Listening: Coco Solid, COKES
Coco Solid dropped this mixtape on Waitangi Day and I've kept it on high rotate ever since. It's a totally badass, thoroughly inventive collection of futuristic old-school hip-hop that's filled with bone-shaking 808 bass, laser-drenched synths, vintage-era beats and Coco Solid's idiosyncratic retro-rap delivery that can make a serious point and then segue into the gloriously ridiculous in the next breath.
The Auckland-based rapper, artist, and all-round creative force has worked with a handful of producers on the 12 ghetto blasting tracks and, as it's free on Soundcloud, there's really no excuse to not be blasting it right now.
Streaming: Future Man
This slick time travelling action comedy on Lightbox, both confirms the old saying, "The future, they did it better in the past", and riffs on it. The show has a silly premise - a gamer beats an impossible video game that has been set back in time to find "the chosen one" who can help defeat evil forces in the future - but the show goes all in on it, creating a believable sci-fi narrative and world, and having real fun with all the timeline-bending situations that occur whenever people start dicking around with the events of the past.
Future Man is filled with homages to 80s time travelling classics such as Back to the Future, The Last Starfighter and The Terminator and even features an extended storyline dedicated to the awesomeness of the great Corey Hart, which is sure to please anyone who's ever worn their sunglasses at night. Recommended.
