New Music Friday: 13th Floor New Album Picks: May 3, 2024

It’s New Music Friday, it’s New Zealand Music Month and it’s New Zealand Music T-Shirt Day! So much to celebrate! So here are five new Kiwi releases just out today.

The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda picks these five new releases for your consideration:

1. Matt Joe Gow & Kerryn Fields – I Remember You (Oily Rag Records) Our friends Matt and Kerryn have teamed up for this, their debut collaborative album. The album was written on the road and features a strong connection to Aotearoa/New Zealand. Matt Joe Gow grew up in Dunedin in the South Island, a place with bad weather and good music, meanwhile Kerryn Fields was raised in the North Island with one hand on guitar and the other firmly upon her heart. Click here to read The 13th Floor album review.

2. Beat Rhythm Fashion – Critical Mass (Failsafe) Back from the ’80s, this Kiwi band reunited in 2018 and this is the second long player they have released since then. The album was recorded against the backdrop of a worldwide pandemic, lockdowns, difficult wifi, and the time and energy drain of work/life/responsibilities and obstacles. The band would not be stopped, and the end result is a strong, well-rounded album of focused songs encapsulating the otherworldly beauty that has been BRF’s trademark. Again, click here to read the 13th Floor album review. 

3. The Slacks – Information Ape (The Rolling Vibe) From Taranaki, the Armstrong Brothers offer up their latest. Says Scotty: “Each song on the album is an observation on life as an ‘information ape’,
which is not necessarily meant in a derogatory way, more in a ‘still green and learning’ kind of way where a high-level production aesthetic often glosses over the validity of the message. It’s a bit part of what we’re being fed via our phones and why people struggle to discern the plausible from the implausible.”

4 Devilskin – Surfacing (Devilskin) This 6-song EP features 3 new tunes and 3 fan favourites. Says drummer Nic Martin: “We gave the world a taste of new material last year with ‘Let Me Breathe’, and now we’re excited to continue looking ahead with new tracks ‘Insects’ and ‘Unborn’. Those who have made it to a recent Devilskin headline show may have caught a glimpse of these songs, and we’re all incredibly proud of how they’ve come to life in the studio with Dave Rhodes co-producing.”  Their cover of Heart’s Barracuda kicks some serious ass.

5. Family Band – The Dog Box (Family Band) A 5-song EP from this gnarly noise group based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Sam Shepherd says “We were excited just to have enough songs for an EP so we thought let’s go for it.” Brandee Thorburn notes, “We just kind of did it because it seemed like a fun thing to do with your friends. Now that we aren’t living together anymore, it’s nice knowing we have something that captures that time and place.