To see a first time Sydney Opera House performance of one of Australia’s newest talents at the same time as seeing a showcase of vintage Australiana is a pleasure beyond comparison. I’m sorry Neil, I know you’re a Kiwi, but face the facts: we’ve adopted you and your bro’ Tum and we ain’t letting go.

After preparing a picnic for our journey, we venture to the Melbourne Zoo to see Lisa Mitchell and Georgia Fair for the Zoo Twilight session. Wandering through the Zoo gates, we enter a world full of interesting and exotic animals. Now, I’m not sure if you've ever been to the Melbourne Zoo, but it hosts a range of wonderful exhibits including elephants, giraffes and orangutan, and fortunately for us, these were left open for the visitors who were lucky enough to secure tickets to the sold out event.

For a woman who has appeared on a national singing show, collaborated with some of the Southern Hemisphere’s most talented musicians, and is about to go on tour as the support act for two of the biggest names in Australian music history in Paul Kelly and Neil Finn, Lisa Mitchell seems unaffected by everything she’s achieved.

Pictured: Two Door Cinema Club

As we all start making our decisions for the tracks that will make up our votes for the Hottest 100, we had our contributors tell us their favourite tracks of 2012. Each contributor gave us their top 10 and the resulting 40 tracks are the highest rated from those lists! As usual, it's a fairly eclectic list - read on and enjoy! For the most part we'll be letting the music speak for itself...

The Melbourne Zoo is about to get wild in a whole other way, with the announcement of their 2013 Twilight Zoo Program, with tickets available now. Kicking off on January 25 with ARIA Award winner Missy Higgins, the Zoo Twilight Program, sees the zoo put on a live music event every Friday and Saturday night through until March 9th.

We all know the back-story of singer songwriter Lisa Mitchell . A folk singer whose raw talent saw her go a lot further in the 2006 season of Australian Idol than the manufactured pop star idea behind the show should have allowed. Her debut album Wonder was a huge success and now she’s released a new collection of songs Bless This Mess .

In the column this week: the Jagermeister Independent Music Awards are announced, Richard Branson and Paul Dainty team up, and is Songi happening soon?

When we first laid eyes on Lisa Mitchell, she was a wide-eyed 16 year old, who was thrilled to be missing school while appearing as a contestant on Australian Idol. She was initially one of the judge’s favourite contenders for the title; however after her unique voice failed to translate into certain genres, the judge’s interest waned and she was eliminated in sixth place.

Former Australian Idol contestant Lisa Mitchell completely transformed her image in 2009 with her hugely successful debut album Wonder. She returns in 2012 with her sophomore album Bless This Mess, and the album’s lead single and title track again challenges the audience’s perception of the English-born singer-songwriter.

This week sees releases from Deftones, Urthboy, Seth Sentry, Sarah Blasko, and many more! Take a look at all the new releases that're coming up.

VED

It's been three years since Lisa Mitchell released her debut album Wonder and firmly engrained herself in the Australian audiences' consciousness. Since then, Mitchell has found herself the recipient of the Australian Music Prize and on stages across the globe. This year, Mitchell (following on from the incredibly popular 'Heavenly Sounds' tour) is heading out on the road again with her new single, "Bless This Mess".

Adding to what is already an impressive line up, the crew behind the next edition of the Falls Festival have revealed the next round of artists to perform at both Marion Bay and Lorne over New Years! Plenty more acts are still to be announced, with tickets going on sale from 9am Wednesday.

Check out the recently revealed bands below:

TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB (IRE)
THE HIVES (SWE)
DJANGO DJANGO (UK)
SHARON VAN ETTEN (USA)