Today’s Song
by Foo Fighters
by Foo Fighters
Dave Grohl’s band, which started out as a post-Nirvana solo project, is celebrating 30 years of existence, with Foo apparently still undefeated. The stadium rock stalwarts continue despite the damage that Grohl’s nice guy reputation has taken in recent years and the recent news that the band’s drum stool remains empty after Josh Freese, who replaced the late Taylor Hawkins, was let go. Commemorative number Today’s Song, a new track with Grohl on drums (and voice and guitar), starts off as an earnest power ballad before hitting the button marked “anthem” and firing up the wind machines and grunge guitar bonfire. If nonplussed by this, old fans could always revisit Grohl’s remarkable 1995 debut album or there’s a very quick video (see below) of the band’s existence set to a cover of a song by early Washington D.C. punk outfit Minor Threat.– Russell Baillie
Hoki Whenua Mai (Return The Land)
by Theia
Two years ago Theia picked up the award for best independent debut at that Traits for her Te Kaahu album. This powerful waiata which mixes traditional instruments with contemporary beats, brings in strident voices and haka for a piece which doesn’t compromise in its politics and puts women’s voices to the fore. “We shall not rest, we will fight!/ You will not bring us to our knees”. Believe it. – Graham Reid
Toitū Te Tiriti
by Geneva AM, ft. Ngā Whetu Ensemble
Should Geneva AM’s profile rise – with the release next month of debut album Pikipiki – to the point she’s called up by a local symphony for classical crossover gig, she’s already got one song in the bag. Well, it’s a seven-piece chamber arrangement by Eric Scholes that leans heavily on the pizzicato for a protest waiata in te reo that is rather less didactic than Theia’s new track (above) but its use of classical instrumentation is quietly radical in its own way. – Russell Baillie
Long Line
by Soft Bait
Auckland’s Soft Bait have already released one of the year’s best singles in the coiled-tight New Leaf. This equally wired-up but more menacing follow-up mines similar territory about the grind of life. They have perfected the art of saying less which means things are open to dark interpretation and the imagination. Another persuasive single in advance of their second album due July 25. It’s title: Life Advice. Listen to the two songs and ask yourself, would you take life advice from these guys? (The correct answer, of course, is, “Yes, and loudly”.) – Graham Reid
Human Bean Instruction Manual
by Pickle Darling
The bedroom-pop miniatures of Christchurch’s Pickle Darling (Lukas Mayo, they/them) have been cute enough to be worth a casual following. But with the recent five minute-plus single Massive Everything and now this shapeshifting, lightweight and charming six minute-plus single it’s clear they are swimming in deeper waters. A song nudged together from various parts with disruptive shuffles in between, dreamy passages and deliberately audible hiss, this lo-fi song (songs?) seems to have something to say about the uncertainties of moving past teenage and your 20s into an uncertain future. Again, charming. – Graham Reid
Ted Danson
by Adam Hattaway and the Haunters
The prolific Hattaway/Haunters out of Christchurch have – across half a dozen albums and many singles – already covered a lot of bases from Stones-like rock’n’roll through Americana, pop and country-rock. Here they slide neatly into slippery soul just a smidgen away from disco and funk on a song that isn’t much about American actor Ted Danson (but hey, everyone knows his name … Ed.). Follows the similarly framed Tommy Sees Ghosts and the Nilsson-like Roadside Incident, all fine advance notices of another album Hot Variety (that figures) due September 5. – Graham Reid
Driving Home For Christmas
by Belladonna
The title might make you think Wellington’s Bella Cook (Belladonna) is a bit early to capitalise on Christmas sentimentality, but this downbeat slice of folk-pop is resolutely bleak, unromantic and unsentimental: loneliness, house burned down, weariness, making love just because you can …
First song from a forthcoming debut album still in the works. Maybe it’ll be out in time for Christmas, although there’s no Christmas cheer here. – Graham Reid
Superstar
By TY with Pieter T
TY (Tyree Tautogia) came to national attention as part of Smashproof and their chart-busting single Brother with guest singer Gin Wigmore. He’s penned a handful of hits and here, teamed up with the soulful South Auckland star Pieter T and composer-rapper Vinny Veccetti, they aim straight for the heartstrings in a piece which hails the love of his life as a superstar deserving of a crown. Soul-rap which doesn’t go far but ticks a lot of familiar boxes with a sharp production. – Graham Reid
OK
by Marley Sola
Smooth contemporary soul from Christchurch’s optimistic Sola who attests to his faith and reassures us that everything will be okay. A nice mood even if the song sounds a little undernourished. – Graham Reid
She Knows Me
by Grant-Lee Phillips
Another quiet single in the leisurely run-up to this under-rated American singer/songwriter’s next album In the Hour of Dust (September 5). A paean to his longtime partner who he says knows him better than he knows himself. Low-key Americana for more senior listeners. – Graham Reid
Tournier, Rêverie de Bouddha
by Véronique Gens soprano, Emmanuel Ceysson harp, Quatuor Voce strings
When Marcel Tournier (1879-1951) is remembered at all, it’s for his contributions to the harp. He was and is an important figure in the instrument’s development, and as a professor at the Paris Conservatoire, Tournier was arguably the most important harp teacher of his day. He could write a bit, too. As a student he claimed second place in the Prix de Rome – not bad when you consider that previous winners included Bizet, Debussy and Massenet. Most of Tournier’s music was for harp, but he also set a handful of songs with harp accompaniment. He seems to have particularly liked Rêverie de Bouddha, because years after composing it, he went back and added the string part you can hear in this gorgeous new recording. – Richard Betts
