Ooooooooh, RIGHT up my alley! Auckland based avant-garde metal/indie artist Minimaiz enlists the considerable talents of vocalist Ivy Marie to put a touch of snarl to the extremely heavy sound of new single Big. Massive guitars, some cool, unique percussive effects, a monster rhythm section and some deep, dark lyrics accompany a bittersweet, Gothic/Industrial melody.…

Sassy and now, tongue in cheek and relevant, Wellington’s Danica Bryant gives us her new single Libra. A song about the transparency and fleetingness of things like social media, fashion, astrology – when used as a means of judgement and condemnation. This is a pop single with teeth. Danica‘s lyrics are at surface level quite…

Maxine Macaulay is a Wellington-based artist, and vocalist/brains behind Goodnight My Darling. This new single, The Empress, is her first release since her eponymously-titled debut 2022 album, and is dark, compelling and ever so slightly scary. Wonderful! If someone wanted to put Portishead, Bjork, Kate Bush, Julia Deans and Everything But The Girl together to…

Wellington-local but proud native of the Philippines, Jeline is an artist with an incredible set of pipes! This was the first thing I noticed when I started listening to this number. This lady brings it from somewhere way down deep, and then goes a little further. With an impressive array of octaves, she’s absolutely fabulous…

Sydney-based Kiwi Country music artist Abby Christo beings us her latest single Shouldn’t Be Doing This. Now, with it having been recorded in Sydney but then produced, mixed and mastered in no less than Nashville, Tennessee itself – this single is literally dripping Country. Afficionados are going to flip for it. Now, Country is one…

Michèle Ducray is my kind of performer. She’s uniquely talented, in that she’s a fabulous singer, dancer and performer, but she’s also fearless and openly dark. I’ve reviewed a couple of her tracks before, and loved them, but this is the best of the three so far. Throne Of Mine is a synth-pop track basking…

London-based Aucklander Jupita (Julia Morris) brings us Want You Back, the title track for her up-coming debut EP. Produced by Levi Patel, Justyn Pilbrow and Maude Minnie Morris, this is an indie gem with layered guitars, stadium level drums, and a warm, understated yet effective bottom end. Very much a produced sound, it strays into…

New Zealand has this knack of making beautiful music that spans genres one would never believe possible. Taranaki’s alt-Swamp Blues band The Mons Whaler has certainly captured this with the title track to their new EP Won’t Let You Go. Comprising vocalist/guitarist Hemi Coates, bass/BVs Phil Hoskin, Drums/Percussion/BVs Andre Peri and keyboards/BVs/lead guitar Courtnay Low,…

This is a different genre to what I normally look for, but wow, what a compelling sound! Goblin Problem is the solo project for Cheap Sav For Dead Friends frontman Jack (great first name) Buchanan, and is NOT the same type of music at all. This is a trance-esque, slightly Moby, slightly Empire Of The…

The Julian Temple Band has been around for many, many years and the experience shows. The single I’m reviewing today is named Tunnels, eponymously as it turns out as that is also the name of their seventh album, just released. Julian Temple sings with an unmissable, unique timbre. One second the post-punk raspy growl of…