Archive

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...

Download of the Week: Lontalius - The World Will Never Know About Us (NZ)

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Eddie Johnston is a prolific music prodigy based in Wellington, also known also for his project Race Banyon. The World Will Never Know About Us contains some of his most beautifully crafted, electronic pop songs. Lush and mesmerising. Available for free download at lontalius.bandcamp.com. Read more...

The War On Drugs - Lost in the Dream

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Peter McCall

“It always gets so hard to see right before the moon,” sings Adam Granduciel, songwriter for The War on Drugs, halfway through their latest LP. It’s a new take on the old cliché, “it’s always darkest before the dawn,” but one that reflects more accurately the 35-year-old’s true longing. Granduciel Read more...

New this Week

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Adrian Ng

The last few days I’ve been recovering from a devastating cold. That’s right, devastating. One rainy afternoon I sat in my room with my lights dimmed and a cup of diluted honey, listening to a playlist I had constructed titled “Sad Bastard Music.” It actually made being sick kind of a pleasant Read more...

Profile: Tiny Ruins

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Holly Fullbrook, the talented songwriter behind Tiny Ruins, talks to Adrian Ng about her upbringing and David Lynch. Your music gives me a strange sense of nostalgia. There’s quite a mystical, ancient quality to it. How do you interact with your music? Is there a certain mood you are trying Read more...

South Park: Stick of Truth

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A Whatever you think of South Park, there is no denying that Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators, minds and voices behind the show, are geniuses. They created South Park 18 years ago in each other’s basements with craft paper. The show has gone on to become an undisputable Read more...

Lemonade Date Scones

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

Every accomplished woman should know how to make a good batch of scones. Once mastered, you will be able to impress any future mother-in-law that comes your way. After all, isn’t that why us ladies attend university? To find a husband? Throw that old Edmonds recipe out the window. Who has Read more...

Stories We Tell

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Nick Ainge-Roy

Rating: C+ Stories We Tell is a documentary directed by Sarah Polley that chronicles the relationship of her parents, Michael and Diane Polley, with special attention paid to an extramarital affair of her mother’s that resulted in Sarah’s illegitimate birth. While technically a Read more...