Dark Child
By Beastwars
Does doing an album of NZ cover versions make Beastwars the metal When the Cat’s Away? Well they do have a brewery sponsoring the whole hot-rodding shebang and they’re out on tour this month. Just a thought. The album is now out with its third single Marlon Williams’ already quite gothic Dark Child given a ritual burial in a cathedral’s worth of rubble. It’s about the same pace as the original but with more jackhammers and less crooning. Grim but neat. – Russell Baillie
She
By Aaradhna
Indian-Samoan soul and R’n’B star Aaradhna Jayantilal Patel has certainly kept us waiting, it’s been six years since she last released anything, and now two tracks almost simultaneously. There is the untitled spoken word piece on YouTube and now this, a wooing, trancelike slice of soul R’n’B, both of which have tabla and elements from her Indian heritage. This slow burner announces a new album due soon. Sounds very promising and more deeply spiritual than where she’s been in the past. – Graham Reid
Falling down the stairs
by Thomas Powers
The debut solo album by the Naked and Famous frontman is gearing up to put pause on the electronica synth-pop with the old band. Instead, he’s exploring some softer James Blake-esque, bedroom pop with classical undertones. Falling down the stairs is the second single that will appear on his LP set to release early next year. It has some very layered and dynamic production for such an understated song, which pushes it along at a nice pace. Rob Moose, arranger-to-the-stars-of-indiedom (Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver, Phoebe Bridgers), handled the strings sprinkled throughout the track and featured more earnestly in the outro. – Alana Rae
All Eyes on Me
By Phoenix feat. BENEE, Chad Huge & Pusha T
The new version of French band Phoenix’s All Eyes on Me is exactly what the techno track, originally released last year, needed. It’s way more fun but also way deeper with Pusha T, the Neptunes’ Chad Hugo and our very own Benee bringing their own take and emotional expertise. Despite the many artists involved, it doesn’t feel crowded. Instead, it has a joyful kind of Black-Eyed Peas energy that I didn’t realise I missed. – Alana Rae
Dangerous
By Donna Dean
Perhaps one of our best kept secrets, singer-songwriter Dean has released seven albums, won a number of country music awards, was the subject of a documentary about her hard upbringing, music and touring in Texas, has had Lucinda Williams’ longtime guitarist Gurf Morlix on her songs and been mentioned in the same breath as Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell by the influential Americana magazine No Depression. Dean deals with the dark stuff and this from her new album Kisses and Other Things is part country, part European cabaret and quietly compelling. Prepare for the unease. – Graham Reid
Michel-Richard Delalande, ‘Tibi omnes angeli’, from Te Deum, S32.
By Sean Clayton (countertenor), Andre Morsch (bass), Le Poème Harmonique, Vincent Dumestre (director).
In my January preview of notable 2023 concerts, Harmonie Universelle (October 15), from exciting Wellington group The Queen’s Closet, ranked high. Among the selection of French baroque music on offer: a complete performance of Delalande’s glorious Te Deum. - Richard Betts
