Release Radar: deepState, JessB, Daffodils, Achtung!, Paddy Fred, South Pacific Dance Organisation

Revisit our past week's coverage of Ha The Unclear, Model, Eigenface, Adam Hattaway and the Haunters, Alphabethead, Kraus, Purple Pilgrims, Fox Moss and Evie Bamford, then explore more new / recent Aotearoa highlights from deepState, JessB, Daffodils, Achtung!, Paddy Fred, and the new South Pacific Dance Organisation compilation.

Finalist for 2024 Te Manu Taki Tāhiko o te Tau (Best Electronic Artist), deepState aka Tãmaki Makaurau producer / songwriter Jessica Morgan's third album Rain(Sunreturn) feels like a meditation on the interiority of the club-going experience. Turning her attention to the loosely defined realm of downtempo, deepState's seven track collection balances the ecstatic energy of dialled-up dancefloors with moody, almost bluesy interstitial voyages — provoking flashbacks of half-forgotten Gatecrasher TV adverts and dusted-off Strawpeople cassettes. "With Rain I wanted to explore some more of the downtempo sounds that I love. It’s a sound that I grew up with in the 90’s and so there’s a real sense of nostalgia for me around many of the popular trip-hop and downtempo adjacent artists from that time. A lot of what draws me to the genre is the fact that it allows for this reshaping of influences in a way that really appeals to me in terms of sound, mood and texture... I think the importance of layering, texture and atmosphere in order to create a sense of emotion or immersion has always come through clearly in the music I make and the Downtempo genre lends itself well to this."

Kenyan-Aotearoa rap star JessB is still at the forefront of local hip-hop eight years following her debut album BLOOM and 2024's star-stacked FEELS LIKE HOME. These days igniting stages around the globe, JessB sounds imperial on album number three Matters of the Heart, her lyrical flow world class and beat-work pumping as she delivers an emotionally charged twelve track collection — welcoming along for the ride guest vocalists Deva Mahal and Paige.

Friday was a special one for Daffodils fans when the Tāmaki Makaurau collective unveiled their first new single in four years 'String', an exuberant alt-rock anthem complete with body-contorting video directed by Hattie Salmon and starring Leo Bond. Look forward to more to come from Daffodils's long-awaited debut album A Good Year.

More evidence a new generation of amp-frying Southern alt-rockers is coming to the fore, Ōtautahi via Ōtepoti "emo adjacent" (aren't we all) collective Achtung! have released a new compact disc edition of their debut album Spear In Fine View. Recorded by the legendary Nick Roughan at Southlink Studios, Achtung! have album launch gigs teed up for Darkroom i Ōtautahi and their hometown's Pearl Diver (snag tickets HERE). "This album is more than a collection of songs, it’s a snapshot of my life and my experiences navigating the end of my teenage years and the start of my adult one. It’s heartbreak, it’s love, it’s joy, it’s despair, and it’s every other emotion that I’ve felt strongly enough to pour into songwriting."

Unveiled on Friday via UK imprints First Word Records and Extra Soul Perception, Changes is the culmination of a journey spanning more than a decade for Te Whanganui-a-Tara's Paddy Fred. Sun-fried, hypnagogic production meets a refined, guitar-strumming songwriting sensibility which has parallels with early Unknown Mortal Orchestra and the summer of chillwave — intertwining psychedelia, soul and funk into microcosmic worlds for ears to explore. "Before this album there wasn't much guitar or any singing in my beatmaking. Beatmaking started as an escape from the live bands I was playing in. Here I reconnected with the guitar — the instrument I know best — and started singing for the first time. It felt like a mainline to my subconscious. Changes was a very therapeutic process. It gave me perspective, helped me see what I was grateful for and what I was missing."

We've been spoiled rotten for documents of Aotearoa's vibrant club community / electronic dance underground in 2026. Following last month's crucial Kanikani Therapy collection from the capital's Dance Therapy Records, Ōtautahi's South Pacific Dance Organisation have rallied the troops in a major way, assembling the inclusive, thirty six track One Year Anniversary VA - SPD005 compilation, to mark their first year of releases. Big names alphabetically rub shoulders with subterranean beat scientists on the expansive scene snapshot mastered by Oliver Prince (who also contributes a track), spotlighting a galaxy of producers "from all over Aotearoa and abroad." Rather cool cover artwork by SPDO too.