1975
By Tash Sultana from the EP Sugar
The weekly kitchen-sink production prize goes to Aussie multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Tash Sultana whose new track namechecks fellow stadium fillers 1975 at the acoustic start on the way to trying out every instrument and effects rack in the music shop over seven-plus minutes with its eventual sky-scorching guitar bringing in hip-hop beats, massed string synthesizers and saxes. Will possibly be best appreciated live, when Sultana crosses the Tasman in November and makes fellow one-person band Ed Sheeran look minimalist by comparison and the 1975 look quite overstaffed. – Russell Baillie
bad idea right?
By Olivia Rodrigo
Rodrigo has gone two for two with the second single off her new album GUTS, which is out next month. Rodrigo’s music was likened to that of Avril Lavigne’s in 2021 as she debuted, something that was widely agreed to be missing from the pop-scape at the time. Now, bad idea right? leans completely into that connotation with its pure pop-punk and cheerleader chants that somehow avoid being annoying. It’s an impressive and intricate track that only cements the powerful partnership between Rodrigo and producer friend Dan Nigro – the man seemingly coming for fellow producer Jack Antonoff’s pop throne working with acts like Conan Gray and Caroline Polacheck, too. And while it’s not a startling departure from her previous album SOUR, it really doesn’t need to be – it’s just good songwriting and an entertaining listen. – Alana Rae
I’m Getting Bored of This
by Tia Gostelow from the album Head Noise
Gostelow’s bedroom pop track is the latest single off her first album since 2018. The mellow electric guitar in the bridge with building harmonies feels like Australia’s answer to Orla Gartland, and the subtle “so bored” lyrics echoing after the chorus feel like a call to Billie Eilish’s 2018 hit Bored. Samples and similarities aside, Gostelow’s voice effortlessly flows through I’m Getting Bored of This, maybe hinting at some more outlandish tracks waiting deeper into the album’s track list. – Alana Rae
Big Business/ I Zimbra
By Talking Heads from Stop Making Sense (Deluxe Edition)
Having seen at Sweetwaters in 1984 essentially the same Talking Heads live show that was to become Jonathan Demme’s classic concert movie later that year, New Zealand fans bought the subsequent live album in greater numbers, per capita, than anywhere else in the world. A remastered and extended album has just been released – $130 will get you the lavish double vinyl version complete with liner notes from all the band, except for David Byrne, whose American Utopia tour, Broadway show and 2020 movie of it echoed Stop Making Sense.
Among the new tracks to the extended album is a mash-up of Big Business (from The Catherine Wheel, Byrne’s solo album for choreographer Twyla Tharp) and I Zimbra (the fiery funk Fear of Music track with lyrics by Hugo Ball from his 1916 Dadaist poem). Its seven-minute frantic traffic jam probably explains why it didn’t make the cut on the original album. But it’s also a reminder of the rhythmic power of Talking Heads’ enhanced line-up in that period and it certainly lives up to the title of an album it is finally included on. – Russell Baillie
Space Invader/ Alphabet City
By The National
Three months after the release of First Two Pages of Frankenstein, their guest-heavy (Phoebe Bridgers, Taylor Swift, Sufjan Stevens) ninth studio album, the National offer up a double A-side afterthought. Space Invader certainly sounds like the big psychedelic squall to finish a festival headlining slot while Alphabet City is another fine example of the New York band’s ability to give frontman Matt Berninger’s private thoughts the musical wide-screen treatment. Otherwise, sorry, move along Swifties, nothing to see here. – Russell Baillie
So You Are Tired
By Sufjan Stevens from the forthcoming album Javelin
And talking of Sufjan Stevens, the singer-songwriter continues on his mission to be the Wes Anderson of American indie with this lush chamber pop lullaby. The sweet tune of which belies what sounds like the beginnings of a painful breakup. – Russell Baillie
Grande Tarantelle, Op.67
by Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Played by Eugene List with the Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper
With the approach of Flavio Villani’s September 3 Auckland concert of Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Liszt, I’ve been listening to Gottschalk’s Grande Tarantelle, an utterly joyful, completely preposterous piece of music that perfectly demonstrates the role of the composer/pianist/show-off in the mid-19th century. Remarkably, the legendary choreographer Balanchine managed to make a ballet of it. – Richard Betts
