The Spinoff presents the live video premiere of Broods’ Georgia Nott’s all-female produced solo project The Venus Project. Georgia Nott says: Initially written around two years ago, but still just as relevant to me today, ‘Won’t Hurt’ is about the duality of being both strong and vulnerable at the same time. Women are so often described as … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, featuring Lawrence Arabia, UMO, Yo La Tengo, Dry Dive, Justin Timberlake, Bromelain/Manzanza and more… Lawrence Arabia – ‘Solitary Guys’ Welcome to the singles club Imagine if somebody ten years ago had said that in 2018 it’d be normal for whole seasons of TV shows to come out all … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, featuring Kody Nielson, The Venus Project, Kylie Minogue, Fall Out Boy and more… SONG OF THE WEEK Kody Nielson – ‘Bic’s Birthday’ Kody is Kody again, the same but different After spending the last few years making music as Silicon, and co-writing award-winning songs with Bic Runga and … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, featuring Troye Sivan, Justin Timberlake, David Byrne, MGMT and more… Troye Sivan – ‘My My My!’ No-one’s 16 forever Troye Sivan’s new single probably won’t meet your unfairly high expectations, but it’ll come close. Sivan’s debut album Blue Neighbourhood was a stab-you-in-the-heart autobiographical account of a time in a young … Read more
The second annual Spinoff Music survey. Please take a couple of minutes out of your Christmas party schedule to answer these simple eight questions about music in 2017 (what a year huh?) We’ve ‘nominated’ some songs and albums not because we necessarily think that’s what you should vote for, but basically because those are some … Read more
The Spinoff presents the video premiere of Rob Ruha & The Witch Dr’s ‘KALEGA’, featuring Michael Jackson street dancer Shaun Lindsay and members of Te Kapa Haka o Te Whānau a Apanui. Rob Ruha says: ‘KALEGA’ is the perfect summer anthem and a hot festival jam. It’s a song about the great Aotearoa summer pilgrimage back to the … Read more
It’s 31 years since the release of The Queen is Dead, the Smiths’ third studio record and NME’s official Greatest Album of All Time. The album has just been reissued in a series of special edition packages and we’re giving away the most impressive of the lot, the 5-LP collector’s box set. More Smiths on … Read more
A couple of weeks ago The Spinoff streamed a Facebook Live performance by Bic Runga and her band, ahead of their three-date tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of her debut album Drive. Here’s her performance in full, for your viewing pleasure. And while you’re here, you may be interested in reading a condensed transcript of … Read more
The Brit Award-winning blues singer with a hip-hop heart just announced he’s coming to New Zealand in April. Yo New Zealand! I'll be over in April '18 doing some shows. Tickets on sale this Friday 👍 pic.twitter.com/oRuTdNK2T8 — Rags (@RagNBoneMan) October 29, 2017 What’s a Rag’n’Bone Man? Rag’n’Bone Man in the stage name of Rory … Read more
Max Key vowed to avenge the National Party after they lost their recent court case against Eminem’s Eight Mile Style. In a Spinoff exclusive, Max Key* releases his diss track. * Comedian Paul Williams The National Party lost a lot this year. An election, a fiscal hole, a Winston Peters, and now a healthy sum … Read more
To craft its new campaign, New Caledonia Tourism sent Australian electronic group Crooked Colours to its islands to record everything the country had to offer and turn it into a track that would combine the group’s summery aesthetic with both the country’s musical heritage and the sounds of their experiences on the islands. We asked … Read more
Auckland City Limits (or ACL for short) returns on 3 March 2018 after a one-year hiatus. These are our favourite songs from the just-announced lineup. Beck – ‘Loser’ I know wanting Beck to play ‘Loser’ at a show in 2018 is as annoying as hoping Radiohead play ‘Creep’ or going to a Billy Corgan solo … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, featuring Julien Barker, Julia Deans, Hopetown Brown, the handsomer Gallagher and more… SONG OF THE WEEK Julien Baker – ‘Turn Out the Lights’ A new song for communal despair The Fader recently described 21-year old Memphis songwriter Julien Baker as an artist who “writes songs for communal despair” … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles is back from its sabbatical, featuring Silicon’s take on Bic Runga, Aldous Harding’s off-cuts, the return of Kimbra, and more… SONG(S) OF THE WEEK Bic Runga – ‘Drive (Silicon Remix)’ A retro-futurist take on a New Zealand classic Released ahead of Bic Runga’s 20th-anniversary celebration of her … Read more
The Spinoff presents the video premiere of SWIDT’s ‘Ric Flair (Wooo!)’, featuring “Dirty” Dave O’Connor, “Onehunga Dragon” Jordan Invincible, “Phat” Paul Stoodon, Reggie Handsome and Israel ‘The Stylebender’ Adesanya. With their new single, SWIDT join the long line of rappers to pay homage to Ric Flair, a legend of American wrestling with championships spanning the WWF, WWE, … Read more
The Spinoff presents the video premiere of Grayson Gilmour’s ‘Otherness’ in 360° spatial audio. Why are you doing all 360° spatial stuff? What’s wrong with tour footage taken on your phone? Curiosity. There’s nothing wrong with shooting something on your phone or making a traditional music video, I’m simply bored of that process and its outcomes; I try … Read more
Last Friday night, The Others Way festival took over almost every music venue in the K’Rd area. Henry Oliver and Don Rowe were there. This is what they can remember about it. Henry Oliver: I arrived late, delayed by a busy parenting schedule and not-as-tired-as-they-should-be children, to see Tiny Ruins play at Galatos. She was … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, featuring Frank Ocean’s continued glory, Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett’s indie-dream collab, and more… SONG OF THE WEEK Frank Ocean – ‘Provider’ Frank’s post-Blonde productivity continues Four loose singles into his post-Blonde period, Frank Ocean’s transition from quasi-recluse to mercurial and erratically prolific auteur seems pretty much … Read more
The Spinoff presents the video premiere of ‘You’re So Cool’ by Jonathan Bree, and the video’s director of photography, Benjamin Zambo, explains how it was made. Jonathan pitched ‘You’re So Cool’ to me as a performance-based music video in the style of a mod era TV broadcast. We were both big fans of the 1960s and … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, featuring Taylor Swift’s return and an attempted relevance revival for Rod Stewart and Hot Chocolate… LEISURE – Alone Together Ahhhh Leisure, the sex gods of New Zealand music, and maybe the world. I think all of us except for killjoy Henry Oliver can agree the band’s self-titled … Read more
Yesterday, APRA announced the five finalists for the 2017 Silver Scroll Award. Today, exclusively for the Spinoff, the five artists discuss each other’s work. Lorde on ‘Horizon’ by Aldous Harding The first time I heard ‘Horizon’ – late at night, alone at Electric Lady – I specifically remember this feeling of my head snapping back and … Read more
And the history making five finalists for the 2017 Silver Scroll Award are… ‘Close Your Eyes’ by Bic Runga (written by Bic Runga and Kody Nielson) ‘Green Light’ by Lorde (written by Ella Yelich O’Connor, Jack Antonoff, and Joel Little) ‘Horizon’ by Aldous Harding ‘Life of the Party’ by Chelsea Jade (written by Chelsea Jade … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, this week featuring Neil Finn, P!nk, Robert Plant, Kings and more… SONG OF THE WEEK Neil Finn – ‘Second Nature’ The second single from Neil’s month-long live-streaming project Every Friday this month, Neil Finn and a handful of his friends have been getting together to rehearse and … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, this week featuring Marlon Williams, Neil Young, Marshmello + Khalid, Physical and more… SONG OF THE WEEK Marlon Williams – ‘Vampire Again’ The man with the golden voice gets some teeth I guess Marlon Williams just got bored of being so damn serious all the time. Almost … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, this week featuring Estère, Yumi Zouma, Bloodnut, Paul McLaney, Sons of Zion and more… SONG OF THE WEEK Estère – ‘Pro Bono Techno Zone’ Dancing to the end of the non-digital world Estère, the Wellington-based producer/singer/artist, is back with a twisted electro-funk missive against our collective obsession … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, this week featuring Charli XCX, Repulsive Woman, Mick Jagger, Chase and Status and more… SONG OF THE WEEK Charli XCX – ‘Boys’ Dreaming of Charli XCX’s perfect production Sometimes a song just nails a sound so simple and so sweetly that only six seconds into your first listen you know … Read more
The Spinoff presents the video premiere of SWIDT’s ‘Player Of The Day’, featuring UFC champion Dan “The Hang Man” Hooker and New Zealand Warrior Roger Tuivasa Sheck. SWIDT MC Spycc says: ‘Player Of The Day’ is stadium music. It’s a song about winning, beating the odds, and just owning whatever field you’re in, whether its music, sports, … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, this week featuring Selena Gomez, Diaz Grimm, Widowspeak & more… SONG OF THE WEEK Selena Gomez – ‘Fetish’ ft Gucci Mane Starting with ‘The Heart Wants What it Wants’ in 2014, Selena Gomez embarked on a streak of hot singles as good as anyone currently active. Discounting … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, this week featuring Kesha, SWIDT, The National, Shania, Niall Horan & more… SONG OF THE WEEK Kesha – ‘Praying’ Kesha’s returns with a single of goddamn saintly compassion for her (alleged) abuser. Kesha, who has dropped the $ thanks to a long and ugly legal battle with producer Dr Luke, … Read more