Guy For That
by Post Malone with Luke Combs
Post Malone has recorded across the spectrum from hardcore rappers to Taylor Swift. Having done Pour Me a Drink with country star Blake Shelton it’s no surprise to have another big Nashville star, Luke Combs, here on one of those instantly radio-friendly country-rock songs (with fiddle and guitar twang) on another step towards his guest heavy country album F-1 Trillion due August 16 (with Chris Stapleton, Tim McGraw, Morgan Waller among other country-rock guests). – Graham Reid
Some Kind of Angel / Split Lip
by Georgia Gets By
Georgia Nott (formerly of Broods) here gets away two songs simultaneously released to signal the Split Lip EP due September 6. The shimmering guitar and weary vocals on the floating, wide-screen textures of Some Kind of Angel are commanding, the more arty Split Lip similarly goes for sonic breadth while she sits the speak-sing vocal somewhere in the middle-ground. Be interesting to see which of these gets the more mileage. – Graham Reid
Zig Zag
By PNC, featuring David Dallas
A big and brooding tag-team effort from Kiwi hip-hop veterans PNC and David Dallas that takes a dynamic turn three minutes or so into its five-minute epic. It’s the latest instalment in PNC’s 10-single project Unbothered Rapper. – Russell Baillie
Vibe
by Poetik
With Raggadat Cris, Lee Munro, BIGGs 685, Poetik (Kiwi-Samoan Ventry Parker) – who gave Tao Samoa rugby league fans their unofficial 2022 anthem with the terrific 685 – here mixes hard lyrics and sweet vocals for another clever melding of rap and R’n’B which nails down a lot of information in three minutes. Repeat play gem. – Graham Reid
Taeao
by Leao
A lovely single from Leao, after opening for Tinariwen here in May. David Feauai-Afaese draws on the rich history of Pasifika music – like the string bands of the 50s and soul artists of the 90s. They blend this vintage aesthetic with indie rock – much like the late Charlie Megira. This track is drenched in reverb, with bright guitar tones that cut through the mix – the chugging Pasifika rhythm casts you into a blissful state of mind. Built around a drum loop, it builds into a sweet chorus with the lo-fi sensibilities of fellow indie artist, Current Joys. – Sam Clark
Taught by Experts
by Paul Kelly
Aussie singer-songwriter godfather Paul Kelly heads to Fever Longing Still, his first new album of originals in some years with a song that has been kicking around his catalogue for a while now – there’s a version on his 1992 bluegrass album Smoke. But this one replaces the banjos and mandolins for ringing electric guitars and thought it wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Kelly’s reputation-establishing late 1980s albums. – Russell Baillie
5AM
by Borrowed CS
From Cory Champion’s new album Creative Writing, 5AM is a standout track. It has a fresh, but classic drum machine beat – which he performs with live. This analog kit makes a big difference in production, paying homage to Detroit techno. A key figure in the Wellington jazz scene – you can also hear this influence running through 5AM’s melodic synthesisers. Catch him playing at Great Sounds Great on August 31, a full-day festival across Cuba Street in Wellington. – Sam Clark
Earth Hater
by The Hard Quartet
The release info on this debut single is scrupulously avoiding the word “supergroup” but the foursome’s combined CVs suggest as much, with a band consisting of Pavement guy Stephen Malkmus, Dirty Three drummer Jim White and left-field sidemen Emmett Kelly and Matt Sweeney. That’s Malkmus on trademark vocals on a song which does leave you wanting more after just over two minutes that swings from a hard-riff start to a flaked-out finish. – Russell Baillie
Tonight, Tonight
By Snail Mail
From Snail Mail – US indie rock star Lindsey Jordan – a sweet makeover of the 1995 Smashing Pumpkins hit which may not be as widescreen as the semi-orchestral original, but it is in a movie – art-horror flick I Saw the TV Glow, in which she appears and which is screening at the New Zealand International Film Festival. – Russell Baillie
Tы Мой Океан (You’re My Ocean)
by Vïkae
Songs in Russian are rare in this country but here Ukraine-born Vïkae offers an achingly bilingual dancefloor pleaser which comes with a thumping hook and a dollop of sensuality. Something different but also sufficiently familiar, which is usually a successful combination. – Graham Reid
Salieri, ‘Numi, respiro... Ah lo sento’ from l’Europa Riconosciuta
by Diana Damrau soprano, Le Cercle De L’Harmonie, Jérémie Rhorer director
If you’re a Wagner buff, Bayreuth is your theatre of dreams, but for every other opera lover it’s La Scala, which opened this week in 1778 with a performance of Antonio Salieri’s L’Europa riconosciuta (Europe Revealed). Salieri, of course, is the composer made famous in the play/film Amadeus, in which, out of jealousy, he drives the more gifted Mozart to his death. Salieri did nothing of the sort in real life, and was a supporter of Mozart’s music, but you can’t beat a good story. On the other hand, L’Europa riconosciuta was not performed again until 2004, when it marked the reopening of La Scala after renovations, which goes to show that a good story only gets you so far.
