TV Review: Fuller House

Following on from the hit 90s sitcom Full House, Fuller House is a cleverly titled reunion spinoff featuring the majority of the original Full House cast, except The Olsen Twins, and the same San Fransisco town house we all know and love.

This Netflix original series features plenty of killer jokes and a live studio audience who cheer every time a character enters the room, and remind you when to laugh. Pretty much the way this show works is that the characters talk to each other for 15 seconds at a time followed by 10 seconds of canned laughter. Some highlights were: 

"I'm having an acid flashback, no actually it's an antacid flashback"  - Stoner Aunty lady's first line

"This is even better than shark week" -Little kid's reaction when his mum lets him get a dog

What I learned from watching the first episode is that uncle Jesse was only 10 years old when he rode his first Harley. Bob Saget is a terrible singer. There was a dog. There was a baby.

This is literally the worst show I have ever seen. What saddens me is that it has already been renewed for a second full season.  I strongly recommend you don't watch it, even for a laugh, even ironically. Don't do it.

Album Review: La Sera Music For Listening To Music To

According to Katy Goodman, Music For Listening To Music To is a statement. She states that “while working on this record, we didn’t set out to create music for commercials, music for licensing, or music for your office Spotify playlist. It’s music for listening to, and it’s the best kind of music there is.”

Produced by Ryan Adams, this is the fourth album under the name La Sera, following on from the reverby 60s style chamber pop of La Sera and two other great solo records, Sees The Light and Hour Of The Dawn. Music For Listening to Music To throws The Smiths, Johnny Cash and Taylor Swift into one huge melting pot to create something truly unique.

Newly added full time band member, Katy’s husband Todd Weisenbacker, adds a new element to this latest La Sera release with his Johnny Marr style guitaring and baritone vocals. ‘One True Love’ is a duet with probably the catchiest guitar riff I have ever heard. Another highlight for me, Nineties, feels nostalgic in exactly the way one would expect given the song title.

If you haven’t heard of La Sera before I have no doubt you will be hearing a lot more about this band in the years to come. Music For Listening To Music To stacks up very well with the other three La Sera releases, and is a great listen for both fans and new listeners. 

Live Review: Paquin At Nivara Lounge

It’s not often I venture into town these days. Closing in on 23 years of age I am too old to get excited about Pitbull and Selena Gomez. I’m not really a fan of Drum and Bass and to be honest even though Oasis is pretty good band I have seen enough renditions of Wonderwall in the Hamilton CBD to last me a lifetime.

When I saw that Paquin were coming to Hamilton I jumped at the chance. It’s not very often a New Zealand tour includes the chlamydia capital. I was a fan of the band after discovering their song ‘Quiet Heart’ on Spotify last year, so I dragged along as many people as I could to go and check them out.

Paquin are a four-piece band blurring the line between trance-y electronic music and indie pop rock. Their line up consists of guitarist/vocalist, drummer, bass player and a real modular synthesizer, which was impressive to see in action.

Paquin played a solid set to a very small crowd of around 20 or so people. It was a very intimate show that in my opinion deserved a much bigger audience. The show was still amazing, with local opening acts The Goth and the Pixie and Glass Shards putting on great sets as well.

Nivara Lounge is a very cosy venue with many leather couches, accommodating staff, and a wide range of craft beers. No matter what your musical taste is, I would recommend heading along at any chance you get.

Album Review: DIIV Is The Is Are

DIIV, formerly known as Dive, started out as Zachaery Cole Smith’s solo bedroom recording project. Since the dawn of the ‘10s DIIV has evolved into one of the most emulated bands in the current indie scene with their unique style of reverby lo-fi rock. Released on Brooklyn based label Captured Tracks, Is The Is Are is the follow up to the critically acclaimed debut release Oshin.

Since the release of Oshin Smith has written over 150 new songs, of which 17 tracks have been included on Is The Is Are. Smith produced the record himself and plays all instruments during the recording phase, barring Sky Ferreira’s voice. In many ways this record is similar to Oshin, it’s a hazy blend of twangy guitars, layered with rambling ‘verbed out vocals low in the mix, complimented by punchy bass lines, which at times almost feel like a lead instrument.

It does feel more refined than Oshin, and is in some ways more accessible, although you could argue that the Kim Gordon inspired ramblings of Ferreira and Smith on the song Blue Boredom would never truly appeal to a ‘conventional’ audience.

Overall I found this record interesting enough to warrant many re-listens and although it definitely won’t appeal to everybody I would highly recommend giving it a try no matter your taste.

If you are on the fence give the song Loose Ends a listen to get a feel for what DIIV is all about.

TV Review: Bojack Horseman

Bojack Horseman is satirical Hollywood themed reflection based on the life on of a six foot four, chain smoking, sarcastic, binge drinking horse. This animated Netflix series is not your typical sitcom, if you are looking for cheap laughs you will get them, but this series offers a lot more than that. Featuring a star studded cast including Breaking Bad alumni Aaron Paul, and guest stars such as Daniel Radcliffe and Ricky Gervais, as well as one of the best soundtracks from a TV series in recent years, this is the perfect show for any Wellington Uni student to vape to.

I like to think of this show as a grown up version of South Park. Season 2 builds on the success of the first season, and deals with some pretty serious shit. A burnt out former TV star from the 90s battles with alcoholism, drug addiction, and childhood trauma. It's not a show everybody can enjoy, and the main character isn't exactly likeable. Some may not appreciate the self-deprecating humour. If you have seen the movie 'Bad Santa' and relate to the main character, you will definitely enjoy this show. It is a pretty dark, cynical type of humour, which in my opinion offers much more than other increasingly popular animated shows of this kind.

The theme song and it's variations, composed by Grouplove, consist of the best music to come out of a TV show in the last couple of years. There are musical cameos from artists such as Courtney Barnett, whose song Avant Gardner appears at a crucial point in the show, I won't spoil it but the way it's done is pretty brilliant. The show has been renewed for a third season, and is well worth checking out when it arrives on Netflix later this year.

Concert Review: Laneway Festival 2016

I started the day catching an uber from my mates seedy Ponsonby flat after what felt like more than one can of lion brown. We made it just in time to get to the barriers to see one of my personal favourite bands, DIIV. The rattling bass lines of Devin Rubén Perez mixed with Zachary's dreamy vocals made an ideal setting for sipping $9 ciders in the sun. I heard someone next to me mutter "I thought it was pronounced DIVV" as the band introduced themselves, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and kept my mouth shut.

Next up was FIDLAR, a high energy stoner punk group with lyrics very relevant to my morning "I drink cheap beer, so what are you?". They churned out a pretty decent set on the MysteryX stage given a few issues with sound. After standing in the sun drinking in 30 degree whether we retreated to some shade and listened to Thundercat, the genius behind the production of Kendrick Lamar's to pimp a butterfly.

Craziest set of the day for sure was METZ. We made it right to the front for one of the loudest bands in the world, playing in the Red Bull Thunderdrome, which is essentially a giant barrel. I still don't think my hearing has completely recovered and I'm unsure of it ever will, I also left that set with a few bruises and almost got knocked out by this massive guy in a Hawaiian shirt trying to stage dive. Who the fuck wears a Hawaiian shirt in 2016 btw?

Next was the most heartbreaking clash of all 4 years I have been to Laneway. Grimes vs Beach House. I chose beach house as I love literally all of their albums and listen to them

almost every day. I couldn't help but feel the FOMO of Grimes being awesome. Beach House battled through sound issues, their set was over by the time everybody was getting into it, I feel like beach house is the kind of band you need to see play their own show rather than a festival set. By the time the sound issues were solved 'Myth' made it seem like it was almost worth missing dear Canadian princess Grimes.

To finish the day off, we checked out the log flume on the main stage. I felt like we hadn't had enough pingers to properly enjoy the Australian chill wave prodigy as much as everybody around us so clearly was. I'm not trying to hate on Flume, I like flume, but the set just didn't seem any different to the others I've seen him play here and at La De Da. We headed over to purity ring which was the highlight of the day for me, the unique light show percussion setup combined with the amazing vocals made for one of the best sets I have ever seen. Fineshrines by Purity Ring was song of the day for me followed by DIIV's Dopamine

Album Review: Painting With by Animal Collective

"What the fuck is this shit" is the reaction I often get trying to introduce friends to this band. Many critics consider this accessible pop music, however I am yet to hear a cover band play any of the Merriwether Post Pavilion anthems at Keystone or The Bank. It's not often DJ Sideburns drops Peacebone in the middle of a set at Outback.

Painting With is Animal Collective's 10th studio album. It's a cluster of wobble wobble synths and weird vocal harmonies, and it's the unmistakable sound of that band college kids listen to after they turn all weird. There is nothing cooler than a bunch of old guys on LSD, playing with keyboards and delay pedals.

This new LP feels like a mix of the complete chaos that was Centipede Hz, sprinkled with some Merriwearher Post Pavillion to make it a little more accessible for the unwashed masses. Recycling, the final track on the album, hints at the creative direction they took with this LP, which actually seems to work surprisingly well.

As with most of Anco's discography, there are so many layers to the production on this album. It seems like something that could never ever be played live. On first listen I wasn't completely sold but after revisiting I can honestly say this might be a contender for their best release yet. It's not my favourite Anco album, but music is subjective anyway and my opinion means nothing.

Album Review: Wild Nothing Life Of Pause

From what started out as a solo bedroom recording project just five years ago in a dorm at Virginia Tech, Jack Tatum has given birth to his third full length album, released February 19th on New York label Captured Tracks. Life Of Pause is an evolution in the sound of a modern day Bowie. This album blends hypnotic orchestral arrangements with R&B sounds and introspective vocals.

What’s so great about this album and all of Wild Nothing’s other releases is that it doesn’t fit into any genre, and there is pretty much no situation where listening to a Wild Nothing album is inappropriate. The title track, Life Of Pause, is a nostalgic reflection on what music from the 80’s should have sounded like. This leads in to one of the best song introductions I have heard in a while on Alien. The track of the album for me is To Know You, the song resonates for some reason I can’t quite figure out. Probably the awesome synthesisers.

Wild Nothing’s third album lived up to all the hype I had for it. Although I still prefer his first release, Gemini, my personal favourite album, I feel the depth and craftsmanship that went into this new record will stand the test of time. This is the sort of album that will take the stress out of any given day no matter how big your student loan or how fucked up your flatting situation is getting.

Album Review: The Age Of Intellect by Protomartyr

Protomartyr are a five piece post punk group from Chicago, signed to the label Hardly Art records. The baritone vocals of Joe Casey have been compared to the likes of Ian Curtis (Joy Division) and Nick Cave. Their newest release, The Age Of Intellect, features a unique blend of almost psychedelic spoken word vocals, warm guitar tones in combination with tight, rattling bass lines that make for a unique blend of poetic noisepunk inspired pop music.

The song ‘The Hermit’ was a standout from one of my favourite albums of 2015. The high energy start to the song goes balls deep, the guitar tones sound like a machine gun, the background sampling sounds give a modern twist to the postpunk sound that has been around since before the 1970s.

In my opinion ‘guitar bands’ are a dying breed among the iPad generation where every derp who doesn’t listen exclusively listen to ZM and The Edge has access to a myriad of talented underground artists across every genre. Electronic artists seem to be constantly re-inventing themselves and producing some of the most innovative music of all time. Bands like Protomartyr are proof that the expression, innovation and passion that can be poured into a couple of planks of wood with wire attached to them can still compete with the most talented Macbook Pro musicians of today.

This album gets a 4.0/5.0 from me. If you are a walking Hamilton stereotype who listens exclusively to Tool you will probably still like this band.  You can stream this album for free on Spotify.

TV Review: Master Of None

Parks and Recreation alumni  and stand up comic Aziz Ansari debuts in a lead role with his new project Master Of None. With a title based on the common cliche, and Beach House song, the show follows a 30 year old single guy in New York City. This is not the first, nor last sitcom about living in New York, however this show differs a lot from other depictions and isn't your run of the mill sitcom.

The show feels like classic Aziz. The humour is dry and very awkward, Aziz and his group of friends are anything but your stereotypical New York demographic, if you have seen Parks and Recreation you will notice similarities between the character Tommy and Aziz's portrayal of himself, "Dev".

I liked the script for this show, however some of the dialogue just seems too unbelievable and awkward. Some of the minor characters are pretty terrible, and the acting for Dev's parents is so hilariously bad that it's almost good. Although the show addresses some pretty relevant issues, mostly race and gender, it can seem a little preachy at times, particularly as the series starts to progress.

This show is similar in style to Louie C.K. and Curb Your Enthusiasm, both in my opinion in another league, however as this is only in Season One I feel there is potential for this to be a great show. Would recommend for Netflix and chill, the perfect balance between a soap opera and a sitcom.

Podcast Review: Hicks From The Sticks

Hicks from the sticks is a podcast made by New Zealand band The Eversons, as they pack up all their things and head overseas to pursue the dream of becoming semi professional musicians. From the hipster dive bars of Wellington and Auckland to the hipster dive bars of London and Osaka, the members tell it like it is. If you are easily offended, this probably isn't the podcast for you.

Their second episode covers their tour of Japan in great detail, from smoking cigarettes inside to the Japanese "love hotels", places of "great shame". As well as top banter, this podcast provides some great insights as to what it's really like to be an underground musician from New Zealand, the music industry here in general, and travel essentials such as what to do the first time you are mugged, what Japanese people call shot gunning beers and organising an entire tour in an unfamiliar foreign country from a single email along the lines of "come to Japan have fun time."

It's interesting to hear insights into streaming services, record labels, touring and suchlike from up and coming music artists. There hasn't really been a podcast made by a band in this style before and in my opinion it is a must listen for anyone interested in travel, music or laughs. If you haven't listened to the band their first album "Summer Feeling" is well worth checking out, their sophomore album is due to be released later this year on Lil Cheif records. 

Album Review: Hymns by Bloc Party

The latest release from the band most well known for their critically acclaimed 2005 release Silent Alarm returns from their indefinite hiatus with a brand new lineup, building on their unique sound.

This album is the band's first full length release in Four years, 2012's 'Four' marked the end of an era for the band after the departure of drummer Matt Tong and bassist Gordon Moakes at the end of 2015. This album will get a lot of hate for not being a Silent Alarm 2.0, one of the reasons I like this band so much is because they are constantly re-inventing themselves despite requests not to by many critics and I respect them for that.

 This album combines the electronic dance sounds from A Weekend In The City with the slow burners from their last EP The Nextwave Sessions. Their lead guitarist Russell Lissack has said that no synthesisers were used during production and that he relied heavily on his pedalboard, the song Living Lux, with it's overpowering reverbs and delay effects are evidence of this. By far the most harsh and non 'poppy' song on the album and my personal favourite track from the record. If you liked this song you will like Deerhunter's Cryptograms album, if you like this song you probably found the rest of the album pretty boring.

I wouldn't call Hymns a bad album, but it seems a little uninspired compared with Bloc Party's other releases, as a fan of A Weekend In The City, and even Four, this is an okay release but I feel like that is mostly due to the nostalgia of one of my teenage favourites releasing a new album.