Miakie releases soulful single ‘Infatuated’

Following the release of her debut single “Resonating” under new moniker Miakie, the up and coming R&B soul artist returns with “Infatuated” on March 4th — both singles being two sides of the same coin.

The track explores another interpersonal relationship, one that you know all too well and can be angry and in love with at the same time. With an enchanting vocal delivery and simple yet soulful production, “Infatuated” was written at Songhubs in 2020 but leans on the more R&B influences of Miakie with lashings of pop and an understated fiery and powerful undertone.

On the inspiration behind the track, Miakie says “it’s about being angry at your significant other, but also how that anger can evolve into a myriad of other emotions. When you love someone so much, sometimes the fire of anger between you can turn into a fire of passion. For me, in the end, it turns into lust and makes me forget about what had vexed me in the first place.”

Turkey The Bird Single Release "You're Hot" + album fundraiser

We all have these moments where we struggle with making decisions, where we want to be like somebody else, or be somewhere where the grass looks way greener. What if we all remind someone that they are hot?

The single “You’re Hot” will empower you with a smile and is available in all digital outlets from Friday 4th March 2022. It's the first single release of Turkey The Bird's sophomore album due to be out on the 8th April 2022.

Like so many other bands around the world Taranaki folk trio Turkey The Bird had also many cancelled gigs throughout this pandemic so they decided to raise funds for their new album in a different way.

The band decided to run a Kickstarter campaign offering many interesting rewards like, online banjo aerobics, online cocktail making lessons or even an online cooking class all accompanied by live music to raise money towards the production of their album.

Folk artist Luke Thompson releases a masterful cross discipline collab: ‘Look Out Your Window, Babe’

When Johanna Gousett, an Illustrator from Belgium, called songwriter Luke Thompson in New Zealand about a potential collaboration, there was a connection that grew to include 14 artists from across the globe.

‘Look Out Your Window, Babe’ was originally released on Luke's album ‘The Trials & Tribulations of Adam & His Seed’, but Luke could hear an alternative version, and the potential for other features.

"I was so surprised by this project. Johanna approached me and asked about using one of my songs. The thought of having a bunch of artists add whatever they felt on the song, both excited and terrified me,” recalls Luke.

The layers and hours of work ahead of them was unknown, but the energy of the potential to connect and create a magical piece was evident. Having spent months in lockdown and various restrictions across the globe, Johanna was craving to create with others.

“I called all of my favorite musicians, even the ones that I didn’t know, and was overwhelmed with the response” says Johanna. “By the end we had 14 musicians signed in, coming from every continent on the planet, and I was starting to wonder how I was going to fit so many people in a 3-minute-long animation!”

Gathering short performance videos from each musician, and drawing frames by hand, Johanna worked tirelessly in Photoshop creating layers and thousands of movements, around 12 drawings per second. While Luke produced and arranged the tracks' sonic layers, featuring contributions from the fourteen musicians from violin, harmonica, harp, dulcimer, acoustic guitars, drums, percussion, bass and plenty of harmonies.

Eight months on, the collaboration is complete. At a time when the world needs it most, Johanna proclaims “I can’t predict what the future will be like but I hope it is filled with more connection and creativity.”

’Look Out Your Window, Babe’ is out now on YouTube and all streaming platforms.

Dunedin’s Kylie Price is off to SXSW with the Perfect new single

Kylie Price is honest, raw and captivating.” NZ Musician 

“Perfect” was written in the depths of lockdown 2020 - exploring what the perfect love really is and, does it even exist? 

It is an anthem for 2022 to embrace, celebrate and cherish love in it’s ever evolving state. The beauty that two imperfect people could make something so sacred and last a lifetime.

Perfect also challenges the definition we can put on the term “relationship”. A relationship doesn’t need to be two separate individuals, but could also be that relationship with oneself.

After building the bones of the song in her Ōtepoti bedroom, Kylie met up with Chris Mac and Noema Te Hau to further dive into the question “What is Perfect”? It was in the APRA studio at Parachute that they embraced the realization that there is no such thing as a Perfect love, rather the acceptance of our own imperfections and those of our loved ones that can create a love to last the ages. 

Kylie’s songwriting has always focused on simple but emotional storytelling, a talent she has been growing ever since she won her 5 Gold Guitar Awards, as well as Best Female Vocalist of the Year and Best Acoustic Performance at the 2016 Texas Sounds International Country Music Awards. 

Country will always be close to her heart, but the Pop world is calling.

With the release of “Bones” in 2017, Kylie approached a fresh new sound that pushed her boundaries and took her into into a new realm, one with more scope for some upbeat hooks and electronic melody.The EP was met with critical acclaim and peaked at #3 in the IMNZ charts and #8 in the NZ Album Charts.

Having completed a Bachelor of Music at Otago University. Kylie was ready to return to recording and performing, and entered the studio with some new songs, excited to take her career to the next level. “Perfect” is the first single for release Feb 18th,  to be followed by a couple more this year and then hopefully an album in the near future.

Travel is the next goal and Kylie is honoured to have been chosen to represent New Zealand and showcase at the American music festival South By Southwest (SXSW) in March this year.

From there, adding some travel to her schedule, playing in shows along the way and making new connections, she will see where it takes her.

But she will be back! 

“I’m from Dunedin, it’s all good. I’ve always been a Dunedin girl, that’s home.”

Listen to Kylie 

Spotify / Apple Music  / YouTube / Bandcamp

Follow Kylie 

Facebook / Instagram / 

The Sam Loveridge Band releases their live music video for “Better Man”

Celebrating the recent release of second album “Recovery”, The Sam Loveridge Band bring you a special live music video of “Better Man”.

Recorded at Luma Studios in Auckland, this video was created to showcase what the band had to offer through Covid times.

“We initially wanted to create a couple of live videos to help showcase the bands live performance, something for event organisers to see what we have to offer. Personally I also love discovering new music by finding live performances of artists online. We had planned to do a tour and play at the Auckland Folk Festival to support the release of the album but Covid restrictions put an end to those plans. As it is, it's great to be able to release something for our friends and fans to enjoy and connect with in a time where all getting together in the real world isn't possible. It's been really important for the industry to have this sort of content to tide things over to when bigger shows can happen again. It's also great for music fans that there is so much great content out there that has come out of the hardships the entertainment industry has faced.” – Sam Loveridge

Intriguing new electronic project HOOKS delivers sexy debut single ‘Forever’

Give it up for HOOKS and their debut single ‘Forever’, out today!

HOOKS is an intriguing new electronic project packed with tasty hooks and a delightful swirling menagerie of influences, from Latin-American rhythms, disco, lounge, jazz, indie and pop.

With summer written all over it, ‘Forever’ is an infectious blend of hip-swaying Latin rhythms, horns, synths, and punchy beats. Recorded with NZ-born, LA-based producer Simon Oscroft; mixed by the award-winning Simon Gooding; and mastered by the prolific London-based John Davis (who’s worked with the likes of Dua Lipa, U2, Years & Years); the song is all about “finding somebody that’s patient, somebody who cares enough about you to allow you the opportunity to relax around them.”

‘Forever’ serves as the perfect introduction to HOOKS and their hyper-stylized world, which shines through on the song’s mesmerising video, made by Mardo El Noor.

“The video inhabits a visual world where meticulously staged domestic vignettes are frozen in time or stuck in a loop forever, which is a reference to how the concept of time doesn’t apply to moments of realising you're deeply and irrationally in love with someone or something.”

“Mardo’s intention was to use looping stereo-graphs as a visual device that capture these forever moments; the good, the bad, and the crazy. Depicting scenes of pure hedonism and over-indulgence, ‘Forever’ attempts to construct a loose narrative of what would happen to someone's world if impulses were left unchecked.”

For HOOKS, ‘Forever’ is just the very beginning of what’s guaranteed to be a delirious ride. With sounds reminiscent of Gorillaz, Daft Punk, Groove Armada, DJ Spiller, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Morcheeba, they would sit nicely on a roller-disco playlist or a James Bond soundtrack.

And in the vein of virtual band Gorillaz and enigmatic duo Daft Punk – HOOKS is a project that asks its audience to focus on the art, and allow mystery and intrigue to surround its creators. Jump on and enjoy the ride!

Find HOOKS:

Facebook / Instagram / YouTube / Soundcloud

KAYLEE BELL TO PREMIERE ON AMERICAN TV

Kaylee Bell is thrilled to announce that her Living Free music video, a collaboration with US superstar Lindsay Ell, will have its world premiere on CMT, the foremost country music television station in the United States, on February 16 EST.  

Scoring this exposure is a huge coup for Bell, with CMT reaching over 92 million households in the U.S.A, signalling her as a rapidly rising country music artist.  

Bell comments, “It was an honour to team up with Lindsay on this track, despite the global pandemic we were still able to work together from opposite sides of the world.  This song is message of empowerment, and we can’t wait to play live together! I hope it’s a positive reminder for us all right now to focus on what really matters.” 

Directed by Kate Wilson, filming the Living Free video was another consideration in the current climate, however Bell chose to make the most of this unusual circumstance, sharing “Making the Living Free video was so much fun as we worked with a skeleton crew which included some of my best friends.  It felt like we were open to explore and showcase one of New Zealand’s hidden gems in the clay cliffs.” 
Living Free is an anthemic single about living in the moment, written in Nashville by Bell along with Sam Sumser (produced Lizzo and Keith Urban), Michael Lotten and produced by Grammy nominated Lindsay Rimes and Simon Oscroft (Midnight Youth, Disney USA Producer). 

Living Free features on Bell’s latest album Silver Linings, which also includes tracks such as That Summer and Home.   

ERSHA ISLAND 二沙岛 'Good Day // Gut Feeling'

The release of “Good Day” and “Gut Feeling” signifies the embarkment of Ersha Island on their reflective journey of biculturalism, identity and the inevitable search for belonging amongst it all.

The two tracks will be released as waterfall singles on Tuesday, 22-2-22, with music videos (directed by The Umbrella Collective) premiering at 2:22 PM. The auspicious release date of 22-2-22 is symbolic of Ersha Island’s artistic vision to reflect how their two cultures intertwine and the contrast between their debut singles.

Good Day

“Good Day” explores complex feelings of vulnerability when, after grappling with our struggles alone, we finally find the courage to reach out for help. The song is a reminder of the impermanence of difficult times and the hopeful road to better days through the acceptance of our limitations and normalising not being ok all the time — themes many listeners can identify with.

 Gut Feeling

This soft, melancholy and almost mournful song is a telling dedication from two pained daughters for a father recently diagnosed with cancer. Originally lament-like, during production “Gut Feeling” instinctively transformed into an exhortation of anger and defiance instead of fear. The resulting song is charged with imposing feelings of dread and unattainable immortality, yet full of hope and unwavering filial love that binds it all together.

About Ersha Island  

Auckland-based duo Ersha Island 二沙岛 is the musical amalgamation of two Chinese-Kiwi singer-songwriters inspired by their biracial upbringing.

Having chalked up early achievements in Classical Performance at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing, sisters Dani 丹丹 and Tee 婷婷 now create mesmerising and memorable soul-pop compositions featuring their piano and violin pedigree.

Ersha Island 二沙岛 performed at GRRRL FEST (Hamilton, 2021), and have been writing new music in both English and Mandarin; they will release their debut singles “Gut Feeling” and “Good Day” on 22•2•22 on both Western and Asian/Chinese platforms.