Monthly Archives: January 2011

Aloe Blacc = Fantastical (my kind-of-review of last nights show)

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Last nights’ Aloe Blacc show blew my mind. Which was great, but also unfortunate because now my mind is unable to function enough to think of the proper words to do it justice. I’m not sure words could do it justice anyway. I’m just gonna be one of those gloating dick-heads and say you kinda had to be there to really understand the majesty of Aloe Blacc live. Dude is so smooth, it feels like you’ve been transported to another era. The way he glides around on stage is effortless, actually, everything about him is effortless. He’s just cool. Oh, and that voice, *sigh* that voice. My personal highlight was ‘Life So Hard‘, but of course ‘I need a dollar‘ went off and another crowd favourite was ‘Loving You is Killing Me‘, with the crowd singing the song back to him throughout. I’m always stoked to see an Auckland crowd enthusiastic, we’re usually so staunch, but not last night. Everyone was on such a natural high after the show, and it’s certainly lasted through to today (tgif though).

This is easily one of the best concerts I’ve been to – up there with Kanye West at St James, and Leonard Cohen’s first trip here at Vector. I’d tried to take photos but my camera’s kind of crap, and I decided to just enjoy the show. It was a good choice. Were you there last night? What was your fave part?

Aloe Blacc in Auckland Tonight!! (excite!)

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Life has been slightly crazy/busy lately so I haven’t had time to get properly excited about this until now. And right now, of this moment, my wee lil brain is squealing in delight,  something like, ‘Eeeeeeeeee! Aloe Blacc! Aloe Blacc!’

‘I need a dollar’ and ‘Femme Fatale’ should tide us over until tonight, or provide some kind of consolation for those who missed out. If that’s not enough, check out George FM’s interview with him here.

“I can’t keep track of each fallen robin”

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Chelsea Hotel No. 2 vs. Fireworks

Drake’s Fireworks and Leonard Cohen’s Chelsea Hotel No.2; songs that are both inspired by what appears to be fleeting affairs with famous women. Cohen writes an entire song about his with Janis Joplin, Drake sets aside verse two for Rihanna. Chelsea Hotel No. 2 like all Leonard Cohen’s work is beautiful and while there is humour he is also, at times, cruel. There’s the sex, ‘giving me head on the unmade bed,’ the drugs, ‘you fixed yourself, you said well never mind,’ and the rock and roll, ‘we are ugly, but we have the music.’ It’s evident there is admiration there for Joplin but the wry ending, to me, overpowers the rest of the song, ‘I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel, that’s all, I don’t even think of you that often.’

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My Hood Bakery Is Better Than Your Hood Bakery

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Living in town is all good for cafe’s and coffee but when it comes to decent bakeries the city just fails. You have to go out to the hood for the mean bakeries and none does it better than Hong Kong Bakery in Mangere Bridge. Oh yeah, they STILL don’t have eftpos. But who needs eftpos when you’re the best bakery in the world?

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Sydney knows the way to my heart is my stomach

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Had an amazing, relaxing time in Sydney this past weekend doing my favourite things: eating and sleeping. Went to Bondi too, but the star of the trip was definitely the food. The first night we went to Malaysian spot Mamak, there was a long line and a long wait to get in but once we were seated we were served straight away and our food was immediately on the table. Our party of 5 ordered a curry and roti each, and the staff kind of laughed at us. When the mountains of food came out we realised the reason for the chuckles, there was no way we could possibly eat it all.


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In a little while, we’ll only have to wave…

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Part of what makes break-ups so utterly shit is that leap you’re supposed to make from being totally in love to totally indifferent. Intimacy is replaced with distance, telephone calls to dial-tones, pet-names to government names. Love is funny like that, the way it can go from something to nothing, if you let it. On ‘Love Ridden’ Fiona Apple breaks down the post-break-up stages; from love-ridden, to just waving as you pass each other by.

No, not “baby” anymore, if I need you
I’ll just use your simple name
Only kisses on the cheek from now on
And in a little while, we’ll only have to wave

Listen Here

Cute overload: Worlds smallest monkeys at Auckland Zoo!!

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Did anyone else just kind of assume Auckland Zoo was all shit? I had for years, I have no idea why, but me and the boy paid it a visit recently and it was choice. There was a shortage of meerkats cos’ they needed to put their feet up after child-rearing, and the tigers were MIA, but monkeys are the main attraction for me anyway so I wasn’t too bothered. Bearing that in mind, I’m pretty excited to see the worlds tiniest monkeys coming into the zoo, a pair of pygmy marmosets. They can fit in the palm of your hand. Cute! We get to peep em from Saturday.

Audio: Devolo Interview

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Devolo_interview by LaniSays

I did this interview with Devolo just before his solo debut ‘Heaven and Hell’ dropped, back when Back2Basics still existed (R.I.P). Of the D-Konz solo efforts his is my personal fave. ‘Somebody‘ and ‘Too Shy‘ are up there as some of the best local pop songs and I definitely feel like his talents and his knack for writing a great and catchy hook/bridge aren’t recognised enough. Dude is mos def underrated. The interview was fun and Devolo was super-easy to talk to. We chatted about writing, coming up in a heavily religious family, being close to going to prison and how he felt a lot more relaxed about song-writing at this time. My favourite insights of his are when talking about the songs ‘Elimination’, ‘They Don’t Know’ and ‘Feels Like Magic’. Brew a cuppa, and have a listen.