2016 End Of Year Round Up

This year seemed to defy the space-time continuum by both zipping by incredibly fast, but also taking forever to end. But here we are on the precipice of 2017 and reflecting back on all that has happened (with a little help from our friends too). It's been a crazy time where the line between satire and real life occurrences seemed to be thinner than ever, so here's a Round Up of notable highs and lows...

To kick things off we'd like to acknowledge some of our heroes that passed during this bizarre blackhole of a year that seemed to suck some of the best people off the planet - beginning with Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister, who actually died late December while we were on 2015 summer break. Then 2016 made us say goodbye to David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Andrew Loomis, Sharon Jones, Phife Dawg, Ray Columbus, and Bill Sevesi. While we were (and still are) devastated to learn of all these deaths, we can forever cherish the wonderful legacy of music they left behind. One more person, that we'd like to acknowledge is the much beloved Karyn Cullington of Auckland venue Lucha Lounge who died suddenly while on holiday in Mexico. You're missed everyday. 

On a lighter note, it's been a fantastic year for releases - both local and international. As you may have seen earlier this week we shared a Spotify playlist of some of our favourite singles from the year, but in terms of full-length releases, here's five of our office faves that we encourage you to check out if you haven't already:

1. Roy Irwin - S.O.D.A
2. So Laid Back Country China - Sin Cristales
3. Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love!
4. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree
5. Hex - Calling To The Universe

And of course, feast your eyes on some of the most excellent videos that have been produced by local talent this year, like this deeply unsettling clip directed by Damian Golfinopoulos for Civil Union's 'Well Let It Lie'...

Meanwhile, some of the live highlights on our fair shores had to include Angel Olsen, Mac DeMarco, The Mummies, Mockasin, Arabia & Finn, Fred & Toody, HDU, Beach House, Black Sabbath and local one-off ensemble Jay & The Dreamboat (if you were lucky enough to catch it). Sadly though, two of the venues that hosted some of the best shows this year (and over the last couple of decades, to be fair) will soon be closing their doors. Wellington's Bodega are hosting their final show tonight, while Kings Arms Tavern in Auckland will have another 18 months-or-so until its imminent demise. We're a little bit worried about how these closures will affect the live music scene, but we gotta remember it's the people who make the scene special!!

It's been a great year for Mr Marlon Williams, who didn't release an album this year, but spent a good chunk of time globetrotting and killing it. Here's Marlon with his equally amazing sweetheart Aldous Harding performing a duet of 'The Trees They Do Grow High' at L'Astrolabe in Orleans earlier this year...

And ever fruitful during 2016 was the gigantic meme generator that is the internet, with people like Kanye West providing plenty of material. But one of our favourites have to be the Fat Axl memes that keep rearing their red, bloated head. We know they didn't begin in 2016, but things really rose to the fore when the Guns & Roses frontman tried to get Google to take them down. Haha, nice try Axl.

That's it for our final Round Up for the year, but you should definitely head over here and read our Memorable Moments of 2016 feature, which brings includes contributions from musical pundits from up-and-down the country.