New Music 29/05
Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa 2026 is now in its final week! This year’s theme, Our Sounds, Our Spaces, has continued to spotlight the artists, communities, venues, and environments that shape Aotearoa’s music culture, marking 26 years of NZ Music Month with a nationwide programme that has stretched from intimate gigs to large-scale showcases. As the month wraps up, we’re closing out with NZ Music T-Shirt Day (today!!), highlights from the Aotearoa Music Awards, alongside a stack of new releases from across the country. As part of NZ Music T-Shirt Day you can text MUSIC to 2448 to instantly donate $3 to help support the great mahi by MusicHelps.
Last night’s Aotearoa Music Awards brought one of the biggest nights in the local music calendar, celebrating standout achievements across genres and generations. Among the major moments, Marlon Williams made history with Te Whare Tīwekaweka becoming the first fully te reo Māori album to win Album of the Year, while also taking out Single of the Year and Best Solo Artist, alongside wins for The Beths, Lorde, Stan Walker, Te Wehi, Che Fu and more across a packed list of categories that reflected the depth of Aotearoa’s scene right now. Alongside the awards coverage, this week also brings a strong run of new music, including CRYSTAL’s Past Life, Ammonita’s Walnut, Greta van den Brink’s debut album This Wasn’t Planned with Dancing On The Moon, plus fresh releases from Lily Linscott, RIIKI REID, Luna and the Aether, Robinson and The Romantics, Sonorous, and The Broken Heartbreakers.
Do you have a new song coming out? Send me a message at ryanfromroots@gmail.com to get a feature!
CRYSTAL — Past Life
Pōneke-raised, Tāmaki Makarau-based alt-pop artist CRYSTAL is blending electronica, indie pop, and emotionally candid songwriting into gritty, relatable anthems about growing up and self-discovery. Since emerging from the Wellington DIY scene, she has built momentum through releases like GARLIC ICE CREAM and DEAD ENDS, alongside performances at CubaDupa, Rhythm & Vines, and Live Nation’s Ones To Watch showcase. Her new single Past Life continues that rise, pairing super-charged production with honest reflections on self-doubt, resilience, and trusting the path ahead. Written with collaborators across Aotearoa, Australia, and the US, the track arrives as both a deeply personal release and another bold step forward for one of New Zealand’s most promising emerging alt-pop voices.
Ammonita — Walnut
Ammonita are an emerging Ōtepoti alt-rock five-piece bringing together grunge, alternative rock, and emotionally charged songwriting shaped by the city’s thriving live music scene. Built around a love of loud guitars, heavy rhythm sections, and raw live energy, the band have already been making waves locally through their energetic performances and emotionally driven sound. Their debut single Walnut captures the pain and longing of long-distance relationships, pairing melancholic melodies with gritty, grunge-fuelled instrumentation inspired by the spontaneity of the band’s live chemistry. With more music and live shows on the horizon, Ammonita look set to continue Dunedin’s strong tradition of producing standout alternative rock acts.
Greta van den Brink — This Wasn't Planned (ALBUM)
Greta van den Brink is a Tāmaki Makaurau indie-pop artist and creative whose music blends confessional songwriting, cinematic atmosphere, and alternative pop textures into emotionally immersive storytelling. Across recent singles including Chill Cool Girl, Mr Ego, Bodies, and Levi Jeans, she has steadily built a vivid coming-of-age world centred on chaos, heartbreak, desire, and self-discovery. Now, she arrives with her debut album This Wasn’t Planned, alongside focus single Dancing On The Moon, a stormy and magnetic indie-pop track exploring the intensity of all-consuming connection. Drawing from both her musical and screen background, including work on productions like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Time Bandits, Greta van den Brink delivers a debut record that feels raw, cinematic, and deeply personal.
Lily Linscott — you can be happy too
Lily Linscott is an independent pop artist and singer-songwriter creating vulnerable, emotionally honest music inspired by the highs and lows of growing up. Since beginning to release music in 2025, Lily has landed tracks including 15 Again, Daughters and Selfish on both the Aotearoa Music Charts and RadioScope Airplay Charts, before releasing her debut EP If I Forget Remind Me. Following on from her 2026 single Resolutions, the synth-pop track you can be happy too leans into a lighter, carefree energy, encouraging listeners to let go and enjoy life a little more. Lily has continued building a strong online following through her “Doing One Thing Every Day to Pursue My Dream of Being An Artist” series, alongside a summer festival run and support slots for Foley, before heading into a special headline show at San Fran ahead of her move to Australia.
RIIKI REID — Sauna
RIIKI REID returns with her glowing new single Sauna, continuing the sun-soaked pop sound that has quickly made her one of Aotearoa’s standout emerging artists. Following the success of her EP Drench, which featured the eight-week chart topping single Over Romantic, Riiki recently took home Radio Airplay Record Of The Year at the Aotearoa Music Awards, becoming the first female artist to win the award in over a decade. Written after a period of personal change and reflection, Sauna captures themes of release, healing and moving forward, with Riiki describing the track as a reminder to embrace happiness, appreciate the journey and focus on the things that recharge you.
Luna and the Aether — Mirage
Hailing from Ōtautahi, Luna and the Aether are a three-piece gothic alt-rock band blending doom, shoegaze and post-rock influences into immersive and emotionally heavy soundscapes. Made up of Luna Cubillana, Evan Oijordsbakken and Dave van Eerden, the band draw inspiration from artists including Emma Ruth Rundle, Marriages and Chelsea Wolfe, while Luna’s Spanish and Irish heritage shapes lyrics filled with imagery of ritual, spirituality and transformation. Their debut single Mirage introduces the project’s ethereal yet crushing sound ahead of a full album arriving in July, with the band already building momentum locally following a strong debut show in February and a sold out performance in April.
Robinson and The Romantics — Guaranteed
Nelson-born artist Robinson and The Romantics marks a new chapter for singer-songwriter Anna Robinson, the voice behind one of New Zealand’s biggest pop songs of the last decade, Nothing To Regret. Since breaking through in 2018 with more than 130 million Spotify streams on her debut single, Robinson has continued building an impressive catalogue with tracks including Medicine and a series of successful EP releases, before recently relocating to the UK. Her latest single Guaranteed introduces the world of Robinson and The Romantics, blending hopeful, uplifting production with lyrics exploring uncertainty, growth and surrender, while also teasing a larger body of work set to arrive later this year.
Sonorous — State of a Nation
Taupō blues-rock trio SONOROUS are continuing to build momentum with their powerful new single State of a Nation, a soul-infused track reflecting on the pressures many whānau and communities are currently facing across Aotearoa. Made up of Lucian McDermott, Khani Te Mete and Cooper Paalvast, the band have earned a growing reputation for their emotionally charged live performances, sharing stages with acts including Simple Minds, Collective Soul and Grant Haua, while frontman Lucian McDermott was recently recognised by Blues Festival Guide USA as one of the top emerging blues guitarists in the world. Written and produced by Lucian and Justin McDermott, State of a Nation blends thoughtful lyricism with psychedelic blues-rock textures, balancing themes of struggle and uncertainty with a message of connection, resilience and hope as the band work toward their debut album.
The Broken Heartbreakers — How Long Is Too Long
Based in Ōtepoti, The Broken Heartbreakers return with their new single How Long Is Too Long, marking the beginning of the band’s first album campaign in over a decade. Since forming in Tāmaki Makaurau in 2002, songwriters Rachel Bailey and John Howell have built a respected place within Aotearoa’s indie-folk landscape through emotionally detailed songwriting shaped by folk, country soul and classic pop influences, earning praise from critics including Nick Bollinger and Grant Smithies across releases such as Wintersun and How We Got To Now. Their forthcoming fourth album Imagine If We Could Just Keep Driving arrives in July via Slow Time Records, with How Long Is Too Long capturing the reflective, lived-in songwriting that has defined the band’s music for more than twenty years as they prepare for a nationwide September tour.
