Release Radar: TAKATAPUNANI, So So Modern, Sivle Talk, MOKOMOKAI x Troy Kingi, Memory Foam ft. Michael Vincent Sperring, Roy Montgomery + More

It's been a week of major Aotearoa releases, so let us not muck about. Revisit our coverage of Mel Parsons, Sulfate, Dateline, U-No Juno, Farewell Spit, Greatsouth, Shuriken and Fiscal Hole x Maced, then scroll downwards for more new / recent local highlights below by TAKATAPUNANI, So So Modern, Memory Foam feat. Michael Vincent Sperring, Sivle Talk, MOKOMOKAI x Troy Kingi, Roy Montgomery x Martha Skye Murphy, Warner Emery, Adam Hattaway & The Haunters, and the forthcoming Kanikani Therapy compilation.

You may wish to hold off on any digital purchases until the artist-friendly Bandcamp Friday initiative starts tonight at 7pm (Aotearoa NZ time), running until 7pm Saturday.

There's a lot of top local music out in time for Bandcamp Friday, but today inarguably belongs to TAKATAPUNANI. Maintaining the body moving momentum of a year's worth of sassy and audaciously raunchy singles — 'Perfect Ten', 'FILTHY BASS (ft. Coco Solid)', 'ONLY GIRL' and 'GIRL LIKE MOI' all make a welcome return here — ARRIVAL feels like the soundtrack to the second half of 2026, primarily produced by Big Fat Raro, with Mimi Riverz and DJ Brenda pitching in on a track apiece. The artist reflected on Instagram, "The album is the sonic capture of the end of my adolescence and my 'coming of age'. It is my unserious and fun escape from the crushing dread and anxiety I have always carried with me. Each song was recorded at a different pivotal moment, and each feature is incredibly special to me as an artist and a fan. I hope this album brings you as much joy as it brings me."
 

Making like Mr Kotter, So So Modern are back in a big way, getting fans new and old extraordinarily amped with the prospect of their first new collection of tunes since 2013's Transpacific Express EP. Very smoothly picking up the baton is the fluidly kinetic, impassioned post-punk of 'Peace Talks', an energising setup for the Te Whanganui-a-Tara four-piece's Light Years EP — out in full on 9th October via Flying Nun Records. You can catch them tearing it up in the capital at Great Sounds Great 2026 on 4th September.

Already a winner in the conceptual realm via a genius-level collab idea, Grecco Romank's resident mic-growler Michael Vincent Sperring sounds like a horse race caller on the spiky new wave punk-pop of Memory Foam's 'Tony's Lollipop'.

Knocking fellow Ōtepoti ambassadors Six60 off their usual perch on Official Top 20 Aotearoa Albums chart, Sivle Talk, Sogg, U-No Juno and Vagina Dry's new 4EPs collection rocketed to the number one spot on release last month. Each assigned their own side of the double LP package from DUN Records, and currently only available in full on vinyl and compact disc, Sivle Talk's Tane Cotton reveals the second track from his CRYBABY EP — the ear-scrubbing real talk of 'There's An FBI Office In Wellington'. Sivle Talk, Sogg, U-No Juno and Vagina Dry's 4EPs release tour rolls into Geraldine and Ōtautahi this weekend, snag tickets HERE.

On the all-star lineup for Going Global Festival 2026 in late August (get tickets HERE), MOKOMOKAI reveal the soulful and impeccably smooth lead single from The Marine Blue Social Club, a forthcoming new EP with Troy Kingi. Regale your eyes and ears with director Connor Pritchard's video for 'Brasil'.

A giant of Aotearoa music, Roy Montgomery's career spans groundbreaking releases with The Pin Group in the early '80s, multiple landmark later albums — both solo and with Dadamah and Dissolve — and collaborative works with such fellow luminaries as Grouper, Bardo Pond, Flying Saucer Attack, and Mary Lattimore. Arriving today via bleeding edge UK tastemakers AD 93, Nebular is a new five track collection by Montgomery with London singer-songwriter Martha Skye Murphy, featuring Lattimore on closing track 'At Dusk', stretching out into interstellar expanses on the 17 minute 'Satellites Against The Milky Way'.

Core member of The Phoenix Foundation in the '00s during their ascendant Pegasus / Happy Ending era, Warner Emery sounds akin to a psychedelic songwriting bard on his debut solo long player (under his own name) The Cockroach. These dreamy 'Pirate Folk' tunes sound beamed in from a distant dimension, one perhaps more friendly and welcoming than our own — manifesting on local stages starting tonight in Napier, rolling around the motu during the coming weeks.

A solid contender for hardest working artist in Ōtautahi rock 'n' roll, Adam Hattaway has rallied the troops for a new album celebrating the inimitable songbook of Warren Zevon. Produced by Brett Stanton, War On Zevon was recorded in Naarm with bandmates The Haunters and a murderers row of special guests — including Georgia Knight, Adam McGrath, D.Feeney, Milan Borich and more.

Kanikani Therapy is a forthcoming compilation of future-friendly Aotearoa electronic tracks and club weapons from new Te Whanganui-a-Tara imprint Dance Therapy Records. Encompassing "dubtech, prog, trance, house, techno, acid, ambient hiko, bass and jungle", all profits from Kanikani Therapy will go to Trees That Count and Forest & Bird, so Bandcamp Friday is the perfect time to preorder the digital edition while you enjoy advance cuts by Yendor, cellphii, Jamie Doesn't Like Salad, and Leo McKinnon. The double compact disc version sold out quick as a flash — hopefully they'll press some more?