Release Roundup: The Beths, Pearly*, SCRAN, Georgia Knight, Em, Living Perfection + More

Revisit this week's coverage of Beastwars, Dick Move, Bub, The Bats, IVY, Georgia Lines, We Will Ride Fast and PollyHill x Samara Alofa, then explore more new / recent Aotearoa release highlights from The Beths, Pearly*, SCRAN, Georgia Knight, Em, Living Perfection, Magnalith, Tealskie, and Sam Cullen.

Scope out the UTR Roundup Playlist below, a rolling weekly playlist keeping you in the loop with every new release we've featured on the site over the past month. Only including tracks available on streaming services of course, which has been an increasingly hot topic during the past few weeks.

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

On an international media blitz this week, picking out What's In My Bag? faves at Amoeba Music in Hollywood and presenting a well filmed selection of Perfect 10s for Pitchfork from Karangahape Road's iconic (and pigeon infested) Lim Chhour food court, Aotearoa indie rock superstars The Beths have gifted the world their fourth studio album Straight Line Was A Lie via ANTI. Take in the official visualiser for the title track below (plus a whole bunch more new animated clips HERE), listen to Straight Line Was A Lie and cross fingers for local shows after The Beths play a LOT of overseas headline dates, joined on their touring adventure by Phoebe Rings, Bret McKenzie, Dateline, and more.
  

Emerging from the deep south to conquer the SRN airwaves are new recruits to the Flying Nun Records roster Pearly*, whose debut album is out today as a joint release with Leather Jacket Records and Pinacolada Records! Not So Sweet was produced by the legendary Nick Roughan of Skeptics, who declares on the actual cover sticker: "Pearly* are a bunch of “w**kers, except for Phaedra, she’s cool."

A new release from Tāmaki Makaurau post-punks SCRAN is always an occasion to savour — veering into pensive garage-jangle-rock territory, The 'Verge' is the second single from their forthcoming album Living Room. Scran dished the dirt on the accompanying video by Matt Kofoed: "We filmed most of this in the same room we recorded the album, a basement below Karangahape Road that was once a fish butchery."

Causing a quiet sensation with the trip-hop atmospherics of recent single 'Desire', Naarm / Aotearoa-based songwriter Georgia Knight announced her forthcoming debut album Beanpole with new single 'Mingle'. The moody, somewhat brutalist accompanying visuals co-made with Martin Sagadin and Marlon Williams only enhance the song's dark pop drama and mystique.

Tricky to Google but worth the effort, Em is the solo musical moniker of Live Music Bar audio wiz Emily Wheatcroft-Snape, whose new single 'Lucky Star' is a radiant dollop of balearic / dream-pop with a touch of alt-country shimmer. "Deeply reflective, a little bit wonky in places, and created with friends. Lucky Star balances earnestness in my songwriting while pushing my my production craft. I think this balance is the epitome of the "Em" sound, regardless of how sonic aesthetics change over time. Lucky Star is the opening track off my next album, but I'll tell you all about that in a couple of weeks."

Dramatically delivering hi-NRG / Italo goodness to help shake us out of this mid-winter funk,'Ti Si Moj Dom' (translating to "You are my home" from Croatian) arrives like a dancefloor-igniting thunderclap. It's the second single to emerge from Aotearoa producer Living Perfection aka Mate Vella (Family Band, Chances Are) and we're hanging out for even more.

Magnalith is the project of Mathew Boshe, bass player for the Aotearoa post-metal force that is Kerretta. The lead single from his forthcoming debut album Memento Mori, the blood-red gothic visuals for 'Sanguinivory' channel the song's reality-warping scope and power.

Misery In Serenity is the debut EP from Ōtautahi indie rock collective Tealskie, bundling together for your listening convenience earlier singles 'Tired', 'Extraterrestrial', 'Häus' and 'Citalopram' with explosive closing ballad 'Riff Raff'. You can catch them this Saturday letting rip at Space Academy, grab tickets HERE.

Provoking awestruck reactions with a by all accounts knockout set at last night's Going Global Festival in Tāmaki Makaurau, Sam Cullen follows through and sings from the heart with his boisterous, arms in the air new rock anthem ‘Don’t Leave Me Alone’. Let the refreshingly fun and free-spirited video co-directed by Hugo Wallace and Chris Scott carry you into the weekend.