A revolving cast of contributors from the Music 101 and Wireless teams showcase some of the best new music releases from the past week.
KVKA. Photo: Cameron Robinson
KVKA – ‘Fake The Funk’
After previously releasing bangers like 'Psalms 82:6' and 'Who You', a few days back Hamilton-based Mukuka Simwinga aka KVKA dropped new track 'Fake The Funk’.
While also featuring scratching from Spell Spell Spell, giving it a 90s throwback feel, the track was produced by Tony Douglas, and is another example of the lyrical genius that is KVKA. That effort extends not just into his writing, but in the way he uses his voice too.
It’s a brief track but a good introduction to KVKA’s 'Stay Savage' squad, who are one to keep an eye on and surely a force soon to be reckoned with in New Zealand hip hop's underground music scene. - Aleyna Martinez
Archie Pelago – ‘Arcology’
As the classic model of the music industry collapses all around us, we find musicians and record labels coming up with a myriad of interesting ways to engage with their audiences. In a stroke of genius that mirrors the creativity and innovation of their music, Archie Pelago have soundtracked a computer game created by the band’s cellist, Cosmo D, in which the player is stranded within a ‘cathedral-like train station’ and given the task of finding a ticket out of town. Various characters and surreal, Lynchian situations are to be negotiated, often serving as metaphoric warnings for the not-too-distant future.
As can be heard in ‘Arcology’, the soundtrack finds the band continuing to explore their unique mixture of electronic beats and live jazz instrumentation. Always cinematic and vast in their aural scope, it seems like the perfect backdrop for a game of this nature, with unsettling string sections, ethereal vocal mists and a throbbing beat that would get the pulse of any late-night gamer racing. The piano stabs that come in after the two minute mark create a kind of off-kilter nineties euphoria, as if Dr Robotnik had retired from villainy and gone on to become a successful deep house producer. - Luke Owen Smith
Refused – ‘Elektra’
Swedish hardcore heavyweights Refused have surfaced almost seemingly out of nowhere with their new single “Elektra’ off their new upcoming album Freedom, their first since the hugely influential The Shape of Punk to Come, which was released almost 17 years ago, shortly before the band broke up.
After playing a series of shows in 2012 the band returned to hiatus and it seemed we might never see new material from them, but ‘Elektra’ sounds like Refused have been woken from a very long hibernation. “Time has come, there’s no escape” vocalist Dennis Lyxzén warns us.
Blistering riffs and ferocious grooves keep this track full on from start to finish. It’s a hard task to follow up one of the most influential punk records ever created and Refused know this. But if this track is anything to go by, they might have done just that. – Joshua Thomas
Leisure – ‘Got It Bad’
The internet is devoid of information about Leisure, the New Zealand band that has just released its first single in the form of the lilting, psychedelic pop tune ‘Got It Bad’.
The song first came to my attention (as all the worst ones do) courtesy of a drunk guy I met at a party over the weekend. Going against my jaded expectations, the song is beautifully produced, recalling elements of Tame Impala and, perhaps unintentionally, early Gorillaz.
True to their name, Leisure’s debut has a lazy, sunlit feel to it with reverb-heavy vocals and a bassline that moves the track forward at an unhurried pace. Don’t be surprised if you start hearing more of it over the next few weeks. – Ellen Falconer
Verydeadly – Waves’
Verydeadly is the stage name of this talented, bedroom-confined, 17-year-old Californian. That’s basically one year for every stage of Radiohead covered on this album. But this project is much more than just a Radiohead fan blessed to sound like his idol.
‘Waves’ is a sensitive yet knowing take on being young and emotionally active. It opens with soft chords, which promises the song to be a slow accompaniment to this hurt but accepting heart. It accepts sadness as inevitable, regardless of age.
As you may expect from a teenager who put up a full-length album online – he’s mature. It’s up for free since he’s a realist too, and that maturity carries throughout. The track encompasses lots of great instrumental twists that could only be done by somebody with such sensibilities. The best comes at the end with a percussion heavy romp that yes, does sound like something from In Rainbows but feels like originality from an emerging star. Verydeadly can call that his. – Alex Lyall
Strange Harvest – ‘Astronaut’
I don’t take dreampop as a lazy adjective to throw at music. It’s a way of describing how you feel when trying to listen and write about music like this without gazing off and having your eyes glaze over.
Amidst the sleepy feeling on the ‘Astronaut’, the wall-of-sound of synths and drum machines occasionally come into the fore, yet only for a second and often arpeggiated. It’s grey day music: kind of The Cure sans copious amounts of lipliner and eyeliner. – Eden Bradfield
Eternal Summers - 'Together or Alone'
Sometimes it’s all too easy to fall in love with a song. There’s a wash of sound, a quick splash in the face and then the defenses come down. Eternal Summers makes that process seem so easy.
There’s real passion evident in 'Together or Alone' and Eternal Summers work really hard to get their sound into your brain. The rumble of the low register contrasted with Nicole Yun’s subtle delivery adds a real bite, and when she starts to add grit to her voice over the shining guitar you forgive yourself for falling in love with 'Together or Alone' so easily. – Luke Jacobs
What's your pick? Tell us about it in the comments section.