Tara Ward watches the new promo video for TV3’s new 7pm show The Project, and is overwhelmed with pumpkins, backflips and Jesse Mulligan’s cha-cha. Some might say that a song and dance routine has no place in the serious world of current affairs. To them, I kick-ball-change and pirouette in their face, for the promo … Read more
Duncan Greive finds some sweet reprieve in the shambles of The Crowd Goes Wild, the only seven o’clock show New Zealand can count on right now. In these times of dread and chaos it’s hard to know what induces more anxiety: being away from a constant supply of breathless reporting, or mainlining it ceaselessly. On … 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. This week, round two: only the strong decades survive. The votes are in, the first round is over. Time to … Read more
Ahead of Splore, one of the final stops on the summer festival calendar, Don Rowe chats to tabla drummer Prabhash Maharaj, the youngest musician in a lineage more than 500 years old. For four thousand years the holy city of Varanasi has been the spiritual centre of India. A lodestone for music, religion, philosophy and … Read more
Peter Capaldi, the 13th person to play The Doctor in the BBC’s Doctor Who, has announced 2017 is his last year as a Time Lord. José Barbosa assesses Capaldi’s tenure in the role and offers some pleas for the next incarnation. “Everything ends and it’s always sad. But everything begins again and that’s always happy. Be … Read more
Ahead of David Attenborough’s New Zealand live shows, Anthony Gardiner pens a heartfelt letter to the man in blue who made bat poo cool. Dear David, I can’t remember the first time you came into my life. For someone who means so much to us all, it is strange to not be able to recall … Read more
The Spinoff tries to remember what happened at yesterday’s Laneway festival. A thumbs up I absolutely love a long, drawn out festival. The more days I can spend in a dusty, stagnant field the better. I like them because there’s no urgency. It’s for this reason that the thought of trying to spread myself across … Read more
Graham Reid takes The Chills on a tour of Volume: Making Music in Aotearoa exhibition at the Auckland Museum. A little more than 24 hours before they take the stage at Laneway under a blazing blue sky, five very weary Chills arrive at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. They’ve been up since 5am and are … 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 Cut Off Your Hands’ Nick Johnston and Phil Hadfield. Henry Oliver talks to Nick Johnston and Phil Hadfield about getting older and getting the band back together. Either download (right … Read more
Every Friday, ‘The Album Cycle’ reviews a handful of new releases. ALBUM OF THE WEEK New Dawn – The Dying Light New Zealand’s ambient scene has remained in the shadows for the most part, but if New Dawn get the attention they deserve, it won’t for long. The Christchurch duo create ambient soundscapes that are … Read more
People keep saying The Path is a TV show about Scientology. Hayden Donnell sets out to demolish these false prophets and their suppressive allegations. Last weekend I snuck into Scientology’s new headquarters in Auckland. During my two hours inside, I was infused with new depths of knowledge about the perils of psychiatry, the drugs enslaving us … Read more
Before the return of Suits to Lightbox tonight, Tara Ward spends a day embodying the spirit of the slick, emotionally unavailable lawyer Harvey Specter. Harvey Specter from Suits is a living legend. Despite putting up more emotional walls than a mansion of Bachelor rejects, his shirts are always well pressed, he has beautiful hair, and he … Read more
Don Rowe speaks to band leader and sousaphone player Bennie Pete of New Orleans’ Hot 8 brass band on the power of music to put back the pieces when it all falls apart. Since 1995, three members of the Hot 8 Brass Band have been lost, victims of gun violence. One, Joe ‘Shotgun Joe’ Williams, was … 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. We, as both high-functioning mammals and low-functioning music fans, love to categorise things. Years, decades, generations, eras and genres are … Read more
Dominic Corry sits down in LA with late night host Samantha Bee and producer Jo Miller from Full Frontal With Samantha Bee to talk Trump, The Shire and why New Zealand kicks ass. Since launching less than a year ago, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee has carved itself out a prominent place among an especially crowded … Read more
Calum Henderson spent season one of 800 Words helping main character George Turner turn his shambolic column excerpts into finished newspaper copy. In season two, Turner has lost his writing job – and the show is better for it. George Turner made it as far as the second series of 800 Words before someone at … Read more
Alex and Jospeh are back for 2017 to dissect summertime jams from Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello, The Vamps and Matoma, and Amine. Welcome to the latest episode of our bi-weekly pop music chat for umusic. It involves two pop rookies – Alex Casey and Joseph Harper – listening to state-of-the-art pop music and … Read more
Sick of seeing women portrayed as squeaky clean and virtuous, Jaya Beach-Robertson created PSUSY to prove they can be anything but. Liam Maguren sat down with her to talk through the ups and downs of creating a worldly web series. If you haven’t come across the New Zealand web series PSUSY yet, I’m not sure how … Read more
‘Best Songs Ever’ features various contributors to The Spinoff Music assessing recent songs and singles. SONG OF THE WEEK Stefflon Don – ‘Real Ting’ Having first come to international attention after guesting on Jeremih’s Late Nights: Europe track ‘London’, the Dutch-raised British rapper has been blowing up recently. This, the title track of her debut … 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 Abbey Road producer and engineer, Guy Massey. Henry Oliver talks to Guy Massey about remastering the Beatles and how to make even non-Beatles records sound really good. Either download (right click to … Read more
Every Friday, ‘The Album Cycle’ reviews a handful of new releases. ALBUM OF THE WEEK Mica Levi – Jackie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) With its keening, disturbing strings, Mica Levi’s soundtrack for Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin (2013) stapled the alienation of its main character to our ears. Jackie has less of the feel of … Read more
Ahead of David Attenborough’s New Zealand live show, superfan Anthony Gardiner assembles the great naturalist’s greatest television moments. Ahh David Attenborough <heart eyes>. More so than any other human on Planet Earth, Sir D.A has inspired generations of us to love nature. The modern environmental movement is said to have started in the ’60s. How … Read more
The original MacGyver is a stone-cold classic, with a likeably earnest hero and a lot of heart. The reboot, which began last night on Prime? Not so much. José Barbosa explains. MacGyver airs 7.30pm Thursdays on Prime This content, like all television coverage we do at The Spinoff, is brought to you thanks to the … Read more
You’re probably back at work this week. And it probably sucks. But if want to bring some of the light-hearted silliness of the holidays into your fluorescent offices, Josh Drummond has a six-song playlist that’ll be fun. For you. A lot of us are going back to work this week, and it’s a mixed blessing. … Read more
Poor old Donald Trump, struggling to get any of those liberal whack job musician types to take part in his inauguration celebrations this week. But maybe The Donald has missed the ace sitting right there in his deck all along, says Pete Douglas. Unless you have been living in a cave or have been mercy … Read more
New Zealand woke up to the presence of a huge new internet celebrity this week thanks to the controversy around Jimi Jackson’s ‘blackface’ imagery. But a gross reply to a woman who commented on the image suggests his attitude to women is disastrous too, says Alex Casey. Who would have thought it would only be … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to Mick Jenkins, playing at this month’s Laneway Festival, about his new album and his capacity for love and optimism in the face of a Trump presidency. On his debut album, The Healing Component, Mick Jenkins investigates the meaning of love – romantic and otherwise – and places his optimism in its … Read more
Tara Ward stares into Leanne’s crystal ball and makes her predictions for the coming year in Ferndale. Like a drug resistant virus that refuses to be eradicated, Shortland Street made a triumphant return to our screens last night. The show kicked off its 25th year by presenting us with a gaping wound of human suffering and … Read more
New Zealand television icon Thingee made a shock TV comeback during the cricket on Sunday. Hayden Donnell spoke to our most famous expat extraterrestrial about whether this could pave the way for a reunion with his old friend Jason Gunn. People tuning into the cricket on Sunday would’ve expected to be rewarded with some slow, … Read more