The birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, we're heading to warmer times with the RNZ Music crew and their musical selections for springtime.
Clockwise from Top left: Tierra Whack, Tom Scott of Avantdale Bowling Club, Kira Puru, Hollie Fullbrook of Tiny Ruins, Photo: Supplied
Kira Puru - 'Molotov'
An Australian talent with New Zealand roots, Kira Puru has refined her sound in recent years. Her most recent release has honed her skill set into finely crafted pop epitomised in this dancefloor banger or in ‘Tension’ from the same EP (which is as good as anything Janelle Monáe has put out).
The Australian music press like to remind everyone that she is a QPoC (Queer Person of Colour) and she has a strong political voice which she uses to great effect. But we don’t really need boxes to put her in, we can just put her on and turn her up. Alex Behan
Unchained XL - 'What You Said'
Unchained XL is an exciting and passionate voice of the younger, newer and more diverse face of Aotearoa. He’s a self-described ‘cultural architect’ who's agitating for the African and immigrant youth growing up in New Zealand.
Born in the U.K. to Nigerian parents, Hugh Ozumba now cranks out hip-hop which is very much true to his itinerant roots. In 'What You Said' you’ll hear afrobeat, high life and other musical motifs of a Nigerian persuasion as well as straight-down-the-line grime a la Skepta’s Shutdown.
Unchained XL has a clarity and purpose in his delivery, it’s international, it’s polished and it has a message that youth have something to offer now.
Given the current political climate around diversity and its dollar worth, 'What You Said'’s chorus ('Don’t really care about what you said/Cos what you did is not what you said') seems particularly pertinent. Yadana Saw
Tierra Whack - 'Hooker'
Tierra Whack is a 23 yr old rapper and singer-songwriter from Philadelphia, who used to perform under the name ‘dizzle dizz’ as a child. Now under her birth name Tierra Whack, she has self-released her debut visual album called Whack World.
This 15-minute album contains 15, 1-minute songs, that beautifully weave into the next, also leaving the listener wanting more.
Described on Youtube as “A Visual And Auditory Project by Tierra Whack”- It's one of the most creative outputs I have seen in while, both visually and aurally, and what's more is its so impressive that every song finishes exactly on 60 secs, I don’t know how long it’d take to curate that!
This song 'Hookers', is a statement saying that money can’t buy her love, she’s telling us, 'money don’t buy my love. I don't need your money, I got my own.'
The song itself goes into this synth bass and 90s Cali beat, but it’s also grimey - Like Biggie’s ‘Juicy’. Jana Whitta
Wu-Lu - 'Sailor'
A South London producer working in the musical vein of DJ Shadow, Coldcut, or younger blood like Teebs, Wu-Lu (real name Miles Romans-Hopcraft) has enlisted vocalist/ bass player Binisa Bonner for this smoky, beguiling tune. It’s a song that threatens to erupt but never quite does, riding a minimal groove before closing on some delicate strings.
The real star is Bonner's voice and her nimble way with melody, particularly in the haunting chorus. It stayed with me for weeks, an otherworldly series of notes that kept repeating in my head, like a puzzle I could never quite solve. Tony Stamp
Avantdale Bowling Club - 'Home'
Avantdale Bowling Club sees rapper Tom Scott spitting verbally virtuosic lines alongside some of the best and most sensitive jazz players in the land. It’s deeply personal and cyclic, tackling his own history growing up the son of addicts, his substance abuse and the friends who went with him in that, and the changes that fatherhood brings for him.
READ: Avantdale Bowling Club's Tom Scott takes us track-by-track through the album
He’s always been clever and philosophical, but A.B.C. shows a sophistication and maturity that I haven’t heard from him before. Kirsten Johnstone
Bene - 'Soaked'
We don’t know much about 18-year-old Aucklander Bene apart from that this is her second single, she’s played one live gig, and her second will be Laneway 2019. We also know she’s been signed to a management company, which means she’s being groomed for great things, and that Josh Fountain (Golden Age Studios) produced this tight, tidy tasty bit of pop. Alex Behan
Tyler, the Creator - 'See You Again' ft. Kali Uchis
Even we at RNZ Music find it difficult keeping abreast of all the music that comes at us from all directions. In my case it is Tyler, the Creator's 2017 album Flower Boy.
Thankfully, for me, the ten-month delay in the production of Tyler’s 'See You Again' video meant I got my second chance a few weeks back.
The video is directed by the 27 year old former Odd Future master under his Wolf Haley alias, and the visuals are a sumptuous, Wes Andersonesque confection that deftly utilises some stunning VFX.
The whimsical and artful moments of the video accentuate the sweetness Kali Uchis’ vocals as well as the dark, confronting elements that Tyler is known for.
'See You Again' has twinkly keys, glockenspiel, strings, a bit of lifting trumpet and the oh-so-sweet sentiment of Tyler’s rhymes. I may be guilty of faithfully reciting the following lines in genuine sentiment
I wonder if you look both ways
When you cross my mind
But before I make you all vom from this cutesiness let’s just remember that this is THE Tyler, The Creator who is banned from entering this country and the UK because of Odd Future's musical output, which was deemed homophobic, incendiary and misogynistic.
Anyway, have a listen and see how offensive and this is. Yadana Saw
Tiny Ruins - 'How Much?'
This is the first single we’ve had from the wonderful Hollie Fullbrook since her single 'Dream Wave', where she worked with David Lynch.
My immediate thoughts when listening to this song was that it's the first time the band has really been showcased for Tiny Ruins. The guitar is very Nick Cave-esque to me or more notably, the distinctive reverby twangs of Roland S. Howard of the Boys Next Door and The Birthday Party creating some Distant colour, and the wonderful Cass Basil has a grimey dirty bass solo at the end.
Tony, Alex and myself were lucky to see them in the RNZ studios studio on Wednesday in all their glory for a live performance on afternoons. Jana Whitta
Sylvan Esso - 'Funeral Singers'
Electronic duo Sylvan Esso (with help from the wonderfully-named Collections of Colonies of Bees), take on ‘Funeral Singers’ by Califone (originally released in 2009), refining it into something much more precise and structured than the original, but with all its heart intact.
Full disclosure: the original is one of my favourite songs, so I was nervous to hear this update, but it’s respectful where it needs to be, and quite possibly an improvement in other areas (Amelia Meath is a much more technically capable singer than Califone’s Tim Rutili AND manages to keep his idiosyncratic phrasing).
It surely didn’t hurt that it was recorded in Califone’s studio under Rutili’s watchful eye. The clincher for me is the lyrics, by turns hopeful & heartbreaking, full of meaning, and, when Rutili refers to his friends as “funeral singers wailing”, a certain amount of snark. Tony Stamp
Haley Heynderickx - 'The Bug Collector'
Against a landscape of trees, dirt, and creepy crawlies, Portland singer-songwriter Haley Heynderickx investigates self doubt, stress, anxiety, religion and existentialism. I Need To Start A Garden shows off her vast range of virtuosic guitar skills, and steals my heart with her honesty and humour. Kirsten Johnstone
Related:
Music details
Artist: Kira Puru
Song: Molotov
Composer: Puru
Album: Kira Puru EP
Label: New Tribe Music
Artist: Unchained XL
Song: What You Said
Composer: Ozumba
Album: Foreign Legacy EP
Label: Private
Artist: Tierra Whack
Song: Hookers
Composer: Whack
Album: Whack World
Label: Private
Artist: Wa-Lu
Song: Sailors ft. Binisa Bonner
Composer: MIles Romans-Hopcraft
Album: N.A.I.S.
Label: Private
Artist: Avantdale Bowling Club
Song: Home
Composer: Scott
Album: Avantdale Bowling Club
Label: Years Gone By
Artist: BENE
Song: Soaked
Composer: BENE
Album: Single
Label: Single
Artist: Tyler, the Creator
Song: See You Again ft. Kali Uchis
Composer: Tyler Okonma
Album: Flower Boy
Label: Columbia Records
Artist: Tiny Ruins
Song: How Much?
Composer: H. Fullbrook
Album:
Label:
Artist: Sylvan Esso
Song: Funeral Singers ft. Collections of Colonies of Bees
Composer: Califone
Album: Single
Label: Loma Vista
Artist: Haley Heynderickx
Song: The Bug Collector
Composer: Heynderickx
Album: I Need To Start A Garden
Label: Mama Bird Recordings
