There was a moment late last week when I felt like NZ Music Month overload would do me in, but then I was revived with an evangelistic vision à la "Joliet" Jake Blues. Let us now step reborn into the glorifying light of Aotearoa musical releases — revisit our coverage of Voom, Jazmine Mary, Clear Path Ensemble, Racing, Grecco Romank, 花溪 Flowerstream, Cindy, Pining Radiata and the FOOTMAHI 2025 compilation, then explore more new / recent highlights from Mel Parsons, Dropper, Em, MōTA, and Night Creams.
Scroll down and check out the UTR Roundup Playlist, a rolling weekly playlist keeping you in the loop with every new release we’ve featured on the site over the past month!
Are you an Aotearoa artist / imprint releasing something new soon? Let us know! Send your info including links to editor@undertheradar.co.nz.
Lyttelton songwriting star Mel Parsons busts down self-imposed barriers, putting the invisible club down on the mind’s table to persevere and even thrive on her new single ‚Brick By Brick‘. She’s making like Jim Nashe in Paul Auster’s The Music of Chance in her self-directed video — hit play and be sure to catch Parsons playing Aotearoa headline dates in Tāmaki Makaurau, Pōneke and Ōtautahi this month and next (tour details HERE).
Formerly known as Bleeding Star and now named Dropper out of respect for guitarist Otis Hills, who passed away due to cancer last year, the Pōneke alt-rock collective are on the absolutely red hot lineup for Tāmaki Makaurau’s JUNK 2025 festival on 7th June (get tickets HERE). In contrast with the sedentary cover art, their debut single ‚Your Face Says It All‘ radiates emotive hook-packed energy, hinting at the full length album to come.
Indispensable mixing maestro on our Live Music Bar variety show web series (RIP) and the legendary Trash Recital before that, Emily Wheatcroft-Snape steps in front of mic and camera as Em. Unveiling her sunny pop-bop ‚Love to Be‘ to the world late last week, Em reunites with Sports Team chums Annabel Kean and Callum Devlin on the accompanying clip — a coastal dreamscape complete with Fazerdaze guest appearance and dolphin joyride. "I wanted the video to reflect my desire to take myself less seriously as I grow older. It references Britney and ’90s fun pop stars. Also, Annabel expressed her wish to have a CGI dolphin in a music video — and who am I to restrict her creative vision?"
The guitar-slinging Ōtepoti trio of Jimmy Higgs, Craig Hall and Jason Chisholm, MōTA launched their debut album with a sold out gig at the Southcoast Boardriders Association over the weekend. Amp-sizzling rock and poetic uplifting jangle-pop — including passages sung in te reo Māori — are the group’s modus operandi on ONE, highlights for this listener include the Mudhoney-adjacent chug of ‚No Sign Of Life‘ and the zippy punk crunch of ‚Until Midnight‘. Keep ears peeled for album number TWO in October. "We’ve had a lot of fun over the past twelve months gigging and getting these songs sorted for release, The three of us have been mates for a long time, so the creative process is a super relaxed and easy going one".
Night Creams are the Tāmaki Makaurau guitar / drums / synth duo of Rachel Wood and Jamie Stone (Trucker, Impoder). Adorned with lavish painted artwork by Matt Hunt (Cortina), Night Creams dial up the depraved cyber-garage-punk heat on their debut album Auditions For a Melt Movie — achieving transcendental liftoff with the freaked out psych-riffage of ‚Big Step Little Bird‘ and closing space ballad ‚The Captain’s in Love‘.