Archive

Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Grade: A- Being a folk singer-songwriter in 2014 is not an easy path to tread. When you’re working within a genre where nothing really extravagant is left to bring to the table, it’s difficult to set yourself apart from the rest. Burn Your Fire For No Witness, however, manages to do just Read more...

Real Estate - Atlas

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Peter McCall

Grade: A- Atlas is Real Estate’s first record in three years, the follow up to 2011’s Days. Having enjoyed the last album’s dreamy, guitar-noodley, nostalgia-inducing vibes, I was looking forward to hearing the new one. But whereas Days was lazing-on-a-sunny-afternoon, Atlas is Read more...

Artist Profile: Kane Strang

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

With his third album currently in the making, local songwriting genius Kane Strang talks to Adrian Ng, sharing insights into his songwriting process, his experience recording overseas, and of course giving us an update on his highly anticipated record. You’re always carrying a notebook Read more...

Download of the week: Arthur Ahbez - Gold (NZ)

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Psychedelic folk from Auckland based, acoustic guitar virtuoso Arthur Ahbez. From haunting ballads to vast, acid tempered instrumentals; Gold is available for free download, for a limited time at arthurahbez.bandcamp.com Read more...

New this week

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

It’s issue three now, and though we’ve been extremely lucky in terms of sourcing content, submissions are always welcome. So if you’re a musician wanting your music to be heard or a band wanting a little bit of press, please don’t be shy. Even if you just want to talk about music, hanging out Read more...

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Grade: A - Often it is not until we are presented with something radically new in tone that we realise how similar everything else feels. Over the last generation we had access to a vast library of games, but I wonder if one was to sit down and categorically analyse many of these games in Read more...

Spaghetti and meatballs

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

No student food column would be complete without a mince meal. And, of course, no post about spaghetti and meatballs would be complete without as many meat-and-balls innuendos as possible either. So I am going to go ahead and say that I frequently crave meaty balls and I love to gobble them up at Read more...

The Railway Man

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Grade: C+ The Railway Man is a film adaptation of Eric Lomax’s memoir about the time he was in the British Army in Singapore when it was invaded in 1942. His company surrendered as prisoners of war, only to be tortured and dehumanised on the Burma railway construction effort. I was prepared Read more...

Gremlins (1984)

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Rosie Howells

Cult Film For many, Gremlins is but a distant memory; an 80s entertainment fog at the back of our minds, occasionally spurting out images of microwaves, Christmas trees and blood to our consciousness. You know you’ve seen it, but the details are hazy and the imagery vague. Let me refresh you. Read more...

Robocop

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Grade: B When I heard that the 1987 B-grade action film Robocop was going to be rebooted, the last thing I expected was to be challenged intellectually – especially considering the premise of the film. Robocop is set in the near future where a debate is raging about what the role of Read more...

Labor Day

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Ashley Anderson

Grade: B+ What would you do if a convicted murderer asked you to take him to your home? This is the situation Adele (Kate Winslet) and her son Henry (Gattlin Griffith) find themselves in when they meet prison escapee Frank (Josh Brolin) in the supermarket. As Frank stays with them over the Read more...

Life of Pi

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Mat Daniel

Yann Martel’s Life of Pi is the 2002 winner of the Man Booker Prize, among other awards. Martel’s output has been relatively scarce, with Life of Pi standing as his most popular work. His novel was allegedly inspired when he read a review of Moacyr Scliar’s novella Max and the Cats, which tells the Read more...

Top five art blogs

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Zane Pocock

Over The Netoverthenet.blogspot.co.nz This is a daily art blog written by New Zealand’s most well known contemporary art collectors. This is always my go-to – Jim and Mary Barr certainly have their fingers on the pulse. Leg of Lamblamblegs.wordpress.com Another New Zealand art Read more...

Sedition and the commercialisation of digital art

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Zane Pocock

There’s a new kid on the block for serious art collectors and desktop background enthusiasts alike, and it’s frighteningly addictive. Sedition, which aims to “turn screens into art,” is fast becoming a leader in both the digital art movement and the concept of art editions in general. The idea is Read more...

Interview: Chloe Geoghegan, Director of the Blue Oyster Art Project Space

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

With her first exhibition opening as Director of the Blue Oyster Art Project Space just last Tuesday; Chloe Geoghegan is set to bring an exciting, fresh breath of life to Dunedin’s art scene. Loulou Callister-Baker caught up with Chloe to discuss Oxford, irrigation and Read more...

Modern Baseball - You're Gonna Miss It All

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Peter McCall

Grade: B + If this record had come out seven years ago, it would’ve been a solid fixture in my CD collection; wedged right between A Lesson in Crime and From Under the Cork Tree. With the angst of emo’s old generation like Sunny Day Real Estate and Built to Spill, and the pop-punk energy of Read more...

St. Vincent - St. Vincent

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Grade: A When an album is self-titled it usually signals an attempt at a self-defining statement. The cover of St. Vincent’s fourth album depicts Annie Clark perched atop a pink throne; deadpan, confident and menacing. With her hair now dyed a blonde-grey and styled in eccentric fashion, she Read more...

Download of the week: Perfect Hair Forever - VOID (NZ)

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Infectious, bedroom pop punk from Auckland. Perfect Hair Forever produce adrenaline pumping, angst-ridden songs, coupled with a lo-fi sheen. Released late last year, VOID is available for free download at crystalmagic.bandcamp.com/album/void Read more...

Artist Profile: Clap Clap Riot

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Adrian Ng

As part of their four-date New Zealand tour, Auckland based indie-rock band Clap Clap Riot play Chick’s Hotel on 15 March. Stephen Heard and Dave Rowland talk briefly to Adrian Ng about the band’s new album Nobody/Everybody, touring life, and Rock N’ Roll. Did you all come from quite a Read more...

New this week

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Adrian Ng

For how long exactly is an album, or track, considered new? Keeping up can become quite a time consuming task, though nonetheless a rewarding one. Media is so readily available now; we have the ability to consume at a very high rate. For me, it’s hard to not get carried away on an endless wave of Read more...