DJ Mag, MĀ, Planet Trip, RNZ, etc
Selected Works is a weekly (usually) newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell, aka Yours Truly. Most weeks, Selected Works consists of a recap of what I’ve been doing lately and some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken + some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes it takes completely different forms.
WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING:
DJ Mag: Six emerging artists you need to hear: March 2025 – The latest and greatest artists rising to the top this month. From percussive techno heaters and FWD-looking breaks to wide-eyed trance, mellow grime and Afro-house, here’s March 2025’s list of upcoming talent you should be keeping track of.
I was very pleased to be asked to write about DJ PGZ as part of this feature. More details inside.
At some point in the last 24 hours, the Te Whanganui-a-tara, Aotearoa based rapper, singer-songwriter, beatmaker, band leader and park ranger MĀ surprise dropped the lead single from their forthcoming new album, ‘DECAY’ featuring Mato Wayuhi. I’ve been doing a bit of copywriting work for MĀ around this project, always nice to see it pop up places in the campaign.
Across the album opener and single, ‘Decay,’ MĀ traverses borders and oceans, connecting with Mato Wayuhi, a multidisciplinary Oglala Lakota artist from South Dakota. They trade Indigenous perspectives on home, land, and sea over acoustic guitar figures, tough hip-hop breaks, and taonga pūoro.
RNZ Music Feature: Aotearoa’s electronic and dub fusion artists: For today’s music feature, we’re travelling back to the heady days of the 1990s – when a new generation of Aotearoa jazz, soul, funk, dub and lounge musicians rose to fame. Nathan Haines and Mark De Clive-Lowe in Auckland and Bongmaster, Ebb and Solaa in Christchurch and Wellington were early pioneers of this movement. This crossover between DJ culture and live music continued into the new Millennium with Fat Freddy’s Drop, Trinity Roots, Ladi6 and Solaa putting New Zealand on the musical map. Martyn Pepperell shares some sounds from the era.
Last month, I was very pleased to be part of another full circle moment for Sydney’s Planet Trip Records and longtime friend, Millos Kaiser. Millos is one of their favourite DJs and a true head ahead of the game in terms of taste and digs. His new 12” for Planet Trip is one of the heaviest singles of the year. Millos was the first artist they ever toured to Australia way back in 2019. He’s also been a huge supporter of the label since its earliest days, so naturally this record feels quite special. Thanks again to Mike Who for asking me to write the sales notes for this absolute belter.
Assembled like a DJ-friendly 12” for the heads, Te Quero Perto kicks off with Millos’ original ‘club mix’ and an accompanying ‘instrumental’ version (digital only). Driven by an uptempo machine beat straight out of the mid-’80s, rave pianos, 303 acid bass, and an explosive Brazilian pop vocal sung by Juju Bonjour, it’s an absolute belter of a tune and a masterclass in in-period styling.
Elsewhere on the EP, Millos’s European friends Lipelis & Orion Agassi turn in an equally belting Latin Freestyle remix in vocal, dub and instrumental mixes (instrumental is digital only). Rounding things out, fellow Rio de Janeiro producer Paco Cabana throws the tune into a cocktail shaker before pouring a sunkissed, percussion-heavy reimagining for us to sip on. Front to back, it’s an all-killer, no-filler debut from a generational talent.
WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:
As Andrew Ryce put it in his Futureproofing newsletter this week, “It’s so rare in electronic music, perhaps the most cyclical of all music scenes, to hear something that feels genuinely new.” However, having given it a listen, I can attest to the following. When Andrew says Silent Dispatch by bambinodj hit him like a ton of bricks, he isn’t playing around. Imagine the late 2000s post-dubstep/UK bass music template reimagined for the mid 2020s and you’re headed on the right track. Essential listening.
Martyn Deykers aka DJ Martyn, or as he calls himself when he emails me “the other Martyn” sent me this tidy dance tempo two-tracker earlier in the week. Sterling, Virginia duo Gabe & Jude come through with some bouncy, breaky, atmospheric niceness. One for the DJs.
Ambient Babestation Meltdown and Borai, two UK-based producers and DJs who found common ground over cyberpunk aesthetics, sci-fi and late 20th-century club music, reconnect for another killer EP of spoken word electro and breaks with a bonus remix courtesy of Curses. Picking back up on the vibe they delivered on the Human Material EP, MMM#40 keeps the robo-beat moving.
Due for release in April, Te Whare Tīwekaweka is the fourth album from the golden voiced Māori singer-songwriter and entertainer Marlon Williams (Kāi Tahu, Ngāi Tai). Marlon has been a bit of a rising bigshot in the global world of country, western and folk music for a while now, but I have to say, Te Whare Tīwekaweka feels like his mid-career masterpiece. Interesting, it’s also his first full-length album singing in the te reo Māori language. As the proverb goes, “Ko te reo Māori, he matapihi ki te ao Māori” (The Māori language is a window to the Māori world).
FIN.
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