VALLKYRIE 'CHURCH ON PARK AVE'

“Church on Park Ave” is an acoustic album written and performed by New Zealand 3 piece band Vallkyrie (Shae Sterling), to be released March 23rd. It was recorded live in a renovated church on a desolate beach near Wellington (Waitarere). The band's unplugged renditions of previously released tracks, explore new soundscapes and moods that gel together perfectly. Guest violinist, Hannah Fang who has impressed audiences all over the world (even the royal family) performs on 2 songs and brings some beautiful solos and moody elements. The result is an impressive easy listening vibe with influence from Celtic music, Folk, African percussion and acoustic Rnb.

Vallkyrie is 3 piece band hailing from South Auckland, New Zealand. Exploding onto the stage with powerful glam rock anthems mixed with tribal dance beats and moody dark jams they have summoned from ancient cultures. There is no other band quite like this, their prolific songwriting and organic instruments is a breath of fresh air amongst a saturated music arena.

Vallkyrie has been wowing fans from 2015, and have completed a 12 show New Zealand tour in 2017, multiple festivals (Splore, Big Gay Out, George in the Park), and have also opened for international acts such as Safia (Australia). Vallkyrie debut EP (2017) went straight to the top of the NZ heatseekers chart. 2018 is an exciting year as they release their 2nd EP containing their crowd favourite songs, plus an acoustic EP “Church on Park Ave”. Vallkyrie will also embark on an Australasian Tour.

“Honestly, you need to see and hear Vallkyrie” ~ Paul Goddard (muzic.net.nz)

TAITE MUSIC PRIZE - FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

Independent Music NZ (IMNZ) is very pleased to announce that the finalists for the Taite Music Prize 2018 have been confirmed. Now in its ninth year, the Taite Music Prize recognises outstanding creativity for an entire collection of music contained on one recording.

Named after the late Dylan Taite, one of New Zealand’s most respected music journalists, the prize-winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000 to be spent as they wish, thanks to Taite Music Prize founding partner Recorded Music NZ; recording time at Red Bull Studios Auckland; and a year’s supply of Red Bull product. This year’s eight finalists, from a lengthy list of 92 nominations submitted by record labels both independent and major from across the country, are:

Aldous Harding - Party  (Flying Nun Records)
Fazerdaze - Morningside  (Flying Nun Records)
Grayson Gilmour - Otherness (Flying Nun Records)
Kane Strang - Two Hearts and No Brain (Dead Oceans)
Mermaidens - Perfect Body (Flying Nun Records)
Nadia Reid - Preservation (SPUNK!)
TEEKS - The Grapefruit Skies (TEEKS)
The Bads - Losing Heroes (The Bads)

The eight albums in contention for the 2018 prize include fresh faces and familiar New Zealand musicians alike. Previous Taite Music Prize finalists all return with their sophomore albums:  Nadia Reid returns with Preservation, Aldous Harding with Party and her label-mate Grayson Gilmour with his Otherness album. Brand new finalists include Fazerdaze with Morningside, TEEKS with The Grapefruit Skies and Kane Strang with his sophomore record Two Hearts and No Brain as do Mermaidens with Perfect Body.  The Bads join the finalists list with their album number four, Losing Heroes.

IMNZ General Manager, Dylan Pellett, says, “It’s been another exciting banner year for New Zealand music and this year’s finalists are a true reflection of the best local recordings. I wish all the finalists every success.”

This year the Taite Music Prize will be announced at a presentation at The Civic’s Wintergarden in Auckland on Tuesday 17th April 2018.

Alongside the main prize, two additional awards will again be presented at the ceremony: the Independent Music NZ Classic Record Award and the Auckland Live Best Independent Debut Award, celebrating the freshest talent of Aotearoa. The winner receives a $2,000 cash prize and a live performance slot programmed at Auckland Live.

BAKERS EDDY 'SAD AND HAPPY'

Bakers Eddy (Claire Gormly) have released their new video for 'Sad and Happy', and have managed to score a premiere on Tone Deaf.

The song has had a great reception so far in Australia, shooting the band to number 8 in the Triple J Unearthed punk charts and getting radio play on community stations around the country.

It continues the bands intention to inflitrate the world of Australian rock!

“We wanted a video that reflected our modern day addiction and dependence to social media and virtual presence.

Basically the video is four gamer mates trapped in an alternate reality battling the web jockey bullshit in an 8bit spin off of your favorite dated console games. We wanted to portray how living on social media fully absorbs your existence in the same way that consoles suck you in.”

— Bakers Eddy

I Am Giant release video for ‘Don’t Look Back’

I Am Giant are pleased to release the video for their new single 'Don't Look Back'
 
With the single ‘Don’t Look Back’, I Am Giant found a way to honor the frenetic energy of their early days and the adventures that came with them. The video further reflects on some of the highlights from one of New Zealand’s most successful rock acts of recent times.
 
‘The last 10 years as I Am Giant have been just huge. We’ve written some good tunes, taken them round the world, met some awesome people, played amazing shows and festivals, and most importantly, we’ve had so much fun doing it. So when it came to making a music video for this single, our friend Adam Jones, who has worked on so many of our other videos, went through a load of our historical footage and cut together 4 mins of highlights looking back over the years.” says Paul Matthews, bassist, writer and producer.

‘Don’t Look Back’ is available now on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes and all other digital platforms.
 
I Am Giant’s third and final album ‘Life in Captivity’ will be released on March 16th via AWAL and Rhythmethod.  The band are touring New Zealand in April.
 
The Rock presents ‘Life in Captivity’ Album Release Tour
 
Thursday 5th April             Tauranga – Totara Street
Saturday 7th April              Wellington - Homegrown
Friday 13th April                Hamilton - Altitude
Saturday 14th April            Auckland - Galatos
Thursday 19th April           Nelson – Armadillos
Friday 20th April                Greymouth – The Australasian Hotel
Sat 21st April                     Christchurch – Armadillos

Van-dwelling duo 'Aro' set off on their nationwide tour

"Aro mai, aro atu, arohā"

Aro are a New Zealand jazz-pop, husband and wife duo made up of Charles (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Waikato, Te Ati Awa) and Emily Looker (nee Rice). The pair have packed up their life into a van and are on a Aoteroa-wide tour.

NATIONWIDE TOUR DATES

March 9th | Leigh Sawmill | w. The Low Low | Leigh | TICKETS

March 14th | Butter Factory | Whangarei | Koha

March 15th | Milk & Honey | Whangarei | Koha

March 18th | Deep Dreek Brewery | Browns Bay | Free Show

March 25th | The Bunker | Auckland | $10 on the door

April 1st | Tairua Beach Club | Tairua | Free Show with set menu

April 2nd | The Old Mill House | Tairua | Free Show

April 7th | Paisley Stage | Napier | $10 on the door

April 11th | Meow | w. Arcee Rapper | Wellington | $10 on the door

April 29th | Blue Smoke | Christchurch | Koha

May 4th | Dee’s Cafe | Dunedin | $10 on the door

May 6th | Bellamy’s Gallery | Dunedin | $10 on the door

May 11th | Drunken Octopus | Stewart Island | $10 on the door

May 13th | Level One Bar | Invercargill | Dine & Listen for free

May 16th | World Bar | Queenstown | Free show

May 18th | Sombrero’s | Free show

May 19th | Queenstown Market 1-3pm | Queenstown

May 19th | Sherwood | W. Nicole Andrews | Queenstown | TICKETS

May 25th | Pub on the Wharf | Queenstown | Free Show

May 26th | Muskets & Moonshine | Queenstown | Free Show

June dates to be announced soon

Last July, Aro released their debut 'Aro EP' (28/07/2017), four tracks that talk about their newly-wed love for each other and of their life together.

Since then, the pair have ditched their full time jobs to live in a van and pursue music. They came up with the idea to call their duo 'Aro' because of the conversation they feel sharing music brings. "Aro" is to face and to be faced. They're all about connecting with people, sharing stories and hearing stories, and all done in love. "Aro mai, Aro atu, Aroha".

Their first summer was spent on the road playing from campground to campground, gig to gig around the north island completing their debut campground tour; where the couple exchanged music for a few nights accommodation at some of the most buzzing kiwi campgrounds, bringing people together around songs and stories.

The nationwide tour begins at Leigh Sawmill on Friday 9th of April where they’ll be joined by local band “The Low Low”. With over 25 gig's booked, the van-dwelling duo are taking their music all over Aotearoa, venturing as far south as Stewart Island and back to the top.

As well as working on an album due to release in Summer 2018/2019, Aro are creating their ‘Van Jams’; quirky videos recorded live from their van (Jamba).

HELEN CORRY 'LA FEMME'

Helen Corry (Fenella Stratton) is back with a new killer tune! 
 
Today she officially releases ‘La Femme’, after it premiered on New Zealand’s number one tastemaker station, George FM earlier in the week. 
 
Listen on SPOTIFY or APPLE
 
A beat-driven track with an uplifting chorus, and produced by Rory Noble (Chores, Jupiter Project, Mitch James), Corry says ‘La Femme’ is her contribution to the current conversation around gender equality. 
 
“It is a call to the women of the world, who are fighting to be heard, to keep fighting. It’s also a dig at all those people who have told us for so long, to sit down and be quiet.”
 
Corry is no stranger to the New Zealand music scene, having featured on countless chart-topping tunes, such as Jetski Safari’s ‘Like A Lie’ and Jupiter Project’s ‘With You’.

She’s also a force to be reckoned with in her own right, with her first solo single ‘Strike’, which was released in October 2017, currently #1 on Radioscope’s Dance Chart.
 
Corry has also maintained a constant presence on the live circuit, performing at New Zealand’s biggest festivals and events, from Rhythm N’ Vines and Homegrown, to Synthony and Deep Hard ‘N’ Funky. 
 
‘La Femme’ is the second single from Corry’s upcoming EP.

The Noisefloor release the first video from the epic "Tavern Of Power Project"

Late last year Matthew Crawley and Nicholas Harrison announced they were closing down their much loved bar, The Golden Dawn: Tavern Of Power. However, they couldn’t go out without a bang; an epic summer programmed with their favourite artists, DJs and events. 69 nights of the best talent around.

So much more than a bar The Golden Dawn: Tavern Of Power is an important community space.  Originally intended as simply a Ponsonby pop-up the venue soon took on a more noteworthy role. It is the spiritual home to a multitude of musicians, artists, professionals and other creatives. A much loved performance space of both indie and mainstream artists. The audience a unique intersection of urban professionals and fringe bohemians. It is vital jewel in the Auckland nightlife crown… and it always sounds great!

It was with all this in mind that long time sound engineer Bob Frisbee and had an idea: The Tavern Of Power Project - he and the team at The Noisefloor would multi-track record and multi-camera film every single performance in the venue’s final three months. All 69 shows!!

The aim of the project is to capture a complete snapshot of a significant cultural hub. One that’s been a incubator and showcase for many upcoming and major artists over the last seven years. To capture both the performances and the atmosphere.

The project is intended as both an archive and a celebration; of the venue’s diversity, inclusivity and above all the exceptional music that graced it’s tiny stage.  There will be a vast pool of all types footage filmed over the 3 months; from the base crew of camera people and guest shooters who have a long association with the venue and the performers. It is firmly impressed upon all camera people that they are to maintain a low key presence.. not be in the face of patrons or performers and to not interfere with the special Golden Dawn vibe.

The epic lineup of final shows includes: Nadia Reid, Samuel Flynn Scott & Luke Buda (Phoenix Foundation), Lawrence Arabia, Tiny Ruins, The Beths, Surfing USSR, Tyra And The Tornados, Slumbug, Shoddy, Sal Valentine And The Babyshakes, Magic Factory, Wax Chattels, Womb, Best Bets, Emily Edrosa, The Situations, Voom, Shaft, Jonathan Besser And The Zestnicks, Suren Unka, Heavy, Dbldbl, Coco Solid, Water, Sea Views, The Groove Sessions, Bonaparte, GAMER, The Sandy Mill Band, Francois, The Atlas Mountains, Hopetoun Brown, Peter Baecker, Trip Pony, Skilaa, Echo Oh’s, Centre Negative, File Folder, LA Suffocated, Flying So High-Os, Soccer Practise, Lisa Crawley, Boycrush, Audrey’s Dance, Spring Break, Guardian Singles, The Ruby Suns, Tono, Randa, Caitlin Smith, The Big Flip Massive, Carb On Carb, Being, The Circling Sun, Herriot Row, Spanner, Fabulous Arabia, Delaney Davidson, Jebu Pleasure Club, Ruckus, Orchestra Of Spheres, New Farben, Dateline, Polyester.

The results so far have been amazing and The Noisefloor is kicking the project off with a teaser video on their website, which provides a taste of what is to come. There are lot’s of exciting ideas in the works...announcements soon.

“Some nights at Golden Dawn you just knew..  this was the best thing happening in the world right now.”

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/tavernofpowerproject

www.thenoisefloor.co.nz/tavern-of-power-project.html

ARIA NICHOLS 'TEMPTATION'

Aria Nichols new single ‘Temptation’ follows hot on the heels of her November 2017 debut single ‘See Where This Goes’. Temptation tells the story of lust at first sight, a highly relatable account of the initial moments of a rather temporary but intense attraction. Aria explores the darker side to the club scene with subtle references to ecstasy use with lines such as ‘before the buzz wears off’ and also gently touches on issues of consent with ‘before the love is gone’. The relaxed melody and sleepy vocals set the scene, with Don Fuego’s tropical vibe drop perfectly complementing the mood. 

Aria has launched an exciting, intense release schedule for her music, with her signature sound and catchy melodies she is sure to keep her name in the spotlight over the coming months!