Lowtide.

In just a few short years, Lowtide has transformed from a humble, home-run music blog into a platform that founder Stefan now utilises to put on local artists including himself. Stefan created Lowtide from humble beginnings in 2014, promoting songs on the blog in his spare time while pursuing a music degree at MAINZ. "Me and my mate got a bit lazy and then at one point I was like hey, I'm gonna really start pushing this. I didn’t even know what it was." He explains, "Every day for about 5 months I was putting out articles about creative innovation and culture in New Zealand and globally. From there I created compilations that mostly featured artists from New Zealand." Stefan’s carefully curated Lowtide compilations are strictly Kiwi, usually a different artist on every track, and range from electronic funk to experimental, jazz toned hip hop.

When Lowtide started taking off locally, Stefan and his friend Josh began curating monthly events featuring artists from Auckland to Wellington, and turned Lowtide’s position as an online music haven into a real-life experience. The collective’s mission is to creatively inspire individuals to pursue their true ambition in life, and to reach their full potential instead of settling for the easy route.

"Lowtide is about going forth and reaching out to others. Everybody has something to offer but a lot of people stick with safe jobs, get a safe degree, and work until they're 40 or 50." Lowtide want to abolish the mentality that because we live in a small country we can't reach goals that reside outside of our hometown.  

With iconic venues around Auckland like The Kings Arms and Golden Dawn being shut down, Stefan recognises that it's more important than ever for our people to get out there and support the scene. "We use ourselves as a place to express yourself through collaboration with Auckland’s music scene, while a lot of music venues are closing down. Lowtide is diverse, eclectic and able to cater to various different mediums." You can expect Lowtide to expand its vision even wider this year, with more music, a record, merchandise, and refined and collaborative events. "Really we just wanna push what's going on and go against the grain."