NZ artist Pocket Money single release Anxious Brain on new label Pressure Cooker

On 10 September Pressure Cooker Records will release the new single Anxious Brain by Tāmaki Makaurau based Pocket Money.

A single release show is on at NiceGoblins Collective on Dominion Road, AKL, on 13 September.

‘Anxious Brain' draws you in like a wave, with gentle, melodic riffs; before pounding you with its forceful raw edges, demanding your nerves to stand up and pay attention until the bitter end. Describing a fast-paced mind race, Chris Marshall opens up about anxiety in an attempt to normalise korero around expressing difficult emotions.
 
Conversations about mental health have come a long way in Aotearoa, however a strong and damaging narrative still exists that expects people to bottle up any so-called ‘negative’  emotions. ‘Anxious Brain,’ is a call to open up, to talk, to reach out for help, and to allow oneself to feel.

‘Anxious Brain’ is the first single from Pocket Money’s forthcoming sophomore album, which will be released in November 2024 via Pressure Cooker Records.

Pocket Money bio:

Combining a dancefloor-friendly racket with sincere motifs, Chris Marshall (Miss June, The Miltones), Kat Tomacruz (Fazerdaze, Phoebe Rings), and Chris Townsend blend their unique brand of power-pop to create Pocket Money.

The trio have abandoned their music-school roots; living somewhere between Radiohead and The Mint Chicks, the Tāmaki Makaurau legends bring an exciting atmosphere to the topics of mental health and climate change.

Their 2021 debut, ‘Silly Salpa’, takes you on an eerily upbeat journey through the anxiety of modern life. Followed by their 2023 single ‘Get Out’, the band clearly solidifies their strengths, with relatable lyrics, dynamic instrumentation and contagious energy.

Pocket Money on Insta

INTRODUCING: THE MIGHTY AOTEAROA ALTERNATIVE AWARDS 2024!

Five student radio stations across the motu make up the SRN Network, and together they represent Aotearoa New Zealand’s contemporary, alternative music and broadcast community.

The network represented by 95bFM (Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland), Radio Control 99.4FM (Te Papaioea Palmerston North), RadioActive 88.6FM (Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington), RDU 98.5FM (Ōtautahi Christchurch), and Radio One 91FM (Ōtepoti Dunedin)

Presented by NZ On Air, and with the incredible support of our sponsors, the mighty Aotearoa Alternative Awards 2024 will celebrate the musicians, broadcasters, and volunteers who bring the energy and life to these stations and our community.

The Network is particularly excited for this year’s awards with the introduction of our new moniker. The mighty Aotearoa Alternative Awards was chosen to better reflect the purpose of our ceremony. To acknowledge the immense talent and work of the musicians and passionate fans who uphold this community throughout the country.

The addition of “Mighty” is a homage to our origins. Paying tribute to the original ‘Mighty Mouth’, the first commissioned logo for the Student Radio Network. A symbol for the noise we’ve always bought, which is over 230 years’ of broadcasting combined.

The main ceremony will be held in Ōtautahi Christchurch by RDU 98.5FM at the Milton Street Substation.

RDU Managing Director James Meharry says “…it has been a busy year for all the stations and so hosting everyone here in Ōtautahi is the best way to end it. Time to connect on mutual grounds. Celebrate the broadcasters and musicians we all do this for.”

The awards will kick off at 7pm, Saturday 2nd November, and can be watched live at srn.nz. The event will also be simulcast on all five SRN stations across Aotearoa New Zealand.

There will be regional watch parties in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (95bFM), Te Papaioea Palmerston North (Radio Control), Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington (RadioActive 88.6FM), and Ōtepoti Dunedin (Radio One 91FM).

Stay up to date at srn.nz

TAMI NEILSON - “Neilson Sings Nelson” Album out Sept 6th + Oct NZ Tour Dates

“Devil In A Sleeping Bag”

WATCH  THE VIDEO HERE ON YOUTUBE

NEILSON SINGS NELSON, OUT SEPT 6, 2024

Tami Neilson performs songs from Willie Nelson's songbook, recorded at Willie's Pedernales studio in Luck, Texas.

“Devil In A Sleeping Bag”

“This track documents the first time me and my two brothers have recorded music together in 25 years. It wasn’t planned- Jay performs and tours with me regularly and our little brother Todd creates my visuals and has produced many of my music videos and album covers throughout my career. Todd was there to film and document this project- which was supposed to be just Jay and I recording a little acoustic love letter to Willie for his 90th birthday present. We walked into the studio and Chadie had scavenged around the studio for some percussion and rustled up a kick, snare and a floor tom- (no cymbals a la Willie!) I asked Todd if he would mind hopping on the makeshift kit and The Neilson Family was reunited once again!”

After the surprise 2022 live performance at Luck Reunion of their duet, “Beyond the Stars”, Tami and Willie went on to win New Zealand’s “BEST COUNTRY SONG 2023” at the Country Music Awards. 

Neilson Sings Nelson  - the  Album will be release Sept 6th CD/LP/ Digital 

Listen to Neilson Sings Nelson Here 

Order the CD/LP Here on Bandcamp

And from these great Music Stores:

Southbound Records / Marbecks / JBHiFi / Flying Out / Mighty Ape / Flying Nun 

Tami Neilson on Tour  -  Neilson sings Nelson 

Liberty Stage Presents 

Oct 11th Wellington  Opera House  starts 7pm 

Oct 18th Auckland  the Auckland Town Hall

Oct 19th Christchurch Issac 

Additional Date 

Nov 3rd Nelson Arts Festival

Ticket Info from www.tamineilson.com

Delaney Davidson and Barry Saunders Announce “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” New single from forthcoming album + Add More Shows to “Happiness Is Near” Tour

“It’s always amazing to see what comes from Barry 

………. it always feels like home somehow.”   

Delaney Davidson

“ Delaney is a true artist to the core 

and we always seem to be able to find a spark" 

Barry Saunders

“Happiness Is Near” is out Sept 27th Vinyl / CD / Digital (AAA Records)

Watch the Video Here

Yeah Yeah Yeah, the second single from their second album, Happiness Is Near created from found footage, NASA archives and self filmed snippets, features the  theatre of media hype and fear-mongering,    an unsolveable mountain of terror and problems, whipped up by the media in an age where there should be very tangible solutions. Using newspaper headlines and pamphlet titles that are at least 50 years old we see the patterns of propaganda and how the things we were being told then we are still being controlled with now.

Thanks to : Ernst Fischer for Library Archives, NASA for incredible footage, Prelinger Archives

Happiness Is Near

Barry saw it written on a wall late one night on Russian TV, behind a reporter broadcasting from Odessa. Happiness Is Near became the thread running through this next collection of songs .

When the world is taking huge steps, and we are sitting in uncertain times, waiting and watching can feel like losing momentum. Like fear and like doubt. This album is a reminder to move, to think and to act.There are still shadows in the trees, and there are still big clouds up ahead, but there is also something friendly waiting for you out there. Still possibility. Still an adventure to be had. 

The movement of the road will bring joy, challenge, despair, hope, meditation, solace, and triumph. But mainly it will bring momentum. And movement is life. 

In the middle of isolation and loss, from looking back, it’s easy to forget there are good times just around the corner! 

Barry, “ I can’t work out if the world is changing or I am just standing still? In some ways the more things change the more they stay the same, I think people’s needs are the same, you can have the world you want, don’t have to join anyone’s circus.”

Some songs were the result of our work together and some had come to us solo. They were looser songs, less band, more reflective, more folky. Like we were looking into a void to see what the shapes were that made up this vacuum we felt connected us.

Delaney, “As the album began to stack up we looked for the balance. Just chucking the songs down. Loose as. Barry playing most of the lead guitar, pulling in some strange greek psychedelic spirit. It was made in the living room. This was a quieter collection. More folky. Just two guys with their guitars and their songs. “

Barry, “it’s been  great working together we both have a love and a view of the world , some of which makes its way into the music, our conversations are as much about family, recipes, films and the way of the world, but music is at the centre of it.”

Barry’s childhood in the plains and rivers of Selwyn, singing together at my dads funeral, giving Barry a guitar strap with Long Gone Daddy stitched into it symbolising both our dads. late am TV broadcasts from faraway countries, a midnight drive together through the farmlands of Wairarapa his concern for people growing top today, for his two kids, our musings on outsider life, falling firework sparks slowly fading through the air into some deep blue river, songs written in dreams, a tattoo of a song bird, industrialism, capitalism, mad evil people steering the world into the ditch, blind greed, a doomsday fireball, flowers and children. 

Our partnership has become deeper and at the same time more distant. Less time together and more care. It’s always amazing to see what comes from Barry and his world of green black windbreaks and burning white sun, magpies, pale grass and fresh crisp blue mornings, it always feels like home somehow.   

Join Barry and Delaney On Tour, for an evening where 

“Happiness  Is Near”

* New Dates Announced

“You can have the world you want, 

you don’t have to join anyone’s circus.”

Barry Saunders

Sept 27, 28, 29 Hawkes Bay Small Halls Sessions

Oct 12   Leigh Sawmill

Oct 13 & 14 Auckland Frieda Margolis *SOLD OUT

Oct 22 & 23  Wellington - Suite Gallery  *SOLD OUT

Oct 24th  - Wellington - Suite Gallery *NEW DATE  

Nov 3rd  - Lincoln - The Shelter *NEW DATE  

www.undertheradar.co.nz &   www.delaneydavidson.com  

Pre Order “Happiness Is Near” is out Sept 27th Vinyl / CD / Digital (AAA Records)

Celebrate the 25th anniversary and illustrious history of THE UNDERWATERMELON MAN AND OTHER UNREASONABLE RHYMES

Music aficionados are being treated to a blast from the past, with the announcement that one of New Zealand music’s most fascinating art projects is getting a digital release!

Be the first to hear, pre-save HERE 

Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of its original CD release, and as a tribute to the legacy of its creator NZ artist Fane Flaws who passed away in 2021 - THE UNDERWATERMELON MAN AND OTHER UNREASONABLE RHYMES will for the first time be released via all streaming services worldwide. It features an impressive cast of celebrated Aotearoa musicians and entertainers, including Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Chris Knox, Bic and Boh Runga, Dave Dobbyn, Jenny Morris, Don McGlashan and many more.

This treasured collection of songs will be released digitally on Friday November 1, but to launch the release enchanting track ‘Neville The Enchanted Rug’, which features the unmistakable vocals of Neil Finn (Crowded House, Split Enz) has been made available for the first time digitally HERE. The animated video can also be enjoyed HERE - with Linda Topp bringing plenty of character to Fane Flaws’ distinct and entertaining animation.

THE UNDERWATERMELON MAN AND OTHER UNREASONABLE RHYMES’ began its journey in the mid 70s as a drawing of a surreal character ‘The Underwatermelon Man’ created by Fane whilst on the road with his then band Blerta. It later became an image silk-screened onto a series of children’s mirrors. In the early 80s, pestered by one of his young children, Fane made up a rhyme for it, which was soon joined by a couple of throwaway nonsense pieces from the brilliant NZ lyricist Arthur Baysting. Over the next 15 years, Fane and Arthur developed a collection of around 50 rhymes, which Fane and composer Peter Dasent set to music. Fane then set about illustrating all of the songs.

By 1998 - under the name BEND - Peter and Fane recorded the first 25 songs as an album, featuring a ‘who’s who’ of NZ stars to sing on it. Alongside the aforementioned Kiwi legends, they also worked with The Topp Twins, Renée Geyer, John Clarke, Ché Fu and King Kapisi.

With the help of Type Director Len Cheeseman, Fane then designed an accompanying 60-page hardback book, and published the package as Monkey Biz Ltd’s first ‘singing book’.

It proved hugely popular with parents and children alike selling 16,000 copies in NZ. Two years later Neil Gladwin and Fane developed it into a pantomime - with a cast and crew of 35 and a live band under the musical direction of Peter Dasent. It quickly became one of the hits of the 2001 Wellington Arts Festival, and a finalist in the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for ‘Best Original Score’.

By this stage ‘The Underwatermelon Man’ had developed its own momentum, so the animated film which followed, seemed inevitable. This was a six year labour of love for Fane and producer Jane Byrne that has become an important part of this project's legacy.

Now fans of this illustrious art project can celebrate another chapter, with today's digital release of ‘Neville The Enchanted Rug’, and the albums to follow on all digital streaming services across the world from November 1 - including animated videos for each song also being made available on YouTube, with the title song and film, The Underwatermelon Man.

Pre-save THE UNDERWATERMELON MAN AND OTHER UNREASONABLE RHYMES HERE             Listen to ‘Neville The Enchanted Rug’ HERE

Award-winning artist Jenni Smith explores unspoken love in tender new single ‘I Only Fall’

Listen to ‘I Only Fall’ HERE 

Aotearoa country-pop singer songwriter Jenni Smith has today released her powerful and nostalgic new single ‘I Only Fall’.

A stunning new single that takes listeners on a journey of yearning and introspection, Jenni Smith’s award-winning songwriting skills narrate the bittersweet feelings behind unspoken love - accompanied by a country-pop sonic aesthetic that evokes autumn nights.  

“‘I Only Fall’ is for those who find themselves reminiscing about special moments and

wondering 'what if’,” says Jenni. “I hope the song is a companion in those quiet moments, offering a sense of understanding and shared experience.”

Pulling inspiration from personal experiences and the narrative of characters Luke and Lorelai in popular TV series Gilmore Girls, this driving new single joins the young artist’s already impressive list of accomplishments.

2018 saw Jenni take home the NZCMA Songwriter of the Year Award - and then a runner-up for the same prize in 2020. She’s seen radioplay from community stations across Aotearoa and Australia, as well as play from commercial stations such as More FM - and earlier this year, her most recent single ‘T Shirt’ reached #3 on the NZ Official Hot NZ Singles chart!

Finding her sound in a unique mesh of country influences and pop sensibilities, Jenni says ‘I Only Fall’ represents a “blend of my roots and my current artistic direction, showing how my music is expanding, while still honouring the essence of my beginning.” This new hit was made alongside Scott Seabright and Neo Aiono-Fukushima at Scott’s studio, before being mastered by Chris Chetland at KOG Studio.

Alongside today's exciting release, fans can look forward to an intimate music video for ‘I Only Fall’ - out September 13! An entirely DIY project filmed, directed and edited brilliantly by Jenni, the video captures the artist in her home spending a sleepless night confiding in her music. “This hands-on approach has been incredibly fulfilling,” says Jenni, “allowing me to create concepts and see them through from start to finish.”

A gorgeous reflection on longing, love and nostalgia, ‘I Only Fall’ is a warm offering in the depths of winter from Jenni Smith - an Aotearoa artist with an exciting future ahead in music!

Find Jenni Smith

Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Spotify | Apple | Youtube | Bandcamp

jeline shares wholesome indie-pop banger + video ‘lil bluebird’!

Listen to ‘lil bluebird’ HERE

Watch the video HERE

Pōneke-based rising star jeline has today released her catchy and wholesome single ‘lil bluebird’, alongside a cleverly crafted new music video!

‘lil bluebird’ is where fairytale romance meets indie music - with effortless vocal melodies, driving guitars, an uplifting beat, and the perfect amount of harmonic twists and turns. Listeners are invited down the rabbit hole and into jeline’s wonderland, leaving behind everyday life to instead embrace the dance-inducing, love-celebrating, infectious effects of her brand new single.

“It’s for anyone who loves love! But also for anyone who just needs a good pep in their step,” says jeline. “The song is really about falling in love unexpectedly and all the exciting, giddy feelings and butterflies that come with that!”

Today’s release follows jeline’s previous singles ‘time stops’ (Juice TV, Tearaway, R1, Radio Control, The Most FM) and ‘are you over her?’ (Radio Active, Billie, Tearaway, Flash Trax), continuing what has been a lifelong journey for the Filipina artist of writing and playing music, cultivating her signature indie pop-rock sound.

‘lil bluebird’ was written alongside jeline’s band, W.K Bookclub, before she and producer Jack Hegarty recorded the song at Massey University Wellington - where the artist finished her degree in commercial music last year. The track was then mastered by Jpec at his home studio.

“After taking the song to the band, the sound we came to and the way everyone played was so impactful that, when we were recording, Jack and I just decided to get them to record their parts - or we just mimicked how they played as close as we could.”

Also released today is a gorgeous new music video, created alongside regular collaborators Francesca Sewell (director) and Kerry Pulham (DOP), which brings the rom-com narrative to life. Most of the clip was filmed in MacAlister Park, Wellington - a full circle moment for jeline, who had her first ever music video experience there filming for friend and local artist yOHKI.

More good news from the artist - after a hiatus from live shows, jeline will be back in action with her band W.K Bookclub on October 16! Fans can catch her playing at Valhalla alongside local bands Sol Fide and Fine Wine Social Club, tickets and more info from UTR.

With plenty of excitement on the horizon, and today’s new banger, fans can expect a lot more from jeline before the year is over! But for now, get swept off your feet by ‘lil bluebird’!

 Find jeline

Instagram | ​TikTok | Facebook | ​Spotify | Linktree | YouTube

Indie dream-folk songstress Sofia Machray releases first new music of 2024 with single ‘Pulling On A String’ out on September 6th!

Wellington-based indie dream-folk songstress Sofia Machray has released her first stand-alone single of the year entitled 'Pulling On A String’ expertly co-produced with engineer Will McGillivray (Goodwill, NOMAD) and mastered by Greg Obis (Slow Pulp, Babehoven, Mia Joy).

Due for release on September 6th, ‘Pulling On A String’ creates a scene of intimate warmth, enriched with ambient textures and intricate fingerpicking that weaves through a tapestry of expansiveness. Machray invites listeners to settle in and reflect.

 “The song is about recognising dissatisfaction in life and appreciating what we have before seeking more. Sometimes, if we keep chasing because we think we don’t have enough, we’ll never stop. I loved thinking about the concept of two people pulling on a string as a metaphor for this idea and used dissonant chords and textures towards the end of the song to musically represent this mental tug of war ”

Described as ‘New Zealand’s brightest new singer-songwriter', Machray was quick to win the hearts of music lovers close to home and abroad after the release of her debut record ‘Language Of Flowers.’ The record received tremendous support from international and local media, leading her to tour nationally on multiple occasions and sharing stages with world-renowned indie icons such as Chet Faker, Palace, Lime Cordiale, and COTERIE.

With grace, glistening sonics, and an unfiltered honesty that leaves an instant, lasting mark…Sofia Machray is without a doubt an artist-to-watch moving forward.”  - Atwood Magazine

To celebrate the release of ‘Pulling On A String’ Machray will be hosting a record fundraising show on September 13th in Wellington at San Fran. The show aims to raise funds for her next full-length project with support from Mystery Waitress and Debt Club. Tickets available from August 14th at moshtix.co.nz