I know James is a big Swift fan, I wonder if he’d also appreciate this?

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It wasn’t. They’re just videos for Something Beautiful, last year’s record, and they’re the last pieces of the pop opera film that went with it. I caught the film when it came out last year in the theatre but never came back to the album.

These were all released 17 hours ago, when were they made? Is she just emptying the vault before a new rollout?

Let’s have a quick surf around the web to see what’s going on.

She’s had a big week, is what’s going on. On the 27th she guest edited Wonderland’s summer issue. Next day she signed to Atlantic. Columbia’s done after Endless Summer Vacation and Something Beautiful. Four days after that, six videos.

Turns out it’s just a clear out. Everything left over gets dumped on YouTube.

The next one will be her tenth. Something Beautiful was an experimental album, will the tenth be similar? Who knows. She’s never really made the same record twice. Good for her, but it’s also why I keep going back to my favourites.

Not the new album I got excited about, then. Here are the six new videos.

Something Beautiful never lived up to Plastic Hearts for me, and I kinda just want more of that, but I doubt it. Either way, I’m here for the next era.

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I’ve been playing it a bit for the kids, and I love it in the mornings when we get ready for a ROWDY drop off.

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While I still buy records physically, I often don’t have the time to get into the local record store weekly to dig through the crates. I purchase my records through a few stores online, often lining up with sales as vinyl is expensive.

When I’m buying a digital album, it’s usually through the artist or band’s website directly, Bandcamp, or Qobuz as a last resort. That way the sale goes through to the artist or band as directly as possible. But it does nothing for a local record store.

Sadly, my favourite local record store recently closed down. See: RIP to my favourite record store, Flying Out.

The book world already has this figured out. Libro.fm lets me link a local book shop, The Village Bookshop in my case, and whenever I purchase an audiobook through Libro.fm they get a slice of the purchase. I get the audiobook I was buying anyway, and a local shop gets supported for existing.

I’m torn though. Buying digital through a record store means the artist gets less, and that’s the whole reason I buy direct. Books are different: very few authors can sell DRM-free copies from their own website unless they’re independent, so something like Libro.fm filling that gap makes sense.

It would be cool to have the physical space where you can still dig through the crates, or flip through the shelves, scan a QR code and go direct to the artist website or Bandcamp. Could the record shop take a cut through the referring QR code? However, that’s just another dollar taken from the band. Physical stores are just so damn expensive these days.

I guess it’s more a case of a service like Bandcamp setting something up like the Libro.fm model: I link my local record store, and every digital album I buy sends a slice their way. The artist still gets their cut, and the store stays in the picture.

Yeah, I don’t know?

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I was supposed to go with my wife, but last minute plans saw her and the kids head to Waiheke for the long weekend. Solo gig? No problem!

I started my night solo by hitting up Low Brow on K Road for a burger and beer before making my way down Queen Street to the venue. Sitting at the bar with my beer waiting for my burger, it wasn’t long until a group of people out for the night approached the bar and hovered waiting for a table. I started talking with one of the group and quickly discovered that they were out for a work social club event and also heading to see Home Brew. I ended up chatting with them and a couple beers later I headed off with them for the walk down Queen Street to the show.

We arrived just before 7pm as the doors opened, and there was a line all the way down the street. We headed across the road to an Irish Pub for another drink and wait for the line to clear out. In the pub I was introduced to more people and had some more chats with other concert goers. It was great to have a chat with others about Tom Scott, Home Brew and the other music associated with him and Young Gifted & Broke (YGB).

As we finished up our drinks and headed across to the venue, it was time to part ways as I was heading up stairs to my seats while the group was heading inside to the floor. I said my goodbyes, exchanged phone numbers with a quick txt message and made my way to find my seats.

Once orientated I headed back downstairs to check out the merch stand. I was hoping for a copy of the vinyl which has only been available during its first pressing in 2010 and a hoody.

I made it to the front of the line and was able to get a copy of a recently repressed vinyl in pink, a black “LISTEN TO HOME BREW” t-shirt, and a Run It Back lyric book. No hoody though.

I grabbed a couple drinks, a bottle of water balanced in my hands with my merch and made my way back to my seats.

I had seats up in the circle which proved to be popular as many people hovered nearby, some asking if they could sit in the vacant seat that I had also purchased for the night. I kept the seat occupied with my jacket and merch haul.

The place was heaving with people. The stage design was fantastic. Set up to resemble the Sandringham flat where Tom lived at the time when they created and recorded the EP complete with fridge full of beer. They also had the egg cartons on the wall as mentioned in the closing track on Run It Back, “Run It Back Again”:

Remember when we first started this shit?
(Yeah run it back)
Studio with the egg cartons and shit
(ha ha yeah)

The stage soon filled up with what Tom describes as his favourite people in the world. I saw Team Dynamite, Brandan Shiraz, Mellowdownz (I think?) up there on stage.

It wasn’t too long before Tom burst onto the stage and started spitting the words to the hit, Monday. The crowd went wild, the floor was heaving under a cloud of smoke (not ciggis). He continued through the EP setlist including all the hits, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Once Last Week was finished he dived into the rest of the Home Brew hits, Drinking In The Morning, Alcoholic, Datura/White Flowers and many more!

I had a super fun time, even though I was solo, there were enough people around who were happy to talk so I never felt alone. I’m super happy I got to see Home Brew perform live finally as with them all off in their own musical directions we might not get to see them perform together again, especially not Last Week, front-to-back.

Listen to Home Brew, laterz.

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Split Enz formed in 1972 and released 10 studio albums before breaking up in 1984. Between then and now the band has had several brief reunions. They had broken up before I was born but their music was still a big part of mine, and many other kiwis’ lives growing up.

The Spark Arena was packed by the time we arrived near the end of the opening band, Hans Pucket. Our seats weren’t the most comfortable as we were at the end of the horizontal seats before they curved around so we had to twist around to catch the stage. The seats at MGK, while further back, were better positioned for viewing.

Anyway, we were in for an audio and visual treat. Band member Noel Crombie’s visual art was on full display with the visuals on screen and the costumes the band wore. The setlist was packed with all the songs that a crowd this size would expect with my favourites being Hard Act To Follow, I See Red, Six Months In A Leaky Boat, and I Got You (which has to be their greatest song).

I ducked out before the encore because I wanted to use the bathroom and escape the exiting crowds. Apparently I missed out on an incredible spoon solo to wrap up the show.

While I was waiting for the family to get out, I noticed that the copy of True Colours I’d picked up before the show was water damaged. Not sure how but during the show water must have spilt onto it. I was disappointed, but confirmed the vinyl wasn’t damaged and shrugged it off. Adds to the story I guess.

I also struck up a conversation with a woman who was also waiting for their friends to get out and we discussed how amazing it was for a band formed by a guy from rural NZ to get as big and acclaimed as they were. It’s also interesting that during the time they were able to get big while wearing the costumes and makeup they did. It was pretty out there for the time. Their music speaks volumes, I guess 😃

I had an incredible time at the show and I’m so glad I managed to add Split Enz to the list of acts I’ve been able to see live. Laterz.

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MGK, aka Machine Gun Kelly, aka Colson Baker is one of those artists where it’s probably good to separate the art from the artist as he seems to be a ball bag in real life.

I never paid any attention to him while he did hip hop records, but as soon as I saw the Bloody Valentine I was hooked. The album, Tickets To My Downfall was the exact type of nostalgia I needed for early 2000s pop punk in 2020.

I skimmed through Mainstream Sellout when it released and never came back to it. We got Lost Americana last year which was a step up from the second record and I listened to it a bunch. But we also got Tickets To My Downfall All Access last year, the 5th anniversary reissue. Original tracklist, the bonus tracks from the SOLD OUT Deluxe, plus 5 new unreleased tracks. Whew. It was good to hear some more tracks from that era.

We managed to grab reseller tickets, paid less for the three of us combined than a single ticket at face value, and the seats were pretty decent for where we ended up. Sweet as.

Anyway, the show was good. It kicked off on time, it was loud, there were guitars and drums, only a couple throwbacks to the rap days and one or two songs from Sellout. It didn’t take long to get right into the Tickets To My Downfall songs and that was all I needed to hear.

The stage was on theme too. A model of the Statue of Liberty’s head looming above with a cigarette hanging out her mouth, and his mic stand was a giant cigarette to match. Lost Americana indeed.

The crowd around us were all there for the same reasons. Singing along with strangers who love the same songs is one of the best bits of a gig, especially the Tickets ones. Title Track, Drunk Face, Forget Me Too, Concert For Aliens, Jawbreaker, Nothing Inside, all hit. The cover of Paramore’s Misery Business was expected, and rocked. My absolute highlight was belting out Bloody Valentine word for word with everyone around me. My Ex’s Best Friend my second favourite on the album, still can’t get that one out of my head. We had a great time, a fantastic night out.

Damn, what a show. I’ll see it again without hesitation.

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We got into town 30 minutes before doors opened, but rather than stress about catching the warm up act we grabbed dinner at an old favourite, Depot.

We enjoyed clams, snapper slides, skirt steak and potato skins. Comforting knowing this is the same food we’d get here when we last visited a decade ago.

We arrived at Te Paepae around 8 pm, headed up stairs and found our seats. The warm up band which turned out to be Bic’s husband’s band were just finishing up. We had to double check, but yes that was Bic on the drums.

After a short 15-20 minute interval the show was back on with Bic taking the mic, and her husband returning the favour on drums.

Bic wove in old favourites among new songs from the latest album Red Sunset. Red Sunset is her first album in 15 years (if we don’t include 2016’s cover album). I hadn’t managed to listen to Red Sunset yet, so the new songs were a first listen live. Pretty sure she opened with Drive. The new songs sounded great and I can’t wait to dive into the album on an upcoming roadtrip. As the show drew to an end Bic let us know that the show was wrapping up and rather than piss around with leaving the stage and coming back for the encore she got straight into her biggest and favourite track, Sway. What a tune to end the show with.

After the show Bic headed straight to the merch tent and was signing vinyls and CDs and posing for selfies with fans. I grabbed a copy of her 1997 album Drive and got it signed by her. The vinyl itself wasn’t anything special. A single cardboard sleeve with a standard black vinyl. Sony obviously didn’t put a lot of effort into the production of this classic kiwi album.

Drive will always be a favourite of mine, it is one of my earliest memories of really getting into kiwi music. During third form (Year 9) for a music class project we had to find a local artist to do a report on, I wasn’t clued up on local music back then like I am now. Dad shared a newspaper or magazine article on this new album from a 17 year old, Bic Runga. And that I would say was my awakening to local music. It wasn’t too long until the third labour government under Helen Clark would invest heavily into the arts and we’d all be exposed to kiwi music for a solid few years.

Leaving the venue with my wife and the signed copy of Drive in my hand was a nice way to wrap up the evening and a good reminder of why I love kiwi music.

Laters 🤙

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Alibi for a late lunch. Picanha steak with seasonal vegetables. Unfortunately, they had some type of beer shortage, so their usual selection was limited to four tap beers. I enjoyed the Ruru Hazy, even though it was a hazy. Hopefully, they have the full range available next time I’m there.

The gig was a minute walk up the road at the Wild Estate. I was wondering how they would do the setup, and once I saw the fences and tents set up on the front lawns, it made sense.

We got through check-in sweet as. The drinks were supplied by Pals. We grabbed a drink, my wife a Purple Pals and a Frankie’s Cola for myself. We took a short walk around the venue to get a lay of the land and found a table to sit down at.

There was one person there enjoying a pizza. We said hello and sat down. Shortly after, a couple approached and asked if the seats were free.

Of course, come sit down. Let’s chat. Want another drink? Sure, let’s go. Friends were made.

Another couple, two friends, sat down in the remaining seats. Hi, how are you? More friends.

Time to dance. We met up on the dance floor. A group of new friends dancing amongst the crowd to Nichole Moudaber before Carl Cox came on.

Both sets were amazing and just what I wanted to hear on a Saturday afternoon. It’s pretty cool that Carl can play something like Awakenings Festival to hundreds of thousands of people, and then a month later play a small venue on Waiheke to a crowd of a thousand.

The gig started at 3pm and went until 9pm. Perfect timing for us. We decided to skip staying to the end of Carl’s set and grabbed the 8:11pm bus back to the ferry terminal. I think we made the right call, as the next boat back to the city was at 9:30pm. Sure, we had to wait at the ferry terminal, but we were at the front of the line and got a seat right away as the boat turned up. There were hundreds of people left waiting at the terminal for the next boat.

We managed to get home and into bed by 11pm. Perfect timing for a good enough sleep before kids’ activities in the morning.

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I miss nights out like these.

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Not what I loved most. Not what I’d put on a list of favourites. Just what got played, when music was on, across the year.

A lot of that listening happened in the car, often with the kids. That single detail explains more of these stats than any genre preference or artist loyalty ever could. When music needs to work for everyone, the numbers skew toward pop, punk, and familiar records that don’t demand much attention.

Year in numbers

Here’s how the year shakes out:

The big takeaway here isn’t volume. It’s consistency. Music was on most days, but usually as something happening alongside other things rather than the focus of the moment.

What the numbers show

Looking at artists and albums by raw listen counts mostly shows what survived repetition.

That’s why certain albums and artists show up high even if I never consciously chose to listen to them front-to-back. The data reflects gravity, not selection.

A note on tracks and repeats

If you drill down to individual tracks, the picture gets messier.

A small number of songs soak up a disproportionate number of plays. Some of that comes from familiar, easy picks that work in the car. Some of it comes from repeat requests once a song sticks.

Albums by the numbers

Looking at albums instead of tracks smooths things out a bit, but it’s still important to read this as what surfaced repeatedly, not what I sat down and listened to front-to-back.

These albums came up often because individual tracks were pulled into radio, playlists, or similar-song queues. In some cases that’s down to large libraries or genre overlap rather than deliberate album plays.

Scrobbling captures what was played, not why it was played.

I wouldn’t call any of these my favourite albums of the year. What they represent instead is a mix of deliberate listens, kid-driven repetition, release-week curiosity, and algorithmic gravity. Taken together, they tell a more interesting story than a simple ranking.

Love & Disrespect
This really is a great album 20 years later, and I did intentionally listen to it front-to-back a couple of times. That said, the play count is heavily inflated by my son discovering Verona and listening to it on repeat.

Virgin
This got a lot of attention when it was released. At around 35 minutes, it’s short enough to run front-to-back without effort, which made it easy to revisit while travelling. Most of those plays were in the first few weeks. I still have What Was That on rotation.

K-Pop Demon Hunters (Soundtrack)
This one came entirely via my son. He came home from preschool already obsessed with it, most likely after hearing it played in class. A few of the kids clearly had older siblings who’d seen the movie. We ended up watching it together, and I played the soundtrack front-to-back a few times during drop-offs, usually finishing it off after the kids were already at school.

You Can’t Kill God With Bullets
This was a genuine front-to-back repeat listen. Conway in good form, and an album I chose to spend time with properly. Relegated to gym listening as it’s getting harder and harder to play this particular type of rap music around the family.

Blush
Another intentional listen. At 23 minutes it’s a very digestible project and easy to replay in full, and that’s what most of those plays are.

The Buddhafinger
A fully intentional revisit. Still holds up after 20 years, and one I went back to front-to-back rather than picking individual tracks.

MAYHEM
I listened to this front-to-back on release, but the total plays were boosted by PlexAmp mixes throughout the year, tracks popping up out of order.

Endless Summer Vacation
This one is almost entirely a single-song story. Flowers was huge in our house when it came out and carried over into the start of this year before being replaced by Icona Pop and Elemeno-P. I don’t really remember listening to the album front-to-back this year, despite what the numbers suggest.

Supreme Clientele 2
A 45-minute project across 20 tracks that I listened to twice, front-to-back. I’m glad I heard it, but I don’t expect to return to it often.

Icona Pop
This album’s position is almost entirely driven by I Love It. That song became a regular pick for morning drop-offs and afternoon pick-ups. I barely listened to the rest of it.

Seen this way, the list makes more sense. Some albums are there because I chose them. Others are there because kids, timing, track related radio, or PlexAmp mixes kept pulling them back into rotation. That tension is exactly what scrobbling captures well, and exactly what it can’t explain on its own.

What I Actively Sought Out This Year

These are the albums I chose to listen to deliberately. Usually front-to-back. Often a handful of times. Most of them barely register in the numbers because intentional listening doesn’t scale the way background or radio-driven listening does. My listening attention is split between music, podcasts, and audiobooks. Our current living situation also makes it harder to blast new music on proper stereo equipment the way I used to before we moved up north.

That’s fine. This list exists to capture what the data misses.

Lorde – Virgin
As mentioned above.

Tom Scott – Anitya
A 12-track album that clocked 31 plays, which works out to almost three full listens. It doesn’t look significant in the stats, but it was one of the few records I actually sat with this year. Focused listens, no radio bleed, and a live performance at the Civic Theatre that helped it stick. Due to the deeply personal nature of the project I’m not likely to return to it like I do his other projects.

Trainspotting – Rome Streetz & Conductor Williams
My favourite release from the wider Griselda affiliates this year. Conductor Williams provides minimal, spooky, often wonky beats that give Rome plenty of space to work. The Method Man verse is a banger. This one will be heading back into my gym rotation.

Ponu – Mokomokai
Mokomokai’s third studio album and a noticeably more mature release. Less violent and aggressive than the previous two, but still driven by the same sharp flows and heavy beats.

You Can’t Kill God With Bullets – Conway The Machine
Conway back on form. I only had a couple of weeks with this before the year wrapped up, but it was a genuine front-to-back listen and an easy one to return to. This will stay in rotation going into 2026.

Reject 3 – Conway The Machine
An unfortunate leak of a highly anticipated follow-up to the Reject series. Despite the circumstances, Conway sounds like his best self here. Whether this ever sees an official release remains to be seen.

Coast Arcade – Coast Arcade
Local rock done well. Perfect on the deck with a beer in the sun.

Everybody’s Looking At Me (single) – Eminem
Not an album, and was a surprise. A track from the vault released in 2025 as part of the cringe STANS documentary soundtrack. I’ll take more of these 20 year old Eminem tracks any day.

This doesn’t include any of the music I hear week after week in RPM and SPRINT classes at the gym. I’ve got clear favourites there too, but that’s a different kind of listening and probably deserves its own post.

Fuck it. 2026 is about listening to more good music.

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