Listening: Coco Solid, COKES
Coco Solid dropped this mixtape on Waitangi Day and I've kept it on high rotate ever since. It's a totally badass, thoroughly inventive collection of futuristic old-school hip-hop that's filled with bone-shaking 808 bass, laser-drenched synths, vintage-era beats and Coco Solid's idiosyncratic retro-rap delivery that can make a serious point and then segue into the gloriously ridiculous in the next breath.
The Auckland-based rapper, artist, and all-round creative force has worked with a handful of producers on the 12 ghetto blasting tracks and, as it's free on Soundcloud, there's really no excuse to not be blasting it right now.
Streaming: Future Man
This slick time travelling action comedy on Lightbox, both confirms the old saying, "The future, they did it better in the past", and riffs on it. The show has a silly premise - a gamer beats an impossible video game that has been set back in time to find "the chosen one" who can help defeat evil forces in the future - but the show goes all in on it, creating a believable sci-fi narrative and world, and having real fun with all the timeline-bending situations that occur whenever people start dicking around with the events of the past.
Future Man is filled with homages to 80s time travelling classics such as Back to the Future, The Last Starfighter and The Terminator and even features an extended storyline dedicated to the awesomeness of the great Corey Hart, which is sure to please anyone who's ever worn their sunglasses at night. Recommended.
Podcasting: A Very Fatal Murder
The Onion's first foray into podcasting is as darkly hilarious as you'd hope/expect. Riffing on the likes of the true crime podcast genre, A Very Fatal Murder finds the funny in horrific and gruesome murder.
So yes, it's obviously treading through very dark ground. But like the best of The Onion's news satire, it's parody is pitch perfect. If it wasn't so absurdly hilarious you'd swear the softly spoken, super self-involved podcaster David Pascall was hosting the new Serial. He's not. Instead, you can think of this as America's answer to Hauraki's podcast Brown Hands: A Snow Crime Recorded. Which is also well worth a listen. And a chuckle.
Rocking to: Queen with Adam Lambert
Queen - motherflipping QUEEN - are playing at Spark on Saturday night in all their pompous, permy-haired, fat-bottomed, glory. And because they are Queen they're playing again on Sunday night as well. Remarkable.
Okay, yes, they may be desperately uncool but come on, there's no question about their ability to rock you. They will. Oh yes, they will.
Their catalogue is hit-filled and hard-rockin'; Another One Bites the Dust, Under Pressure, Killer Queen, Radio Gaga, Somebody to Love, We Are the Champions, I Want It All etc etc etc. Etc.
And I haven't even mentioned the glorious, gargantuan, gobsmacking show-stopping Bohemian Rhapsody yet. Mama Mia, let me go! This shiz gon be cray. Don't @ me.