Get to know Zoe Moon "In Person"
With her new liberating and playful single, this budding Artist/Producer/Powerhouse brings to us a fantastic fusion of Hip Hop, Pop, and R&B, positively stacked with her trademark Vocal Kung Fu. Inspired by 90’s Hip Hop & video game nostalgia, Zoe lets her guard down in an all-too-relatable song depicting her struggle "translating" her true self in this digital age.
Zoe Moon
shares upbeat R&B single "In Person"
Listen to "In Person"
Watch "In Person"
Zoe Moon is better off "In Person".
With her new liberating and playful single, this budding Artist/Producer/Powerhouse brings to us a fantastic fusion of Hip Hop, Pop, and R&B, positively stacked with her trademark Vocal Kung Fu. Inspired by 90’s Hip Hop & video game nostalgia, Zoe lets her guard down in an all-too-relatable song depicting her struggle "translating" her true self in this digital age.
Zoe says, "The heart of this track is the voice, the drums and the bass. I was curious just how high or low I could go, testing the scope of my range in the mammoth stacks of harmonies and vocal Kung Fu. I had fun channeling my Barbershop Choir kid days. It’s funny 'coz I played "In Person" live with my beautiful band a healthy amount before I got the opportunity to record it, so it’s grown so much!
"In Person" is an expression of self love, a celebration of identity conveying the craving for up-close and personal human connection - a feeling all too familiar in recent years. Zoe says, "My Blackness, my cultural identity, my personality, is better understood ‘up close and personal’ rather than through a lens often tinted with the reductive tropes of tokenisms and schisms of mainstream TV. So in this song and video I let go of all of that, I peel back the layers and let myself be me, unapologetically. I’m really excited and proud to share my true joy!"
"In Person" is just the uplifting anthem we need to unleash our true joy this summer.
"In Person" is Zoe Moon's first release since 2020, the first single of several that herald the upcoming album With Love, Miss Moon, dropping in 2023.
Zoe has always known she wanted to shoot a music video at Clifton Carpark in Wellington, and "In Person" was the perfect video for the location. She noted the echoes of the cars on the motorway above, the cable car, those striking pillars when she lived nearby for 2 years whilst working towards rebuilding her music career in Aotearoa and writing for her upcoming releases.
The video is a love letter to the 90’s Hip Hop and video game nostalgia that plays a huge role in the artist and person Zoe is today. Zoe also lived in Aro valley "when I was young wanna be a B-girl, so we shot some of the video there to infuse that 90’s Hip Hop flare. I actually hunted high and low for whoever did the graffiti but couldn’t find them. I wanted a world of colour and that intercity concrete jungle goodness."
Co-directed, co-produced and edited by DOP Paascalino Schaller of Little Universe Productions, whom Zoe has worked with on ‘Sister’ with Deva Mahal. Dana Leeming was the AD and producer for the video. And about the wardrobe, Zoe says "Styling and crafting the outfits with my partner in fashion, Beth Tibbo, was like a hybrid mind dream! Especially since we both seem to own an unnatural amount of denim."
Miriam Clancy shares cathartic track "Velveteen"
"Velveteen" is a musically rich track, dense with layers of instrumentation and vocal crescendo; lyrically, it delves into heavy terrain, exposing the emotional fragility of the years of childhood abuse that Miriam suffered. This song is Miriam reckoning with trauma, exposing us to the fine line that separates recovery from falling into the abyss. Yet Miriam has risen, a phoenix from the ashes, refusing to be consumed by a bleak existence.
"Velveteen", the third single off Miriam's forthcoming LP Black Heart,
New album Black Heart out 20 January 2023
"Velveteen" is a musically rich track, dense with layers of instrumentation and vocal crescendo; lyrically, it delves into heavy terrain, exposing the emotional fragility of the years of childhood abuse that Miriam suffered. This song is Miriam reckoning with trauma, exposing us to the fine line that separates recovery from falling into the abyss. Yet Miriam has risen, a phoenix from the ashes, refusing to be consumed by a bleak existence.
To arrive at the doorstep of "Velveteen" was a process. Miriam says, "I ripped my heart out and put it in a song. This is the weight of Complex-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, it's a shit gift that keeps on giving and its hard, tiring work. So many people live like this and often they sail under the radar, but saying "I see the light underneath your door" is stating the precious obvious, for many are we. And I want to believe that I can live in splendor, wrapped in the beauty and security of velveteen. That it's close -I can feel it coming.
"I wrote this song crying into the keys of an old jazz-bar piano in our apartment in Queens, far away from Aotearoa New Zealand as I began a reckoning with my childhood abuse, neglect and mishandling by the authorities. All while attempting to throw water on the wildfire of justified anger burning in me.
"It is a tightrope walk, leaning on a mystery shoulder of faith just to tame that hunt for vengeance and to try to find a way through the valley. I had on loop the refrain "I'm living in splendor, I'm living in velveteen" ... hoping to believe it, fake it til I make it. I wrote this into Velveteen and my own manifesto that I may have been let down and abandoned - but I won't do that, I will break the chain. I might be a human torch blazing an endless raging flame, but I will break the chain.
Miriam recorded "Velveteen" with her band in their Brooklyn studio, drawing from the heyday of 90's female alt-pop songwriters. Musically, it was important for her to keep the feminine thread strong in contrast to the grunge of the droning middle 8 over the semi-industrial beat, and under the syncopated piano. Miriam says, "I'm stoked with the result. They were all the best guys to have around me when feeling fragile getting this song in the can."
Velveteen: The video
Armed with a huge recently-acquired file from the Wellington Police headquarters - after plummeting a hundred times over I decided to use this triggering trail of tears as an IRL art piece to pull the thorn out of my heart and to lean into the rage which all my life I had been conditioned to believe is undesirable and inappropriate. In this video, you see 20+ pages of evidence, reports and statements on a wall, in an old Pennsylvanian railway yard where old train parts are stashed. On the wall is a hand-drawn map of a house which I drew many years ago for my original statement to the cops when they asked me to show where some of the assault happened.
At odds with the stark industrial wasteland - the beautiful pink piano is my safe space, my waka - the vessel that carried me, for music has indeed saved me - it gave me a portal of hope, a door to walk through when it all hurt too much. The words on the wall hang large and invade my view of life with its bollocks 'logic', gendered victim-shaming, and overall big-man bias. So with my trusty sledgehammer I do what needs to be done for myself - and for those after me. Because I am a woman and this is the crossing.
Miriam's closing statement to this press release, and a message to the Police, and to greater New Zealand society are words written by her lawyer at Shine Australia/New Zealand to the Independent Police Complaints Authority: "it is unclear how a minor's complaint of such a serious nature could get so botched... Police owe it to the children who are brave enough to come forward with sexual assault claims to investigate them to the best of their ability."
Jordyn With A Why’s debut reo Māori single ‘Raumati’ released
Samoan/Māori artist and social media influencer ‘Jordyn With A Why’ releases her latest single ‘Raumati.’ The single was funded by Te Māngai Pāho as part of the ‘Waiata Reo Māori’ initiative.
Samoan/Māori artist and social media influencer ‘Jordyn With A Why’ releases her latest single ‘Raumati.’ The single was funded by Te Māngai Pāho as part of the ‘Waiata Reo Māori’ initiative.
Jordyn says the song is a celebration of the summer season. “Raumati is a salute to Hineraumati, the Atua wahine of Summer. “It’s about all the senses of summer - recognising the symbols of our favourite season.”
Accompanying the live recording is its music video which will also be released on the same day. Jordyn says the video visually captures the essence of the song.
“It was such a fun recording, I was really lucky to have Creative Nātives as the band and creating that live feel together was magic, I’m so glad we captured that visually.”
The release of ‘Raumati’ marks Jordyn’s third time releasing original music, but is her first single in the Māori language.
This single follows on from Jordyn’s earlier release of ‘Brown Melodies’ in May this year, which went on to be nominated for Best Single at the Waiata Māori Music Awards 2022.
Iac Music. ft. MC ARME, Rizván 'Right My Wrongs'
Iac Music. ft. MC ARME, Rizván reveal a powerful single which delivers a message of hope about moving forward
Iac Music. ft. MC ARME, Rizván
reveal a powerful single which delivers a message of hope about moving forward.. December 16
‘Right my wrongs’
Listen Here
Music Video filmed at Maori TV Watch Here
Iasinito Manu aka ‘Iac Music’ From Avondale, West Auckland. His parents come from Tonga (Halaleva and Fasi moe afi). He loves to make music that speaks for his people and for the unspoken truth. Music with meaning and that would resonate with the community that surrounds him. I have always wanted to embrace my roots by performing my music and speaking to the souls of the people. Making music that can still be relevant for the next generation. Letting them know that no matter how hard life gets, you have to keep pushing.
This inspiration for this song is about hardships in a relationship, trying to balance life and love at the same time. The original song ‘Think i’m wrong by Josh Wawa’ is a song about the same situation. It takes having time apart from your significant other to realise you have been wrong for parting. Certain feelings you obtain during the time away from each other and with.
IAC shares, "I personally went through this earlier this year. I lost my partner but even worse, I lost myself years ago. I was going through depression and self confliction. Long days and longer nights asking myself “I wish I could rewind this and fix it all”. Overtime I started to realise that what I went through, I had to, it was an opportunity for growth. All I could really do was ‘Right my wrongs’ and no better way to do it than with my brothers".
This song I have re-created with MC ARME and Rizván sheds light on the topic. Acknowledging that a song that was made 10 years ago, is still relevant. This is something we could all relate to, from facing hardships in a relationship with our other halves and with ourselves. The tests we face when loving someone, the sacrifices made for each other.
Sun Veins 'Little While (With The Lights Out)'
Ōtepoti/Dunedin four-piece Sun Veins are excited to announce the release of their new single “Little While (With The Lights Out)”, available now on all streaming platforms.
Ōtepoti/Dunedin four-piece Sun Veins are excited to announce the release of their new single “Little While (With The Lights Out)”, available now on all streaming platforms.
Bridging the gap between Rock and Pop, Little While is a heartfelt anthem about love at first sight in the modern era. Little While is the first single from Sun Veins’ debut album “Show Me The Way”, slated for release in early 2023.
The song was recorded at Sublime Studio in the Waitaki Valley alongside engineer Tom Harvard, and features Studio owner Steve Harrop on bass guitar. Auckland based producer André Theis of Carlyle Studios worked alongside the band on the mix, with mastering by friend of the band Peter Jack aka “The Whip Man”.
Live streaming link: https://open.spotify.com/track/66wW2o3Z7YC7Yyxe1A6AM3?si=eb50c80a13a74467
CHRISTABEL SHARES AN INSIGHT INTO HER WORLD, WITH NEW RELEASE ‘SOMEONE ELSE’
Following the release of ’Jealous,’ Christabel steps out of character for her latest offering ‘someone else’ and showcases a more personal side to her craft.
Following the release of ’Jealous,’ Christabel steps out of character for her latest offering ‘someone else’ and showcases a more personal side to her craft.
‘someone else’ is a track that was years in the making, having first been penned in 2016. Written about the kind of relationship that peacefully and understandably falls apart, the lyrics unfolded as the artist explored the thought of “will I ever find someone half as good as the last?”
Fast forward to 2021 and working with producer Nic Manders to bring the track to life, Christabel explains the moment the song came together; “It was in Nic’s studio when the line I had waited so long for came to me, ‘you’re keeping the seat warm for someone else.’ It was the hard hitting, brutally honest confession that I had waited five years for.”
The single is accompanied by a music video that gives an insight into her world for the past 6 months. Having left New Zealand at the beginning of the year, the artist has spent time in Los Angeles and England, traveling, reconnecting with family and making new connections that have inspired a wave of new material to come.
“I hope this song heals listeners, just as it healed me when I wrote it,” says Christabel.
Made with the support of NZ On Air, ‘someone else’ is available Friday, 9th December on all streaming platforms. Plus, see Christabel live at Soundsplash in January 2023.
Link to ‘someone else’
https://AugustAvenue.lnk.to/OMWFL8
Link to the Official ‘someone else’ Music Video
FIND CHRISTABEL
BIG TASTY SINGLE RELEASE ‘IF YOU LEAVE ME NOW’
Today funk-soul band BIG TASTY releases their second studio single ‘IF YOU LEAVE ME NOW’; the follow-up to their debut track ‘DIAMOND EYED’.
Today funk-soul band BIG TASTY releases their second studio single ‘IF YOU LEAVE ME NOW’; the follow-up to their debut track ‘DIAMOND EYED’.
A song depicting the theme of ‘break-ups’, the music is a sweet spin-off of an otherwise sorrowful scenario; an attempt to remedy or win back a significant other. Sultry vocals, ‘tasty’ guitar solos, grooving rhythm, and lush instrumentation are all seamlessly threaded together in a glorious, engulfing sound that portrays real, raw heartbreak.
Engineered by Scott Seabright, Luke Finlay [Primal Mastering], and Olly Harmer, IF YOU LEAVE ME NOW is a stunning release from the 8-piece band and sets the tone for the group's immediate future.
“We’re just a group of musos that live and breathe music. Being in a band is a big commitment and lots of hard work, but nothing compares to the rush I get when I’m performing with my BT brothers.”
- HERRERA
“We're aiming 'Big' and we're delivering 'Tasty'. I Love this band." - CHASE
ABOUT THE BAND
BIG TASTY strolled their way into the spotlight after winning Battle of the Bands 2020.
Based in Tāmaki Makarau, the soul/funk band is known for its high-energy, hard-hitting, soulful tracks, and getting audiences up on their feet to dance.
“We want our musical journey to be a fun and thrilling experience for our listeners and to give people of our generation the spectacle, excitement, and thrill that comes from a big live band.” - BIG TASTY
Lead by diminutive powerhouse Manuela Ovalle Herrera [VOCALS], the 8 piece band consists of Michael Ligani Turaganisoqo [KEYS], Joseph T Chase [GUITAR], Hayden Keach [DRUMS], Lucas West [BASS], Jerome Drumm [TRUMPET], Martin McGaw [TROMBONE], and Mark Houghton [SAX].
Through their passion, incredible musicianship, and the classic nostalgic sound, Big Tasty have captured growing recognition with their expansive performance repertoire including the Tauranga Jazz Festival 2022, Music in the Parks, and Rhythm and Vines 2020/21. They have also played sold-out shows at Anthology Lounge [Auckland], supported THE RVMES at Pumphouse Theatre 2021, and undertaken their own national tour.
“Energetic and passionate, this band certainly delivers on a big, lush sound that is made up of many different layers.” - Music.net
FOLLOW BIG TASTY
Popstar on the rise Rachel Leo releases new single + video ‘Last Call’
Aotearoa artist Rachel Leo has today released her much-anticipated pop banger ‘Last Call’ - co-written with and produced by NZ pop heavyweights, Drax Project.
Aotearoa artist Rachel Leo has today released her much-anticipated pop banger ‘Last Call’ - co-written with and produced by NZ pop heavyweights, Drax Project.
Taking inspiration from the likes of Kiana Ledé, Maggie Rogers, Dua Lipa and Yebba, ‘Last Call’ is a brilliantly crafted power-pop single that’s bound to have listeners instantly humming, singing and moving with the beat. The song itself tells the story of infidelity and the souring of a relationship.
“While it was initially a really painful situation to write about,” explains Rachel, “I had so much fun writing this with the Drax Project boys in their Pōneke studio! After a long gossip sesh about what happened, we got creative with the lyrics using metaphors that nod to the local bar and nights out where everything went down. Sitting in the pop genre with disco influence, it’s a bit of a combination of both of our (Drax Project) musical styles.”
Set to build on the success of Rachel’s debut release ‘Conversation’, which saw her land on the Hot NZ Singles charts, pack out a show, feature on TVNZ’s Breakfast, build a fanbase and secure spots on the lineups of some of the country’s biggest festivals - it’s no wonder she is deemed by many as New Zealand’s next pop export.
Accompanying the single is a stunningly shot and performed video directed by Devan Narsai and starring Aotearoa actor Richard Crouchley (Black Hands) as the wandering suitor.
A 3-time recipient of NZ On Air funding, in 2021 Rachel Leo worked with Alex Wildwood (The Veronicas, Broods) under the New Music Development initiative and was awarded the New Music Single grant to support the release of her next two singles. After studying a Bachelor of Music and honing her writing style, she has been collaborating with the likes of Drax Project, Chores, Lauren Gin and Lee Mvtthews. Her songs have been placed on playlists, including Apple Music’s New Music Daily, YouTube’s RELEASED and Spotify’s New Music Friday. Rachel Leo is clearly one to watch, so make sure you’re following!
Find Rachel Leo