For the first and last time, Henry Oliver gives his definitive account of The Spinoff’s best New Zealand music of 2018. Read it and get angry. Here it is, my ten best albums and ten best songs, all from Aoteroa, all released in 2018. The one rule: appearance on one list disqualifies that artist from … Read more
Last week, APRA announced the five finalists for the 2017 Silver Scroll Award. Today, exclusively for The Spinoff, the five artists discuss each other’s nominated songs. Ruban Nielson of Unknown Mortal Orchestra on ‘Laugh It Off’ by Chelsea Jade My friend put me on to this song when it first came out and I love … Read more
These days, when people wave their hands at a gig, more often then not there’s a phone in them. RNZ Music’s Melody Thomas lays down the rules for using your phone at a concert. Imagine you’re in a packed stadium, watching one of your favourite musicians tearing it up on stage. All around you fans … Read more
On the first day of New Zealand Music Month, Max Tetlow introduces a new monthly round-up of some of the best things to happen in New Zealand music in the previous month. Unknown Mortal Orchestra drop Sex & Food ahead of a world tour This album made headlines for two reasons. First, it’s very good. Second, during … Read more
After blowing up The Mint Chicks in spectacular fashion, the Nielson brothers are back together, with Kody recently joining Ruban’s acclaimed act Unknown Mortal Orchestra. “Brothers can have a volatile relationship,” he tells Hussein Moses, “but at the end of the day we’re still brothers.” The first time Kody Nielson heard a mysterious new band … Read more
Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new album Sex & Food is prompting RNZ’s Melody Thomas to think about the apocalypse. She asks the band’s founder and frontman Ruban Nielson if that’s what he intended. Sad lyrics over happy music. Gloomy cover art on a joyous album. Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson is fond of things that seem contradictory, but … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, featuring Lawrence Arabia, UMO, Yo La Tengo, Dry Dive, Justin Timberlake, Bromelain/Manzanza and more… Lawrence Arabia – ‘Solitary Guys’ Welcome to the singles club Imagine if somebody ten years ago had said that in 2018 it’d be normal for whole seasons of TV shows to come out all … Read more