It’s almost time for the return of Auckland’s favourite street party. On Saturday, November 30th, The Others Way 2024 will take over the Karangahape Road precinct, bringing with it exciting artists from near and far.
There are highlights wherever you look on the bill. Hip-hop pioneers Dam Native will perform, buoyed by the recent acclaim for the reissue of their 1997 album Kaupapa Driven Rhymes.
Taite Music Prize nominee Erny Belle, who topped Rolling Stone AU/NZ‘s countdown of the Best New Zealand Albums of 2023, will also be there, as will alt-pop powerhouse Theia (read her recent Rolling Stone AU/NZ interview), psych-pop purveyors Soaked Oats, and indie rock multi-instrumentalist Ladyhawke.
From further afield, there’s A. Savage, the solo project of Parquet Courts frontman Andrew Savage; there’s brilliant indie singer-songwriter Andy Shauf and Aussie jazz fusion group Mildlife; this year’s Others Way will also feature a special set from Dean & Britta playing the music of seminal dream pop band Galaxie 500.
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What about the lesser-known names on this year’s lineup though? The real joy in an event like The Others Way is, so often, about stumbling upon your new favourite artist while the crowds descend en masse elsewhere.
Ahead of this weekend, Rolling Stone AU/NZ is here to spotlight five up-and-coming artists who will be hoping to gain some new fans at The Others Way 2024.
Tickets to The Others Way 2024 are available here. Find out more information about the festival, including the schedule, here.
LEAO
Led by guitarist/vocalist Davie Feauai-Afaese, LEOA’s music is a sublime melding of the traditional and the contemporary, the known and the unknown. Auckland-born Samoa musician Feauai-Afaese and his band fuse fa’asamoa spirit and Pasifika musical touchstones together with neo-psychedelia and fuzzy-pop sounds, as if Captured Tracks had set up an office in Apia.
LEAO are coming into The Others Way at a good time, following the release of their comeback single “TAEAO / MEA UMA”, a dual release that you can easily imagine Mac DeMarco digging. According to the band, their single pays homage to “the Samoan choral reference and alaga’upu – whakatauki/proverbs, whilst presenting a ‘niu wave’ of ideas and dialogical styles.”
LEAO’s first drop since their 2019 debut (Ghost Roads) is a dreamy delight, and will hopefully be followed by more music post-Others Way.
T.G. Shand
Christchurch may have the best music community in Aotearoa, and local artists like T.G. Shand are why the Canterbury city’s scene is currently so strong.
As T.G. Shand, Annemarie Duff produces twinkling and thoughtful dream pop/shoegaze compositions that recall the likes of Pale Saints and Blonde Redhead, the latter of whom had T.G. Shand as their support act at their recent Lyttelton show.
T.G. Shand followed up her 2023 EP Cinnamon (winner of Favourite EP at last year’s SRN Awards) with new single “Scenes”, which Duff said attempted to “layer various concepts of observing the warm routines of communities… being ok with not feeling connected to those natural rituals, absorbing the feeling of community through observing it, and a long hot summer day as it fades into the concrete.”
SKILAA
SKILAA, another exciting product of Aotearoa’s fertile jazz community, defy easy categorisation. They energetically jump between R&B, hip-hop, jazz, and folk, even in the span of one song.
Led by supreme vocalist Chelsea Prastiti, healthy improvisation is key to SKILAA’s vibrant high-spirited style. (It’s little wonder that the group have become firm festival favourites at the likes of Great Sounds Great and Welcome to Nowhere.) When they perform, the aim is to keep the crowd (and each member) from complacency, revelling in the unexpected.
The Others Way will round off a monumental year for SKILAA: they released their much-anticipated debut album, Tiger in the River, and its standout single, “Jenny Greenteeth”, was shortlisted for the APRA Silver Scroll Award. If you’re looking to groove on Karangahape Road this weekend, SKILAA’s set will be the time to do it.
Soft Bait
Soft Bait featured in our Up-And-Coming Aotearoa Artists series last year for a reason. Their inclusion was based on the merits of their promising debut album, Plot Points, which contained striking post-punk songs with a gothic edge; think The Birthday Party, anthe89ms of doubt and dread.
The loss of Earth Tongue’s Ezra Simons from the lineup hasn’t diminished their presence, and Keria Paterson, the person behind emo/alternative project K M T P, has fitted in seamlessly. This means that Soft Bait are primed for their second album, which they’ve hinted could arrive as early as next year.
Shooless
Climbing the ranks on student radio and beyond, Shooless make pensive, atmospheric slowcore songs indebted to artists as diverse as King Krule and PJ Harvey.
Formerly a Fancy New Band on 95bFM, Shooless’ will close out the festival’s all ages stage.
And talk about a big week: as if showcasing their music at one of Auckland’s biggest music events wasn’t enough, Shooless will also release their debut album, Lonely Playground, on Wednesday (November 27th).
