Tāmaki Makaurau is home to a band that brings avant-garde into a new, sonic dimension. Repairs, made up of Martin Phillips (he/him), Nicola Edwards (she/her) and James Milne (he/him), bring us their new single and promo video, Map, Territory. We’re treated to a feedback-laden wall of distorted sound, blended rather skillfully and putting me in…

Tauranga’s Sophie-Maude has just dropped her third single, Vertigo. Co-written by the artist and Ben Malone, who produced the track at Parachute (before sending it over to Kog for mastering), the song was engineered to give off the vibe of the listener being on an emotional rollercoaster. Now, all-out Pop music has a very definitive…

Hawkes Bay’s Classic Metal exponents Black Smoke Trigger bring us their new single Perfect Torture. The genre cluster these guys live in and perform from is quite literally what I grew from teenager to adult listening to. The number of close personal friends I could name who would love this band would easily top three…

Ahhh and the Ska lads have done it again! This is fabuloso! Skarpakazoo has a new single out on Friday 26th Jan with the delightful title Piss Away. Recorded at Tauranga’s Fragile Colours studio, they’ve produced another absolute foot-stomper of a single. With the message being enjoy yourself but don’t let it take you and…

How would life be if the Beastie Boys combined with the Lightning Seeds? If the hip-hop beats sitting beneath heavy-ass guitars giving off a percussive snarl, pseudo-arrogant and in your face for the sake of seeing your face retreating out of their space, with thundering bass and a vocal resonating with indie class morphing into…

From their sophomore album Still At Large, HEAVY Metal act Imperial Slave brings us their new single Exterminate. Consisting of vocalist Sam Sheppard, guitar players Isaac Lundy and Anthony Hati, bass player Achilles Manley and drummer Matt Wright, these guys bring you an absolute roar through the genre. I’m open about my musical tastes, and…

Whoooooooaaaaa, and they have done it AGAIN for me. Taranaki’s swamp-blues combo The Mons Whaler has released new single Blood, and I am horizontal with chill-out factor. Absolutely sublime song! I’m tempted to end THERE, frankly, but I’ll elaborate. We’ve got a laid-back vibe to the song as it starts. A steel guitar sound, oozing…

The new single is out from Kirikiriroa’s duo Bird Machine. Luke and Jenna have brought us a multi-genre spanning work that is deeply thought out lyrically and performed with technical precision and hearts on sleeves – as they always do with their writing. It’s been great to see the duo has been playing some good…

Okay. I’m a Welsh bloke. Born, raised, still got the accent. I am scratching my noggin trying to think of a more Welsh name than Evan Rhys though! This multi-instrumentalist from New Plymouth certainly means business, and I’ll tell you for why. There’s not many who I have known who would engage man-who-is-everywhere-right-now, the infallible…

And the Auckland heavy rock band factory delivers up another elite quality act in Swerve City. Man these guys pack a punch! Consisting of Kev Ashby, JP Carroll, Adam Forsdyke and Shannon Coulomb, we have ourselves a classic four piece that certainly delivers on the classic rock sound. I’ve not got the info on where…