Early September will see The Other's Way festival taking over K Road, in their follow-up to last year's debut. Run by Flying Out and 95bfm, the festival is becoming the NZ equivalent to traditional music industry-festivals such as CMJ or SXSW.

Along with classic NZ and Flying Nun associated acts such as The Phoenix Foundation and David Kilgour, there are appearances from hyped Aussie acts Twerps and Scott and Charlene's Wedding and many more. We've chosen our own stand-outs from the line-up below.

i.e. crazy


i.e. crazy is dark and powerful; she paints herself as the "deranged ex-lover who won’t leave you alone; the batty neighbour spying through the fence; the stranger at the bus stop who holds your gaze that fraction too long." Her live performances are immersive and intimate - drawing you in with quiet, nervous banter between crushing vocal and guitar deliveries. Currently she only has a couple of  songs on bandcamp, stream-able below, but you can also watch this milky video for her single 'You're a stranger to me now'.




Grayson Gilmour

Grayson has been making dense, textured pop music for about a decade now. Though recently his focus has been soundtracks (producing some incredible work for the feature films The Most Fun You Can Have Dying and Shopping, among others). Always a joy to watch. We have a few of his albums here.

Shocking Pinks

The Shocking Pinks are the ever-evolving project of Nick Harte. 2014/2015 saw the formation of a new lineup and completion of an approximately 60-date world tour. One of the best live acts in NZ at present, and who knows if you'll get another chance to see this particular (my favourite) lineup.

PS. The festival isn't all live music, Flying Nun founder Roger Shepherd will also be doing a reading from his recent memoir of the label In Love With These Times.

Tickets are available from undertheradar.co.nz and Flying Out

PPS. (i.e. crazy is also a regular performer around Auckland if you're not interested in the festival atmosphere, watch for shows on their facebook page)

-  James

Here's a bit of a treat. I've always been a big Shocking Pinks fan, and this week Melbourne based label Promised Miracles has released a mixtape curated by Nick Harte. As well as one of his own tracks, it includes a new track by Scott Mannion from the Tokey Tones (which is reportedly the first new music he's released in ten years), Emily Edrosa's brilliant song Give Your Body to Science, and a fantastically weird Dragon remix by Pikachunes. It's a dreamy, beautiful collection of tracks and it's available as a free download from the Promised Miracles Bandcamp (which you can stream or download from the widget below). Get onto it.



For more from the Shocking Pinks, CDs of Mathematical Warfare and Shocking Pinks are in the library catalogue and available to borrow.

New Zealand Music Month is great a reminder to discover new local music and revisit some old favourites. So with that in mind, we'll be uploading some Spotify playlists of our favourite tracks. Some of the songs are recent discoveries, while others have been around for quite some time. There's not really a theme, they're just tracks that I hold very dear! Click play on the Spotify widget below to listen, hope you enjoy.

It's been a six year hiatus for the notoriously prolific Nick Harte of the Shocking Pinks, but the former Flying Nun and DFA artist is set to release a forthcoming triple (!) LP titled Guilt Mirrors.

Featuring Gemma Syme (Holiday With Friends, 47 Diamantes) on guest vocals, hear 'St Louis' from the forthcoming record via the Soundcloud widget below. The album comes out on February 18 on the Brooklyn based record label Stars & Letters.