Release Radar: MOKOMOKAI x Troy Kingi, Parksdale, So So Modern, Ardon England, XRVR + More

The last few weeks have been so stacked with significant Aotearoa releases (with even more to come), maybe we should rebrand this time of year NZ Music Month Part 2? Or how about: NZ Music Year? Revisit our coverage of Cindy, Sulfate, Reb Fountain, Unsanitary Napkin, CHEMCHAIN and the Punkfest 2026 compilation, read our interview with visiting California punk veterans Strung Out, and check out more local highlights from MOKOMOKAI x Troy Kingi, Parksdale, So So Modern, Ardon England x Kez Emm, XRVR, skymning, Moon Unit, frog power, plus Home Brew's Last Week EP reissue.

Teaming up on Troy Kingi's 2025 album Night Lords — the hip-hop / R&B ninth instalment of his nearly concluded 10 10 10 series ("10 albums in 10 genres in 10 years") — Kingi and MOKOMOKAI embark on a smoky side-quest with their The Marine Blue Social Club EP. Confidently opening with cinematic instrumental 'Marine Blue', rapper Manu's unflappable mic skills and Kingi's soulful tones are in fine company with top tier jazz-funk band instrumentation on the new EP, which rocketed to the number nine spot on this week's Official Top 20 Aotearoa Albums chart.

Adorned with colourful, geometrically abstract cover artwork by painter Seung Yul Oh, LOOK! is the debut solo album from from synthesesist / producer Parksdale, longterm creative partner with Ladi6 and co-founder of Tāmaki Makaurau jazz-hop pioneers Verse Two. The latest project from the always impeccable Noa Records, Side A launched on Bandcamp Friday with Side B waiting in the wings for 2nd October. Sure to sound great on wax, LOOK! is conceived as "a modern library record" of original compositions, expressing deep engagement in languages / lineages of funk, hip-hop, exotica, and open-eared "Instrumental section" crate-diving wizardry — you can preorder the vinyl LP edition via the Bandcamp link.

No strangers to a bit of bleepy / bloopy synth action themselves, Te Whanganui-a-Tara's reactivated So So Modern played a by-all-accounts ripper set at Great Sounds Great festival in the capital on Saturday night. Rhythmically muscular and melodically soaring, the foursome's new single 'Eat You Alive' ponders endlessly gigging 2010 days and the ephemerality of showbiz with 2026 retrospective clarity. Their first new EP in 13 years, Light Years will be out in full on 9th October via Flying Nun Records.

The concluding highlight of the all-star 2026 Going Global Festival, Ardon England gets club-goers grinding with a pumping new remix by Aotearoa producer Kez Emm of their debut single 'Leather Daddy'. "Woke up in the morning to a horny text."

Also absolutely committed to getting punters going crazy on the dancefloor, XRVR demands you 'SAY THE NAME' on the Whanganui synth-punk's latest banger. You can catch XRVR tearing it up with Alphabethead and LILSTIFFY at the NIGHTMARE ON DREWS Halloween rager at Porridge Watson on 31st October, snag tickets HERE.

Legends of Aotearoa's 2020s electronic underground, Bankrupt Records are back after two years downtime to reassert supremacy with 'Go Away / Mind Ya Business' — a two-pack of cavernously bass-rumbling, footmahi sizzlers by mastermind producer skymning.

A group committed to capturing jangly-pop magic in their own Moon Unit Studios while deliberately giving local stages a wide berth (let's see if this ever changes), "the highest PDGA rated band in the world" Moon Unit maintain a beautiful track record with 3X — the third of six EP releases slated for 2026.

Ōtepoti underground popmeister and visual artiste, frog power follows last month's magnum opus prog flower - 84 hot dogs with the addicting, snack-sized majesty of 'ched'.

One of the most influential Aotearoa hip-hop collectives in existence, Home Brew invite fans to revisit (or experience for the first time) the slapdash legend of their 2008 Last Week EP with a slick new vinyl LP and compact disc reissue — preorderable via Bandcamp HERE. Embarking on a massive Last Week tour of Australasia in October and November, Home Brew's Tom Scott explained: "This is our 7-track EP we wrote last week about the shit we did last week. We call it Last Week."