We Speak Music
New Zealand Takes Centre Stage at The Great Escape 2026
For the first time in the festival’s history, New Zealand has been named the official focus country at The Great Escape Festival 2026, with the New Zealand Music Commission and Live Nation New Zealand presenting a full venue takeover at Patterns in Brighton on Thursday 14 May.
Running from 12pm to 4pm across both floors of Patterns, the showcase will spotlight 10 of Aotearoa’s most exciting emerging and established artists, offering international industry delegates and music fans a powerful snapshot of the country’s evolving sound.
The event continues New Zealand’s long-standing relationship with The Great Escape, a festival widely recognised as one of the world’s leading platforms for breakthrough talent. Previous Kiwi success stories on the global stage include Lorde, Neil Finn, Ladyhawke and Flight of the Conchords.
The 2026 lineup reflects the breadth of contemporary New Zealand music, from the genre-bending alternative hip-hop of WHO SHOT SCOTT to the dreamy Pacific psychedelia of LEAO, the indie rock textures of Office Dog, and the cinematic alt-pop world of ratbag.
New Zealand Music Commission spokesperson Alan Holt described the partnership as a major moment for Kiwi music internationally, highlighting the country’s growing reputation for globally resonant artists and innovative songwriting.
With support from Live Nation New Zealand, the showcase aims to strengthen international opportunities for Aotearoa artists while reinforcing New Zealand’s place as one of the world’s most exciting musical export regions.
Useful links:
www.nzmusic.org.nz
Ten years after Host Bodies first released the album Daily Apparatus, “On A Roll” has found a completely new groove.
For the Daily Apparatus: 10 Year Remixes project, multi-instrumentalist and producer Nicholas Hasty, under his Soul Glitch moniker, takes the original electronic-rock track and pulls it into deeper, more psychedelic territory.
The remix keeps the energy of Host Bodies intact while opening up the track with new beats, electronic textures and expressive saxophone solos. Electric guitar, bass and layered production give it a rich, genre-blurring sound that sits somewhere between indie electronic, jazztronica, soultronica and alternative dance.
There’s something particularly satisfying about hearing a decade-old track treated not as a relic, but as raw material. Soul Glitch reshapes “On A Roll” , finding new spaces within the original and bringing his own musical language into the mix.
The result is energetic, sensual, psychedelic and unapologetically expansive.
Ten years on, “On A Roll” proves that sometimes the best way to celebrate where a song came from is to find somewhere completely new for it to go.
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