The fourth and final day of the Falls Festival gets off to a hot start. Kimbra and The Grates are popular on the Valley Stage, while Arj Barker and 360 (pictured above) are crowd favorites on the Grand Theatre. Arctic Monkeys bring in the New Year and despite some confusion about the countdown everyone welcomes 2012 with group hugs and sparklers.

Update: please note that the previous Sydney date of the 28th October has been rescheduled to the 11th November.

Melbourne's noise-pop, dance-enthusiasts Rat vs Possum's second album Let Music & Bodies Unite is officially out into the world via Sensory Projects and to celebrate the band are hitting the road to launch its release throughout the East Coast.

Melbourne’s Rat vs Possum excitedly announce the follow-up release to their 2010 debut Daughter Of Sunshine. The new eight track album is entitled Let Music & Bodies Unite and was recorded with renowned Japanese engineer Nao Anzai at Headgap Studios and in the bedroom of RvP member Matt Kulesza throughout June and July, 2011.

I was expecting a night of surprises and nuttiness with this night of some odd sounds at The Tote (well, when isn’t there nuttiness at The Tote?), and I got more of the latter than the former. However those surprises and nuttiness at the end of the night were not something to take really in a good way. It was like each band were given a memo to theme their set around the word “weird”.

What a night! This is why I love seeing live music. A few months ago I reviewed HEALTH and Wire at Beck’s Festival Bar and wrote about what a treat it was to see such inspiring original music. Well I got the same on Friday night but, even better, three of the four acts were locals!

Visiting New Yorkers Aa played a sweaty underground set at Format with support from Melbourne four piece Rat vs Possum, monotone pop from Rites Wild and the hypnotic sounds of Steering by Stars

Upon entering one of Melbourne’s more illustrious live venues, The Forum, my first impression of Sugar Mountain festival is 'wow'. Not so much 'wow' in terms of a complete transformation of the venue, which I had kind of been expecting, but more so the wonderful vibe and the amazingly gorgeous flock of girls and boys. Sugar Mountain sure looks to have captured the imagination of Melbourne’s hippest folk.

Sugar Mountain Festival - Saturday 30th April 2011 - The Forum Theatre, Melbourne

FIRST LINE-UP ANNOUNCEMENT

The Sugar Mountain Festival will provide a welcome boost to Melbourne’s thriving arts scene on Sunday 30 April 2011.

I have a real love/hate relationship with festivals. Festivals can be great when the vibe is right, the bands look like they want to be there, the weather is nice etc etc. But they can also be terrible for just as many reasons. So on the morning of 11 February 2011, things weren’t looking good for Adelaide’s Laneway Festival when a massive downpour hit at about 11am.