Anna Coddington
Kiwi singer-songwriter Anna Coddington's latest song has been champing at the bit to see the light of day, if its title is anything to go by.
Release Me, said to be a "yacht-rock inspired" number, is a laid-back slice of jingly-jangly funk that was first performed live with Fly My Pretties.
The video, directed by Aidee Walker, sets the tone nicely, with a night-time drive across Auckland with various emotional characters at the wheel.
Coddington's third album is due later this year.
Also releasing an album later this year is i.e.crazy aka Maggie Magee aka Claire Duncan from Dear Time's Waste.
The debut album will be called Non Compos Mentis (or, The Trial of Maggie Magee).
In the meantime i.e.crazy has released a follow-up to the student radio hit You're A Stranger (to me now).
An Incident on the Edge of Town is said to "exhume the secrets of suburban closets and carparks, from the backyard to the boys' school bathrooms; the public park to the home of the man who has always gone home alone".
I'm not sure that playing Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch constitutes a New Zealand tour, but Beastwars have announced concert dates to mark the release of the album The Death Of All Things.
Following their 2011 self-titled debut and 2013's Blood Becomes Fire, the third album closes out the metallers' post-apocalyptic trilogy and will feature the tracks Call To The Mountain and Black Days.
It will be released on April 22, with the New Zealand tour kicking off in Christchurch on April 21 before hitting Wellington on April 22 and Auckland on April 23.
They will be the band's only New Zealand gigs this year. Tickets from Under The Radar.
Revisit a classic
De La Soul were a highlight of Womad last weekend, and they were also a highlight of many a music lover's formative years with their 1989 debut 3 Feet High And Rising.
In stark contrast to the gangsta rap of the time, the album was a blast of positivity, ushering in the Daisy Age.
Quirky spoken word interludes voiced by someone who sounds like Al Bundy are sprinkled among the 24 tracks, from which seven singles emerged.
The last of those, The Magic Number, is probably the highlight of the album though the Hall & Oates-sampling Say No Go is a hip-hop classic.
Vast new discounter to be built on greenfields site opposite Westgate Lifestyle Centre.