Release Roundup: Carb On Carb, Chances Are, KORA, Church & AP, The Fuzzy Robes + More

A jumbo double-week roundup edition following a long weekend away at Camp A Low Hum, which we're still bouncing back from as it was a doozy. We'll be in transit to Port Noise festival in Lyttelton next Friday too, so regular roundup service will resume on 15th March (I'm sounding a bit like Auckland Transport here). Revisit this week's coverage of DARTZ, Earth Tongue, Leonard Powell and PARK RD, then dive into more fresh Aotearoa releases from Carb On Carb, Chances Are, KORA, WHO SHOT SCOTT, Hans., Church & AP, Fuzzy Robes, Woodland Fog, Spectral Memories, and Darren Watson.

UTR office favourites Carb On Carb rewind back to the skinny jeans days of '2009', delivering heart-swelling emo-punk feels on the nimbly executed lead track from their forthcoming album Take Time (out in May). You can catch Nicole Gaffney and James Stuteley playing this month at CubaDupa in Pōneke and Zinefest in Whanganui — preorder their new record via the Bandcamp link.

The trio of Alexander Grant, Lliam Powell and Maté Vella (Family Band), Chances Are unfurl succinct post-punk excellence on their head-spinning, yet also gracefully melodic 'Born Yesterday' — from their forthcoming debut collection Asleep At The Wheel Of Love via Sunreturn.

I straight up refuse to accept we've officially reached autumn in Aotearoa as the sun continues to blaze outside. Summer festival heroes KORA deliver a guaranteed crowd mover with new single 'Falling For You' — soulfully confessing "I've got love in me I can't let go" above muscular grooves, intermeshing synth shimmers and chicken scratch funk guitar.

In a way we all shot Scott... up to number one on the 2022 SRN annual charts! Playing at CubaDupa 2024 later this month, WHO SHOT SCOTT's new BRAIN (SIDE A) EP (the Right Side?) sports five tracks lovingly crafted with laser-like precision to make dance floors explode.

An artist whose debut single was a collaboration with US indie-pop star Clairo, NZ-Korean rap star Hans.'s reflective first single of 2024 ‘Grandmother Is Waiting For Me’ featuring Meaningful Stone was sparked by a visit to his grandmother in South Korea during late 2022. “I wanted the video to just show a bit of my everyday life when I spend winter in Korea. The mundanity of it, but with the song playing I guess it represents the underlying feelings you have/hold onto in everyday life."

With little advance hubbub, Tāmaki Makaurau's hip hop champions Church & AP unleashed their new ten track album POSTAL, featuring significant contributions from Deadforest throughout. Prolific artists both together and individually, POSTAL marks their first official long player since TEETH dropped with atom bomb impact five years ago back in 2019. "Almost 2 years ago, the 4 of us took a little trip out the way in the wops. We spent a week in a church making music and this album was the result. 'POSTAL' an album by the ZIPS".

Casually unveiled today, the sonically majestic 'Collect For Midday' is the second single from Ōtautahi collective The Fuzzy Robes' forthcoming second album Midday Prayers. As an ex-Catholic heathen, I'm personally compelled to resist their god-bothering message of love and hope for all: "Blessed Saviour / at this hour you hung upon the cross / stretching out your loving arms / grant that all the peoples of the earth may be drawn to your uplifted love / for your kingdom’s sake / Amen."

Purportedly hailing from Aotearoa's Tasman District in upper Te Waipounamu, dungeon / fantasy synth composer Woodland Fog's new collection The Way of the Wanderer is imbued with magic, myth and mystery.

Aotearoa producer Spectral Memories' evocative new collection Lost Futures was "originally written as the soundtrack to an indie survival horror game" (unfortunately cancelled), yet makes for immersive listening in its own right — drawing threads between ambient, darkwave, doomgaze, dreampunk and industrial textures.

Have you seen today's headlines about Aotearoa's current Prime Minister? Aotearoa songwriter Darren Watson calls it as he sees it with his singalong anthem 'Lyin' Luxon (and his Tobacco Goons)'. "It's a song I felt compelled to make in light of the incredible rate of political bombshells the 'triumvirate of terror' is dropping".