Changed Unchained
by Nadia Reid
Nadia Reid breaks a drought for new material since 2020 album Out of My Province with a track that’s a definite increase in voltage from her usual acoustic-folk settings and which rocks in a hearty, spiky 1980s kind of way all the way to its breezy end. Should help refresh the setlist for her forthcoming NZ tour nicely. It’s also the first release since her signing to long-established UK record company Chrysalis, which last year released The Endless Coloured Ways the terrific tribute album to early label signee Nick Drake upon which Reid featured with Poor Boy. – Russell Baillie
Next Stop
by Fat Freddy’s Drop, MC Slave
Perhaps a bit early for summer, this slow skank certainly doesn’t aim high but delivers the requisite reggae vibe, an easy and memorable hook (“sun up to sundown, got to keep working”) and signals an album with the title Slo Mo. Hmmm. – Graham Reid
Sad Boii
by Benee
Also getting in early with the summer reggae vibe, Benee brings her languid and slightly bored vocal style to a lyric which announces, “I don’t want another sad boii”. A cruisy sound on a short song but a message to the chaps to up their game. – Graham Reid
Sunday Stitches
by Daily J
And more local, laidback, carefree pop – with whistling – which considers the day of rest being one of recovery from the night before and time to consider decisions to be made about it all. Follows their equally melancholy single Happy Slides. They seem to have found their vein to tap. – Graham Reid
Until There’s Nothing Left
by LP Giobbi and Alabama Shakes
Producer and electronica dance artist LP Giobbi here picks up one of Alabama Shakes’ great songs Don’t Wanna Fight (from their 2015 album Sound & Color) and drags Brittany Howard’s raw and harrowing vocals to the fore in a remix-cum-remake which invades the dancefloor like a very determined steamroller. It also comes in a six minute-plus, slower version as the 4am Edit. Advance warning of LP Giobbi’s second album Dotr released October 4. – Graham Reid
Never Too Late – We’ve Got This Gift
by Salmonella Dub with Nino Birch
Aotearoa’s great dub’n’groove explorers Salmonella Dub bring in vocalist Nino Birch of Beat Rhythm Fashion for a radio-designed Never Too Late cut which raids their archetypal dubbery, and also arrives in an excellent, moody, extended Never Too Late Lo-Phi Rockers Mix and a sprightly We’ve Got This Gift Jungle Mix. Signals an album For All Things Alive dropping in two parts to coincide with a Soundsystem tour starting later this month. – Graham Reid
Break The Line
by Murphy Moore
Slightly underpowered in the vocal department, but this slice of local country-pop ticks more than a few boxes in terms of dynamics, an upbeat message of seizing the day and dials up the energy in its closing overs to bring it home. Check out her previous single, the piano ballad For the Most Part. – Graham Reid
Wristwatch
by MJ Lenderman
MJ Lenderman was here in February with his Asheville, North Carolina, band Wednesday, but his parallel solo output has also gained a lot of praise. Earlier this year, he recorded ‘Right Back To It’ with Waxahatchee – and has released a string of singles in the lead up to his new album Manning Fireworks. On Wristwatch, his slacker tendencies are strong. It’s easy to draw a geographical line with Philly’s Kurt Vile – he’s got the same off-kilter lyrics and addictive turn of phrase. Injected country elements like slide guitar and a slight drawl pair nicely with a fuzzy J Mascis-style solo. – Sam Clark
I Found You Out
by RIP Swirl, Alias Error
Channeling a 90s downtempo aesthetic, Alia Seror-O’Neill, aka Alias Error provides vocals on this lovely production. Hailing from Australia, now based in Berlin, O’Neill is one half of trip-hop duo, a.s.o. The track builds into a blissful cinematic outro with distorted guitars and a washed-out breakbeat, making you wish the track was longer than three minutes. It’s a fresh take on a well-traversed sound. – Sam Clark
JS Bach arr. Busoni, Chaconne from Violin Partita No. 2, BWV 1004
By Ferruccio Busoni, piano
Pianist-composer Ferruccio Busoni was known for big, bold-to-the-point-of-showing-off virtuosity. He’s particularly famous for his transcriptions of Bach, especially his piano arrangement of the Chaconne from Partita No.2, originally for solo violin. Busoni died in 1924, but he nevertheless made several recordings. Alas, most of these were lost in a fire. However, a number of his piano rolls remain, most of which have been digitised, including his take on the Chaconne. Busoni makes a lot of interpretive decisions a contemporary pianist probably wouldn’t – to check out how a modern pianist does it, you can hear Flavio Villani perform the Bach-Busoni, next to works by Chopin, at Auckland Town Hall’s concert chamber on September 22. More details at www.aucklandlive.co.nz/show/ballades-a-tapestry-of-music
