Each year, the highlight of the annual Silver Scrolls aren’t the speeches, but the covers. In advance of tonight’s ceremony, Sam Brooks runs down his favourite performances since 2010. Tonight is the 2020 APRA Silver Scroll Awards, New Zealand’s most prestigious prize for songwriting (and you can stream them right here from 7:30pm). The nominees … Read more
A children’s television presenter, New Zealand’s first supermodel, and bloody Cocksy! Jordan Hamel pays tribute to the Kiwi icons that helped get him through his life. Adolescence was not a great time for me. Depression, anxiety, sexuality, awkward social interactions, emotional repression, being shit at sports – all the cliched tropes you see in any … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Nelson fires give glimpse of climate change future, mystery over Air NZ flight seems to be solved, and working class suburbs experience house price boom. The conversation around the Nelson fires, which have caused so much disruption and angst, has shifted to the future. There’s been a … Read more
The official history of New Zealand music is filled with songs by artists we all know and love. But what about the artists we’ve forgotten? Or the hits by our most loved artists that remain overshadowed by other, bigger hits? Henry Oliver traces an alternative history of New Zealand music via songs featured on the … Read more
It’s competitive out there for high schools these days. It seems like there are a million exams schools claim to prep their kids for in order to propel them to global dominance. But which high school has produced the most number one albums in New Zealand music history? James Dann investigates. High school can be … Read more
In Repressed Memories, James Mustapic delves into NZ pop culture’s graveyard and digs up some bodies. This episode: remembering Dane Rumble, Fast Crew, J. Williams, Evermore and Scribe. Watch all the Repressed Memories videos here. The Spinoff TV screens Fridays at 9.45pm from June 22nd on THREE. Thanks to NZ on Air. The Spinoff’s music … Read more
The Spinoff (or a sizeable chunk of it) went to Auckland City Limits on Saturday. Here’s our collective review. Head Like A Hole I’ve never seen a hard rock band perform at 1 pm. I’ve also definitely never seen a hard rock band do an energetic, spot-on and intermittently impressive cover of ‘Immigrant Song’ at … Read more
On Saturday the second Auckland City Limits went down at Western Springs. Simon Day spent the day roaming the speedway with his camera. The Spinoff’s music content is brought to you by our friends at Spark, a major sponsor of Auckland City Limits. Listen to all the music you love on Spotify Premium, it’s free on all … Read more
Over lunch at Balmoral Chinese restaurant Spicy House, Henry Oliver asks David Dallas about how growing older, getting married and watching Roger Federer all influenced his new album, Hood Country Club. This has been the longest gap between albums for you, right? Everyone’s saying that. It doesn’t seem as long as it is, but when … Read more
Thirteen years ago, New Zealand hip hop’s king-hitters joined forces for one of the biggest tours this country has ever seen. Gareth Shute talked to many of those involved to get the inside story of what went down. In March 2004, after years of bubbling under underground, the local hip hop scene was riding a wave … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to Savage about getting his songs on big Hollywood movies, outlasting so many of his New Zealand hip hop contemporaries and why he’s not interested in recording any more albums. Two weeks ago, during the Super Bowl, over 110 million people heard a minute of ‘Push’, a year-and-a-half-old song that Savage, perhaps … 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