The outlet of Auckland via Wellington's Amelia Murray, a self-titled EP has just been released, and tonight Murray is in town supporting Clap Clap Riot and Buzz Moller (of Voom).
The songs on the EP sound like little moods: tiredness, exhaustion, rapture, which simply flew out of Murray's head to yours.
Second single Tired of Waiting gives off that feeling of resignation we all know, swirling under the maxi-reverb darklands of Jesus and the Mary Chain, or more recently, an artist such as Best Coast.
It's a beautiful EP, and one of my favourite NZ releases of the year.
Live, Murray is joined by Andrea Holmes on drums, and Gareth Thomas (Goodshirt) on bass.
TASTE OF ARABIA
Beloved New Zealand alt-minstrel Lawrence Arabia is bringing his band out for another tour of the country, stopping in Port Chalmers tomorrow.
Since last time around, 2013's Lawrence Arabia's New Zealand, the man behind the project, James Milne, has been playing shows throughout Europe and working on a new record with Wellington producer Mike Fabulous (The Black Seeds, Fly My Pretties).
Some of these tracks might get a preview, alongside the usual staple of taut and chiming well-honed pop music.
HALLOWEEN TREAT
Rising alternative rap artist Randa is touring his new EP Rangers to Dunedin next week, with a Halloween party at Chick's Hotel.
Produced by Josh Fountain of Golden Age Studios, the EP is fun, with playful beats and pulsating synths.
Lyrically, Randa's rhymes frequently trawl the late '90s and early 2000s; the hyper-referential flows seeming to be both satirising and revering hip-hop.
It's not too dissimilar from the knowing and postmodern position of defunct NYC rap trio Das Racist: thoughtful, deep, but still hilarious.
Auckland producer's Totems and Career Girls will join Randa in making the trip south.
Totems (aka Reuben Winter) is a previous Randa collaborator, the pair having worked together on the song Frankenstein, released as a single last year.
Totems has an EP, Kuri, set to be released next week.
Initially working with blunted beats taking influence from trap and '90s West Coast hip-hop, the self-titled lead single from Kuri sees the young beatmaker continue to move away from 140 beats per minute slow jams into cut-up breakbeats, marrying psych-glitch sounds to a Footwork and Jungle feel.
As Career Girls, Lawrence Goodwin takes those breakbeats even further, pushing out the pace to the range of the inhuman.
Goodwin layers up lighthearted samples over often-raging snare rolls. His latest EP, Going Deep, was released last month.
BE THERE
• Clap Clap Riot with Buzz Moller (of Voom) and Fazerdaze, tonight at Chick's Hotel from 9pm. Presale tickets available from undertheradar.co.nz. Fazerdaze's debut EP is streaming now on Soundcloud. The Chick's Magic Bus leaves Countdown Central at 8.30pm, the university library at 8.35pm, and returns to town after the show. It is free to ride with your 2014 Radio Onecard or $5 without.
• Lawrence Arabia (and his band) New Zealand Tour, tomorrow at at Chick's Hotel, Port Chalmers. Presale tickets ($15) available from undertheradar.co.nz. Doors at 8pm.
• Randa Rangers EP release tour with Totems and Career Girls, Friday, October 21, at Chick's Hotel, Port Chalmers. The Rangers EP is available now for Pay As You Like at larzranda.bandcamp.com. The Chick's Magic Bus leaves Countdown Central at 8.30pm, the university library at 8.35pm, and returns to town after the show. It is free to ride with your 2014 Radio Onecard or $5 without.
