The hip hop duo Hermitude have taken away the 8th Coopers Australian Music Prize, winning $30,000 from the PPCA for their fourth feature album HyperParadise.

Constant recognition as one of the best musical exports Australia has produced in this past decade; comparisons to legendary groups like Depeche Mode; and songs which have become anthems for the youth of today, and will remain influential for a long time to come. Sydney’s The Presets set the standard for today’s dance music scene, and their first two albums had them setting it higher and higher with each release. Despite this, their third album - Pacifica - came as a relative commercial disappointment, even though the album itself is pretty damn good.

Supported by Parachute Youth, The Presets played an energetic live show at the Enmore Theatre on a rainy Monday night. Jason Li was there to catch all the action!

Pictured: The Presets.

I understand why bands are cautious when it comes to playing gigs during the week, especially when they’ve got Adelaide to deal with. Notorious for not showing up to play, asking for a packed out venue full of enthusiastic punters on a Tuesday evening would understandably seem like a far-fetched shot.

Pictured: The Presets.

The Presets played at Discovery Nightclub in Darwin on Sunday night. Elise Derwin was there to snap the first big act in the Top End for 2013.

Down at Federation Square in Melbourne, the full shortlist for the 8th Coopers Australian Music Prize was revealed. The ceremony, hosted by Clare Bowditch and Kevin Mitchell, announced that the following Australian musicians were now in the running for the highly respected award.

FLUME - Flume
TAME IMPALA - Lonerism
THE PRESETS - Pacifica
GRAND SALVO - Slay Me in the Deep

In this issue: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band announce new show, The Presets discounted tickets, From The Jam cancel Australian tour, Godspeed You! Black Emperor exclusive ticket release and more!

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band announce new show

In this issue: Shihad announced as Black Sabbath’s support, The Presets add extra shows, sold out national gigs, Blink 182 announce their supports and loads more.

Barry Gibb Announces Sydney’s Audio Vixen as special guests on his Australian ‘Mythology’ tour

In this issue: The Presets announce new dates, Boys of Summer announce unexpected line-up change, Tim Rogers & The Bamboos add new dates, Amanda Palmer confirms Australia & New Zealand shows and more!

Mitzi to join Foals at Sydney Club Shows

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...

We continue our top 40 albums of 2012 countdown with the third part of our journey to the number one spot...