Archive

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...