Release Radar: Clear Path Ensemble, Windswept, Soul Void, CINDY, Dateline, jhl, missrosevalentina, Void Waves + More

Our output disrupted last week by a nasty cold / flu bug this punter picked up while taking in the amazingness which was Sparks in Tāmaki Makaurau, we are now back on the upswing as we give a high five to old man winter. Which is to say: welcome to our (recently redubbed coz why not) Release Radar — your most dedicated weekly look at Aotearoa NZ's recent sonic highlights, from the most untamed subterranean squalls, to alien club doof and out-there jazz, to independent tune-craft plus everything in-between and beyond. Scroll downwards for new / recent releases from Clear Path Ensemble, Windswept, Soul Void, CINDY, Dateline, jhl, missrosevalentina, Void Waves, Trepidations, School Fair, and Miriam Clancy & Dion Lunadon.

Ascending is the fourth album from Aotearoa composer / producer and ace percussionist (currently with Fat Freddy's Drop) Cory Champion's Clear Path Ensemble, colouring outside the lines of jazz into mesmeric, sunlit realms of soul-soothing new age and moiré pattern minimalism. "Ascending is a window into the soul of an artist looking inward as he reaches into the infinite and the sublime."

The launch of Windswept's debut album Howling in Baptismal Filth has proven to be one of the most significant local extreme metal releases of 2026. Featuring members of Bulletbelt, Imperial Slave and Dole Bludger, Windswept let rip eight blackened, blood-pumping sonic blasts from the barely habitable hellscape that is our nation's capital, out now via Connecticut-based imprint Northern Void Records — cassette edition already long gone.

Featuring Gatecreeper frontman Chase H. Mason on their namesake track and a collab with long-lost Aotearoa witch house producers Mellow Grave, Soul Void are absolutely in the zone throughout their unfathomably intense new long player Through Arterial Mist, which sounds not unlike it was recorded in a torture chamber. The Tāmaki Makaurau "Putrid Death Metal" collective will soon be supporting US sonic extremists Sanguisugabogg and PeelingFlesh at Double Whammy (tickets HERE) for most likely the most demented local show of 2026 — get in the mood and take a morning star to what remains of your grey matter with Through Arterial Mist.

Fantastic on-stage, off-stage, dangling upside down above stage and on your home stereo system, West Auckland legends CINDY again deliver the the goods with the crunchy pop fizz of 'All The Nice People' — a duet between bandmates Gloria Florence and Scott Brown, doubling as a teaser for their upcoming album. Florence shared: "I hope people can hear the duality of the song. The need for approval but also the self confidence that can co-exist in one person at one time. This song is definitely for the girlies and the grungy leaning folks."

The Aotearoa indie-rock super-combo led by songwriter Katie Everingham, Dateline return to familiar (familial?) turf for their first new release in a couple of years 'Meltdown'. Produced and mixed by none other than Ladyhawke, 'Meltdown' combines world-class sheen and Dateline's irresistible hook-power with lyrical reflections on Everingham's personal, sometimes turbulent experiences as a mum. "Not a day goes by where I am not so grateful for my daughter and so aware of how lucky I am to be her mum; however , in the last 4 years I have also experienced some really significant personal challenges that arose from parenting. There is immense pressure to get it right and this little person exists who knows exactly how to push your buttons and the combination lead me to some pretty tricky places from a mental health perspective. I wouldn't have things any other way but trying to be a good parent really does impact and change everything."

A phenomenal live performer who stunned at Outlier Festival 2024, Tāmaki Makaurau producer / singer jhl delivers maximal scale avant-electronic club majesty on their very keenly awaited, evidently painstakingly crafted debut album Paradise lost.

missrosevalentina dropped a huge club banger in sync with Pride Month in Aotearoa NZ, announcing 'I THINK UR GAY' with a whole swag of remixes to ram home the Ōtautahi digital pop star's joyously explicit message of freedom. "I THINK UR GAY was inspired by real-life situations where I’ve witnessed straight-identifying men engage in extremely homoerotic bromance dynamics."

On an absolute tear for the entirety of 2025, Tāmaki Makaurau's ever-enigmatic Void Waves finally reemerges with their first single of 2026 'Take the money' — sounding adjacent to the badass drum machine cyber-punk of expat Data Animal, as Void Waves croons "Finger on the trigger / Hand on the gun" above spectral robo-bleeps.

Tāmaki Makaurau's Trepidations takes this listener to the garage-psych glory days of turn of the millennium, upper Symond Street rawk action, with their amp-sizzling eight song opus Carving Back The Light. "Recorded live at King Studios over two rainy weekends in Mount Eden", you can join Trepidations with good buds The Bright Ideas and Roy Irwin playing tonight at Public Bar for free!

The high pedigree Ōtepoti five-piece of Findlay Buchanan, Semisi Ma’ia’i, Hamish Morgan, De Stevens and Rose Pickernell, School Fair make a major splash in an increasingly crowded post-punk pool with their new album Unexpected Violence.

Miriam Clancy and Dion Lunadon nail the tone on their cover of Martin Phillipps (RIP) and The Chills' evergreen classic 'I Love My Leather Jacket', released as a parting gift as we segued out of NZ Music Month for 2026.