All the Latest Music News on Nagamag

Max Maxwell has been quietly making noise in the New Zealand music scene since everything smelled like Teen Spirit.

Running the aural gamut from downbeat to progressive, Max borrows dancefloor elements, dubs them out with chunky bass lines, and adds a sprinkle of melodic electronica tempered with sonorous vocals to create a rich patina of soundscapes which is at once dynamic and uplifting; reflective and deep.

Born and bred in the wild coastal town of Westport in New Zealand’s South Island, Max tutu’d with music as a teenager, learning classical guitar and playing in live bands.

The rubber hit the road In the early 1990’s when he travelled to the UK and discovered the wondersome world of electronic music.

Curiosity piqued, Max harnessed his background skills as a computer programmer, and studied music technology and production at Tai Poutini Polytechnic in the wild coastal town of Greymouth.

After one term, he picked up the call to travel more, landing in Japan where he cut his teeth busking, and Goa, where he soaked up the psytrance scene.

Several moons later, Max returned to Golden Bay, New Zealand, teaming up with pals Bluey and Col to form Matipo Pyramid, a psytrance band which quickly garnered a reputation for a damn good sound, releasing their self-titled album in 1997.

Fast forward to 2001, when Max, based out of Golden Bay, released his first solo album ‘Continuous Play’, which was nominated for the Best Downbeat Album Award at the BFM NZ Music Awards.

The album catalysed a shift: with much of Max’s new direction and inspiration flowing from the people he worked alongside on the album, including Ron Valente, Jules Evans and Bluey, who exposed him to fresh sounds, new ways to make beats, and sound engineering.

Moving to Wellington in 2007 and shifting gears to a funkier, more soulful tip, Max started a live act, playing with Carmel Courtney, renowned saxophonist player and vocalist from Christchurch, New Zealand. Together, they have played most of the festivals in New Zealand over the years, predominantly with Sam Hopley on guitar.

Always evolving, Max collaborated with his son Sol for the first time on Spirit Level to incorporate live elements (Sol’s drumming) into his music production.

In May, the duo produced “Can U Feel It” together during the COVID-19 lockdown in New Zealand, which is hopefully the beginning of many more collaborations.

Always evolving, Max collaborates with his son Sol to incorporate live elements into his music production.

At home in the windy cultural capital of New Zealand, Max has found his niche, beaming out his hearty, wholesome sound from the tiny windswept isles of New Zealand.

https://www.instagram.com/maxmaxwellmusicnz/

The track had an unlikely birth. du0 tells the story: “The three of us were among nine musicians invited to attend AMPLIFY, QMusic’s Songwriting Retreat at Heliport Studios in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in Queensland, Australia. It was amazing and incredibly hectic. We were rotated in groups of three and had to come up with a song from scratch, and produce and record it in 4 hours. We did this five times in three days.”

The result, Come Home, has had 1,107,000 streams on Spotify, but little radio play so far. And now the acoustic video is going off on YouTube. There may be something in this, we don’t know. Hopefully you can help us find out what it is.

https://www.instagram.com/du0_music

This song is written in metaphor about a man denying his real heart and hiding behind his work and life to avoid the love of his life. Sometimes fear can dictate an unknown path and destiny is never found..

http://smarturl.it/lionchild

Blending Deep with Lofi House, Wilborn joins the RER fam with a unique sound that fits well in our catelog.

SONG
Pueblo Vista is one of the most successful Lo-Fi labels on the globe, run by Paul Gilmore. Established in 2018 the label has been releasing music from artists all over the world, gathering a total of 115M streams and counting. It’s especially in these times of the global pandemic when people are forced to stay at home that they can find comfort in the soothing and relaxed sounds of Lo Fi Music. That’s one of the many reasons why the genre is having it’s biggest audience so far.

https://pueblovista.bandcamp.com/

About the Song: The song starts with some sad and mellow piano chords that set the perfect mood for those cold and grey winter days everyone awaits in awe throughout the warmer seasons. Typical for the genre, the melodies are accompanied by a laid back, almost sloppy, drum groove that resembles the rhythm one may feel during this time of the year. A winter blues if you will.

https://twitter.com/pueblovista

NEW YORK, NY – February 5th – After receiving widespread critical acclaim and inciting fan anticipation around their reunion, singers, songwriters and producers Jeremy Zucker and Chelsea Cutler unveil their anxiously awaited new EP, brent ii—listen HERE.

https://brentii.lnk.to/brentforeverPR

On the release of brent ii, Jeremy says, “for chelsea and i making ‘brent ii’ was an important reminder of why we love making music, especially during such a difficult year. it has been almost 2 years since this first ep, and i think that project really set a standard for us and our fans. i’m extremely proud of ‘brent ii’ and think it shows fans a lot of personal and artistic growth from both of us, while keeping things in the same world we created with ‘brent’. i’m so incredibly proud of the 5 new songs that became ‘brent ii’.”

Chelsea chimes in saying, “making ‘brent ii’ was so special for jeremy and i because we knew exactly what we wanted to accomplish heading upstate new york for this project. ‘brent ii’ feels like a warm hug, and we hope it gives listeners comfort during this tumultuous year. we’re so proud of it and can’t wait to share it with the world.”

To celebrate the release, they will make their television debut performance of the recently released single, “this is how you fall in love,” on NBC’s TODAY this morning at 9:00am ET—be sure to tune in. The harmonious and heartfelt duet has already gathered nearly 8 million Spotify streams and over 1 million YouTube views on the music video.

The five-song brent ii collection hinges on the inimitable collaboration between Jeremy and Chelsea. Its next single, “emily,” glides over hushed acoustic guitar as their voices entwine on a vivid recollection, “In Paris you asked me, if I was afraid that we’d fall out of love, would that be okay?” The two discuss the mutual concern of parents watching their kids grow up on “parent song.” Meanwhile, Jeremy’s solo piano-driven “brooklyn boy” elicits a response from Chelsea’s glowing “the stars,” ushering the EP to a confessional and cathartic close. See the full tracklisting below.

Next Wednesday, February 10th, Jeremy and Chelsea will bring the EP to life with brent: live on the internet, broadcasting live exclusively via Moment House. They’re gearing up to play brent ii from top-to-bottom for the first time, in addition to gems from the original brent, other collaborations and surprises. Tickets are available HERE.

In the middle of the global pandemic, Zucker and Cutler safely traveled to a cabin in upstate New York as they had when crafting their platinum single, “you were good to me,” and 2019 fan favorite EP, brent, to write, record and produce five new songs that continue the brent story. PAPER Magazine hailed them a “pop power duo,” as Ones To Watch said brent “beautifully showcases Zucker and Cutler’s stunning vocals alongside one another.” Check out the trailer for brent ii HERE.

Fall into the embrace of brent ii now.

TRACKLISTING“this is how you fall in love”
“parent song”
“emily”
“brooklyn boy” [Jeremy Zucker]
“the stars” [Chelsea Cutler]

ABOUT JEREMY ZUCKER

Growing up in suburban New Jersey, 24-year-old singer, songwriter and producer Jeremy Zucker has always been surrounded by music. In 2015, he released his first EP as a freshman at Colorado College pursuing a degree in Molecular Biology, and by 2017 he had signed a major label record deal with Republic Records. Since then, he has released four EP’s with breakthrough singles, such as Gold Certified singles, “talk is overrated” featuring blackbear and “all the kids are depressed,” and his biggest song to date, “comethru,” which is Platinum Certified and has surpassed over one billion streams. In 2019, Jeremy collaborated with Chelsea Cutler on brent and their Platinum-Certified global viral hit, “you were good to me.” Last spring, Zucker released his long-awaited debut album, love is not dying, to praise from critics and fans alike, as he recently crossed over a staggering 3.2 billion total streams across his catalogue with his latest single, "supercuts."

https://www.instagram.com/jeremyzucker

ABOUT CHELSEA CUTLER

Instantly-relatable lyrics and handcrafted lo-fi soundscapes have established Chelsea Cutler as a quiet, yet disruptive, force for popular music. Within two short years, the singer, songwriter and producer went from bedroom-constructed uploads to 750 million-plus cumulative streams and acclaim from Billboard, The New York Times, E! News, PAPER Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29, UPROXX, L'Officiel, and more. In 2017, her breakthrough single “Your Shirt” paved the way for her debut EP, Snow In October. Leaving college shortly after, she hit the road alongside Quinn XCII at the top of 2018 before kicking off a prolific string of releases, including the independently released mixtapes Sleeping with Roses and Sleeping with Roses II, leading to two completely sold-out nationwide headline tours in 2018 and 2019 and appearances at Governors Ball, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and more. Signing to Republic Records in 2019, Chelsea uncovered undeniable chemistry with Jeremy Zucker on the collaborative brent EP, which spawned the platinum single “you were good to me.” Honing her style further, she unveiled her 2020 debut album, How To Be Human, featuring the breakout single “Sad Tonight.” Bringing the new music to fans across the country, Cutler launched the sold-out How To Be Human Tour last spring, highlighted by two consecutive sellouts at Terminal 5 in New York City.

https://www.instagram.com/chelseacutler/

Artist shared with us few words behind this song:

"Escape" was the first song I crafted back home in Malmö after five inspiring months in India together with my girlfriend. One of the insights that really hit me on the journey, was how unknowingly attached to my thoughts and culture I had been, and in some ways, still am. To get away from unnecessary attachments does take some time and isn’t easy. But still that’s my mission and the song Escape an expression of that desire.

www.bjornrydhog.com

Artist shared with us few words about this song:

Running is the first single of of my debut album “Revelation Never Came”, that releases October 8th 2021. The album (and this song) was recorded during the lock-down period of mid 2020, during which I took it upon myself to do the production and play all instruments except drums and bass on the record.

I wrote this song last March at the start of this crisis. At that point it still partly felt surreal and I couldn’t help but think about the weirdness of this world. Change came so suddenly and there was nothing to do about it.

After a bit of lockdown I started feeling a bit sore because of lack of activity, so I decided to buy these sneakers and start running in the morning. *Note that I previously regarded sports as not for me, since I’d prefer to spend that time making music*. This song has become a discription of that first run after six years of no real exercise, and the rapidly changing world that forced this event.

http://www.instagram.com/aidanandthewild

Taking a cue from heroes such as Ben Howard, John Butler, John Smith and the Tallest Man On Earth and a profound love for ancient myths and stories about lost times come together in the distinct sound of Aidan & the Wild’s music.

Aidan, a.k.a. Diederik van den Brandt, takes his listeners away on a musical journey through his interpretation of folk and americana music. Spending most of his days practicing his instruments results in a singer-songwriter who clearly knows his way around the guitar. Open-tuning finger picking alternated with slide and percussive style techniques produce a saturated and captivating sound. The big blueprint of his songwriting is folk music, but within the spectrum all corners are explored. From groovy americana and uplifting songs about Jesus to enchanting melodies that transport the listener to another world, from personal stories about love to epic works about myths and dragons. Combined with his raw and honest voice and occasional foot percussion he delivers a one-man show that keeps captivating every second along the way as well as an energetic and enchanting performance backed up by his band.

http://www.instagram.com/aidanandthewild

A chill happy lo-fi song that will make you smile!

https://www.instagram.com/pianojzz/

https://www.instagram.com/maximeraki__