Pictured: Aldous Harding
Earlier this month, I headed over to Auckland, New Zealand, to talk at the Going Global music conference. Coinciding with the event was Flying Out’s inaugural festival The Others Way (Friday 4th September), which showcased the best music from New Zealand across seven stages over six hours, with some 32 bands selling out the event. I was only able to capture a fraction of the performances, but here they are in the order they performed:
sere
Loud, unabashed and distorted, the only complaint about sere’s impressive set was that it was far too short.
Aldous Harding
A stark contrast to sere, Aldous’ solo set was solemn and beautiful, with carefully considered orchestrations. Her incredible voice, mixed with superb guitar skills, makes for an engaging set, which featured tracks off her upcoming record – as well as favourites from her self-titled debut. It seemed like the whole festival had come to see her, too – though you could have heard a pin drop, at least at the front of the crowd. She had captured our attention and then some.
Street Chant
This trio totally rocked it, with a fuck you attitude. Wholly enjoyable.
PHF
Shoegaze at its best, with high energy from the lead singer, and a unique voice. I sensed a bit of a Ween influence in a few of the tracks.
Tiny Ruins
We already know Hollie Fullbrook – aka Tiny Ruins – is one of New Zealand’s finest artists at the moment, but this set – now performing as a four piece – was possibly the highlight of the whole festival. Hollie’s voice was on point, and the songs were perfectly arranged. “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round” was a highlight of the set. I particularly enjoyed it, too, when she stripped things back to a three piece, incorporating nothing but backing female vocals and some effects. A must see band.
Princess Chelsea
Also performing as a four piece was Chelsea Nikkel’s project Princess Chelsea, which saw Chelsea jumping between the keys, vocals and xylophone – often all at the same time. With distorted vocals, a second keyboardist, bassist and drummer, this was a full sound put forward but an excellent songwriter.
Ghost Wave
The last time I saw Ghost Wave was in New York, who have since stripped back from a four piece to a duo, using more effects and samples than live music nowadays. Their music remains as epic, however, and the performance was an engaging one. There’s a bit of The Verve and Oasis in there, though they make a sound truly their own.
Solid Gold Hell
Excellent prog rock. What more needs to be said?
The Bats
There are few listeners of New Zealand music who wouldn’t know the vast and impressive catalogue of Christchurch group The Bats, and having never seen them before, let’s just say it was a wonder to sit back and listen to one of New Zealand’s finest groups play songs new and old to an audience that would be best described as… well, just about the same.
Doprah
Playing tracks off their upcoming EP, the superbly named Dophrah delivered great vocals with unique compositions. At times it sounded like it could have been borrowed from a Bjork B-Side, with a similarly performative lead singer. “Whatever You Want” was a highlight of the set.
Stay tuned to the AU for more discoveries from our time in New Zealand!
