From Twin Peaks to The OC, a great soundtrack can elevate any TV series. Insecure is just the latest example – and with all its seasons now streaming on Neon, Laumata Lauano talks us through her favourite needle drop moments. Straight up: the Insecure soundtrack is fire. I’ve known this since Issa Rae’s character Issa … Read more
From New Zealand’s biggest band selling out Western Springs to a landmark moment for Pasifika women onstage, these are the live events that shaped New Zealand this decade. An anchor in the middle of the deep blue sea: Daffodils, 2014 “Daffodils should play all over the country. It should play all over the world. It resonates … Read more
The performance of Kendrick Lamar’s hip-hop carries special meaning for New Zealand’s minorities, Tamsyn Matchett writes. Kendrick Lamar has been on his DAMN. tour for more than a year. He will finish the 12 month marathon next week in Australia. Such a gruelling, brutal schedule is warranted given the huge mainstream success of DAMN., and its … Read more
LA bass-guitar extraordinaire Thundercat is playing Auckland City Limits this weekend. To help prepare you, The Spinoff retraces his career in 112 seconds. Thundercat, known to his mother as Stephen Bruner, is a bass guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer from Los Angeles. If you don’t think you know his songs, you probably do. And if you … Read more
Is Melodrama the best album of the year? We’ll know definitively later today (*irony warning*), but in the meantime, Elle Hunt predicts the winners of the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. These Grammys, the sixtieth ever, are the third for which two friends and I have got our picks in. The Grammys’ administration starts four to … Read more
We asked you, our loyal readers, what your favourite albums and songs of the year were, both from here and from elsewhere. Oh, and your favourite shows, your reflections on the year, and predictions for next year. This is what you told us. Okay, list season is underway. The arms race is escalating and best … Read more
Kate Robertson chats on the phone with Macklemore for exactly nine minutes and thirty seconds, just enough time to ask him about his new album GEMINI, why he ditched the other dude, and making music in Trump’s America. It’s hard not to bop along to Macklemore. Some rap purists will say they thought he was … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, this week featuring Carly Rae Jepsen, Future & Kendrick Lamar, Teeks and Drax Project. SONG OF THE WEEK Carly Rae Jepsen – ‘Cut to the Feeling’ Is Carly Rae Jepsen the new Robyn? This is the best straight-up pop song of the year so far. Combining Robyn-esque electro with Belinda … 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 plays some new releases to a bunch of people hanging around The Spinoff offices to see what they think. Instead of just sitting around the Spinoff offices waiting for the Cyclone Cook … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, this week featuring Kendrick Lamar, Chuck Berry, Gorillaz, Blondie, Zayn and more… SONG OF THE WEEK Kendrick Lamar – ‘The Heart Part IV’ Kendrick vs Trump Coming along sooner than anyone expected, Kendrick Lamar’s new single is closer to the triumphant West-Coast anthems on good kid, m.A.A.d. … Read more
Auckland City Limits, the new festival headlined by Kendrick Lamar and The National, is as ambitious a live music project as New Zealand has seen in a decade or more. During its assembly Duncan Greive twice interviewed its promoter, Campbell Smith, who gave very candid insights into the business of music festivals. I first heard … Read more