Another week, another chance to dive headfirst into the depths of New Music Friday.
Before you clock off for the weekend, here’s what landed across Australia and Aotearoa this New Music Friday.
From garage rock and indie pop to club heaters and bedroom pop, these are the releases worth your time.
BIG NOTER – ‘F.M.D’
Briggs’ hardcore outfit BIG NOTER have announced their debut album Songs In The Key Of Wrestling, and if ‘F.M.D’ is anything to go by, it’s going to hit hard.
Produced by Nick Didia, the blistering new single channels frustration into one of the most urgent heavy releases you’ll hear this year.
Girl and Girl – It’s Dead
Nobody writes controlled chaos quite like Girl and Girl. ‘It’s Dead’ and ‘Hell’ double down on everything the band does best: scrappy guitars, instant hooks and Kai James diving headfirst into another existential spiral.
It’s the kind of release that demands to be played loud–and then immediately played again.
POOLCLVB & SOMA – GORILLA
POOLCLVB and SOMA make a pretty natural pairing here. GORILLA ditches polished festival pop for something much darker, leaning into UK club sounds and warehouse-sized bass.
It’s a nice change of pace for POOLCLVB, and SOMA absolutely owns it.
Noah Hill – It’s All in My Head
Known to most as a member of Parcels, Noah Hill steps out on his own with a debut that is incredibly understated. It’s ‘All in My Head’ sits somewhere between indie folk and bedroom pop, unpacking anxiety without ever feeling heavy-handed.
A quietly confident first release.
Borderline – Borderline
Borderline have been building momentum for a while, and their self-titled debut feels like the payoff.
The Auckland band just know how to write a great song, filling the record with melodies that stick and the kind of musicianship that never gets in the way of them. Still obsessed with ‘When it’s Raining’.
MR RHODES – REFRACT
If you’ve seen MR RHODES live, you already know he’s one of those artists who gives 100 per cent, every time.
REFRACT channels that same energy into a more restrained, spacious sound, letting the songwriting do the heavy lifting. It’s an EP that’s well worth sitting with.
Ella Ion – Liminal Archive
Ella Ion gathers together a year’s worth of singles into Liminal Archive, and hearing them as one complete body of work gives them a new sense of purpose.
Gentle, reflective and beautifully produced, it’s a reminder that sometimes an EP is greater than the sum of its parts.
Swick & King Doudou – Digi Mangal
After years in the making, Digi Mangal finally arrives. Swick and King Doudou pull together baile funk, grime and global club sounds into something that feels playful without ever becoming messy.
Weird enough to keep you guessing, but still made for a dancefloor.
Teenage Bees – Slam Hunk
Teenage Bees describe ‘Slam Hunk’ as an industrial-pop villain song inspired by Melancholia, which is a pretty good summary.
Crunchy synths, a driving bassline and a chorus that sneaks up on you make this one of the week’s best left-field releases.
