After a three-year wait, Imugi 이무기 have just released their sophomore EP, Dragonfruit. Matt McAuley caught up with the Auckland band to learn what they’ve been up to since their 2017 debut. Attending Rangitoto College on Auckland’s North Shore in the mid-2010s, Yery Cho and Carl Ruwhiu first entered each other’s orbits mostly because they’d … Read more
In the final episode of the first season of Conversations That Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take, we discuss and dissect the way that Aotearoa talks about mental wellbeing. Content warning: this episode contains extensive discussions of mental health, including brief mentions of suicide and abuse. It goes without saying that New Zealand’s approach to … Read more
The fourth episode of Conversations That Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take takes a look at the role that mātauranga Māori could – or should – play in shaping the future of our country. The principle of cooperation is a crucial one in te ao Māori – as the oft-deployed and co-opted whakataukī states, he waka eke noa. … Read more
They’ve been on the album charts for two years, they’ve had a number one single, and now they’re one of our biggest live draws too. So what comes next for L.A.B? Even in a year marked by disruption, L.A.B’s 2020 has been more eventful than most. Forced to postpone local shows and an Australian tour … Read more
Today The Spinoff launches Ako, a new series made in partnership with Spark NZ to highlight their Kupu app, with a piece introducing three very different te reo Māori learners. Despite being indigenous to Aotearoa, the history of te reo Māori is a fraught one – it wasn’t until the late 1980s that it was … Read more
The follow up to last year’s African Giant sees the breakout Afrobeats star attempt to surpass his own high bar. We run through a few of its highlights. After close to a decade of grinding to achieve a steadily bubbling success, Burna Boy entered the final year of the 2010s as an artist on the … Read more
The first episode of our new podcast series tackles equality and equity and the role of our education system as a solution. Subscribe now to Conversations that Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take, for essential insight into the future of Aotearoa. The idea that all New Zealanders should have access to equal opportunities is one … Read more
The technology industry has been singled out for its significant growth potential in post-Covid New Zealand. Now, as the country returns to relative normalcy, we speak to students working towards careers in the sector. When the government made the decision to move the country into level four lockdown, every aspect of our collective lives was … Read more
Four years after an acclaimed and awarded debut, Auckland pop singer-songwriter MAALA is finally preparing to release his sophomore album. He spoke to Matthew McAuley about how he’s been passing the time. When Evan Sinton began releasing music as MAALA, things progressed quickly. Arriving in 2015 with an era-typical air of mystery, his self-titled EP … Read more
American R&B artist Kehlani released her long-awaited sophomore album just before the weekend – here’s why you need to start paying attention. If you’re even the slightest bit invested in modern R&B, there’s a good chance you’ve already had Kehlani on rotate for a while. One of the genre’s most respected contemporary proponents, with a heaven-sent … Read more
Like Benee, BBNO$ and about a thousand other acts that suddenly became superstars in the last 18 months, Ashnikko is blowing up off the back of a TikTok craze. But dig a little deeper and you’ll see that there’s much more to this blue-haired rapper than Miley Cyrus memes. Barely a second into the intro, … Read more
Earmarked for big things since she left high school, the ‘Nothing to Regret’ singer has been dealing with the weight of expectations for a while now. With her debut EP just released, she’s OK with where she’s at. Given the circumstances, Robinson is surprisingly relaxed. It’s early afternoon on a swelteringly hot mid-February day in … Read more
Fast-rising Auckland rap duo Church & AP talk us through the ten tracks of their debut album, Teeth. A year ago today, Church & AP were set to explode. The pair were just weeks away from the release of ‘Ready or Not’, the single that would lead to everything from summer festival slots to an … Read more
The Auckland-based collective talk origins, ambitions and making the rave accessible to everybody. Friendly Potential is an outfit that defies easy summary. They’re among the country’s most ambitious and prolific club promoters. In their almost five-years of operation, they’ve been responsible for the local debuts of electronic music icons including Detroit techno godfather Omar-S, Siberian … Read more
Miss June’s Bad Luck Party was recorded literally between hospital shifts, and their summer schedule includes both festival dates and their frontwoman’s graduation from medical school. We sat down with the band to ask just how, exactly, they’ve survived so far. The first years of life for Tāmaki Makaurau pop-punk quartet Miss June have been … Read more
A shitload of acts, a shitload of stages, and the potential for a shitload of fun: how to attend The Others Way. Tonight, The Others Way festival makes its welcome return to basically everywhere on Auckland’s Karangahape Road. Part vaunted local music festival, part exercise in divining the exact organisational midpoint between chaos and transcendence, … Read more
The ‘Ready or Not’ hitmakers talk ambition, competition, and how things change when you accidentally become the most buzzed-about young rap group in the country. Church & AP didn’t plan for this. The rappers born Elijah Manū and Albert Purcell were still attending high school in Auckland’s central suburbs when they started working together, more … Read more
Matthew McAuley sits down with New Zealand’s latest next-big-thing to talk about following up the monster hit ‘Soaked’, her approach to collaboration, and exactly how you go about building a ‘Beneevision’. Although her catalog is still barely more than a handful of tracks deep, Auckland-raised proto-popstar Benee seems determined not to waste time. Seeking to … Read more
Lontalius’ new single ‘Make My Dreams Come True’ is out today. To commemorate its arrival, Matthew McAuley spoke to Eddie Johnston about music, life, and the transient nature of fandom. The last time The Spinoff spoke to multidisciplinary Wellington musician Eddie Johnston, just a few weeks off exactly a year ago, he was an artist … Read more
Absent the big budgets and bigger meltdowns of its major network cousins, Matthew McAuley reckons Aotearoa’s most low-key cooking competition might just be its best. For most people across most periods of human history, the rituals of preparing, eating and sharing food have meant more than the simple sustenance provided. Cooking allows us to communicate … Read more
Avowed YouTube procrastinator Matthew McAuley presents a selection of his favourite Gordon Ramsay clips – a kitchen nightmare for every mood. Where once my tastes in YouTube content were basically indiscriminate, they have recently become quite unexpectedly refined. Like a bad, unsophisticated restaurant with an over-long menu and a maître d’ who’ll happily serve you … Read more
The NFL season kicks off today in the USA, and Matthew McAuley says football can teach you valuable life lessons – particularly the excellent, much-missed high school drama Friday Night Lights. The town in which I spent my formative years was one dominated in description by its size (small), its location (isolated), its industries (primary) and its love of … Read more