Posts in tag

Aotearoa


The Bats are still swinging from the glorious imperious belfry as the legendary band announce the release of their new album ‘Corner Coming Up’ on 17 October, preceded by the release of the shimmering single ‘Luck Day’. Since the sad death of The Chills’ Martin Phillipps, The Bats continue to stand tall as survivors of …

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Aotearoa/New Zealand’s fabulous  Ringlets have released their second album, endearingly entitled ‘The Lord Is My German Shepherd (Time For Walkies)’ and it is a blast of thoroughly commendable sonic joy. Ringlets so epitomise the classic Dunedin sound it is kind of fitting they are on the legendary Flying Nun and Leather Jackets Records label: intelligent wry pop at its very …

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New Zealand’s Ringlets  recently announced the release of their second album, with the cute title ‘The Lord Is My German Shepherd (Time For Walkies)’ for 27 June 2025, and have unveiled the third thrilling single ‘I Was on That Roof Once’. It follows the earlier singles ‘Heavenly Wheel’ and ‘Street Message’ (reviewed by me here and here …

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New Zealand’s Ringlets  recently announced the release of their second album, endearingly entitled ‘The Lord Is My German Shepherd (Time For Walkies)’ for 27 June 2025, and have unveiled the second delicious tempting morsel, the single ‘Street Message. It follows the earlier single ‘Heavenly Wheel’ (reviewed by me here). Ringlets have that classic Dunedin sound and …

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Under the moniker Hemi Hemingway, Aotearoan/New Zealand auteur Shaun Blackwell has released the exciting thrum of ‘(To Be) Without You’, a vibrant enigmatic track that is luminsicent as it is thrilling. With Hemingway’s deep sonorous vocals that shake the foundations and a motorik beat, the track is filled with a luscious instrumentation including soaring saxophones …

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Surely the sun shines brighter the day we are blessed with another single from the living legends The Bats, one of the finest exports from Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud. It’s been five long years since their last album and The Bats have today released their new single ‘Loline’, while in the …

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Last year’s ‘Soft Power’ from Fazerdaze, released through Buttrfly/Virgin Music Group, was for me one of the albums of the year (see my review here). Fazerdaze spent a lot of the time since that release touring extensively across the US and Australia in support of Pond and Finneas and has only now had time to organise …

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There is a dreamy heartbreakingly beautiful shimmer to the new album from Aotearoa/New Zealand artist Nik Brinkman that glows like the stars over the expansive southern hemisphere skies. Brinkman last blew us away here at Backseat Mafia back in 2021 with his debut album ‘Secret Stairs’ (see my review here) and in the intervening time has …

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Ahead of the release of his new album ‘World Within’, New Zealand dream pop artist Nik Brinkman has followed up his first single in a few years, ‘Long Way To Go’, with a second positively shimmering release, ‘Where Are You Now’. With languid laid back vocals channeling Jim Reid from The Jesus and Mary Chain, the …

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Reb Fountain is building up heady anticipation for her new album ‘How Love Bends’ with the release of another breathtaking track ‘Nothing Like’: an absolutely delicious, shimmering track punctuated by an air of melancholia and with ethereal strings wafting through the ether. There is a carefree romanticism in the track: Fountain’s vocals are like a …

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