#New Zealand

Chelsea Jade - Soft Spot - cover artwork

Chelsea Jade Makes Enigmatic Pop Music for Outsiders with Soft Spot LP

Chelsea Jade has always felt like an outsider in the music industry. Even after making the voyage to Los Angeles from her isolating home country of New Zealand, Jade’s journey in music has always seemed like something that happened despite her plan, not because of it. She went to art school and...

Sara Barron

Jamie McDell Recalls A Life of Wonder and Risk on Her Fourth Album

So it is with the thirteen lovingly crafted tracks on Jamie McDell's self-titled fourth album, pearls of wisdom and wonder formed by an...

Cat Woods

BROODS Take Experimental Approach to Processing Heartbreak on Space Island LP

Georgia and Caleb Nott of Kiwi brother/sister duo BROODS have crafted their most conceptual, atmospheric album to date with Space Island. Their fourth album is chock-full of heartbreak-on-the-dancefloor beats, bass and confessional lyrics, with the compositions dipping into artsy, experimental...

Cat Woods

Five Can't-Miss 2021 Albums from the Eclectic New Zealand Music Scene

Kendall Elise // Photo Credit: Kristin Cofer Australian music press and fans often look to the US and UK when seeking new sounds. It is to our detriment though, when so many diverse and divinely talented musicians and producers are emerging from the North and South Islands of New Zealand (Aotearoa...

Cat Woods

Flying Nun Founder Roger Shepherd On Forty Years of The New Zealand Label's Highs and Lows

Flying Nun Records' office circa 1982 This story begins a long time ago, in a faraway land. Not Narnia, that's another story. But, like the C.S. Lewis classic chronicles, this story has all manner of magical creatures, wild wardrobes and wondrous landscapes. Forty years ago, Roger Shepherd founded...

Cat Woods

Zone6-Artist-Photos-Purple-Pilgrims-1920

Purple Pilgrims Find Comfort in the Past with "Ancestors Watching"

Summer 2021 began optimistically, shots in arms and money in pockets. This optimism, while not dead, has wilted in the face of the Delta variant, that science offered us a miracle and so many squandered it. There’s simultaneously joy in our newfound armor, and sorrow for those we needlessly lost....

Mandy Brownholtz

New Zealand's Georgia Lines Makes Directorial Debut with "Call Me By My Name" Video

” In a stylized split-screen video (her directorial debut), she stands knee -deep in the crystalline waters...

Jamila Aboushaca

Sarah Mary Chadwick Makes Friends with Ennui

Known both for her solo work...

Cat Woods

Emily Edrosa Dives Deep on Another Wave is Coming LP

"I could just see the rest of...

Lindsey Rhoades

PREMIEREEden Iris Sings About Loss and Hope on "Blue Home"

Her words paint a picture against electronic beats and string instruments: "There's a storm coming in, grab your...

Annie White

ALBUM REVIEWYumi Zouma "Willowbank"

Yumi Zouma photo by Aaron Lee It's only been a year since New Zealand’s Yumi Zouma debuted with Yoncalla, a polished batch of ten disco-infused indie pop tracks. But the Kiwi quartet have already returned with follow-up Willowbank, a subdued collection of dreamy songs that explore the fundamentally...

Mandy Brownholtz