The first album by Avantdale Bowling Club, the new moniker of rapper Tom Scott, is released tomorrow. Dominic Hoey (aka Tourettes) reviews the latest work by the rapper who over a decade ago was taking his demos to Tourettes shows. Writing about music is like talking about dreams. Maybe it’s apt then that the people … Read more
In honour of Madonna’s 60th birthday on 17 August, 2018, Sam Brooks rounded up the 60 best Madonna songs to celebrate this with her. Madonna follows forty-nine people on Twitter. I’m one of them. This is not a brag, but a fact. I have no idea why she follows me. I think it might be … Read more
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It involved vanilla sponge. Tara Ward power-ranks week six of The Block NZ. I mean, just look at the state of it. It was Week 6 of The Block NZ, where the pinnacle of renovation glory involved strapping two chunks of vanilla sponge together, … Read more
Celine Dion just finished her world tour with three concerts at Auckland’s Spark Arena. Huge fan Madeleine Chapman was there to experience the magic. In 2015, I flew to Las Vegas, the last place I’d choose to holiday, and spent a lot of money so that I could see Celine Dion’s show at Caesar’s Palace. … Read more
Been living under a proverbial rock for the past ten years and have never heard of RuPaul’s Drag Race? Don’t worry, Sam Brooks has you covered. Okay, so first up: A lot of you will know what Drag Race is. You will be obsessed with it already. You have a top five favourite queen, you have an opinion … Read more
Later this week, Mitski releases her fifth album, the excellent Be The Cowboy. Amanda Robinson talked to the singer-songwriter about anxiety, loneliness, secrets, cinema, and love. Mitski Miyawaki is set to release what she’s calling her saddest album yet, but Be The Cowboy is not the singer-songwriter’s first rodeo. After the steady, concentrated success of … Read more
Better Call Saul is dropping weekly on Lightbox right now – and it’s slowly catching up with the start of Breaking Bad. While we wait, here are four fanservicey ways the new show could tip its hat to the old one. Better Call Saul, the often-prequel sometimes-sequel series to Breaking Bad, is back with its fourth … Read more
The Spinoff’s trap correspondent, Tekashi09, reviews one of the biggest albums of the month, Travis Scott’s Astroworld. Esskeetit!
It’s an eternal argument: which of the two versions of The Office reigns supreme, the original brutal UK version or its heartfelt US spinoff? The Spinoff staff finally weighs in. Alex Casey, senior writer The Office UK is coded into my DNA unlike any other show. I bought the boxset for a bargain $20 from … Read more
Funny slapstick comedy about a wild dog trying to eat a bird or a treatise on the meaningless of all human pursuits? Sam Brooks watches some Wile E. Coyote cartoons. Straight up: I had never seen a single second of Looney Tunes until this week. I was the kind of child who watched Absolutely Fabulous and … Read more
Because what your Friday night really needs is Duncan Greive getting beaten up in a cow costume. Let’s face it: it’s been a hard week. Judith Collins has tweeted fake news, landlords want to rifle through your bank statements and Clarke Gayford’s beard isn’t going anywhere. Why not unwind at 10.45pm on Three with a … Read more
Nearly 30 years ago The Animals of Farthing Wood debuted – and promptly traumatised a generation of children with its cavalcade of animal slaughter. Picture it: an idyllic wood, teeming with all sorts of delightful creatures big and small, feathered and furred. Thick with green leaf and underbrush. Perhaps there’s the sound of a gentle … Read more
The Spinoff presents the video premiere of SoccerrPractise ‘Kaua E Mate Wheke’ animated video by Kim Newall & Frances Haszard. Geneva Alexander-Marsters says: As a Māori speaker, growing up in central Auckland in an English-urban environment has been challenging for my reo. I find myself looking on the internet to find whakataukī (proverbs) and check kupu as … Read more
As we reeled from last week’s messy memories of the disastrous shit river in Chlo and Em’s house, a new Block NZ poonami threatened to wash us all away in a wave of shock and scandal. Inflate your water wings, this one’s a doozy. Amy and Stu nearly pulled off the perfect crime this week, by … Read more
Last Friday, Auckland-based, Dunedin-formed band Ha the Unclear released their new album Invisible Lines. To celebrate, singer/guitarist/songwriter Michael Cathro sat down to write a track-by-track guide. ‘WWYWI’ ‘Where Were You When I Was All You Needed?’ was the last song written for this album. It’s one person realising the fondness that developed through absence, only … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. In this Very Special Episode of The Real Pod, we’re joined by Survivor NZ legend JT Muirhead to look back at what was a flaming hot second season. How bad were the tribal toilets? What … Read more
A ’70s housewife, an exhausted mother, and a law student moonlighting as a call girl: these are just a few of the people coming to Lightbox in August. Better Call Saul (S4 starts August 7, Express) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYl0Bio5E-E The mostly-prequel sometimes-sequel series to Breaking Bad could very easily have been more of the same. There was a … Read more
‘Burners’ around the country will have to look elsewhere for their collectivist fix after Kiwiburn 2019 was cancelled by event organisers. New Zealand’s regional Burning Man event has been cancelled after extended negotiations around council noise restrictions meant a 2019 iteration of the festival became unfeasible. A sell-out event held annually at the end of … Read more
Last week, Robyn released ‘Missing U’, her first solo single in since 2010. Ellen Falconer writes about the Swedish pop artist’s enduring relevance and the incredibly therapeutic power of her music. Eight years’ absence is a long time for a pop star in 2018. In this era of a seemingly endless stream of #content and … Read more
The NZSO and The Phoenix Foundation performed their Celebrate! show last night at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington. Mark Cubey was there. “Anyone can be a success, but it takes real guts to be a failure.” That’s from a cartoon by Scottish genius John Glashan, who wrote plays and worked as an illustrator, but whose … Read more
‘The Powerstation is a blank canvas,’ says owner after organisers reveal alt-right duo Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux will appear at beloved music venue in Auckland this evening. The owner and manager of Auckland live music venue The Powerstation has cancelled the appearance this evening of Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern. Peter Campbell initially defended … Read more
Anyone debating the controversy around Shortland Street need to remember those with Downs are not some abstraction but real and important people, writes Sarah Paterson-Hamlin, whose day job involves running a charity for kids with Down Syndrome called the UpsideDowns Education Trust Shortland Street’s latest plotline has it all; pregnancy, medical drama, scandalised tones, hastily googled medical symptoms, unplanned sex, … Read more
The Phoenix Foundation’s Samuel Flynn Scott on longevity, listening to your old work and the band’s four-date tour with the NZSO to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Tonight, in their hometown of Wellington, the Phoenix Foundation start their four-city tour with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in celebration of the band’s 20th anniversary. Like many things … Read more
On Monday night’s episode, Chris Warner raised the possibility of a woman aborting her child because of potential medical issues. Controversy ensued, which says a lot about Shortland Street‘s place in our culture, writes Sam Brooks. Shortland Street has been a key part of New Zealand culture for 26 years. Whether you watch it or not, … Read more
Welcome to week four of The Block NZ, where the raw salad of life was chopped up and laid out before our very eyes. Our teams left Hobsonville Point on a one-way ticket to Struggletown, warping into frazzled reno zombies who were one misplaced skylight away from painting their spirit animal onto a piece of … Read more
Home Brew’s needle-shifting Last Week EP was released 10 years ago in October. Sam Wicks talks to the people who brought the unapologetically local project to life. ‘This is our 7 track EP we wrote last week about the shit we did last week. We call it Last Week.’ With those unadorned words, Tom Scott … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This very normal episode of The Real Pod begins with Duncan in the toilet and ends with him being stood on by Alex while Jane shouts loudly. Inspired by the hypnotist from The Block NZ‘s Dinner … Read more
Can you sum up five seasons of the bed-hopping, flatmate-loving sitcom New Girl in one minute? Madeleine Chapman thinks she can. Watch five seasons of New Girl on Lightbox right here and right now: This content, like all television coverage we do at The Spinoff, is brought to you thanks to the excellent folk at Lightbox. Do … Read more
The Spinoff presents the video premiere of High Beams’ (IllBaz, Melodownz and Raiza Biza) ‘Red Wine’ video, the New Zealand Goodfellas (or, Goodfullas) IllBaz (Baz Raghib) says: Off the back of the ‘Live Stream’ video which we released to set the tone for the record, we wanted to do things a little differently with ‘Red Wine’. … Read more