Music editor and former member of Die! Die! Die! Henry Oliver talks to his ex-bandmates about making music together for nearly 20 years. I met Andrew Wilson and Michael (we called him Mikey) Prain in the summer of 2003-04. I’d seen their old band Rawer open for Trans Am, if my memory serves, and they … Read more
A couple of years ago Aldous Harding was just another New Zealand folk musician. Then she found a fierce voice, and started playing a string of mesmerising live performances which now have her on the verge of international fame. Henry Oliver sat down with her to try and find out what sparked her transformation. First … Read more
Rhythm and Vines’ co-founder Hamish Pinkham talks about the highs and lows of the first 15 years of his hugely popular New Year’s Eve festival. In the past 15 years, Rhythm and Vines has gone from a small New Year’s Eve party intended for 400 people, but attended by 1800, in 2003 to a sprawling … Read more
When future historians look back at life in New Zealand in the early part of this century, there’s one pop cultural artifact that in three-and-a-half minutes summed up the aspirations of a changing nation: Gold Medal Famous’ masterpiece ‘We Bought A House’. This post was first published on September 7, 2017. We’ve been waiting for … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to singer-songwriter Nadia Reid, who plays Wondergarden festival in Auckland this New Year’s, about the highs and lows of her year, the rigours of touring, and being accepted by the music industry. It’s strange now to think back to 2014 when Nadia Reid struggled to find a label for her debut album, Listen … Read more
We asked you, our loyal readers, what your favourite albums and songs of the year were, both from here and from elsewhere. Oh, and your favourite shows, your reflections on the year, and predictions for next year. This is what you told us. Okay, list season is underway. The arms race is escalating and best … Read more
This morning the Spotify-subscribing world woke up to Spotify’s annual ‘your year in review’ package, including a personalised top 100 played songs of the year. Here are music editor Henry Oliver’s top 10 (plus a few more). 1. Aldous Harding – ‘Horizon’ No surprise here. This song cuts deep. For reasons I won’t go into … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to punk band Downtown Boys, who are at the forefront of a new wave of protest music in the US, ahead of their first New Zealand show. Downtown Boys, a political punk band from Rhode Island, are one the most prominent bands in a growing wave of bands in the US, many … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to Ross Sutherland, a British poet whose VHS performance piece Standby for Tape Back-Up, a multimedia meditation on memory, meaning and grief, is on in Auckland and Wellington this week. A little over ten years ago, with a healthy dose of mid-00s meta-irony, a group of friends and I get stoned and … Read more
Yesterday, Henry Oliver risked it all by predicting the winners of last night’s New Zealand Music Awards. Today he updates that post with the actual results and slightly jaded commentary. Okay, last night actually went pretty well. By which I mean that, yes, it was a good show, I was sitting at a good table with nice people, … Read more
The Spinoff vs Spotify. Narrative vs Data. Heart vs Head. Who can predict more winners of tonight’s New Zealand Music Awards – The Spinoff’s Henry Oliver or Spotify’s team of (probably) Stanford-educated computer-geniuses? A year ago, I proclaimed myself New Zealand music’s Nate Silver and made (not) data-driven predictions about the outcomes of the 2016 … Read more
Henry Oliver reviews Drake’s show at Spark Arena on Friday 3 November 2017. Drake and I have always had an ambivalent (one-way) relationship. When he appeared, seemingly out of nowhere but actually with a few years worth of unremarkable mixtapes, the Canadian actor-turned-rapper was part of a wave of post-808s and Heartbreak rappers making sing-songy, … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, featuring Sufjan Stevens, N.E.R.D, Kelly Clarkson, The Beths and more… SONG OF THE WEEK The Beths – ‘Great No One’ A thing about making things As you would expect from Auckland pop-rockers the Beths, their new (well, new-ish) track ‘Great No One’ is chock-full of wonderful, introspective … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to Campbell Smith, music mogul and the man behind Auckland City Limits, about bringing the festival back after sitting out a year. “Anyone got any drugs?” Campbell Smith, a man who has done nearly every business-y thing it is possible to do in New Zealand music, yells to no-one in particular as … Read more
Christchurch’s Wunderbar in Lyttelton attracted fury today after a refugees advocate posted a photograph which seems to run counter to its ‘nice people only’ slogan. Henry Oliver called to ask what they were up to. Last night, Murdoch Stephens of Double the Quota, a refugee advocacy group, posted a photo of Wunderbar, a Lyttelton bar … Read more
Henry Oliver rants and raves about the 2017 New Zealand Music Awards finalists then lists them all at the end. They got it (mostly) right The names you see most on the list – SWIDT (six nominations), Lorde (five) and Aldous Harding (four) – made the best albums in New Zealand in the last year, … Read more
According to a new report, the design sector contributed over $10 billion to the New Zealand economy in 2016. Henry Oliver asks Thomas Mical, the head of AUT’s School of Art and Design, what that means for New Zealand design. Designers know that their work creates value, but a recent report from DesignCo – commissioned … Read more
He’s made songs that are etched into the memories of generations of New Zealanders, but still fears the possibility of failure every time he sits down with a guitar or at his piano to write. Henry Oliver sits down for a few beers with New Zealand music icon, the ubiquitous yet mysterious Dave Dobbyn. Photography by Joel Thomas. For … Read more
As we brace ourselves for more hyperbolic post-radio survey self-congratulations, Henry Oliver talks to MediaWorks’ Leon Wratt, who argues it’s time for the radio networks to end the arms race and start reporting on the results even-handedly – for the good of all radio. It’s almost that time of the year again – or, now, … Read more
Last summer, before the release of his amazing album Big Fish Theory, Henry Oliver tried to go deep with Los Angeles rapper Vince Staples and failed, so asked him about basketball and cartoons instead. Vince Staples is young, very skilled and very, very chill. He raps fast, but talks slow. His records are loud, but … Read more
When future-historians look back at life in New Zealand in the early part of this century, there’s one pop cultural artifact that, in three-and-a-half minutes summed up the aspirations of a changing nation: Gold Medal Famous’ masterpiece ‘We Bought A House’. We’ve been waiting for it for years – a cultural work which encapsulates our … Read more
Henry Oliver watched ten hours of Neil Finn live-streaming in case you didn’t have time to. These were his highlights. Every Friday evening for the past four weeks, Neil Finn has live-streamed a recording session from his own Roundhead Studios, joined by, in his words, “a loose knit collection of impassioned and slightly random people, … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to Auckland-based producer/singer/artist October about her new single ‘Pure’ and the return of the guitar. A year or so ago, October’s single ‘Cherry Cola’ struck me out of nowhere. Someone tweeted it, I clicked on it, put it on repeat, and within days it seemed all sorts of people were tweeting about … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to bedroom producer and multi-instrumentalist Merk, who is playing at Seamless, an all-ages show, in Auckland this weekend. To win tickets, read till the very end! So what are you up to at the moment? I’m just working on new music. I was just in Europe for a couple of months playing for … Read more
Henry Oliver went to see Jerry Seinfeld at Spark Arena on Saturday. This is what he thought of it. There’s that cliche: never meet your heroes. I often feel like it should be updated: Never go see your heroes perform long after their peak. I saw the band Television once and was bored. And when … Read more
After weeks of working sources deep inside New Zealand’s political parties, Henry Oliver reveals the songs dominating the office stereos at campaign headquarters.* * Not really. We freely admit this entire playlist is a work of speculative fiction. National Eminem – ‘Lose Yourself’ A source tells the Spinoff that, despite the trouble caused by the … Read more
The Spinoff presents a roundup of Jacinda Ardern’s DJ appearances, plus the set list from her much-name-dropped appearance at the 2014 Laneway Festival, with our track-by-track commentary. Not only is Jacinda Ardern the new leader of the Labour Party (which, according to my social media feeds is going great – she’s already the next prime minister), every … Read more
Neil Finn talks to Henry Oliver about his forthcoming album Out of Silence, likely the first studio album ever to be recorded live in front of a livestreaming audience. Last week I spent an afternoon watching Neil Finn, the cool dad of New Zealand music, and twelve singers rehearse two songs from the album he … Read more
Henry Oliver catches the 312 bus to Onehunga with SWIDT, whose debut album Stoneyhunga is out today. “We grew up on here,” says Spycc (Daniel Latu), one of SWIDT’s two MCs after we pile into the back of the 312 bus to Onehunga, the base of New Zealand’s most exciting hip-hop group. “This is our second home.” … Read more