Journal

What do you get when you take the singer of the iconic genre-bending seven-piece band Fat Freddy’s Drop and combine it with a lockdown with time and space to create? You get Dallas Tamaira’s (aka Joe Dukie) jazzy, soulful, and experimental solo EP ‘Levels’.  ‘Levels’ showcases a different side of Dallas which, as he puts it, is “about escapism, creating and exploring new worlds and spaces, and navigating and strengthening bonds with each other along the way.” For a singer who has delivered endless exquisite performances over the years, the EP sees Dallas as a vocal voyager, exploring who he...

Pioneers of New Zealand music, Herbs announce the reissue of their ground-breaking back catalogue on 180gm coloured vinyl - pressed right here in Aotearoa by Holiday Records. Also released on August 25 is a numbered limited-edition box set featuring all five albums special fold out poster and liner notes for fans.Herbs, the NZ reggae group were founded in 1979 and led by singer-guitarist Dilworth Karaka, the only constant member. Since its foundation Herbs has been multi-ethnic in membership and featured Samoans, Tongans, Cook Islanders, New Zealand Europeans and Maori members.Herbs were the 11th inductee into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame, and were once described as...

With WAXED wrapping up a few weeks ago, the Monster Children office and Holiday Records team was given the colossal task of picking a winner from over 550 music submissions.We were blown away by the calibre of tunes submitted which made for quite an enjoyable time spent listening along here in the office, although picking the winner was no easy feat. However we’d like to congratulate the winner of this year’s WAXED competition... this dog. The NZ natives have now won 300 copies of their album "Clean Living" pressed onto vinyl, namely: 300 x 12" Heavy-weight (180gm) COLOURED Vinyl Records (choice of colour)...

Manganese is the much anticipated first full length release for Nicholas Allbrook (frontman of POND) since 2019. The new album is produced by Allbrook and Nathaniel Hoho (aka HOKO) and mixed by Allbrook’s Pond bandmate Jay Watson (aka GUM) - and lovingly pressed on translucent orange vinyl by Holiday Records. Allbrook is a Western Australian native and a highly-accomplished Australian songwriter, and multi- instrumentalist. Since the beginning of his artistic career in 2005, Allbrook has brought community and collaboration to the forefront of his artistic method.  Whether it was in the poignant lyricism of his solo musical endeavours (Ganough, Wallis and Fatuna/Wabi...

Monster Children came by the pressing plant to have a chat to our co-founder Ben Wallace about what we do here at Holiday Records for their 'Handmade' video series. 'Handmade' is dedicated to those people around the globe who make cool stuff with their hands - much like all the team here at Holiday. Enjoy below.

Astralwerks released ZHU’s third studio album, DREAMLAND 2021, in (unsurprisingly) 2021 amid the disruption caused by the pandemic. While he recorded the album at home in the USA, lockdown didn’t prevent the GRAMMY®-nominated artist from enlisting a vast cast of guests, including pristine pop singer Yuna, R&B experimentalist Tinashe and sleek house producer Channel Tres, among others. With all these collaborators in tow, DREAMLAND 2021 feels like a manifestation of the communal feeling of the dance floor, the warmth of a night dancing with your closest friends. View the visualisers that were created for each of the album’s 12 tracks...

Recently named ‘Best Alternative Artist’ at the 2022 Aotearoa Music Awards, Wellington-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Vera Ellen has announced her upcoming album, Ideal Home Noise, which is out digitally and on both red or black vinyl on Friday March 31st, 2023 via Flying Nun Records - and pressed locally at Holiday Records. PRE-ORDER THE ALBUM HERE.Alongside the new album announcement, Vera has shared the first single from the album, ‘Carpenter’ with a Sports Team directed video — plus, Vera Ellen and her band will take to the road on album release for a four-date tour of Aotearoa, playing headline shows in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Tickets onsale now from Banished Music.Ideal Home Noise is a record unearthed from much...

Saturn Return is the hotly anticipated debut album from Te Whanganui-a-Tara three-piece Soft Plastics. Curating a wide range of influences, their music defies easy categorisation. Ranging from sun-bleached surf pop to swelling shoegaze, the songs are arranged with an investigative eye and a throughline of dry wit. What if we came at the guitars like this? What if The Ronettes were from Twin Peaks? Pressed in Tāmaki Makaurau by Holiday Records (in collaboration with Supreme Coffees's vinyl pressing initiative Supreme Press), Saturn Return captures the many moods of the 20-something spiral, wallowing in the lows just long enough to have some fun before...

Tiki Taane returns to the reggae infused, hip-hop dub sound that he is so well known for, but this time enlisting the talent and firepower of great friends and legends within the scene - Dubfx, Tali and Pdigsss (Shapeshifter). “Soldiers of Fire” is a head nodding summer anthem of bass throbbing verses and hooks - which describes their journey and commitment to being deep in the bass culture trenches. Pressed in Aotearoa by Holiday Records, this 12" translucent red vinyl comes with an exclusive signed sticker from Tiki! SIDE A - Track 1) Soldiers of Fire. Track 2) Gaudi Dub...

It’s been seven strange years since The Veils’ last studio album Total Depravity, and Finn Andrews has a new double LP to show for it. …And Out Of The Void Came Love is the result of this tumultuous period of injury, isolation and new life. Released worldwide on March 3, 2023 and celebrated on tour in New Zealand soon after. Holiday Records had the absolute pleasure of working closely with Finn and his team to press this double LP in two colour variants (black and clear) right here in New Zealand.  Pre-order your own copies HERE. Undertow is the ethereal...

Erny Belle first took the spotlight in October of 2021, with the successful release of her debut single and video for ‘Burning Heaven’. The singer-songwriter (Aimee Renata) seemingly appeared out of nowhere, onto our shores – leather clad, red wine in hand – stoking the flames of New Zealand’s music scene. Erny Belle has recently signed to Flying Nun and Holiday Records has been blessed with the opportunity to press her debut album, Venus Is Home (now twice due to the unwavering demand - buy the album HERE). With music that hangs delicately in the spaces between alt-folk and popular song, her songs are...

SIX60 has recently released their new album ‘Castle St’ (Universal/Virgin Music) on the 6 October 2022, but now you can finally cop the album on vinyl which is released today (16 December 2022)! Holiday Records was again the pressing plant behind the country's biggest band's vinyl release. Buy the vinyl record HERE. Listen HERE. The eleven-track record features their recent singles ‘Before You Leave’ and ‘Never Been Tonight / Nobody Knows’ and is available digitally to stream & download, as well as physically via CD, cassette and of course, vinyl. The album harks back to the band’s early days: the album title and cover artwork both...