Earlier this week Hamilton'S DateMonthYear released stage one of a new body of work, called ‘The Exodus Suite’, a collection of five Soundscapes/ Ambient pieces, each with a video interpretation.

The first release is called 'Wind' or 'The Woman of the Roses' and was written and produced by DateMonthYear founder and mainstay Trevor Faville, mixed in America by Martin Porter, and mastered back in Hamilton by Andi Verse. The first video was directed by Matty Thomas Taylor.

​Faville explains, “The Exodus Suite evolved from leftover audio from the song Exodus from our last full album. Out of that audio I put together five pieces of Soundscape/Ambient/ Electronic music.” To make things more interesting, four of the five pieces have been given to local film makers with a brief to create a visual interpretation for each, Faville gave each director almost complete creative freedom- “The idea is to introduce an element of surprise and uncertainty - when the videos go live, the audience will be seeing them for the first time as well as me.” 

​The next instalments of 'The Exodus Suite' will be going live on the first of each subsequent month. All five tracks will be available from February 2021 as a download from the DateMonthYear Bandcamp page - but will be available for streaming at the same time they are released on video. ​​

Max spoke with Bitter Defeat about their new release - 'Light that Shines' - upcoming releases, charting on Radio One's Top 11, and more! Read the interview -> HERE <- 

I grew up beyond the west-side of Huntly, a bike ride from Rotowaro. So the cover and themes of the debut ‘Ultraviolet’ EP from Empasse - a project of Nick Johnston, late of Sora Shima, The Changing Same and Dynamo Go - piqued my interest. Read our review of the project at the link -> HERE <- !

Wellington ‘Gutter Folk’ artist YOLK has been a favourite at HUP, having featured more times on our ‘Tekau Nga Waiata Pai’ HUP/The Hum radio show and podcast than any other artist! We interviewed Yann last year about his Yolk project, but with the recent release of a new album, ‘Cherry Blossoms & the Moon’, we interview him again - this time with a focus on the new album, and how he dealt with lockdown! Read the full interview -> HERE <-

​Ceolskog is a recording project of Adam Helliwell, who has recently released a new EP titled ‘The Owl with Big, Googly Eyes’; his fifth since 2015. Ceolskog combines heavy metal with traditional folk music, particularly Celtic and Nordic… along with a bit of humour. We had a fascinating chat with Adam about Ceolskog; the new EP, the influence of nature and Scandinavian elements in the project, his previous band ‘IronStein’, and more! Red the full interview -> HERE <-

HUP caught up with Raglan-based Folktronica starlet Parabola West ahead of the release of her latest single 'New Moon', out tomorrow, April 24. Skip on over to FEATURES to read more! ​

We review the compilation 'No Sound: A Nivara Lounge Fundraiser'. Where does the money go? What are the stories behind some of the songs? And who is r.p.i.l.d.? Some of these questions are answered within!

Read the full review -> HERE <-

HUP is stoked to present 'No Sound: A Nivara Lounge Fundraiser' a compilation album out today on Bandcamp. 

We put a shoutout last week to bands and artists on social media, (and sent a few emails), outlining our intention - to compile an album by bands and artists who have played at Nivara Lounge, and sell it via bandcamp to raise funds to help Ivan and his staff through this period of zero income. We've seen enough live music venues come and go over the years, and we don't need another. 

We were blown away by the response and can't believe how amazing this collection of songs sounds together. If you have any spare time (ha!) play it from start to finish. It's brilliant, even if we do say so ourselves. 

A massive thanks to all the bands and artists who contributed their songs. If you like a particular song make sure to check out the 'info' section for that song and click through to the band's individual page to hear more of their music and support them. Huge thanks too to Scott Newth at BLKHUS Productions for mastering the album and Grant Stantiall for the use of his photograph.
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We realise that these are difficult times for a lot of people financially, but thought setting a minimum price of $10 was fair for 23 songs. If you can afford to pay more please do so, I am sure it will be greatly appreciated by Ivan and his staff. All sales go directly to Ivan via Paypal.  

Stay safe, enjoy the music, and see you down the Lounge at some point.

'No Sound: A Nivara Lounge Fundraiser' full tracklisting:

1. r.p.i.l.d. - I Love Nivara Lounge             
2. The Bats - She's Down (previously unreleased)
3. Spiral Stairs - No Comparison (MHZ Mix)
4. The Scones - Ode To The Mountains  
5. One Man Bannister - Splendid Isolation
6. Robert Scott - State Highway 6
7. The Fatalities - This House Is Killing Me             
8. Elider - Waterdog       
9. Carb On Carb - Annual Leave
10. Sora Shima - Calor Humano
11. Rumpus Room - Elephant     
12. John Davis - Solo Silhouette
13. GROK - GROK 58 - Modern Hazard    
14. REPAIRS - Chillgorithm           
15. Broadcast State - Abide         
16. ORBJKS - ORBJKS      
17. Glass Shards - Can Veil           
18. The Trendees - Collusion Of Bad
19. Bitter Defeat - Superior Avoidance Tactics     
20. The Recently Deceived - Misty Wave
21. CnC - Ko Wai Au        
22. Pencarrow - Soul Paralytic
23. Rubine - Secret Danger

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