Destination: Aotearoa

EDITORIAL | ISSUE FIVE | PUORO O AOTEAROA / LOCAL MUSIC

Written by Tashi Donnelly she/her | @tashi_rd | Editor

If you love plugging hot tunes directly into your ear holes, you’ve come to the right place. We’re talking about puoro o Aotearoa, local music, because our homegrown musicians deserve a spotlight, or five. So store your Taylor Swift, Olivia Dean, and even your Tame Impala in the overhead compartment, because this is a domestic flight. Destination: NZ music.

These days, it feels like simply going outside costs $20. And that’s true, it does. While we are all trying to get by, it’s important to remember that our local artists are doing the same. Before you drop $400 on a ticket to an international act, I encourage you to put your pennies towards local gigs - with smaller venues, cheaper tickets, the kind of gigs where you’re close enough to feel it properly. No nosebleed seats, no watching through someone else’s phone screen. And local music isn’t just cheaper, it's ours! Shaped by our whenua, our accent, our multitude of languages, our music is something to be proud of.

In this issue, you’ll read about the slow death of silence in live sports and how dopamine-maxxing stadium playlists are turning every break in play into a forced aux cord moment. A look at how headphones are quietly cutting us off from the world of buskers, street performers, and the kind of accidental live music you can’t stream later. We dive into Tāmaki Makaurau’s hardcore scene - loud, local, and very much alive - and spend some time with the artists shaping Aotearoa’s sound right now through interviews. Plus, we’ve got album reviews to update your rotation, and a few film recommendations for when you want to keep the music theme going on movie night.

And if you’re looking for your own classic Kiwi playlist, remember, Aotearoa already has a soundtrack, whether we notice it or not. It hums through tinny radios in Four Squares, leaks bass from cars at traffic lights, and it smoulders in half-remembered songs sung off-key in kitchens at 2am. It’s alive in independent radio stations that only your friend Jordan from intermediate and your nan listen to. Kiwis love music, and we have so much of it to share. 

So welcome aboard. You’ve arrived - no passport required. Please remain seated while the soundtrack of Aotearoa continues around you.