The local musicians we can’t get enough of.

RUSE

Having his song ‘Bring the Bomb Squad’ chosen for the RDU Singles Club was another win off the back of a series of highs for local producer Ruse. He’s performed at some of Aotearoa’s biggest music festivals (Bay Dreams, Rhythm & Alps), represented New Zealand on the world stage in renowned turntable competitions and opened for his heroes. More recently, he released his EP Fragments. Ruse says he’s most proud of the way Fragments highlights his “progress and direction as a producer”. Releasing it on one of his favourite labels – Saturate Records – is something he won’t get over any time soon, either. “It still blows my mind,” he says. Gear limitations allowed him to explore his equipment more and in his words, trying to get as much as you can out of a single source “forces experimentation and creativity”.

ADAM HATTAWAY AND THE HAUNTERS

Adam Hattaway and the Haunters have jumped from strength to strength with their second album Crying Lessons. They say the album is – “as cliched as it sounds” – about “break-ups and relationships going to shit, but also trying to look at that in a positive way – it’s OK when it’s over”. Frontman Hattaway says they’re particularly proud of the fact that some of the takes that made it onto the album are really “raw, live and organic”. The album was recorded at Auckland’s Lab Studios, where it was engineered by Jol Mulholland and produced by Lyttelton legend Delaney Davidson. Hattaway promised the band’s album release show at Space Academy on September 13 will be full of “horns, high kicks and playing the full album back to back!” These men love a ballad as much as they love a laugh, and who knows? You might even shed a tear or two!

MOUSEY

If you enjoy catchy alt-pop – woven together with confronting, raw and beautiful lyrics – Mousey needs to be on your radar.  She was one of RDU’s July picks for the Singles Club, and earlier this year her single ‘Extreme Highs’ earned a Top 20 nomination for the prestigious Silver Scroll Award – alongside the likes of Aldous Harding and Anika Moa. On October 4 Mousey will release her album Lemon Law, a “very special” piece of work that’s been five years in the making. “[It’s about] my struggles, growth, disappointments and pushing through from being a traumatised, self-righteous 18-year-old to being a somewhat functioning adult. In one sentence it really is about being let down by the people around you but also feeling like ‘a let-down’ at the same time,” she says. Catch Mousey when she performs at Blue Smoke on October 11.