Year: 2016

Melbourne’s Owen Rabbit has announced a brief European tour on the back of his recent singles, “Weeds”, “Holy Holy”, and “Denny’s”. The tour will see him play at the iconic music industry showcase The Great Escape in addition to showcases like The Aussie BBQ and venues like Sound Gallery. His DIY experimental-electronica sounds have made…

Hello Asia! editor Johnny Au visited South Korea’s second most populous city of Busan recently and took the opportunity to see how to explored the city in a day. From taking the KTX (the local bullet train) to picking out a city hop on/hop off tour, come explore this modern coastal city with Johnny. The…

Chicago. Chi-Town. The Windy City. Famous for its deep dish pizza and its gangsters, the largest city in Illinois has all this and more to offer the visitor coming through its fine city. For the music fan, Chicago more than satisfies, especially if you’re in town during Lollapalooza week, as the AU was back in…

From December 2013 to June 2014, Andrew Smith was appointed Destination NSW’s “Chief Funster”, and travelled all around NSW to see the best of what our country had to offer. Among this time, he went to Tamworth, joined the AU on a weekend in Newcastle and much more. Now back in the real world (though…

Equality Needs You is the theme of the 2016 New York City Pride celebration, which will be held from the 19th to the 26th of June at various events and venues across the city’s five boroughs. LGBT rights have come a long way in recent years, but as Chris Frederick, Managing Director of NYC Pride, notes, the theme of…

Ella Fence, whose debut EP Wanderlust garnered international attention, is touring the US, Canada and the UK with her all-female Folk/Pop band. This week the artist has already performed at Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe and last night at New York’s The Bowery Electric, before travelling to Toronto for Canadian Music Week through the first week of May, and…

Let me set the scene. It’s about half way through the set, the comedian’s just had to deliver the punch-line of a joke for the third time; and now he’s offered to get a round in for the audience because an older Swiss-Aussie audience member told him he was making him thirsty. Presumably this was…

It’s hard to be critical of non-professional productions, because they are the training ground for so many working in the industry. Certainly, newcomers should be congratulated for sticking out their proverbial necks and adding to Sydney’s ever-expanding theatrical quilt. But unfortunately, some productions just don’t work, no matter how much effort the creatives put in….

The Office alum Stephen Merchant is set to join Hugh Jackman in director James Mangold‘s Wolverine 3, according to The Wrap. Merchant is yet to be tied to a specific role but is best known for his comedic work, often collaborating with Ricky Gervais on titles including The Office, An Idiot Abroad and Extras. Merchant will join Richard…

Canadian Music Week is days off from taking over Toronto for another year, with musicians from all over the world heading to the land of the Maple Leaf for a hectic music festival and conference series that will see new networks formed, new musical discoveries made and good times had all round. We’re getting to…

Nominations for this year’s National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMA) opens tomorrow and this is an opportunity for people part of the Indigenous Music Industry to be recognised for their excellence, dedication, innovation and outstanding contribution for their work. The theme for this year’s NIMA is Protest Songs, due to the amount of milestones reached in the…

The Surry Hills Festival announced today that it will be returning for its 14th year on Saturday, September 24th. The much loved inner-city festival continues its celebration in 2016 highlighting Surry Hills’ history, colourful culture, diversity and community spirit. The funds raised on the day will go towards the vital community programs of the Surry…

The release of Blastoma is edging closer and closer for NGAIIRE, her new album now confirmed for a June 10th release! The singer has been wowing crowds on this year’s Groovin’ the Moo tour over the past few weekends and with the final few festival dates still to come, NGAIIRE has found time to drop…

Elefant Traks today unveil their latest artist welcomed into the family, Sydney songwriter and vocalist, OKENYO. Having been building a solid reputation for herself as a dynamic performer and creative mind for the last few years, OKENYO’s music fits in brilliantly alongside the other Elefant Traks artists she now can call label mates. Evocative and eclectic…

Oscar Galt & The Eventual Somethings have been creating some killer music representative of a canny knack for fusing grunge with slacker tones and bluesy rock for a little while now and today, the band unleashes their latest collection of the above. Their brand new EP, Drift Away, premieres on the AU this morning – the…

Ah, Groovin’ the Moo. The one festival on the Australian live music calendar that offers city slickers an opportunity to ‘head regional’ (even if, in SA, this means a half hour drive up into the hills), underage music fans can thrive on copious amounts of Red Bull and whatever else for the day and everyone can enjoy…

Flume‘s second LP Skin, set for release next month, is still building hype with its incredible run of singles. The latest release, “Say It”, juxtaposes distorted beats with the incredible vocals of Tove Lo. Along with the release of this single, Flume’s also announced the other guests set to feature on his record, including the likes…

Golden Globe winning drama Mr. Robot season two will stream first on Presto from July 14th express from the U.S. Sam Esmail’s critically acclaimed series revolves around Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a computer hacker, and Christian Slater as Mr. Robot, a mysterious agitator who enlists Elliot’s help. Season two will pick up after the…

Deadline reported this week that Sense8‘s Aml Ameen has abruptly quit the show. The Brish actor, who played Capheus in season one of Lilly and Lana Wachowskis’ Netflix original drama, will be replaced, for season two, by upcomer Toby Onwumere. According to Deadline, the circumstances surrounding  Ameen’s departure are still vague but previous reports indicate a conflict of creative…

Netflix and the BBC have teamed up to produce a four-part miniseries adapting Richard Adam‘s novel and childhood heart-breaker, Watership Down. The star-studded voice cast for the animated series includes John Boyega, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley. Watership Down was originally published in 1972 and follows a band of rabbits as they search…

Stephen Amell and Will Arnett, who play Casey Jones and Vern Fenwick in the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sequel, will make appearances at two upcoming Australian screenings of the film in Sydney and Melbourne. Stephen Amell and Will Arnett, along with producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller, will walk the red carpet at the…

Production of Ridley Scott‘s Prometheus sequel, Alien: Covenant is well and truly underway and now there’s a picture to prove it. While there’s no sign yet of Michael Fassbender (reprising his role as David) or any titular aliens, the picture, via the film’s twitter page, does give a brief glimpse of what’s to come. The image…

Oliver Stone‘s film, which tells the story of a former CIA employee who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013 officially has its first trailer! Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt who plays the character of Edward, Snowden portrays something a little thrilling to your usual drama. With Gordon-Levitt setting the path to the movie with…

This week the St. Kilda Film Festival announced the finalists for their upcoming SoundKILDA music video competition celebrating the collaborative combination of film and music. Presented by the City of Port Phillip, SoundKILDA will showcase sixteen clips featuring collaborative and feature work from the some of the country’s top artists including Missy Higgins, Vance Joy, Boy…

Star of History Channel’s Vikings, Katheryn Winnick has found a new acting gig with sources claiming the actress will be joining the cast of Sony and MRC’s adaptation of The Dark Tower. Winnick will be joining Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey and Tom Taylor as part of the Stephen King‘s adaptation film title. The Dark Tower will be directed by Nikolaj Arcel and…

The St Kilda Film Festival has revealed its exciting program and it will be running for ten days from Thursday 19 May to Saturday 28 May 2016. With the festival being proudly produced by the City of Port Phillip, the festival will be kicking off Opening Night on Thursday 19 May. The Palais Theatre will be…

In a welcome departure from recent disdainful “who died/are they dead” cliff-hangers, Michael Hirst (creator/writer) did the unexpected Wednesday night by not leaving viewers waiting to see if a main character had died in the Vikings mid-season finale. Instead, after the showdown between brothers Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) and Rollo (Clive Standen) the historical drama jumped…

The Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to be this juggernaut that keeps pumping out successful film after successful film. They’ve been on this upward trajectory for so long that it seems inevitable that they will have to stumble somewhere. Surprisingly and welcomingly so, Captain America: Civil War is not that movie. There is no denying that surpassing…

Fans of Downton Abbey shouldn’t be disappointed with the end of the series. After all, it ended on a high note. Now you can add the DVD to your collection and have an elegant marathon. The complete sixth and final season begins in 1925. Life continues to change at Downton with servants including the ones…

Streaming service Netflix will again open its floodgates this May, replacing older shows with new series and films. The month of the Taurus will see a surprising amount of films make way for a surplus of TV series, as Netflix shifts it’s focus to providing more original content. Among the bigger additions next month is…