Singles In Your Area: w/c Apr 14
Turnstile are back, baby! plus new tracks from the Callous Daoboys, Babymetal, Counting Crows, Stereolab (?!), Pulp (??!!) and plenty more
A few new songs I listened to this week while trying to remember why Arcade Fire got cancelled and wondering if its okay to listen to them …
> Arcade Fire - "Year of the Snake"
via Pitchfork
I mean, maybe they’re cancelled? Band leader Win Butler was accused of some stuff and has denied it - as has wife and co-leader Regine Chassagne - and nothing has been resolved. It matters little: this isn’t a great track by Arcade Fire’s own standards. It feels like the further we get from Funeral and Neon Bible the more it seems those were exceptions in the Arcade Fire catalogue.
> BABYMETAL - "from me to u (ft Poppy)"
via TheNeedleDrop
BabyMetal are an oddity in the metal scene - a ball of fun for sure, and they have a handful of great tracks, but its hard to know how seriously to take them. If you do want to be taken seriously in metal, hiring Poppy to guest is a good move.
> BENEE - "Zero To Hero"
Hot 20 Aotearoa Singles: #18
Lifted from the soundtrack to A Minecraft Movie, this is a fun track from one of New Zealand’s premiere pop artists, presumably on the soundtrack as the film was shot here. The Aotearoa adventure world in Minecraft is fun too.
> BigXthaPlug - "All The Way (ft Bailey Zimmerman)"
Hot 40 Singles: #04
Texan rapper BigXthaPlug is surely a country fan at heart so this track isn’t a complete surprise (especially in a post-Shaboozey world).
> Counting Crows - "Under the Aurora"
via TheNeedleDrop
Who knew Counting Crows were still making new music some 30 years removed from the heyday of “Mr Jones” and “Round Here” and “A Long December” and Adam Duritz’s dreadlocks. A fine adult contemporary pop track.
> DARTZ - "Moving To Melbourne"
via /r/Indieheads
Bon voyage, gentlemen. I don’t even know if they are actually moving to Melbourne; they mention London, Tokyo, Vietnam and Greece as well. But it is clear that DARTZ are ready to take a leap into the big time.
> Ed Sheeran - "Azizam"
Official Top 40 Singles: #29
Ed has a habit of releasing increasingly more poppy tracks as the first singles from each album, and this is the most objectively bland pop track he has released so far. I don’t even know what an ‘azizam’ is.
> Garbage - "There’s No Future in Optimism"
via /r/Indieheads
Nostalgia is a helluva drug so of course Garbage are back again making new music, this track continuing the sound and broad messaging of anarchic album No Gods, No Monsters in 2021. There’s something gritty about their sound these days and I kind of dig it - kind of New Order-y.
> House Of Shem & Te Omeka Perkins - "You To Me Are Everything"
Hot 20 Aotearoa Singles: #02
A cover of The Real Thing’s hit 1976 single. I ask again: can talented musicians and songwriters please stop doing reggae covers of old disco tracks? Thank you.
> Javiyah Nikoia - "Back To Strangers"
Hot 20 Aotearoa Singles: #01 | Hot 40 Singles: #06 |
Official Top 20 Aotearoa Singles: #05
The first single from Nikoia, a 20-something Waikato University student, and its a perfect replication of a mid-90s R&B track. The music is a little retro, but the vocal is fantastic. Looking forward to what Nikoia does next.
> Kaylee Bell - "Ring On It"
Hot 20 Aotearoa Singles: #08
New Zealand’s own country star is back with a bouncy new crossover track, channelling Shania Twain and Keith Urban. It’s not to my taste, but it’s good for what it is.
> Kendrick Lamar - "Luther (ft SZA)"
via Pitchfork
It’s been out forever (20 weeks in the NZ Top 40 charts) but there’s now a music video, so here it is. If nothing else, a reminder to have another listen to GNX.
> Lana Del Rey - "Henry, come on"
via Pitchfork
First of all, this is a gorgeous track - an acoustic country ballad with a truly beautiful string section. But also I refuse to believe she didn’t write this about Henry, the pig wearing a cowboy hat who featured in the Game Changer episode ‘Sam Says 3’ where players weren’t allowed to look at him. I mean, c’mon. ‘Hang his hat up on the wall / Tell him that his cowgirl is gone’. It’s about the pig.
> Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke - "Gangsters"
via /r/Indieheads
The most upbeat song from their upcoming collaboration album, “Gangsters” is a fun track, but it has a video that is so utterly bizarre (and appears to be badly AI generated to make a point) that I’m afraid to ask what inspired it.
> MELODOWNZ & Revus - "KAVAFIED"
Hot 20 Aotearoa Singles: #11
I got ‘kavafied’ one time when I was in high school and, honestly, I preferred the experience of listening to this reggae-hiphop track.
> MJ Lenderman - "Wristwatch"
via /r/Indieheads
Another video from Lenderman’s solo album Manning Fireworks. ‘And a wristwatch that's a pocket knife and a megaphone / And a wristwatch that tells me I'm on my own’ is funny and sad in equal measure.
> No Cigar - "Best Behaviour"
Hot 20 Aotearoa Singles: #10
Kiwi act No Cigar have been at it since 2019 - this is a solid indie rock track behind some great guitar work and a suitably disaffected vocal. I really enjoyed this one, to be honest.
> PinkPantheress - "Tonight"
Hot 40 Singles: #07
Somerset born producer PinkPantheress is back with mixtape Fancy That, building on the success of album Heaven Knows and a string of music awards that followed in its wake. This is a solid dance-pop track.
> Pulp - "Spike Island"
via /r/Indieheads
I didn’t think I needed more Pulp in my life but then they announced More, their first album since 2001, and released “Spike Island”, their first single since 2013, and now I think I need more Pulp in my life. Our dark horse AOTY is on its way.
> Rudimental And Khalid - "All I Know"
Hot 40 Singles: #05
It always feels like if you’ve heard one Rudimental song, maybe you’ve heard all of them. I can’t honestly say that I’d be able to identify when this song came out if I didn’t know it was new this week. Khalid is good though.
> Stan Walker - "Mō Āke Tonu (ft Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke)"
Hot 20 Aotearoa Singles: #09
Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke is the youngest elected MP since 1853, and she went viral off the back of (rightly) tearing up the Treaty Principles Bill - and now here she is with Stan Walker, pushing forward the use of Te Reo Māori in pop music. And this is a great track, and a great video. Recommended.
> Stereolab - "Aerial Troubles"
via Pitchfork
The half-French, half-British pop group announced their first new album since 2010 last week; titled Instant Holograms On Metal Film, this first single/video is a solid indie-pop track. Stereolab used to stand out from the crowd; now it feels like they might just fit right in.
> The Callous Daoboys - "Distracted by the Mona Lisa"
via /r/Indieheads
A return to metalcore form for the Callous Daoboys after the divisive response to previous single “Lemon” - while most agreed it was a good track, longtime fans didn’t like how soft it was compared to their earlier work. This should sate them.
> The Marías - "Back To Me"
Hot 40 Singles: #10
There’s a lot going on in the new track from indie popsters The Marias, but it doesn’t seem to add up to much: minor chords, lots of synth layering, muted drums … its not bad per se, but it didn’t get me excited either.
> TURNSTILE - "NEVER ENOUGH"
via /r/Indieheads
It feels like forever since Turnstile shook the world with third album Glow On back in 2021, so a new single and a new album are well overdue. “Never Enough” starts out with organ sounds before reverting to their usual M.O., drums and guitars kicking in to great effect. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.
> We Are Scientists - "Please Don't Say It"
via /r/Indieheads
I loved We Are Scientists’ debut album With Love And Squalor - and its single “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt” - back in 2005-2006, so I was pleasantly surprised to see them getting a bit of coverage for their new single, taken from next album Qualifying Miles. Old school New York indie rock. Love it.
Also new this week:
Jack Black - "Steve's Lava Chicken" - I just couldn’t.
Hot 40 Singles: #11Laufey - "Silver Lining"
Hot 40 Singles: #13OK Go - "Love” - I’m reviewing OK Go’s latest album on Friday, but the video is worth a watch, as their videos always are
Rachel Chinouriri - "23:42" - look out for a review of Chinouriri’s new EP Little House in Friday’s My Week In Music
Ravyn Lenae - "Love Me Not (ft Rex Orange County)"
Hot 40 Singles: #12
Oh, one more thing …
One of the most sought after items of Record Store Day 2025 was a limited edition release of The Killers and Bruce Springsteen performing together at Madison Square Garden at the tail end of the former’s sellout show there back in 2022. Now titled Encore At The Garden, the band have released video onto YouTube for our enjoyment. The version of “Born To Run” is epic.
SOURCES:
| Official Top 40 Singles | Official Top 20 Aotearoa Singles |
| Hot 40 Singles | Hot 20 Aotearoa Singles | Radioscope 100 |
| R/Indieheads | TheNeedleDrop | Pitchfork |
Kia ora and thanks for reading everyone!
Mā te wā, Chris xo