Release Radar: Romi Wrights, The Veils, Two Dollar Trio, Libbianski, Barren Hellscape, White Saucer, Frog Power

It's been a dramatic time in local music, with the sudden shock closures of Neck Of The Woods venue and Flying Out store in Tāmaki Makaurau, and Hide Club in Ōtautahi. Actual irl interaction is crucial to keep Aotearoa's independent community thriving, so let us turn our backs to the algorithmic fodder shovelled onto our digital devices by global streaming services, and instead seek sonic connections which can genuinely help foster local culture. We encourage you to support the already phenomenally successful Save Neck Of The Woods givealittle fundraiser HERE (which today has passed the $100,000 mark!), and / or grab a discounted record at the Flying Out stock clearance sale HERE.

Let's take a look at new / recent Aotearoa highlights from Romi Wrights, The Veils, Two Dollar Trio, Libbianski, Barren Hellscape, White Saucer and frog power.

At the forefront of a new generation of Aotearoa soul-jazz stars, Romi Wrights has attracted a devoted fanbase since her instant classic 'Bring It Back / Without You' launched via Mānuka Recordings less than three years ago. Co-written with Mānuka Recordings co-founder Kenny Sterling, Wrights' keenly-awaited debut album Andy — named in tribute to the late Andrea Orani aka DJ Andyheartthrob — will be out in full on 30th July, teased with the heart-melting grooves and dreamy tones of new single 'Rain Or Shine'.

On a mid-career prolific streak, Finn Andrews' globally acclaimed The Veils project has now gifted fans three long players since 2023 with the launch of his new studio record Fragile World. Embarking on a rapidly selling out nationwide tour of Aotearoa NZ from this Thursday onwards (details HERE), Andrews sounds ever the romantic on Fragile World — an opulently recorded ten song cycle, grasping beyond melancholy towards life-affirming sentiment. "I make each album, generally, as a kind of atonement for the last. Asphodels was so quiet and introspective, I think I just wanted to make something strident and full of life for a goddamn change."

A brand new country-soul proposition from Ōtautahi's Adam Hattaway, Nick Armstrong (Sin City, The Cavemen) and Dillon Feeney, Two Dollar Trio sound like three angels on the rocks with the toe-tappin' piano / banjo / fiddle balladry of their debut single 'Isn't it Unfair'.

Libbianski reemerge with five satisfyingly heavy slabs of fuzz-drenched shoegaze, emphasising visceral doomy grunt while ascending to celestial heights on their new Suffering EP — a dichotomy which suits our frigid winter months well. Go catch the Pōneke trio supporting Exit Sign's The Fallen album release show at Valhalla on 18th July, you can grab tickets HERE.

A moniker befitting his wind-ravaged hometown, Pōneke one-man crustcore propagator Barren Hellscape rips out eight riff-pummelling tracks of ultra-agro, metallic savagery on Anti-Holocaust. Snag a tape while you can via Razored Raw.

Tāmaki Makaurau champions of sonically unchained noisescapes for the entirety of the 21st century thus far, White Saucer's first official release in three years Silver Smoke / A Silver Nothing collapses space and time into two enigmatic, immersive and sometimes ecstatic tracks. Flashing past yet somehow more than 25 minutes in length, 'Silver Smoke' revels in the sheer tangibility of free sound creation, while 'A Silver Nothing' offers nearly 15 minutes of beatific pulsing drone worship.

Ōtepoti outsider pop sensation frog power has been back at it, unleashing two new nuggets for eager froggers exclusively via YouTube. Soak up the highly relatable '15 minutes of shame' and vortex-like punk-funk jammer 'chives about it'. "Turn it up , and rip off the knob man."