.

Speaking of swamp-raised insanity, Palmerston North's "thrashy fuckin' beer slammin' death metal" crew Imperial Slave today launched their earhole brutalising new album .​.​.​Still At Large. They're playing a release rager at their hometown's Castle Bar tonight with "Whanganui pals F 'n' Cs opening the night and CAPTURED KINGS coming up from Wellington to riff the roof off the place" — get tickets right HERE.

If you survived the onslaught above, Ōtautahi's Plague of the Fallen deliver the aural finishing blow with their remorselessly pummelling, meticulously executed new album Amongst the Rats.

Back in Ōtepoti in October performing at Lines Of Flight, Naarm-based darkwavers Ov Pain (Tim Player and Renee Barrance) shared their fourth studio offering Reliquary of Dusk — an immaculately layered, all-electronic eight track collection to lose / find yourself within.

Low key launched earlier this week via Papaiti Records, autumn, article is a tidy three song collection of emotive punk-inflected compositions from Capsul & You Could Talk, laid down in the iconic Whanganui Chronicle building during autumn.

Sharing a much-needed message of hope for our festive season, Taite Music Prize winner Reb Fountain covered John Lennon & Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band's 1971 Yuletide classic 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)'. "We encourage listeners to donate to a charity supporting peace & prosperity for all".

Last here earlier this year touring her latest album Black Heart, US-based Aotearoa luminary Miriam Clancy covered 'Wicked Little Town' by Stephen Trask from the Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtrack, out today via trailblazing Olympia / Portland imprint Kill Rock Stars. "'Wicked Little Town' (v.2023) was recorded in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, where Keith Haring grew up and also Derrick Rump - drag performer and co-owner of Club Q, Colorado where he was bartending when he died in a mass shooting Nov 2022. In response to that tragedy and the increasing anti-LGBT political discourse, anti-drag laws plus the threat against LGBTQ+ basic human rights - I found solace in playing this magical tune from the movie Hedwig and the Angry Inch, so began fashioning an alternate version where I allowed big feelings to rule the last refrain by throwing down the gauntlet of sound and guiding the listener home, with love and support for the rainbow community everywhere."