Archive

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...