Sunreturn

02/09/2024

MOKOTRON offers powerful commentary on colonisation and the ongoing struggle for Indigenous rights in Aotearoa with their new single

02/09/2024

To vote by text message, text vote followed by the name of the band or artist to 5395 from your mobile phone (txts cost 20 cents). Eg. vote the brunettes Add your bCard number at the end if you wish. Eg. vote the brunettes 1234

28/08/2024

Mokotron announces their new album 'WAEREA' (out December 5 on Vinyl LP and digital via Sunreturn) and shares the single ŌHĀKĪ, along with a music video created by animator Simon Ward in collaboration with visual artist James Paratii Lainchbury (and with assistance from NZ On Air Music).

📹 https://youtu.be/07T9azqjO2Q
🔈 https://mokotron.bandcamp.com/album/waerea
🔈 https://music.drm.co.nz/ohaki

ŌHĀKĪ builds on brooding breakbeats and plaintive koauau; purerehua swipes through the waves of menacing sub frequencies while MOKOTRON questions the legacy of the British Crown and challenges them to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

“ŌHĀKĪ was written in response to the death of Queen Elizabeth,” says MOKOTRON. “Our stolen lands are still held in her name. Now that she has died, who will take responsibility for returning these lands to us? King Charles? I spent my life waiting for a sign that one of them might uphold the agreement reached between my ancestor Kawiti and their ancestor Victoria. Will my children now wait for a freedom that never comes?”

“An ōhākī is a deathbed speech, it can contain prophecy, the passing of the mantle of leadership, exhortations to the living, promises for the future. What ōhākī did Elizabeth make?”

“Before Kawiti died he prophesied in his ōhākī that his descendants should wait till a time when the sandfly nipped at the pages of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and at that time the people would rise up. I reimagine his words here, that perhaps it was Elizabeth herself who was the sandfly that nipped away at the sacred covenant signed between our peoples. To whom does the responsibility fall now, who will lead these issues, and how long will our people wait for justice?”

Delving into the songwriting process behind ŌHĀKĪ, MOKOTRON explains “with ŌHĀKĪ I spent time to really nail the puoro – to get the loudest purerehua sound possible without hitting the mic or breaking the string, to play the koauau and let the phrases develop rather than just looping one section. I pushed to get the throat singing right so it had that deep texture without needing sound effects. I put a lot of effort into nailing the tone and performance while maintaining the scary ‘goosebumps’ feel you hear in my earlier works TATAU O TE PŌ and TAWHITO. The drum and bass throws back to hearing Bryan G drop the Watching Windows remix down at a BPM instore and hearing the way that the most blunt riddim can elevate the soul of a vocal.”

ŌHĀKĪ is accompanied by a music video made in collaboration between animator and video artist Simon Ward & visual artist James Paratii Lainchbury (with assistance from NZ On Air Music). The stark black background gives way to Lainchbury’s intricate line work, which revels in its scary intensity fusing elements of whakairo, horror and ancient futurism. “It looks how my music sounds,” says MOKOTRON. “Paratii’s art has become as much a part of the MOKOTRON project as the music is, so it’s exciting there will now be a third aspect to the project – animation.”

“I explained the meaning and kaupapa of the waiata, but I think more importantly I went into our oral traditions. Our hapū were the first to go to war against the British Empire and the first to defeat them. They had to invent technologies to withstand the power of British artillery and develop military strategies to defeat a far larger, better armed force. The fortifications and artillery bunkers they invented drew their inspiration from nature: Kawiti’s masterpiece fortification was named Ruapekapeka, meaning bat’s nest or bat’s cave. He drew inspiration for the underground artillery bunkers from puru tuna, the nests that eels build in the riverbank to hide in. Paratii and Simon embraced these ideas and they make for some of the most moving motifs in the video, but the narrative and aesthetics of the video were entirely their own.”

“It's pretty exciting being able to use my existing skills to help bring other artists' work into the video/animation realm,” says Ward. “It's kinda like I'm becoming an extra tool for them to present their ideas and stories.”

“The video for ŌHĀKĪ was a bit daunting at first cause I was the outsider coming into MOKOTRON and James' long running collaboration through illustration and design. Luckily James and I shared a love for 70s/80s, British, politically charged, sci fi comics, which was a very easy common ground to lean into. Basically I just tried to make the animations look as much like Paratii's incredible illustrations as I could. James' album cover illustration was very fertile ground to be expanded into a longer story, which he fleshed out easily, linking in MOKOTRON's creative ideas in the song.”

“I have huge amounts of respect for MOKOTRON” says Paratii. “I strongly believe that he is becoming a figurehead in the emerging postcolonial focused Indigenous electronic music scene here in Aotearoa. I am attempting to visually create an identity for MOKOTRON, the entity, which has similar mana, a kaitiaki from the past for the future, or from the future for the past.”

“Simon I had not met until the video production but I had been an admirer of his work for some time, he is a passionate and enthusiastic creator overflowing with ideas, so it was very easy to collaborate with him. I created & drew all the characters & figures and Simon rendered them as 3d in his animation software. As I am also a filmmaker (having worked in the industry from 1993 -2012) I could easily break down the narrative ideas into shots and timings which Simon stuck to pretty closely. He would add new elements as it went and then I would finesse them and vice versa.”

“For me when MOKOTRON initially rises out of the inky darkness or te pō at the start is exciting. This is an idea that MOKOTRON and I have been talking about for years. I also enjoy him roaming the land, creating te ngahere. The closing frame where we see Queen Victoria leaving the land and MOKOTRON rising up behind his people is also very powerful. I am extremely proud of this clip and I await to hear the public's response.

"I know that this is going to be ground zero for a lot of people's discovery of MOKOTRON - Simon and I have attempted to imbue it with all the mana and wehi that it deserves.”

“I’ve never seen a video like this,” says MOKOTRON. “This is the kind of video I always dreamt of making. This captures the vision. Paratii and Simon have done an amazing job of bringing this MOKOTRON world to life. When I played the video to a small group of friends, the response was gasps and tears. That’s about right.”

ŌHĀKĪ is the first single of MOKOTRON’s new album ‘WAEREA’ (out December 5 on Vinyl LP and digital via Sunreturn).

28/08/2024

This year’s Going Global 2024 Artist Showcase is a little different, taking place at Auckland’s newest venue (sort of) Double Whammy!, but it’s more of the same on the music front, with a collection of New Zealand’s most promising up-and-coming acts promoting their sound and style in back-to-back 20-minute sets.

Most of the showcasing artists will already be familiar to Rolling Stone AU/NZ readers, from rising post-punk bands Ringlets and Soft Bait to future hip-hop star Jujulipps to alt-country singer-songwriter Holly Arrowsmith, but we decided to take a closer look at six artists to see at Going Global 2024, which you can check out here: https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/going-global-2024-showcase-6-artists-to-see-65963/l/casual-healing/

23/08/2024

PODCAST HERE: (https://tinyurl.com/KMTPonOAR) K M T P performed live-to-air and chatted with Jeff on the OARsome Morning Show ahead of their show at Maggies tonight (Pearly in support). Be sure to head along. Tickets from UTR at https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/gig/91509/K-M-T-P-solo-With-Pearly.utr

CAMA - Community Access Media Alliance / NZ On Air

15/08/2024

The second lineup for Sunreturn's monthly Primer. series at 605 Morningside has been revealed.

15/08/2024

Japes climbs to #4 on the 95bFM Top 10!

07/08/2024

Japes is #5 on the 95bFM Top 10! Cast your vote for next week: https://95bfm.com/top10

07/08/2024

LIFE UPDATE (:
Exactly a week ago I finally reached the ripe age of 40.
This I celebrated at an amazing festival, and I´m really grateful for having so many birthdays doing what I love: Work !
Before that I had a small celebration with my family in Finland on the release date of my latest album VÄVA that I gave birth to right before becoming a middle-aged woman. Some people give birth to physical babies, I make different kinds of babies but this is truly something that me and my genius-of-a-colleague Karl Sölve Steven have been carrying within us for more than a year. And in this sensitive time of post-partum I´d like to reach out to you all Facebook-friends and share with you how immensely happy, proud and touched I am that we got to put this album into the world with the help of Sunreturn. You non-musicians probably think that this is what we musicians do all the time: we put out albums. But no. These are actual living, breathing babies that I give birth to and that might sound dramatic but it kinda is. It´s not just Work, it´s my everything

03/08/2024

New and recent Aotearoa sonic treasures unearthed.

01/08/2024

Japes is the project of Mia Kelly, a musician originally from Te Whanganui-a-Tara and now residing in Naarm. Today they release their long awaited new EP Omen.

🔈 https://japesss.bandcamp.com/album/omen
🔈 https://music.drm.co.nz/omen-j

Japes showcases a piece-meal approach to genre, juxtaposing treated guitars, sonic art and deep bass to concoct a thoughtful heady blend. Since releasing their debut EP Junk, Japes has made sparse appearances on local compilations (Strange Behaviour, Works for Loudspeakers) while developing into a live favourite in the capital, supporting Nabihah Iqbal (Ninja Tune) as well as performing at Cuba D**a and Newtown Festival.

Omen is a heady brew of bubbled synthesiser, field recordings, deep rhythmic bass, dusty percussion, wonky pads, liquid guitar lines and metallic drones. Omen showcases Kelly’s ability to intertwine their love for electronic music with honest songwriting, reflecting on themes of heartbreak, mental health, and the feeling of alienation.

“Writing songs about difficult subjects that can give people solace and help them open up,” says Kelly. “All the songs are written about or influenced by events in my life, heartbreak, mental health, feelings of loss and alienation. I've always been a bedroom producer and have made music to make sense of the world around me. The time around this EP was the aftermath of a particularly turbulent time where I was doing a lot of reflecting. “The name “Omen” is a reflection of feeling paranoid and anxious, like you’re about to unveil a horrible truth. But it also holds a feeling of hope, for the horizon, for things to improve and renew.”

“There’s a lot of field recordings throughout the EP, it’s a practice I’ve always been fascinated by. I love the idea of being able to collect sounds from throughout the world and use them to add context and meaning to songs. I also use them to make synths and textures, it gives it a natural and interesting feel, and helps tie all the songs together. There's recordings of a rusty playground near my house, an orchard I used to work at, the beach at oriental, cicadas (they make excellent shakers), and lots of other places around Pōneke.”

The songs on Omen were co-produced with Bevan Smith (Introverted Dancefloor, Glass Vaults) with the collaboration aided by NZ on Air Music’s New Music Development fund. “Mia is a really great song writer and incredible singer,” says Smith. “She's very humble and fun to work with. My contribution was mainly adding drums and textures, mixing and sneaking in backing vocals (as I usually do).”

“We didn't set out to make any specific type of music” notes Kelly. “The tracks are an exploration of what sounds we could put together, and a really big learning experience for me of collaborating and learning some different approaches to music making. I’ve always tried to blend my love for electronic music and honest songwriting in japes and collaborating with Bevan has really uplifted and created some cool forms of that."

Along with Bevan, Kelly notes that Wellington leaves a lasting impression on Omen. “I’m constantly influenced by the people around me, my friends and whānau, sometimes strangers on the street. The Pōneke music scene is so vibrant and eclectic, and there are some incredible people who I really look up to that are making music and using their platform to uplift and inspire other artists. I feel very thankful to have got to know so many amazing people through the scene, and it's going to shows and connecting with them that gives me the drive to keep creating!”

“I’m really proud of how the songs on Omen turned out,” reflects Kelly. “We spent a really long time working on the songs so it feels very surreal to have it out in the world. The opportunity to work with Bevan on this project has grown my confidence as an artist immensely and helped me look at producing music in such different ways. For me it feels like a little chapter of my life is over, and a new era of being can begin.

30/07/2024

spot the Mokotron / Caru track in the mix 🖤🤍❤️

30/07/2024

Tāmaki Makaurau songwriter is playing a solo set at Maggies on 23rd August.

30/07/2024

23/07/2024

For NZ Live today we head to our Wellington Studio, and the band Dateline Dateline is the musical project of Te Whanganui a Tara/Wellington singer Katie Evans.

23/07/2024

Karl Sölve Steven is a composer and producer, currently based in Pārāwai (Thames) and Anna Fält is a Voice Artist & singing teacher originally from Finland, living in Sweden. Today they release their new collaborative album V Ä V A!

🔊 https://karlsteven.bandcamp.com
🔊 https://music.drm.co.nz/vava-kss-af

V Ä V A, meaning "to weave" in Swedish, swirls in a mesmerising exploration of cyclicality in sound. Fält's versatile vocals traverse from tender melodies to inventive vocalisations, interwoven with Steven's deft manipulation of fragmented stringed instruments and synthesised textures. Recorded across continents, from Roundhead Studios in Auckland to Sounday Production AB in Stockholm, V Ä V A emerges as a testament to their sonic synergy.

"The V Ä V A project is definitely a special one for me,” says Steven. “It marks the first time in my musical journey that I’ve had the opportunity to explore my Swedish roots, in particular those of the Värmland/Finnskog regions where my Mother’s Mother’s family comes from and where my Uncle still lives (out in the forest in a house that has sheltered the family for multiple generations). The lake behind the house has been a touchstone throughout my life (there’s literally a stone which I touch whenever I visit!); I helped my Grandmother set up her loom (vävstol) there as a child, went ice-fishing with my uncle, and explored the forest (and picked berries and mushrooms!) with my Mother and family there many times.”

“Needless to say with this background I leapt at the opportunity to work with Anna Fält when we were introduced by our mutual friend, taonga pūoro artist Rob Thorne (Ngāti Tumutumu). Fält notes “Rob had an intuition and told me to contact Karl because he just knew we would hit it off. Karl booked a studio, I flew and made a grand plan that literally sounded like this: ‘Let's make Something!’. So Ähky and V Ä V A is our Something.”

Finally, Steven reflects "a huge thanks to Anna for embarking on a project stretched out across the planet and through the mists of time forward and back and round and round."

20/07/2024

Katie Everingham’s Dateline brings us new single Be Good, and man o man this song is an absolute FLEX! New album It’s All Downhill From Here is out on 5th September on vinyl (yay!) and …

19/07/2024

from the album It's All Downhill From Here

18/07/2024

2024 has already been a banner year for Dateline, they’ve been shortlisted for the APRA AMCOS NZ Silver Scroll Awards, topped the SRN and 95bFM charts and their sold out hometown shows! Today Dateline announce that their new album It’s All Downhill From Here will be released on Vinyl LP on September 5 and share their latest single Be Good.

🔗 https://dateline.bandcamp.com/album/its-all-downhill-from-here
🔗 https://music.drm.co.nz/begood-d
🔗 https://holidayrecords.com/collections/crowdfunding-presale/products/dateline-its-all-downhill-from-here-black-vinyl

Since 2019 Katie Everingham’s band has been a revolving cast of Aotearoa’s brightest talent, with previous incarnations including members of The Beths, Hans Pucket, and Dick Move. Returning in 2024, Everingham is joined by Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa (Ebony Lamb, French For Rabbits, Glass Vaults), Phoebe Johnson (Ebony Lamb, Revulva), and Reuben McDonald.

Be Good mixes classic rock sensibilities with the 60’s jangle still echoing from the Californian canyons. It’s a love song at heart, with Everingham promising “I’ll try so hard to be good.” The track was recorded and mixed by Jonathan Pearce (The Beths) at Vogelmorn Hall and mastered by Oliver Devlin (Hans Pucket).

“I guess ‘Be Good’ is essentially about trying to be the best version of yourself for the person you love,” says Everingham.

“I think the prompt I gave to the band when we were working on the song was to channel their inner Sheryl Crow. I wanted the song to have a bit of a 90s country rock feel and I think we got there! I didn’t set out with any particular sounds in mind but I do think there was a ‘vibe’ I was after. When I first started writing the song it was just on my little acoustic guitar and it was really slow and moody. Once I bought the song to the band it quickly developed into something more driving and upbeat. Even though the lyrics have their downer moments I think the overall idea is quite hopeful and optimistic. So I wanted that to carry with the music.”

Reflecting on the track Everingham says “I’m really happy with it. I think it is quite different to our first two singles, it is nice to put something out that feels quite upbeat and happy... for the most part.”

Be Good can be found alongside Choose Me and Hands on Dateline’s upcoming album It’s All Downhill From Here (out September 5 on Vinyl LP and Digitally via Sunreturn).

12/07/2024

📣 NOMINEE SPOTLIGHT - Based in Te Whanganui a Tara, Dateline are nominated for the Silver Scroll Award | Kaitito Kaiaka for their waiata, 'Choose Me', written by Katie Everingham and Jonathan Pearce.

🎶 LISTEN - via our playlist link in comments.

🗳️ VOTE - APRA Aotearoa members can vote for their favourite songs, including 'Choose Me', until July 25 via the link in comments.

✨ THANKS - Te Māngai Pāho, NZ On Air and Maria Francesca Melis Illustration.

03/07/2024

Japes holds at #10 on the Radio One 91FM Top 11!

26/06/2024

Karl Sölve Steven is a composer and producer, currently based in Pārāwai (Thames) and ANNA FÄLT - artist page is a Voice Artist & singing teacher originally from Finland, living in Sweden. Today Fält and Steven have announced V Ä V A, a new collaborative album and share the first offering Ähky.

🔈 https://karlsteven.bandcamp.com/album/v-v-a
🔈 https://music.drm.co.nz/ahky-kss-af

Ähky bristles with rhythmic energy and life. Fält’s shuffled percussive handclaps and breath work give way to circular loops that Steven effects with granular processing.

“I originally wrote Ähky as a solo performance in 2015 and sometimes I sing it at my concerts." says Fält. "It's an old spell against stomach ache or colic, basically it’s a text that says to this ache to go away, just in a very poetic way with many words. Karl saw a video of me singing it live and asked if we could do something with it without knowing where it comes from. Parts of his family come from the Finn Forests and still live there!”

“Ähky and the V Ä V A project is definitely a special one for me,” says Steven. “It marks the first time in my musical journey that I’ve had the opportunity to explore my Swedish roots, in particular those of the Värmland/Finnskog regions where my Mother’s Mother’s family comes from and where my Uncle still lives (out in the forest in a house that has sheltered the family for multiple generations). The lake behind the house has been a touchstone throughout my life (there’s literally a stone which I touch whenever I visit!); I helped my Grandmother set up her loom (vävstol) there as a child, went ice-fishing with my uncle, and explored the forest (and picked berries and mushrooms!) with my Mother and family there many times.”

“Needless to say with this background I leapt at the opportunity to work with Anna Fält when we were introduced by our mutual friend, taonga pūoro artist Rob Thorne (Ngāti Tumutumu). We spent a day together at Roundhead Studios New Zealand with a selection of microphones and modular synths, a traditional Swedish Nyckelharpa (made in the 1970’s by the painter Sven Persson), and a small harp (made from salvaged Rimu for my Wife’s Grandfather). We met again in a studio in Stockholm to record Ähky and work through our already recorded material which had been so deftly prepared for us by engineer Matt Gunn.”

Fält notes “Rob had an intuition and told me to contact Karl because he just knew we would hit it off. Karl booked a studio, I flew and made a grand plan that literally sounded like this: ‘Let's make Something!’. So Ähky and V Ä V A is our Something.”

24/06/2024

Alec has shared his second album Endless Pasture. He describes the record as "exploring living in New Zealand from multiple perspectives and characters. The good, the bad and the ugly."

🔈 https://alec.bandcamp.com/album/endless-pasture
🔈 https://music.drm.co.nz/endlesspasture

Alec is the project of Hugh Piesse, a musician, songwriter and producer based in Tāmaki Makaurau. As Alec, Piesse creates contemplative alternative rock, despondent yet wryly devotional, all through a veiled vocal delivery.

Alec crafted Endless Pasture in the heart of winter, moving between his Langholm flat and a windowless storage shed, each imbuing the album with a distinct atmosphere. Upon the release of the single Another Party (May 15) Piesse explained that "Endless Pasture sort of revolves around people trying to escape the circumstances that they’ve ended up in, but are too mired in them to change I think amongst other things.”

Repeat listeners will discover traces of the Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine, as well as nods to Allen Toussaint and Burt Bacharach. “The first half of Endless Pasture is very dreamy. I was hoping to make something sound like you were listening to your subconscious. The second half gets more lucid. This involved a lot of nostalgic sounds I lifted from the Alesis Quadraverb, using distorted guitars and muffled vocals to flirt with shoegaze. Sort of like a submerged version of a '90s songwriter.”

Piesse wasn’t alone when making Endless Pasture, with confidants including Fraser Hunter, Akaiti Tangiiau, Jake Preston, Seamus McGuire. “I make music with these people quite often so we all know what we're trying to achieve just based on past experience. It really is just us hanging out, having a good time, maybe a beer and having fun with it.”

With the album now released Piesse comments “Practically speaking, I've worked on quite a lot of music since I finished the tracks on Endless Pasture. I put a lot of time and effort into making these songs into something that I felt wasn't half-assed. The album means a lot to me in that sense and I'm really looking forward to anyone who's ever listened to Alec getting a much better album to enjoy than those old hunks of junk."

21/06/2024

Dateline share Hands, the second single of 2024, following up their SRN & Radioscope Alt chart topping track Choose Me.

🔈 https://music.drm.co.nz/hands-d
🔈 https://dateline.bandcamp.com/track/hands

Dateline is the musical project of Katie Everingham, a musician and songwriter based in Te Whanganui a Tara. Since 2019 her band has been a revolving cast of Aotearoa's brightest talent, with previous incarnations including members of The Beths, Hans Pucket, and Dick Move. Returning in 2024, Everingham is joined by Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa (Ebony Lamb, French For Rabbits, Glass Vaults), Phoebe Johnson (Ebony Lamb, Revulva), and Reuben McDonald.

Hands sees Katie Everingham explore new songwriting techniques, playing with vocal delivery and character. The song slowly builds tension, working up to a screams of frustration, all the while Everingham pits the protagonist against the ennui of modern living.

“I wanted to write a song that wasn’t just from my perspective,” says Everingham. “I completed a short online songwriting course a year ago and a prompt or suggestion had been to write a song about a made up character.

“I came up with the idea of someone kind of stuck in a monotonous work and life situation. Just chugging through the days and nights, looking and longing for more, but not wanting to completely blow up their life.They’re fantasising about a different life they could be leading.”

“I’d say there are elements of that kind of experience that lots of us can relate to. I don’t always feel like getting up and going to work etc, but I was leaning into creating a character who is really at their limit.

Hands was recorded and mixed by Jonathan Pearce (The Beths) at Vogelmorn Hall and mastered by Oliver Devlin (Hans Pucket). 📷 Nicola Sandford

19/06/2024

Japes has just released Lighter Thief, the third single from her new digital EP Omen, out August 1 via Sunreturn.

🔈 https://music.drm.co.nz/lf-j
🔗 https://japesss.bandcamp.com/album/omen

Japes is the project of Mia Kelly, a musician, producer, DJ and broadcaster originally from Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) and now residing in Naarm (Melbourne). Jape's new track Lighter Thief crackles with dusty percussion, wonky pads and droning synths. Its themes lean into ideas of self forgiveness, acceptance and closure.

“The idea of the song came from a silly little tune I wrote in my head while in the shower,” says Kelly. “I write like this a lot, and just repeat melodies over and over, with whatever thing I'm ruminating on that day. Lighter Thief is about reflection and moving on, knowing things will be okay again. I wrote the songs on Omen in a time of turmoil, and finished them in a period of healing, which I feel the song reflects.”

Lighter Thief was co-produced with Bevan Smith (Introverted Dancefloor, Glass Vaults) with the collaboration aided by NZ On Air Music’s New Music Development fund. “The sound of Lighter Thief was born from a collection of electronic drum samples that Bevan had curated. We had been working together for some time at this stage in the project, and I wanted to try incorporating his sound-design practice earlier in the songwriting process. It was a fun way to work and created a great mix of both our practices; I’ve always used a lot of sampling and field recording when producing. From Bevan’s samples I created the bones of the song, and together we collaborated on bringing it to life.”

“Lighter Thief is my favourite song to perform live, it’s changed a lot, and I've really enjoyed the process of the sound evolving.”

14/06/2024

Catch Dbldbl this Matariki at Whammy Bar! Tickets are available now from Undertheradar.co.nz: https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/gig/90756/Matariki----Dbldbl-AUNTY-EL-Swizl-Jager--Morningsteppa.utr

✨ ❤️🖤🤍 We’re celebrating Matariki at Whammy this RĀPARE 27 HUNE with this incredible line up - Dbldbl, AUNTY EL, Swizl Jager & Morningsteppa. ❤️🖤🤍 ✨

This event is part of Te Karanga a Hape street party, celebrating Matariki in distinctive Karangahape Road style! The 2024 event theme is Matariki Tiro Whakamua | Looking to the future.

Tickets $10 from
Doors 8pm

12/06/2024

Japes is #11 on the Radio One 91FM Top 11!

12/04/2023

OP Lilypad shares his debut album OPLP (out digitally on April 13, 2023 via Sunreturn).

🔈 https://bfan.link/oplp
💵 https://oplilypad.bandcamp.com/

OP Lilypad is the new musical project of Jonathan Glenday, a musican based in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Known for his furious guitar work in Long Distance Runner, and making deep dance floor anthems as Fly Nights, OP Lilypad showcases Glenday's affinity for stillness, creating lush ambient textures by mixing field recordings with analogue electronics.

With a focus on the low-end (headphone listening is suggested) the OPLP sees Glenday follow his intuition, removing any musical guardrails and embracing an open, emotional and iterative musical practice.

"My intention with OPLP was to create something lush, melancholic and dense that I could lose myself in," says Glenday. "I’ve always listened to a lot of ambient and instrumental music and spent a long time experimenting with different approaches and mindsets for making my own music."

OPLP is a mix of organic and synthetic sounds, with Glenday using synthesizers, rhodes piano, mallets, tape loops and field recordings. "It is definitely an ambient album but I sort of wanted to avoid making something clean and clinical that leans on the utopian tropes of ambient music. As a result, there are rougher sounds and small moments of abruptness that are more realistic and relatable. I would totally zone out while working on these songs."

Glenday reflects "I’m really happy to have OPLP finished. Normally I’m straight on to the next thing but I’m enjoying just sitting with this, reflecting on it and figuring out how I want to approach this music next. I’m also grateful for Chihei Hatakeyama’s work on mastering the record. He is a great musician and engineer and took it to another level."