My tracks of the decade

My good friend Dan over at Conceptual Traders asked me recently to name the top ten tracks of the last decade. So I did. These tracks defined the last ten years of my life. Not only for their actual sound, but for the fact they were the soundtrack to the places, good times and unforgettable people I have met and spent time with. These tracks are the signature soundtrack to those fucking amazing memories. 

LCD Soundsystem – All my friends

An epic building anthem that sums up the late night hedonism of my first few years in Sydney.

M.I.A – Paper Planes
A genre defying, game changing track, that still makes me sing. Produced by none other than Diplo. Was a massive Indie hit, before it went mainstream via Slumdog.

Mylo – Drop the pressure
The signature track to his first album, on repeat for about 12 months on every dance floor. Club music doesn’t get any better than this.

Justice v Simian – We are your friends
The first track to really define the blog-house scene. Indie & Electro were now friends and skinny jeaned and fluro fags united on the d-floor!

The Strokes – Last night
The best band of the decade. Hands down. The uber cool, rich kids from New York delivered two great albums. This was the track that got me into them and is equally poppy as it is cool.

Jay Z – Empire state of mind
The soundtrack to my recent New York trip. Using the word ‘Inspiring’ is definitely not quite doing the song justice, but I get goose-bumps every time I here the first beat.

Hot Chip – Over and over
Another blog-house favourite. Equally as good at 8am on the way to work, or 8am, when errr, not on the way to work…

M.A.N.D.Y & Bookashade – Body language
The score to my time in Barcelona, it is then without saying that a lot of that time was spent in clubs.

The Knife – Heartbeats
Another epic track, that Jose Gonzales covered to make it big. As equally haunting as it is brilliant. The Rex the Dog Mix is probably just as good.

The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
The most recognisable opening to a song, pretty much owned me anytime it came on in the last seven years.

Shopping the way it should be

What a refreshing surprise. A new retail destination in Auckland that isn’t run of the mill. Yes, I’m talking about ‘The Department Store’, the first one of its kind to open in the country for 100 years!


The brainchild of the fashion forward Karen Walker, Dan Gosling and Stephen Marr, this retail experience is hopefully a sign of things to come for Auckland and maybe the rest of NZ. The three level space, consists of guys & girls street wear including Karen Walker, SGC and Sydney labels Ksubi, Bassike and Chronicles of Never which will help your ‘indie’ look for being in the front row for Florence and the Machine at Laneways (can’t wait!). A collection of Scandinavian-esque, minimalist furniture from the likes of  designer from the Simon Brown also get the tick of approval. Upstairs consists of a new Stephen Marr salon, an art gallery which was showcasing some of Derek Hendersons iconic Kiwi photography and a powder room for the ladies. If there is anything they could improve, they should look at getting some more men’s clothing and it’s also a shame they aren’t licensed, a post-shop Peroni or a glass of Sav would go down a treat.


When in London a visit to Selfridges is essential, as is Barney’s in New York, now you can have your own retail experience (a small one albeit in comparison to the other two) in Auckland… Well Takapuna anyway. At least it gives us a chance to get out of Ponsonby (only 7 mins from Herne Bay, as stylist & the store manger Brian pointed out today) on a Saturday arvo.

Someone who will no doubt visit when he is back in the country is Kevin Roberts. The Saatchi & Saatchi boss is an avid believer (as I am) of the importance of creating an experience when creating a retail environment. The sharp black and white branding has a premium feel, yet the simplicity of the design lets the content of the shop do the talking. The thing I love about The Department Store is that it’s a retail experience unlike anywhere else in NZ. Once you arrive, you kind of feel no desire to leave. You could probably spend a morning in there, checking your emails (or updating your status to skite about your epic new kit) on the free Wi-Fi, refuel for the trek back to Ponsonby on A grade coffee, get your haircut and possibly buy your new Rhythm and Vines outfits (three days of unpredictable temperatures, dust, hot hot sun and some vigorous sweating requires some careful thought).


With the hipster-friendly labels, solid coffee, the clean minimalist space and the approachable yet attractive, stylish staff, I think I know where I’ll be doing my Christmas shopping this year. If you’re like me and think shopping should be fun, I will probably see you there.


The Department Store, 10 Northcroft Street, Takapuna, Auckland

These streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you…

I recently had the privilege of being hosted in New York City by the Absolut company.

In my mid-twenties and considering myself reasonably well traveled, – having visited Europe, Asia, studied in Barcelona and lived in Sydney – I still hadn’t been this excited about a destination.  Getting to the greatest city in the world, the last stop on my ‘must do’ list.  In the lead up to my trip, all of my friends who had either lived in or visited the Big Apple, said the same thing: ‘Tom, you will love that city, it’s your kind of place. You won’t ever want to come home’.

Of course I took this with a large rocky grain of salt.  But all the same, I couldn’t help but feel like 5-year-old boy expecting his first bike on Christmas Eve, or a knobbly-kneed, pimply 18-year-old All Black on debut.

Now that it’s over, I honestly don’t really know where to start. However, I think the closest I could describe the feelings I had in New York, were what it must be like to fall in love.  New York City is like a drug.  All I can think of now that I’ve had my first hit is how to get more.  Like a late-night Marlboro cigarette from a yellow cab, objectivity is out the window.  Instead a heart-pounding sense of lust and a mind distorting shift of priorities.

New York in fall. Halloween. The New York Marathon. The Yankees clinching the World Series. When I look back, it feels like I was there at the right time to fully embrace the city. But it wasn’t these events that defined my stay. It was the energy, the opportunity, the inspiration, the optimism that will long outlive the week’s events.

The soundtrack to the city on the first week in November was ‘the people’s New Yorker’ Jay-Z’s newly released anthem and ode to NYC, Empire State of Mind. If you listen to the lyrics, it accurately captures a little of what I am trying to get across on this post.

New York, Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothin’ you can’t do
Now you’re in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new, 
Big lights will inspire you 
Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New York

What Jay-Z is saying is another attempt to capture the inspiration you feel in NYC.  There are endless quotes, lyrics and cliches that also grasp the magic that is New York City. One of my favourites is from the late John Lennon. “If I’d lived in Roman times, I’d have lived in Rome. Where else? Today America is the Roman Empire and New York is Rome itself.”

In Manhattan pop culture references surround you. Whether it was Sinatra, Sex and the City, Warhol or Breakfast at Tiffany’s there are so many sights, sounds and experiences that have sculpted my view of this city. What I wasn’t prepared for was what can’t be replicated on film, captured on record or painted on canvas – the feeling of inspiration.

I haven’t yet touched on the amazing, warm people I met in Manhattan, or necking Dom by the bottle on Halloween at Jude Law’s club The Box in the Meatpacking district. I haven’t given any detail about being hosted by Sarah and her team of 4 Swedish Absolut ‘Brand Ambassadors’, or mentioned the Monet exhibition at the MoMA. I could talk about the ‘Speak Easy’ bars and restaurants such as La Esquina we visited, establishments that resemble bunkers, a direct result from the prohibition days.

However all of this seems irrelevant when you look at the big picture: New York is the centre of the universe. It’s not about each place on a map, it’s about the things you can’t touch, the inspiration and opportunity and excitement that flows through your veins. If you want to be inspired like I was, you will be formulating a plan to get your next hit.