It's been a busy past week or so for one of the country's best known performers. Bernard Fanning, having announced a new solo album, an appearance at Splendour in the Grass and the release of his new single "Battleships", has now announced that he'll be touring the country through July and August with his new record. Across 18 dates, Fanning will be visiting both metro and regional centres, giving fans the first taste of his new material to be featured on Departures.

Larry sits with Australian outfit The Medics at the 2013 Sydney Big Day Out and talk about winning a Rolling Stone Award, their plans for 2013, the pressure of recent successes, playing the Big Day Out and much more...

The Gum Ball Festival is known for its penchant of assembling quite the eclectic line-up of musicians from Australia and abroad, and 2013 is no different. Following on from the festival's initial announcement of bands, The Gum Ball has revealed that the alt-country 'supergroup' The Hillbilly Killers are set to headline this year's installment.

The full line up of artists announced so far reads as follows:

The Hillbilly Killers
Tumbleweed
The Medics
The Eastern (NZ)
Money For Rope
Benjalu

A record-breaking heatwave couldn’t stop Big Day Out 2013 from being one of the best in years, though not for lack of trying. The relentless sun threatened punters with heatstroke until about 6pm, at which point the cool air was a godsend, and the small bursts of rain salvation for us all.

Big Day Out fans were given something to get excited about when the festival released timetables, local band line ups and more for the 2013 installment! Along with this announcement, the Big Day Out is also thrilled to announce that the Lilypad will be making its return, and there will also be a brand new stage at all festival stops - the Red Stage.

Check out the additions to each leg of the Big Day Out below!

The Bleach* Festival will be celebrating the coastal culture of the Gold Coast with a series of outdoor pop up music and arts events and installations next year! Running from late February into early March, Bleach* will see the following artists (plus many more local acts) take to venues down the coast for some awesome nights of parties and live performances.

Check the schedule out!

Saturday, February 16 - Burleigh Beach
Bleach* Warm Up Party :

Busby Marou

Quite a lot of hype has surrounded The Medics as of late, with the Cairns rockers recently dominating at the National Indigenous Music Awards, and their debut album Foundations receiving great praise from reviewers and fans . Not being overly familiar with their music, I decided to venture out to Karova Lounge on Thursday night to see what all the fuss is about.

Pictured: The Medics.

In this issue: Edward Deer is launching his new record at The Vanguard, Pataphysics is presenting Subversive at The Gasometer, Dead Can Dance are set to perform at the Sydney Opera House and more!

EDWARD DEER LAUNCHING ‘ABOUT MONSTERS’ AT THE VANGUARD

In this week's column: Universal and the Parker & Mr. French group team up, Ed Sheeran tops the album chart after nearly a year meandering in it, an opportunity to write music for next year's Sydney Festival, and news from three industry awards nights that occurred last week!

In the following gallery, Johnny takes us to the top end – Darwin, NT – to experience a night of modern Indigenous music at the National Indigenous Music Awards (the NIMAs), featuring The Medics - who won three awards on the night - East Journey (pictured above) - who won two - triple j Unearthed winner Thelma Plum - Hall of Fame inductees the Sunrize Band and many more.

The Medics, the emerging QLD four-piece, have taken out the top gongs at this year's National Indigenous Music Awards, held up in Darwin! As one of the country's freshest and most exciting young bands, The Medics won the prestigious Album of the Year award for their debut record, Footprints. They also took out Song of the Year for their track "Griffin", as well as New Talent of the Year.

Pictured: Metric by Marc Grimwade for Splendour In The Grass. Used with Permission.

Sunday is an odd day for Splendour; given the hectic run-about the first two days gave us, Sunday is a slow burn, and combining that with the tiredness accumulated just means it’s a goddamn slog, and being honest, most of the day is a big blur.