Concord Dawn Drops Freddy's Off IMNZ Chart Top Spot

Savage joined Snoop Dogg for his Australasian tour; and his single They Don't Know (featuring Aaradhna) is out now in Australia; the song is produced by Sol Messiah who has produced for Jay-Z, Madonna, D-12 and Dead Prez. Aaradhna's debut album is out on May 8. The Deceptikonz and Ill Semantics are both back with new mixtapes, featuring new tracks and freestyles. Sione's Wedding had the biggest opening of any New Zealand film, and the DawnRaid soundtrack cracked the top 20 in its chart entry. Dawn Raid Apparel is now available exclusively at Footlocker in both Australia & New Zealand.

Ryan McPhun and the Ruby Suns had a disastrous glitch in their US tour when their van caught fire and they lost nearly everything they had (luckily no-one was hurt). Donations are being made to the band through the Lil' Chief website (www.lilchiefrecords.com).

The Bats played on both US coasts, and a couple of the countryís landlocked states too during their recent visit as part of their SXSW appearance. SXSW head Roland Swenson left The Pretenders to spend the final hour of the final night of SXSW Music watching The Bats' official showcase. The Bats garnered themselves an encore and Swenson was heard to remark that "it's very, very rare to get an encore at South By" before heading off to buy the CD and meet the band.

Some talented New Zealanders were flown in to the Forum in Sydney for a special one-off ANZAC show. The lineup featured Joe Dukie & DJ Fitchie (the allter egos of Wellington's DJ Mu and vocalist Dallas Tamaira of Fat Freddy's Drop), Opensouls, King Kapisi and The Turnaround DJs (Manuel Bundy, Submariner and Cian).

This month Whirimako Black received her NZ Order Of Merit For Services To Maori Music, and she plays a concert in Wellington in May. Katchafire's 'Revival' album is still top 10 at retail in Hawaii and in May/June, their 2nd album 'Slow-Burning' will be released there. They now expect to add US dates to the July Hawaiian tour.

Urban Pacifika Records is set to release the new OMC single, Beautiful Day - this is the first single since How Bizarre. Also keep an eye out for the book called 'How Bizarre: the World Tour' which features Nathan Haines, Manuel Bundy, Taisha Khutze and others. The book is packed with exclusive photos and will feature a free CD of the live show. The single is instore mid May, with the book out at the end of May/June.

Louie Knuxx and Cyphanetik both have new singles and videos; Knuxx has What I Do and Cyphanetik's is Blaze 'Em, the first single from Cyphanetikís 'Commercial Suicide' album. Kirk Harding's label Move The Crowd alongside Breakin Wreckwordz and in association with Woodcut Productions are presenting the Global Casino Wasted Youth National Tour which will travel through 15 towns/cities on its path. Tourettes will be traveling to Spain in may to play a the Urban Funke festival, stopping for shows in Japan on the way. He recently moved to Melbourne and plans to release an album on the newly formed BWW Australia label later in the year.

In new release news, 'The Green Room 005: Whanau' is out now so keep an eye out for the release party on May 6 with House Of Shem and Shihan The Poet (LA). Monkey Records will release 'Binary Pop Songs' by Onelung on May 15th and the debut album from Ishta on May 1st. Also in May 8 Foot Sativa release their album 'Poison of Ages' and are touring New Zealand in May and June. Recliner's debut album 'Rest Room' is in stores April 24, watch out for the album's first single This Was For You, re-recorded and remixed by Dave Holmes.

The Indie Club in Auckland is on four nights a week at the Grand Circle (ST James) and each night has a theme: Wednesdays: Primer One: New band night; Thursdays: Ghosts In Love: Acoustic / Folk / Alt Country; Fridays: Pop MusicFor The Future: Pop/Rock; Saturdays: Freak Scene: Goth / Metal / Punk / Rock'n'Roll / Hip Hop.

Twinset are now playing at Cabaret in Wellington every Tuesday night.

New and Forthcoming Releases

Tours

Chuganaut: May: 12th Palmerston North.

Tim Guy 'Blazey' tour, May: 6 Kerikeri, 7 Whangarei Heads, 12 Hamilton, 14 Rotorua, 17 Gisborne, 18 Havelock North, 20 New Plymouth, 25 Masterton, 26 Palmerston North

Onelung: May: 13 Auckland with DJ Spragga (Sola Rosa) and Emu, 27 Wellington with Emu and DJ Monkey

one million dollars and OdESSA: May: 5th Wellington All Ages at 6.00pm and R18 9.00pm, 6th Auckland, 12th Christchurch, 13th Dunedin

Tainted album release: Auckland 12th May, Hamilton 13th May, both with Sinate.