Tomorrow night Shayne P. Carter and his band play their only Auckland show for the year up at Leigh's fabulous Sawmill. The set will lean heavily on Carter's last record Offsider, which saw the brooding songwriter put down the guitar in favour of bashing away on the piano, aninstrument he had little history with. The results were exceptional, with Carter being heaped with critical praise and nominated for the Taite Prize. Of course with a catalogue as deep and impressive as his it would be remiss if the band didn't tackle old favourites, so expect chart toppers and deep cuts to pepper the set. Yes, going up to the Sawmill is a bit of a drive, but the gig does provide a pretty great excuse to book a room and enjoy a night away and out of the city.
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Struggling to keep up with, let alone make sense of, the many and increasingly alarming scandals bubbling away under Donald Trump's Presidency is a nearly impossible ask. Not just because of the frequency with which he and his aides blunder into them but also because of the sheer amount of varied and different fronts his chaos engulfs. If you didn't laugh you'd cry, so thank goodness for the American late night chat show host Seth Myers and his ruthlessly funny and on point political recap segment A Closer Look which takes a closer look at the trials and tribulations facing both the wannabe dictator Trump and the resistance movement in America. With his beaming grin, spot-on impressions and fantastic use of news footage, Myers explains exactly what's going while simultaneously being side-splittingly funny and brutally eviscerating. New episodes appear regularly on YouTube.
If you're looking for an escape from Auckland's miserable wet but can't quite swing that island holiday then give Postcards from LA a spin. This debut record from synthwave artist The G is an aural Delorean, transporting you from today's rain and dropping you off in sunny California circa 1985. There's tracks for zipping along the Pacific Coast highway (928), early evening beach parties (Tropical Summer), hitting the club (On the Rocks) and reminiscing on all the good times you just had (Zuma Beach). Like the best of today's new-retro movement Postcards from LA is dripping in nostalgia, but The G's unique early techno influence, which sees him exploring all the sonic opportunities of a single groove, means it stands out in the increasingly crowded genre. Postcards from LA truly makes you wish you were there.
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Finding a video game YouTube reviewer whose default setting is neither boring nor "angry" is a small miracle these days. With a couple of exceptions I'd pretty much given up on them entirely. I only recently discovered videogamedunkey and his ridonkulously funny take on games after being sent a link. His videos are best described as a mash-up of crazed meme humour, silly in-jokes and expletive-ridden language, all tempered by a solid background knowledge of gaming history. This allows him to make valid points in the most bizarre/surreal/nonsensical ways possible without resorting to frothing rants. His main weapons are clever editing, ironic juxtaposition and his excitable cartoon slur. videogamedunkey's vids won't be for everyone but if you can appreciate the immature humour of an 'About' page that only says "watch my stupid ass videos' then you'll get the lols.
