NZ Artists International News: November 2017

November 6th 2017
With 200 shows listed in the NZ Artist Tour Dates, there is certainly no shortage of exceptional talent who are taking New Zealand music to the world.

FAZERDAZE MAKE WAVES WORLDWIDE
Fazerdaze, aka Amelia Murray, has been playing all over the world this year, leaving many, many people talking in her wake. After her Brighton show (where she also played at The Great Escape earlier this year), Brighton & Hove raved about Amelia and her live show. German website, Sounds and Books named her song ‘Bedroom Talks' Song of the Day on October 5. French site Indeflagration seemed to only have nice things to say about her Paris show and British musician, King Krule approved of her London show in his October interview with Vice's Noisey. CD Journal in Japan and New Ears in Hong Kong also had write-ups about Fazerdaze in anticipation of her debut Asian tour in October across seven countries, which included sell out shows in Hong Kong, Jakarta and Manila. With excitement for her first headline tour of North America this month, BrooklynVegan said her debut album Morningside, which was released on Flying Nun earlier this year, "fits right in with the label's rich history."

DECADES OF KATCHAFIRE
Katchafire have been almost non-stop on the tour front this year with multiple successful tours throughout Europe & the UK, North America, Australia, New Zealand and even a show in the Cook Islands. Much of the touring has been their ‘Legacy Tour’ in celebration of Katchafire entertaining the masses for 20 years. Not only is the band reflecting on two decades of music, they’re also set to release their first album in five years and in anticipation have released the single ‘Addicted’ which has received coverage in both the home of reggae, Jamaica (via The Star)  and the USA (via Broadway.com) Katchafire are currently in the UK/Europe completing their final shows on that side of the world over coming days. Check our international tour schedule below for more information. 


THE ATLANTIC TALK ABOUT TE REO IN MUSIC

Sylvia Varnham O’Regan of The Atlantic, a popular American publication known for its and prestigious journalism since the 1800s, recently wrote about the importance of music in language revitalization- and shaped the entire article specifically around Te Reo Māori. The long-read article called “Can a Thrash Metal Band Help Save the Māori language?” talked about Waipu rockers Alien Weaponry, interviewed Geneva Alexander- Marsters of bilingual band, SoccerPractise, and also mentioned 2016 hit ‘Maimoatia’ by the team at Pūkana & Whānau.

MELODOWNZ TAKES YOUTUBE

Following the successful launch of his album Avontales in July and almost 250,000 views of his interview and performance on popular YouTube channel Colors, Melodownz has been getting buzz around the world. He’s not only just recently returned from a one-off show in Melbourne where he was featured on PBS radio, he was also interviewed for British blog Illustrated Indie, and his personal story about mental health has also been shared on YouTube’s twitter account (which has over 70 million followers). At home Melodownz’s local profile continues to go from strength to strength with festival bookings including the 2018 St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival.

NADIA REID SETS SIGHTS ON U.S.
Nadia Reid’s popularity in the UK only seems to be growing and growing following her performance on Later… With Jools Holland. She spoke to Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC Radio 6 about her songwriting and Nadia had a multi-page feature in most recent issue of popular UK music magazine, Mojo, who commend her ability to “achieve an uncommon musical equilibrium between full-songs that wouldn’t sound out of place soundtrack car ads and stark folk songs that foreground her warm blanket of a voice.” Now that Nadia has the UK and Europe on lock, she is set to make her way to the US and has announced her first ever shows there - some supporting US artist Julie Byrne and one solo-show at Park Church Co-op in Brooklyn, NY on December 10.

INTRODUCING SAPLINGS

Abstract experimental artist Oliver Peryman, aka Fis (Forever in Search), has recently launched a new label called Saplings in partnership with Eden Reforestation Projects. In light of the climate change crisis, the idea behind the label is to abandon the physical format and in place, for every digital sale of an album they’re hoping to plant 100 trees. London-based online magazine, Inverted Audio, covered the announcement, “calling it an exemplary response of being active amidst the to-and-fro of climate change”. The inaugural release on Saplings will be from Fis himself alongside taonga pūoro musician, Rob Thorne. The pair released a project called Clear Stones earlier this year and will be performing together at SXSW in 2018.

AOTEAROA @ SXSW 2018

The first wave of over 200 showcasing artists for SXSW 2018 in Austin, Texas, in the USA has been announced and we are proud to say that three New Zealand acts were included in the list. These artists are Lyttelton songwriter/guitarist Marlon Williams, up-and-coming pop artist October and experimental duo, Fis and Rob Thorne. SXSW is an enormous annual convergence of the interactive, film and music industries and will be taking place 9 – 18 March 2018.

TUKU IHO IMPRESSES IN L.A.

The Tuku Iho - Living Legacy exhibition visited Los Angeles in October. The exhibition had previously run at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D. C. and in October came to California for 10 days, and exhibited Māori arts including tā moko, pounamu carvings and and kapa haka demonstrations from 19 Rotorua performers. Rob Ruha, Teeks and Majic also performed at Tuku Iho for a show called Haka-Soul Aotearoa. Parts of the exhibition took place on Venice Beach and others on Santa Monica Pier, attracting thousands of visitors.

FRENCH FOR RABBITS NEW SONG

Following With their recent single releases, a UK/ Europe tour, as well as the anticipation of their upcoming album the Weight of Melted Snow, French for Rabbits have been receiving significant attention on the other side of the world. In the lead up to their recent tour, The Metro newspaper (one of the biggest in the UK) did a write-up of the band and UK-based Entertainment Focus interviewed lead vocalist, Brooke Singer. German radio has been giving a lot of air-time to their most-recent single ‘It Will Be Okay’ and the Huffington Post called the track “exquisite, emanating a stunning melody rife with rhythm and evanescent harmonies.” French for Rabbits are back in New Zealand now with a few headline shows on the calendar and will also be supporting Lorde at her November 9th show in Christchurch.

JORDAN RAKEI - WALLFLOWERS

25- year old NZ-born and now London-based Jordan Rakei, who recently signed to Ninja Tune for his second album Wallflowers, has been garnering fantatsic press amor this release. Earlier this year his single ‘Nerve’ premiered on The Independent UK and he was recommended by The Observer/Time Out’s Isa Jaward for the Tastemaker List in MusicWeek UK. In the last month The UK’s Clash Magazine called Rakei a “talent in perpetual evolution”, The Boar gave Wallflowers 4 out of 5 stars and Dutch website Artiesten Nieuws gave his live show an overwhelmingly positive review.

SMOKEYGOTBEATZ IN THE UK

Best Producer nominee at the 2017 Artisan Awards, Onehunga hip-hop producer, SmokeyGotBeatz, recently took off to the UK where he’s since turned out the track ‘All Of It’ with grime artist Berna, adding to his already impressive credits that have seen the likes of Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar and Isaiah Rashad rap over his beats. The video reached over 50,000 YouTube views in only two days. His recent international success doesn’t stop there - Smokey’s hometown rap group, SWIDT will soon be playing their first overseas shows with dates in the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne, Australia all this month – see the tour dates section for more information. On the home front, SWIDT are being booked at festivals nationwide and lead the 2017 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards nominations (alongside Lorde) with seven nominations.

MARLIN’S DREAMING

Dunedin band Marlin’s Dreaming were named one of the Best New Artists of October by popular music site Pigeons and Planes, after a feature earlier in the month called them ‘an exciting young rock band making bright, mesmerising rock music.’ 

BITS & PIECES
• Ladi6 was interviewed by Gus Navarro for Bandcamp. • Kimbra has announced an all-star line-up of collaborators for her upcoming album Primal Heart, including Donald Glover and Skrillex. • Ria Hall’s Rules of Engagement album was reviewed on Australian site, Alt Media. • UK-based Superorganism were named in the Stereogum ‘40 Best New Bands of 2017’ list.

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

Back to International News