Release Roundup: Ringlets, Paul Cathro, RATSO, HOIHOI, Te KuraHuia, MELODOWNZ, Nathan Haines x Christoph El Truento + More

We're back on track — revisit this week's coverage of Jazmine Mary, Baby Zionov and Dateline, then explore more new / recent Aotearoa highlights from Ringlets, Paul Cathro, RATSO, HOIHOI, Te KuraHuia, MELODOWNZ, Nathan Haines x Christoph El Truento, Sam Cullen, and the latest episode of the In The Pits video podcast series, spotlighting "The Technical Wizard of 95bFM" Rick Breeze.

Scroll down and scope out the UTR Roundup Playlist, a rolling weekly playlist keeping you in the loop with every new release we've featured on the site over the past month!

Are you an Aotearoa artist / imprint releasing something new soon? Let us know — send your info including links to editor@undertheradar.co.nz.

There's much to love about Ringlets' new single and video 'I Was on That Roof Once', starring Aotearoa underground maverick Fats White (Brent Hayward of The Kiwi Animal, Shoes This High, Smelly Feet). Produced / edited by Leith Towers and artfully shot by Joe Curtis, the clip's emphasis on sculptural materiality and recognition of alternative local music / art narratives feels refreshing, fitting the Tāmaki group's literary post-punk like an intriguingly styled glove. And such jovial faces! They played to a packed-out crowd at last weekend's JUNK fest and are clearly on a winning streak, look forward to the release of Ringlets' new album The Lord Is My German Shepherd (Time for Walkies) out on 27th June via Flying Nun Records and Leather Jacket Records, plus stay tuned for tour details.

Leith Towers shared: "'I Was on That Roof Once' circles the drain of sincerity, belief, and our better natures gone a bit mouldy. The video features door dancing, a lost Irish tradition we’ve likely misremembered, pitched somewhere between ceremony and bluff. It’s a nod to ritual, balance, and the ways we try not to spill ourselves."

Composer of imaginative and emotionally resonant guitar-pop gems, Ha The Unclear co-founder Paul Cathro bundles up his last few years of musical highlights into one knockout package on Catapult, his first new solo album since 2016's Head First Into Solid Ground. Hailing from Ōtepoti and now based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Catapult finds Cathro in fine company with bandmates Joshua Worthington-Church (Princess Chelsea, Exploding Rainbow Orchestra), Charmain Keay (APO) and Jamie Hannah (Spawts, Two Cartoons). There's even songs featured here that first manifested during Cathro's mega-prolific 2021 Once a Week Releases era — dig in.

Handpicked supports for none other than Jack White, Tāmaki Makaurau garage rock 'n' roll animals RATSO have escaped their cage and unleashed their "first and final studio album" FUCK.Ratso. The five piece of Jake Harding, Tomas Marin, John Baker, Alex Willi and Bruno Paparelli sound never less than possessed by the unchained, in-the-red, no rulz spirit of rock itself as they rip their way through ten wild numbers, plus two bonus cuts for good measure. Crank up "ONE FINAL TRANSMISSION FROM THE BLISTERING HEART OF AOTEAROA ROCK ‘N’ ROLL" and grip the vinyl LP edition to cherish forever.

Playing tonight at Te Papaioea's legendary The Stomach with Pining Radiata (get tickets HERE) as part of their ongoing tour of Te Ika-a-Māui, HOIHOI drop a two-track EP featuring one original and a cover of The Pin Group's 'Jim'. 'Skip Ads' bounds along with fuck capitalism power-pop exuberance, while 'Jim' shifts the tempo downwards for a Roy Division post-punk dirge.

Thee Bad Mana Wahine Te KuraHuia returns with her first new single since 2024's top tier Astro-Tīpuna EP, a booming new bilingual collab with Kenzie from Welly and Melli imploring listeners to "protect your BIG MANA".

Hiko production ace Caru and Mānuka Recordings soul star Romi Wrights get together with Avondale rap ambassador MELODOWNZ on infectiously jazzy new hip house jam 'FEEL GOOD AURA'.

An aural encounter between two of Aotearoa's master musical craftsmen, highlight from Nathan Haines' 2024 album Notes 'Just Holdin' On' receives a deeply blazed remix from Christoph El Truento — slicing, dicing and acid-frying Eo's rap wordplay like a gourmet chef.

Hailing from Invercargill and now based in sprawling Tāmaki Makaurau, Sam Cullen's new single 'That Somebody’s You' is the heartfelt and fist-pumping lead single from his forthcoming album That Somebody’s You, out today with suitably panoramic, road-trip visuals directed by Tom Grut. "I’d been watching films such as ‘Paris, Texas’ and ‘Badlands’, which served as a lot of the inspiration for this video. The desolate but beautiful landscapes in these films really struck me and we definitely got our own uniquely New Zealand spin on this kind of scenery".

The In The Pits team do our community a major solid by shining the spotlight on "The Technical Wizard of 95bFM", Technical Director and weather reporter Rick Breeze aka Richard Huntington, in the fascinating fourth episode of the video podcast series hosted by fellow 95bFM alum Rachel Ashby. A guided tour of Tāmaki Makaurau's premier student radio station and more, produced by Zoë Larsen Cumming, and filmed by Annabel Kean & Callum Devlin. "For forty years Rick has been the wind beneath the wings of 95bFM. Amongst many things he has built and developed the transmitting and broadcast functions of the station; co-hosted ‘In The Pink’, New Zealand’s first dedicated gay radio show on an FM frequency, and daily delivers Auckland’s most accurate weather report live from his Grey Lynn garden. In this episode we learn more about what makes Rick tick: from his early days as a six year old waiting outside the door of Napier’s community radio station, to working with producer Alan Jansson on OMC’s hit single ‘How Bizarre’, and plenty in between."