Kirsten Johnstone talks about hot new music with Radio Active's Breakfast host Maggie Tweedie, RNZ music producer Tony Stamp and Jana Whitta from Girls Rock! Aotearoa (among other things).
Julia Jacklin - Crushing Photo: Nick Mckk
Julia Jacklin - Pressure To Party
Crushing is the Sydney based singer-songwriter’s second album, and it’s a clear and confident progression from her low-key folk-country 2016 debut Don’t Let The Kids Win, with a looser and more varied musical palate.
The first three songs on the album thread together like a narrative. The opening scene has the protagonist dumping her boyfriend on the tarmac after he’s caught smoking in an aeroplane. What a loser. From there you can only go up, and by the third song, she’s in that space where she’s being pressured to get back in the dating game. Her gift is for lyrics that both tell a great yarn, and are self-aware and relatable. Kirsten Johnstone
James Blake - Mile High (feat. Travis Scott and Metro Boomin)
‘Mile High’ is the latest single from James Blake’s fourth album Assume Form, and starts out with his trademark ethereal and melancholic electronic sounds. But then comes the trap beat, and U.S. rapper Travis Scott takes the stage for most of the song, with a theme more typical of trap: “We just be mile high clubbing”... But listen more carefully and you might hear Blake lamenting the loneliness of travel and touring, rather than getting jiggy on the plane. Jana Whitta
The Specials - 10 Commandments
Remember this photo? That’s 21 year old activist Saffiyah Khan facing down a far-right EDL member at a demonstration in England. In this photo you can see she’s wearing a Specials t-shirt.
The popular 80s UK ska/Two Tone band saw too, and asked her to contribute vocals to ‘10 Commandments’ a response to Prince Buster’s track of the same name, and a repudiation of his horrifically (knowingly) sexist lyrics. Khan spits feminist fire, and the three remaining members of The Specials show they still have some magic left in the tank. A fantastic second salvo from their just-released reunion album Encore. Tony Stamp
Papooz - You and I
'You and I' is a complete ear worm that will drone around in your brain lazily for days. When I hear Papooz I find myself drawing on elements I adore in alternative pop, the soft guitars, twangy soprano vocals and lyrics that so often nod to a long lost lover that could just as easily be forgotten about. Be sure to watch the music video too, the egg yolk passing between two tongues is enough to make your spine curdle! Maggie Tweedie
Francisca Griffin - Ghost Boy
The Spaces Between is a rare album from Dunedin’s Fransisca Griffin, FKA Kathy Bull from the Flying Nun band, Look Blue Go Purple. Her previous release was in 1998.
‘Ghost Boy’ is a minimalist song, compared to the rest of the album, and has some really sweet Ebow by Alastair Galbraith. I love that we are hearing from a woman in her 50s, a perspective we don’t usually hear from and she is making some of the most refreshing music I’ve heard lately.
The song closes with the lyrics:“I have the moon in my hand, you, you hold the sun in your heart. / I open my palm, you reach out your arms. / ... I miss you. “
I think it's safe to assume this song is about her late husband Martyn Bull, drummer from the Chills who died of acute myeloblastic leukaemia in 1983, and perhaps acts as a soft launch into the next song simply titled ‘Martyn’. Jana Whitta
Church & AP - Loud As Hell
Good god, these guys are owning it so hard right now. Annie Mac played their track 'Ready Or Not' on BBC1 this week! Word is that one will appear on a double-EP in Feb, while this track will be part of an upcoming mixtape. Apparently they’ve had 'Loud As Hell' up their sleeve for a few years now, which, considering they’re just 18 & 19 years old, is pretty astonishing. Tony Stamp
Listen to all the songs we've loved so far on Song Crush:
