Heavy/rock Brisbane four-piece Forever the Optimest have recently unveiled their latest single, "Warning Horns". In support of their newest single, the group will be touring around Australia in May, through to the end of June.

QLD DATES

Friday 3rd May | Tempo, Brisbane
FREE ENTRY
We Live Forever + Interim

Friday 17th May | Sugarland Tavern, Bundaberg
FREE ENTRY
w/ Strangers + Epidemic... Over

The El Grande Festival is a live music event/mini touring festival which is set to blaze through Queensland next month. Headlined by Sydney rockers Strangers, the 'boutique pubstival' will be hitting venues in Brisbane, Bundaberg and Gladstone over three nights in May. The El Grande Festival is getting its first run in May, with the event to be repeated three times a year, with each run set to feature different bands.

Grab your tickets and get amongst it!

The final part of The AU Review's photo coverage of The Aussie BBQ at SXSW. Acts include Clairy Browne And The Bangin' Rackettes (pictured), Emma Louise, Strangers and The Trouble With Templeton.

Photos by Johnny Au

In just over a month, the city of Austin, Texas will be throwing open its doors to tens of thousands of music fans, industry officials and musicians for the annual SXSW music festival and conference. Amongst that number are over thirty Australian artists. Over the course of the next couple of weeks we'll be profiling these artists, offering a brief introduction to what they’re about and what they have to offer.

Strangers and The Dead Love both played blistering sets at the Annandale last night.

In this issue:Kitty, Daisy & Lewis announce show at The Gov, Pete Murray adds Melbourne date, James Reyne plays The Espy, Hermitude adds two more shows, Area-7 and Barbariön rock a Burlesque NYE party and more!

Strangers' Persona Non Grata National Tour includes Workers Club stopover

Sydney band Strangers are heading out on a nine stage tour to share their debut album Persona Non Grata with the masses this December, with tickets on sale from December 13.

SXSW has announced its next waves of invited acts to perform at the 2013 conference, the festival's 27th edition. Taking place in Austin, Texas from March 12-17, the second batch of bands brings the total to a massive 800 announced artists. The list is still yet to be completed, but below are the Australian boys and girls who are set to do their thing at SXSW next year!

ALPINE
BEARHUG
BLACKCHORDS
MITZI
THE CAMBODIAN SPACE PROJECT
SUGAR ARMY
SUMMER FLAKE

Unfortunately due to the vagaries of Brisbane’s less than fantastic public transport, I missed the support acts of Interim, Arctic and Epidemic....Over. Putting the disappointment aside, I descended once more into the basement depths of the Crowbar as a period of calm took over while Breaking Orbit set up their gear.

In this issue: The Oh Sees add more dates to Australian tour, Swedish House Mafia coming to Melbourne, Boyz II Men final Melbourne show announced, Pink adds more dates to tour and more!

Thee Oh Sees add more dates to Australian tour

While at BIGSOUND, Larry sat down with Sydney up-comers Strangers to talk about playing the festival and more...

This week we have new release news from Animal Collective, Ball Park Music, The Helio Sequence, Dum Dum Girls, and more! Check it all out below.