Alex Cameron
Jumping the Shark [ Secretly Canadian / CD - released 19/Aug/2016 ] Sydney's strange,artistic Alex Cameron's 'Jumping The Shark' on Secretly Canadian weaves intelligent, poignant lyricism with primitive 80s synths and seemingly minimalist arrangements recalling David Bowie and Ariel Pink, all under a Lynch- like... |
Alice Coltrane
The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda [ Luaka Bop / CD - released 5/May/2017 ] Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda's devotion to spirituality was the central purpose of the final four decades of her life, an often-overlooked awakening that largely took shape during her four year marriage to John Coltrane and after his 1967 death.... |
Avishai Cohen
Big Vicious (LP) [ ECM / LP - released 27/Mar/2020 ] Charismatic trumpeter Avishai Cohen launched his exuberant, home-grown band Big Vicious six years ago, after relocating from the US to his native Israel, rounding up players to shape the music from the ground up, and co-authoring much of its newest... |
The Beths
Expert In A Dying Field [ Ivy League Records / CD - released 16/Sep/2022 ] On The Beths' third studio album, Expert In A Dying Field, Elizabeth Stokes' songwriting places her somewhere between being a novelist and a documentarian. The songs are autobiographical, but they're also character sketches of relationships and, more... |
The Beths
Expert In A Dying Field (Deluxe LP) [ Ivy League Records / LP - released 16/Sep/2022 ] On The Beths' third studio album, Expert In A Dying Field, Elizabeth Stokes' songwriting places her somewhere between being a novelist and a documentarian. The songs are autobiographical, but they're also character sketches of relationships and, more... |
Bill Callahan
Gold Record [ Drag City / CD - released 18/Sep/2020 ] For his first record in....uh, well, just over a year (woot!), Bill Callahan gives us a Gold Record. For Bill, preparing to tour for Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest meant considering being away from home for long stretches of time - months, seasons,... |
The Cleves
The Musical Adventures of The Clevedonaires, Cleves & Bitch [ Frenzy / CD - released 18/Apr/2015 ] Every now and then an exceptional album will arrive on the scene that rewrites the history of local music. With the release of The Clevedonaires, aka The Cleves, aka Bitch the best kept secret of a few is now available for all. Recorded between... |
Cocteau Twins
Heaven or Las Vegas [ 4AD / CD - released 31/Dec/1993 ] "Formed in Scotland in 1979 by guitarist Robin Guthrie and bassist Will Heggie, The Cocteau Twins were later joined by Elizabeth Fraser, an exceptional singer whose gorgeous, operatic style vocals emotively lifted the music to beautiful new... |
The D4
6Twenty One (LP) [ Warner NZ / LP - released 28/Oct/2022 ] Kiwi rock band the D4 are celebrating the 21st anniversary of their critically acclaimed debut record, 6TWENTY. To mark the occasion there will be a limited run of 180g vinyl, a new-take on the album cover, and extensive liner notes written by Dion... |
David Byrne
American Utopia On Broadway (Original Cast Recording) [ ADA / Warner / 2 CD - released 22/Nov/2019 ] David Byrne's sold out international tour in support of his first-ever chart-topping album was the most critically lauded tour of 2018, with fans and critics comparing it to his legendary Stop Making Sense tour with the Talking Heads. In... |
Dudley Benson
Zealandia (LP) [ Golden Retriever Records / 2 LP - released 10/Aug/2018 ] Composer and performer Dudley Benson's long-awaited third album Zealandia is a love record to a drowned continent. An album that explores our identity through twelve meticulously arranged pop songs, Benson's most accomplished work yet was eight years... |
El Michels Affair
Return to the 37th Chamber [ Big Crown / CD - released 21/Apr/2017 ] Return To The 37th Chamber is El Michels Affair's highly anticipated follow up to 2009's underground cult classic Enter the 37th Chamber. This time, in addition to re-interpreting the Wu compositions for a live band, EMA pays homage to the... |
Faye Webster
Underdressed At The Symphony [ Secretly Canadia / CD - released 1/Mar/2024 ] Late last year Faye Webster released two of the album singles, teasing the forthcoming project. "But Not Kiss" was a tension-filled first peek at the record. "It's damn near ecstatic in ambiguity, but it's not a song about indecision. Webster knows... |
Faye Webster
Underdressed At The Symphony (Black Vinyl LP) [ Secretly Canadia / LP - released 1/Mar/2024 ] Late last year Faye Webster released two of the album singles, teasing the forthcoming project. "But Not Kiss" was a tension-filled first peek at the record. "It's damn near ecstatic in ambiguity, but it's not a song about indecision. Webster knows... |
Faye Webster
Underdressed At The Symphony (Blue Vinyl LP) [ Secretly Canadia / LP - released 1/Mar/2024 ] Late last year Faye Webster released two of the album singles, teasing the forthcoming project. "But Not Kiss" was a tension-filled first peek at the record. "It's damn near ecstatic in ambiguity, but it's not a song about indecision. Webster knows... |
GRG67 & Roger Manins
Happy Place [ Rattle Records / CD - released 12/Jun/2020 ] GRG67 follow their Jazz Album of the Year (2019) release, "The Thing", with an album of equally vibrant new compositions. |
Christone "Kingfish" Ingram
Kingfish [ Alligator / CD - released 17/May/2019 ] 2019 release. 20 year-old blues firebrand comes bursting out of Clarksdale, Mississippi, with a sensational debut packed with piercing guitar, husky, impassioned singing and potent songwriting. Kingfish reinvigorates the blues with Ingram's... |
Jonathan Crayford
East West Moon [ Rattle Jazz / CD - released 9/Sep/2016 ] Teaming up once more with the same killer rhythm section on the critically acclaimed Dark Light (2014), Jonathan Crayford returns with another beautiful album. Recording again with engineer Mike Marciano at Systems Two Studio in New York, East West... |
Julia Jacklin
Pre Pleasure [ Polyvinyl / CD - released 26/Aug/2022 ] This breathtaking third album sees Jacklin as her most authentic self, delivering the most intimate, raw and devastating ten songs of her career to date. An uncompromising and masterful lyricist, always willing to mine the depths of her own life... |
Kendrick Lamar
DAMN. (Double LP) [ Interscope / 2 LP - released 30/Jun/2017 ] "DAMN. is a widescreen masterpiece of rap, full of expensive beats, furious rhymes, and peerless storytelling about Kendrick's destiny in America. Life is one funny motherfucker, it's true. "DUCKWORTH.," the last song on Kendrick Lamar's fourth... |
Lana Del Rey
Norman Fucking Rockwell (Double Gatefold LP) [ Polydor / 2 LP - released 28/Feb/2020 ] NFR was mainly produced and co-written with Jack Antonoff and includes 'Venice Bitch,' 'Mariners Apartment Complex,' 'hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but I have it,' and the current release, a cover of Sublime's 'Doin' Time'. |
Lianne La Havas
Lianne La Havas [ Warner UK / CD - released 17/Jul/2020 ] Lianne's third album and her first in five years is an album of startling beauty and insight. Working on writing and exploring her own identity, La Havas spent a lot of time moving back and forth between the UK and the States. As a result, 'Lianne... |
Lindsey Buckingham & Christine McVie
Lindsey Buckingham & Christine McVie [ East West Records / CD - released 9/Jun/2017 ] Longtime members of Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie have joined together to record their first-ever album as a duo. The collaboration began three years ago, when McVie rejoined Fleetwood Mac for the group's "On With The Show"... |
Little Dragon
Slugs Of Love (Translucent Blue Vinyl LP) [ Ninja Tune / LP - released 7/Jul/2023 ] The iconic Swedish 4-piece Little Dragon - spearheaded by vocalist Yukimi Nagano - return with a new and utterly beguiling blend of avant pop on their album Slugs of Love out on Ninja Tune, inviting outright legend Damon Albarn (Gorillaz, Blur) and... |
Little Dragon
Slugs Of Love (Limited Edition Clear Vinyl LP) [ Ninja Tune / LP - released 7/Jul/2023 ] The iconic Swedish 4-piece Little Dragon - spearheaded by vocalist Yukimi Nagano - return with a new and utterly beguiling blend of avant pop on their album Slugs of Love out on Ninja Tune, inviting outright legend Damon Albarn (Gorillaz, Blur) and... |
Lyle Lovett
12th of June (LP) [ Verve / LP - released 15/Jul/2022 ] Lyle Lovett returns with his first new album in over 10 years. The album is an eclectic collection of new originals and beloved interpretations that will please existing fans while inviting new ones. It highlights the dynamics of Lyle and his... |
Mark Turner
Return From The Stars [ ECM Records / CD - released 25/Mar/2022 ] Mark Turner's writing for his quartet on Return from the Stars (titled after Stanislav Lem's science fiction novel) gives the players plenty of space in which to move, on an album both exhilarating and thoughtful in its arc of expression. Solos flow... |
Mitski
Be The Cowboy (LP) [ Dead Oceans / LP - released 17/Aug/2018 ] Hailed as the new vanguard of indie rock following the breakout success of 2016's Puberty 2, Mitski returns with Be The Cowboy. Mitski's carefully crafted songs have often been portrayed as emotionally raw, overflowing confessionals from a fevered... |
Moon Duo
Stars Are The Light [ Sacred Bones / CD - released 27/Sep/2019 ] Stars Are the Light, the luminous seventh album by the American psych explorers Moon Duo, marks a progression into significantly new territory. From a preoccupation with the transcendental and occult that informed Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada's... |
Nadia Reid
Out Of My Province [ Slow Time Records / CD - released 6/Mar/2020 ] Out of My Province showcases Nadia's sharpest songwriting to date, atmospheric arrangements replete with strings and Rhodes, and of course that immense voice, alternately soothing and riveting. |
GARETH FARR
Farr: Warriors from Pluto New Zealand Chamber Orchestra. Strike. Deborah Wai Kapohe, Marc Decio Taddei [ Trust / CD - released 7/Dec/2001 ] New recording featuring two startlingly dramatic works for chamber orchestra |
Phoebe Bridgers
Punisher (LP) [ Dead Oceans / LP - released 19/Jun/2020 ] Phoebe Bridgers doesn't write love songs as much as songs about the impact love can have on our lives, personalities, and priorities. 'Punisher,' her fourth release and second solo album, is concerned with that subject. To say she writes about... |
Princess Chelsea
Everything Is Going To be Alright (LP) [ Lil' Chief / LP - released 7/Oct/2022 ] Princess Chelsea crafted her "nervous breakdown album" Everything is Going to be Alright, at home in pastoral Aotearoa. The album is a comforting offering. These aren't wallowing sad songs, instead, they chronicle Chelsea Nikkel's recovery, and... |
Recitals
Orbit I (Clear Vinyl LP) [ Papaiti Records / Flying Nun Records / LP - released 26/Aug/2022 ] Flying Nun Records are pleased to announce their latest signing, Recitals, a 7-piece band based in both Te Whanganui-A-Tara and Tāmaki Makaurau. They are made up of Xanthe Rook (Bass/Vocals), Tharushi Bowatte (Trumpet), Carla Camilleri (Keys/Vocals),... |
Reuben Bradley, Roger Manins & Brett Hirst
Shark Variations [ Rattle Jazz / CD - released 16/Jun/2017 ] One of New Zealand's most revered drummers and jazz composers, Reuben Bradley teams up with Roger Manins (sax) and Brett Hirst (bass) for his fourth Rattle release. Recorded after their New Zealand tour in September 2016 (by Rattle's in-house... |
Robert Plant
Carry Fire [ Nonesuch / Warner Music / CD - released 13/Oct/2017 ] Carry Fire, Robert Plant's eleventh solo album and first full-length release since 2014's acclaimed Lullaby and...The Ceaseless Roar, was produced by Plant in the west of England and Wales, at Top Cat studio in Box, Wiltshire with additional... |
Taylor Swift
Folklore (Double Gatefold LP) [ Universal / 2 LP - released 27/Nov/2020 ] Most of the things Taylor Swift had planned for the summer of 2020 didn't end up happening but…there was something magical that did happen, the surprise release of her 8th studio album, folklore. "Before this year I probably would've overthought... |
Tiny Ruins
Ceremony [ Ursa Minor / CD - released 28/Apr/2023 ] A rare blend of eloquent lyrical craft and explorative musicianship, the songs of Tiny Ruins are etched into the memories of crowds and critics worldwide. Traversing influences that cross genre and era, the artistry of Hollie Fullbrook and her band... |
Tyler, The Creator
Igor (LP) [ Sony / LP - released 11/Oct/2019 ] Produced entirely by Tyler, IGOR features guest appearances from Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, Solange, Kanye West, and Jerrod Carmichael, along with backing vocals from Santigold, Jessy Wilson, La Roux, CeeLo Green, Charlie Wilson, Slowthai, and... |
Vera Ellen
Ideal Home Noise [ Flying Nun / CD - released 31/Mar/2023 ] Ideal Home Noise is a record unearthed from much introspection and an attempt to find some comedy and lightness in an otherwise dark period for Vera Ellen. With two "voices" battling throughout the album, the instrumentation is sometimes light -... |