NZ Artist Offshore News: April 2018

April 13th 2018
The past month has seen the return of the NZ Showcase at SXSW; great press for New Zealand musicians and some prestigious festival announcements for the European summer.

NZ @ SXSW 2018
If you attended SXSW 2018 in Austin, Texas last month, we hope you were able to catch some of the New Zealand performers because they have been receiving rave reviews all over the place. Javelina was the venue for the New Zealand at SXSW 2018 Official Showcase hosted by the New Zealand Music Commission at which HEX, Tiny Ruins and Noah Slee all performed. In the lead-up to the festival, NPR called HEX one of their 100 ones to watch at SXSW, The Chicago Tribune highlighted them as one of their favourite performers on the Friday. We Are The Guard named Tiny Ruins of their best moments of the Wednesday crop of performers and St Louis' Riverfront Times called them "riveting" in their list of their highlights from the last couple of days of the SXSW music festival. London-based duo, Ider, named Noah Slee as one of their highlights of the festival on Popped Music, calling him "wicked". This year was also Marlon Williams' second appearance at SXSW which earned him praise from Paste Magazine as "the best thing I heard during SXSW's first two days" and the New York Times named him one of the "17 Acts That Stood Out". A contingent of delegates from New Zealand also attended, successfully making the most of the great business-to-business networking opportunity SXSW is known for. We look forward to seeing what SXSW has in store for 2019!

ESTÈRE RETURNS TO EUROPE
Things seem to be heating up for Estère in the lead-up to the release of her album My Design, On Others' Lives on April 27. Her first single from the album, ‘Pro Bono Techno Zone', was remixed by fellow-Wellingtonian, Introverted Dancefloor, who released it on US-based label Carpark Records in March. In Europe, her most recent single ‘Rent' was commended in The Guardian UK who called her production "kaleidoscopic". She's also about to tour Europe, with three in France announced so far including Afropunk Festival in Paris alongside D'Angelo and SZA.

THE VENUS PROJECT GOES LIVE
The Venus Project a.k.a. Georgia Nott (also of Broods) has had chins-wagging as she embarks with her all-female team on her new project. In the lead up to the of her album Vol. 1 on March 8 (which was International Women's Day) she did a two-song set and interview for Billboard live on their Facebook page as well as one for New York-based Baeble Music. On the day of the release, both Billboard and Glamour both published articles celebrating the project with Glamour calling her voice "strong and powerful".

GROENI RELEASE NIHX
There was a lot of international buzz as Wellington trio Groeni amped up for the 30 March release of their new album Nihx on Berlin label Project Mooncircle.. Belgian electronica aficionados Subbaculcha premiered the first single, ‘The Pharmacist', which was syndicated by Berlin's Tailored Communication; BBC's Tom Ravenscroft aired their track ‘Evergreen' in his Recommends slot and Berlin indie culture magazine KALTBULT shared their trackI Don't Hold Knives'. In the short wake of the release so far, Canada's Exclaim! reviewed Nihx, giving the album 7 out of 10.

MARLON WOWS IN THE US
Outside of his recent performances at SXSW, Marlon Williams has continued working hard to promote his new album, Make Way For Love by performing ‘What's Chasing You' live in the studio for NPR's Favourite Sessions series and a four-song set for World Café, also on NPR. Marlon wraps up his North American world tour dates this month (with Auckland's Tiny Ruins as his support act) followed by performances supporting American folk singer, Brandi Carlile, then continuing on to the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Marlon then heads north again for recently-announced festival appearances over the European summer including the Øyafestivalen in Oslo, Norway and Pukkelpop in Hasselt, Belgium. In other news, his songs ‘Dark Child' and ‘Strange Things' can also be heard on the soundtrack for the all-new Netflix series, Wild Wild Country.

NEW UMO TRACK 'EVERYONE ACTS CRAZY NOWADAYS'
In the lead-up to the 6 April release of their fourth album, Sex & Food, Unknown Mortal Orchestra have released new song ‘Everyone Acts Crazy Nowadays' which has received plenty of coverage, including from SPIN Magazine, The Fader, DIY Magazine and Paste Magazine. On the tour-front, UMO have announced dates in the USA, UK, Europe, Australia as well as New Zealand over the last few weeks. Their 24 May show at Roundhouse in London has already sold out, resulting in another London show being announced for 21 November at the renowned Royal Albert Hall.

Bits & Pieces
- New single from Wax Chattels, ‘In My Mouth' was reviewed for All Songs Considered on NPR.
- Savage's 2014 song with Australia's Timmy Trumpet, ‘Freaks' achieved American RIAA-certified Gold status, selling over 500,000 units.
- The Red Bull Music Academy named Dunedin's Astro Children and indi of Christchurch as two of the 61 artists who will be attending the programme in Berlin, Germany in September this year.
- Coco Solid was featured in The Guardian following the February release of her album COKES and other recent contributions to culture in New Zealand.
- Tami Neilson's new single ‘Stay Outta My Business' was listed in Rolling Stone US's ‘10 Best Country and Americana Songs of the Week' on 31 March.
- Local producer, LMC co-produced the track ‘Listen Up' for US rapper, Rich The Kid on his new album The World Is Yours, released 30 March.
- Janine's new single, ‘Too Late' was listed by Paper Magazine as one of their "Friday Bops" on 30 March.
- ‘Body' by HIGH HØØPS was featured on Australia's Happy Mag
- Robinson's newest track, ‘Nothing to Regret' has just debuted at #46 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart for 2 April.
- Aldous Harding was nominated for the IMPALA European Independent Album of the Year Award.

CLICK HERE to download a PDF of tour dates around the world for NZ artists.

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