Pete Douglas investigates how the Canadian post-grunge monolith became the universal shorthand for all bad music, while all other comers fell by the wayside. Last week, bearded hipster-king and early Elton John enthusiast (that new song sounds like an outtake from Honky Chateau) Father John Misty jumped to the defence of Canadian post-grunge whipping … Read more
In New Zealand to promote the return of Suits to Lightbox, Rick Hoffman revealed the secrets of mudding, catchphrases, and his mysterious assistant Norma to Madeleine Chapman. The first ever episode of The AM Show aired on Monday morning, and its first ever studio guest was actor Rick Hoffman – aka the man we love to … Read more
Tickled director David Farrier talks to Reggie Yates, the TV host turned documentary extraordinaire behind TVNZ documentaries Life and Death in Chicago and Extreme Russia, over breakfast in LA. Reggie Yates wants to meet for breakfast at a trendy boutique hotel called The Palihouse. He’s staying somewhere quite close, doing LA things like taking meetings … Read more
The Moana soundtrack can be heard anywhere; in Countdown, at the movies, blasting from the car next to you at the Royal Oak roundabout. Madeleine Chapman sat down with one of the men responsible for the movie’s music, Opetaia Foa’i, to talk Disney, collaboration, and knowing when to draw the line. I spotted Opetaia Foa’i in Ponsonby … Read more
Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey have podcasted The Bachelor NZ, The Real Housewives of Auckland and Dancing With the Stars NZ. This year they hope to merge all reality coverage, bad NZ celebs and product reviews into one unholy rat king of a podcast. Introducing… THE REAL POD. Episode one of Real Pod … Read more
The only place on the internet you need to be for the best ‘please tell me that is not your penis’ memes, inspired by what might already be the local TV moment of 2017. All it took was one simple sync of Harry’s iPhone to the family iPad on Shortland Street to break both Chris … Read more
Every person and their dog has made a film reboot for television overseas, so why hasn’t New Zealand? Aaron Yap picks some classic films that are due a television revival. Confession: I don’t watch New Zealand television. It’s not that NZ TV sucks, although there is definitely an element of that. A huge one. I can’t … Read more
While walking through the Volume: Making Music in Aotearoa exhibition at the Auckland Museum, Henry Oliver thought to himself: which decade had the best music? Rather than telling you his answer, he’s asking for yours. Final Round: which decade is definitively The Best? First, the results from last week’s vote: Top seed, the 2000s, continued it’s … Read more
We’ve assembled some Valentine’s gift inspiration from the only thing you can rely on in this cruel life: the television. Forgot about Valentine’s Day? Short on time and money to pull off the romantic gesture of your dreams? Never fear, for the path to hell is paved with good intentions and the longest running TV … Read more
Witness the incredible Shortland Street moment in which Chris Warner comes face to face with… his son’s dick pic. It had been a pretty dramatic week in Ferndale last week, from Kylie skinny-dipping with badboy Frank to Drew proposing to Harper (again). But nothing came close to the closing 10 seconds of Friday night’s episode, … Read more
The Spinoff watched and listened to the first episode of The AM Show, Three’s new offering to the multi-platform breakfast news buffet. Here’s what we reckon. It’s bright. Maybe too bright. With the telly roaring to life at the fragile time of 5.58am to a visual feast of bright red dresses, searing hot pinks and scorching … Read more
‘Best Songs Ever’ features various contributors to The Spinoff Music assessing recent songs and singles. SONG OF THE WEEK Fruit Juice Parade – ‘Whaling’ Contemporary indie’s reclamation of late 90s Midwestern emo has locally been inflected by both pop-punk (Carb On Carb) and twee (prizegiving circa ‘Soft’); the first single from Palmerston North duo fruit … Read more
Panic! At The Disco returned to New Zealand earlier this month, 11 years after their debut concert at Auckland’s St James. Reformed emo Alex Casey was there for both. In 2006, there was nothing I loved more than thrashing Panic! At The Disco’s much-loathed album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, and thinking crushingly earnest … Read more
The Spinoff and Spark proudly present Pod On The Couch, a weekly podcast exploring music and the people that make it. This episode: Kate Robertson and Duncan Greive join host Henry Oliver to talk about pop music in the Trump-era. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver talks to contributing critic Kate Robertson and The Spinoff’s editor and … Read more
Every Friday, ‘The Album Cycle’ reviews a handful of new releases. ALBUM OF THE WEEK Syd – Fin Last week, Syd – of Odd Future and The Internet fame – released her solo debut, a digestible 12 tracks called Fin. It’s R&B sex-mix fodder in the vein of Aaliyah, D’Angelo and, more recently, Solange – … Read more
A new promo video for The AM Show has unearthed a grisly revelation: Duncan Garner is not only replacing Paul Henry, he is… becoming him. Everyone is talking about +HR=E this week, be it the confronting new rebrand or the inexplicable colonial garb worn strictly by comedians in their bold new channel vision. But there’s … Read more
Tara Ward checks in with The Cafe and finds a hidden gem in Advertorial Holly, the woman who can talk turkey necks like no other. Some people hate advertorials with a passion usually reserved for pineapple on pizza or Mike Hosking’s ripped jeans. Breaking news, you miserable bastards: advertorials are television gold. Which would you … Read more
‘Best Songs Ever’ features various contributors to The Spinoff Music assessing recent songs and singles. SONG OF THE WEEK Thundercat – ‘Show You the Way (ft. Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins)’ Not many things in life are more electrifying than seeing the names Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins in brackets after a song title. As … Read more
Hungry for a gripping new spy series? Try The Honourable Woman, says Aaron Yap – a spy drama worthy of John le Carré with a breathtaking central performance by Maggie Gyllenhaal. For spy junkies who’re feeling empty after motoring through all available episodes of Homeland and The Americans, Hugo Blick’s eight-part miniseries The Honourable Woman … Read more
To celebrate Guns N’ Roses‘ two massive shows in New Zealand over Waitangi weekend, Alex and Joseph dive deep into GNR’s ‘Estranged’ music video – the sixth most expensive music video of all time. Welcome to the latest episode of our bi-weekly pop music chat for umusic. It involves two pop rookies – Alex Casey and … Read more
With Seven Sharp sighing back onto New Zealand TV last night, Alex Casey and Duncan Greive round up 10 key moments from Hosking’s turf war to the return of Boston buns. 1) First of all, this was the lead story 2) The Weeknd played as they came back from an ad. It got Mike started. … Read more
Independent for almost 20 years, Fat Freddy’s Drop have racked up close to a thousand shows across Europe, returning home as prodigal sons each summer to play for the people of New Zealand. Superfan Don Rowe talks to trumpeter Toby Laing, aka Tony Chang, ahead of the group’s third appearance at Splore. First published 8 February … Read more
Sam Brooks relives his pre-teen years at a live grab-bag of reunited late-’90s/early-aughts pop. On Saturday night, Auckland was full of people raring to see a band that had nurtured them through the rough times, to cheer musicians who were long past their prime but didn’t care, to hear songs they loved performed live for … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored segment where we peruse the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This time, we round up the sizzling new content coming this February. LIVE ON LIGHTBOX NOW Pushing Daisies (S1-2) Pushing Daises knew about everything cute before it was cute. Bushy eyebrows. Zooey Deschanel dresses. … Read more
Politician and proud Westie Paula Bennett was at Saturday night’s Guns N’ Roses concert at Western Springs in Auckland. So we invited her to file a review. If my inner bogan had an outing on Saturday night at the Guns N’ Roses concert then my bloke’s outer bogan was in heaven. As we joined half … Read more
Jazz-fan Mitchell Houlbrooke takes issue with La La Land‘s depiction of jazz authenticity. La La Land is the sort of movie that makes you skip out of the theatre. It’s a musical in the best sense of the word, and despite being cruel to the tear ducts, it leaves you with a sense of self-determination … Read more
The Spinoff and Spark proudly present Pod On The Couch, a weekly podcast exploring music and the people that make it. This episode: Henry Oliver talks to Alien Weaponry’s Henry de Jong. Henry Oliver talks to Henry de Jong about singing te reo thrash metal songs about the land wars, playing to pigs on the farm, and what Alien … Read more
Every Friday, ‘The Album Cycle’ reviews a handful of new releases. ALBUM OF THE WEEK Migos – Culture The Falcons are in the Super Bowl, Donald Glover’s Atlanta dominated the Golden Globes, Gucci Mane is free and Migos just dropped their sophomore album, Culture. In his acceptance speech for Best Television Series Comedy or Musical, … Read more
The ’00s are rightly remembered as a golden age for the hour-long teen-centric drama, thanks to The OC and Gilmore Girls. But Duncan Greive says Veronica Mars is the very best. The kids of Neptune High dress like absolute idiots. Platinum blonde hair feathered at every extremity, tartan bootcut pants, all the earth tones on Earth … Read more