Archive

The Fly (1986)

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Cult Film Cast your minds back, to a time before computers, when filmmakers where stretching the minds and imaginations of millions of moviegoers without the help of CGI. It’s getting harder and harder to remember such a thing, especially as such effects become cheaper and easier for any Read more...

Sunshine on Leith

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Rosie Howells

Rating: B+ You may know the Proclaimers as those Scottish guys who sang “I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who walked a thousand miles before I’m at your door.” Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. Turns out they have heaps of other songs, and are really Read more...

Street Style | Issue 12

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Helen & Grace

Gabby (studying Bachelor of Arts) - is wearing Nike shoes, Topshop pants, AS Colour top and H&M shirt. Chris (studying microbiology and textiles) is wearing Nike shoes and pants, Our Legacy jersey, Shades of Grey jacket, Norse Projects hat and Deadly Ponies bag. Read more...

The Observer - How to dress sporty casual

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Emma & Liam

As New Zealand’s future academia, you may have thought that there was absolutely nothing that you could stand to learn from the desperate housewives of New Zealand. However, it is a truth that if we did not have housewives, we would not have sporty casual; and if we did not have sporty casual, we Read more...

Cross Fingers

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Bridget Vosburgh

Cross Fingers is a thriller by Paddy Richardson. The tagline says that Cross Fingers is, in fact, psychological crime fiction, but I don’t feel that the pacing gives you time to stop and think. So thriller it is. One Rebecca Thorne, a not too hard-assed, plucky reporter lady who gets sexually and Read more...

Belonging

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Hannah Collier

Dunedin Public Art Gallery Exhibited until 31 March 2015 The Dunedin Public Art Gallery’s Belonging displays a privately owned collection of works that features various artists (national and international) whose work is both bold and rich in religious references, symbolism and iconography, Read more...

Interview: Wendy Syfret - Editorial Coordinator at Vice

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Can you describe what your current role as Editorial Assistant at VICE involves, in both its local context and globally? I was actually bumped up to Editorial Coordinator last year so my job involves a few facets. I manage the website, monitor traffic, commission and edit pieces, write them Read more...

Download of the Week: Opposite Sex - Opposite Sex (NZ)

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Based in Dunedin, Opposite Sex combine noise-pop and no-wave elements by blending percussive bass playing, furious drumming and menacing guitar work. This self-titled debut was recorded when the band first moved down from Gisbourne, and features the noodly guitar playing of “Fergus.” 13 tracks Read more...

New this week / Singles in review

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Ought - Habit “Habit” is the lead single by Montreal-based band Ought, from their debut album More Than Any Other Day. A mixture of art-punk, ‘90s looseness and classic emo tendencies. Singer Tim Beeler sounds like Ian Curtis singing a Pavement song. In a good way. Alex G - Read more...

Artist Profile: Sherpa

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Auckland powerpop group Sherpa hit ReFuel on 30 May. With their new album Blues and Oranges set to be released soon, Adrian Ng caught up with frontman Earl Ho. You released your previous album, Lesser Flamingo, in 2012. What have you guys been up to in between then and preparing for this new Read more...

Goat Simulator

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: B There are a ridiculous number of simulation games. Some of them you would have heard of and played, such as The Sims, and maybe even games such as Roller-coaster Tycoon or Zoo Tycoon. For the more hardcore simulation fans there are even games such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, Read more...

Baked Rice Pudding

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

Winter is coming! Therefore, so too is pudding season! The smell of rice pudding baking in the oven reminds me of my childhood, but also of my first year at Carrington. I swear the abundance of rice pudding there was fully responsible for my fresher five. I spent the Easter weekend helping my Read more...

Divergent

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Rosie Howells

Rating: B+ I have to admit, my expectations were not soaring for Divergent, as all the pre-release chatter seemed to indicate it was some kind of poor man’s Hunger Games but with way more leather jackets. Although this is partly true (so many cows died in the making of this film), I have to Read more...

The Other Woman

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Ashley Anderson

Rating: A- Cheating, lies, and a whole lot of mischief goes down in this highly-anticipated chick flick of the year. The Other Woman tells the story of Carly (Cameron Diaz), a high-rolling lawyer in NYC who thinks she’s found the man of her dreams in smooth-operator Mark (Nikolaj Read more...

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: B+ After Toby McGuire successfully managed to flush the Spider-man franchise down the toilet in 2008, I was grateful to see the character successfully rebooted in 2012 with The Amazing Spider-man. Thankfully, director Mark Webb has continued to grow the Spider-man character and Read more...

Half a Yellow Sun

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Sydney Lehman

Rating: A I do not know what war means. I say this with as much education on the subject as the average person. I understand it in theory, but emotionally – the reality of being prepared to flee for my life at a moment’s notice, an air raid bomb about to go off next to me, losing my friends, Read more...

Street Style

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Emma & Liam

Kate (Marketing and Communications) - Bassike striped top, dress from Australia, Stylestalker cardigan, Karen Walker bag. Campbell (Commerce) - ASOS shoes, Thingthing trackpants, RPM t-shirt, Longlost hoodie, Stark Bros Ltd. beanie. Read more...

The Observer - The new essentials for guys

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Emma & Liam

While the best-before date on food packaging may be a mere guideline, the best-before date on clothing is as mandatory as the Crimes Act 1961. Unfortunately, men are notorious for overestimating the length of time that they may wear a single item of clothing with pride. We at the Observer advise all Read more...

American Skin

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Mandy Te

In 1998, Don De Grazia released his critically acclaimed debut novel American Skin. It is described as an American classic and a powerful coming of age novel. The thesis-turned- popular-book process was like a recipe. All De Grazia had was a dash of luck, a cup of talent and 75 dollars to make this Read more...

Zine of the week | Issue 11

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Jacobin

Pamphlet published by See Sharp Press First published in Australia by Libertarian Socialist Organisation, 1979 Spray-paint did not cripple the World Trade Organisation in Seattle. The 11 September terrorist attacks did not bring down the United States. The bombing of Greenpeace’s ship, Read more...

The Cubic Structural Evolution Project

Posted 3:11pm Sunday 11th May 2014 by Hannah Collier

Dunedin Public Art Gallery Exhibited until 3 august 2014 Everything is so much better when you can touch it. I’m really enjoying the participatory installations that have been at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery recently. Playing with Seung Yul Oh’s “Oddooki” (those performance sculptures Read more...

Interview: Jerome Cousins - Improsaurus

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Zane Pocock

Give me a quick background of Improsaurus! We are a local Dunedin improv group that performs fortnightly shows at the Fortune Theatre Studio. We have been there for a little over the last two years, and then two years before that at various venues around Dunedin ‘til we got offered the space Read more...

The Horrors - Luminous

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Rating: B+ In 2007 The Horrors stormed to fame with Strange House, a gothic garage punk album. They were by all means a personification of their sound, dressed in black, dolled with eye-liner, and with haircuts resembling the Addams Family. In 2009 a surprising thing happened. The Horrors Read more...

Thee Oh Sees - Drop

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Rating: A- Around five to six months ago frontman Nick Dwyer announced that Thee Oh Sees would be going on a small hiatus. Having released an eye opening eight studio albums between 2008 and 2013, not to mention a boat load of EPs and singles, how could anyone really blame the group? Well, Read more...

T54 - In Brush Park

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

T54 are an alternative, garage band hailing from Christchurch. Released late last year, In Brush Park features intricate yet menacing, textural guitar playing with washed out vocals and a propulsive rhythm section. The result is a solid ten songs, which range from atmospheric and melodic pop to Read more...

New this week / Singles in review

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Movement - Ivory Melbourne trio Movement release yet another single following the hypnotic “Like Lust.” Starting of with a haunting sample, almost resembling a sighing ghost, “Ivory” is built around soulful vocals, a blaring yet subtle bass groove and minimalist drum beats. The track Read more...

Beck - Morning Phase

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Rating: B+ In 1993 Beck Hansen released his first album Golden Feelings; 21 years later he remains a quiet force in alternative music. Renowned for his ability to splice different genres into one cohesive vehicle of expression, and his knack for branching out in different directions with each Read more...

Ether One

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: B- The last few years have seen a growing trend towards the innovative genre of first person exploration games, receiving a deluge of fabulous games such as Dear Esther, The Stanley Parable and the glorious Gone Home. This genre allows developers to create games that are focused on Read more...

Moussaka

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

So, looks like winter is no longer coming and is, in fact, here. I have decided to treat you with a slightly more interesting, but still comforting, alternative to the well-loved lasagne. Moussaka, a dish of Greek and general Mediterranean invention, comprises of a tomato-based lamb mince Read more...

Little Rascals (1994)

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Rosie Howells

Classic Film The one glimmer of light in the otherwise horrid time period that constitutes the school holidays is that general access television plays impeccable children’s films (I use the term “children” very lightly). Nothing could have soothed my pain of riding on a bus full of fondling Read more...

The Lego Movie

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Sydney Lehman

Rating: B+ LEGO: “a construction toy consisting of interlocking plastic building blocks.” Riveting. But seriously, within the parameters of what is and is not possible to do with LEGO, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller created what was actually a very delightful film. These two appear to be a Read more...

Like Father, Like Son

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A+ Set in Japan, Like Father, Like Son tells the story of two families who, after raising their sons for six years, discover that their children were switched at birth. This revelation poses the families with a number of seemingly unanswerable questions: What makes someone family? To Read more...

Muppets Most Wanted

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Ashley Anderson

Rating: A+ After securing their studio back in The Muppets (2011), the loveable Muppet crew are back for another whirlwind musical adventure. Kermit (as himself, obviously) and the gang start their world tour with new manager Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais). Alas, Dominic is revealed to be a Read more...

Street Style

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Emma & Liam

Mitchell (Law and Commerce) - Mr Simple Jacket, AS Colour t-shirt, Neuw jeans, Rivers shoes, Happy Socks and Herschel bag Jessie (Zoology) - Bassike t-shirt, Cheap Monday jacket, Twenty Seven Names pants, Lucy Folk necklace, Converse shoes. Read more...

The Observer - New essentials for girls

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Emma & Liam

There is no denying that “course-related costs” is a gloriously ambiguous term. We here at The Observer consider it to mean all costs associated with looking fresh to death. Therefore, assuming that you have not already spent the entirety of your course-related costs on Jagerbombs at Fever Club, it Read more...

The Wasp Factory

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Bridget Vosburgh

Iain Banks, who died in 2013, published his sci-fi novels under the name Iain M. Banks (I assume the M is short for Master of Science). People persist in regarding this as a genuine attempt at a cunning disguise with Superman levels of hilarious failure going on, rather than a straightforward Read more...

Zine of the week - Marrow Zine

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Sam Allen

Edited by Hana Aoake Drawing and text Marrow is a largely Dunedin-based zine whose pages are filled with content from New Zealanders. The one I am looking at here was just sent to me and is from Winter 2012. I recall going to the launch of this Winter issue, which had rad bands, balloons Read more...

For whom the wind blows

Posted 4:20pm Sunday 4th May 2014 by Hannah Collier

Brett McDowell Gallery Exhibited until 15 May 2014 “At art school we learned discipline, based upon constant immersion regarding things visual. We wanted to ‘know’ beyond social intercourse ... Art school really was the foundation of everything that has happened to me after I graduated in Read more...

Interview: Boots Riley

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Olivier Jutel

On 16 and 17 April, political activist and rapper Boots Riley visited Dunedin to give a public lecture and acoustic performance. Radio One’s Olivier Jutel caught up with Riley for a post-lecture, pre-gig discussion. Kia ora, good morning Boots! Kia ora, what’s happening? Hey. Read more...

Elbow - Take off and landing of everything

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Richard Ley-Hamilton

Manchester quintet Elbow have cut a unique musical path over their near two decades of output. With their characteristic fusion of orchestral stylings and progressive rock, Elbow bridges the precarious gap between the classical and the contemporary: operatic and atmospheric yet concise with Read more...

New This Week / Singles in Review

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Adrian Ng

Percussions - Ascii Bot Percussions is another alias of Kieran Hebden, also the mastermind behind electronic project Four Tet. With Percussions, Hebden seems to approach electronic music from more of a minimalist standpoint. “Ascii Bot” spans eight and half minutes, but is constructed Read more...

Woods - With light and with love

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Adrian Ng

What if Neil Young fronted an indie folk band? Good news everyone! Look here, Woods. They’re talented too. They write some catchy alternative country songs, most of them on the sentimental side. They have their nine minute jammy epic, they have their two minute pop treats, they have the sweet and Read more...

The Elder Scrolls Online

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Disclaimer: Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are immense games, containing content enough for, theoretically, years of gameplay. As such, this review is not comprehensive, but rather a review of the experiences I have had with it in its first few weeks of being live. Read more...

Savoury Crepes

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

Back when I was at high school (to make certain people feel old, that was a mere six years ago) we had a French exchange student called Alan. It sounds terrible, but we used to exploit him for his crepe making abilities. After all, he was French – this sort of thing is automatically programmed into Read more...

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A There have been moments in the past decade when the abundance of superhero movies became tedious. With everybody rushing to join this trend, there were years where all we got was origin story after origin story. Now, however, I feel we have entered the golden age of the genre, as we Read more...

The selfish giant

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: A- The Selfish Giant is bleak. Not only is it about two brats, Arbor and Swifty, being expelled from school and scratching a living pilfering scrap metal for a crooked bookie in an impoverished town in Northern England, it also features a beautiful horse being electrocuted and melted Read more...

Tracks

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Sydney Lehman

Rating: A Tracks is one of the most powerful films I have seen. The cinematography is breathtakingly beautiful, as is the expansive and dangerous Australian desert. Normally, I don’t love journey films; or films about endless and repetitive landscapes such as deserts, oceans and space. Read more...

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Rosie Howells

Rating: A There is no way to adequately summarise The Grand Budapest Hotel’s plot in a couple of sentences, but it must be done for the purposes of this review, so please keep in mind the following paragraph does not remotely do the film justice. The Grand Budapest Hotel follows the eponymous Read more...

The Observer

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Emma & Liam

Bryn (Commerce and Law) is wearing a Commoners t-shirt, J.Crew shirt, AS Colour pants, River shoes and an ASOS bag. Brianna (Communications and Design) is wearing a Mad Love cardigan, Sass and Bide top, Bec & Bridge shorts, Nike shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and Marc by Marc Read more...

How to: Not look like a fresher

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Emma & Liam

College residence t-shirts are not to be worn in public. Nobody cares that you did enough extracurricular activities to get into Arana. Leave those awkwardly fitted t-shirts, along with your school leaver’s hoodie, for all of the lazy, hungover Sundays. Dunedin is not the Coromandel. The Read more...

Style Watch

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Emma & Liam

Good Bassikes - The philosophy behind Australian brand Bassike is covetable everyday wardrobe staples with longevity. These organic cotton treasures are more adaptable than bacteria and can be dressed up or down for any occasion. In Dunedin they can be found at Slick Willy’s. Read more...

Do androids dream of electric sheep?

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Chelsea Boyle

Philip K. Dick depicts a desolate and battered San Francisco in his post-apocalyptic science fiction novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Earth, post-World War Terminus, has been swathed in radioactive dust causing the eventual death of many species we have today. Most people have been Read more...

Zine of the week: What She Said

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Anonymous Bird

24 A5 Pages Available at Blackstar Books If only there were some kind of space dedicated to celebrating the creative and diverse voices of young feminist women in New Zealand ... that’s What She Said. What She Said is essentially the literary embodiment of a new intersectional Read more...

Stretching Time

Posted 1:58pm Sunday 27th April 2014 by Hannah Collier

Dunedin Public Art Gallery Exhibited until 15 June 2014 Auckland based artist Steve Carr is currently exhibiting a new series of work at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery as a result of his ten-week residency under the Gallery’s Visiting Programme. Carr was awarded the 2013 Dunedin Public Art Read more...

Interview: Ron Hanson - Founder of White Fungus

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Zane Pocock

White Fungus magazine began in Wellington as a photocopied publication delivering political messages. Nine years on, brothers Ron and Mark Hanson are still creating their magazine and last year released its 13th issue. Zane Pocock and Loulou Callister-Baker chatted with Ron Hanson over Skype to Read more...

Tycho - Awake

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Adrian Ng

Rating: A- Tycho is Scott Hansen, a San Francisco based visual artist and producer. Having released music since the early 2000s, it wasn’t until 2011’s Dive that Hansen’s music started gaining considerable attention. Awake, like Dive, is a sleek, electro-ambient record with an undercurrent of Read more...

Download of the week: Mermaidens - Bones (NZ)

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Adrian Ng

Mermaidens are Lily Paris West, Gussie Larkin and Abe Hollingsworth, a three-piece, psych-pop outfit from Wellington. Combining dirty, looming riffs and impassioned vocals, their three track EP Bones is available for name-your-price download from mermaidens.bandcamp.com. Read more...

New this week

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Adrian Ng

How To Dress Well - Repeat Pleasure Another single from How To Dress Well, AKA Tom Krell. Another romantic themed tale, told with a great soulful melody, and a flurry of illuminating synth work. Features lightly strummed acoustic guitar, sounds a bit like a remixed version of a John Read more...

Tweens - Tweens

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Peter McCall

Rating: B- Although the Cincinnati noise-pop trio are not actually about to enrol in their first year of high school, the name isn’t entirely inappropriate. They’re bratty, they’re full of energy, they’re bored. These guys don’t deliver a lot of thoughtful wordplay or wise life lessons; Read more...

Pixies - Indie Cindy

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Rating: B I could talk about buttoned-down shirt Dads shyly squeezing into old pairs of their black pipe jeans. I could talk about how the waistlines of their jeans pinch at their beer bellies, causing them to initially suck in for the “big gig night” with their old university buds (and how, Read more...

Mercenary Kings

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Over the past couple of years it has made me overwhelmingly happy to see video games being inducted into museums all over the world, including the illustrious Smithsonian museum. I’m sure every gamer has their own reasons for why they consider video games art, however, it may surprise many of you to Read more...

Mini Bacon and Egg Pies

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

There may or may not be an embarrassing video on the Internet about me making pies. You could say I am somewhat of a bacon and egg pie expert. Last year, I frequently made and delivered these beauties to my favourite Critic employees, Sam, Alex and Dan, for their lunches. I did tend to get Read more...

Romeo and Juliet

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: C It’s clearly not easy to adapt a classic from the stage to the screen. Many have tried and very few have succeeded. When Shakespeare is involved, these adaptations invoke the question: do you try and stay loyal to the context and language of the original text? Or do you modernise it Read more...

Stand By Me (1986)

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Rosie Howells

Classic Film Alongside To Kill A Mockingbird, Stand By Me is by far the best film about children, for adults. Based on the Stephen King Novella The Body, Stand By Me tells the story of a ragtag group of young friends in the All American town of Castle Rock in 1959. After hearing about the Read more...

Noah

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Simon Broadbent

Rating: B+ Rather than a faithful and preachy account of the Bible jazzed up into a feature-length, Aronofsky attempts a blend of biopic, CGI fantasy, gritty reboot, and ecological fairy-tale which moulds the well-known story of Noah into something entirely new. Any moral preaching is Read more...

Mr. Peabody and Sherman

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A- If you were anything like me, your childhood was full of cartoons. A personal favourite of mine was the 1960’s Rocky and Bullwinkle, a charming Cold War reactionary cartoon about a moose and a flying squirrel on the run from Russian spies. The show was made great by its excellent Read more...

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by James Tregonning

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is the latest novel from best-selling author Neil Gaiman. If you’ve never read any Gaiman, he’s sort of like the modern day Grimm Brothers, except there’s only one of him and he’s not German. Generally his works are modern day fairy tales with a great deal of dark, Read more...

Zine of the week - Midnight Cowgirl

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Jacobin

22 A5 Pages - Diary format Available at Blackstar Books Now, let me tell you about a friend of mine who knew the value of meeting people without judgment. His name is Jesus. Yes, there is such a thing as Christian Anarchism and some people practice this. Midnight Cowgirl is one account Read more...

Exorcise (E)

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Hannah Collier

Mint Gallery Exhibited until 18 April Mint Gallery is currently exhibiting EXORCISE (E) by award-winning artist James Robinson. Robinson was born in Christchurch in 1972 and currently lives in Dunedin. He completed a Bachelor Of Fine Arts at the Otago School of Fine Arts in 2000, and a Read more...

Mac Demarco - Salad Days

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Peter McCall

Near the end of 2012, i purchased Mac DeMarco’s second LP, 2, on the back of hearing “Ode to Viceroy” – a sweet love song for his favourite brand of low-cost cigarettes. It was refreshing, genuinely funny and somehow beautifully sincere – I hadn’t heard anything quite like it. However, neither me, Read more...

Download of the Week: Race Banyon - Whatever Dreams are Made of (NZ)

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Adrian Ng

Electronic project from Wellington based musician Eddie Johnston, also of Lontalius. Some deeply immersive tracks, soulful, dark, and beautiful. Whatever Dreams Are Made Of is available as a name-your-price download at racebanyon.bandcamp.com. Read more...

Interview: Richard Parker - Organiser of the Fetish Ball

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Nina Harrap

“We trans-morph modern and ritual craft forms, interweaving them into an artistic experience with you as part of the pattern.” – www.skinpuppets.co.nz Although practically no one will admit it, most of us have a fetish of some kind. Maybe you’ve got a normal-ish one, like enjoying having your Read more...

New this Week / Singles in Review

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Adrian Ng

Die! Die! Die! - Crystal New single from Auckland based noise poppers Die! Die! Die!. A more evenly paced, introspective tune compared to their previous output. “Crystal” is melodic, more reserved yet still familiar. An interesting shift in direction from the group. SZA (Ft. Read more...

Yumi Zouma - Yumi Zouma

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Adrian Ng

Rating: A Yumi Zouma is a New Zealand trio now based in New York and Paris. At first a collaborative project between Charlie Ryder and Josh Burgess (both from Bang Bang Eche), the two eventually joint forces with vocalist Kim Pflaum. After having completed a number of tracks the group were Read more...

Perfect Pussy - Say Yes To Love

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Adrian Ng

Rating: A Clocking in at just under 23 minutes, Say Yes To Love is furious and relentless, so much so you almost try to inhale twice as slow to compensate. Buried in a constant layer of noise and feedback, its violence is tremendous. It’s visceral and it’s unmerciful, it’s loud and it’s Read more...

Infamous: Second Son

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A- Lately there has been great debate about the function of hyper realistic graphics in games. Some gamers think that this move towards hyperrealism isn’t creating better games and that many games that steer away from realism and use a stylised art style are better products. There is Read more...

Lazy People's Focaccia

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

I first made this loaf as a hangover cure for a good friend of mine. After he participated in a terrible game of “take one for the team and finish the bottle of awful Teacher’s Whiskey,” carbohydrate was required to soak up the night before. It was accompanied with a day spent on the couch watching Read more...

Need For Speed

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Rosie Howells

Rating: D- I had low expectations for Need for Speed, but apparently, not low enough. The plot consists of everything you’ve seen before in a car racing movie: redemption, bravery, misogyny and cliché phrases such as “he’s like a brother to me!” But the film’s tired tropes were the least of Read more...

The Wicker Man (1973)

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Tim Lindsay

Cult Film We all know that remakes can be diabolical, and the second The Wicker Man, from 2003, was exactly that. It features the best of the worst Nicolas Cage, including some downright terrible acting and strutting his swag in a bear suit. However, the original film is of a much higher Read more...

Pompeii

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: B- To me, a movie about a devastating volcanic eruption that engulfed an ancient Roman society sounds like a big enough event to encapsulate a 90-minute epic. Unfortunately, director Paul W.S. Anderson disagreed with me, opting instead to jam in the plots of three or four other movies Read more...

Cuban Fury

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: B If I were to make a list of films I thought would never be made, I’m pretty sure a Nick Frost dance flick would make an appearance. But, what do you know, Nick Frost – who you might know as the big guy from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz – is indeed the star of Cuban Fury. Read more...

The Attack

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Nicole Newton

Like war itself, this novel is a harrowing read. It opens with the description of a sheikh’s car being bombed. We hear of torn bodies lying shattered on the ground from the force of the explosion, which is detailed vividly. The narrator talks of watching the explosion occur; his own body being blown Read more...

David Merritt

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Michaela Hunter

Landroverfarm Press It’s somewhat difficult to review just one of David Merritt’s works, considering they tend to come in a one-poem format (speaking of which, this is the way I personally think most poetry ought to be absorbed). However, it is possible to purchase his e-books or works Read more...

MOAMOA

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Zane Pocock

Dunedin Public Art Gallery Exhibited until 27 April The first survey exhibition of Korean-New Zealand artist Seung Yul Oh, MOAMOA is presented as a decade-spanning retrospective. Aptly, the title translates to “gather gather” or “gather together” in Korean, and engages an eclectic array of Read more...

Richie Boyens - Clothes I've Made

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Hannah Collier

Last week i met with Richie Boyens, a Dunedin-based designer who started the brand Clothes I’ve Made, which is being shown in the capsule collection at iD. With Richie’s ambiguous design choices, combined with the use of various floral, striped, paint-speckled and tie-dyed fabrics, and his latest Read more...

Liars - Mess

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Rating: A- Over their 14-year career, Liars have embodied various musical guises. Originally a cerebral art punk unit which formed around the time of the alternative-dance-rock revival, the band have managed to rearrange themselves into a different musical configuration with each proceeding Read more...

Download of the Week: Astro Children - Proteus (NZ)

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Dunedin’s Millie Lovelock and Isaac Hickey craft atmospheric noise pop. Sometimes tranquil but spliced with vicious spurts of dilemma and rage. Proteus is available for name-your-price download at astrochildrenmusic.bandcamp.com. Read more...

New This Week

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Ben Frost - Venter A beautiful, atmospheric, heavily percussive track, which builds up and collapses into itself with an awe-inspiring climax. Tune Yards - Water Fountain Merrill Garbus returns with the first single of her upcoming album. “Water Fountain” is Read more...

Cloud Nothings - Here and Nowhere Else

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Peter McCall

Rating: B+ On Cloud nothing’s latest Lp, frontman Dylan Baldi is learning to “focus on what [he] can do [himself].” One thing he can clearly do is write a bunch of powerful, catchy, guitar-driven songs. Once claiming that he approaches guitar more like piano, Baldi’s playing is complex Read more...

Frankie Cosmos - Zentropy

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Rating: B+ Sunlight passing through a prism, creating a stretched rainbow across the floorboards. Waking up to an old pet cat purring on your face. Early morning family road trips past infinite power-poles and vast fields. Faded glow-in-the-dark stickers covering the ceiling in your old Read more...

TitanFall

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A- We are living in the Multiplayer era. Five years ago it was the MMORPG that was dominating the gaming landscape and the conversations of gamers. Now, however, it is time for the First Person Shooter (FPS) Multiplayer to shine. The last couple of years have been exciting with the Read more...

Asian Lettuce Cups

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

This is the Asian and skinny equivalent of mince on toast. Mince on toast is actually something I have never had. Or maybe I have, but I was drunk and it was late at night and I probably stole it off someone else; so it doesn’t really count. Make the most of the cheap iceberg lettuce at the Read more...

The Monuments Men

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: D- The story about the preservation of precious art during the Second World War is fascinating as a page in history, but as an all-star Hollywood war epic, it’s simply appalling. Ironically, it is very preachy about the innate value of cultural products (such as films. Yes, George Read more...

Clueless (1995)

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Rosie Howells

Cult Film This month, 1995 smash hit Clueless has well and truly been shoved back into the pop culture consciousness, through Iggy Azalea’s sassy-as-hell homage in her new music video for “Fancy.” Azalea has ensured that no one will be forgetting the brick cell-phones, yellow tartan and Read more...

300: Rise of an Empire

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: B The biggest benefit of this generation’s trend towards adapting graphic novels is how it lends a vast array of interesting visual styles for directors to experiment with on the big screen. This was used to great effect in Zack Snyder’s 2007 adaptation of Frank Miller’s 300, with its Read more...

Hannah Arendt

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Ashley Anderson

Rating: A It was the year 1961. In jerusalem, nazi Adolf Eichmann (as himself) was on trial for being involved in the war that brought the world to its knees. As an SS Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel), he sent Jews to concentration camps and was thus an integral part of the Read more...

Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Imogen Davis

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore is the debut novel of American author Robin Sloan. Originally written as a short story on his blog, he soon expanded and developed the story into a novel. Sloan is a writer for today; a self-styled media inventor, his book is a gripping mystery set between discourse Read more...

Zine of the Week

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Staff Reporter

By Paul Lukas Available at Blackstar Books ABeer Frame is when all bowlers in a frame of ten-pin bowling get a strike except for one person. By tradition, the person who didn’t get a strike then has to buy everyone else a round of beer. Beer Frame is also a zine. Originating in Read more...

Work and Play

Posted 7:01pm Sunday 30th March 2014 by Zane Pocock

Orira to be performed at Blue Oyster Gallery, 6pm Thursday 3 April. I met Samin Son at the gallery on the Friday morning following the opening show from his performance series. Having heard much about him from a mutual friend, I had wanted to make his acquaintance, or at least see him Read more...

Interview: Marie Strauss

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Hannah Collier

I’ve realised, in the midst of my daily routines, that there seems to be this generalised idea that art and fashion coexist, and it has left me wondering – with fashion becoming the focus of an increasing number of exhibitions and shows (i.e. iD Fashion Week), is the distinct line that once Read more...