Hey You
by Lisa Crawley
A moody bid for chart action from LA-based expat Lisa Crawley with its Motown soul/60s pop backbeat, the repeated “hey you” and a twanging country-and-western guitar solo. Add the mystery of “I’ve never seen that shade of blue on you” and you’ve got four minutes of crafted, clever pop which sounds instantly familiar but fresh. Smart stuff. – Graham Reid
Get Back to You
by Molly Payton
After fair swag of EPs London-based Auckland singer-songwriter Molly Payton is, at last, on the final approach to her debut album YOYOTTA. Get Back to You is a rather lovely slow-strummed heart-bruised ballad that might remind some of Big Thief – or, in those beginning chords, even Down in Splendour by Straitjacket Fits. Nice use of Te Aroha landscape in the video too. – Russell Baillie
I Never Cared for You
by Tami Neilson
Having duetted with him back in 2022, Tami Neilson embarks on her “Neilson sings Nelson” album – recorded at Willie’s Pedernales studios in Texas – which is out early September with an October NZ tour. She’s revived this infectious Tex-Mex torch’n’twang number which its writer has recorded a few times over his career after first releasing it in 1964. Come the next spaghetti western revival, this latest version will be a dead sitter for a soundtrack. – Russell Baillie
Just Holdin’ On
by Nathan Haines
An even more slinky single in advance of Haines’ album Notes (due August 9) with rapper Eo delivering an earthy reality against the midnight-mood backdrop and topped off by Haines’ soprano sax. Another tempting treat which suggests quite a tasty banquet is coming. – Graham Reid
Obsession
by Mayurashka and Eden Burns
Otago’s own Eden Burns is back with a thumping 808 bass line on Obsession, part of the ninth installment of his ‘Big Beat Manifesto’ series. The track features Tokyo-based producer, Mayurashka, a fellow DJ on Munich label Public Possession’s roster. Burns’s off-kilter style is in full swing here, using art-house vocal samples and lo-fi synths – it’s a tight 135bpm groove primed for the dancefloor. – Sam Clark
Be Good
by Dateline
The Wellington indie-pop outfit built around the singer-songwriter talents of Katie Everingham offer up a sweetly scorching, guitar-fuzzed number from forthcoming sophomore album It’s All Downhill from Here, the title of which comes from the chorus to this. Wins this week’s prize for best use of handclaps about six seconds in. - Russell Baillie
Ancient Love
by Mercury Rev
Playing at Auckland’s Powerstation on August 18 as support to veteran UK shoegazers Ride, Mercury Rev was a band which in the 1990s, like the Flaming Lips, offered a psychedelic alternative to all that grunge. After nearly a decade, next month they’re finally releasing Born Horses an album of original material. Their last, Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Sweete Revisited covered the Gentry album with a starry list of guest vocalists. Ancient Love indicates that Horses could be quite the cosmic return to form, given that vocalist Jonathan Donahue narrates rather than sings throughout its five minutes of delicate jazzy reverberations. Hopefully, the trumpet player that features here will be along for the ride to NZ too. – Russell Baillie
Is It Ever Going to Make Sense?
by Budjerah
Handsome, award-winning Australian pop sensation Budjerah (of the indigenous Bundjalung people) delivers this energetic song which borrows from R’n’B and chanty, singalong pop-rock with just a hint of Springsteen’s E Street Band upbeat energy diluted for rock radio. Bit of a message about growing up and away from drinking, partying and that stuff that used to make sense. Socially responsible pop. – Graham Reid
Aurora
by Alex Albrecht pres. Melquíades
Deep and soulful from Alex Albrecht – one half of Australian ambient electronica duo, Albrecht La’Brooy. Inspired by his surroundings, Albrecht draws on the sounds of the Australian bush with field recordings and live instrumentation to build a warm, textured sound. Under his Melquíades moniker, Albrecht leans towards a more dance-orientated sound. Aurora has sweeping synths and rolling four-on-the-floor kicks – which would blend nicely in a downtempo house mix. – Sam Clark
Aftertaste
by Katie Gavin
Familiar country-kissed yearning mope-pop ballad from frontwoman of the alt-pop trio Muna – who recently opened for Alanis Morissette if you need a further reference point. The Taylor trickledown continues with this, described as a “love-crush” song, as Gavin heads to a solo album What a Relief (October 25). - Graham Reid
Frescobaldi, ‘Bergamasca’ from Fiori Musicali.
by Kimberly Marshall, organ
So important was Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) in his day, it’s almost surprising his music is so little performed now. A formidable organist and harpsichordist, he spent much of his career at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, where he wrote boundary-pushing, improvisatory keyboard works, including this Bergamasca. “The Bergamasca from Fiori Musicali is a wonderful example of how Frescobaldi can take a reasonably banal theme and do incredible things with it,” says Michael Stewart, director of music at Wellington Cathedral of St Paul. The composer was impressed with his own abilities too, declaring, “Chi questa Bergamasca sonara, non pocho Imparera” – “Who will play this Bergamasca will learn not a little.” Stewart is six concerts into a 10-concert series of Frescobaldi’s complete keyboard music. - Richard Betts Catch his latest instalment at the cathedral on August 9.
