NZ Artists International News: July 2017

July 4th 2017
With over half the year now gone and the northern hemisphere summer festival circuit now in full swing, NZ musicians are making a name for themselves all over the globe!

KANE STRANG RELEASES NEW ALBUM WORLDWIDE

Kane Strang just released his sophomore album Two Hearts And No Brain on Dead Oceans, with BB6 featuring the release as Album of the Day on 30 June, following an ‘In Session' with Marc Riley last month. The worldwide Rough Trade website has the record as Album of the Week, saying "With a penchant for melodic earworms to rival those of the world's best pop songwriters, the New Zealand artist's glittering hooks twist and turn in perfect synch with meticulous band arrangements."

USA music website Popmatters said "Kane Strang stretches his songwriting muscles on a hook-filled, razor-sharp indie album."

The video for the second single ‘My Smile Is Extinct' has been featured on Stereogum, DIY Magazine, Austin Town Hall, Culture Creature, Pursuit of Dopeness, Thrd Coast and Vulture.com.

Both Lorde and Kane Strang have tracks featuring on Vulture.Com's 7 Best New Song of the Week, with ‘Hard Feelings' and ‘My Smile Is Extinct' respectively.

 

P-MONEY PRODUCED TRACK GOES PLATINIUM IN AMERICA

'Call On Me', a hit produced and co-written by local producer P-Money has recently gone platinum in the United States - meaning 1,000,000 sales or equivalent streams.

Since its release in October 2016, the song, performed by Australian singer Starley, went Platinum in an additional seven countries including Australia and New Zealand, Gold in Canada and France, and charted in 23 countries, including the #1 spot in Sweden and #20 on the Billboard Top 40 in the United States.

On top of his success with ‘Call On Me' renowned US-based hip-hop blog The Source, also ran a profile of P-Money in May.

 

MONTELL2099 X 21 SAVAGE

Hip-hop producer Montell2099 of Katikati has just released his first ever single, ‘Hunnid on the Drop', and it features Atlanta rapper 21 Savage. 21 Savage was in the 2016 XXL Freshman Class, a highly-regarded annual list of up-and-coming rappers.

The collaboration came through Montell's participation in the Red Bull Sound Select initiative, which also saw him perform at the Sound Select shows in Atlanta and Los Angeles (the latter of which saw 21 Savage join him on stage to premiere ‘Hunnid On The Drop').

The release was covered by popular lyrics website/hip-hop blog, Genius, and is looking to be the start of a big career in hip-hop production in the United States for Montell. 

 

MYELE'S OUT OF EARSHOT

Jazz percussionist Myele Manzanza's recent performances in Australia last month went down a treat with local audiences. ‘Out of Earshot', Manzanza's collaborative project with Melbourne-based progressive dance company, KAGE, was created with hearing and deaf audiences in mind and even featured profoundly deaf dancer, Anna Seymour.

The show, which had ten performances at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival before traveling to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, garnered positive reviews across the board with the Sydney Morning Herald calling Manzanza's performance a "true translation of beat to pixel", The Advertiser calling it "absolutely gripping" and InDaily calling it "one of the most interesting and exciting pieces in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival... Utterly captivating."

 

PARTY CONTINUES FOR ALDOUS

Following the release of her highly anticipated second album, Party, Aldous Harding has continued to receive a lot of attention from international media including US radio network NPR featuring a track-by-track review of the album and hosting her as a guest-DJ for All Things Considered. Aldous performed alongside fellow-Kiwi artist Lorde on Later... With Jools Holland and has also recorded a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR which will be available on July 28.

Album tracks have been added to some huge Spotify Playlists, with ‘Blend' on both Your Favourite Coffee House and Afternoon Acoustic, both with almost 2.5 million followers. ‘Living The Classics' is also currently on Acoustic Summer (1.1 million followers).

 

APPLE MUSIC NEW ARTIST OF THE WEEK - NÏKA

NÏKA was Apple Music's New Artist of the Week and her track ‘Real Fake Love' was featured on the Apple Music's Best of the Week playlist.

Also over at Apple Music's The A-List: New Artists, you can find ‘Someone' by Baynk, ‘My Smile Is Extinct' by Kane Strang, ‘Shadow' by TAPZ, ‘Take It Slow' by Fazerdaze, ‘Tenderly' by Thomas Oliver and ‘Roam' by Theia.

 

NOAH SLEE & MELODOWNZ

New Zealand born, Berlin-based, soul singer and producer Noah Slee has released a new track ‘Lips' featuring the talents of Auckland-based, Melodownz. The track has been featured on the Majestic Casual Youtube channel, with almost 3.5 million followers, and played on Huw Stephen's BBC1 radio show, as well as MistaJam's BBC 1Xtra show. HillyDilly.com said of the song, "the New Zealand native delivers rich vocals on his track here, and they really give it an unmatched feel."


MODERN MĀORI QUARTET TO UK

The Modern Māori Quartet have just returned from a series of top-billed theatre shows in Australia and are now preparing to take their cabaret show, reminiscent of the classic Māori showbands, to the United Kingdom. They will be performing at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival and their own headline shows in London this August, promoting their new album That's Us!


LADI6 ROYAL BLUE OUT NOW

American radio network NPR have featured the new track by Ladi6 'Royal Blue' on their Songs We Love blog, after previous release 'Beffy' made NPR's 100 Favourites of 2016 list.


QUIX HEAPS COOL IN BILLBOARD

Bass artist QUIX has had a busy month, releasing 'Rat Traps' with Yung Sidechain featuring Atlanta rapper, Gucci Mane, and Billboard premiering his debut EP Heaps Cool, released by Los Angeles-based Dim Mak Records. ‘Riot Call' featuring Nevve from the EP has already racked up more than a million streams on Spotify alone. QUIX recently relocated to United States and is gearing up for a busy second half of the year, with many major festival appearances in the pipeline.

 

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST ACTION
Here is just a selection of where you can find New Zealand artists across Spotify Playlists this week:

Today's Top Hits - 16,118,869 followers
- Lorde ‘Homemade Dynamite'

Indie Pop - 656,399 followers
- Baynk ‘Poolside'
- Chelsea Jade ‘Life of the Party'
- Lorde ‘Perfect Places'

Underground Hits - 444,904 followers
- Baynk ‘Poolside'

Soft Rock - 501,711 followers
- Crowded House ‘Don't Dream It's Over' + ‘Weather With You'

New Music Friday Deutschland - 297,840 followers
- Fyfe featuring Kimbra ‘Belong'

New Music Friday Phillippines - 343,824 followers
- Gin Wigmore ‘Hallow Fate'

Indie Mixtape - 186,115 followers 
- Lorde ‘Supercut'
- SACHI featuring NÏKA ‘Shelter'

Deep Dark Indie - 631,931 followers
- Broods ‘Sleep Baby Sleep'

 

CLICK HERE to download a PDF of tour dates around the world for NZ artists.

Back to International News