Summer reissue: In Final Mix, music journalist Yadana Saw chats with local musicians and listens to their latest tracks in the ultimate testing ground: the car. The first episode is with cross-Atlantic country maven Tami Neilson. First published April 1, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism … Read more
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
The 2020 longlist for the APRA Silver Scroll Awards – New Zealand’s premiere songwriting awards – have just been announced. Here’s the full list of the 20 finalists, with the songs themselves to listen to. This morning saw the announcement of the longlist for the APRA Silver Scroll, New Zealand’s most prestigious music award recognising … Read more
In the new series Final Mix, music journalist Yadana Saw chats with local musicians and listens to their latest tracks in the ultimate testing ground: the car. The first episode is with cross-Atlantic country maven Tami Neilson. “There’s before, and then there’s after.” It’s a prophetic lyric on Tami Neilson’s new album Chickaboom, coming from … Read more
A te reo Christmas song, 2019’s favourite mumbler and music’s coolest sisters are all part of our songs of the month for November. International ‘Everything I Wanted’ by Billie Eilish I run hot-and-cold on Eilish as an artist. I think her album has a few great songs – ‘bad guy’ especially – but it feels … Read more
Delaney Davidson, whose album release tour starts today, talks to Henry Oliver about storytelling, collaborating and his new album Shining Day. Delaney Davidson sees himself as a travelling salesman. He has slicked back hair and a couple of days’ stubble. Suit, tie, hat when he’s performing. Clean shirt tucked into clean jeans when he’s not. … Read more
Hussein Moses attempts to assess all 20 songs on the longlist for this year’s Silver Scroll Award. Take that New Zealand Music Month t-shirt back out of your cupboard because supporting local music this year is not over yet! Without any hype preceding the announcement whatsoever, the longlist for this year’s APRA Silver Scroll Awards … Read more
The Spinoff presents the video premiere of Tami Neilson’s ‘Devil in a Dress’, featuring the O’Neill Twins. Tami Neilson says: I was watching the TV series The Fall and there was a scene that directly inspired this song. When a constable wants to use the word ‘innocent’ to describe the killer’s victims in a press release, Gillian Anderson’s character … Read more
Nine musicians and producers from this year’s SongHubs, a collaborative song-writing retreat presented by APRA AMCOS with support from NZ on Air, share their experiences. Five rooms at Roundhead Studios, each containing three songwriters and a producer, pumping out a brand new song every day for a week – could there ever be a more … Read more
Tami Neilson’s new album Sassafrass! is all for the women. She talks to Bridie Chetwin-Kelly about its themes and life on the road as a musician and a mother. The last two years have been about patience for Tami Neilson. With her new album all wrapped up by November last year, she’s been playing the waiting … Read more