Monthly Feature by Tim Gruar.
It’s been a turbulent time over the last two or three weeks. No one can ignore the crazy weather flowing over the motu. Or the crazy news coming in from America. The over turning of Roe vs Wade by the Supreme Court, striking at the heart of Women’s Rights has been particularly upsetting. There was the sentencing of R. Kelly for human trafficking. And then there are endless revelations coming out from the Congressional Enquiry into the events of January 6th , which have been truly mind-blowing. How could that man create so much chaos? The United States of Anxiety have truly been founded.
In Aussie they have a new leader. One of Anthony Albanese’s Government first activities is to introduce a discussion on giving an ‘indigenous voice’ to all first nation Australians and representation in their political environment, and is looking at out own Maori Electoral system alongside other examples around the world. We sit back and watch the fur start to fly on that one. Australia is on a similar journey to us and is where we were about 30 years ago. Good luck to them.
Back here in Aotearoa, we have just celebrated our first Matariki Public Holiday. It feels right to do this now, in these times as we finally start to shed the heavy cloak of Colonialism and discover who we really are as an independent nation. No one will deny what a draining two years it’s been, and Matariki was a chance to send all that anguish back to the stars.
On the music front, many bands have been emerging from the woodwork, touring even. We’ve been lucky to already see shows from L.A.B, Cate Le Bon, Chelsea Wolfe, and Perfume Genius. And more are coming. Local acts like the Bleeders and Nadia Reid are beginning their own tours shortly, and bigger events like Elemental Nights with international acts like Jungle and Dope Lemon, are about to kick off in Tamaki Makarau. Things are hotting up!
New music continues to come in every day. So, without further ado, here’s this month’s choice selections…
Tuscoma – The Importance of Being Vogue
There are plenty of Heavy Metal albums out there already dedicated to Satan, anguish, angst, death and the afterlife. Poneke outfit, Tuscoma (Kurt Williams -vocals, guitar and Joe Wright – drums) want to take this to the next level with a song that blows you up with a hit of intense and venomous narcotics . On their third, with a name that appears to be blatantly stolen from ominously named after the fashion label, ‘Gu-cci’, challenges that extreme metal mold, pokes a bit of fun at it too, and pushes the boundaries of the genre.
Their new single ‘The Importance of Being Vogue’ stays on message for the band bringing in their black metal influences but mixing in extra elements of swing and finely de-constructed harmony. Play it LOUD.
Dark Divinity – Left For Dead
More tunes from the darkness with melodic-death outfit Dark Divinity, who are set to release their debut album ‘Unholy Rapture’ this September. “Straddling the line between melodic-death and thrash-metal, the band claim in a statement, their new single ‘Left For Dead’ “grabs the listener by the throat within its first few seconds, erupting immediately into an all-out savagery of high-tempo instrumentation with a rapid-fire assault of harsh-vocals following close behind.” Check the rather gnarly video produced by the band’s vocalist Jesse Wheeler.
Pulp – Help The Aged
Ok, so, not a new release. This track came out way back in 1998, from the album ‘This is Hardcore’, when Jarvis Corker was at the height of his powers. We feature it this time, in honor of Cocker’s first autobiography or ‘Inventory’ as he calls it, which is due to hit bookstores later this month. Entitled ‘Good Pop Bad Pop’, and written with Cocker’s usual sardonic wit, it’s a funny, revealing and highly original recount of his career and life to date.
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult – Any Way Ya Wanna
It’s over thirty years since My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult put out ‘Sexplosion!’ an album that squeezed the sharp edges monsters of industrial music into the skin tight lycra of club-friendly disco. This near-forgotten outtake, ‘Any Way Ya Wanna’ from those sessions has been remade by the band channeling all the goodness of mid century disco bolstered by super-funky horns, bouncy piano and keyboard, retro film-clip samples, and spruced up vocals from frontman Groovie Mann ordering us “do it any way you can.”
To jazz up the grooves even further the video, with a psychedelic montage of fuzzy band imagery of the band’s early ‘90 aesthetic, directed by sound and visual artist Animoscillator.
Kora – Taraketi
Kora have just rerecorded their song 2004 ‘Politician’ rebranding it as ‘Taraketi’ as their contribution to the Waiata /Anthems project. A Taraketi is an important figure in te ao Māori that makes decisions for an iwi, similar to a member of council.
Produced by two of the bands founding members Fran Kora and Dan McGruer, the re-recording has not just been rewritten for the project, ‘Taraketi’ is a completely fresh take on the original featuring an additional guitar solo from L.A.B’s Joel Shadbolt, while that bassline and those harmonies allow the lyrics to shine through classic Kora funky synth lines.
Danica Bryant – Crush
Fellow Ambient Light crew member Rob Harbers referred to Hawkes Bay siren Danica Bryant as “venomous” yet “passionate”. Her first ep ‘Cider’ came along in 2020, including the song ‘Dizzy’, which scooped a National APRA Lyric Award (2018). The following year she won the Play It Strange’s national ‘Who Loves Who’ contest, and was a finalist in the Lion Foundation Songwriting Competition. She’s also received mentorship from Bic Runga. She was ‘cherry picked’ to support Elton John on his ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour in 2020.
Now residing in Poneke, Bryant has been busy creating more music. With her 2022 sophomore EP ‘Ego Death’, Bryant “delivers bombastic pop production with lyrical force and an attitude like no other”. So says her website. ‘Crush’, the first track from the new ep is a song wrapped in candy sweet pop but full of those clever barbs and venomous bite she’s fast becoming famous for.
Sampa The Great – Never Forget feat. Chef 187, Tio Nason, Mwanje
Sampa Tembo, (aka Sampa the Great), is a Zambian-born Australia-based rapper and songwriter. Her debut solo album, ‘The Return’, peaked at No. 12 on the ARIA Albums Chart and at the ARIA Music Awards 2019 she won Best Hip Hop Release for her second single, “Final Form”.
She returns in December with her new album ‘As Above, So Below’, which sees her memories “of Africa, Africa’s relationship to the world, and what womanhood in Africa means to the world.” The album, from which the track we now feature, also includes contributions from a wide wage of world music artist including Denzel Curry, Kojey Radical, Angélique Kidjo, James Sakala, Joey Bada$$, and more.
HUNJIYA – Favorite
Fans of Billie Eilish or Mitski might resonate with Seoul-based singer, songwriter and producer HUNJIYA (pronounced hun-jee-yah) – aka Alice Kim. This track is from her new album KHAMAI. ‘Favourite’ is a refreshing blend of pop, alternative RnB, jazz and folk. For the album, HUNJIYA wrote all the songs and produced the majority of the tracks. ‘Favorite” was also produced by the South Korean producer Millic (밀릭).
WILLOW – Maybe It’s My Fault
Proving she’s a team player independent artist WILLOW, actor, singer and daughter of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, has put out a number of single track collaborations with artists like Yungblud (‘Memories’) and her industrial metal track with Siiickbrain called ‘Purge’. She also guested on Camila Cabello’s song ‘psychofreak’. Machine Gun Kelly and WILLOW also teamed up on his hit single, “emo girl, feat. WILLOW.”
It’s My Fault is the follow up to WILLOW’s 2021 album, ‘lately I feel EVERYTHING’, which showcased her pop-punk debut and included efforts from Travis Barker and Avril Lavigne.
Anteloper – One Living Genius
We couldn’t help adding inhere something truly bizzare. Electronic jazz is a thing. Sort of. Anteloper’s album ‘Pink Dolphins’ is built on the acoustic foundations of Jaimie Branch’s trumpet and drummer Jason Nazary’s wild percussion but completely soaked to the skin with electrification and experimentation, as if 80’s TV scientist Magnus Pike has come back and collaborated with Thomas Dolby to reinvent sound system culture, and conduct genre cross-pollinations of Miles Davis’ ‘Live-Evil’ album. The album is loud, playful and oddly familiar yet challenging and awkward. The duo’s instinctive interplay and expansive approach involve cryptic layering of sound further bolstered by additional noise production from Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker.
Barbie Bertisch – Is This What You Wanted
Bertisch is Buenos Aires born and raised, now living as a multidisciplinary artist in Brooklyn, NY. With her partner Paul Raffaele, she co-founded ‘Love Injection Fanzine’, in 2015, which has now become a weekly radio show on Brooklyn’s The Lot Radio. She writes and performs alone and with various partners including bands like Attention and Seedy Films. She may be new to our ears, but definitely one to watch as she grows her repertoire.
WARGASM – D.R.I.L.D.O
WARGASM are a British electronic rock duo from London. Originally started in 2018 by musician Sam Matlock and model Milkie Way (aka Rachel Hastings), they have put out 11 solo singles and four collaborative singles. Brit alt press salivate, calling them a defining part of the 2020s wave of nu metal land influential rags like NME have listed them as one of 2021’s essential emerging artists. Their debut full-length release, ‘Explicit: The Mixxxtape’ is planned over this year’s UK summer.
This video is both hilarious and frightening. We won’t lie to you. It’s violent and compelling. It’s a challenge with all the punk rage and anti-social behavior that has fueled rock’n’roll and rebellion since it’s inception. It’s a retaliation against the conservative world. But it’s also an acknowledgement of it’s own cliché and a bit of a nod to Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.
So, whanau, there we have it. The sixth Singles Club for the year. We’ve tried to add a bit of everything. But, as is the way, we always seem to miss something, so we’d be keen to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Have you heard a new track this month that needs to be bought to our attention? Tell us all about it in the comments below, and we’ll see you all with another instalment next month!
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