The Beths

The Beths hail from the vibrant and deeply collaborative music community of Auckland, New Zealand. Lead vocalist and guitarist Elizabeth Stokes met guitarist Jonathan Pearce and bassist Benjamin Sinclair while they were all in bands in high school. While playing underground gigs around Auckland, they befriended drummer Tristan Deck, who joined the group in 2019. Their blend of propulsive, sing-along choruses, four-part vocal arrangements, and wry, introspective lyrics has earned them fans around the world, as well as opening slots for indie rock titans like The Breeders, Pixies, Weezer, and Death Cab for Cutie.

After putting out their first EP Warm Blood in 2016, The Beths signed to Carpark Records, who issued their 2018 debut album Future Me Hates Me. The record’s irresistible pop rock hooks drew acclaim from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, NPR, Stereogum, the A.V. Club, and a host of other publications, many of whom listed Future Me Hates Me among their favorite LPs of 2018. The album also made the shortlist for New Zealand’s 2018 Taite Music Prize, and Stokes has twice been nominated for the Silver Scroll Award, New Zealand’s most prestigious songwriting honor. In 2019, The Beths were nominated for five Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards, winning Best Group and Best Alternative Artist.

After touring the northern hemisphere for a year and a half in 2018 and 2019, The Beths regrouped to write and record their second album, Jump Rope Gazers, a sparkling collection of songs that deepens and expands the bright talent they showed on their early releases. Bonds between the band members only grew after spending so much time on the road together, and their camaraderie shows on their new work. Recorded and produced by Pearce in his Auckland studio, Jump Rope Gazers will be released by Carpark in 2020, a year that promises to bring The Beths’ delightful music to even more new listeners.

Mermaidens

The earliest sketches of Wellington trio Mermaidens, follows the story arch of how most bands start; through long-term friendship and bonding over music that shaped their salad days. For Mermaidens, it was an eclectic melting pot of PJ Harvey, Warpaint and Fugazi to name a few.

Together, childhood friends Gussie Larkin (guitar/vocals), Lily West (bass/vocals) and Abe Hollingsworth (drums) form a powerful trinity of unwavering creativity and relentless work ethic. Their time together as Mermaidens has been a fruitful one; a timeline consisting of two critically acclaimed albums, being signed to iconic indie label Flying Nun Records, and a wide range of live supports that include Sleater Kinney, Death Cab for Cutie, Lorde, Mac DeMarco and The Veils.

The internationally acclaimed Perfect Body (which drew a 2018 Taite Music Prize nomination) saw their circle of influence expand to a new, global audience. With its progressive and cinematic stylings on angular post-punk and grunge, Gold Flake Paint said the record “should prove to be one of the summer’s most brilliant long-players," while long-time music critic Graham Reid of Elsewhere confirmed it as “a real listening experience.” Clash Magazine praised the record for its “Noisy, scratchy, enigmatic songwriting.” But perhaps it was God Is In The TV that explained the commanding presence of the record best by saying “I can quite believe that some of their tracks have mystical properties.”

Come 2019 and the trio are set to release a body of new work. The first split single 7” You Maintain the Stain/Cut It Open is out April 5th on Flying Nun Records. The band are in a new space. We are in darker, more confrontingly uncomfortable territory.

Recorded at Blue Barn Recording Studio with long-time collaborator James Goldsmith (Perfect Body, Undergrowth) , the trio’s new material was tracked in January 2018 before Larkin toured overseas with her heavy psych rock side project, Earth Tongue (with Ezra Simons). “It was a short recording process with close deadlines - a lot of the lyrics and guitar lines were put down in the studio or the night before. At the time it was difficult, but you forget about that. We like to churn things out,” says Larkin reflecting over the sessions.

Mermaidens are in new terrain; exploring power and control in a confronting lens. They’re looking at the gatekeepers and dominators of the world, dissecting their power one song at a time.

Earth Tongue

Sometimes music is supposed to feel weird and indescribable. It’s the moments of clarity within the dense, sonic mess that often feels the most satisfying. That’s the space that Earth Tongue occupy. At times, their songs are shrill and disorientating, other times their reverb-washed textures and instantly-familiar hooks can wrap you in a warm, loving embrace. The one consistent thread through their music, however, is the thick and all-encompassing fuzz. Guitarist Gussie Larkin has become a master of the fuzz-smothered riff, and along with Ezra Simons’ off-kilter drumming, they’ve been sending punters into transcendental states since they began gigging in their home town of Wellington, New Zealand in 2016. With their debut release Portable Shrine EP they steadily grew in popularity and began to tour NZ and Australia regularly. They quickly became one of NZ’s most exciting underground live acts and it wasn’t long until they were playing alongside international touring bands like Red Fang, Beastwars and Monolord. In 2018 the two-piece embarked on a successful two-month tour of Europe and the UK, laying the foundations for the release of their debut LP in 2019.

Their debut full-length album ‘Floating Being’ was released in June 2019 via Bristol-based record label Stolen Body Records. The album was pieced together throughout their travels of Australia and Europe in 2018, with the finishing touches being added in their hometown, Wellington. The album contains songs they’ve been playing live for the past few years, and it captures the raw, primitive energy that exists within their live performance. Earth Tongue embrace the imperfections in their playing and recording, drawing influence from early 70s psychedelic and prog rock. The drums were recorded to an old 8-track Tascam reel-to-reel in a friend’s garage in Melbourne. The result is a punchy, raw and fuzzy journey into psych-rock with songs that weave between melodic and jarring, with unexpected turns leaving the listener in a disoriented, euphoric haze.

“New Zealand duo do right by fuzzy, scuzzy stoner pop, combining arch, staccato harmonies with molten-hot riffs.” - Bandcamp

“This could well end up being a lot of peoples favourite album of the year – people whose twin loves are heavy fuzz and fantasy sci-fi.” - Louder Than War

“A deep dive into psych-rock riff worship, tunnelling into skulls with labyrinthine lead lines and the duo's ensorcelling double-vocal attack.” - Under The Radar

Estère

Estère doesn’t play music - she creates sonic amalgamations that merge culture, language and legend. She breathes life into narratives that marry the acutely human to the achingly mythic. Her vocals soar and then swoon, beckoning sultrily and opening gates to new interpretations of age-old tales. Estère plays ‘electric blue witch-hop,” as she calls her dimensions of electronic, folk and R&B. The New Zealand Herald called it “a beautiful mix of everything the music world is lauding and lusting after right now.”

Estère began her journey as a bedroom producer with an MPC called Lola. Her first album, ‘Estère’, released in 2015 via Paris-based record label Prospect, earned her accolades from prominent media outlets such as Disco Naïveté, Elle Magazine (FR) and Portals. In 2018, Estère’s second album ‘My Design, On Others’ Lives’ was championed by Radio NZ as “an exceptional record.” Afropunk called it “an immersive experience unlike anything you’ve ever witnessed.”

Estère has brought her unique live show - she plays guitar, keyboards, drums - to Europe, Africa and Asia, including slots opening for Grace Jones and Erykah Badu. Estère’s onstage talent and energy has earned her invitations to international festivals including Glastonbury (UK), Afropunk Paris (FR), Bushfire Festival (Swaziland) WOMAD (NZ), Aarhus Festuge

(Denmark) and Sori Arts Festival (South Korea). She has also headlined sold-out shows in the UK, France and New Zealand.

In her push to explore new terrain in song-writing and performance, Estère has created a concept show, ‘Into the Belly of Capricorn,’ for international arts festivals in 2020. Through the lens of the show’s protagonist, audiences are invited to explore archetypal themes shaped by the songs from Estère's soon-to-be released third album - entitled ‘Archetypes’ - created with Massive Attack producer Stew Jackson.

Estère has been twice nominated for NZ Music Awards, including Best Producer (2018) and Critics Choice Award (2015).