Every month, Wellington City Libraries acquires new CD’s for its large, broad, eclectic collection, and Wellington music is no exception. We regularly inspect Bandcamp, local music websites, trawl music vendors latest releases and check out independent labels like Flying Nun, Arch Hill, Rattle and Lil’ Chief for the latest in Wellington and New Zealand music. So, with this influx of mint music in mind, every month we’ll provide the latest titles and artists added to our Wellington music collection…

Water or gold.
After an experimental album with Mara TK of EWH and a winery tour supergroup, Hollie Smith returns with her third solo album. Melds her neo-soul style with shades of rock, reggae & Hi-Hop, surrounding some of her most personal songs yet, including lead single Helena, a song devoted to a friend, who died after a long battle with breast cancer. Nick Bollinger checks out the album on The Sampler here. Herald interview here. Buy/listen here.

I’ll forget 17.
‘Lontalius’ is one of the stage names of 19 year old underground Wellington sensation Eddie Johnston, who also records under the moniker ‘Race Banyon’, and has been an active participant in the local live scene since his early teens. After a slew of independent releases on Bandcamp he came to prominence in 2013 via a collection of Casiotone rap covers, which soon found endorsement from Lorde and Ryan Hemsworth. He signed to New York label Partisan Records for full length debut ‘I’ll Forget 17’ and moved away from R&B covers and the Hip-Hop of alter ego ‘Race Banyon’, to deliver an album of intimate alt-pop tinged with melancholy & a lyrical maturity beyond his years. Read more about Eddie here. Listen here. Buy the album here.