Marlo Schorr-Kon

  After 132 long days, I finally got to head back to Ding Dong Lounge for a gig. Ding was throwing a Christmas party featuring three bands: Black Alpine, White Noise Mafia, and Liit. I arrived at the venue, which had been decked out with Christmas tinsel, and was soon chatting away with the two Matts, Chris, and Neo that make up White Noise Mafia. There was an atmosphere of real excitement brewing amongst the place. It was indeed shaping up to be a good night, albeit with some restrictions. Auckland’s Covid outbreak has no doubt changed how we view live music for the time being, as this was a seated gig, with about 30 available seats. Even with restrictions in place, I don’t think anything could have cast a shadow over the sheer excitement of finally having live music back in business.    ‘The worst cover band ever’. This was our introduction to cover band openers, Liit. I was shocked to find out that the guitarist of Liit also plays the guitar in Blindspott, one of my fa...

  Best Artist: White Noise Mafia White Noise Mafia made a vicious debut this year with the release of their two singles, 'The Divide' and 'Let It End', and it was thrilling to see it unfold. They have overcome obstacle after obstacle, and have come out the other side stronger than ever.  Best New Artist: Concrete Castles Listening to Concrete Castles for the first time was definitely a step out of my comfort zone, but it was awesome to discover a band of very talented musicians, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for them.  Best Album: Alien Weaponry -Tangaroa There is no doubt in my mind that this album was well worth the wait. It was exciting to hear the boys from Waipu expanding on their killer sound, and it is safe to say that they took things to a whole new level on Tangaroa.  Best Single: Sit Down In Front - Pixie Caramel ft. Tiki Taane Sit Down In Front and Tiki Taane really impressed me with this single. It is always exciting to hear musicians fus...

  Known around the world for his work on The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings, Peter Jackson’s Get Back gives the world a completely different view of The Beatles’ career. Get Back is compiled from over 56 hours of footage, and over 100 hours of audio recordings, of The Beatles, writing and recording songs from their final two albums, Abbey Road (1969), and Let It Be (1970). It gives viewers insight into a period of their career that has been largely misinterpreted. This period is often thought of as a time when growing tensions were beginning to break the band apart. While this is true to some extent (George Harrison quits the band not far into the doco, but returns later), it is apparent that The Beatles still felt a great sense of endearment for each other. Their relationships with each other, particularly between John Lennon and Paul McCartney were still relatively intact, allowing them to work together constructively.  An aspect of Get Back that I really enjoyed was seeing Th...