Remembering the most hated Air NZ safety video of them all

This week Air New Zealand announced that they would be pulling their divisive “It’s Kiwi Safety” video from their in-flight safety briefing. The Spinoff asked Kiwis from all walks of life to pay their respects. A former flight attendant: “I was there in the early stages of Air New Zealand trying to be ‘out there’ … Read more

Jon Toogood’s The Adults: ‘I’m bored of hearing me. I didn’t make the record to hear me’

Henry Oliver talks to Jon Toogood, best known as the frontman of evergreen rockers Shihad, about the new record of his collaborative project The Adults. Last time I talked with Jon Toogood – Shihad frontman, wild rock’n’roll singer, wirey mass of relentless energy – he had recently got married and was preparing for the album tour … Read more

By the numbers: The New Zealand music with the most Spotify streams

Gareth Shute crunches the numbers on who is the most streamed here and abroad – and asks why the two don’t always match. Until recently, it was difficult to track the progress of New Zealand bands once they left our shores. But now Spotify’s publicly available streaming data gives us a window into how well … Read more

New Zealand Music Awards hits and misses (+ The Spinoff vs Spotify result!)

Yesterday, Henry Oliver risked it all by predicting the winners of last night’s New Zealand Music Awards. Today he updates that post with the actual results and slightly jaded commentary. Okay, last night actually went pretty well. By which I mean that, yes, it was a good show, I was sitting at a good table with nice people, … Read more

Best Songs Ever: Takin’ a ride on Neil Finn’s disco Vespa

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

The Album Cycle: New releases reviewed from Childish Gambino, Neil Young, Kings and more

Every Friday, ‘The Album Cycle’ reviews a handful of new releases. ALBUM OF THE WEEK Childish Gambino – Awaken, My Love Give it a first listen and you’d be forgiven for thinking Awaken, My Love! wasn’t a Childish Gambino record at all. Scrapping his now pretty famous freestyle flow of rap and replacing it with … Read more