Year: 2015

Sydney melodic post-rock band sleepmakeswaves are set to perform their biggest headline tour yet, in support of their new album ‘Love of Cartography.’ After a successful year of the album charting at #31 on the ARIA Chart and a number of award nominations (including 3 AU review awards!), the ‘Great Northern’ tour is set to be a celebration of the band’s latest single and everything they’ve accomplished so far.

This past weekend the AU review had the opportunity to sit in a media conference with UK’s Jon Hopkins at Laneway Festival in Singapore. He talks about his definition of ‘indie’ music as being more “independently spirited music” and “music that’s a little more messier and free”. He discusses musicians he would like to collaborate…

the AU review sits down with Wiki and Sporting Life from New York’s Ratking to chat about their Australian tour with Laneway Festival, the New York Hip Hop Scene, their upcoming album release – which will be dropping for free next month (February 2015). Find out all the details here: Ratking are currently touring Australia…

This weekend the AU review sat down amongst other media with Melbourne’s singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett (accompanied by drummer Dave Mundie) at St Jerome’s Laneway Festival in Singapore. Together we find out which city Barnett refers to as ‘the best place in the world.’ They discuss the origin of Barnett’s witty lyrics and she reveals how…

Disney’s Fantasia: Music Evolved feels like a bit of a strange beast when you first encounter it – it’s a Kinect-controlled game based on Fantasia, Walt Disney’s 1940 love note to classical music. But this feeling of uncertainty lasts only as long as it takes to get into your first song which is where the…

Last year Australia witnessed the reunion of Emma Caulfield and Nicholas Brandon, who both starred in cult classic Buffy The Vampire Slayer as Anya Jenkins and Xander Harris, respectively. Now they are set to return to Oz Comic-Con in both Perth and Adelaide, right alongside previously announced co-stars Amber Benson (Tara Maclay) and Sarah Hagan…

This past weekend, the AU review’s Larry Heath had a chance to sit down and interview UK rock duo Royal Blood at Laneway Festival in Singapore. We talk to them about their crazy past 12 months and how much they are enjoying touring and playing. The duo talk about how their live show hasn’t changed…

You’ve probably heard or read some of the reviews for Foxcatcher already, and possibly seen the slew of award nominations it and along with its cast have been receiving recently. To say that this film warrants the accolades is fair, because for once a movie based on a true story manages to deliver not only…

Our Girls are moving up in the world. They’re following their passions, righting their wrongs and becoming genuine adults. Well, they’re trying, at least, and isn’t that half the battle? Look at Shoshanna for example: she’s out of college and at her first big job interview. She nails her interview and is told that the…

August 7th, the release date for Fantastic Four, just became a hugely anticipated day for movie-goers as the first official trailer for the reboot sweeps through the internet and leaves jaws on the floor. The latest iteration of Marvel’s ragtag group of genetically modified superheroes will be directed by Josh Trank, who is responsible for…

Transmission Films, Dendy Cinemas, and Dendy Direct announced toady that it will be bringing The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby – directed by Ned Benson and starring Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy – to cinemas on 12 March. The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby follows the story of Conor (McAvoy) and Eleanor (Chastain) as they try to…

From Academy Award winning director James Marsh (Man on Wire) comes the much anticipated film based on the Jane Hawking’s memoir My Life with Stephen, the story of world renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking, as seen through the eyes and experiences of his ex-wife. Much of Hawking’s story is well known – a…

In our 16th instalment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Nashiville’s Jake McMullen , and chat about his latest single ‘Always’. Musician: Jake McMullen Website / Social Media: jakemcmullenmusic.com Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Souncloud Genre: Indie, Folk Members & their roles: Jake McMullen-singer/songwriter/guitar What music or artists inspired you? There is so much music…

The Culture High takes one side of a polarising, public debate. It argues that marijuana should be legalised. This crowd-funded documentary is from the makers of The Union: The Business Behind Getting High and takes up where the latter one left off by giving a detailed but rather weighted perspective. Director Brett Harvey shocks us…

Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Game of Thrones fans get ready – the lineup for this years Supanova Pop Culture Expo has just been announced and it is ridiculous. For the Star Trek fans – George Takei (the original Hikaru Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (the original Nyota Uhura), and Walter Koenig (the original Pavel…

Yesterday, on the 25th of January, the 21st Screen Actors Guild Awards took place, proving to elicit a lot of controversial results. Most notably was Birdman, who took away the award for ‘Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture’, the award considered the top tier for the night. Whilst the cast rejoiced, there…

More Australian music followed Courtney (read about her in part one) with Angus and Julia Stone taking the stage to play tracks from their latest self-titled album and old favourites like “Big Jet Plane” and “For You”. The duo played well, accompanied by a four piece band. But their down tempo tracks didn’t quite match…

Bo Ningen, one of Japan’s finest exports, played a special Sugar Mountain Festival sideshow at Oxford Art Factory on Friday night. Pete Dovgan was there and brings you the photos:

Last week we exclusively premiered the new album Her Dawn Wardrobe from Brooklyn psych-rockers Sky Picnic. Today we catch up with the band to talk about the record, their music, the origins of their band and much more. Read on:

With 13,000 punters from Singapore and around the Asian region descending on the iconic Gardens By The Bay, yesterday saw St Jerome’s Laneway Festival take place for the fifth consecutive time in the city, with organisers selling out tickets for the first time ever. On arrival, punters are handed a bottle of water sponsored by…

“This country is becoming one of the cultural epicentres of the world!” – Festival co-founder Danny Rogers said yesterday, as he thanked punters at the end of St Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2015. The country he was talking about was Singapore, which served as the opening date of the festival run for the fifth consecutive year,…

Tomorrow is Australia Day, which means the winner of the Hottest 100 will be revealed – and finally we’ll never have to hear about the whole Taylor Swift “controversy” again. Assuming she isn’t eligible, there are two favourites looking to take out the top spot: Australia’s Chet Faker and Peking Duk. Either could walk away…

Ahead of tomorrow’s Hottest 100 countdown, we ask The Preatures, Ball Park Music and Tkay Maidza to talk about the first time they heard themselves or their band on triple j. We also talk to KLP about the first time she hosted House Party… Filmed during the radio station’s 40th anniversary celebrations in Sydney: Beat…

We have seen some fairly out-there and outrageous ideas since the modest days of in-your-face reality TV but the one for American couples-therapy show Sex Box just about tops them all. This is a show where a couple has sex in a big neon-blue box on stage, after which they walk straight out, sit on…

Kimberley is back with the first half of our weekly TV picks. Here’s what to watch this week on free-to-air from Monday through to Wednesday night, as we come around to Australia Day 2015. Monday The Manchurian Candidate, One, 9:30pm AEST The critically acclaimed remake of the 1962 classic, the 2004 Manchurian Candidate features an…

The Vamps played a massive show at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion last night, supported by Short Stack. Gwendolyn Lee was there to see the bands in action and brings us these photos from the pit:

Next week Red Bull TV launches series two of their successful show FOCUS, on Friday 30th January, featuring some huge names in the sporting world. Centred around athletes such as Daniel Ricciardo, Kally Cartwright and Ryan Sheckler, the six part series aims to give viewers an insight into the lives of 12 elite athletes as…

In our 15th instalment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Auckland’s Anthonie Tonnon, and chat about his full length release, Successor out later this year. Musician: Anthonie Tonnon Website / Social Media: Facebook / Soundcloud / Tumblr Genre: Rock Members & their roles: Anthonie Tonnon – (often performing solo) songwriter, piano and guitar. Jonathan Pearce –…

Inspired by the humble ice cream sandwich, Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts are teaming up with Andy Bowden, pastry chef at Hartsyard, tasking the renowned pastry chef with reinventing the classic dessert to treat Sydney this summer.

the AU review sits down with Josef Salvat to talk about his time in London, his upcoming move to Paris, his past EP, the future LP, other plans for 2015 and he discusses how he loves writing music in the bush of Australia… Follow Josef on Facebook to find out where he’s touring in UK…